Happy Birthday Siriol: Celebrating the Welsh Disney’s 30th!
Part One Of Three: Anime-chy In the UK!
Andrew Gregson, Animation Nation.com, 2013.
Throughout this week we will be discussing each decade of output that this little studio has presented to the UK, both from their own creations to the dubbing of various foreign pieces of animation. A special feature will be held on their biggest and most infamous distribution as to squeeze it in here would be doing everyone a disservice. And the way in which the little company that could has influenced one of the giant’s of anime cannot be underestimated! [1]
It begins, as with many a British story, with a child in need of comfort and a father willing to provide it. With young Richard, whom he was now stepfather too, suffering from a fear of the dark, advertising copywriter and television producer Mike Young came up with the idea of
Superted to assure his new stepson that there was no need to fear the dark. Soon the stories were told to other children in the school and Young created books based upon the character. Even further than that, he and other friends went into partnership and created Siriol Productions. It means cheerful in Welsh, which suits the style of animation and story right to a tee. [2]
Superted’s success led to Mike Young and Siriol getting several contacts with studios around the world, each interested in dubbing the stories of the little bear and his secret magic word. With the slow but steady arrival of anime to shores in the West however, it was Mike who began making bids on other shows to be brought to Wales and to England. [3] He would then negotiate with American companies for the movies and episodes to be shown over there, even as filler getting a pretty penny from it all. And pretty much all of them have been dubbed here ever since, both in English and in Welsh. Siriol is credited as bringing a great deal of business to Wales, a country that might not have even been considered as an investment opportunity. There are no theme parks here, no great or grand rides to startle kids or adults, and it will be this year that the first stage shows will be put together for the entertainment of a whole new generation. And yet in it’s own strange and magical way, Siriol is the Disney of Wales. [4]
Here are just a few of the wonders, both home-grown and well-travelled, that Siriol has given to the English and Welsh speaking worlds.
Superted
This is a story about an ordinary teddy bear, but when he was made they found something wrong with him, and threw him away like a piece of rubbish into an old dark storeroom. Then, from outer space, a spotty-man brought him to life with his cosmic dust. He took him to a magic cloud where Mother Nature gave him special powers! That bear became…Superted!
I’m sorry, but humor me, the spiel is burnt into my brain and has been since I was a child. [5]
Yes, in the style of many British shows of the 80’s the normal and the fantastical clashed together to form this wonderfully strange story. Superted (Derek Griffiths) is aided by said spotty-man who is named…er, Spotty (Jon Pertwee) in stopping dastardly doings and preventing any problems coming to the children of planet Earth and in some occasions beyond. Their enemies included Texas Pete (Victor Spinetti), Bulk (Roy Kinnear) and Skeleton (Melvyn Hayes) and if you’re wondering what the punchline to a joke about a teddy-bear, an alien, a cowboy, a fat man and a very camp skeleton is, then please write in because we have been waiting for that nigh on thirty years! You can thank this series for the studio’s growth over the years.
Over the years, Superted has returned in several forms. First came the ill-fated Americanization by Hanna Barbera entitled
The Further Adventures of Superted that was redubbed in the UK in 1990. [6] Then, repaying the favour, the Japanese had their own turn with the bear in a movie entitled
Superted and the King of Nightmares in 1993. [7] It’s fitting really that Superted should battle such a frightening foe given his creation to assuage Young’s son of his fear of darkness, though this one gave many 90’s kids the frights. Four years later, Young would produce a four season sequel in Wales entitled
Superted’s Adventures in Time which has plenty of puns and action coupled with a good starting point for any budding historians. Most recently as of the time of writing is the first homegrown film
Superted’s Grand Adventure which takes the bear out into the cosmos. However a new television series has been greenlit to appear for the 30th anniversary, with Derek Griffiths stepping down and passing the role onto the younger Alfred Enoch [8]. This is the third such recasting necessary, with Pertwee’s death in 1996 resulting in celebrity impersonator Jon Culshaw taking over and Spinetti’s just last year seeing veteran voice actor Rob Rackshaw step into the cowboy’s shoes. We’ve listened to the first few episodes, and the lad has smashed it!
Dogtanian and the Muskehounds [9]
If you’ve read the original Three Musketeers, then much of this story will be obvious to you. A young man—er, dog travels to Paris to become a member of the King’s Musketeers. He meets three such men, falls in love with a young woman who serves as maid to the Queen of France and has to deal with the machinations of the Cardinal of the fair city who desires a war with England. Just replace everyone with dogs, add an annoying rat as a side-kick, maybe lighten up a little bit of the darkness in the story and add the most aggravatingly catchy theme song known to man and you’ve got this show. A Japanese-Spanish co-production, the animation is charmingly simple and the voice acting manages to make the cliched lines work. Special praise goes to Siriol regular Sean Barrett pulling triple duty as the Muskehounds and giving each character a distinct voice in the process.
The Unico Films [10]
Aired as television films from 1986 onwards, the films
The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and
Unico in the Island of Magic occupy that special space inside the hearts of eighties kids as both nightmare creators and tearjerkers. Osama Tezuka’s creation is a lovable little unicorn cursed by the Gods and threatened with death. He is rescued by the West Wind who carries him from situation to situation for his own safety. However, every time he must leave a potential home, he has his memory wiped for his own safety. Belaying the cutesy potential is a great deal of creepiness involving the villains and the inevitable heartbreak that comes as the unicorn forgets the friends he has made, though they do not forget what he did for them. Karen Prell plays the role here [11], cast after making one of her many trips to London with the rest of the Muppeteers, and many of the regular actors also play alongside her especially David Collings’s performance as the terrifying Lord Kuruku in the second movie. [12] If you must watch these movies, do so with handkerchiefs ready.
Around the World with Wily Fogg [13]
Another adaptation of a Japanese-Italian production, once again with talking animals taking up the place of their human counterparts. Some things are expanded upon, actual villains are added as in all
Around the World adaptations and there is another annoying rodent side-kick to add comedy. Again, another very catchy theme song for everyone to remember and you have a rather good series. DVD has ruined it somewhat, people will not understand the tension of having to wait a week or so to find out what happened at the end of the last cliff-hanger! Voice acting is good across the board, particularly Robert Powell as the renamed Wily Fogg, Derek Griffiths as Passepartout and Susan Sheridan as Princess Romy.
Sherlock Hound
This show started off as a co-production between Japan and Italy. Much as Dogtanian is, this is
Sherlock Holmes but with canines albeit a heavily watered-down version. Hayao Miyazaki worked on early episodes and his influence is definitely felt throughout. However, when Mike Young won the rights to air these episodes, he started discussing ideas for further episodes with the two companies. In 1986 therefore, RAI, TMS and Siriol began production on the show again. All in all, four additional seasons were produced on-top of the original, which aired in 1985 over in the UK. [14]
With many one-off characters appearing in each episode, the main actors would take up a minimum of two roles beyond their central one every time. Sean Barrett’s suave Sherlock Hound sent the burgeoning furry fandom into a swoon [15], equally so given his kind-hearted portrayal in comparison to the books, while Willie Rushton’s Nigel Bruce-esque performance as Watson was incredibly lovable. Sarah Sutton of Doctor Who fame plays Miss Marie Hudson who was the breakout character of the show. She’s far younger than the character is in the books, and is generally sweet, kind and feminine. She also is a crack shot, can fly a plane far better than anyone else can and is a crack shot with a pistol, particularly in Miyazaki episodes. One condition of the UK produced seasons was more of Miss Hudson being a badass, and they delivered impressively! [16]
And then of course, there are the villains. Derek Griffiths portrays Professor Moriarty and devours the scenery in such magnificent fashion that he becomes near-impossible to forget. [17] To complete the cast were Jimmy Hibbert and Lee Cornes, the former would play the bumbling and perpetual second banana Inspector Lestrade and the latter would play both Smiley and Todd, Moriarty’s henchmen. In the new seasons, there would be a further addition to the main cast in the form of Irene Adler. Played by Lorelei King, the cocky American was prepared as a counterpoint to Miss Hudson with whom she became the best of friends. [18] Her somewhat androgynous appearance often belayed an aggressive interest in more feminine past-times in a similar fashion to the other female character. The situation as such in Baker Street was that most fans of the show refer to Series 2 through 5 as ‘Sherlock and Marie and John and Irene’ but in the show proper there was nothing to suggest more than very close friendship between all four of them. The strong relationship between the two women was often praised as was their increased involvement in the cases.
The post-UK seasons often tended to adapt more of the original stories albeit with comedic twists and often inserting Moriarty into the plot. But the formula worked and it only ended due to a belief that the show had run it’s course. The show ended with all four members of the team still in Baker Street as happy as ever, while Moriarty and his company were heading towards the Reichenbach Falls on a steamship containing a doomsday weapon. Given their near indestructability everyone is sure that he survived this somehow. And who knows? With rumours circulating of a film coming out soon, perhaps the cackling old wolf has not yet had his curtain call….
The Little Engine that Could [19]
Aired on ITV’s Christmas in 1991 and a favourite on VHS, this little retelling the classic story is frequently ranked as a childhood must. The voice acting, done in America in one of the rare cases of joint production with that country, is excellent as are the songs (Nothing Can Stop Us Now is still burnt into our staff’s heads) and the animation does a good job of being inviting but never too cloying.
Future Boy Conan
In retrospect, Alexander Key really should have been more careful about where he said Miyazaki’s radically altered version of his novel could air. [20] Originally entitled The Incredible Tide, the anime is a smash hit in Japan but not so much to the Key estate. The UK snatched it up around 1988 and recorded it not long afterwards. It’s a pity that Roy Kinnear looks down upon his performance here, for even despite his hurried return from Toledo his take on the character of Lepka, the leader of an organization determined to track down a kind-hearted scientist’s daughter and her two new friends, is really quite something. [21] While falling into obscurity, the recent buzz has given it new life and it will be re-airing for the first time since it’s original run this year.
Under Milk Wood [22]
No student from the early 90’s can forget this 1992 rendition of Dylan Thomas’s play. Using an audio recording done by Richard Burton in the 50’s, the studio weaves together the beautiful acting of the radio stars with the striking animation. In the process they create striking and evocative renditions of the words the poet intended. The play has never come alive in such fashion and this author doubts it will again. Still used today as a tool for English and Drama classes across the Union.
And all of this is without getting into Siriol’s acquisition of that most popular Japanese franchise, bringing it to the UK and giving it a whole new lease on life. But we go into more detail on that next time. A lot of this early work speaks to Mike Young’s own personal belief that ‘soft edge and quality animation can be more appealing to children than any amount of violence’ [23] especially prevalent during the eighties. No doubt it’s the focus upon warm characters and friendship that has made this studio’s early output such a well-remembered part of childhood and beyond! [24]
[1] Originally this was meant to dive into
Lupin the 3rd but that will have to wait until next time. I had more on this subject and that subject than I had intended, and I did not want to do either a disservice.
[2] This is pretty much what happened in OTL! Incidentally, while I have you here, there are other shows produced by this company that I have neglected to mention for the simple reason that there is no great secret to tell of them. They existed probably in a similar form as they did in OTL.
[3] Here’s where the timeline branches off for our Welsh friend. With the animation world getting stirred up around about the time that
Superted enters it’s highest point of popularity, he gets to interact with a lot more people than he would in OTL. He won’t do as he did in OTL and go to America to set up his own company but rather continue to build up this one into a small little powerhouse as opposed to letting it get amalgamated into a bigger company later on down the line.
[4] I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to toot the horn of my home country a little. We get literally nothing, just let us have this!
[5] As it is mine. And none of that is changed from OTL, our superheroes are bloody weird and we’re proud of it!
[6] An OTL creation! Just the weirdest damn thing in my opinion, it’s like if we just nabbed Snagglepuss or Huckleberry Hound and started dubbing them in Cockney Rhyming slang.
[7] Produced by Tezuka Productions, it’s a little similar to the
Unico movies but with the
Superted cast. Thanks to supervision by Young, it’s going to be pretty damn close to the original series in terms of characters so most children won’t clock that it’s a different studio making it until they’re much older.
[8] Enoch is me grabbing a random star out of my ass, I just think his voice would suit the character. It’s pretty close to Griffiths without being a replica. The man he replaced also admitted that he probably can’t play a teddy bear anymore in this really fun little interview he did recently.
https://nation.cymru/culture/voice-of-superted-reveals-how-he-got-drunk-in-pub-before-recordings/
[9] There’s not that much to tell with regards to this, the theme song is based off the original Spanish one so there’ll be no need to change it far from the…obnoxiously catchy one it has in OTL. If you’re curious, be warned it’ll be in your head for a bit. A lot of these are cult classics in the UK in OTL already, but having an official dub instead of it being dubbed in America will make them slightly more popular. Also a lot of these actors did children’s TV over here and Sean Barrett can still be heard in stuff like Xenoblades, this is just my way of giving them a steady pay check here.
[10] Nothing much to say here except that they probably also make their way to the Disney channel as per our timeline? But they do get a bigger audience in the West than they did otherwise. Who knows? Perhaps Unico might even find a new home in the coming years, earlier than OTL….
[11] In OTL this is just a myth caused by confusion over casting. Barbara Goodson played Red Fraggle in the short lived animated
Fraggle Rock series, and she plays Unico. She’s got the voice down pat too which adds to the chaos.
[12] So PSA, I’d actually really recommend you listen to Jan Rabson’s portrayal of Lord Kuruku because not only is it absolutely phenomenal for an eighties to early nineties dub of an anime but it’s…a really good performance in and of itself? I imagine if I had seen this movie when I was younger that I would have been damn near terrified. But David Collings is going to give a damn good try at beating it, using his Charn voice from the old children’s serial
Through the Dragon’s Eye. And that’s…look, this is something that’ll only make sense if you were a child in the UK of the nineties but he’s seriously freaky in that role.
[13] With the exception of the recasting, there’s nothing really to talk about here either. There are sequels to both
Dogtanian and
Wily Fog, both of which are wildly inferior mostly do to forcing the characters into other works of fiction. It’s possible these will get rewritten thanks to Young’s involvement but I’ve yet to decide upon it.
[14] In a similar fashion to how the DVD that sits on my shelf has instrumental versions of the Japanese opening and closings compared to the funkier American song, a similar compromise will be made here for the theme. The show will air alongside the Jeremy Brett
Sherlock Holmes and provide the younger fans that Brett’s show accrued a more accessible alternative.
[15] Taken from the
Thomas and Friends spin-off show
TUGS, this is basically what Hound sounds like. Skip to 1:23 for the scene in question.
[16]: You can very clearly tell when Miyazaki is in the driving seat and when he is not. His weakest episode with her still has her practically breaking the villains with kindness, whereas the strongest episode without him at the helm has her as mere pilot.
[17] This sadly means we have to butterfly away the excellent Hamilton Camp’s acting as the Professor. Never to fear though, for Griffiths is an excellent over-actor. Specifically, his take owes a lot to his OTL role in the
Muzzy series, meant to teach English as a second language, as the evil vizier Corvax. In a rather casual conversation, here he is chewing up the scenery.
[18] There was a character in the first season that I could have twisted into Irene Adler but going for originality works out better.
[19] Yes, somehow this ended up exactly the same, but a little more popular. Practically sums up my writing style, eh?
[20] Truth in television here! Key received an advance copy of the first few episodes and hated what had been done to his novel. He planned to kick up a major fuss if it was brought to North America and, until last year, it wasn’t. Note that he stated America however, and that gives Young a pretty big loophole to dart through. The Key estate will try and sue, but it’ll never progress very far.
[21] You know Roy Kinnear probably as Veruca Salt’s father in the original
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For most of his life he was one of the hardest working character actors, including in the 1970’s
Musketeer films as the comedic relief. In 1988, he was brought back for a reunion movie which had to film parts in Spain. The Toledo mentioned here is the scene of a frightful miscommunication whereupon the cobblestones that the actors were meant to be riding their horses upon were washed thoroughly before shooting. Kinnear was not a natural rider and had one fifteen-minute lesson beforehand. The horse slipped, he fell off and broke his pelvis. He suffered a heart attack in the surgery and died. Richard Lester retired practically once the film was finished, one Paul McCartney concert film not withstanding. Here, Kinnear is called back before that fateful day thanks to a combined miscommunication and ironclad contract with the studio, and no such accident occurs. Lester does not retire either, which might be worth noting.
[22] Based off an OTL film done in 1992. I highly recommend watching it, by the by. It’s an excellent recording by itself, and the animation adds well to it. Some of it’s a little off because it focuses so much on realistic (ish) humans, but a lot of it is also turned to the piece’s advantage. It’s a weird play and one that might be a little Welsh for many people.
[23] Stated originally in this interview here!
https://www.animatormag.com/1984/issue-10/issue-10-page-13/
[24] Obviously I will do my
Lupin III update next but I will hold off once again until the 90’s and early 2000’s come to an end. Certainly would not want to step on anyone’s toes with content though given how I have written Siriol, a few things do come to mind….