Oscar's Orchestra

Oscar's Orchestra is a British children's animated TV series that ran from 1995 to 1996 comprising a total of three seasons and 39 episodes as a BBC competitor to ITV's Budgie the Little Helicopter. The series was produced by the popular British animation studio Tony Collingwood Productions Limited in association with Warner Music Vision and Europe Images, and was originally shown on the BBC as part of their children's block CBBC. It also aired on the British children's cable networks The Children's Channel (TCC) and Nickelodeon and has broadcast in over more than 100 different countries worldwide such as ARD in Germany, France 2 in France and ABC in Australia.

Oscar's Orchestra
GenreChildren's
Created byJan Younghusband
Collingwood O'Hare
Written byTony Collingwood
Roger Stennett
Dennis O'Flaherty
Doug Molitor
Jimmy Hibbert
Chris Trengove
Directed byTony Collingwood
Voices ofDudley Moore (Oscar) (Seasons 1–2)
David Holt (Oscar) (Season 3)
Colin McFarlane (Thadius Vent/Tank)
Elly Fairman (Rebecca)
Michael Kilgarriff (Mr Crotchet)
Murray Melvin (Lucius)
David de Keyser (narrator)
Rik Mayall (Young William Tell)
Theme music composerJan Younghusband
Country of originUnited Kingdom
France
Original language(s)English
French
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes39
Production
Producer(s)Christopher O'Hare
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Tony Collingwood Productions Limited
DistributorThe Summit Media Group
Release
Original networkBBC (UK)
France 2 (France)
Original release12 September 1995 (1995-09-12) –
25 March 1996 (1996-03-25)

The show is set in the distant future, in the year 2743 in a city called New Vienna, and is about a talking piano called Oscar, who rebels against the evil dictator of the world, Thadius Vent, who has banned music.[1] Oscar and his fellow musical instruments plot against Vent and his henchmen, Lucius and Tank, and his soothsayer, Goodtooth, spouting his catchphrase 'You screamed, master!' The voice of Oscar was provided by Dudley Moore.[2]

Other members of the orchestra included Monty the violin, Trevor the tuba, Sylvia the flute and Eric the triangle. Based on an idea by Jan Younghusband, Oscar's Orchestra was designed to inspire children with the delights of classical music and incorporates famous orchestrated works from the great composers in each episode such as George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Frédéric Chopin.[3] The programme's opening music is Mikhail Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila. The episode titles continue the theme, for example 'Bach To The Future'.

Characters
  • Oscar the Piano – Oscar the Piano is a blue talking grand piano, who is a so-called 'illegal instrument.' He is constantly trying to avoid Thadius Vent's traps (because he had previously belonged to the evil dictator), while still doing the thing he loves, which is playing music. Oscar has a brave, strong personality, and was voiced by Dudley Moore and later by David Holt in season 3.
  • Rebecca and Mr. Crotchet – Rebecca (aged 10) and her grandfather, Mr. Crotchet, are the only good humans in this story, and they hide Oscar and his Orchestra in their house. They are constantly having to think of new ideas to avoid Thadius Vent. They used to run a diner before Oscar and his orchestra came into their lives.
  • Thadius Vent – Thadius Vent is an evil dictator and Oscar's arch-enemy. He has banned music, and is helped by his hapless henchmen, Goodtooth, Lucius and Tank. Vent is a small, middle-aged man, who wears a Georgian-style wig and has a heart-shaped mole on his cheek. He also talks to his teddy bear, who is called 'Teddy.' Vent's evil schemes are always foiled by Oscar, and his orchestra. It is revealed in the first episode that his hatred for music and Oscar stemmed from when he was six years old and was too impatient to practice playing Chopin music on Oscar. When it came for him to do a recital for the audience, he threatened Oscar to play for him and fool them, but it all went wrong when Oscar accidentally revealed he could play by himself and Vent suffered great humiliation.
  • Lucius – Lucius is the deputy of Thadius Vent. He is a small man with green skin, greasy hair and a moustache. Lucius always thinks of new ideas, and patrols the streets of New Vienna to find illegal instruments. His pet is Tank, a savage.
  • Tank – Tank is a savage. He is Lucius' pet, and has pink skin. Tank always helps Lucius with his schemes, but often ruins them because of his non-existent intelligence. Tank sleeps in Lucius' bedroom in Vent's palace, chained to the end of Lucius' bed.
  • Goodtooth – Goodtooth is Thadius Vent's soothsayer. He always introduces himself as 'I, Goodtooth, bringer of potions and portents!' Whenever Goodtooth arrives, he frightens Vent, who screams. Then, Goodtooth replies to Vent by saying 'You screamed, master!' Goodtooth is named that because of the fact he only has one, rotten tooth.

Other characters in Oscar's Orchestra are the instruments that are part of Oscar's orchestra, who include Monty the Violin, Eric the Triangle (actually a Bermuda Triangle capable of creating a portal through space and time by touching his two ends together), Kevin the Keyboard (created by Tim Wall the winner of a Blue Peter competition, to design a new character), Trevor the Tuba, Sylvia the Flute, Louis the Oboe and Crash and Stan the Cymbals.

Voice talent cast

Episodes

Series 1
  • The Battle Begins
  • Bach to the Future
  • The Flight of the Bumble-Bees
  • Star Tours
  • Battle on Ice
  • The Four Seasons
  • Oscar Cracks the Nut
  • 1812
  • Star Crossed
  • My Kingdom for a Tank
  • Viva Espana
  • Once Upon a Ragtime
  • The Ring

Series 2
  • Queen Sheba
  • Radio Oscar
  • Forty Thieves
  • Back to Bach
  • Carnival of the Animals
  • Black Keys
  • Hall of the Mountain King
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • A Fight at the Opera
  • Fangs But No Fangs
  • A Tale of Two Tales
  • Four of our Notes
  • World Tour

Series 3
  • The Lost Chords
  • Out of Tune
  • Knight in Shining Armour
  • Musical Exercise
  • Raiders of the Lost Park
  • Soothsayer’s Convention
  • Water Music
  • Return of Scheherazade
  • Maestro Thadius
  • Inside Job
  • Lieder of the Pack
  • Greensleeves
  • The Toy Symphony

VHS / DVD / Music album releases

Series 1 & 2 were released on DVD in 2010:

  • Oscar's Orchestra Vol. 1 (2-disc set) : Episodes 1 to 13 (292 min)
  • Oscar's Orchestra Vol. 2 (2-disc set) : Episodes 14 to 26 (299 min)

Oscar's Orchestra 3rd Series (Episodes 27 to 39) : No record to date of these being released on DVD.

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References
  1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 596–597. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. Dudley Moore on IMDb
  3. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 230–231. ISBN 9781476672939.
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