It's been a long while since anything from Worzel Gummidge was covered by me and it's been even longer since anything from the sequel series Worzel Gummidge Down Under was covered. As such as a way to kill to birds with one stone as it where it only made sense that I cover an episode of Worzel Gummidge Down Under and well then I think that i've found solid episode that is worth talking about and so then join me as I review the episode that has Worzel crying for some reason with the episode in question being called simply just "Worzel's Handicap" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Worzel finds out that his beloved Aunt Sally has feeling for an egotistical golfer called The Captain Worzel decides to enter the local Golfing competition to win her back. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot thats 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. While yes the episodes plot is a bit on thin side of things as there really much to this episodes plot outside of that brief summery the same thing could also be said for the rest of the plots in this sequel series and while the original series also had really simple and thin plot to them alot of them were filled with whimsy that you do kind of forgive them for being light on plot. Yet here in this episode that just simply isn't the case at all and therefor there is no excuse for this episode to be as light on plot as it ended up being due to the fact that alot of things that do happen in this plot do come out of nowhere with very little of them actually having an impact on the episodes plot itself and while you could argue that this was one of the scripts that was written when the show was meant to be set in Ireland which is fair enough the maker of this episode still should have taken the time to flesh out the plot a bit more as this is still a new show and therefore they do still have to set things up and yet they don't any of that as there is none of the charm and whimsy that made the original show standout and there is none of the almost scary storytelling that made episodes of this show standout and while yes the plot of this episode is still a fun plot as heck you could argue that having a more simple plot is what's best for this episode the episode itself still would have worked just as well if it had a more stronger plot to it 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 Doctor Who and Wombling Free star Jon Pertwee as Worzel Gummidge and Gerald Bryan as Rooney. Also starring in this episode is Bob Gillespie as The Club Secretary , Peter Harcourt as The Captain , Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler as Manu , Jonathan Marks as Mickey , Power Rangers star Bruce Phillips as The Crowman , Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally and Michael Wilson as Father O'Malley.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting thats 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 not that bad. The fact that te acting in this episode was about as OK as it is is something that is pretty much the norm for this show as while actors like Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs are trying to turn in a good performance and director James Hill is trying his best to get a good performance out of his actors sadly alot of the actors that are in this episode just aren't that good with them turning in some wooden performances with the only exception to this rule when it comes to the new actors being Bruce Phillips as The Crowman. Whilst this might be a bit of a cliche thing to say but the best actor in the whole entire episode is quite easily Jon Pertwee as you can tell that even tho everything in this show is inferior to the original show he is still having the time of his life playing this character with him getting to dress up near the end of the episode which is something that is always fun to see as you never really know just what kind of performance that you'll get from Jon Pertwee when he does that with it being crystal clear that he knows full well what James Hill wants out of him as an actor and is willing to go and give him exactly that right away with the fact that he still does have that twinkle in his eye when he's playing Worzel being something that really does shine through in his performance in this episode. With the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in this very episode which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
For some reason this episode makes Golf out to be the best sort that there is as they do spend alot of the episode just in this one Golf club. This wouldn't be an issue if golf was a top sport in New Zealand but it wasn't it was Rugby Union heck it's never been a top sport in the UK therefor it make no sense for there to be an entire episode dedicated to it as while yes there is alot of potential for comedy gold to be had with the sport and it is one of the more safest sports that kids can play it's also a sport that is quite boring to watch ad yet the makers of this episode do dedicate alot of time to showing us this one person playing the sport granted it's to show us just how good that this person is at the sport which does make sense but it's also something that not really needed in the episode either. Look to be frank doing an episode of this show that's based around a sport was always going to be hard as you don't want a sport that would feel out of character for Worzel to try his hand his hand at like for example Football or Rugby for that matter but on the other hand you don't want a sport that is to boring on screen either therefor going with Golf as the main sport in this episode is something that does make sense as alot of people will know about it and given the fact that Worzel is many years old and the show has dressed him in older gear before it is a sport that he would do even if Aunt Sally wasn't in the episode itself but at the same time tho there are better sports out there that are more fun to both watch and play but sadly tho not one of them would have been right for Worzel as a character even tho we do briefly see him playing Football near the end of this episode, heck the episode doesn't really take full advantage of the fact that it has the characters playing Golf as we don't get to see Worzel interacting all that much with The Captain prior to the climax of the episode and nor do we get a scene where Worzel finds out what it is after mixing it up with something if your going to feature this sport in the episode then why not go all out and have as much fun with it as you possibly could have done.
You always knew that you were going to be getting somethin special in the original Jon Pertwee Worzel Gummidge series whenever you saw Worzel cry as that series knew how to tug at your heartstrings. However tho they also knew when to use it whereas even tho the scene that has him crying is beautifully shot it doesn't make sense for him to cry in this episode as the thing that makes him cry in this episode being he fact that he believes that he made him look like a fool in front of Aunt Sally yet he did worse then that in the original show and never shed a tear therefor it makes no sense for it to be effecting him this much in this episode as all this does is lessen the impact that a scene like this should have have. As this should have been a scene that hits you right in the gut and makes you feel sad for Worzel like in Aunt Sally's debut episode where she rejects him just as hard as he's just rejected Jon and Sue and that is something that works because of the fact that Worzel for the first time is seeing her for who she truly is whereas here he didn't really do anything that made him look like a fool in the first place as he had no ide how to play Golf in the first place and no one on the field told him that he was facing the wrong way when he started hitting the balls in the first place, this is a scene that really could have worked and should have worked if the episode did show us more scenes of Worzel trying to win Aunt Sally back with her constantly rejecting him for The Captain as then us the audience would feel this deep sense of lose the same say that Worzel and while that won't justify him getting upset and crying in the episode it would go along way to making a scene like that somewhat make sense and it would also keep the fact that the scenes with Worzel crying are really important scenes with the only good thing to come out of this scene besides from the fact that it was beautifully shot being the fact that The Crowman does come into cheer Worzel up.
Whilst in the original series we never really got the scarecrow heads talking on there own this is something that this episode does give us very briefly. As when The Crowman is counting how many heads he has in stock when he puts a few of them onto a body thy do turn into full scarecrows that is except for one head where you just see the mouth move and that is just such a creepy and yet at the same time funny visual to see in the episode as usually when you think of this show and the amount of times that we've seen Worzel change his head we've never ever seen the head talking whilst not becoming a full scarecrow the head only come alive the second that Worzel puts it on and yet here we do get to see that at the vert least the heads that this Crowman makes are capable of somewhat becoming alive and able to talk. With the effect itself being a very basic puppet effect that no doubt created by Sir Peter Jackson as he did do effects work on this series it is an effect that does look kind if good as the effect itself is still held back by the episodes limited budget but you could also argue that this adds to its charm as it does still very much look like a head that isn't meant to be alive yet as we do see that the eyes are still painted on as are it's lips with the only thing that we see moving is it's mouth which just moves up and down, this is something that does also make it a creepy looking effect as it adds a sense on unease to the episode and the lore of Worzel Gummidge itself as now we now that heads have the power to come alive even when there not attached to a scarecrows body which is a creepy thought to have in the first place and given the fact that this series was known for having more creepy episodes it's a wonder that they didn't revisit this idea in a later episode as they could have done something memorable with it and while it's not featured all that much in this episode the effect is something that does stick with you long after the episodes finished due to how out of nowhere that it is in the first place.
Whilst it didn't make sense for Worzel to be crying in this episode it did make sense for Aunt Sally to be getting emotional at the ed of the episode as she has just seen someone that she did have small feelings for kissing another woman thus dashing one her dreams. This was a great way to show us that Aunt Sally does have feelings and that they can be hurt as while we have seen her upset in the original show it was usually due to the fact that she might end up back locked up in the attic again and not able to travel the world as she wants to do where as here in this episode it oddly felt more personal as even tho she doesn't have much of an impact on the episode itself you do still get the feeling that she was hoping that The Captain would fall for her and would take her to all of these countries that she's only heard of before now. This is something that does make her getting upset at seeing him kissing another woman all the more hurtful as to Aunt sally she isn't just loosing a potential love interest she's loosing someone who held the keys to her dreams someone who she was hoping would make those dreams come true and when she sees that that's not true she does realise that Worzel really is who she is meant to be with which is something that Aunt Sally just doesn't seem to understand as while he loves her to the moon back she at times can barely stand to look at him. There are alot of characters in this episode that oddly enough don't play that big of a role in the episodes plot as Rooney the towns handyman , Aunt Sally and Mickey and Manu all don't play that big of a role in the episode which for Rooney is understandable as he a minor character but Aunt Sally and Mickey and Manu are meant to be main characters in this show and yet all three of them play a minor role in the episode with Mickey and Manu only getting two scenes in the whole entire episode with this being something that makes no sense as the makes of this episode should have been spending the time to give us more information about these kids as we know nothing about them and therefor we have to reason to care about them and yet there being treated like an after thought in the show and while there are other episodes with Aunt Sally as the main character given the fact that it was due to her taking a fancy to The Captain in the first place it would have made sense for her to play a bigger role in the episodes plot.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty five minuets and eight seconds. This is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show and to be fair to this episode whilst it didn't really need to be that long in the first place as you very easily could have told this episodes entire plot in well under twenty minuets those extra five minuets do make all the difference as they do allow for the episodes plot to breath more and for the characters to have alot more fun in the episode whereas if the episode didn't have those extra five minuets then none of that would be in the episode as none of the more fun scenes in the episode are important to the episodes plot with the episode itself 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 it's running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with this oddly enough being due to the fact that the episode does have alot of fun but pointless scenes in it with this those scenes feeling more filler and padding then anything else and yet if the makers of this episode really wanted the the episode to reach it's running time then they very easily could have done just by expanding on the episodes plot as the plot of this episode is more then fun enough to have more fun moments be in the episode and not have it effect the development of the episodes plot mas a whole and yet as the makers of this episode are more focused on shoving the game of golf down our throats then it does mean that the episodes main plot can't be that well developed. The same thing is also true for the episodes character development as while it is more then understandable as to why both Worzel and Aunt Sally don't get any kind of character development as we have alot of the previous series for them to get there character development the same thing cannot be said for the rest of the episodes as we know next to nothing about characters like The Captain or The Crowman with neither character are given the chance to grow as characters with the makers of this episode instead being more focused on giving us pointless filler scenes that then they are in using that amount of screen time saved from having those filler scenes be cut from the episode and giving them to scenes that would have helped to further develop it's characters 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. The episodes comedy is alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this episode shouldn't be that funny but due to the fact that the episode does have a plot that does allow for these more fun moments with the characters be it Worzel and Aunt Sally arguing in a bunker on the Golf course over if Aunt Sally is actually at the seaside or not or even Worzel pretending to be one The Crowman's heads bottom line being there are alot of fun moments in this episode. With the episodes best joke being the scene where Worzel and Aunt Sally argue about if she actually at the sea side or not as it is a scene that does feel very much like the original show as while both characters did indeed go to the seaside in the original something which Worzel himself does point out by saying he knows what the seaside is and it can't be where there are as it's not there and yet even so Aunt Sally still does manage to get the better of him not only by hitting him twice on the head which is always funny to see as it allows for Jon Pertwee to pull a funny face but also by saying that they are at the seaside and the reason why the sea isn't there right now is because the tide is out which does feel like an Aunt Sally thing to say with that joke even being one of the more better written and acted jokes in the episode as you do get the see the twinkle in both Una Stubbs's and Jon Pertwee's eyes as they get to act out this really silly scene together with that being the thing that makes this joke really funny with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst this episode still isn't that good as it does have alot of flaws in it the same thing can also be said for alot of the episodes in Worzel Gummidge Down Under but what saves this episode are the brief moments where it does feel like the old show as we do get to see small glimpses of what made the original show not only memorable and funny but also really good as well in 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 a 6 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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