The Blobs (Animated) (DVD)

...famous for their characters from the Beano and Dandy. Based in Dundee, just 17 miles down the road from me - it's interesting to see some more of this companies more unusually and not so well heard of creations.

I know many of you will not have heard of the Blobs and there isn't really much background information available so I'll try to be as thorough as I can.

The characters are all Blobs of paint from Paintbox Land ...
...specifically relevant to me at the moment because I am constantly being handed paintings from my 3 year old son after finishing nursery and I have to guess what they are. I'm sure anyone who has had kids has gone through this themselves. You start off asking questions and they sometimes give you clues but occasionally they just come out with "Oh mum!!! Can't you tell." with that disappointed look on their face because to them it is sooooo ... more

This series originally derived from a set of pre-school books - each of whom featured a different colourful character printed by DC Thomson who of course are more famous for their characters from the Beano and Dandy. Based in Dundee, just 17 miles down the road from me - it's interesting to see some more of this companies more unusually and not so well heard of creations.

I know many of you will not have heard of the Blobs and there isn't really much background information available so I'll try to be as thorough as I can.

The characters are all Blobs of paint from Paintbox Land where they live. Of course this goes into the imaginations of children and is specifically relevant to me at the moment because I am constantly being handed paintings from my 3 year old son after finishing nursery and I have to guess what they are. I'm sure anyone who has had kids has gone through this themselves. You start off asking questions and they sometimes give you clues but occasionally they just come out with "Oh mum!!! Can't you tell." with that disappointed look on their face because to them it is sooooo obvious.

Well for every colour in this animation there is a different character and I will start off by telling you a little about each one.

Fizzy Orange is a mad blob who is always running around helping others and sings a lovely little song 'I'm Fizzy, I'm Dizzy, I'm always in a tizzy, I never stop until I drop, that's why they call me Fizzy'.

Royal Blue is the king of paintbox land and whenever there is a problem that no one else can fix the gang look to him for ideas.

Princess Powder blue is the kings daughters who looks after puppy purple.

Grumbly Green is funnily enough always finding something to complain about but he has a good heart in there somewhere.

Primrose Yellow has a nice sunny disposition but does seem to be a little bit self absorbed.

Poppy Red is a lovely flower who pops up to surprise people all the time whether they like it or not

Floury White is the baker although there is Ghostly White too, a lonely ghost who just wants to be friends with everyone but can't stop scaring them instead.

Inky Black is the local witch who flies around on her broomstick with her naughty cat Whiskers.

Mousey Brown is the timid one of the bunch and is very jumpy in case of any cats being about.

Puppy Purple is the friendly, silly dog who loves to chase his tail and run about in everyone's way.

Piggy pink drives the Paintbox Express Train.

Constable Blue is the policeman who takes care of everyone in the land.

These characters are all brought to life by the wonderful voice talents of Jane Horrocks who is better known for her roles in films such as Little Voice and for being the voice of Babs in Chicken Run and Donner in Robbie the Reindeer's Hooves of Fire. She has a great way of giving each one a very different personality and this is what makes these 10 minute animations so good.

They are aimed at under 5s but you will soon be singing along to the annoyingly catchy theme tune which is played at the start of each of the 5 episodes on this dvd.

In Purple Puppy Cat we find puppy purple thinking he is no good as a dog as he hasn't found his bark yet. He sounds so much like a cat when he yowls that mousey brown gets a fright and this gives him the idea of becoming a cat. He gets rejected by the other cats in Paintbox land though and finds a way of getting his own back. Lovely story which delights my son as puppy runs around meowing.

Ghostly White's Ghastly Night happens when he tries to make friends with Primrose Yellow and Poppy Red but when he invites them for tea he scares them. He thinks the moonlight makes him more scary but soon finds that things aren't any better during the day until King Royal Blue takes charge.

Fizzy Orange loses his fizziness while doing loads of helpful jobs for his friends which means he wastes away to nearly nothing. Despite all the efforts the King makes it's up to Inky Black to provide them with the answer for returning his original fizz.

The Homeless Giant arrives in Paintbox Land and gets in everybody's way as Fizzy strives to find him the perfect home. He manages to upset most of the neighbourhood and gets very upset himself before finally finding a place to rest.

Hats Off For Grumbly Green is all about the problems of finding a hat to fit properly when you have an odd shaped head. Even traffic cones and witches hats have their problems as he soon finds out before Floury White has the perfect answer for him.

If you have young children I would definately recommend this as a lovely form of entertainment as well as teaching them about colours. We think this benefitted our son in colour recognition as well as the Tweenies of course. He loves the brightness and the funny voices and has really started getting the humour of it all now too as he chuckles away at the silly songs along the way for various characters. You can get it for £5 at Play so it's not going to break the bank and could make a nice little stocking filler. 

...less