The Beano Video is a direct-to-video animated film based on The Beano, originally released on VHS on 16 October 1993 and also broadcast as a television special on ITV and CITV. It marked not just the first animated release of the hugely successful children's comic that has spanned many generations, but also the first animated appearance for characters like Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Gnipper, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, and the Three Bears. The video was directed by Derek Mogford and produced by Jo Pullen at Living Doll Productions and Whizzline Productions, and sold more than 200,000 copies. It features voices by Susan Sheridan, Kate Robbins, Enn Reitel, Gary Martin and Jonathan Kydd. Martin and Kydd would later appear in the 1996-98 TV series Dennis and Gnasher.
A sequel to the video was produced and released on 17 October 1994, named The Beano Videostars, and featured an expanded cast of characters. Both videos drew high enough ratings and video sales to kick off the Dennis and Gnasher TV series. The video was re-released on DVD 10 years later in 2004, by then known as The Beano All-Stars.
Contents
Plot
The video opens with a giant comic flying towards the camera, with panels featuring all the characters that the video will focus on; Dennis the Menace, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids and the Three Bears. The characters instantly come to life, and start breaking out of the panels to interact with each other (or rather, pick on each other).
In In on the Act, Walter the Softy decides to enter a talent show, and tries a ventriloquist act with his teddy. Dennis tries a similar act with a dummy based on a prisoner. The dummy's screaming is revealed to belong to a parrot that Dennis trapped in the dummy, and the softies step up their game with a string quartet. Dennis, Gnasher, Curly and Pie-Face turn the softies into living puppets, operated by the menaces in a tree. Unfortunately, the branch that the menaces are perched on breaks under their weight, and the fall renders both sides unfit to perform. However, Gnasher's fleas start acting up, and his frenzied scratching is mistaken for a dance, earning him first prize.
Next, in Face the Music, Professor Quaver, the new music teacher, arrives at Bash Street School. The kids, to his dismay, do not know how to play instruments properly, nor do they know how to sing, opting for a noisy football chant instead. With the class dismissed, Quaver decides that Winston's yowling is far more pleasant to listen to than the kids, and even conducts the cat with a baton.
In Hotdog, Gnasher teaches Gnipper how to get a free meal at a hot dog stand. Gnasher barks fiercely at a customer, startling him so much he drops the hot dog, which Gnasher helps himself to. Gnipper tries the same technique, and it works, until he gets covered in ketchup, which he forgot to check for.
In Porridge, the Three Bears, tired of porridge made from moldy oats, head out in search of dinner. They steal Hank's horse to carry them and their equipment, but are eventually thrown into the sea, where they try fishing. They end up aggravating a shark who chases them back to land, where the bears stumble upon cowboys having a barbecue. Ma and Pa disguise Ted as a cowboy with a pair of dancing bears, and Ted launches the cook's roast skyward while the cook is distracted by Ma and Pa dancing. Some coyotes get to the roast before the bears though, and they decide to just head home. They return home, starving and absurdly thin from their journey, only to find their porridge is gone along with all the oats. As it turns out, the horse that they stole earlier is the culprit.
Episodes
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: In on the Act
The Bash Street Kids: Face the Music
Gnasher and Gnipper: Hotdog
The Three Bears: Porridge
Minnie the Minx: Minnie Chairs
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Soap Box Cart
The Bash Street Kids: Lake Beautiful
The Three Bears: Scorcher
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Sausages
Minnie the Minx: Minnie Apples
The Bash Street Kids: Space Case
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Pink Glove
The Three Bears: Greedy Bears Picnic
Minnie the Minx: Minnie Flying
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Big Surprise
The Three Bears: Hare Soup
The Bash Street Kids: Molar Mirth
Gnasher and Gnipper: Gnipper Pecker
Minnie the Minx: Minnie Clones
Voice cast
Susan Sheridan as Dennis the Menace, Walter's Mum, Minnie the Minx, Boy #1 (Benji from Ball Boy), Boy #2, Minnie's Fans, Danny, Fatty, 'Erbert, Toots, Olive, Cheap-o Airways Lady, Ma Bear and Sea Noises
Kate Robbins as Neighbour's Wife
Enn Reitel as Plug (two lines in Molar Mirth), Smiffy (burping in Molar Mirth), Singer on Record, Pa Bear, Ma Bear (burping in Scorcher), Ted Bear, Hank, Horse, Dog, Scorcher, Hare and Narrator #2
Gary Martin as Gnasher, Gnipper, Rasher, Talent Contest Host, Customer, Mother Bird, Tailcoat #1 and Spotty (Face the Music)
Jonathan Kydd as Dennis' Dad, Walter the Softy, Spotty Perkins, Bertie Blenkinsop, Parrot, Flea #1, Fred, Doctor, Neighbour, Pink Glove, Father, Monkey, Minnie's Dad, Panting Dogs, Chair Store Man, Frog, Policeman #1, Pilot, Bully, Man on Bench, Tailcoat #2, Policeman #2, Sergeant, Policemen, Plug, Smiffy, Spotty (Space Case), Teacher, Headmaster, Posh Street Kids, Professor Quaver, School Doctor, Keeper of Lake Beautiful, Rubbish Collector, Professor Molaroid, Picnic Boy #1 and Narrators #1, #3-10
Credits
Animation Directors: Tony Garth, David Osbourne
Animation Crew:
Storyboards: Mark Mason
Layouts: Jez Hall, Vincent James
Backgrounds: Aileen Raistrick
Animators: Claire Armstrong, Anna Brockett, Martin Collis, Alistair Fell, Delia Gosman (credited as "Dave Gosman"), Laurent Grisel (credited as "Laurent Grisee"), Alain Maindron, Robert Milne, Mike Pfeil, Neil Salmon, Kim Stephenson, Paul Stone, Mair Thomas, Christine Tynan, Dan Whitworth, Kevin Baldwin, Eamonn Butler (credited as "Eamon Butler"), Tony Elmes, Joanne Gooding, Claire Gray, Charles Macrae (credited as "Charlie Macrae"), Gianni Malpeli, John Offord, Andrew Powell, Jim Southworth (credited as "James Southworth"), David Stone, Mike Swindale, George Turner, Glenn Whiting (credited as "Glen Whiting"), Judy Pilsbury
Paint and Trace: Whizzline Productions, Heather Pedley, Karina Stanford, Greg Smith, Mike Banks, Simon Bradbury, Janet Cable, Miles Clegg, Annie Elvin, Paul Green, Lynn Hardie, Dave Hoctor, Bev James, Carol Leslie, Shaun McClinchy, Helen Mears, Andrew Peters, Anna Roberts, Dave Smith, Mark Stopford, Jenny Thomissen, Pauline Webster, Sue Woodward, Paul Bannister, Helen Buckingham, Jed Casserley, Lynn Durrans, Julie Gleeson, Jode Griffin, Duncan Harris, Nic Howell, Damien Knapper, Suzanna Light, Dave McQuillan, Tracey Paddison, Anne Place, Marie Sheard, Jocelyn Smith, Braid Sweeney, Rosemary Thorburn, Nik Westbury, Samantha Yates
Rostrum Camera: Jim Davey, Stephen Davey
Featuring the Voices of: Jonathan Kydd, Gary Martin, Enn Reitel, Kate Robbins, Susan Sheridan
Production Co-Ordinator: Alison Grade
Film Editor: Andi Sloss
Video Tape Editor: Simon Brook
Broadcast history
United Kingdom
ITV (1993)
CITV (1994)
Fox Kids UK (1996)
United States
Fox Kids (1998)
Nicktoons (2004)