Rainbow - Naughty Zippy

Rainbow was probably one of the most endearing children's television programmes of the late 1980s and early '90s, making Geoffrey, George, Bungle and Zippy household names. As one of the 'educational' programmes made by Thames Television for ITV, it didn't go overboard with lessons but showed you how to behave and use your imagination. A sense of wonder and ability to accept the strange is necessary when you are watching a show in which a man lives with a bear, a pink fluffy hippo and some weird creature whose mouth is a zipper!

It is great to look back on these shows with a sense of nostalgia as I can't remember what I thought watching at the time and only had some YouTube clips, particularly the unaired short that was made for a staff party in which the stalwarts and a guest band talk about playing with their 'twangers'! Given how far children's entertainment has moved and the shrinking number of British made programmes aimed at children, it is always a temptation to look back to the halcyon days of Rainbow, Postman Pat and The Sooty Show as some of the many British shows that I grew up watching and wonder 'what happened?'.

This disc contains five episodes from 1991 which was the near the very end of the show which had been running since 1972!:

Naughty Zippy
Notoriously noisy by nature, Zippy adds 'naughty' to the list of words to describe him when he manages to upset everyone by thinking only of himself.

I'm The King Of The Castle
Geoffrey tells his friends the story of how the handsome Prince George sets of to find the beautiful princess Zippelina, whom he intends to marry. However, King Zippy will only allow the marriage to go ahead if George can bring him three objects: the sun, a rainbow and some gold. Fortunately for Prince George, there is a friendly bear on hand to assist him with his task.

Snow
As the weather turns and snow begins to fall, Bungle manages to get covered in the stuff and finds time to build a snowman. Preferring the warmth, Geoffey decides to stay indoors and make his own snowflakes from paper and snowballs from cotton wool. Meanwhile, it's also snowing in Swallow Street, where Grandma Brick lives…


Treasure Hunt
Bungle dreams about looking for treasure in a magic jungle and meets some unusual characters along the way, including the Jungle Jinx and a talking tree.

The Zippybread Man
When rain prevents the friends from going to the park, Dawn pays a visit and brings along some delicious gingerbread biscuits for them to eat while Geoffrey tells the story of the gingerbread man. As greedy as ever, Zippy eats too many biscuits and has to lie down and have a nap to recover, but his subsequent dreams turn into a little bit of a nightmare.


I only had fleeting memories of Rainbow as my brain has been filled with more important things than the nuances of a fifteen minute TV show that I watched when I was at nursery and primary school. Looking back, it's a wonder why this was so entertaining as it is unbelievably cheesy with Geoffrey saying 'hello' to the boys and girls watching at home at the beginning and then saying 'goodbye' at the end - it's obvious that these were made for more innocent and naïve times.

All that said, I quite liked this trip down nostalgia lane and probably never saw these episodes as a child as I'd stopped watching it by the time these were broadcast. I'm not sure who the target audience is - it may be of interest for today's toddlers - I guess it is probably aimed at adults who have vague recollections of Rainbow and fancy reminiscing.

The Disc

The Picture
For something that's nearly 20 years old and was made for TV, this looks very good. The low budget is very obvious and the costumes and puppetry leave a lot to be desired but this is part of the charm - you don't watch Thunderbirds and laugh at the dodgy puppetry and that you can easily see the strings.

The picture is quite sharp and the colours are presented well, just as they need to be when clothes were that garish!

The Sound
A simple enough Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track which is entirely dialogue driven. There is the odd bit of music but this doesn't interfere and is nicely mixed in.


Final Thoughts
Rainbow is a great institution of children's TV and there are a couple of generations who had it as part of their childhood. For them, the opportunity to look back and see what they watched in their formative years is a great chance and this well priced DVD (RRP £5.99) should find some homes.