Postman Pat - Great Big Party (DVD)

...the 25th anniversary of the Postman Pat series running on BBC. The first generation of little Postman Pat fans are all grown up now and some of them may be buying this DVD for their own children. The first ever episode, titled Pat's Finding Day, aired on 16th September 1981. The Great Big Party DVD was released on 18th September 2006, exactly 25 years later.

Postman Pat Then and Now
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...the DVD:

Postman Pat's Great Big Party
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It's Pat's birthday but everyone appears to have forgotten about it. He's feeling a bit down and sorry for himself going on his rounds delivering letters in Greendale. When he arrives at Ted's Farm, his final delivery that day, a great big surpise party awaits him, but not everything goes according to plan!

Postman Pat The ... more

The Anniversary
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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Postman Pat series running on BBC. The first generation of little Postman Pat fans are all grown up now and some of them may be buying this DVD for their own children. The first ever episode, titled Pat's Finding Day, aired on 16th September 1981. The Great Big Party DVD was released on 18th September 2006, exactly 25 years later.

Postman Pat Then and Now
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During these 25 years the imaginary village of Greendale has seen a lot of changes. The animation has been greatly improved, the set completely re-designed, some characters sadly forgotten and some new ones introduced. Whatever happened to Granny Dryden, Miss Hubbard, Major Forbes and Sam Waldron? Who knows? New characters have arrived on the scene: Ajay, the station master with his whole family, the new vet called Amy who appears on this DVD for the first time, Bonnie, Mrs Goggins' new dog, and of course the Greendale Rocket, Greendale's very own steam train. Somewhere along the line, the sleepy village of 25 years ago has turned into an adventure playground. I must admit I somewhat miss the old-fashioned little English village, even though there was not much happening in Greendale in the 80's and 90's. In a way, the quality of the animation and visual effects make up for the loss, and let's face it, the series is made for a new generation of children and they want robots, flying saucers, dinosaur hunts and pirate treasures and of course great big parties!

The Great Big Party DVD
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This DVD includes five episodes, all with a party theme. They had all been broadcast on CBeebies prior to release, except the title episode, which seems to have been made specifically for this DVD. Here's a short synopsis of all five episodes in the order that they appear on the DVD:

Postman Pat's Great Big Party
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It's Pat's birthday but everyone appears to have forgotten about it. He's feeling a bit down and sorry for himself going on his rounds delivering letters in Greendale. When he arrives at Ted's Farm, his final delivery that day, a great big surpise party awaits him, but not everything goes according to plan!

Postman Pat The Magician
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It's Mira's birthday this time and she's very excited. She's having a party later on with all her friends and family. What she really wanted was a magician, but her mum couldn't find one. Pat has secretely been practicing his magic tricks with a bit of help from Jess, but can they pull it off?

Postman Pat and the Surpise Present
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Yet another birthday, this time Dr Gilbertson's. Pat offers her a lift to visit one of her patients, as she doesn't have a car. Pat thinks it's not right that she should have to walk long distances to see her patients and comes up with an idea. Ted has on old car in his junk yard. The question is can they get it going again?

Postman Pat and the Flying Post
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If you haven't guessed yet, yes another birthday. Mira's baby brother is one year old and there will be lots of balloons to entertain the kids. Ted's blowing them up with helium and ties them to Pat's post bag to keep them grounded. I don't need to tell you what happens, do I?

Postman Pat and the Potluck Picnic
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The Greendale Rocket is 100 years old today and this calls for a celebration. There's not much time to get ready so everyone chips in and brings something to the party. Pat's special surprise is a fireworks display but it's touch and go whether the rockets arrive in time for the grand finale.

My Opinion
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Well, these are probably not the best ever Postman Pat episodes, but they're good enough. I especially enjoyed the Surprise Present and the Flying Post ones. My little boy loves all of them and that's the main thing. He laughes out loud when something funny happens, and that's well worth the £8.00 I spent on it!

DVD running time: 1hr 15mins

The extras include a Sing-Along and a Party Guessing Game. Used in your computer, the DVD gives some party game ideas and some printable pages to colour in.

Distributed by Entertainment Rights PLC

Some of the factual information in my review came from this site: http://www.tv.com/postman-pat/show/24841/top.html?tag=subtabs;top

Please note that the image appearing on Ciao is NOT the cover of the Great Big Party DVD. I've posted a photo of the real cover below the review. 

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