Paddington is a character that really doesn't need an introduction as the character has been entertaining people for literally generations. Be it threw the books or the more recent live action films this bear has captured the hearts and souls of millions with his first TV series perhaps being the more loved TV series that the character has been in and it's another episode of that show that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that is quite literally a nothing episode with the episode in question being called simply just "Paddington Makes A Clean Sweep" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Bird leave Paddington at home with a chimney sweeping kit he takes it upon himself to clean the Browns chimney for them. 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 OK at best. To put it simply this episode has a complete nothing of a plot as the plot just boils down to Paddington wants to do something and then he does it and that's it which for an episode of this show isn't that good as this shows plots did typically show Paddington getting into trouble before doing what he wanted to do in the first place. Yet here as there is so little build up and so little plot to the episode the episodes plot does come across as being a nothing episode with it feeling like that the plot was deemed to be secondary to whatever Paddington was doing at the time and while yes of course in any TV show you are going to get episodes that do have more weaker plots here as the rest of these first series plots are so strong in there own right it does make this episode stand out all the more due to the fact that the plot itself does feel a bit on the weaker side of things and heck one could argue that this is a plot that would have been better served if it was mixed in with a plot with another episode heck this episodes plot would have been better if it was apart of the plot of the episode "Something Nasty In The Kitchen" as there you have the inbuilt reason as to why Mrs and Mr. Brown can't help Paddington out and he would want to help out by helping the cleaning the house as well as look after them whereas here the plot just felt like that it was lacking that extra special something 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 good as you think that he would be in this episode. As he does have the right voice to help to bring Paddington and the other characters to life and heck there are only four characters in this episode and he does a good job of making the male characters those being Paddington and the Chimney Sweeper sound distinctive enough as he gives the chimney sweeper more of an east end accent he same thing cannot be said for the female characters tho those of course being Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Bird as the two of them do sound very similar with none of them not even being given that much of an accent to help to make them sound differently from each other. Yet with Paddington and the chimney sweeper if you closed your eyes and just listened to the audio you'd be able to tell just who is who as the two as those voices sound very differently from each other this was also the same issue that Sir Ringo Starr had when he was doing the first series of Thomas & Friends as he made alot of the character sound similar and while it's not as bad in this episode due to the fact that it is only localized to those two characters it is something that should have been fixed but this review is being written with the added benefit of hindsight therefor there is a chance that back in 1976 people might have been able to tell he voices of Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Bird apart and while it's not really an issue with the episode as a whole as the characters only appear at the start and end of the episode and that's really it it is something that could have been fixed as it would given Sir Michael Hordern the chance to show off just what kind of voices that he could do as he is good as those characters it's just the voices that he uses for them that needed to be worked on not the performance for them.
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 it being obvious as to why Sir Michael Hordern was chosen to be the voices of these characters as he is so good in this episode due to the fact that he does have a rather calming voice to him that does help to make the events seen in not only this episode but in other episodes seem all the more charming with his performance in this episode in particular being a really good example of this as while Paddington is of course causing trouble Sir Michael Hordern gives us a performance makes Paddington seem innocent and more polite. With the best actor in this episode of being Sir Michael Hordern as the man is just so good in not only this show but in this episode as well as you can tell that he is treating this as if it where a film made for adults or something that adults would enjoy as he's not being over the top and giving a performance that talks down to kids rather he is giving us a performance that is worthy of all of these characters as he does put in alot of thought and effort into his performance and it is something that does show as he very easily could have treated not only this episode but the show as a whole as something that's beneath him as it's for kid and he was a film actor but he didn't and that is something that does need to be recognised as he is just so good in this episode with his natural charm really shining through in this 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 really has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of him naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acing that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that really 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. The fact that we have some really good animation in this episode is something that really isn't all that surprising as this show does have some really high quality animation in all of it's episodes with this episode of course being of no exception to this rule as you can see right away that the makers of this episode have given this episodes animation alot of thought and effort. With there being alot of stopmotion sequences in this episode that would have been very time consuming to pull off like for example Paddington eating his breakfast which yes is a simple shot to do but it's also one that would have taken all day to film and it looks really good as a result of it or even Paddington struggling to pull the top of the Brown's chimney of his head which again does sound like a really simple shot but given the fact that it's essentially a stop motion show it is something that would have taken alot of time to film, where the episodes animation quality does somewhat dip is in the 2D animation as the characters that are 2D animated don't really appear all that much in the episode and when they do appear there movements do look a little bit stilted which is fair enough as they are not the main characters of the episode Paddington is but it still wo8ld have been nice if there animation was given as much care and attention as the animation for Paddington quite clearly was.
This episode is the very definition of a nothing episode as nothing all that much actually happens in the episode. This is something that does make the episode out to quite forgettable as it the episode doesn't really have all that much going on it which is something that would have been fine if the plot of this episode was part of the plot of another episode as then you could kind of forgive one portion of an episode for not being that good however tho this is meant to be the whole episode and the episode might as well have ended when Paddington did clean out the Browns chimney as that was what he wanted to do for them in the first place and yet the episode keeps on going for no reason when then the main plot of the episode has good as well finished. Look far enough this is something that might also be true for the book that this episode is adapted from called "Paddington Marches On" but in that book it would have had several other stories in i and therefor having one bad or slightly bad story in a book that might have several good stories isn't all that bad but as this is the meant to be the main episode there really should have been more thought out into the episode and not just make it an episode where Paddington reaches his gal within the first few minuets of the episode as all this ends up doing is making the rest of the episode feel pointless, fair enough you have to to have Paddington messing up somehow and that's fair and to be fair to this episode this episode does give an understandable reason for him to mess up however the episode should have been building up to him messing up like for example what if in the episode Paddington tries and fails to put the kit together with all of his attempts to mend the situation just making worst only or when he does finally get the kit together that's when Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Bird come back from the shops and see the mess that he's made and make him clean it up that would make alot of sense as your building up to him messing up something which you know full well that he is going to do in someway shape or form.
The idea for the episode is a very good idea as it does allow for Paddington to get into trouble in a new way. However tho the episode misses a trick as instead of it being revealed that Paddington just got his head stuck in the chimney why not have it be that he got stuck in the fire place and have him be covered head to toe in soot if your going to hint that he might have fallen into the fireplace then why not all the way with it and make that the big ending moment and have it be the main big thing that Paddington screwed up as afterall he was just trying to help the Browns out and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode not only went the other way but they also didn't show the device getting more lodged in the first fire place after Paddington went up on the roof top to get it. It might sound like that I really hate this episode but I really don't it's just that when you compare this episode to he other episodes of this first series all of which knock it out of the park every single time then this episode does come up as being a bit short as while the idea for the episode is a good one where it fails is in the execution of the idea as having Paddington trying to clean the Browns chimney is one that does allow for plenty of comedy to be had even of it's just Paddington messing up the house that is something that would still work for this episode as it is something that he character would indeed do and we know from the first Paddington film he has done that and it therefor wouldn't be out of character for hm to do something like that in this episode, whilst this is very much a nothing episode it could be argued that this is part of the episodes charm as it does show the every day life of this family and while it does add some charm to the episode it is also something that really wasn't needed for the episode as all it ends up doing is making this episode a pointless one to watch in the grand scheme of things.
To say something nice about the episode it's simple plot and set does allow for a character like Paddington to be his usual cute and charming self. With him just trying to do the best that he can do in a situation that he know nothing about for people that he clearly cares deeply for this is one of the episodes biggest strengths as part of the charm of the Paddington franchise is just seeing this lovable bear just trying to do the best that he can do and seeing how he messes everything up with this being something that the episode does get right as for everything that Paddington does do right in this episode something happens that causes him to do something wrong and seeing how he does try to fix things before its to late does show us the audience why Paddington is still as beloved today as was back in previous decades. To compare this episode to another show that had a nothing episode in this case the Worzel Gummidge episode "A Little Learning" which also had the main character achieve there goal before the end of the episode both of the episodes have plots that allow for the main character to not only to get into trouble in a believable way for those characters but it also allows them to be there usual charming selves which in both cases is more then enough to make both of these episodes worth watching as even tho this episode isn't that good we are still getting lots of scenes with Paddington just being cute and trying to fix things before they get out of hand and in Worzel Gummidge we have the main character doing everything that he can to not cause that much trouble all while doing exactly that this is something that does allow for the characters of both episodes to be there more charming selves as it will always be fun seeing Paddington get things wrong and try to put them right much like how it will always be fun seeing Worzel trying and failing to avoid getting into trouble.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly five minuets and ten seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show and to be fair to this episode given it's incredibly thin premise it rally didn't need to be all that much longer as if the episode was longer then it would have been stretching what was a thin premise even thinner which would have resulted in there being alot of filler scenes in there just to pad out the episode when if truth be told this is the kind of the episode where the shorter the running time is the better the episode would end up being as us the audience wouldn't be forced to focus on it's issues all that long with the episode having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. However this this episode really doesn't use its running tome all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot which fair enough is something that could also be said for alot of the shows other episodes as well but given the fact that this episodes plot was already really thin it is something that could have used something quite literally anything that would give the episodes plot some kind of plot development as we don't even get to find out where Mr , Jonathon and Judy Brown are in the episode and nor do we find out why they've chose to have there chimney cleaned in the first place with the makers of this episode being more focused on showing us scenes with Paddington putting together and taking apart the brush to clean the chimney then they are in giving the episodes plot development. This is something that does also effect the episodes character development which again to be fair to this episode is something that you do just have to expect with a show like this as it is an episodic show and therefor the characters aren't going to be getting characters development but it still would have been nice if Paddington himself got to have some character development with the makers of this episode being more focused of showing us Paddington cleaning a chimney then they were in giving its characters any form of characters 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 tought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The comedy in this episode was one of the episodes strongest points as it is really good as while it is just yes Paddington finding a new way to mess things up here tho in this episode it wasn't his fault as he didn't that the end of the stick was prone to coming detached at the top of a chimney and yet he still went to try and fix it with this being something that does speak to how Paddington is as he is just trying to do his best and yet his best always ends up with him messing something up in cute and funny ways. With the best joke in the episode being when its discovered that when trying to dislodge the end of the stick himself Paddington actually got his own head stuck in the Browns chimney with him being unable to remove it as it's quite hard to do with paws with him even being unable to raise his hate to the chimney sweeper because of it which is just such a cute gag to end the episode as that is something that Paddington would do and those are things that he would say and they both work well with the thing that makes them work as well as they do oddly enough being the fact that the episode does have this simple premise with everything being set up quite early one which does allow for the episode to just be funny with the episodes ending joke being a very good example of this and it is something that might well have been effected if the episode did have a more stronger plot to it with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst this episode might very well be the weakest episode in this show it is still a really charming episode its own right despite its flaws with the episode itself also allowing the characters to be there usual charming and funny selves and while yes the episode could have been alot better if it was more better then the episode would lose alot of the charm that it presently has 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 f 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 Blogger 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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