Noddy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noddy is a character created by British children's author Enid Blyton, originally published between 1949 and 1963. The character has also featured in a number of television shows, most recently the 2004 series.
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[edit] Noddy
Noddy is a little wooden boy who lives in his own little House-for-One in Toyland. Noddy got his name because his head is on a spring and when he gets excited his head just can't stop nodding!
Noddy loves driving his friends around Toyland and delivering parcels in his little red and yellow taxi. You can hear him coming by the "Parp, Parp" sound of his little taxi's horn or by the jingle of the bell on his hat! Often he uses his airplane to get around to visit all the places in Toyland. Noddy's friend has a large resemblance of James Critchell.
Noddy is kind and honest, but he often gets in trouble, either through his own misunderstandings, or because someone has played a trick on him, like the naughty goblins, Sly and Gobble.
[edit] Recurring characters
- Big-Ears, A friendly and cheerful gnome who lives in Toadstool House and is one of Noddy's best friends.
He is a hundred years old and very wise. He often spends his days in Toytown riding around on his little red bicycle and helping Noddy work out a way to solve his problems.
When Noddy gets muddled or gets in trouble, Big-Ears will often be heard to say " You funny little Noddy!!!"
- Mr. Plod,Toytown's policeman, famous for catching goblins Sly and Gobbo when they have been making mischief in Toyland.
Mr Plod ensures Noddy's taxi keeps within the speed linit and tries to keep all the Toys out of mischief.
He catches the mischief makers on his police bycycle, by blowing his whistle and shouting "Halt, in the name of Plod!!" before locking the culprits up in his jail.
- Noddy's car, inanimate on some occasions but capable of independent action on others, and extremely sensible and loyal to Noddy when it does.
- Mr Wobbly Man, he is a funny little man who cannot lie down because of his wobbler and always has to stand up. He doesn't like it when he turns round and round very fast (by mistake)
- Mr and Mrs Tubby Bear who live next to Noddy, with Master Tubby Bear their mischievous son.
- Clockwork Mouse who often needs winding up (hence the key in his back).
- Gilbert Golly, a golliwog and another villain.
- Tricky Teddy, a teddy bear and a regular accomplice of Gilbert Golly in mischief. In later adaptations, the pair were replaced by a pair of teddy bears and ultimately by the goblins, Sly and Gobbo.
- Mr Milko, a perpetually worried milkman. But Very Friendly
- Mr Train Driver
- Dinah Doll, who sells all kinds of everything in the market
- Martha Monkey, a monkey, usually making mischief, but not a villain. Martha Monkey plays with Noddy by pushing his head, making him Nod uncontrollably!
- Bert Monkey, a monkey with a naughty tail
- Bunkey, (see above) a thoroughly mischievous character, who purports to be half bunny and half monkey. He is later exposed as a fraudulent monkey who escaped from a travelling circus. The Bunkey first appeared in "Noddy and the Bunkey" (1959).
- Tessie Bear,A clever and kind teddy bear and a great freind of Noddy. She lives in a cute
- Bumpy-Dog, Tessie's pet.
- Goblins, Sly (goblin character, and Gobbo and especially the red goblins, the nastiest and most dangerous villains of the stories. Sly and Gobbo play dirty tricks on all and sundry. Replaced Gilbert Golly and Tricky Teddy in later adaptations.
- Mr Sparks, Toyland's Mr Fixit, who can mend more or less anything. His favourite saying is "A Challenge? I Like it!!!"
- Miss Harriet the Pink Cat, a snobbish cat who hangs out with Mr Sparks and sells ice cream.
- Mr Straw the Farmer.
- Mrs Straw the Farmer's Wife.
- Mr Jumbo, an elephant. Mr. Jumbo is friendly with Clockwork Mouse.
- The Skittles, including Mrs Skittle and her many children of various sizes. They love being knocked over. Skittles are red and yellow in colour with black hands.
- Sammy Sailer, a friendly coastal friend & owner of the Toyland Dockside Wharf & Harbour
[edit] Noddy books
Early Noddy books have become collectibles, along with other Blytons. The total number is hard to count: the Noddy Library (Sampson Low) of two dozen titles, which became the New Noddy Library when revised, was just part of a big production in the 1950s, with Big Noddy Books of larger format, and strip books. There were numerous spin-offs, also. Widely-differing estimates can be found.
Sales of Noddy books are large, with an estimated 600000 annual sales in France alone, and growing popularity in India, a large market for Blyton books. The Noddy character is owned by Chorion.
[edit] Noddy Library
This is the original Sampson Low series. Volumes 1-7 were illustrated by Van der Beek, who created the main characters. Blyton scholars are still working on the attributions to other artists.
- Little Noddy Goes to Toyland (1949)
- Hurrah for Little Noddy (1950)
- Noddy and His Car (1951)
- Here Comes Noddy Again!(1951)
- Well Done Noddy! (1952)
- Noddy Goes to School (1952)
- Noddy at the Seaside (1953)
- Noddy Gets into Trouble (1954)
- Noddy and the Magic Rubber (1954)
- You Funny Little Noddy (1955)
- Noddy Meets Father Christmas (1955)
- Noddy and Tessie Bear (1956)
- Be Brave, Little Noddy! (1956)
- Noddy and the Bumpy-Dog (1957)
- Do Look Out, Noddy (1957)
- You're a Good Friend, Noddy (1958)
- Noddy Has an Adventure (1958)
- Noddy Goes to Sea (1959)
- Noddy and the Bunkey (1959)
- Cheer Up, Little Noddy! (1960)
- Noddy Goes to the Fair (1960)
- Mr. Plod and Little Noddy (1961)
- Noddy and the Tootles (1962)
- Noddy and the Aeroplane (1963)
[edit] Adaptations
The original Noddy stories featured Golliwogs — black-faced woollen dolls. These dolls were popular in the UK at the time the stories were written, but have fallen out of favour and are now often considered racist. The main villains became two goblins named Sly and Gobbo in 1989.
In the two TV series and a new series of books, Noddy has been updated, with the original Golliwog characters replaced by other sorts of toys. For example, Mr. Golly who ran the Toyland garage was replaced by Mr. Sparks who in the new 2004 version of the series is of Hispanic origin, and the addition by the BBC during the 1992 - 1994 series of Dinah Doll, described as "a black, assertive minority female."
It returned between September 2003 & January 2004 for a new series, which was eventually named Make Way for Noddy. This was created by Chorion, on five (née Channel 5) and the episodes were filmed from 2001-2004 externally.
In the autumn of 2005, a set of 100 new 2-minute TV interstitials were created by Chorion. These interstitials, entitled Say it With Noddy, feature Noddy learning words in a variety of foreign languages. They also introduced Noddy's new friend Whizz from Robot Village, who presses a button on his chest to play recordings of native speakers saying the new foreign words Noddy was to learn.
Make Way for Noddy is an animated series for children produced by Chorion of the United Kingdom in conjunction with SD Entertainment in the United States. Based on Enid Blyton's Noddy character, it originally aired in 12-minute segments as part of the Milkshake program on Britain's Five.
[edit] Trivia
- In The Navy Lark, Lt. Phillips is sometimes called Noddy, since he can usually be found reading a Noddy book instead of studying the art of navigation. Lt. Phillips once said he was frightened of Big-Ears.
- Noddy has been a frequent suggestion for various scenes in the British Whose Line Is It Anyway?. More often than not, Big-Ears is mentioned at least once in said scenes.
- Noddy is sometimes used as an adjective to describe something as small or childish, for example a "Noddy bus" being a single-decker omnibus, or a "Noddy guide to electronics" being a simplified primer. (Compare with "Mickey Mouse".) In the early 1960s British police rode "Noddy bikes", slow, quiet Velocette LE motorcycles.
- A "Noddy suit" is British armed forces slang for a NBC suit.
- In France, Noddy is called "Oui-oui" (Yes-yes) due to his approving nod.
- In the original televised Versions, Noddy used pounds,shillings and pence. In the Chorion version he is seen using dollars. In the PBS Sprout series, the currency is simply referred to as "coins".
- In the film "The Sweeney", Police panda cars (those clearly marked as Police vehicles) are known as "Noddy Cars" and the term was subsequently used in slang.
- In Dickens' Our Mutual Friend (1864-5), Nicodemus Boffin is colloquially known as "Noddy".
- Portuguese metal band Moonspell did a cover of the Portuguese version of the show's theme song for a comedy show (Gato Fedorento) that became very popular on the Internet, with its videos reaching hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
[edit] External links
- Noddy, official website
- Noddy - A Parent's Guide
- The Unofficial Noddy Site
- A TV Station that plays "Make Way for Noddy" (a show that Noddy stars in)
