Squander Two recommended that I check out the BBC programme In The Night Garden, which is aimed at young babies. And he’s right, it’s brilliant – but something about it has been nagging me for a while, and I’ve only just realised what it is.
The main theme tune sounds like Eels. Not “a bit like Eels”; I mean “every time I hear it I’m expecting E to start singing about death and cancer and stuff”.
You can hear the theme here (link goes to a YouTube parody, which is basically the theme with some added drums) and a very similar Eels track here (Windows Media format).
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Go on, so who’s your favourite? Mine’s Macca Pacca. Vic prefers Upsy Daisy.
I’m torn between Macca Pacca and Iggle Piggle. The former’s funnier, but the latter’s a much more sympathetic character (I can’t believe I’m writing this, heh). Sophie loves Upsy Daisy, but then she’s just a child and doesn’t know any better.
You’re both mental.
On another weird thing – the iPhone guessed moomin as the spam word.
I take it the anti-spam thing is still working then?
I think so. My work PC guesses them right on autocorrect now too. :-)
If you want to go reading far too much into it, Macca Pacca’s actually kind of fascistic. He turns up outside your house and blows his trumpet to let you know that it is now your official time to get your face washed. And if you don’t get out there immediately and let him wash your face, he blows the trumpet again. And again. He gets pretty pushy about it. It’s rather totalitarian. You also get the feeling that the other characters live in dread of accidentally disturbing one of his piles of stones. You or I would probably think something along the lines of “Fuck it; they’re just stones.” But not they: they spend the whole show trying to put them back just as they were, and never quite getting it. The poor things must be terrified. I mean, this is a guy who sleeps with a rock. For comfort. If he lived in your street, you’d be, if not scared of him, at least very wary.
Have you seen an episode with a Ninky-Nonk ride yet? It’s class.
We got a little Macca Pacca doll for Daisy, and she recognised him instantly. Which is one of those things that shouldn’t be all that impressive but just makes your day when you’re a parent.
Yes, I think you may be reading too much into it.
But have you seen the size of macca pacca compared to the others in the garden?
He is really small, not as small as the little wooden dolls that live in the semi-detached house.
He’s a blend of Napoleon and a guy with a clean face fetish.
The size of everything changes from shot to shot, though. One minute the ninky nonk is the size of a mouse; next, it’s bigger than Godzilla. It does my head in :)
That’s one of the things I love the most about it: their total disregard for scale.
I think it’s actually quite sad that the Night Garden doesn’t exist, and it’s all a dream in Iggle Piggle’s head.
Crap, I read too much Dostoevsky in my youth.
You’re so right. I want to live there. Fimble Valley looks kind of fun, too.