World of Blyton

Yet again the previous episode ended with a cliff-hanger, or perhaps I should say tower-hanger, as Jack was hanging from the ivy on the castle’s tower while the eagle swooped down at him.

And we find out that Jack fell in the last episode because of the castle casting its evil spell. Well, according to the narrator anyway.

DOES JACK SURVIVE? WELL OF COURSE HE DOES…

Kiki scares off the eagle with a bit of eagle-screaming and Jack keeps climbing… then he half-falls and dangles a bit for extra drama. Previous angles had made him look high up but he’s low enough for Philip to grab his foot and help him out.

At this point I was saying Give up for goodness sake! to Jack, as it was clear the eagle could come back at any moment or the ivy could give way again.

But he ignored me and kept on going, finally got up safely and finds an eagle chick in the nest. Philip joins him (without any drama), and while they’re looking at the chick and taking photo the eagle’s stealing from their picnic.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SAM

Every episode reveals a little bit more about this strange new character. This time it’s that Sam buys his eggs from a chap in a butcher’s apron. Who sits by the side of the road waiting for him (which is weird), but they’re clearly not as country-fresh as Sam implies. He then arranges them in his hat with straw to make them look more ‘authentic’. Clearly he can’t be turning a profit on this, so his motives lie elsewhere.

Trading standards would have something to say about all that I bet.

Allie thinks his motives are all about food – you’re too late for breakfast, too late for lunch and too early for dinner, but that’s a red herring really. She at least seems a tad suspicious when he interrogates her about the children and Tassie and isn’t willing to say too much.

He also builds on the sinister side he shows to Tassie’s mother, with more threatening behaviour about where Tassie has been and who she’s hanging out with. She had hidden the fresh clothes from Allie in a bag in the woods, to stop her mother or Sam, or both, knowing about them, but Sam finds them and is not happy (even though he knew about them already as he mentions them to Allie).

And then he cements his character as truly evil in my opinion. Not only does he shop in a supermarket and pass the goods off as fresh country produce – but he also doesn’t return his trolley!!

Instead he gives it a shove and hits a traffic warden with it. She looks like she’s going to write him a ticket (for an out of control trolley?). He charms her with a story of orphans and how he’s using the few bob he made selling their junk to buy food for them. Except she spots he’s bought wine and issues a ticket which she tucks into the horse’s saddle. All without saying a word.

Edited to add: skimming through to get screen caps I now understand better. A previous ‘scene’ shows some sort of meter ticking over to an excess charge. It’s very quick though and it’s not at all clear that it’s a parking meter. So the traffic warden has clearly been stood waiting for him to return so she can issue a ticket. Now if only they’d afforded her a speaking part it might have made sense initially…

THE CASTLE IS ONLY SOMEWHAT ADVENTUROUS SO FAR

The castle is a bit dull apart from the eagles. We the viewer see one or two henchmen in the vicinity but the kids are oblivious.

They do find a leaky water pump with a clean handle (just like in the book, but not in a daring middle-of-the-night trip for Jack) and there’s a loudly banging door which gives them a fright for a minute.

I think if you tried to align the book with the TV series you’d find Jack was already camping in the castle by now, and having his scary night-time experience. I suppose they’re waiting to get rid of Allie (who gets a pointless phone call to say her mother’s test results are clear today, but more are expected tomorrow) before Jack would dare to stay in the castle.

In fact Spring Cottage is more adventurous at one point, when Philip has snuck his hedgehog into Dinah’s bed, causing a fight.

LUCY-ANN IS VERY ANNOYING

Lucy-Ann continues to be the stupid one of the group. She asks of the castle inhabitants wouldn’t they have had gas? And then doesn’t know what a hide is – when she grew up with an ornithologist for a brother.

She also just blurts out everything. Tassie was with us! Jack wants to photograph the eagles at night! and not in an almost forgivable way like Anne Kirrin did in the first Famous Five book. The actress is not very good either, unfortunately. I really struggle to understand why they picked someone so much younger than the other three.

STRANGE MEN ABOUND

So Bill finally turns up again – driving past Allie in the village. Either he doesn’t see her though, or he deliberately blanks her. She then doesn’t believe it really was him.

Bill in a very snazzy jumper

The kids don’t seem to know who Bill is – or at least the Trents have never met him. Allie explains that Bill does the same as Philip and Dinah’s dad did, working for the government. That would sort of explain how she knows him at least. It doesn’t seem like the events of Island of Adventure exist in this universe, so it will be interesting to see how the children get to know Bill.

Then there’s also the suspicious chap from an earlier episode – who met Allie at the MOD event – and he asks her out for tea.

The episode ends with someone sneaking around Spring Cottage in the night. It could be Bill. It could be Sam. It could be MOD man. We’ll have to find out next time…

So that was another OK episode. Still feel like it’s being padded out far too much though. Nothing really happens apart from the kids discovering someone else has been inside the castle, and a fleeting glimpse of Bill.

The previous episode ended on a cliff-hanger (almost literally) as Dinah plunged from a tree into the enormous moat around the castle. I’m fairly confident that she will be OK, however, given that she is unlikely to disappear from the rest of the episodes due to injury or death.

WHERE’S DINAH? WHERE’S DINAH?

Kiki is the first to react to Dinah’s fall, squawking the above before the two boys race to shimmy themselves across the tree too. Thankfully they don’t lunge off, and Dinah has not plummeted very far, she’s just hanging from a tree branch below.

Don’t just sit there grinning, get me out of here!

LYING IS NOT VERY BLYTONISH

Blyton’s children have always had that strange moral that as long as they don’t outright tell a lie then it’s ok. If asked are you going to the castle? they couldn’t lie and say no, but if asked where are you going? they could say out for a walk, and leave out the castle part quite easily.

We don’t always tell our mum what we do (Dinah)

You mean you tell her lies? (Tassie)

We don’t lie we just don’t tell her everything (Philip)

But later, they do tell what I think are actual lies. Lucy-Ann starts telling Mrs Mannering they are going for a walk because Jack thinks there are eagles nesting up in the ca. She is cut off by Dinah saying copse before she can finish saying castle. So that’s one outright lie!

Dinah then adds that they need rope for climbing trees which is not quite the full truth – they need it to help in getting from a tree into the castle.

I think it’s also Dinah who says we’re just going for a walk. Going for a walk is true but they’re not just, only or purely going for a walk are they?

Philip then lies that Tassie won’t be with them as her mother’s told her not to go… and they make a huge production of scrambling away from further questioning when all Allie wanted to know was if she had to make more sandwiches. But Philip has already seen Tassie and knows full well she is coming!

TALKING OF TASSIE

I don’t really like how the kids treat Tassie in this version. It seems like they are using her just to get near the castle against her wishes. There’s not really any play or chat between them to imply friendship. Somehow it seems nicer in the book, even though there Tassie is totally awestruck and follows them around! On TV they’re not even concerned when she disappears again at the castle, but later they say they looked for her for ages (which may be another untruth as it wasn’t shown to the audience).

Even Lucy-Ann gets in on the Tassie-bashing when she says Oh come on, Tassie, you’re so boring when it’s clear that Tassie isn’t comfortable going to the castle.

Jack’s a bit nicer to Tassie at least, he tries to get to the bottom of her fears about the castle in a considerate way.

The mystery around her does deepen in this episode, though.

There’s more gypsy magic as Tassie says her mum has ‘second sight’ and knows what’s about to happen. Philip says this must also be true for Tassie who must be able to “see” a way into the castle. (Another example of them being a bit mean to her).

And then there’s her relationship with Sam. She does declare that he’s not her father, she doesn’t have a father, but…

SECRETS AND LIES AND THREATS

Sam shows his true colours in this episode when he comes to ask Tassie’s mum where Tassie is. He is very aggressive and threatening towards her – I just knew he was up to no good. He goes on for quite a while about how Tassie shouldn’t be wandering about, espeically near the castle and how she is hanging out with those kids. Makes you think he’s putting on that friendly visitor face just to keep an eye on what the Mannering/Trents are doing.

Coincidence or not but Philip had started behaving more suspiciously of Sam earlier in the episode. He certainly didn’t want Sam to see him and Jack taking a plank and rope out of the shed at Spring Cottage but that might have been in case he told Mrs Mannering about it.

NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENTS OF THE EPISODE

This episode focuses on the challenge of getting inside the castle (finally!). Tassie uses her ‘second sight’ and finds another log across the moat behind a wall of ivy.

The castle doors have been recently oiled and there’s an apple core been dropped outside too. This is a bit of a shame as in book they’ve no idea other people are around until it’s too late. This lot seem to be willingly walking into danger.

Tassie finds a possible way in – up a small tree near a window, but disappears without a word while the other children were looking the other way.

Dinah and Philip argue about how to get in etc, meanwhile Sam is coming closer in his horse and carriage… and looking very suspicious though it’s not clear how close he gets to the castle.  Though it’s decided they’ll come back the next day with equipment.

They do come back and manage to get in at the window with a plank and rope, so fairly similar to the book really, and Dinah gets covered in cobwebs inside (but it’s Lucy-Ann who screams).

The girls then go to set up a picnic on the rather well manicured lawns, while Jack and Philip keep hunting for the nest.

And the inevitable cliffhanger: Jack is climbing up the ivy covered tower to see if there’s a nest at the top and is attacked by the eagle.

PADDING, EXTRAS AND COMEDY

This series has been slowed down by ‘going to look at castle’, ‘coming back the next day and walking up to castle’ ‘returning next day to get into castle’. It might have worked better as 6 episodes and a bit more pace, I think.

Then there’s the daft slap-stick moments. Philip sees Sam and thrusts the plank back into shed and – by the sound of it – knocks Jack flying. On their second attempt Sam comes along again and Philip pushes Jack back, Jack then pushes and pushes leaving Philip jerking back and forward at the door, to which Sam does a little dance. After lugging the plank up to ‘the witching tree’ Jack pretends to faint/collapse so he can then jump up and scare Philip.

And there’s another scene where the henchmen talk on their radios about whether or not it’s lunch time.

Of course not every part of Blyton’s books were high-action but the in-between bits here fall a bit flat. They certainly lack the charm of the original!

EXTREME CLUMSINESS

Then there’s the problem of the extremely clumsy children who seem lucky to be alive mostly. We had Lucy-Ann falling down a slope in the last episode, and here it is Jack’s turn. Yes it’s muddy and his foot slips but there was no reason for him to tumble all the way to the bottom.

And then their otherwise perfectly good version of  ‘plank through window’ access to the castle is spoiled by Philip half-falling off.

I wouldn’t say Jack being attacked by the eagle is exactly clumsy – but it’s a bit stupid to climb an exposed wall to a nesting bird surely?

They seem determined to add as much drama as possible to each episode anyway and unfortunately that seems to mostly involve people falling over for no good reason!

MODERN TIMES?

They are playing videogames at Spring Cottage! But interestingly it’s the girls who are playing, and Lucy-Ann is brandishing one of those gun-controllers.

But later there’s very much a boy/girl divide as the girls are at home making sandwiches while the boys get the equipment ready.

So there we go, third episode of eight and we’re finally in the castle. Some elements are good – I’m glad they’ve kept in the plank into the window for example and some good arguments between Dinah and Philip.

Saying that there’s a bit too much padding and delaying through all the episodes. The source material is so good so it is a shame to waste so much time on Sam and other nonsense.