Storybook international

steveone

anyone remember this on itv, ..
i've trawled the net and can find bugger all, i used to watch it . it always featured tales from places like finland, germany etc, trolls and the like..
i even remember the theme , ralf mctell sang it i'm sure,
and while i'm down memory lane anyone remember rondo veneziano's la serenissima.. it was an animated music video on itv around 11am weekdays, test card type thing... you can find it on youtube...

Ruu_Old

Great series of stories, have yet to pick up the DVDs (think it is only available on Region 1 DVD I spotted it on Amazon.com). You can watch the trailer and an episode here.

In Russia I am Ivan, in England I am John.
In Germany I'm Johan, In Sweden I am Jan."

Youtube intro below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMu6Ze20KtI

steveone

yea..
"Im a storyteller, and my stories must be told":)

Thrill

A couple of youtube clips here..........

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Storybook+international&search=

steveone

i couldn't find anything on youtube??

steveone

Ah that's brilliant thanks for that posting......

steveone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_wRgBS5lI

this is la serenissima....

kelle

I remember this. A few weeks ago, I tried to locate this video on Youtube using the line "I've a story for you..." (wrong, of course!). It used to be on Fridays just after school finished so I was always very relaxed watching it!
Thanks for the link, Ruu!!!

kelle

For some strange reason, I remember this story being told!

Dudess

kelle wrote:

It used to be on Fridays just after school finished

Ah yes! I remember it so well. I absolutely ADORED that programme! I remember one Friday during the Christmas holidays we were coming back to Cork from visiting my grandparents in Meath and I was begging my mum to go as fast as possible so we'd be home in time for it. We didn't make it and I was quite tantrumy! (silly brat I was!) Thanks a mil for the links Ruu, thrill and kelle (great story, that. Delighted the auld witch and her miserable daughter got their comeuppance!) The story I particularly remember is the one about some dude who had to travel the world (on foot) and stop washing/shaving/cutting his nails for seven years in order to achieve something (can't remember what it was). His long nails, hair, beard etc and the filthiness of him stayed with me forever.
Notice on the YouTube intro the line "In America I'm John" is sung? Strange that. I distinctly remember hearing "In England I am John" when I used to watch it as a kid!

steveone wrote:

rondo veneziano's la serenissima

Ooh I always wanted to know who or what that was! Cheers for the info. I now know that Rondo Veneziano is an orchestral group that plays naff classical/contemporary stuff. There's a YouTube clip of them in Vegas - why am I not surprised?! But that La Serenissima is actually a pretty darn good tune. I've heard it in the background for so many things ever since I was small - it's the ultimate muzak, along with Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene. No doubt it was used for that clock on RTE every day before transmission began.

superfly

steveone wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_wRgBS5lI

this is la serenissima....

Ahh that brings back memories of summer holidays
thanks for that, i think i tried to describe this on here or elsewhere but could only remember the players on the disk in the bubble

Dudess

Was it only the music that was used by ITV (for a test card or whatever) or was it the animation too? Pretty cool animation - very Daft Punky. And that tune is from 1980.
It's actually about the fear of Venice eventually being submerged.

steveone

Dudess wrote:

Was it only the music that was used by ITV (for a test card or whatever) or was it the animation too? Pretty cool animation - very Daft Punky. And that tune is from 1980.
It's actually about the fear of Venice eventually being submerged.

the actual video clip was used when they were lining up the programmes. , it used to go out at around 11 am... i thought i had just dreamt it but i remembered venic sinking and did the good old detective work..:D
i thin the music is Vivaldi..

Dudess

The animation is quite Manga. A bit freaky - the way they don't have faces. Reminds me of the guy without a face in photographs on Sapphire and Steel :eek:. Used to terrify me!

steveone

yeah its good.. early manga... there was a strong european influence in cartoons then, i'm not an animation expert but all the non-disney / h.b. cartoons like ulysees and once upon a time.. were french or spanish weren't they?

Dudess

Yeah, all those weird cartoons RTE used to show to fill in gaps - remember the one with the green alien guy who had bulging eyes and he's flying through a kind of wind tunnel and there's all this psychedelic **** going on around him.
Yup, those were French (along with maybe Polish, I'm not totally sure) and there was also Mysterious Cities of Gold.

steveone

yeah mysterious cities.... there's nothing like that now for the kids...

boardsdotie

What was this cartoon

Theme tune went somthing like...

i'm a storyteller and my stories must be told,In Germany I'm yohan, In America I'm John...................

steveone

see the storybook international thread

boardsdotie

steveone wrote:

see the storybook international thread

Thanks for that

evolving_doors

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah, all those weird cartoons RTE used to show to fill in gaps - remember the one with the green alien guy who had bulging eyes and he's flying through a kind of wind tunnel and there's all this psychedelic **** going on around him.
quote]



Check it out here...Roger MAinwood was the animator

rubadub

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah, all those weird cartoons RTE used to show to fill in gaps -

I always found that storybook think to be freaky, but not as odd as those mad french(?) ones with lads with beards going around the human body, like little figures as bloodcells & other things.


This is one, but I think there was another one too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2h1jUpqzcc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2h1jUpqzcc

kelle

Ruu wrote: »

Great series of stories, have yet to pick up the DVDs (think it is only available on Region 1 DVD I spotted it on Amazon.com). You can watch the trailer and an episode here.



Youtube intro below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMu6Ze20KtI

This youtube link no longer works. Anybody able to locate another one?

rubadub

kelle wrote: »

This youtube link no longer works. Anybody able to locate another one?

loads, just do fresh searchs in youtube, copyright stuff is take down all the time and put back up again, like simpsons or southpark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs3X90RLW3A

kelle

Thanks, Rubadub, I tried but failed. Actually, it didn't help I just put I'm a storyteller in the search engine.....

Ann22

I used to love this programme! I too remember that line as 'in England I am John'...that must be a us version...Great stories. A woman did the voice over if memory serves.

hartster

steveone wrote: »

anyone remember this on itv, ..
i've trawled the net and can find bugger all, i used to watch it . it always featured tales from places like finland, germany etc, trolls and the like..
i even remember the theme , ralf mctell sang it i'm sure,
and while i'm down memory lane anyone remember rondo veneziano's la serenissima.. it was an animated music video on itv around 11am weekdays, test card type thing... you can find it on youtube...

i'm a story teller and my stories must be told, I have many stories, some for young and some for old, I have many voices I have travelled many places, many names have I and many faces. In Russia I am Ivan etc .

hartster

steveone wrote: »

yea..
"Im a storyteller, and my stories must be told":)

I wan't to hear the original theme, not the bastardised American version, any links?

evolving_doors

Did a little digging and the composer of storybook international was terry oldfield, brother of mike oldfield of tubular bells fame,,,

can't find any info on ralph mctell connection though!!!

the purple tin

This thread made me think of the Jim Henson series with John Hurt and his talking dog. Hurt would tell folk tales from around the world.
It was on Sunday evenings I think, excellent show.