Rugrats (1991-2004)

I'm back, bitches, and better than ever. Well, maybe not better. Still pretty mediocre, actually, but you get my drift.

You see, I finally found out what was causing my annoying little YouTube problem...something something Flash Player malfunction something something technical language blah blah blah. (And that was the short version.) I totally fixed it all by myself, because I'm just that awesome. To quote It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia -- am I the messiah? I don't know, I could be, I'm not ruling it out.

Anyway, I've made an executive decision to make this blog a weekly thing. It seems to make sense, what with it being assignment time at uni and everything. Plus I've decided to enter the NaNoWriMo this year, and if I don't come back with a winner's badge to proudly display on this blog, I will consider my life to be a failure. And on that cheerful note, let's get onto the big children's TV show fun of the day.

Rugrats was an animated children's powerhouse that ran from 1991-2004...and that's just the original series. Rugrats: All Grown Up and Preschool Daze followed during the noughties. I wish I could detail those series' for you, but I firmly believe they're bastardised sell-out versions of what used to be one of my ultimate favourite shows, so I flat-out refuse.

The show followed the strangely eventful lives of a bunch of talking babies and toddlers, doing what babies and toddlers do -- cause mayhem, create mischief, play with bugs and shit, and mispronounce words in the most hysterical ways. Want to meet them? Sure you do.

Tommy Pickles -- the leader. He's the youngest baby of the bunch, but he's the bravest, most adventurous of all the Rugrats.
Best Tommy adventure moments -- 'Incident in Aisle Seven', when Tommy causes disaster in the supermarket looking for Reptar cereal, and 'The Big House', where he leads a band of frustrated infants in a daycare escape.

Chuckie Finster -- the best friend. He is, in the words of John Bender, a neo maxi zoom dweebie, but he's the most loyal friend a baby could have.
Best Chuckie fraidy-cat moments -- 'Chuckie vs. the Potty', where Chuckie refuses to be potty-trained because he's scared of it, and 'The Slide', when Chuckie becomes scared to go down the playground slide after a traumatic experience with one at the pizza parlour.

Angelica Pickles -- the sociopath-in-training. She's an evil brat who loves nothing more than tornmenting the "dumb babies" with her extra year of wisdom.
Best Angelica schemes -- 'Family Reunion', where Angelica convinces the babies that their families are going to trade them for their cousins, and 'The Trial', where Angelica breaks Chuckie's clown lamp and then holds a trial to convince the babies that one of them did it.

Phil and Lil Deville -- the twins. They're off in their own little world, and love anything gross, dirty and disgusting...bonus points if it wriggles.
Best Phil and Lil disappearing acts -- 'Trading Phil', where all the babies get an idea that the adults are planning to give Phil away, and 'Angelica the Magnificent', where Angelica starts practising magic and makes Lil disappear into thin air.

Susie Carmichael -- the new girl in town. She's Angelica's rival and therefore automatically a friend of the babies. Oh, and she has a 'tude and a half.
Best sassy Susie moments -- 'The Big Flush', where Susie trains Chuckie to kick ass on a giant water slide to piss off Angelica, and 'Doctor Susie', where Susie becomes a toy-healer and fixes the Rugrats' broken toys.

Spike -- the dog. He was, uh, a dog. He did dog stuff. It wasn't that interesting.
Best Spike-Being-A-Dog moments -- 'Spike vs. Fluffy', when Angelica's cat (who resembles her way too much to be normal) destroys the Pickles house and everyone blames Spike, and 'The Dog Broomer', where Tommy and Chuckie plot to save Spike from a dog groomer.

Along with the Rugrats themselves, the show also chronicled the events of a number of parents, including Stu and Didi (Tommy's parents), Chaz (Chuckie's), Betty and Howard (Phil and Lil's) and Drew and Charlotte (Angelica's). Oh, and there was a grandfather, but he didn't do a whole lot expect provide the show with a much-needed 'feebleminded old codger' stereotype. In later episodes, they added a couple of 'Jewish feebleminded old codger' stereotypes, which, if The Nanny has taught us anything, no good TV show is complete without.

I really can't move on to the recap without mentioning the most important character of the show. While some argue that it's the borderline-psychotic Angelica, or even the ever-reliable Spike, I have no doubt in my mind that the show would not have lasted nearly as long as it did without the presence of Angelica's doll Cynthia. Sure, she did nothing -- in fact, many of the Cynthia jokes related to the fact that no matter how much Angelica spoke to her, Cynthia would not respond -- but she really committed to doing nothing. Angelica dragged that poor thing around until it looked, well, like this:

As an added bonus, Cynthia gave us one of the greatest moments of the show by including a workout tape as part of her franchise. There are entire Facebook groups devoted to this song, which began with the immortal lyrics, "Cynthia, she's a really cool dancer, Cynthia, boogy to the groove now." It sits comfortably in my iPod between 'Cry Me A River' and 'Da Doo Ron Ron Ron'. (Please don't base your opinion of me based on those two songs alone. My iPod is jam-packed with musical awesomeness, as well as a number of embarrassing nineties film soundtracks...and some Peter Andre.)

The episode I'll recap for you is 'The Trial', one of the many, many Rugrats episodes my parents taped off ABC Kids way back when. (Okay, so I actually had two Rugrats tapes. Sue me.) The character of Susie's not in it, but there is some Cynthia, which I think more than makes up for Susie's absence. I think I might do said recap tomorrow, though, at a time that's not 2am. It just seems a little more practical.

Ready or Not (1993-1997)

I'm back, baby! YouTube has finally decided to play nice and let me watch videos again! Hooray! I've never been happier to see that little red 'loading' line whiz past my screen. Sometimes life is kind -- remember that when you're in your own dark, YouTubeless place one day. And I know I promised Sesame Street, but the Ready or Not vids are already loaded, and I'm not going to chance having YouTube shut down on me again for the sake of my word. I'm dishonest; get used to it.

There are a whole lot of Ready or Not videos available for viewing on the 'Tube, but none of them are embeddable, so I'll just have to give you the links like I did with Bananas in Pyjamas. No big whoop. They really are worth watching, though, just because they're so awesome.

Ready or Not was pretty much the Degrassi in between the original Degrassi and The Next Generation. It ran from 1993-1997 and followed the lives of Amanda Zimm and Elizabeth 'Busy' Ramone -- two pre-teen girls with your everyday pre-teen problems. Kind of like Lizzie McGuire, but chock-a-block full of angst and drama. (And no Hilary Duff. Don't cry too hard now.) ABC Kids used to put their "teen issues" warning on before this show, and I'd have to turn the volume down so my mother wouldn't hear it and make me turn it off. I'm crafty like that. It's how I watched Degrassi as well -- covertly. Even back then, I was stealth.

To be honest, I wasn't an avid Ready or Not viewer like I was with Captain Planet. For one, I don't think I really got it, because I was way too young for it. Since that alone wasn't going to stop me, I did have to fight my mother on it when she caught me watching it. I'm pretty sure it was on the list of 'banned' TV shows, but since Child Lorelai was as disrespectful to authority as Adult Lorelai is now, it wasn't exactly going to deter me from watching it when I had the chance.

At the start of the series, Busy and Amanda were two twelve-year-old best friends dying to grow up. Ain't it always the way? They spent four years doing so, right before our very eyes. They got bras, periods, boyfriends, kissed, bullied -- pretty much everything that you hated about being a teenager, and if you were like me and watched this show as a child, everything you sure as hell weren't looking forward to. I mean, how could this be? High school was supposed to be so cool and fun! You weren't supposed to have problems!

Since I never quite worked out how the Canadian school system worked, I did a little Wikipedia-ing...and still have no idea how the Canadian school system works. It seems every province has its own idea about how its kids should be educated. I assumed that RoN was set in Toronto, but Wiki says that they don't even have junior high, so I don't know how that works. All I know is that in the first season (where the episode I'm recapping is from), Busy and Amanda look up to Chrissy, who's a seventh-grader. I'm just not even going to try and work this shit out anymore. It took me many years and multiple Sweet Valley High books to learn how the American school system worked, but goddamn Canada has to be different, doesn't it? Sigh.

So sit back, relax and go back in time with me as Busy and Amanda hang out with the older kids for a night in Episode 1.05 -- 'The Big Gulp'.

T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom

This is another one of those shows that I loved more than life itself in its heyday. There was something about a crazy witch woman living in a giant teacup in outer space that was just so addictive. What I remember of it seems like one giant acid trip, but there are plenty of fan sites on this interweb thing that lead me to believe that yes, T-Bag existed in a reality other than the one in my head. And other people loved it as much as I did.

T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom is actually the sixth series in the T-Bag franchise, which began in the eighties. Since I most definitely remember watching this (and a couple of the follow-up seasons as well), I'm positive that Pearls of Wisdom was a nineties show.

Oh, and this is the first British show being recapped on ABC Not-Just-For-Kids! Woot! Let's hear it for England, folks. Sure, your ABC Kids shows are few and far between, but the ones that were shown here are absolutely ripping. This was one of my absolute all-time favourites, and I would give up a limb or two for a copy of this series.

This T-Bag series saw our brave pre-teen heroine Sally Simpkins teleport inside a board game in order to find ten of these 'pearls of wisdom' before the evil Tabatha Bag could get her greedy mitts on them. While Sally had her kindly sailor friend Captain Cockle looking out for her, Tabatha had her son, T-Shirt (no, I'm not kidding) on her side...or was he? Needless to say, righteousness prevailed in the end and Tabatha was destroyed...until the next season, which saw her and T-Shirt living in a giant teacup in outer space. Again, not kidding. This was the nineties. Deal with it.

This series was the first to have Tabatha as the villain. Previous seasons saw various different twelve-year-old girls do battle with her sister, Tallulah Bag. I remember being a little distressed when I found out that not only was Tabatha not the original T-Bag, but she's often maligned as being the sub-par T-Bag. I thought she was brilliant. She used to frighten me, and even back then I wasn't easily scared. Who doesn't remember evil Marge Simpson-esque gaspy/grunty noise Tabatha use to make whenever she was shocked/angered/annoyed? Ooh, chills.

Apart from The Pearls of Wisdom, there were nine other T-Bag seasons, along with four Christmas specials. I've outlined them for you below, because they're so unbelievably ludicrous that it's really worth checking them out on YouTube if you can:

1985
Wonders In Letterland -- first heroine is Debbie

1986
T-Bag Strikes Back

1987
T-Bag Bounces Back

1988
Turn On To T-Bag -- new heroine is Holly Anna, a child television presenter

1988
T-Bag's Chrismas Cracker

1989
T-Bag and the Revenge of the Tea Set -- our new heroine is Sally Simpkins, or as T-Bag called her, 'Smug-Face'
T-Bag's Chrismas Carol

1990
T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom -- first appearance of Tabatha Bag.
T-Bag's Chrismas Ding-Dong

1991
T-Bag and the Rings Of Olympus -- new new heroine is Polyzena. (Also known as Polly)
T-Bag's Christmas Turkey

1992
T-Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma -- new heroine is Penny, an archaeologist's daughter
Take Off With T-Bag -- the final season. By this time, T-Shirt was all grown up and substantially taller than T-Bag.


I was in the target age demographic for the final four seasons. I didn't see the Chrismas specials though, as far as I remember. (And let's face it, I think I'd recall watching something called T-Bag's Christmas Ding-Dong. Are they just arranging random words in a sentence now?) Rings of Olympus was pretty cool, and after that I really wished my mother had named me Polyzena. Sunstones of Montezuma also had a pretty big impact in me, because I remember pretending that my clear Treasure Rocks (remember them?) were the sunstones from the show and I was Penny and had to save them. Until I hid them in the ducted heating vent and could never get them out again. That was a dark day for me.

The episode I'll recap for you today is the first in the Pearls of Wisdom series. I really wanted to recap the last one, because I remember that episode so clearly. (Spoiler alert -- T-Bag gets the pearls, but Captain Cockle replaces them with peppermints!) This first episode is also on YouTube, proving that there are people in this modern world (video-posting people!) who are eligible for sainthood. Thank you, dear soul.


Episode recap to come, as soon as YouTube finishes loading it.

Bananas In Pyjamas (1992-2000)

There is not an Australian alive who does not remember at least seven episodes of Bananas In Pyjamas in great detail. It's classic kids' programming. It really, really is.



For those of you who perhaps did not live in Australia between 1992 and 2000 (or lived under a really big rock), I'll give you an outline of the show. Basically, it revolved around the daily to-ings and fro-ings of two life-size bananas dressed in pyjamas. Seeing as how 1992 apparently wasn't a banner year for creativity, they were named B1 and B2. (It's not specifically mentioned, but it's generally accepted that the 'b' stood for 'banana'. Crazy, right? Wild guesses don't come much wilder than that.) The Bananas were good friends with their neighbours, the Teddies. Who, in case you're wondering, are also three actors dressed in teddy costumes. Oh, and the teddies tended to wear actual clothing, which was good for them but also a little unfair on the sleepwear-clad Bananas, if you ask me.

Morgan, Amy and Lulu were the names of the Teddies, although I don't know why I'm bothering to tell you -- you probably remember that. Lulu was the dark brown teddy who had an accent, Morgan was a caramel-coloured young chap who looked like he was dressed by my mother circa 1993, and Amy was the white teddy who had pink bows in her hair and therefore was my favourite. (Because of the pink bows, not because she was white. I'm not racist towards either humans or humans dessed as teddy bears.)

The Teddies and Bananas were generally friends...except on Tuesdays, where the Bananas would chase the Teddies for some inexplicable reason. I don't even remember what they planned to do once they caught them, but Tuesdays were Teddy-chasin' days. (In one episode, they even made the Teddies a calendar that had only Tuesdays in it. Good times.) Because that's generally not socially-acceptable behaviour, most of the episodes do NOT take place on a Tuesday.

Looking back now, this show is a prime example of the way kids just Don't Ask Questions when it comes to TV. And if you think about it, there are quite a number of questions that need to be asked. For example, why are these two fully-grown banana twins still living together? Why haven't they settled down yet? Do teddies generally live in share houses? Is 'chasing teddy-bears' some kind of drug lingo? What was in those munchy honey cakes that made them so addictive anyway? On what planet do fruit and bears co-exist peacefully?

One thing that made me a little sad when I grew older was the realisation that the Teddies were not siblings. I always thought they were, but it seems clear from their skin tones (and the fact that Lulu has an accent and the others didn't) that these teddies were merely roommates. Which is actually kind-of cool, if you think about it. How forward-thinking. This veritable melting-pot of teddies also means that perhaps two of them are married now and living somewhere other than Cuddles Avenue with a couple of cubs of their own. Morgan and Lulu always did have a little somethin' somethin'...

Despite its obvious warping of reality, this is still THE quintessential 90s Aussie kids show. And with that in mind, I'm going to give you my top 5 episodes, in a very particular order:

5. Doctor Bananas
Amy falls over at the beach, and the Bananas decide to, uh, play doctor. Not in that way, get your minds out of the gutters!

4. Slipper Fairies
The Bananas make slippers for the Teddies, but they argue over who gets which colour. Or something. I don't remember much of it, to be honest, just that I loved it.

3. Circus Time
The Bananas and the Teddies decide to put on a circus, (for who? I don't know) but all those circus tricks are more difficult than they expected.

2. Take One
The Bananas and the Teddies start a band -- the Bananas on the creaky step, Lulu on the sink pipes, Morgan on the water-filled jugs and Amy singing.

1. Video Clip
After making their hit song (which I could totally sing for you, I remember it that well), the Bananas and the Teddies decide to direct their own groovy music video to go with it.




Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1? I think I am, B2. It's episode-recapping time!

Lizzie McGuire (2001-2004)

Okay okay, so I lied. I lied outright. I'm not just featuring shows from the nineties. (Mostly I am, I swear!) But you can't seriously hold recapping Lizzie McGuire against me, can you? This show is all-time! And while ABC Kids screened it in the later part of my childhood, I'm sure you'll agree that A) it's still way memorable, and B) it kicks Hannah Montana's boot-scooting arse.

Lizzie McGuire only ran for two seasons, but they were hella good seasons. Basically, the show revolved around Lizzie, our thirteen-year-old protagonist who was going through your typical thirteen-year-old problems. Bras, boys and bad grades -- you name it, Lizzie lived it. Oh, and she also got to be in an Aaron Carter video, which I'm sure at one point we envied. Also featured in Liz McG:

Miranda Sanchez -- Lizzie's BFF. She was ballsy and cool, but I think she had a couple of self-esteem issues. That's what happens when you get tight with Hilary Duff, I suppose.

Gordo -- Lizzie's male BFF. He was a bit of a nerd, but he was so cute. I kinda shipped him and Lizzie, so that fake relationship actually worked out pretty well for twelve-year-old Lorelai.

Matt McGuire -- Lizzie's brother, who unilike most TV show little brothers, actually acted like one. He was annoying, quick-witted and, in my opinion, the best part of the show.

Jo McGuire -- Lizzie's mother. She was, in the words of Regina George's mother, a "cool mom," so I could never really relate. She was always way too understanding. It's called discipline, Jo. Seriously.

Sam McGuire -- Lizzie's dad. He was a pretty accurate description of a hapless father who has little or no authority. Plus in real life, his brother's Bill from Kill Bill...or was, until the unfortunate naked hanging incident.

Kate Saunders -- Lizzie's arch nemesis. She was always my favourite, because she was a total bitch to Lizzie the entire time, and everyone knows that the mean character was the best.

Ethan Craft -- Lizzie's crush and the token man candy. He was dumb as a post, and it was hilarious. I always wanted him and Kate to get together. (This TV show had two Lorelai-endorsed relationships, both of which actually came true, so go me.)

Lanny -- Matt's best friend who doesn't talk. He's a minor character and there's really no need whatsoever for me to include him in this list, but he and Matt are absolutely hysterical together, so he deserves a mention.

Together, this group got up to some crazy hijinks, as you'll see in the following recap. There won't be a YouTube link, because I have this episode on DVD (please, please don't ask me why), but I'll provide you with screencaps so we can laugh at all of Lizzie's God-awful clothing together. Fun times are ahead, friends.

Ship To Shore (1993-1996)

An open letter to the current head of the ABC Kids programming department:

Dear Sirs/Madams,

I wish to draw your attention to the following picture:


Now this is quality children's entertainment. In fact, I think you'll find that anything Paul Barron created/was involved in pretty much set the standard for kids' TV. I suggest you call him up and beg him to bail you out of the immense hole you've dug for yourself in recent years. Because Paul Barron is a god among men. And you know it.

Set in the coastal town of Circe Island, it followed the lives of a handful of local kids varying in age who caused mischief about as well as they managed to clean it up. As usual, they had their share of evil adults to contend with -- in this case, the ruthless Hermes Endakis, always ready to make a quick buck using some doomed-from-the-start, get-rich-quick scheme.

Each kid had their own unique personality, from the nerd Gavin to the do-gooder Julie to the cheeky older boy Kelvin. They rode around the island on their bikes, spying on Hermes and trying to work out whose side Kelvin was on once and for all. They respected their parents but managed to do the exact opposite of what they were told. It was typically Aussie, typically kiddy, but totally unforgettable. Great theme song, too.

Following this open letter will be a longer, more detailed recap of a specific episode, with the appropriate links so you yourselves may watch it and bask in the wonder that was Ship To Shore, as it (hopefully) fills you with inspiration to get cracking on a similarly high-quality television program. If it helps, I'll happily start you off -- in a typical Aussie town where it was always sunny, there lived a bunch of kids who rode around on bikes all day doing whatever they felt like...

Yours faithfully (sometimes),

Lorelai

Captain Planet (1990-1996)

I don't think there was a single 90s child alive who did not adore Captain Planet. It's okay, admit it. This is a safe place. You luuurved it! You went around pretending that plastic ring you found in a Kinder Surprise was actually sent to you by Gaia the Earth Mother (she owns the Kinder factory, so she can do that kind of thing) and you had the power to summon a awesome blue-mulleted superhero to save the planet. Didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? Yeah, that's what I thought.


Quick story. Captain Planet was on ABC Kids when I was in kindergarten, and even though this event took place when I was four, I remember it very clearly. One day, after Captain Planet had finished, I was running around the room jumping off couches pretending that I was Linka and I was saving the world. After all, didn't Captain Planet just finish telling me that I, too, could be a Planeteer? I did have the big guy's permission. Anyway, I was running around doing my eco-warrior thing when I smacked my head on the wooden knobby thing at the end of our sofa...and gave myself a black eye. Yeah I know, ouch, right? What makes the story worse is that when people asked what happened to me, as they usually do when they see a four-year-old with a black eye (or a person of any age with a black eye, really), my mother made me explain exactly how I got my injury. Let me tell you that there are people out there who find, "I ran into the sofa playing Captain Planet" to be hilarious, even when it's coming from a bruised and battered four-year-old. Normally, I'd be a little lenient on Mother Dearest -- if this was anyone else's parent, they'd probably have been trying to make sure people didn't think they was beating me or something -- but since Mother Dearest is the direct root of my psychological problems, I'm pretty sure she knew exactly how scarring it would be to have every adult within a ten-mile radius laughing in my face. Thank you, Mother Dearest; my therapy bill's in the mail.


Back to regular programming now. Captain Planet and the Planeteers was a cartoon series created by Ted Turner that ran from 1990-1993 and was followed by The New Adventures of Captain Planet, which ran until '96. That is a damn successful cartoon in anyone's books. It followed the adventures of Kwame, Wheeler, Linka, Gi and Ma-Ti, five kids from all over the world who have been conscripted (there really is no other word for it) into fighting the good fight on behalf of Gaia, the Earth Mother. Our planet is, like, dying, you guys, and only a bunch of racially-diverse teenagers could possibly save it! Woot!


The villains were pretty awesome, too, sometimes even more awesome than the Planeteers. (Sacrilege!) Dr. Bligh wore a pink jumpsuit and had cute hair. Looten Plunder was well-dressed and ruggedly handsome. Duke Nukem wore an ill-fitting Hawaiian shirt, but not in an uncool Robin Williams way. But of course, they were evil, so we couldn't like them. (Outwardly.) And oh yeah, they each represented an ecological disaster or destructive human attitude.


Which brings me to what the slightly bruised four-year-old in me really, really doesn't want me to admit -- watching it as an adult, this show's kinda lame . Even for me, who upon viewing it was hit with a giant pleasure wave of nostalgia. It's overly preachy, and always comes with a lesson we must learn throughout the episode. Considering I was the Captain's most avid viewer and I grew up with nary a social conscience (or indeed any real morals to speak of) in sight, I think that's a giant FAIL, Mr. Turner. Then again, that may have been a concussion issue.


Oh, and Captain Planet was a walking (flying?) bad joke. Seriously. In every episode, without fail, he'd arrive to save the day spouting the most ridiculously awful puns you've ever heard. Joey Gladstone wouldn't even crack a smile. I don't even know what was going on in that department.

Apart from action, hijinks and a side of guilt, Captain Planet also had what is possibly one of the best voice casts ever assembled. The main cast featured the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Kath Soucie, Meg Ryan, Tim Curry, Margot Kidder and Frank Welker, and the guest cast -- Steve Guttenberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Elizabeth Taylor, Mark Hamill, Ed Begley Jr., Helen Hunt, Danny Glover, Ricki Lake, Don McLean and Rita Moreno just to begin with -- is Simpsons-esque, to say the least. Go Planet!


Also, according to the IMDB message boards, people are absolutely dying to see a live-action movie version of Captain Planet. And you know what? I agree wholeheartedly with this idea, so long as Al Gore's not in it. (Apparently that dude's all for the environment, or so I've heard.) If we are going to have eco-conscious celebs involved, I could definitely see Leo DiCaprio as Captain Planet. Really. He'd singlehandedly revive the mullet. Hmm, on second thought, maybe this isn't such a good idea...


(Episode recap to come, I promise.)

Round The Twist (1989-2001)

There's a reason this show just keeps on going. Originally an eight-part series in the 1980s, this gross-out comedy series aimed at the we're-too-cool-for-cartoons demographic has developed a life of its own, with four different seasons in the last twenty years. The premise is simple enough: a kooky family living who live a lighthouse encounter all sorts of weird and wonderful phenomena -- ghosts, magical objects, human ice-cream machines to name a few -- and hilarity ensues. Hilarity always ensues.

Pete, Linda and Bronson Twist are forever getting into some sort of stranger-than-normal adolescent troubles, from turning into a werewolf to being stalked by a crazy porcelain doll. Throw in a beautiful love interest, a gang of wacky bullys, a weird old lady and a scheming town mayor and you have yourself the recipe for an enduring children's program. Wait, did I say children's program? You don't have to be a kid to enjoy this particular show. In fact, I have a couple of the DVDs myself. What's that? You want a link to the intro? Well, I'm sure I can do that...

THE CHARACTERS (OVER THE YEARS):
Tony Twist: Richard Moir (Series 1-2)/Andrew S. Gilbert (Series 3-4)
Pete Twist: Sam Vandenbergh (Series 1)/Ben Thomas (Series 2)/Rian McLean (Series 3-4)
Linda Twist : Tamsin West (Series 1)/Jolene Crnogorac (Series 2)/Ebonnie Maisini (Series 3-4)
Bronson Twist: Rodney McLennan (Series 1)/Jeffrey Walker (Series 2)/Matthew Waters (Series 3-4)
Harold Gribble: Frankie J. Holden (Series 1)/Mark Mitchell (Series 2-4)
Matron Gribble: Judith McGrath (Series 1)/Jan Friedl (Series 2)/Christine Keogh (Series 3-4)
James 'Gribbs' Gribble: Lachlan Jeffrey (Series 1)/Richard Young (Series 2)/Brook Skyes (Series 3-4)
Tiger: Cameron Nugent (Series 1)/Nick Mitchell (Series 2)/Tom Budge (Series 3-4)
Rabbit: Stewart Atkin (Series 1)/Drew Campbell (Series 2)/Samuel Marsland (Series 3-4)
Fiona: Daisy Cameron (Series 1)/Zeta Briggs (Series 2)/Kate Barnes (Series 3-4)Anthony: Rueben Liversidge (Series 3-4)
Fay James: Robyn Gibbs (Series 1)/ Trudy Heliar (Series 2-3)/Susanne Chapman (Series 4)
Mr. Snapper: Esben Storm (Series 1-3)/Ernie Grey (Series 4)
Nell Rickards: Bunney Brooke (Series 1-2)/Marion Heathfield (Series 3-4)