"He's a secret agent with super powers... 
     A leaping green fighting machine...
     Defending the world against the forces of evil...
     He's Freddie as F.R.O.7..."
 

    In Jon Acevski's animated parody of the Bond films, fearless Freddie is
    a human-size frog working as a French secret agent. His mission: to investigate
    the disappearance of such British institutions as Buckingham Palace and
    the Tower of London. Only they haven't disappeared, they've been shrunk!

    Our story takes us into the past to reveal how Freddie was once a human
    Prince, before being turned into a frog by his wicked aunt Messina. Fast forward
    to the present day and our amphibious friend is now a secret agent frog working
    for the French Secret Service. Meanwhile, Messina has returned to wreak evil
    revenge upon the world. She's teamed up with the dastardly El Supremo to
    create an incredible shrinking device, as well as a very handy sleep-ray.
    London's monuments are being shrunk one by one, and Big Ben is next on
    the cards. That's why fearless Freddie and his pals, Daffers and Scottie,
    hide within the clock tower just before it's reduced in size. The next thing
    they know they're inside El Supremo's mountain fortress with a whole lot
    of evil to combat, and a dozen buildings to regenerate, with just enough time
    for a few songs on the way, and a knighthood at the finale...

          
   
    With a host of famous voices, a new "star" character and the likes of
    Don Black on the lyricsheet, this high-profile production was intended to
    kickstart a franchise. Indeed, every conceivable ingredient for commercial
    success was added to the pot. The production received a lot of tv exposure
    during filming, with camera crews visiting the animation team, hard at work
    on this Big British Film, and hopes were so high for the project that a
    sequel, "Freddie goes to Washington", was already in production when
    the first film opened. But sadly, Freddie flip-flopped somewhat at the
    box office, with poor reviews and not enough bums on seats. So we
    never got that sequel, or indeed a froggy franchise.

    But you know, there was a ready-made animated Bond figure already waiting
    in the wings, and indeed he's still ready and waiting to take over the world:
    Just imagine, a DangerMouse movie!

    • In America, the film received a title change. "Freddie the Frog" was
       released on home video there in 1995. And between then and now,
       the film has picked up a small but appreciable audience, who are
       quite vocal about their support for the guy - Ribbit!

 

      producers:      Jon Acevski, Norman Priggen
     director:           Jon Acevski
     writers:           Jon Acevski, David Ashton
     editing:           Alex Rayment, Mick Manning
     d.o.p:              Rex Neville
     art director:     Paul Shardlow
     animation:       Mike Stewart, Richard Fawdy, Tony Guy
     mus/lyrics:      David Dundas, Rick Wentworth,
                            Don Black, Jon Acevski, David Ashton
     voices:            Ben Kingsley (Freddie)
                           Jenny Agutter (Daffers)
                           John Sessions (Scottie)
                           Brian Blessed (El Supremo)
                           Edmund Kingsley (Young Freddie)
                           Nigel Hawthorne (Brigadier G)
                           Sir Michael Hordern (King)
                           Phyllis Logan (Nessie)
                           Victor Maddern (Old Gentleman Raven)
                           Jonathan Pryce (Trilby)
                           Prunella Scales (Queen )
                           Billie Whitelaw (Messina)
                           David Ashton

 

      On the web


       Jenny Agutter Fansite
       Just this small indexing on a Jenny Agutter fan site, but it does
       feature four great screen grabs of her character...