Paddington is someone who was for a long while a mostly forgotten about character that only people of a certain age knew about and yet thanks to the new movies and the stage musical he is a global superstar. Yet alot of the young people today don't know of or just straight up forgot about the fact that the character did star in a highly successful animated series in the seventies and well as I really love the show I thought that i'd take a look at another of the episode of the show and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Paddington go to court with the episode in question being called simply just "Paddington In Court" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is for a treat Mr. Gruber treats Paddington to day at court to watch cases being judged only for the bear to find himself in a spot in bother. 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 really good. While yes the episodes plot is indeed really simple with the title of the title of the episode even just straight up telling us what the main plot of the episode is even about in the first place this is a plot that really didn't need to be complex as this is an episode that does rely on Paddington just being his usual charming self. Granted there could have been more to this episodes plot as we don't even find out why Mr. Gruber is taking Paddington out to a day at the courts in the first place which is something that could have played into the plot of the episode in a really fun way but at the same time tho this episode really doesn't need to explain a whole lot outside of the fact that unlike in Paddington 2 where Paddington was framed for a crime the only thing that this episode needs to explain is that Paddington is here with a friend just getting ready to watch a case be discussed and that's really it and while it would have helped the episode out quite alot if the episode did have a more stronger plot to it as this episode does have one of the more weaker plots of the series that isn't something that breaks the episode as the episode still does work even with a more weaker plot with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Sir Michael Hordern with him being just as charming and delightful as he is in the rest of the show. Heck he even does give a lot of the other characters in this episode their own unique voices something which does help us the audience to tell who is speaking and when this is something that he didn't have to do of course but it is something that does make a show like this one truly standout as a lot of other kids shows from around this time period would just give the characters the same voice and yet here in not only this show but in this episode we do get a whole host of different voices like for example he gives the Judge a more pompous sounding voice while the lawyers have more of a slightly dim-witted voice to them. All of which do serve to make it alot more easier to say who is talking to who and when yet in saying this there are times where it ha to tell just which of the lawyers are talking as they do sound quite similar with the only thing that could have been done to fix this was if he maybe gave one of them an accent as even tho that would be a small thing it would go along way loke maybe one of them could have a more northern speaking accent whilst the over has a more Midwest UK country accent with this being something that expose more kids to more types of accents and it would help the world of this show feel more unique as while they do have Mr. Gruber who is German all of the characters in this show and in the films seem to be from London when there would be alot more different people with different accents and yes this is a fictional kids show so the makers of this show don't have to stick with reality but even back in the seventies there was a lot of different accents just in London alone and whilst this is doesn't effect Michaels acting it is something that would have helped alot of the characters sound more different from each other.
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. With Sir Michael turning in a really good performance with it being clear as day that he does have a good amount of love and respect for not only this show and the character of Paddington himself but also the books with it feeling like that he's turning this good of a performance in not only this episode but in all of the other episodes as well due to the fact that he either has kids and he read the books to them or he has friends that have kids and he was doing the show for them. Wit him of course being the episodes best actor and while he is no Mel Blanc he does still manage to make all of the characters that he plays in this episode feel unique from each other and stand apart from each other be it from either how they react to Paddington and the things that he's saying to them or due to there accents there is always something in this episode from an acting point of view that does make the characters standout a bit with this being something that you can hear in his final performance in this episode. 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 actor has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of him naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at FilmFair. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation 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 animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the shows usual blend of 2D animation blending in really well with the stop motion animation done for Paddington with the episode even getting some really impressive shots that would be hard to do today due to the fact that they do blend 2D animation with 3D stopmotion therefor it would have been really hard to do in the seventies. To be frank tho you do get the feeling that the makers of this show just weren't giving it there all in this episode as the episodes animation whilst it is still good in it's own right isn't up to the high standard set by this show as alot of the time they are just using still frames for alot of there shots which yes is a great way to save time and money but it does also make the episodes animation look cheaper this was most likely done in this episode as the episode really only has one setting that being the court room and therefor the makers of this episode more then likely couldn't find away with the courtroom set to get some really good animation and therefor there more then likely chose to use still frames but at the same time tho there could have been away to make this episodes animation quality match that of the rest of the rest of the show as this is a show that does have a really high bar when it comes to its animation and whilst yes this episode does have some really good looking animation in it you can tell that the episodes animation was done alot more cheaply and was more cheaply made.
As was just mentioned this whole episode does mainly take place in the one setting that being the courtroom and to be fair to this episode it does have alot of fun with that setting. With us the audience even finding out things that we might not have known otherwise like for a example they mention something about what lawyers bring to the court with them being there papers to help them with the case which is something that not alot of people would have known and yet it is something that this episode does go almost out of its way to teach us when its not really something that the makers of this episode really had to do as they could have not had that line in the episode and the episode would have worked just as well but the fact that they did does show us that they did try to make this show appear to be somewhat educational by teaching us something that even alot of adults won't know. The episode does even have alot of fun with the main Judge character with him and along with the lawyers all getting flustered by what Paddington is saying as with Paddington being Paddington he's getting confused by all of the things that he's saying and is answering there questions literally with the only thing what would have made this courtroom scenes be the more fun to watch being if they had Mr. Curry in the episode as you can just picture trying to cope with all the things that Paddington is saying whilst also trying not loose his cool but not having him in the episode or even any of The Browns for that matter is something that does still work as we get to see how Paddington interacts with other people outside of the regular side characters which is something that is always fun to see as you just know that alot of them are going to be confused which is something that does make alot of the scenes in this episode really fun to watch.
In what is a rather bizarre move for this second series of the show the show was renamed to "The Adventures Of Paddington" even tho it kept all of the same team from the first series and is officially the next series. This did also come with a new intro where we see Paddington unpacking his suit case revealing the key creative people in the series but it is still odd that they would rename the show while granted kids shows back then didn't typically get a second series especially if they were animated but at the same time tho why go through all the bother of not only renaming the show but also animating an entire new intro sequence when you can just keep the same name and the same intro sequence as that is something that will save you alot of money in the long run. However to be fair this is something that could have been as as was mentioned kids animated shows didn't typically get a second series sometimes they did like The Magic Roundabout for example but alot of the time after you aired those first series episodes that was it your show was finished and you could move onto the next thing but for whatever reason the BBC decided that they wanted to bring this show back and in 1979 that's exactly what they did as the first series finished airing in 1976 so there was this huge three gap where there was no new animated Paddington being made which is where FilmFair would have been able to move on and do other projects but for some reason this little show must have cought the attention of little kids and convinced the BBC to bring it back for more episodes and that's exactly what they did do this is something that might explain why the show got a name change as it would make it feel like a new show that is also the second series of a TV show but at the same time it is a pointless change as alot of people just refer to the whole show as Paddington and not The Adventures Of Paddington.
To put in frankly this is an episode that is more of a daft episode as the main plot of the episode really only happens due to the fact that Brown is a common surname with the person that the Judge was actually asking being a human lawyer. This is a solid enough and to be fair to the episode is doesn't really need to explain why this lawyer was only showing up at the very end of the episode but the fact that they did does show that the makers of this episode did care about finishing of the episode in a way that makes sense as they show us Mr. Gruber explaining what's happened to the Judge which is something that does make sense as he would want to clear up this mess in as quick of a way as is possible. What the episode doesn't explain however was what was Mr. Gruber up to during the time that Paddington was on trial as we know that Mr. Gruber was looking for a case for them to sit in on but that us something that surely wouldn't have taken him that long to do and therefor he surely would have gotten back to the seat where he left Paddington as quickly as possible and while the episode isn't harmed by this as this is still a really good episode it is something that does make you wonder what he was up. To be fair to this episode it does prove that the show didn't really need The Browns in it as outside of of course Paddington none of them appear in the episode with only Mrs. Brid and Mrs. Brown getting a mention in the episode and while this is understandable at this point in the show they had very rarely if ever done an episode where The Browns aren't featured in at the very least one scene which is understandable as they are meant to be main characters therefor showing us an episode without them does force the makers of this show to just focus on Paddington and a new set of characters with it being those things that do help the episode to standout.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly four minuets and forty seven seconds. This is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show and to be fair to this episode it really doesn't need that long of a running time in the first place as it does have a really basic and simple plot to it with that meaning that the episode could tell its plot in a short amount of running time and be over really before you noticed that it began this is something that is also a fairly bad thing as the episode does start to get more and more interesting and more and more chaotic right before it ends with the episode having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the episode even using its running time about as wisely as it could have done as while the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot it really doesn't need to do that as the episodes plot is as simple as it gets in the first place and while yes it would have been nice if the episode did take the time to add things to the episodes plot like explaining what Mr. Gruber was up to while Paddington was on trial it really didn't need to do that as that would get in the way of Paddington being his usual charming self. This is something that could also be said for the episodes lack of character development as both Paddington and Mr. Gruber don't need to get character development as they could get it in quite literally any other episode of the show and the episode exclusive characters don't need it as they only appear in this episode but at the same time tho it would have been if quite literally any of this episodes characters got some form of character development if it's just the lawyer Mr. Brown learning to not be so late with the makers of this episode being rightfully more focused on the episodes comedy to give any of the episodes characters any form of character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a 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 really good. With this episode having alot of really painfully funny laugh out loud moments in it with it being the episodes comedy that really did make me want to review this episode as alot of the episodes jokes were not only funny but they also felt right for the character of Paddington himself. With the best joke in the whole entire episode easily being when Paddington is asked to swear on a bible Paddington just gives the man a hard stare and says simply not because his Aunt Lucy taught him not to swear which is just such a funny joke as Paddington would of course get it all wrong and think that he is actually being asked to swear as much like Winnie The Pooh, Paddington is a simple bear at heart and the fact that he even goes the extra mile and gives the man one of his hard stares is something that does make that joke even funnier in the first place. Heck while it is a joke that you do see coming if you know how the courts work it still does catch you of guard and remind you that Paddington is a kids character albeit one that does at times act more mature then the adults around him and while that doesn't effect how funny the joke is the fact that it still catch you of guard is tho as its not a joke that you expect them to make with things only being made worse from there as Paddington unknowingly does cause alot of trouble just by taking things like being asked to swear on a book quite literally with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as painfully funny as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst the animation and plot aren't the best that this series has to other it's jokes are with the fact that the jokes are as funny as they are being more then enough to recommend this episode to anyone as you will have a really good time watching this episode 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 things 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 an 8.5 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 post 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 really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really 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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