#roobarb

From 1974, the unique animation style of "Roobarb" a kids cartoon show that was shown just before the early evening news (and thus became popular with adults too).

The marker-style animation with it's constant juddering (apparently called "boiling" by animators) added extra energy.

The adventures of a dog and his neighbours as the embark on contest, games, and mischief.

 As with other series of the time it has a primitive entertainment value to it. Some of the puns and visual gags are amusing and a few are even clever. The description of how they say or do things is an enjoyable affectation that is likely to appeal to children and the narrator seems amiable as well as doing the voices in the later series with variety.

 It’s natural that the characters should have their good points and bad points but the outstanding one is Custard who appears objectively bad in nearly every story with consequences being divided equally between him and his victims. Not all the episodes resolve in a meaningful way, occasionally drifting off into disappointing obscurity.

 The design and audio quality improve considerably between the two series since there’s such a long gap but the style is kept the same which is reassuring. There’s also a wider variety of characters, many of which are beneficial to the stories and are given enjoyable accents. The bizarre elements also give it an interesting charm as well as allowing for more engaging aesthetics.

 The theme music is really something atrocious, it’s actually difficult to binge watch too many in a row because of how grating the tune is. It has a lot of similarities to other children’s series made in the same production style, format, and strange stories, like Henry’s Cat (1983), however Roobarb doesn’t quite come out as effective as Henry’s Cat.

 Roobarb: 3/10 -This one’s bad but there’s some good in it, just there-

 Roobarb and Custard Too: 4/10 -It’s below average, but only just!-