Oscar's Orchestra

Oscar's Orchestra
Genre	Children's
Created by	Jan Younghusband; Collingwood O'Hare
Written by	Tony Collingwood; Roger Stennett; Dennis O'Flaherty; Doug Molitor; Jimmy Hibbert; Chris Trengove
Directed by	Tony Collingwood
Voices of	Dudley 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 composer	Jan Younghusband
Country of origin	United Kingdom; France
Original language(s)	English; French
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39
Production
Producer(s)	Christopher O'Hare
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Tony Collingwood Productions Limited
Distributor	The Summit Media Group
Release
Original network	BBC (UK); France 2 (France)
Original release	12 September 1995 –; 25 March 1996

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.

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

Oscar the Piano – Dudley Moore (seasons 1–2), David Holt (season 3)
Thadius Vent, Tank – Colin McFarlane
Rebecca – Elly Fairman
Mr. Crotchit – Michael Kilgarriff
Trevor the Tuba, Louis the Oboe – Stefan Lander
Monty the Violin – John Baddeley
Sylvia the Flute – Eve Karpf
Eric the Triangle – Eric Meyers
Kevin the Keyboard, Fantom – Richard E. Grant
Goodtooth – Sean Barrett
Lucius – Murray Melvin
Young William Tell – Rik Mayall
Narrator – David de Keyser

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.

References

Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 596–597. ISBN 978-1476665993.
Dudley Moore on IMDb
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.

External links

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[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.