Any Hey Duggee fans out there?
For those of you shamefully unaware of this piece of absolute genius, this is a cartoon aimed at under fives on Cbeebies. Duggee is a dog and sort of scout leader, the squirrels are the young kids who earn badges at his club. It is beyond sweet and wonderful and is, in my opinion, up there with The Wire and The Sopranos. I admit that it could be that having two children under five has affected my taste here.
However today’s episode “The Stick Badge” absolutely outdid itself; the squirrels had to build a camp fire, they needed sticks, they found a stick who sung. The song sounded EXACTLY like the happy hardcore which blighted Scotland’s post industrial hell holes in the early 90s. Except it had charm.
Anyone else got a soft spot for music from cartoons?
Wilson Wilson says
God, I love Hey Duggee! The first episode I remember was the Detective Badge which managed to cram a 70s cop show pastiche and some Roswell conspiracy theory gags into its short running time. That, and Sarah and Duck are the two bright spots in sleep-deprived life at the minute – it’s also sweet and funny and gently surreal.
Arthur Cowslip says
As soon as I saw this post I thought of Sarah and Duck – you beat me to it. Fantastic animation and design work, and the music is uniformly terrific and soothing. it feels as good as something like Mr Ben, that same gentle vibe.
For kids, the Octonauts is also good, but a bit more hyperactive so less appealing to us grown ups. Well made though.
From an adult point of view the nadir of kids TV has to be that guy Justin and all his many shows. I can see that he obviously knows how to appeal to kids, who all love him without exception, and he does important work for special needs children – but by god he is annoying if you are over six years old.
newpathstohelicolin says
This is my fireworks dance.
I do it when there’s fireworks.
Fireworks fireworks.
Fireworks fireworks…
pawsforthought says
Have an up!
minibreakfast says
Oh god this has been in my head for half an hour now.
Stick-stick-stick-stick,
Stick-stick-stick-stick,
Stick-stick-stick-stick,
Sticky-sticky-STICK-stick…
newpathstohelicolin says
Me and my one year old daughter have been annoying my wife with it all weekend!
Harold Holt says
What’s brown and sticky ?
Rigid Digit says
Creosote
(It’s a rubbish joke innit)
JustB says
Well, this is obviously amazing. Fuck The Crown, I’m going to binge on this.
newpathstohelicolin says
Hey Duggee is an absolute masterpiece. The superhero badge in particular is hilarious.
davebigpicture says
I’m worried that they burnt the stick once he was no further use to them.
dadwardo says
Huge fan. The bluegrass tune that accompanies the ‘everything’ montage for the Story Badge is a stone-cold classic. Can’t work out if it’s an original or something from back in the day. It’s that good. A-woof!
Milkybarnick says
Oh, I love Hey Duggee. If you’ve not seen the Tadpole Badge or the River Badge episodes (which is influenced by the African Queen, Apocalypse Now and Spy Hunter) try and find them somewhere. Brilliant stuff.
Beany says
I will not dazzle you with my collection of Disney soundtracks, including the LPs I bought recently because they were all in German (Das Dschungelbuch anyone?). I recently picked up a CD by Phineas & Ferb from a charity shop with this smashing track.
fentonsteve says
Not from a cartoon, but from live-action Balamory, PC Plumb’s ‘Follow The Clue’. The makers were obviously familiar with a certain Bo Rap:
minibreakfast says
They’ve repurposed the Stick Song for the World Cup!
davebigpicture says
Not quite in line with the OP but was there ever any better incidental music than in Tom And Jerry cartoons? If my daughter ever hears Gershwin, she says it’s Tom and Jerry music.