The Herbs: Parsley's Tail Review

Even tho Michael Bond is still best known for creating a certain marmalade loving bear he did actually create another show as well. With this show even featuring alot of the same creative team that worked on the Paddington TV series and well I thought that it would be nice to take a look back at the the first episode of the show that perhaps isn't as well known as Paddington and is largely forgotten about so then join me as I review the episode that sees Parsley loose his tail with the episode in question being called simply just "Parsley's Tail" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is after Parsley accidentally scares Sir Basil while trying to tell him something Sir Basil shoots of Parsley's tail and there for he , Lady Rosemary , Bay Leaf and Dill have to try and find it again. 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. This episodes plot does do a really good job of letting you know right away what the tone of the show is all about as it's plot that doesn't take itself to seriously but at the same time is a serious thing for the characters with this being something that does add a layer of charm to the episode itself as this is an episode that on paper shouldn't work as the plot is to childish for it to be taken seriously and yet it's exactly that reasoning as to why the plot of the episode works as well as it does as it does allow you to get sucked into this for a lack of a better word magical world. Whilst yes granted the episodes plot really could have been alot more better then what it is as if i'm being honesty here it's not the strongest of plots in this show but at the same time this episodes plot is still a really good one to start out of on due to the fact that it does allow for all for the characters in the episode to get across just exactly who they are in a way that does feel organic to the episode as alot of them are called in just help out there friend and that's it which is a great way to get the characters set up in a way that helps the plot of the episode with this episodes plot 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 Gordon Rollings with the episode and by extension the show as a whole doing what alot of other shows at this time also did by only having one actor play all of the characters. With this being something that does work here as Gordon was an actor and therefore he would have known exactly how to give us a good performance and whilst it is debatable on if he did a good job or not the one thing that can be said is that he does seem like a good fit for this show and episode as he does have a really good voice that makes him all the more likable with this being something that is crucial to make this episode work as if we the audience don't like how the only actor sounds or if he comes across as being to unlikable then the whole thing does risk falling inward. With him even doing the one thing that alot of actors don't do in all of these shows that being the fact that he does give the characters unique sounding voices like when he's playing Sir Basil he gives him more of an upperclass posh kind of voice and when he's playing Bay Leaf he uses more of a thick Yorkshire accent and with Dill he speaks very quickly and finally with Lady Rosemary he gives her more of a gentler sounding voice all of which work really well for these characters as they are the kind of voices that you could picture these characters having if they spoke to you in real life with it also helping to make it easier for us the audience to tell just who is speaking to whom so much so that you very easily could close your eyes and watch the entire episode with your eyes closed and still understand just which character is talking and heck the only character that doesn't speak in the show is Parsley himself and yet you still know when he is talking as the performance for that character is really well handled.

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. The fact that this episode does have good acting in it is something that is still quite surprising as the show itself is one that doesn't really lend itself to having good acting in it and yet still Gordon Rollings does do his best in this episode with him turning in a kind of performance that oddly elevates the show and makes it feel more adult as he doesn't talk down to the audience or go over the top with his performance rather he plays it all straight and that is something that does help to make this episode seem all the more better because of it. With the best actor in this whole entire episode also being the episode only actor Gordon Rollings with him not quite being a breathe of fresh air as both Sir Michael Hordern and Bernard Cribbins are still really good in there respective shows but with Gordon there is more of a focus on the performance aspect whereas with Sir Michael and Bernard Cribbins there is more of a focus on being entertaining neither approach is wrong but it is something that you do notice and with this episode the focus did need to be more on the performance with this being something that did allow Gordon Rollings to really flourish in the episode with hm having charm that really does shine through in his final performance. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just 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 were 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. Given the fact that this episode was the first thing that FilmFair animated in general it is shocking that it turned out as good as it did as they were still finding there feet as a company and while the inhouse look that they would develop with the minimalistic sets and odd looking characters would be perfected in other projects it is nice to see where that look started out in the first place. With the episodes animation being alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this episodes animation shouldn't look as good as it does and yet it is clear that the makers of this episode did know that they had to start of the episode with strong animation as we do get alot of really fluid movements from all of the characters and the backgrounds do look really good and while yes it would have helped the episode if the backgrounds had a bit more life to them the fact that they don't does oddly work for this episode and it helps to make the episode stand out alot more from other kids TV shows of the time, with even the characters all having really unique looking designs to them like for example the title character Parsley is a green lion which is something that hadn't been done before and hasn't been done since this show and Sir Basil has a big red nose for literally no reason and these designs do help to make the show stand out and be all the more memorable because of it. 

This show and this episode is filled to the brim with whimsy as not only do we have the narrator having to say a special word to enter the shows main location of the herb garden but we also have the fact that Parsley can notice us the audience. Both of these things are very small things in the grand scheme of things but they do help to add a sense of whimsy and charm that would feel out of place in something like for example Postman Pat or Firemen Sam but here it is something that does work as it helps to make everything in the episode feel new and different and heck the fact that there is so much whimsy to be found in just the one episode is something that does make it worth watching as speaking as a currently old person who is closer to forty then thirty when Parsley waves to us in the episode I waved back at him because of the fact that I was caught up in the whimsy of the episode and if i'm almost forty doing that imagine what a kid that's 5 or ten would do if they watched the same episode. Having these more whimsical elements in the episodes doesn't make it bad rather it makes it something that is worth watching with little ones even if it just to remind you of what things where like for when you was a kid as when you are a kid you see whimsy all over the place and gradually over time you see things for as they truly are therefor losing all of the whimsy that you once saw in things well here in this episode the things that are meant to be seem magical are exactly that there magical with this being something the episode does revel in and it is something that does make this episode both alot more sweeter and alot cuter to watch as you never really know just what it is that's coming around the corner next in the episode rather you just know that your going to be seeing something that is going to be leaving you with a big smile on your face.

There is one major issue with the episode and that's the fact that we get alot of the characters main sings in the episode. With the character steeping into frame and stopping the episode just so that they can sing there song which serves as an introduction to them this isn't a bad idea as the songs which are written by a currently unknown person are indeed good songs but to stop the episode each time that they come on in the episode is a bit much and it does make those scenes hard to sit through as nine times out of ten your not really being told anything knew you are just being told the same thing over and over again with the only character who does somewhat change his song is Parsley himself as he does update in the episode to include things about his tail. Out of all of the songs that we get n every episode including this one Parsley's song does have to be the best one as it does some up his character perfectly as we do see that he is a very friendly lion whom isn't the most bravest one out there and while it would have been nice to have all of the songs ore of there own unique sound to them like maybe Dills song can b more inspired by the Beatles and Sir Basil's song could more inspired by classical music for example this is something that would have given all of the episodes songs more of there own unique sound to them as while the makers of this episode do indeed do things like having Dill's song be very fast paced almost to the point where it might as well as not even be there it still does very much sound like all of the other songs in the episode, however to give the episode some credit Gordon Rollings does sing all of the sons not only himself but also really well with him singing each song in character something which couldn't have been an easy job to do and yet he made it look super easy with him going from one characters song right into the next one more often then not in the same scene.

Whilst this show does have alot of mature elements in it especially in the shows third episode here it very much does feel like the bogstandard opening episode. Which is fine as the episode does have alot of things to do and to have more mature things in it would just be asking to much of the episode and yet at the same time one can't help but wonder what this episode would have looked like if they did deal with more mature things as while granted they can't go over the top with it and have characters being killed of for example but what they can do is explain to us the audience why Parsley's tail means so much to him in the first place as outside of his opening song we don't really get to find out why his tail means to much to him. However you can tell that both from a storytelling and directing stand point that there is more of an effort to make this show feel more adult with this no doubt being due to the fact that the series was written by Michael Bond who of course created Paddington Bear as much like he did with that character he did put in more mature themes and idea into not only this episode but the show as a whole which is something that does help to give the show a more timeless look to it as you'll see the show one way as a kid and then years later you'll see the same show differently as an adult with a good example of this being the fact that all of the characters are both named and have there personality traits taken directly from herbs with the characters all getting the trait that is more associated with the herb that they are named after which is something that you'll miss and a kid but pick upon as an adult, from a directing stand point you get shots that wouldn't feel out of place in a live action adult show and while yes there are still these more silly moments in the episode which is to be expected as the show was made with little kids in mind after all but the fact that the makers of this show wen out of there way to have these more adult things in them does show you that they did want to capture and entertain the adult as much as the kid audience.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirteen minuets and fifty one seconds. Which is going to be pretty much the bogstandard running time for his show as a whole and to be fair to this episode it is an episode that really did need to be that long due to the fact that it is the first episode of a new show and therefor it does have to cover alot of ground interms of telling us who these character are and giving us a reason to like them as characters and therefor the episode did have to be as long as it was as if not then something would fall inbetween the cracks as it were which is something that isn't that good for the first episode of a new show with the episode itself even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. However tho the episode really doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to to fully develop its plot with the episodes plot being left feeling more like an afterthought with this being due to the fact that the episodes plot is more better suited to a long episode format and therefor forcing down to fit a smaller running is going to result in the episodes plot feeling undercooked with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us alot of whimsy then they are in giving us a well developed plot. This is something that does somewhat effect the episodes character development as while the characters in these types of shows never really got any kind of character development in the first place it still would have been nice to see them learn and grow from the mistakes made in this episode and yet none of them are given that chance and none of them are given scenes where they can learn and that can grow as characters with it being made cleat as day the makers of this episode really cared alot more about giving the characters they own introductory songs then they are in giving us 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 tat's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The best word that could be used to describe this episodes comedy is charming as that's exactly what it is in all the best ways possible and while that might be seen as being a bad thing there is nothing wrong with having a comedy that has charming jokes in it as it does show you that alot of thought and effort did go into making the jokes work which is vert much the case for this episode and t's use of comedy. With the best joke in the whole entire being the dark joke where after he has had his tail blown off by Sir Basil Parsley pretends to get back at him by playing dead an act which he then keeps up when both Lady Rosemary and Dill enter which s quite frankly a really good joke as it des show us that Parsley does have this almost wicked sense of humor him with him willing to make his friends believe that he is dead all because of the fact that one of them who admits that he is a bad shot accidentally blows off his tail thus starting the episodes entire plot in the first place and while a dark joke like that might seem out of place in Paddington as Paddington himself is the type of character who absolutely wouldn't make a joke like that the fact that they have the main character of a kids TV show in the first episode make a joke about being dead and get away with it does make it all the more funnier with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this was a really charming debut episode to this really charming series and while the series is now largely forgotten that shouldn't be the case as the show is a really good and relaxing series with episode being a really good example of just how good that this show could be 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 dos mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review well then boys and girl 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.