____________________________ ..:::::::::::::.... __________________________
..::::::::::::::::::::::::.. TELETUBBIES FAQ v. 0.2
..over the hills and .::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::. 25th of August 1997
far away.. .::::::::::;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::. Maintained by
..::::::::::::###:::::::::::::::::::::::::::. Moose 2000
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Eh-oh, and welcome to the Unofficial Teletubbies FAQ, the definitive guide to
Teletubbieland and its inhabitants.
This document is intended as a repository of TRUTH, a noble undertaking
indeed. If you spot anything in here which is misleading,missing or just plain
rubbish, feel free to send your additions and corrections to:
tub-faq@mitt.demon.co.uk
The latest version of this document should always be locatable at Moose's
Teletubbies website -
http://moose.spesh.com/teletubbies/tub-faq.txt
Failing that, you can probably browse to it from Moose's Demon Internet
homepage -
http://www.mitt.demon.co.uk
Please feel free to copy this FAQ far and wide, mail it to friends, put it up
on your own website, link to it, post it to Usenet... just distribute it,
basically. The only proviso is that you should keep the whole lot intact,or if
that's not reasonable, at least provide a pointer to where the full FAQ can be
found.
If there's a mess of weird characters all over the place when you're reading
this, that's probably because you're not using a proportional font.Try reading
this FAQ using Courier or Lucida console. I've dotted bits and bobs of ASCII
'art' throughout,partly because this is the first FAQ I've instigated and it's
the sort of thing you get in FAQs, and partly because there's nothing the BBC
legal department can do about ASCII art. Um,probably. Well,let's just wait and
see.
______________________________________________________________________________
TELETUBBIES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
SECTION 1 - TELETUBBIELAND QUESTIONS
1.0 - Overview
1.0.1 - What are the Teletubbies supposed to be?
1.0.2 - What's that windmill doing?
1.0.3 - What are those shower attachment thingies?
1.0.4 - So, which one is which?
1.0.5 - What sex are the Teletubbies?
1.0.6 - But... Tinky Winky carries a handbag...
1.0.7 - What's the story behind that vacuum cleaner?
1.0.8 -
SECTION 2 - THE TUBBIEFILMS AND ANIMATIONS
2.0 - Overview
2.1 - Again! Again again!
2.2 - 'Funny Lady'
2.3 - King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys
2.4 - Noah's Ark
2.5 - Three Ships
2.6 - Tree
2.7 - Doll House Opera
2.8 - The Bear With Brown Fuzzy Hair
SECTION 3 - BEHIND THE SCENES
3.0 - Overview
3.1 - Teletubbieland
3.2 - The Flowers
3.3 - The Tubbiecostumes
3.4 - The Rabbits
3.5 - The Tubbietronic Superdome
3.6 - The Cast
3.6.1 - Dave Thompson
3.6.2 - John Simmit
3.6.3 - Nikky Smedley
3.6.4 - Pui Fan Lee
3.6.5 - Toyah Wilcox
3.6.6 - Eric Sykes
3.6.7 - Penelope Keith
. '/\' ,,
SECTION 4 - TELETUBBIES AND THE COPYRIGHT LAW\\, .^.'/ \' '/|,
4.0 - Overview .\ \, ./ \/ |''/ |. .
4.1 - The Clampdown .\ -..| \/ //|._.
4.2 - What's Left . . \ - _____ - . / _ .
,\- ../ ,--::::::-, - / /,
SECTION 5 - SO, ARE THERE ANY WEBSITES? ,\ - ,:::::::..::, /,
5.0 - Unofficial .\ /:::::::.. .::\ |. .
5.1 - Official . ___/ |:::::::::..:::; \____.
.\_ .:::::::::::::::|| /'. .
SECTION 6 - CONTRIBUTERS AND CREDITS '.\ | |:::--::::--:::\/ /'. .
,__/ \|::<.0>:::<0>::| \__ ,
\___ ':::::.'_`.::::; /-' .
. / \:::......-::/ \' .
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SECTION 1 - Teletubbieland Questions
______________________________________________________________________________
_1.0________Overview____________________________
Teletubbies is the latest creation of Anne Wood, whose company, Ragdoll, is
responsible for pre-school television programmes 'Rosie and Jim' and 'Tots
TV'. Aimed, as it is, at a far younger audience than has been previously
targetted by a television programme - the one- to four-year-olds, Teletubbies
landed on our screens with a resounding splash.
The visuals - highly saturated colours, sparse framing, stylised sets; the
soundtrack - bouncy music, near-gibberish toddler-speak, parps farts and
bells; the structure - tiny set-pieces and constant repetition - these mark
the programme out as different. Try telling people that these factors are all
the result of extensive research into what will most stimulate such a young
target audience, and your words will fall on deaf ears. A vocal segment of
Concerned Parents hear only the baby-speak, and criticise the programme for
abandoning the Queen's English. Students enjoy the way that the programme's
reflection of the experience of being a toddler is also a pretty good
reflection of the experience of taking certain proscribed pharmaceuticals.
And toddlers? Well, they just watch it uncritically, and enjoy themselves.
Each episode follows a standard format - after the opening credits, there
is a short scene involving one or all of the Teletubbies getting up to
tubbieactivities. Usually involving toast or custard. Then the windmill
spins up, and the Teletubbies are called away to a hilltop. One of them
is selected as the day's display, and a short film starts playing on its
tummy-telly. The film is live action, and involves small children doing
something dull. When the film has finished, the Teletubbies shout
"Again! Again again!"
and the film is repeated in its entirety.
After the film, the Teletubbies generally have a longer period of play,
rounded off with some computer-generated animation superimposed on their
land. Then, all too soon, it's time for tubbie-bye-bye and the end credits.
-1.0.1-- What are the Teletubbies supposed to be?
This is never established in the programme itself, although the
publicity materials declare them 'aliens' while the opening credits
place them 'over the hills and far away'. Perhaps they are indeed
aliens, and they just happen to live over the hills and far away.
-1.0.2-- What's that windmill doing?
It's spinning. When it stops spinning, the Teletubbies go to bed.
When it spins fast, one of the Teletubbies shows a film on its
tummy. Quite why these things happen is anyone's guess.
-1.0.3-- What are those shower attachment thingies?
See above. That speaker tubes looking like shower attachments pop
up out of the ground and order the Teletubbies about, or entertain
them, is just something that happens in Teletubbieland. No
explanation is given.
Teletubbies is aimed at a very young audience. The children
watching are familiar with a world where inexplicable events occur
for no readily discernable reason. They are told when to get up,
when to go to bed and when to eat. They are prevented from doing
things that look like fun, and sometimes offered fun things for
their entertainment when they were least expecting it. It's only
the adults watching who feel there should be a reason for these
things to happen.
-1.0.4-- So, which one is which?
Tinky Winky is the tallest. He is blue, has a triangular antenna,
and carries a handbag.
Dipsy is the second tallest. He is green, has a straight antenna,
and wears a floppy top hat decorated with a Rorsharch inkblot test
which looks to me like the open skull of a crushed dog.
Laa Laa is not much smaller than Dipsy. She is yellow, has a
squiggly antenna, and likes to play with a big orange ball.
Po is the shortest. She is red, has a circular antenna, and rides
around on a scooter.
-1.0.5-- What sex are the Teletubbies?
Tinky Winky and Dipsy are male, Laa Laa and Po are female. The
voice-over makes this clear when it refers to them individually.
-1.0.6-- But... Tinky Winky carries a handbag...
Yes. Your point being?
Remember, the Teletubbies are aimed at, and in many respects are,
pre-school children. It's a bit early to start imposing gender roles
on them.
-1.0.7-- What's the story behind that vacuum cleaner?
-1.0.8--
SECTION 2 - The Tubbiefilms and animations
______________________________________________________________________________
_2.0________Overview____________________________
_2.1________Again!_Again_again!_________________
_2.2________'Funny_Lady'________________________
_2.3________King_Pleasure_and_the_Biscuit_Boys__
_2.4________Noah's_Ark__________________________
_2.5________Three_Ships_________________________
_2.6________Tree________________________________
_2.7________Doll_House_Opera____________________
_2.8________The_Bear_With_Brown_Fuzzy_Hair______
_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,
-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-'`¯`'-.,_,.-.,_,.-'`¯`'
SECTION 3 - Behind The Scenes
______________________________________________________________________________
_3.0________Overview____________________________
One of the most remarkable aspects to Teletubbies is the rich splendour with
which it is presented. Its trademark expansive sweeping crane shots swoop and
spin around the Teletubbies with a glorious disregard for such mundane
concerns as avoiding filming the edge of the set. The reason the world the
Teletubbies inhabit is so believably real - psychedelic furs, improbable
flowers and saturated colours notwithstanding - is that it is real. The set
has no firm edges (although the moment you wander over the hills, you'll find
yourself far away).
_3.1________Teletubbieland______________________
Teletubbieland is located on Wimpstone Farm in rural Warwickshire, near
Ragdoll's base in Stratford-upon-Avon - the same farm that hosts the outdoors
set of Tots TV. The landscaped hills surrounding the Tubbietronic Superdome's
crater, designed to hide the outside world from the set, have the unfortunate
side-effect of hiding the set from the outside world. Nonetheless, an eerie
amount can be seen from surrounding public footpaths- the hillocks themselves
are instantly recognisable, patches of flowers can be seen, and, when filming
is taking place, the Windmill towers above the area imposing its inscrutable
will upon the happy denizens of Teletubbieland.
The original intention was to locate Teletubbieland in a wood, but this idea
was abandoned due to lighting difficulties. Instead, the land we know and
love was created from scratch. Earthmovers dug a pit 3 yards deep, with a
flat central portion 75 feet in diameter for the dome itself. The land in
total occupies a field 80 by 130 yards.
The grass is, for the most part, a quick-growing mix (the same turf as is
used at Wimbledon), although astroturf is used in the high-traffic areas
such as the paths and the immediate environs of the dome.
_3.2________The_Flowers_________________________
There are two types of flower in Teletubbieland - the large individual ones
which are seen in the foreground, and the scattering of bunches seen in the
background.
Because Teletubbieland needs to be regularly mown to maintain its crisp
golf course appearance, most of the flowers are stuck onto a piece of netting
which is thrown across the more distant hillocks. It is an easy matter to
pull this off when mowing. The foreground flowers are on spikes, and stuck
into the ground individually.
_3.3________The_Tubbiecostumes__________________
Don't be fooled by the cuddly appearance of the Teletubbies. They are huge.
Ragdoll has pulled off quite a feat in making grown actors wearing over-
sized costumes appear childlike. The illusion is pulled off by eliminating
any familiar objects in the world which would give a sense of scale. The
actors peer out through the mouth of the costume, and the costume head towers
a further couple of feet above them.
*The eye and mouth movements are controlled remotely by the crew.
_3.5________The_Tubbietronic_Superdome__________
The Teletubbies live in a structure correctly referred to as 'The
Tubbietronic Superdome'. This structure is 16 feet high, and is complete as
seen in the programme. The interior shots are indeed shots of the interior
of this dome, rather than, as one might expect, filmed in a studio.
_3.6________The_Cast____________________________
-3.6.1-- Dave Thompson
-3.6.2-- John Simmit
-3.6.3-- Nikky Smedley
-3.6.4-- Pui Fan Lee
-3.6.5-- Toyah Wilcox
-3.6.6-- Eric Sykes
-3.6.7-- Penelope Keith
SECTION 4 - Teletubbies And The Copyright Law
______________________________________________________________________________
_4.0________Overview____________________________
In the beginning, there were no Teletubbies web sites. Then someone blinked,
and all of a sudden you couldn't move without browsing into one. With very
few exceptions, these sites concentrated on aspects of the programme which
had little to do with childrens' entertainment. They tended to revolve around
sex, violence, and, to a large extent, drugs. The BBC didn't like this. With
stories circulating in the press about the sacking of Dave 'Tinky Winky'
Thompson, Concerned Parents in uproar about the perceived low educational
value of the programme and the fact that it appeared to be popular with
druggie students which _surely_ couldn't be good for children... the BBC
decided to take action.
_4.1________The_Clampdown_______________________
There's nothing the BBC can do about discussing the programme, but all of
the sites at the time made extensive use of scanned and digitised images from
Teletubbies. Technically, and much though people do not generally get heavy
about such use, this made all of these sites in breach of copyright. The
legal department sent out a mailnote to all of the maintainers they could
find, asking for the copyright material to be removed. Here's mine:
=======================================================================
Dear Sir
Teletubbies
It has come to our attention that you are operating an internet site
on Web address http://www.mitt.demon.co.uk/teletubbies/index.html.
This site features material which is the copyright of the BBC and/or
its contributors including a still from BBC television broadcasts.
By copying this material without permission you have infringed the BBC
and/or its contributors* rights.
The BBC does not wish to discourage fans of its programmes from
discussing them on the internet, but for a variety of reasons the BBC
cannot allow its copyright material to be scanned into sites and
disseminated without permission. Further, given the target audience
of Teletubbies is pre-school children, your material is in danger of
compromising the programme*s intentions. Ragdoll, the producers of
Teletubbies, are as alarmed as we are and are justifiably concerned to
see that this misrepresentation stops.
Please take the necessary steps to remove all BBC copyright material
immediately from this site and provide confirmation that you have done
so.
We look forward to hearing from you by return, in the meantime the
BBC*s rights are expressly reserved including that of taking legal
action.
Yours faithfully
BBC Intellectual Property Department
Legal Adviser*s Division
British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London
W12 7TS
=======================================================================
Spreading Fear Uncertainty and Doubt in this fashion had the effect not just
of causing people to remove the images, but to remove entire sites to be on
the safe side.
_4.2________What's_Left_________________________
The sites which still exist use a mixture of alternative images (a shower
attachment in place of a periscope), 3D renderings, and conventional artwork
for decoration. In some nooks and crannies can still be found copyright
material which the BBC hasn't discovered yet - generally images 'rescued'
from one of the original sites before the clampdown.
SECTION 5 - So, Are There Any Websites, Or What?
______________________________________________________________________________
_5.0________Unofficial__________________________
Oliver's Website - The one the BBC lawyers point to as an example of a Good
Teletubbies site. But they still won't allow any real images on it.
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/7306/
Moose Industries 2000 - Hey, I'm allowed to plug my own website, surely? 3D
rendered pictures, nonsense articles, that sort of thing.
http://moose.spesh.com
Lots more, but I'll have to rummage around to see what's still up.
_5.1________Official____________________________
Not yet...
SECTION 6 - Contributers and Credits.
______________________________________________________________________________
This FAQ is maintained and edited by Moose 2000.
The first draft was written by Moose, who also did the ASCII scribblings.
Thanks are due to:
Oliver Lyu and mummy Julia, out of whose mailing list this FAQ was born -
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/7306/mailinglist.html
Mark Fawcett, for his researches into the 'real' Teletubbieland in the
middle of darkest Warwickshire.
The denizens of Oliver's mailing list for starting this all off, and for
any contributions which will come my way in the future.
Write to tub-faq@mitt.demon.co.uk if there's anything which you feel needs
to be added. Please bear in mind that I will exercise editorial control, and
that I won't automatically add everything that is submitted to me. I also
reserve the right to edit any submissions to fit into the house style. Full
credit will be given for anything which is used, and I'm always on the look-
out for bits of trivia to do with the programme.
Moose