It's fairly safe to say at this point in time that I really do love Worzel Gummidge so much so that I own all of the episodes from the original Jon Pertwee version of the show on remastered DVD. With the episode that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today being an episode that does kind of set the tone for what we would get in the following sequel series Worzel Gummidge Down Under and so then join me as I review the episode that could technically be considered the first part of a two part episode with the episode in question being called simply just "Moving On" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when The Peter's and The Braithwaights return from there join holiday to Tenerife they find there home in shambles as both Worzel and Aunt Sally have been living there and now Worzel has to find a way of being reunited with his beloved Aunt Sally when a fairground collector comes by and picks her up with the hopes of restoring her to her former glory. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho this episodes plot wasn't all that good either as even tho the next episode has next to nothing to do with this episode in terms of plot outside of Worzel , Aunt Sally and later The Crowman being in a new location this episodes plot does feel like that it's just one long prolog to a much more better episode that's not to say that this episodes plot is bad because it's not infact there times where the old charm that this show had when it just focused on Worzel as a character really does begin to shine through but because of the fact that this is the era where Aunt Sally was forced into alot of episodes it's not a plot that's as fun as it really could have been and while you can't really see the ending coming it's the events that lead up to the ending that let the whole thing down as this is a plot that really could have been handled much more better then what it was in the final episode with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee as Worzel Gummidge and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally. Also starring in this episode is Norman Bird as Mr. Braithwaite, Megs Jenkins as Mrs. Braithwaite , Mike Berry as Mr. Peters , Charlotte Coleman as Sue Peters , Jeremy Austin as John Peters , Diana Van Proosdy as Mrs. Cousins , Geoffrey Bayldon as The Crowman and Aysha Mitchell as Emma.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which for this show is really nothing all that new as all of this shows episodes including the ones that aren't that good all have the same thing in common and that's the fact that the acting in all of them is nearly always top notch with the same thing being true for this episode as well as all of this episodes actors really do turn in some really good performances which is something that does make alot of sense as this show had an OSCAR winning director directing all but one of the shows episodes in director James Hill who it is said treated this show like he was making his next big feature length film and that is something that does shine through in the episodes performances as he always demanded the best work from all of the actors that he worked with be they kids or adults and because of that it meant that we got to see some truly wonderful pieces of acting not only from this show but from this episode as well with it being hard to say just who the best actor in this episode really was they all turn in some really great performances in their own right with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
What this episode does do that alot of other Aunt Sally focused episodes don't do is show us both Worzel and Aunt Sally together and happy. As alot of the time we see them arguing with each other and Aunt Sally usually betraying Worzel's trust and love for her by the end of the episode something which is still in the episode but alot of the time we actually get to see them happy and act friendly to one another which is something that does make for a refreshing and while Aunt Sally will never ever truly love Worzel due to the fact that she has to much of an ego that's half the fun of the episode is just seeing these characters one of which doesn't like the other and the other is completely and madly in love with the other just get along with one another and while other episodes have shown them acting friendly to each other in the past it's never usually for alot of the episode and is more usually then not just for a few minuets of that episodes running time where as here they act like good friends for the vast majority of the episode which was sweet as it gave us the audience a chance to see that Aunt Sally can be kind to Worzel regardless of if she's going to be getting something out of it or not but at the same time that also makes Worzel all the more foolish as even tho he's a scarecrow of very little brain he really should have learned by now that she will hurt him and break his heart something that she does at the end of the episode when she runs off right infront of him to join the fair only now Worzel runs after her which only makes the heartbreak that he goes through in the following episode all the more upsetting as we the audience know just how far he's willing to go to be with the woman that he truly loves even if it's going to cause him alot of heartache in the process.
Again what was interesting about this episode in particular was seeing Worzel and Aunt Sally sharing a house together. With this being something that Worzel had always wanted and Aunt Sally had aways wanted a house of there own and yet even so they still do fall back onto old habits with Worzel doing anything and everything that Aunt Sally says but messing it up in his own unique way and Aunt Sally bossing him around and doing whatever it takes to make sure that she herself doesn't get to do any of the housework something which does feel true to who both of these characters as Worzel would do anything that she says as that's how he thinks that she's expressing her love for him and Aunt Sally would go about doing anything to avoid doing any of the housework as she's a big time diva with the ego to match it and the fact that the house that they've chosen to live in actually belongs to The Braithwaights does work as well as while any of those characters would never go abroad for a holiday the fact that they left there house unattended made it perfect for Worzel and Aunt Sally to go wild and have there way with it something which they did take full advantage of altho given that the farm hand Harry was meant to be looking after the place and was nowhere to be seen throughout the entire episode does make you wonder what he was up to as the episode does kind of start of a plot with Mr. Braithwaite believing Harry to be the one that caused all of the mess in the house and around the farm yard but the episode does drop it for no good reason which is understandable as the episode is meant to be all about Worzel and Aunt Sally and to be fair the two living together is more then enough for comedy gold to happen.
As was mentioned at the very start of this review this episode does kind of start something that the sequel series Worzel Gummidge Down Under would also do and that's the two part episode. As while this episode isn't a two-parter in the more traditional meaning of the word the next episode does mainly feature Worzel and Aunt Sally now working at the fair that Worzel was chasing after at the end of this episode with The Crowman eventually catching up to him but that's really the only thing that connects the two episodes but it is something that does show you that the makers of this show were more then willing to make these stories that do require more then one episode in order to do them justice and while these two episodes aren't the best example of how to do a two part episode the very fact that they tried to do one at all with the limited main characters and still somehow managed to make a memorable new character in Dolly Clothes Peg does go to show you that even with a very limited set of characters and very little plot to actually follow up on magic can still happen if you have the right creative team involved but even with that said the two part episodes that they did do in Worzel Gummidge Down Under are better in the regards that there actually stories that do require more then episode to tell there story and do take full advantage of being a two part episode by making those episodes not only more ambitious then the rest of the shows episodes but also at times alot more scary as well where as with this two part episode and this episode in particular it felt like that they were playing things a bit to safe with the story that was being told.
For some odd reason the makers of this episode don't really do much with The Crowman with him being just behind Worzel and Aunt Sally for alot of the episode. This is despite the fact that previous episodes have established the fact that he always knows where all of his scarecrows are thanks to his Pigeons telling him so which makes you wonder why he just didn't use them in this episode and catch up to both Worzel and Aunt Sally before Worzel took his bike at the end of the episode as that then would made the characters inclusion in this episode seem more relevant and would have been more true to his character because as things are him being in the episode just feels like a set up for the ending of the next episode as he has very little to do in this episode which does make you wonder why the character was forced into this episode as the Worzel creative team are usually pretty good about what characters get included in what episode with them all serving a purpose in the episode that there in and yet here they seemed to have dropped the ball as The Crowman would know straight away where to find Worzel and Aunt Sally and while he might not be able to stop Aunt Sally from leaving the village as he didn't create her he did create Worzel and could therefor persuade him to remain in the village but for whatever reason the makers of this episode just chose to have remain just behind whatever Worzel and Aunt Sally are doing and ignoring all of his scarecrows which is something that does feel very out of character for him this is despite the fact that it's been shown in several episodes that he does have other scarecrows to look after apart from Worzel Gummidge and so he would therefor want to give them as much attention as he gives him.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty five minuets and fifty nine seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have with the episode even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time and the episode even makes great use of it's running time as the plot of the episode does feel as fully developed as it was going to be considering that this is basically the first part of a two part episode even the following the episode doesn't really follow up on the plots from this episode and just does it's own thing with even the episodes characters being a fully developed as they could have been which is something that's not really a praise for this episode as alot of this episodes characters are the series main characters and have therefor been in alot of the previous and so it would make sense for them to be fully developed characters as we the audience have had several episodes at this point in time to really get to know there characters and choose weather or not that we like them or not with really the only character that's not that well developed is the character of Mrs. Cousins however this isn't a negative thing as the character only appears in this one episode and is never seen from again in the rest of the show with the same thing also being true for her daughter Emma and so of course they won't that well developed as characters and to be fair the episode doesn't really suffer because of there lack of character development either but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episode having alot of moments in it that whilst they aren't laugh out funny they are cute enough jokes that people will find them funny regardless with those being the kind of jokes where this show excel as alot of the stuff with Worzel just trying to please Aunt Sally but messing it up will always be funny because of the fact that Worzel is just a likable character that we the audience will find alot of the stuff that does to be funny automatically because of the fact that Worzel himself is a funny character and paring him with Aunt Sally will always result in comedy gold with both Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs having such great comedic timing together that they can make alot of things funny with even the fact that Aunt Sally manages to hit Worzel on the head with a serving tray being a really joke as it feels like something that she would do especially when she's angry at him like she was in this episode and the fact that the episode ends with both of them actually like friends just naming cakes together is a really cute joke with it being hard to say just what the best joke is in this episode as all of this episodes jokes including the stuff with The Peter's and The Braithwaights returning from their holiday and just having people brush past them in a tightly packed British restaurant is a funny joke in it's own with all of this episodes being some really good jokes in their own right as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst this episode isn't the series best episode as the episode does have alot of things that are wrong with it with those issues becoming more of a common thread with the fourth series of this show but in saying that this was still a really solid episode in it's own right as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad rings that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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