On The Small Screen

Bing on Cbeebies. A Few Questions.

What is the deal with Pando’s trousers? - On Cbeebies Bing

Our Little One was very very much into watching Bing on Cbeebies, and because of the series record feature on our YouView… she discovered the joys of binge watching Bing.

Obviously this means I have also discovered the joys of watching Bing (and learning how to make the most use of its 7 minute run time). While watching the same episode for what felt like the 20th time, my wife and I started to ask ourselves a few questions, and generally over think about Bing and some of his friends:

What is the deal with Pando’s trousers?

Whenever you see him in the TV show, the guy is running around in his underwear, except for one moment at the very start when he takes his trousers off. Why doesn’t his carer type character put his trousers back on?

I guess yellow doesn’t look great on him.

On the subject of the carer type characters…

What the actual heck is Flop?

The Cbeebies website describe Flop as Bings carer, but where is his parents?

Flop is there when Bing goes to bed, when he wakes up, Bing looks after Flop when he’s ill. If it was just Flop and Bing, I’d suggest that Bing actually had a heart breaking back story, but other characters seem to have similar carer figures. Maybe all the parents have disappeared? Maybe the carers are aliens?

Again, on the subject of the carers…

How do they get Charlie up these stairs?

Sarah and Duck. Some Questions

Posted on October 6, 2019 by DevonDad On The Small Screen 0

A couple of years back. our Little One went through a stage of binge watching Cbeebies shows. The most charming of them was by far, Sarah and Duck. Ok, I admit it, I still enjoy Sarah and Duck when its on.

There’s a sense of innocent joy mixed with humour that is captured in the episodes, which makes them fun to watch. Even more once we got Sarah and Duck dvds (Affiliate link), as this meant we didn’t have to switch between episodes on our DVR every 5 – 7 minutes.

As we watched the adventures of Sarah and Duck, Mrs Sofa, and I started asking ourselves a few questions about the world that Sarah and Duck live in…

If Sarah is 7 years old, why doesn’t she go to school?

I guess she’s kinda smart, even for the lack of school attendance, but I guess in a world where a cake can talk back to you, school must be quite interesting.

For all the scenes set at home, why don’t we see her parents?

Seriously. WHERE are they? Is she left home alone all day, with nothing but a duck for company?

Sarah and Duck on Cbeebies. A Few Questions

If Moon can be seen walking around the shop, where does the Sun go?

I kinda wonder why we don’t see Sun wandering around when its night. I guess its ok that we don’t have a massive ball of fire walking around the place… but what impact does moons actions have on the worlds tidal levels? What we don’t see, is that every time that Moon walks around the Big Shop, are there massive floods elsewhere?

How do children and birds understand each other so well?

I tried talking to a duck once.
It was a boring conversation. But people walking around me thought I was quackers.

Isn’t bread meant to be bad for ducks?

Duck seems to be tired on a regular basis, maybe he’s just a bit poorly?

What is the narrator?

I have a few theories about this guy. Is he an invisible man? I did wonder if he’s God, and all the characters can hear God really really well, but thats kinda deeply religious for a cbeebies show. Therefore I questioned if he was Sarah’s conscience, but the thing is, all the characters can hear him. This makes me wonder; Is all of this in Sarahs imagination?

The thing is, If Sarah and Duck is all simply set in Sarahs imagination, then that suggests that real life is a bit of a dark place for Sarah. And thats something that I’d prefer wasn’t true.

Sorry, that got a bit dark there towards the end.

Have you got any questions about the world of Sarah and Duck?

Doctor Who – Mission To The Unknown

Posted on October 6, 2019 by DevonDad On The Small Screen

Well this is something. Way back in Doctor Who’s third series there was a story called The Daleks Master Plan. An epically long 12 part story, it even had its own 1 part – Doctor-lite story to introduce it, Mission to the Unknown*.

Pretty much all of the above visual recordings have been lost since then. (The BBC had a policy…)

A group of students from the University of Central Lancashire have set about recreating Mission to the Unknown, and from the looks of the trailer its looking pretty faithful…

Hopefully if well received we might one day see The Daleks Master Plan on screen!

*Yes… I know it also acted as a pilot episode for a Dalek TV series that never actually appeared in the end.

When “In The Night Garden” meets “Doctor Who”?

Posted on April 25, 2019 by DevonDad Geek Stuff On The Small Screen 0

Have you ever watched “In The Night Garden” and wondered if it could be any more creepy? I mean it’s totally about a sailor nicknamed “Iggle Piggle” stuck on boat in the middle of the ocean, so kinda creepy anyway. But what if “Doctor Who” was mixed in with it? More specifically, what if The Master from Doctor Who was stuck “In The Night Garden”?

Fleeing the Time War, Derek Jacobi escapes the wrath of the Daleks only to find himself in a special kind of hell…. a CBeebies TV show.

Don’t have nightmares.

I Dont Have The Answers

Posted on February 1, 2019 by DevonDad On The Small Screen 0

I’ll just leave this here.

Baby Shark The TV Show is Coming to Netflix

Posted on January 25, 2019 by DevonDad On The Small Screen 0

You remember Baby Shark don’t you? If you’ve forgotten it you’ve probably already started singing it again. You can thank me later… Anyway. Baby Shark, that viral hit from last year, that was heard everywhere from phones, car radios, and CD players, to school halls and clubs, is coming back in a new way to Netflix.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the creators of Baby Shark have revealed that they are working to bring some “short form content” to Netflix in March.

And I thought that Boss Baby was enough to make me regret our small one being introduced to Netflix…

Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument

Posted on October 15, 2018 by DevonDad Geek Stuff On The Small Screen 0

After the week following her first proper watch of Doctor Who, led to her quoting the Doctor – and not just quoting… playing being the Doctor. We settled down to watch the second episode together.

If last week was a slower paced introduction to everyone, this didn’t feel overly faster paced, it was a plod over the desert really, but the moments where the action did pick up, felt manic. These moments sent the small one shouting in response, the smile never left during these moments.

Indeed, Twelves sonic screwdriver was helpful during the scarier moments (it was a way for the small one to help the Doctor and her friends on the screen).

I think I wrote last week about how gorgeous it all looked- that was no one episode fluke. This looked amazing from start to finish. Doctor Who, may possibly be having its best looking series ever (particularly better than anything from the 1980’s). Talking about the first episode, it’s good to see that Grace’s death hasn’t just been swept under the carpet.

As it finished, I asked the small one what her favourite part of the episode was. “The last bit…”, was her response, “when they found the TARDIS”. I had to admit, I agreed. For the fun of the race through the desert, there was so much undeniable heart in the scene where the Doctor finally returned home. Perhaps that’s what we all felt?

I’m looking forward to The Doctor showing us a bit of history next week…

Doctor Who. The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Posted on October 8, 2018 by DevonDad Geek Stuff On The Small Screen 2

Well, unless you’ve been living away from a TV set / Twitter for the last month, you’d have seen that Doctor Who isn’t just back, but the Doctor is now Jodie Whittaker.

Now I have to admit. I was worried. It was clear there were going to be a million changes to my favorite scifi show, but I also felt the last couple of episodes (particularly The Doctor Falls), were so good – they could have finished it at that point. Remember how the original series of The X Files kept going for at least a year or two to long? I was worried there was a repeat of that about to happen.

Spoilers are below…

But. Its new Doctor Who, and that will get my attention. Also considering its early start time, we decided to risk introducing our 6 year old to “Not The Christmas Special Doctor Who”. And well. She got won over, I did too.

Personally I enjoyed the focus on character. While I feel Steven Moffat was unfairly criticized for how he wrote female characters, he rarely made me feel for the supporting characters, for example – the security guard? Also the look! Its been a while since I’ve been to Sheffield but it looks glorious.

What won us over as a family? At the risk of sounding like a gushing fan blog. It was Jodie Whittaker. She felt and acted like the Doctor since fell into the TV screen. We didn’t spend too long in any post regenerative sleep / grumpiness, but it felt that the Doctor got on with saving the day. Admittedly she then took a nap, but it didn’t feel as long as “The Christmas Invasion” or “Deep Breath”. (Did anyone else felt there was a nod back to “The Christmas Invasion” at this point?).

And the moment of the Doctor remembering her name? I wonder if there were any other smiles around the country, that matched the size of a 6 year old watching watching her Doctor for the first time?

Speaking to the small one afterwards, it seemed she also enjoyed the obligatory costume choosing scene at the end. I wonder how many small girls out there, now want to a Doctor?

Heres to next Sunday evening…