Oscar's Orchestra
Oscar's Orchestra is a British children's animated TV series that ran from 1995 to 1996 comprising a total of three seasons 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 and Nickelodeon and has broadcast in over more than 100 different countries worldwide such as ARD in Germany, France 2 in France and ABC in Australia.
The show is set in the distant future, in the year 2743 in a city called New Vienna, and is about a talking piano called Oscar, who rebels against the evil dictator of the world, Thadius Vent, who has banned music. Oscar and his fellow musical instruments plot against Vent and his henchmen, Lucius and Tank, and his soothsayer, Goodtooth, spouting his catchphrase 'You screamed, master!' 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'.
Characters
- Oscar the Piano – Oscar the Piano is a blue talking grand piano, who is a so-called 'illegal instrument.' He is constantly trying to avoid Thadius Vent's traps, while still doing the thing he loves, which is playing music. Oscar has a brave, strong personality, and was voiced by Dudley Moore and later by David Holt in season 3.
- Rebecca and Mr. Crotchet – Rebecca and her grandfather, Mr. Crotchet, are the only good humans in this story, and they hide Oscar and his Orchestra in their house. They are constantly having to think of new ideas to avoid Thadius Vent. They used to run a diner before Oscar and his orchestra came into their lives.
- Thadius Vent – Thadius Vent is an evil dictator and Oscar's arch-enemy. He has banned music, and is helped by his hapless henchmen, Goodtooth, Lucius and Tank. Vent is a small, middle-aged man, who wears a Georgian-style wig and has a heart-shaped mole on his cheek. He also talks to his teddy bear, who is called 'Teddy.' Vent's evil schemes are always foiled by Oscar, and his orchestra. It is revealed in the first episode that his hatred for music and Oscar stemmed from when he was six years old and was too impatient to practice playing Chopin music on Oscar. When it came for him to do a recital for the audience, he threatened Oscar to play for him and fool them, but it all went wrong when Oscar accidentally revealed he could play by himself and Vent suffered great humiliation.
- Lucius – Lucius is the deputy of Thadius Vent. He is a small man with green skin, greasy hair and a moustache. Lucius always thinks of new ideas, and patrols the streets of New Vienna to find illegal instruments. His pet is Tank, a savage.
- Tank – Tank is a savage. He is Lucius' pet, and has pink skin. Tank always helps Lucius with his schemes, but often ruins them because of his non-existent intelligence. Tank sleeps in Lucius' bedroom in Vent's palace, chained to the end of Lucius' bed.
- Goodtooth – Goodtooth is Thadius Vent's soothsayer. He always introduces himself as 'I, Goodtooth, bringer of potions and portents!' Whenever Goodtooth arrives, he frightens Vent, who screams. Then, Goodtooth replies to Vent by saying 'You screamed, master!' Goodtooth is named that because of the fact he only has one, rotten tooth.
Voice talent cast
- Oscar the Piano – Dudley Moore, David Holt
- Thadius Vent, Tank – Colin McFarlane
- Rebecca – Elly Fairman
- Mr. Crotchit – Michael Kilgarriff
- Trevor the Tuba, Louis the Oboe – Stefan Lander
- Monty the Violin – John Baddeley
- Sylvia the Flute – Eve Karpf
- Eric the Triangle – Eric Meyers
- Kevin the Keyboard, Fantom – Richard E. Grant
- Goodtooth – Sean Barrett
- Lucius – Murray Melvin
- Young William Tell – Rik Mayall
- Narrator – David de Keyser
Episodes
Series 1
- The Battle Begins
- Bach to the Future
- The Flight of the Bumble-Bees
- Star Tours
- Battle on Ice
- The Four Seasons
- Oscar Cracks the Nut
- 1812
- Star Crossed
- My Kingdom for a Tank
- Viva Espana
- Once Upon a Ragtime
- The Ring
Series 2
- Queen Sheba
- Radio Oscar
- Forty Thieves
- Back to Bach
- Carnival of the Animals
- Black Keys
- Hall of the Mountain King
- Sleeping Beauty
- A Fight at the Opera
- Fangs But No Fangs
- A Tale of Two Tales
- Four of our Notes
- World Tour
Series 3
- The Lost Chords
- Out of Tune
- Knight in Shining Armour
- Musical Exercise
- Raiders of the Lost Park
- Soothsayer’s Convention
- Water Music
- Return of Scheherazade
- Maestro Thadius
- Inside Job
- Lieder of the Pack
- Greensleeves
- The Toy Symphony
VHS / DVD / Music album releases
- Oscar's Orchestra Vol. 1 : Episodes 1 to 13
- Oscar's Orchestra Vol. 2 : Episodes 14 to 26