Mary, Mungo and Midge

A big step back in time now to 1969, where we climb to the top of a block of flats to meet Mary, Mungo and Midge!

The show featured the adventures of a girl called Mary, her dog Mungo, and her pet mouse Midge, who lived in a tower block in a busy town.
This show was one of the first children's shows in the UK to reflect urban living. The programme showed Mary having adventures in a busy town, as opposed to in a wood, forest or other rural setting. The two featured animals were likely to be familiar to town dwellers, as opposed to the array of talking wildlife usually seen in children's television.
In each episode, the three of them would descend in the lift from their flat in the tower block. After their adventures they would return home, Midge would press the button for the lift back to the correct floor, by standing on Mungo's nose.

Beast Wars: Transformers

The next evolution in Transformers is here! Beast Wars are upon us!

The two main factions of "Transformers" in Beast Wars are descendants of the two main factions in the original cartoon: the Maximals are the descendants of the Autobots and the Predacons are the descendants of the Decepticons. (In the sequel series Beast Machines, the process during which Autobots and Decepticons became Maximals and Predacons is referred to as "The Great Upgrade.")
The leader of the Predacon team is Megatron. He and his forces are a splinter group on the hunt for powerful crystals known as Energon, to be used in a ploy for power and dominance. They do this with the aid of an artifact known as the Golden Disk and Megatron's stolen ship, the Darksyde, which is equipped with a transwarp drive. A Maximal exploration ship, the Axalon, led by Optimus Primal, is sent to stop them. Together the ships plunge through a time/space phenomenon created by the transwarp device during their battle in space, and crash-land on a mysterious planet.
The planet is found to be rich in deposits of raw Energon, in such extreme amounts that it proves to be poisonous to both factions' robot forms, forcing them to take on alternate organic forms for protection until their robot forms are needed. Thus the robots take on the beast forms of recognizable animals including mammals, birds, dinosaurs, arachnids, and insects.
The teams are divided between the "good" Maximals and the "evil" Predacons. Dinobot changes sides, starting as a Predacon and becoming a Maximal. Additionally certain "Predacons" like Inferno and Blackarachnia were created from Maximal protoforms, but were fitted with Predacon shell programs, fighting instead for the Predacons. For the Maximals, the emphasis is on team spirit and good-natured arguing, especially from Rattrap, but the Predacons argue and battle for leadership, which impairs their effectiveness against the Maximals.

Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot

A cool comic book adaptation now, from the comic book legend Frank Miller, it's Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot!

The series focuses on Rusty, the most advanced robot ever built, with a human emotional grid and "nucleoprotonic" powers. The plan is that Rusty will replace the Big Guy, a massive war robot that is the Earth's last line of defence against all threats alien or domestic. However, Rusty is too inexperienced to stand on his own, so the Big Guy is re-commissioned to teach Rusty the way of trade. Rusty idolizes the Big Guy, regarding him as the best robot ever. In reality, the Big Guy is actually a mindless battle suit piloted by Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter, who poses as his chief mechanic. The Big Guy's secret is known only to a few, and many situations involve Lt. Hunter's clever and impromptu excuses to hide the fact from Rusty for two reasons: that the truth could overload Rusty's emotional grid; and Rusty has trouble keeping secrets.

Popeye and Son

One of the ultimate excuses parents used on children to make them 'eat your greens' was that they'd be as strong as Popeye! Presenting to you from 1987, it's Popeye and Son!

Popeye and his long-time girlfriend, Olive Oyl are married and have a son named Popeye Junior.[1] He has inherited Popeye's ability to gain superhuman strength from eating spinach; however, Popeye Jr. hates the taste of spinach (preferring hamburgers), much to his father's disappointment, although he eats spinach to boost his strength. Popeye's rival Bluto has a wife of his own and they also have a son named Tank. Like old times, Popeye and Bluto are rivals, so goes to their sons.

Earthfasts

Morning Everyone, it's time for another Saturday Morning Serial! This time I give you Earthfasts from 1994, starring Paul Nicholls!

The series was based on the children's book of the same name by the author William Mayne. The show focuses on two friends Keith and David, who stumble upon a weird drumming sound underneath one of the hills that they live near. The hillside opens up one day and the friends find a drummer boy inside of the hill. The drummer boy is from the 18th century and is completely confused on how he came to the 20th century. All three boys must figure out where the drummer boy came from, and how to return him to his home.

David discovers that the candle the drummer boy left behind gives off cold rather than heat and does not burn down. Other strange things are happening - standing stones are moving on the moors, the ground is shaking and all the pigs have disappeared. Obsessed by the candle, David heads underground and does not return. Keith tries to search for his friend, and during the search has a strange encounter with ghostly warriors.