Underplayed Gems

Oscar's Orchestra (1995)

Oscar's Orchestra poster
Genre
children's television series
Country
United Kingdom
Length
3 seasons, 39 episodes
Rating
6.0 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

In a future city where music is banned, a talking piano named Oscar leads a group of musical instruments to rebel against a dictator. They plot to restore music to the world.

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What happens

Oscar's Orchestra is an animated series that ran from 1995 to 1996 comprising a total of three series 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 3 in France, ABC in Australia and syndication in the United States. According to the first episode, The show is set in the distant future, "in the year 735 squillion, 22 million, 381 thousand, 6 hundred and 4... Tuesday" in a city called New Vienna, and is about a talking piano called Oscar, who rebels against the evil dictator of the world, Thaddeus Vent, who has banned music. Oscar and his fellow musical instruments plot against Vent and his henchmen, Lucius and Tank, and his soothsayer, Goodtooth. Their mission is to overthrow Thadius, save the world and bring back music. The voice of Oscar was provided by Dudley Moore. 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. 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'. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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