Hong Kong Phooey

When there is trouble and you need  a master of the martial arts to come to your rescue, you need call on no other than Hong Kong Phooey!!

The main character Hong Kong Phooey is a clownishly clumsy secret identity of Penrod "Penry" Pooch, working at a police station as a "mild-mannered" janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint ("Sarge"). Penry transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey upon running into a magic filing cabinet despite always getting stuck — and unstuck by his striped cat Spot — and once transformed, gets equipped with the "Phooeymobile" vehicle that transforms itself into a boat, a plane, or a telephone booth depending on the circumstances by banging his gong or changes automatically whenever necessary. He fights crime relying on his copy of The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu, but he succeeds only thanks to Spot who provides a solution to the challenges or they are solved by himself as result of a comically unintended side effect of his conscious efforts.

Aquila

Can you imagine how cool it would be to find a spaceship? What fun would you have? Two boys did just that and had some awesome adventures, in Aquila!

Two boys, Geoff and Tom, are on a weekend away with their mums where they do some digging for treasure at a local moor. As Geoff is digging, he falls into an underground cavern followed cautiously by Tom. It is there they find the skeleton of a Roman Centurion, standing beside a large red object which looks like a giant boulder. One of the boys notices a hollowed out area in this "boulder" which turns out to be a two-seat cockpit. The craft, which is called Aquila, soon turns out to be something more advanced than Roman technology, and by pressing the numerous coloured buttons in the cockpit the boys learn more about this strange craft and take off upwards into the sky.

The story becomes more tense and yet humorous as the boys try to think of ways to hide their amazing discovery, prevent doing damage with it, and communicating with it. Eventually, the boys manage to find a way of communicating with Aquila, but even then the show managed to end each week with a dramatic cliff-hanger as a new problem arose.

The last ever line in the series came as the characters discover the source of Aquila, and the camera pans into outer space to see a massive abandoned spaceship orbiting the sun. They realise the significance of this and exclaim "A battle cruiser! You could have some serious fun with a battle cruiser!".

Shazam!

Time for some high flying, superhero action now with Captain Marvel and his friends in Shazam!

Shazam! follows the adventures of the Marvel Family. Billy and Mary Batson and their friend, Freddie Freeman, are ordinary kids who have a wonderful secret and a great responsibility. When trouble looms, the Batson siblings need but speak the name of the ancient wizard who appointed them, "Shazam", while Freddie must say the name of his favourite superhero, "Captain Marvel" to call the magic lightning to become respectively Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. Together, they fight the threats to the world, whether they be villians like the mad scientist Dr. Sivana, the malevolent worm Mr. Mind, or the renegade Marvel, Black Adam.

Blazing Dragons

Created by Monty Python member Terry Jones, we now have the madcap adventures of the Blazing Dragons!

The series' protagonists are anthropomorphic dragons who are beset by evil humans, reversing a common story convention. The series parodies that of the King Arthur Tales as well as the periods of the Middle Ages.
Squire Flicker is the main character of the series, a squire under Sir Loungelot, he happily accepts any task his master gives him. Flicker longs for the day he'll become a Dragon Knight himself, yet it seems the only reason he's not is that Loungelot typically takes credit for Flicker's heroic deeds. He is secretly in love with Princess Flame though he is very shy about showing it. Flicker is generally smarter and more competent than the Knights, and is a Machinist far ahead of his time even though his inventions do not always go well as he planned.

The Smoggies

Here we have another of the environmentally friendly cartoons that were prevalent in the early 90's. This time we have The Smoggies!

The show took place on or around the fictional Coral Island, and revolved around a group of island-dwelling people called Suntots and a trio of polluting treasure hunters called the Smoggies. The Suntots spent much of their time defending their island paradise from the Smoggies, who polluted everything around them and lived on a coal fired steam ship, the SS Stinky Poo, which polluted the water and air around the island. The Smoggies constantly tried to destroy the Suntots' home for their own benefit.
Almost every episode had the environmentalist Suntots outsmarting the Smoggies latest scheme, after which the Smoggies invariably hatched another scheme. Thus, the show also explains the importance of protecting the environment.
A recurring theme was their attempt to steal the island's "magic coral" (which the Smoggies believed granted eternal youth), or find some alternative way to maintain youth. The show often implied that the magic coral did not actually exist, however, and were just manifestations of the Smoggies' (mainly Emma's) greed and vanity.

Alias the Jester

Time for another classic Cosgrove Hall cartoon for you, this time we have Alias the Jester!

The show follows the adventures of a time traveller by the name of Alias and his dog-like companion Boswell. After their malfunctioning ship gets stuck in the Earth's magnetic pole, they crash-land in a Middle Age kingdom called Houghton Bottoms, ruled by the diminutive King Arthur and his Queen Edith. Taking up a secret identity of sorts as Alias the Jester, he gains employment at the court and befriends the bumbling court wizard Meredith. When the situation calls for it, Alias instantly changes back into his red uniform, which enables him to fly, and presumably a degree of super strength, which he can use to face the various villains of the show. Each episode inevitably ends with Arthur firing Alias and Meredith

Teen Wolf

Loosely based upon the movie of the same name comes the adventures of Scott Howard, better known as Teen Wolf!

The series is about a teenage boy and his family who can transform into werewolves, focusing on themes of coming of age and fitting in. While generally keeping true to the main ideas, this version made some changes from the film.
Scott Howard and his family live in the fictional town of Wolverton, a small town that draws tourists because of its history of werewolf sightings. Unlike the film, Scott's status as a werewolf is a secret.
Despite the youth audience, the cartoon series delivered very powerful critiques of disability-as-civil rights. Freely invoking an asthma attack or seizure, the series centered on how Scott felt "weird" immediately before and during his werewolf transformation.
Although he never hurt anybody while he was a werewolf, Scott was conscious of his difference from other teenagers and had to make accommodations for himself. He also expressed frustration that the residents of this town had stereotyped "his people". A jock named Mick constantly picks on Scott for being the "outsider" at Wolverton High.

Mrs Pepperpot

Time to view things from a pint-sized perspective now in the tiny world of Mrs Pepperpot!

Mrs. Pepper Pot lives in a small little village with her husband. She wears a small magical teaspoon around her neck which every now and then shrinks her to the size of her teaspoon which does not shrink as well, and she must drag it along with her on her back when she gets shrunk. She always changes back to her original size after a certain amount of time. This special condition had its advantages—she can communicate with animals and enjoy wonderful adventures in the woods. This way she wins new and interesting friends on a regular basis. She is a good friend of Lily, a mysterious little girl who lives in the forest alone, she is also friends with a mouse family. She can not reveal her secret or show herself in the shrunk condition, which sometimes gets quite difficult. Her husband, Mr. Pepperpot, eventually finds out his wife's secret, later on in the series.

The Ghosts of Motley Hall

A haunting tale now by request from a BCC fan! It's The Ghosts of Motley Hall!

The Ghosts of Motley Hall is a British children's television series written by Richard Carpenter. It was produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence for Granada Television, and broadcast between 1976 and 1978 on the ITV network. The series relates the adventures of five ghosts who haunt Motley Hall. Each is from a different era, and all except Matt are unable to leave the confines of the building and Matt himself is unable to travel outside the grounds of the Hall. The only regular character who is not a ghost is Mr Gudgin the caretaker of Motley Hall.

Batman Beyond

The Dark Knight returns once more, this time in a different guise and a different time! This is Batman Beyond!

Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia and India) is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy.
The pilot episode, titled "Rebirth," initially begins in the year 2019, 20 years after The New Batman Adventures. An aging Bruce Wayne continues his role as Batman in a high-tech Batsuit, having severed his ties with those of his former allies (such as his former sidekicks, the officers and detectives of the Gotham City Police Department, and the Justice League) and enemies who are still alive. In the rescue of a kidnapped heiress, Batman suffers a mild heart attack and, at risk of being beaten to death by one of the kidnappers, is forced to betray a lifelong principle by threatening to use a gun. Ultimately, Bruce reluctantly decides that his time as Batman is over and vows "never again" as he shuts down the Batcave.

The story fast-forwards to 2039 in Neo-Gotham, a futuristic megalopolis featuring staggering high rises and flying vehicles. Bruce is now a recluse living in bitter isolation in Wayne Manor, with no companion but his guard dog Ace. Terry McGinnis is an athletic 17-year-old high school student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained sense of personal justice. Living on poor terms with his father Warren, Terry disobeys his curfew one night to meet up with his girlfriend Dana Tan, only to incur the wrath of a group of the Jokerz gang harassing them. A high-speed motorcycle chase between Terry and the Jokerz leads them to the grounds of Wayne Manor, where they run into the elderly Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Terry fend off the Jokerz side-by-side, but the exertion aggravates Bruce's heart condition. Terry helps Bruce back to the manor and, while exploring the mansion, stumbles upon the entrance to the Batcave, only to be chased out by a recovered and angered Bruce.

Terry returns home to discover that his father has been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after, though, he discovers that his father had stumbled onto information about the production of illegal chemical weapons by the merged Wayne-Powers (Wayne's former company, bought out and run by CEO Derek Powers) and that the man actually responsible for his father's murder is Mr. Fixx, Powers' personal assistant and bodyguard. Terry goes to Bruce for help, but Bruce refuses, feeling he is too old and too weak to be of any use. Terry subsequently steals the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes all of Terry's efforts and vehemently demands he return the suit (at one point even paralyzing the suit while Terry is wearing it in the midst of a fight), but Terry convinces Bruce to let him take on the Batman mantle, partially by drawing on the fact they both lost a parent to criminals, and subsequently defeats Mr. Fixx. During the battle, Powers is exposed to the chemical and forced to flee into hiding to receive treatment, which subsequently mutates him into a radiation-emitting entity, Blight, though he uses artificial skin to hide the accident. Realizing that crime and corruption are running rampant in Gotham without Batman's presence, Bruce offers Terry the chance to assume the role of Batman.

TigerSharks

From the makers of Thundercats and Silverhawks, comes an aquatic adventure team, the TigerSharks!

The series follows a team of powered up man/marine form hybrids called the "TigerSharks". The members of the TigerShark team were humans who had to use a device called the Fish Tank in order to transform into their powered-up marine forms and enter it once again to revert into their human forms. The TigerSharks' base was a spaceship that could also go underwater. The ship was called the SARK and contained the Fish Tank, along with other research facilities.
The action took place in the fictional world of Water-O (pronounced Wah-tare-oh), which was covered almost completely by water. The planet was inhabited by a race of fish-men called the Waterians. The TigerSharks arrived there on a research mission and ended up serving as the protectors of the planet against the evil T-Ray, who had arrived there beforehand.

Silver Surfer

Now joining the BCC, we have Marvel's intergalactic protector, the Silver Surfer!

While inspired by various Silver Surfer comic book stories, the series alters the original mythos in some key ways. The most notable change is the removal of the Fantastic Four from The Galactus Trilogy, the story that serves as the foundation for the first three episodes of the series. In this version, the Silver Surfer, who has had the memories of Norrin Radd partially restored to him by Thanos, protects Earth from the hunger of Galactus because it reminds him of Zenn-La.

Many other characters from Marvel's cosmic stable appear in the series, including The Watcher, Ego the Living Planet, Pip the Troll, Drax the Destroyer, and Adam Warlock. Most of the characters featured in the series differ from their printed-page incarnations. For instance, Thanos serves Lady Chaos rather than Death and Adam Warlock is an alien supersoldier designed to fight the Kree.

The series utilizes a serialized storytelling approach. As with many Silver Surfer comic book stories, episodes tackle a range of social and political issues, including imperialism, slavery, non-violence, and environmental degradation.!

Garfield and Friends

Let's spend some time with the fat, lazy, lasagne loving feline and his pals in Garfield and Friends!

Cartoon series based on Jim Davis' popular comic strip. The star of the series was Garfield, a lazy feline whose only desires in life were lasange, catnaps and kicking his hapless canine companion, Odie, off the table. The show also starred Garfield's hopelessly-single owner, Jon Arbuckle. Each Garfield adventure featured Garfield's adventures and run-ins with the cast of semi-regulars (including Nermal, an irksome kitty; Binky the Clown and the mice which inhabited Jon's house); most were satires on American life and pop culture.
Each show also featured "U.S. Acres," (Orson's Farm outside of the U.S.) another of Davis' strips; this strip was set in a barnyard and featured the adventures of such characters as Orson Pig, Wade Duck, Roy Rooster, Bo and Lanolin the sheep, Booker the chick and Sheldon, an unhatched egg.

The Adventures of T.Rex

What is better than being a Tyrannosaurus Rex? How about being one that is in a band, fights crime and has awesome powers? It's The Adventures of T.Rex!!

The show features five musical Tyrannosaurus brothers who played to sold-out crowds as a vaudeville group for the Dragon company owned by the beautiful and wealthy Myrna while also secretly fighting crime as "T-REX," masterminded by Professor Edison.
Set in a world of anthropomophic dinosaurs, brothers Bernie (blue), Bruno (pink), Bubba (green), Buck (yellow) and Bugsy (purple) were born with special powers to help fight crime. Each brother's special power was related to a specific part of their anatomy; Bernie's legs, Bruno's arms, Bubba's tail, Buck's mouth and teeth, and Bugsy's telekinetic eyes. The group rode out on their Rexmobile to battle “Big Boss” Graves, crime kingpin of Rep City (the show's setting), and his evil organization, The Corporation. Kid sister Ginger was part of the singing group, but didn’t know about her brothers’ secret identities.

Starcom - The U.S. Space Force

Based upon the toy line of the same name, which featured Magna-Lock technology (remember that!?) comes the short lived 90's cartoon, Starcom!

The evil members of Shadow Force, led by Emperor Dark, were trying to take over the cosmos, and it was up to Starcom to stop them. Young hero Col. James “Dash” Derringer, an ace Starcom pilot, was the star of the series, and several of his teammates were family members. He was also backed up by the resourceful ace pilot John “Slim” Griffin, whose niece was yet another Starcom pilot. Other heroes on the Starcom side included Col. Paul “Crowbar” Corbin and Admiral Franklin Brinkley. The show had very high quality production, with top notch animation and relatively mature subject matter and dialog.
Together, the members of Starcom fought Dark’s legions of robotic minions, flying into battle in a fleet of advanced spacecraft.

Spider-Man - The Animated Series (1994)

Been a while since the ol' web-head made an appearance on the BCC, so here is his 90's series! It's Spider-Man!

The series focuses on Spider-Man and his alter ego Peter Parker during his college years at Empire State University. As the story begins, Peter has already gained his superpowers and is a part-time freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. The show features most of Spider-Man's classic villains, including the Kingpin, the Green Goblin, the Lizard, the Shocker, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, the Scorpion, Rhino, the Vulture, the Chameleon, and Venom. Over the course of the series the single Peter contends with the romantic love interests of Mary Jane Watson, Felicia Hardy and her alter ego, the Black Cat. The show also features appearances from various other Marvel superheroes including the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Blade, Doctor Strange, the Punisher, and Captain America.

Fun Fact - The theme song for the series (including the lyrics) was performed by Joe Perry of Aerosmith!

The Girl from Tomorrow

A classic Austrailian sci-fi series for you now with The Girl From Tomorrow!

In the year 3000, the human race is in a state of Utopia. The major challenge facing them is continuing rebuilding the Earth after The Great Disaster, a catastrophic event that took place in 2500 and nearly destroyed the entire Earth. In order to investigate its causes, a scientist named Tulista is sent to the past using the Time Capsule, a device created by a scientist named Bruno. Upon the capsule's return, Tulista is held hostage by Silverthorn, a criminal from the year 2500, who is intent on conquering the future. Realizing that even though the year 3000 does not have weapons per se, his own weapons are no match to the superior technology of the Transducer, he manages to take Alana, Tulista's student, hostage, and escapes into the past, where he figures he will have a better chance. Arriving in 1990, Alana escapes, and later meets a teenager named Jenny Kelly, whose help she enlists in order to get back to the Capsule before it returns automatically to the future, leaving her stranded in the past. After thinking that the Capsule was destroyed, Jenny and Alana discover that it has been seized by Silverthorn, who is building his power and making vast amounts of money by using information from the Capsule's database, and will therefore not allow Alana to use it to return to her own time. Along with the help of Jenny's family and her teacher, Alana and Jenny must devise a plan to retrieve the Capsule while foiling Silverthorn's plans, so that Alana can return home to the year 3000.

The Adventures of Sir Prancelot

Who knows what could happen when you are an eccentric inventor-knight who heads for the Crusades in the Holy Land!  It's The Adventures of Sir Prancelot!

To escape both his bank manager and his overbearing wife Lady Histeria, Prancelot decides to join the crusades. He is dismayed when he learns that Histeria intends to accompany him and eventually the entire household - including the children Sim and Sue, the miserly majordomo Girth, a cockney minstrel (who is also the show's narrator) and several serfs - set sail for adventure. They repeatedly fall foul of the dastardly Count Otto "The Blot" but always escape by some contrivance of Sir Prancelot himself. After many unlikely adventures they arrive in the Holy Land to discover they are 50 years too late. After a final showdown with Count Otto they return to England in a rocket ship also invented by Sir Prancelot.
The Sir Prancelot animation came from the same stable as Captain Pugwash and was in a similar style.

Extreme Dinosaurs

Spinning out of Street Sharks in the most extreme way, come the Extreme Dinosaurs!

The series starred a Tyrannosaurus, a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, and a Pteranodon that were transformed into super warriors by an interdimensional criminal named Argor Zardok. They rebelled against the alien criminal and do battle with Argor's second group of warriors known as the evil Raptors. Eventually, the Raptors' objective is to cause global warming by increasing the Earth's temperature, which will make life on earth more comfortable for reptiles.

Oggy and the Cockroaches

How do you cope when you are plagued by pesky cockroaches? Watch Oggy now and take a few clues as how not to do it!! It's Oggy and the Cockroaches!

The show centers on Oggy, a content, blue cat, who would prefer to spend his days watching television and eating - if not for the three roaches in the household: Joey, Dee Dee and Marky (named after members of the punk group Ramones). The trio seems to enjoy making Oggy's life miserable, which involves mischief ranging from (in most cases) plundering his refrigerator to such awkward things like hijacking the train Oggy just boarded. Oggy usually finds creatures accompanying him to the end of the episode, such as crabs, clams, a horse, a very technologically advanced child, a puppy, and an octopus. However, it's not always Oggy who wins.

The cartoon relies on slapstick humour, much like its "ancestor", Tom and Jerry, only amplifying the level of extremities up a notch. While traditional slapstick cartoon characters prefer dropping anvils and pianos on each other, this show sometimes uses buses or submarines. Despite these, however, most gags are easily accessible and enjoyable for younger viewers. Since dialogue is kept to a minimum, the humour is entirely visual.

Jumanji - The Series

In honour of Robin Williams who sadly passed away yesterday, I bring you the cartoon spinoff one one of his great family movies, Jumanji!

While it followed the movie's plot, there were a few changes such as the exclusion of Bonnie Hunt's character Sarah Whittle and the age and relationship of the policeman Carl Bentley (played by David Alan Grier in the movie) was changed somewhat. Van Pelt appears in some episodes. Each turn, the player was given a "game clue" and then sucked into the jungle until they solved their clue. Robin Williams' character Alan was stuck in Jumanji because he had never seen his clue. Judy and Peter would help Alan try to leave the game providing the characters' motivation during the series. Also, Peter would sometimes be transformed into various animals whenever he cheated, sometimes using the abilities of whatever animal he becomes to an advantage.

Insektors

There's a war going on in the undergrowth, a war hidden from our eyes, but of you look carefully you find the Insektors!

Insektors is a 90’s Children’s TV computer generated cartoon, which follows a character called Flynn who was found as a baby by the Verigreens and raised as their own.
The Verigreens live in a beautiful place full of enormous flowers and colour. But all is not not well in this wonderful place, because nearby lives a group called the Kruds. They live underground in a place where everything is brown and no one laughs or has fun. They especially don't like the Verigreens with all their flowers and colours and their main aim is to cut down all the flowers and turn them all into Kruds.

Storybook International

I am a storyteller and my stories must be told... It's Storybook International!

The show famously began with an animated title sequence with a troubadour singing the theme song, accompanied by a friendly anthropomorphic fox. The original version was sung in a traditional English folk style, but subsequent international versions had different versions of the song. Notably the US version replaced the line "In England I am John" with "In America I'm John".
The weekly, half-hour show was a collection of folk tales and fairy stories from all over the world, based on an anthology of stories for children published by Gollancz in 1981, edited by Veronica Kruger. Filmed in such locales as Russia, Ireland and Scandinavia, the series' live-action playlets were based on stories which originated in England, Czechoslovakia, France, Romania, Turkey, Wales, Israel, Norway, China, Africa, India and elsewhere. A few of the stories were campfire legends derived from the Native Americans of New England and the Maori of New Zealand.

Vicky the Viking

It's taken a lot of time to find this show, but finally it's here for you all to enjoy! It's Vicky the Viking!

The series' main character is Vicky, son of Halvar, chief of the Viking village of Flake. Unlike his village fellows - including most of the other boys of his age - Vicky is blessed with a sharp and imaginative mind which helps his fellow Vikings out of many tight situations, including rival Viking lord Sven the Terrible. Certain results of his intellectual approach shown in the series and the film adaptation include building a makeshift catapult to beat his father in a stone-ferrying contest, fitting their longship with kites to make it glide through the air, and using a small sawfish to cut an escape hole through a wooden door.

The Adventure Game

Time for an intergalactic journey to the planet Arg, to take part in The Adventure Game!

The story in each show was that the two celebrity contestants and a member of the public had travelled by space ship to the planet Arg. Their overall task varied with each series. For example, the team might be charged with finding a crystal needed to power their ship to return to Earth. The programme is often considered to have been a forerunner of The Crystal Maze.
Arg was inhabited by shapeshifting dragons known as Argonds. As a reference to this, most proper nouns in the programme, including Argond, were anagrams of the word dragon. All Argonds shifted shape within the first few minutes before the contestants arrived, most to human form to avoid scaring them.
The contestants had to complete a number of tasks in order to achieve their overall goal (e.g. regain their crystal and return to their ship). Many tasks involved the drogna, a small transparent plastic disc containing a solid geometric figure, which was the currency of Arg. The value of a drogna was its numbered position in the visible spectrum multiplied by the number of sides of the figure. For example, a red circle is worth one unit, an orange circle is worth two units, a red triangle and a yellow circle are both worth three, and so on.

The Red Hand Gang

Time for some crime solving kids now with The Red Hand Gang!

The Red Hand Gang consists of 5 children and are like a modern Famous 5. The gang is named after the red hand that they leave on walls to mark their territory and show that they have been there. The gang consists of Frankie, JR, Doc, Joanne, Lil Bill and not forgetting Boomer the dog. They have even built their own club house, on some waste land, where they all hang out.
Now the Red Hand Gang have an uncanny knack of solving mysteries and battling criminals. Whenever they get to a dead end in one of their investigations, they all regroup and discuss their next plan of action. This usually results in one of them coming up with a bright idea to help with their investigations.

The Adventures of Spot

He's small, fluffy and very inquisitive. He's also the cutest puppy around! It's Spot!

Spot is a young puppy that lives with his parents, and likes to help them around the house. He loves to discover what things are and sings songs about what he sees. Spot enjoys solving mysteries. Such as the time he found a key and wondered what lock it would open. He tried every lock he could find and eventually found out that it fitted the lock on his father’s tool box. He even has a favourite bone. He lost it once and searched everywhere. Once he found it, he made sure he’d never lose it again, by tying a piece of string to it and then dragging it around (boy, he must like that bone!).
Spot loves to play with his friends especially down at the playground. He also likes playing with all the toys he has, especially his bath toys. His favourite is his boat. Like most children, Spot doesn’t like to walk downstairs, and instead bounces down the stairs on his bum. After he’s spends most of the day running round and playing with his friends, its time to curls up in his basket and go fast asleep, with his orange teddy bear.

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3

Based upon the Nintendo game of the same name, comes the animated series of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3!

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 focuses on Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool, who reside in the Mushroom World. Most of the episodes revolve around the four characters' efforts to prevent the attacks made by King Koopa and his seven Koopalings to take over Princess Toadstool's Mushroom Kingdom.
Since the show was based on Super Mario Bros. 3, the enemies and power-ups were also seen in the show. In addition to being more faithful to the Mario gameplay, the series was given an established sense of continuity, something that the previous series (Super Mario Bros Super Show) lacked. The show was also known for having many of its episodes set in "the real world", with "actual" human beings appearing from time to time. Episodes took place in locations such as London, Paris, Venice, New York City, Cape Canaveral, Los Angeles and even Washington, D.C.

Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends

We have all heard about the Roswell incident in the 1940's, but what if that event itself was a cover up for something even more sinister? Find out in the Roswell Conspiracies!

On the show, the Roswell UFO Incident which is part of a conspiracy theory is portrayed as being a man made phenomenon. It was set up by humans to deflect popular attention from the truth. The unidentified flying object was a prop; the body of a little green or grey man was a dummy; the witnesses to the crash were plants; as were the Air Force investigators. In fact the whole shadow world surrounding Area 51 was nothing but a distraction from the fact that the aliens had landed long ago and there were known incidents of their desire to attack, assimilate and/or destroy the human race.
These known incidents could be found in legend, myth and folklore of beings so strange and alien that they became the fabric of what human beings thought of when they thought of being frightened; vampires, werewolves, banshees, manitou, evil spirits, etc. As human beings progressed into the Industrial Age the attacks seemed to lessen, but recently they'd begun to go on the rise.

The story begins as Nick Logan, a bounty hunter, gets tapped to hunt down what he thinks is a regular bounty, but things don't stay regular for long. When his next bounty turns out to be a very unusual girl, he soon finds himself involved in something both incredibly outrageous but also potentially satisfying. There are aliens among us and he can possibly play a part in helping to protect the earth. His new circumstances could also help him discover the truth behind his biological father's disappearance. Raised and trained by a stepfather in the know, Nick is one of a few human beings born with an innate sense of seeing through alien deceptions; most of the aliens can morph into human form at will. This ability gives him a unique advantage. In time he discovers his father and grandfather shared this advantage too.
Nick ends up teaming with Sh'lainn Blaze, a rogue Banshee who wants to be the bridge that helps humans and her species co-exist on the planet together. The Banshee haven't fared well in an age of cold iron and Sh'lainn seems aware that they are plotting some form of 'final' solution. Together they become agents under James Rinaker the current Executive Officer of The Global Alliance, an international agency responsible for keeping the secret from the public and keeping the aliens in check by preventing the more aggressive and volatile ones from hunting human beings.

Fireman Sam

Deep in the Welsh valleys, there is a man you can always depend on to get you out of a jam. It's Fireman Sam!

Into the Labyrinth

There is mystery, magic and time travel as we venture Into the Labyrinth!

The series was based around a struggle between two timeless, feuding sorcerers - the noble Rothgo and the evil Belor. Each aimed to obtain possession of the Nidus, a magical object of limitless power. The Nidus actually belonged to Rothgo and was the source of his power, but it was stolen by Belor who used her own magic to send it through time and space so that Rothgo would not be able to find it. Without the power of the Nidus, Rothgo would ultimately die. The first series followed a group of modern-day children (Phil, Helen and Terry) who find Rothgo, almost lifeless, in a labyrinthine cave. Rothgo sends the children through different periods of time to search for the Nidus, which is disguised as a different object in each time period and can only be seen in reflection. The children arrive at various points of history (the French Revolution, Ancient Greece, English Civil War, etc.), in which they find an earlier version of Rothgo himself, playing a character from each period. Together they search for the Nidus, but their attempts are constantly thwarted by Belor who also appears in each time period disguised as a character herself.
Just as the children are about to retrieve the Nidus, Belor uses her magic to hurl it further through time (using her magical incantation "I deny you the Nidus!" as a bolt of lightning emanates from her fingertips). Belor cannot actually touch the Nidus whilst Rothgo still lives, and so she can only hope to deny him possession of the artefact until he eventually dies.

Children of the Stones

Critically renowned as being one of the scariest childrens shows ever made, this morning I bring you Children of the Stones!

Scientist Adam Brake and his son Matthew come to the quiet village of Milbury to study the 4000 year-old stone circle that surrounds it. But the stones seem to hold some kind of ancient power, one that the mysterious Mr Hendrick hopes to tap into and that holds all of the villagers in its thrall.

Tumbledown Farm

A trip to the farm is always a fun adventure for kids, and this one has even more surprises in store! It's Tumbledown Farm!

Farmer Dick (Dick King-Smith) invites his grand-daughter Georgina to Tumbledown Farm, where she makes friends with all the puppet characters and animals who live there in a world of fun and fantasy.
Dick King-Smith was a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher and author. He was the writer of the novel the Sheep Pig, which was later turned into the movie Babe, as well as The Queen's Nose and Harry's Mad, both of which became children's TV series in the mid 90's.