h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My sister's boyfriend mentioned "D.C. Follies" to me last night. I don't remember the show at all, but he swore that it had Spitting-image style puppets. I'll have to research it.

Real life has interfered with my Field Researcher duties. I've found some new sites for info, and hopefully I can get my promise fulfilled this week

KayKay, thanks for reminding me about "The Great Space Coaster". I used to really dig that show...

K

"Stickball Sally, won't you start a rally..."

I did love Zig and Zag passionatly- I even called my budgie Zig but he died horribly after 2 months, falling off his perch at the end of Coronation Street... Must have been stress or something. But the best, best puppets have to be Podge and Rodge- "Direct descendants of Zig and Zag' ie. They're done by the same people. They do 'A Scream at Bedtime' on Uk Play and Tara tv and tell scary or disgusting stories to worry you at night. They swear a lot in gaelic and do a lovely mickey take of Foster and Allen, Fester and Ailing, which is more than recompense for anyone who was forced to sing along with the song 'Maggie' at weddings as a small child

Podge and Rodge started on the Den too - just like Zig and Zag. They were all created by people living in my home town, and rumour has it that one of the puppets (either Podge or Rodge - P. I think) is based on the principal of the local secondary school. Scary thought!

The Den now has more puppets - Dustin is still there and there is a puppet called Socky too. Don't think he´ll be as successful as the other lot though

~Lost

Fraggle Rock is my all time favorite. I never saw very many episodes, but I loved it with a passion. Unfortunately you have to have cable to see them anymore, and we don't. Very sad.

I can't believe someone forgot to mention Queenie jelly, the matriarch of the bottle army!
Likewise fraggle rock, god save The Trash Heap.
"The Trash Heap has spoken, neer!"

... the rest of the Gerry & Sylvia Anderson stable of puppetry - Fireball XL5, Supercar and (especially) Stingray? And wasn't there another that predated Fireball XL5? I'm sure there was...

Stingray had to have the greatest opening sequence of any animated television programme - designed, methinx, to flesh out the episodes' length rather than anything else. Fantastic piece of filming, though - generally put the rest of the episode to shame...

There was also The Secret Service (post Joe 90), with the voice of Stanley Unwin, playing a vicar who drove a yellow Model T Ford. From what I remember, Unwin's character (whose name is totally unknown to me) saved the world each week by confusing villains through the spouting of gobbledegook (Unwin had been some kind of 40's/50's celebrity for this reason - a sort of walking Spoonerism) Apart from that I remember very little.

I also wondered if anyone knows what the BIG RAT acronym stood for in Joe 90? I seem to remember it was something like: Brain Impulse Generator - Random Access T???? Help me, please... it's the sort of thing that stops you sleeping at night...

thanx