Toonhound - The Pondles

     The Pondles share some interesting similarities with Peyo's all-conquering
      little folk The Smurfs. They have the same bluey skin for starters, there's a
      blonde-bunched female, a wiser 'father' figure, they live in toadstool houses
      and share an affinity with the forest folk around them - indeed, one might
      credibly mistake them for being Smurfs without hats. What do you think...?

            Daisy Pondle looks a little like...     ...Smurfette

     One who knows the truth about The Pondles is Janet Nunn who was the
     supervising animator and animation designer on this little series. Says Janet:

     "The Pondles evolved quite independently of the Smurfs, and the
      doe-eyed Daisy Pondle was modelled on my younger daughter,
      Jennifer, who had a similar hairstyle, and a similar air of innocence
      at the age of five, although her general behaviour was more like
      that of Genghis Khan..."

     The mind boggles. And here's what she had to say about The Pondles' skin-tone:

     "The colour of the Pondles' skin was actually a rather nasty
      shade of 'bathroom-door' green, and the studio had bulk-bought
      rather a lot of it - hence all the characters were the same
      unlovely colour..."

     Janet began her animated career in 1965 working for Halas & Batchelor in
     Stroud before she went freelance in 1971. Her credits cover the length of breadth
     of the british animation world, from feature work, to series, commercials, titles
     and even CD-ROM work. Her production credits include a numbver of Terry
     Ward's productions including Bananaman, The Mister Men, Nellie the Elephant
     and Junglies as well as Dick Deadeye, Heavy Metal, Ruddigore, The Addams
     Family, The Animals of Farthing Wood, Captain Caveman , Count Duckula,
     Fred Basset, The Jackson Five, The Jetsons, The Partridge Family, The
     Osmonds, The Perishers, Tom and Jerry, Wil Cwac-Cwac, storyboards for an
     Only Fools And Horses CD-ROM and titles for the recent Linda Green
     BBC tv series. A couple of years ago Janet's 'how to' book Learn To Draw
     Animated Cartoons was published by Harper Collins. It's recently been
     given a facelift and reprinted under the new title, Drawing Cartoons....

     By the way, notice how many American series are on Janet's CV. It's often
     forgotten that the likes of Hanna Barbera actually farmed out a lot of their
     animation to foreign studios like Halas & Batchelor during the 70s...


     created, produced and directed by Terry Ward
     animation supervision and design by Janet Nunn

     writer:    Bernie Kay
     music:       Dave Cooke
     lyrics:        Bernie Kay
     narrator:    Robin Bailey
     voices:      Christopher Sandford
                     Jill Shilling

      On the web

       Flicks Films
       http://www.flicksfilms.com/
       Lots of info about Terry Ward and his numerous animated productions
       here at his official site...

       Chatsworth
       http://www.chatsworth-tv.co.uk
       For those with a pre-Pondle-ance to find out more, although the
       Chatsworth Pondles page is tiny...

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			The Pondles (1986) producers: Chatsworth TV & The Pondle Promotion Co. animation: cel animation episodes: 13 x 11.5 mins


	"Down at the bottom of my garden and through the big hedge is a place you won't find on any map. It's called Puddletown, and it's the home of the Pondles..." The Pondles were small greeny-blue characters who, like the narrator said, lived at the bottom of a garden, in a place called Puddletown.... The main Pondle character was Pip (top), a happy-chappy with a leafy stalk growing out of his head. His sister Daisy was a doe-eyed blonde with daisies in her bunches. Then there was Mustard, Conker, and Squirrel, Toad and Tortoise, Grandad and Grandma Pondle, Mr Periwinkle and Heather Pondle the Puddletown postmistress. All the Pondles and their animal friends liked to chuff around Puddletown on a mini train-like creation called The Puffer... This kind-hearted series was aimed at pre-schoolers and featured gentle stories and songs with ne'er a villain, or protagonist in sight (except for the two thieving blackbirds in 'The Pondleberry Robbers' episode). It was created by Terry Ward with episodes written by Bernie Kay. Bernie also wrote these beguiling lyrics for The Pondles title song:
				"Deep in your heart, They're holding a matinee, For dreams you forgot yesterday. Don't be afraid. Don't let it fade away. Please can you come out to play?"
	The Pondles share some interesting similarities with Peyo's all-conquering little folk The Smurfs. They have the same bluey skin for starters, there's a blonde-bunched female, a wiser 'father' figure, they live in toadstool houses and share an affinity with the forest folk around them - indeed, one might credibly mistake them for being Smurfs without hats. What do you think...? One who knows the truth about The Pondles is Janet Nunn who was the supervising animator and animation designer on this little series. Says Janet: "The Pondles evolved quite independently of the Smurfs, and the doe-eyed Daisy Pondle was modelled on my younger daughter, Jennifer, who had a similar hairstyle, and a similar air of innocence at the age of five, although her general behaviour was more like that of Genghis Khan..." The mind boggles. And here's what she had to say about The Pondles' skin-tone: "The colour of the Pondles' skin was actually a rather nasty shade of 'bathroom-door' green, and the studio had bulk-bought rather a lot of it - hence all the characters were the same unlovely colour..." Janet began her animated career in 1965 working for Halas & Batchelor in Stroud before she went freelance in 1971. Her credits cover the length of breadth of the british animation world, from feature work, to series, commercials, titles and even CD-ROM work. Her production credits include a numbver of Terry Ward's productions including Bananaman, The Mister Men, Nellie the Elephant and Junglies as well as Dick Deadeye, Heavy Metal, Ruddigore, The Addams Family, The Animals of Farthing Wood, Captain Caveman , Count Duckula, Fred Basset, The Jackson Five, The Jetsons, The Partridge Family, The Osmonds, The Perishers, Tom and Jerry, Wil Cwac-Cwac, storyboards for an Only Fools And Horses CD-ROM and titles for the recent Linda Green BBC tv series. A couple of years ago Janet's 'how to' book Learn To Draw Animated Cartoons was published by Harper Collins. It's recently been given a facelift and reprinted under the new title, Drawing Cartoons.... By the way, notice how many American series are on Janet's CV. It's often forgotten that the likes of Hanna Barbera actually farmed out a lot of their animation to foreign studios like Halas & Batchelor during the 70s... created, produced and directed by Terry Ward animation supervision and design by Janet Nunn writer: Bernie Kay music: Dave Cooke lyrics: Bernie Kay narrator: Robin Bailey voices: Christopher Sandford Jill Shilling On the web Flicks Films http://www.flicksfilms.com/ Lots of info about Terry Ward and his numerous animated productions here at his official site... Chatsworth http://www.chatsworth-tv.co.uk For those with a pre-Pondle-ance to find out more, although the Chatsworth Pondles page is tiny... index » previous » next »
	© Chatsworth tv/ Pondle Promotion Co.t / F2000-2004