Magic Mountain (TV series)


Magic Mountain is a live-action Australian/Chinese children's television program broadcast on ABC TV on the ABC For Kids broadcasting block from 1997 to 1998 and on China Central Television in China. It was released on VHS, but there has been no DVD release yet. It is a full-body puppet series aimed at children aged two to five years. The series was repeated on ABC TV until 13 February 2004. It was repeated in China until 2013. The ABC's Magic Mountain website was removed during September 2010 when the new ABC Kids website was introduced.

Production

The series was produced in China, with both a Chinese and Australian English dub in mind. Much of the crew is Chinese. It was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, China Central Television and Southern Star Entertainment. Production took place between 1997 and 1998. The series has been dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese, Arabic and Hebrew, among many other languages. The program was also screened in the UK on Nick Jr, TVO in Canada and in New Zealand on TVNZ 2.

Summary

Magic Mountain follows the adventures of Tortoise, Dragon, Lion and Panda - four friends having lots of fun with a little Dragon magic thrown in. Dragon lives in a cave, and is very wise, with magical powers that often get the others out of trouble. Panda is a little bit vain, but still a likeable character who is quite smart, Lion is very playful, full of ideas and is constantly getting into mischief, and Tortoise is a motherly figure, always looking out for the others and trying to help them. These four creatures "enjoy wonderful times as they invent unusual games, play tricks on each other, and have exciting adventures as they explore their enchanting world."

Cast

Episodes

Series 1

  1. Dragon Loses His Magic - Dragon is helping Panda tidy her house. But he blows the house tidy a bit too much and he loses his magic! Panda, Lion and Tortoise do their best to get his magic back until Tortoise comes up with an idea: sing a get well Dragon song. After that, his magic comes back and he is a magic dragon again!
  2. Doctor Lion
  3. Flying Panda
  4. Invisible Lion
  5. Runaway Cart
  6. Tortoise's Restaurant
  7. Lion Moves House
  8. Sports Day
  9. Princess Panda
  10. Monster in the Night
  11. The Hollow Tree
  12. Surprise Party
  13. Panda's Midnight Feast
  14. Dragon Sneezes
  15. Secret Apple Tree
  16. Explorers
  17. Dragon's Treasure
  18. Territories
  19. The Robber
  20. Very Fast Tortoise
  21. Emergency Rescue
  22. Upside Down Tortoise
  23. Double Panda
  24. Panda Loses Her Memory
  25. Lion Circus
  26. Hide and Seek

    Series 2

  27. The Dare
  28. It's Raining, It's Pouring
  29. Brave Prince Lion
  30. Dragon Gives Up Flying
  31. Panda Club
  32. A Sticky Situation
  33. Lion's Night Time Fun Fair
  34. Lion's New Friend
  35. Panda The Ballerina
  36. Bedtime Story
  37. Runaway Lion
  38. Treasure Map
  39. Weather Magic
  40. Three Wishes
  41. Dragon's Birthday
  42. Magnifico
  43. Tortoise The Hero - When Tortoise sees Panda playing a hero adventure game, she wants to join in the fun too. But Panda won't let her. Lion and Dragon decide to help by getting pretend strife, so that Tortoise can rescue them to prove herself a hero. But only when Panda gets into real trouble does Tortoise get the chance to be a hero.
  44. A House For Tortoise
  45. Dropping In
  46. The Swap
  47. Missing Friends
  48. Dragon's Apprentice
  49. Let's Stick Together
  50. Stop Tricking Panda
  51. Dragon's Cousin
  52. Return to Magic Mountain

    International Broadcast

All releases consist of 4 or more episodes packaged together. None of the second series has been released outside of China. The complete series of 52 episodes was once available on VCD in China.

VHS (Australia)

On TV.com, the show has been given a user rating of 7.0 out of 10, based on 3 votes.

Other media

A 31-page paperback colouring book based on the series was released in March 1999.
A storybook titled Tortoise the hero was published in April 2000. There was also some rare plushes from 1999.