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.