The Red Hand Gang (2 Discs)

Introduction

Now here's a thought that's liable to induce an awful depression in some people, the Red Hand Gang are middle-aged. For the average punter that doesn't mean much, but for a certain demographic, my demographic that grew up with the show, the thought that the Red Hand Gang are in their forties is enough to send us reaching for the coffee and a blast of Radiohead. I was still in single digits when this show came to British television, and Red Hand Gang franchises soon cropped up in school playgrounds the nation over. It was quintessential children's drama, an American take on a pretty British concept, and my friends and I lapped up the Enid Blyton-esque antics. I watched it twice over in the early eighties, and then it vanished, never to be seen again, but fondly remembered to say the least. 30 years of nostalgia raises the show on a high pedestal indeed, and it's probably way better in my memories than it is in actuality. Also Matthew Laborteaux, who played the lead character of Frankie, later went on to star in another hi-tech children's drama called Whiz Kids. Time has blurred the two series together in my mind, and it was a little confusing when there weren't any Vic 20s and 10-inch floppies in the first episode here. I have been let down by nostalgia before, and given my hazy recollections of The Red Hand Gang, I may be setting myself up for a fall…


The Red Hand Gang consisted of Frankie, his little brother Bill a.k.a. L'il Bill, tomboy Joanne, J.R, Doc and their dog Boomer. They were just a bunch of kids enjoying their childhood as kids do, but somehow they always kept getting drawn into mysteries and mayhem, coming up against kidnappers, and thieves, and foiling crimes where even the police drew blanks. Their calling card, the imprint of a red hand.

The full series is presented here by Fabulous Films on 2 discs, three stories spread across twelve episodes…

Disc 1

Story 1 - The Kidnappers
1. The Face At The Window
2. The Spooky Hideout
3. The Search
4. Beware The Red Hand Gang
5. The Mystery Boat

The gang are searching through vacant lots for bottles, looking to make enough on the deposit to get a glider. But then L'il Bill spies a child in a window, a child that has been reported as kidnapped. He convinces his brother, but when they report it to the police, it's too late. The kidnappers have taken the boy to their hideout. Certain of what Bill has seen, they know that crying wolf to the police will just get them into trouble, so instead they follow the bad guy's girlfriend to their secret hideout, a haunted house…


Disc 2

Story 2 - The Jewel Heist
1. The Man In The Mask
2. The Missing Jewels
3. Search and Rescue
4. Doc's Big Idea

Football (American) superstar O.K Okins is in town to host a charity auction, and the gang see a chance to meet their all time hero, and get an autographed ball. Fortunately Joanne's uncle works as a security guard at the hotel, and if they behave themselves, and avoid the cantankerous hotel manager, they could get lucky. It doesn't start well when they meet O.K at the hotel door, only to be chased off by the manager. But O.K seems friendly enough, and they also overhear him mention that he never takes his Super Bowl ring off. They don't know the nefarious plans that are about to unfold. A multi-million dollar gem called the Black Star of Tasmania is to be auctioned, and the crooks plan to replace O.K with a look-alike to switch the gem with a fake. Later, when the kids try to meet O.K again, he's completely different in the way he reacts to them, rude and churlish. When they notice a masked man in a wheelchair, with a Super Bowl ring, and then realise that O.K isn't wearing his, the penny drops…


Story 3 - The Museum Robbery
1. The Photo Clue
2. Monkey Business
3. Devil's Canyon

Kids have to keep occupied somehow, and on a boring day when Doc's inventions are falling apart, and Joanne's deaf cousin Holly is visiting, what better to do than to pay a visit to the zoo. It's also a chance to indulge in Doc's other hobby of photography. But the zoo is all run down and empty, and one chimpanzee exhibit is all that is left. They aren't expecting to be chased off the premises by the trainer's assistant, and then be followed home by them both so they can steal the film in the camera. Fortunately they had two rolls, and when they develop the photos they see why the men were so defensive. Holly recognises the chimp speaking in sign language, and the signs it makes are worrying. The trainer and his assistant have trained the chimp to take part in a robbery, and they're about to set their plan in motion.

Picture

Fully restored says the PR blurb. It begs the question, restored from what? My memories aren't that accurate, and seeing as I last watched The Red Hand Gang on a television pre-stereo, pre-flatscreen, pre-infra-red remote control, and with a casing made of wood, perhaps the image quality on a modern widescreen display is accurately representative of the original viewing experience.

But the 4:3 image looks as if it has been used in a tennis match between NTSC and PAL, then transferred to videotape, and allowed to age like ripe cheddar. The discs are NTSC, but the resolution is VHS standard at best, the film has some print damage, it's excessively grainy, and darker scenes are indistinct, while the videotape suffers from ghosting, and the afterburn that stays after bright images appear. All of that said, the image does remain stable throughout, and the colours remain consistent-ish. It's watchable, but I wouldn't start saving up for the Blu-ray release.

Sound

There is sound. It's DD 2.0 mono for what it's worth, but you have to take the age of the show and the state of the recordings into account. It's certainly nothing to write home about. Most of the Red Hand Gang's audience will have had thirty years of walkmans damaging their hearing, but unfortunately subtitles are absent. It's amazing what havoc vague memory will wreak on one's convictions. For thirty years I could have sworn that the incidental music included the training theme from Rocky. It doesn't, but it sounds sort of similar.

Extras

The extras are all on disc 1.

You get a page of text for the series synopsis, and then a few pages for the episode synopses that go into greater detail.

There is a photo gallery from the show with 16 images.

Finally there is the 4-second Commercial Break Card that played in the US broadcasts.

Conclusion

The thing about being seven years old is that you haven't seen a lot of television or film, and critical observation isn't a skill that you've really considered developing. Besides, it isn't as if you have a frame of reference for comparison. At the age of seven, I was still being amazed by the colour TV, which we'd only had for a year and a bit at that point. What I'm trying to say is, at that age, I couldn't tell the difference between a bad or good performance, even if you plied me with all the fish fingers I could eat. I loved The Red Hand Gang unreservedly. It was fun, it was appealing, and it was how I wanted life to be.


And now, I put the first disc into the player, and I'm cruelly reminded that it's never possible to go home again. The children's performances are as ropy as you would expect, but some of the adults aren't all that better, plot holes and continuity problems are apparent throughout, the camerawork is unimpressive, and the pace is glacial. I loved it! Nostalgia kicked in around the second episode, recognising some of the scenes invigorated my musty memory, I was humming along with the theme tune, and for a brief moment I was seven years old again.


The Red Hand Gang isn't going to appeal to modern audiences, the state of the print, the production values and the more sedate pace will see to that. Neither will it appeal to those older viewers who have never seen it before. But nostalgics who remember this with fondness are going to lap it up, and quite honestly the show deserves it. Also remember that The Red Hand Gang was aired when there were only three channels to choose from, and even children's television had audiences approaching 8 figures. That's a whole lot of nostalgia to tap in on. I never realised it at the time, but it was made to appeal to broad audiences, and adults could sit with their children and watch it. When I first saw it, I saw it from a child's perspective, and to be honest the bad guys frightened me. I was always rooting for the Gang, and when the bad guys had them cornered, I'd be peeking at the screen through my fingers hoping that they would get out of the pinch. I didn't take the time to appreciate the other aspects to the show. It's something that I remedied this time around, and watching the first story was in some ways like watching the show for the first time. I never realised that these were comedy villains, bumbling idiots who had kidnapped the rich kid. Besides Anthony Zerbe terrified me. Now I can appreciate them for the roles they played, with Zerbe as the smart idiot paired with the dumb idiot in a Laurel and Hardy style, complimented by the maternal kidnapper who ensures that children watching are never too scared as she'll pound the first person who lays a finger on the hostage.


There is an un-credited appearance from Sorell Booke (Boss Hogg) in the second story, as a misanthropic hotel manager who's constantly being infuriated by the children hanging around his hotel looking for autographs. The dual role of villain and football superstar are taken by the Green Hornet himself, Van Williams, and although the perfect look-alike criminal is a horrific cliché from my older perspective, it's pulled off with some verve. The final story is the weakest, not least for the shorter length, but it's also smaller scale, L'il Bill is absent for two of the episodes without any explanation, and for a series that contrives some utterly absurd situations for children to enjoy, it crosses the line into sheer nonsense when a Bigfoot shows up.


Once you get past the ensemble of child actors, some quirky performances do come out. Frankie is the reliable leader type, brave and likeable, but Doc (played by James Bond III, I still think that's cool), is the better developed of the children, a terminal pessimist, always looking to the empty half of the glass, but coming up with a plan when the chips are down. J.R is a little underused as a troublemaker type, although he does have a nice byplay with Joanne, who is the sole representative for women's lib on the team. L'il Bill represents the heart of the gang, and as a child, he was my eyes into the slightly more grown up world of the pint-sized crime-busters.


I never thought I'd appreciate the Red Hand Gang more than I did when I was a boy, but a whole other side was unveiled to me this time, and I realise that some of the gags and lines were put in for the older viewers. The trouble is that while the Energy Crisis may be happening all over again to people now, I don't know how many people remember who Ralph Nader was. Watching this show also makes me realise how awful children's television is now, simply because you can't screen shows like this anymore. Production values and acting aside, can you explain to OFCOM why a 10-year-old boy would own a penknife? There was a time when boys owned penknives, and it was normal. The sad thing is that I saw that scene again a few nights ago, and I was shocked! Innocence has been legislated away.

I don't know about anyone else, but if you saw The Red Hand Gang as a child, you'll love to see it again. I certainly did. It's old, it hasn't aged well, the transfer is terrible, and the performances are ropy, and I don't care.