The Talking Parcel
The Talking Parcel (also published as The Battle for Castle Cockatrice) is a 1974 book by Gerald Durrell in which children are transported to the fantasy land of Mythologia to save it from cockatrices. They are aided by a talking parrot and encounter many other magical creatures, including a mooncalf.
 First edition (publ. Collins) Cover art by Liza James | |
| Author | Gerald Durrell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's |
| Publisher | Collins |
Publication date | 1974 |
The book has been translated into a number of languages, including Czech, Estonian, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.[1]
Film adaptation
| The Talking Parcel | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Brian Cosgrove |
| Produced by | Brian Cosgrove Mark Hall |
| Written by | Gerald Durrell (novel) Rosemary Anne Sisson (writer) |
| Music by | Ravid Rohl Woolly Wolstenholme |
| Edited by | John McManus Dave Street |
Production company | |
Release date | 26 December 1978 (UK) |
Running time | (US) 60 min (UK) 40 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
It was made into an animated feature for television by Cosgrove Hall Films in 1978, debuting on ITV.[2] However, the film differs from the book mainly by introducing only one human protagonist, the girl Penelope.
Voice cast
- Lisa Norris ... Penelope
- Freddie Jones ... Parrot
- Mollie Sugden ... Hortense, the Flying Train
- Roy Kinnear ... Ethelred
- Edward Kelsey ... H.H. Junketbury
- Windsor Davies ... Chief Cockatrice
- Michael Hordern ... Oswald, the Sea Serpent
- Peter Woodthorpe ... Werewolf
- Harvey Ashby ... Duke Wensleydale
- Raymond Mason
- Daphne Oxenford
gollark: I mean, what are paper signatures actually verifying? That you... can print/write, somehow, a vaguely correct-looking squiggle on the page?
gollark: cryptographic signatures > paper signatures
gollark: Write or you will be forced to read... *The Eye of Argon*, which according to TVTropes is the worst fantasy novella ever.
gollark: Write or I will open a portal to the plane of infinite bees, thus crushing everything on the surface of the planet under the weight of increasingly large quantities of bees.
gollark: Write, or I will plunge the Earth into the Sun.
References
- "The Talking Parcel > Editions". GoodReads. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 333. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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