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Description
"The roundabout in the heart of The Magic Garden may not have been overtly magical, but the adventures of the characters who could be found around it every day certainly were. The series concerned the exploits of Dougal, the laconic, sugar-cube addicted dog; Dylan, the very laid-back rabbit, Brian the hyper-snail, Ermentrude the Cow, a comparatively normal girl named Florence, and the completely bizarre 'guardian' of the garden, Zebedee, and who would arrive at the end of the show to tell everyone that it was 'time for bed'." Keyframe.com

The Magic Roundabout or Le manège enchanté was a programme created in the sixties, which is mostly forgotten today. It is most deserving of your time, you will undoubtedly be enchanted and bemused by it's spontaneity and unconventional storytelling. If you have the time, do take a look at 'Dougal and Blue Cat' a truly beautiful film that doesn't condescend or patronize it's target audience, its one of my all time favourite films.

Here are a few episodes from the 450 strong library:

Film Director
Oil Wells
The Sculptor
The Road Signs

Anyways, it's more likely its something that your parents or grandparents will know more about, especially if you live in Britain. For those outside the country that it aired will probably know it better as 'Dougal!' in the terrible CGI film 'Dougal' which trampled all everything that made the original so good, let us never take about it again.

For those who don't know, I'm a bit of an stop-motion animation buff, especially British and Children's animation. I'm on a one-man mission to re-educate the 'youngsters' on brilliant children's television. So for my Final Project for my Degree I chose to reinvent The Magic Roundabout for a modern audience. During the sixties, The Magic Roundabout had such an important role in the cultural zeitgeist of Great Britain (despite being a French creation), as well as aiding to forge modern children's television and the BBC itself. I felt it important to try reignite people's interest in what I felt was a culturally significant and deserving program. The amazing character design, characters that have dimensions, flaws and conflicting opinions, the awesome art direction.

This splash image was used to pitch the idea and to really sell the idea of a reinvention. The characters here are a mixture of old characters, descendants of existing characters or completely new characters. The storyline involved time-travel and a strong eco-message with a bases around forging friendships, especially with unconventional personalities.

The characters here from left to right are;

Mister Rusti - A decommissioned park-warden robot, caretaker of the Roundabout. (Engineered by Mr. Rusty from the original series.

Zebedee- A Magic Jack-in-the-box, greatly respected and parental figure to all.

Penny- An accident prone, timid Money Spider, but great at first aid!

Eric- Grandson of Brian from Original Series, A pompous and high-regarding Postman ('Snail-Mail' getit?)

Harrision Nephew of Dylan the Rabbit from the Original Series. A chilled and quiet Hare, plays a Mandolin. An un-ironic Hipster.

The full gallery of stop-motion models created for this project can be viewed in it's Flickr Gallery. I will upload the full cast in good time, along with the outline of the pilot episode.

The Magic Roundabout originally created by Serge Danot.
The Magic Roundabout is copyright © of all respective owners (please contact/note me if you know who currently owns the distribution rights to the Magic Roundabout)
Original Characters copyright © of Concore.

Description
"The roundabout in the heart of The Magic Garden may not have been overtly magical, but the adventures of the characters who could be found around it every day certainly were. The series concerned the exploits of Dougal, the laconic, sugar-cube addicted dog; Dylan, the very laid-back rabbit, Brian the hyper-snail, Ermentrude the Cow, a comparatively normal girl named Florence, and the completely bizarre 'guardian' of the garden, Zebedee, and who would arrive at the end of the show to tell everyone that it was 'time for bed'." Keyframe.com

The Magic Roundabout or Le manège enchanté was a programme created in the sixties, which is mostly forgotten today. It is most deserving of your time, you will undoubtedly be enchanted and bemused by it's spontaneity and unconventional storytelling. If you have the time, do take a look at 'Dougal and Blue Cat' a truly beautiful film that doesn't condescend or patronize it's target audience, its one of my all time favourite films.

Here are a few episodes from the 450 strong library:

Film Director
Oil Wells
The Sculptor
The Road Signs

Anyways, it's more likely its something that your parents or grandparents will know more about, especially if you live in Britain. For those outside the country that it aired will probably know it better as 'Dougal!' in the terrible CGI film 'Dougal' which trampled all everything that made the original so good, let us never take about it again.

For those who don't know, I'm a bit of an stop-motion animation buff, especially British and Children's animation. I'm on a one-man mission to re-educate the 'youngsters' on brilliant children's television. So for my Final Project for my Degree I chose to reinvent The Magic Roundabout for a modern audience. During the sixties, The Magic Roundabout had such an important role in the cultural zeitgeist of Great Britain (despite being a French creation), as well as aiding to forge modern children's television and the BBC itself. I felt it important to try reignite people's interest in what I felt was a culturally significant and deserving program. The amazing character design, characters that have dimensions, flaws and conflicting opinions, the awesome art direction.

This splash image was used to pitch the idea and to really sell the idea of a reinvention. The characters here are a mixture of old characters, descendants of existing characters or completely new characters. The storyline involved time-travel and a strong eco-message with a bases around forging friendships, especially with unconventional personalities.

The characters here from left to right are;

Mister Rusti - A decommissioned park-warden robot, caretaker of the Roundabout. (Engineered by Mr. Rusty from the original series.

Zebedee- A Magic Jack-in-the-box, greatly respected and parental figure to all.

Penny- An accident prone, timid Money Spider, but great at first aid!

Eric- Grandson of Brian from Original Series, A pompous and high-regarding Postman ('Snail-Mail' getit?)

Harrision Nephew of Dylan the Rabbit from the Original Series. A chilled and quiet Hare, plays a Mandolin. An un-ironic Hipster.

The full gallery of stop-motion models created for this project can be viewed in it's Flickr Gallery. I will upload the full cast in good time, along with the outline of the pilot episode.

The Magic Roundabout originally created by Serge Danot.
The Magic Roundabout is copyright © of all respective owners (please contact/note me if you know who currently owns the distribution rights to the Magic Roundabout)
Original Characters copyright © of Concore.