Murun
Buchstansangur (1984) producers: Bevanfield Films Ltd for C4 animation:
cel animation episodes: 52 x 5mins
Murun Buchstansangur was an odd fellow. Quite
apart from his odd name he
was also very odd looking. He was a small grey
onion-shaped man with a mop
of hair and clog boots. He lived under the dirty
kitchen sink of an end-terrace house
in a rather dreary, rain-swept suburb. Murun
didn't have adventures, as such, rather
he found himself with dilemmas, events and decisions
to ponder as he mooched through the day
with his friends and associates...
Here was a curious, melancholic series, with
esoteric ideas - something for the
mind, perhaps, rather than the heart. The series
felt like it had some hidden
depth to it, something to say about the world, but
quite what that something was
was often magnificently unfathomable. What was Murun,
exactly? What was he
doing in that dreary house? Where were the owners,
indeed, where were the
normal-sized people in the town - Murun only
ever seemed to meet up with
people of similar small size. Most of all, though,
what did it all mean?
Murun obviously meant something to Channel Four because
52 episodes
were commissioned by the station, and they were
still being broadcast
well into the 1990s...
Bevanfield Films went on to bring us an animated
version of Bill The Minder.
and adapted Frank Muir's What-a-Mess.
In the 1990s they produced several
animated 'specials', including adaptations of Aladdin
and Little Red Riding Hood.
As well as these series and specials Timothy Forder
also directed the 1993
live-action feature The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. Murun
Buchstansangur remains
a fascinating oblique 'toon', one to track down
and dissect for yourself....
produced by Bevanfield Films
for Channel Four
producer:
Mary Swindale director: Timothy
Forder writer:
Timothy Forder prod co-ord:
Steve Flack animation:
Lys Flowerday, Anne Whitford paint & trace
supervisor: Janet
Hawkins b'grounds: Lys
Flowerday artwork: Hierographics
rostrum: Bob
Skeggs sound: Trevor
Barber editors: Mike
Murray, Keith Brookshaw narrator: Timothy
Forder
On
the web
Little
Gems http://www.thechestnut.com/murun/murun.htm
A
curious creation gets a most-welcome page. The Gems have only
detailed one episode thus far, but they promise
more to come eventually.
Plus there's the moody theme
WAV for you. The Gems have also let me
rejig that Murun image at the top of
the page - thanks, Gems!...