The little alien Bleep and his young human pal
Booster traversed the distant
galaxies in Space Freighter 9. Their galactic
missions were handed down by
Bleep's father, the moustached Captain. Bleep
and his alien race haled from
the planet Miron (or Myron, it varied between
the books and films) and their
adventures took them to numerous far-flung and
varied alien worlds...
These gentle science fiction tales surfaced
on BBC tv's "Blue Peter" circa 1963.
They were drawn by William Timym, who was
then known as Tim, and 'animated'
using simple rostrum techniques - panning
the images and zooming in on details
whilst Peter "Pugwash" Hawkins narrated
the stories - a technique referred to as
animatic animation. Stories were episodic,
told in five parts or more on occasion.
Of course, these little films were presented
in black and white on tv, but Bleep And
Booster quickly became regulars in the accompanying
Blue Peter Annuals too and
here their tales were frequently illustrated with
Tim's rich, full-colour art. The duo
were granted their very own tie-in Annuals
too and Purnell published special
stand-alone stories, like Bleep And Booster's
Space Secret which appeared
in 1967...

Those with a hankering for these splendid simple
sci-fi tales should track down
the 1992 Bleep And Booster video from Watershed
Pictures which included the
stories of Solaron and The Giant Brain...
Back in the 1940's William Timym drew numerous newspaper
and magazine
comic strips, like "Caesar", "The Boss",
"Humphrey" and "Wuff, Tuff and Snuff".
He also brought "Bengo The Boxer Pup"
to our TV screens. After "Bleep and
Booster", in the 1970s, this multitalented artist
turned to sculpture where his eye
for naturalistic animals earned him a plethora of commissions
from zoos and
institutions around the world. His most famous pieces
included the bronze bust
of "Blue Peter"s much-lamented Alsatian
dog Petra which still stands in the
Blue Peter Garden and his magnificent statue of Guy the
Gorilla which you'll
encounter near the ape pavilion in London Zoo. Sadly
William Timym died in
1990, aged 87....
Meanwhile, Bleep and Booster live on in the memory
of a generation of "Blue
Peter" viewers. They even inspired the name
of a band. The line-up for Bleep
and Booster includes a former member of eighties
chart-stars ABC...
Bleep And Booster by Tim
stories: Dorothy
Smith
special sound: Brian
Hodgson
narration: Peter
Hawkins
On
the web
Little
Gems
http://www.thechestnut.com/bleep.htm
The
Big Knights feature plenty of Bleep And Booster info here along with
a storyline and screen grabs from The
Giant Brain - Terrific!
Whirligig-Tv
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/other/bengo.htm
An
excellent contribution here, focusing on William Timyn's Bengo
The Boxer Pup but also incorporating
a most informative letter
from Mr Timyms' niece...

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