Time fillers on RTE in the 80's

storker

Not RTE, but certainly psychedelic...our local cinema had a disc filled with different non-mixing liquids of different colours that rotated with a projection light behind it, so that you got a big constantly-moving and changing psychedelic pattern that filled the screen. Something to look at while waiting for the bloody film to start. At a trip to the cinema recently I even got a bit nostalgic for it.

It looked a bit like this...only on the screen it was much bigger and of course, rectangular.

The Crowman

storker wrote: »

Not RTE, but certainly psychedelic...our local cinema had a disc filled with different non-mixing liquids of different colours that rotated with a projection light behind it, so that you got a big constantly-moving and changing psychedelic pattern that filled the screen. Something to look at while waiting for the bloody film to start. At a trip to the cinema recently I even got a bit nostalgic for it.

It looked a bit like this...only on the screen it was much bigger and of course, rectangular.

Was it like the backdrop to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3QufuTR_7M

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

I remember Garda Patrol been on before the news and also Mail Bag.

The Crowman

natashaob6 wrote: »

I remember Garda Patrol been on before the news and also Mail Bag.

I remember the old Garda Patrol intro was just the title in black letters on a bare background and the sound of someone banging a Bodhran. It was replaced circa 1985 by a snazzier intro with different music.

kunst nugget

The Crowman wrote: »

Was it like the backdrop to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3QufuTR_7M

More like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnf1JZOaxIE

Well, they were in the old cinema I went to in the Midlands.

kunst nugget

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Oh god.....that's it.....Jesus.. horrid memories

Ha, I liked it. I never even knew it was Kraftwerk when I was young. Tis a classic song.

storker

kunst nugget wrote: »

More like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnf1JZOaxIE

Well, they were in the old cinema I went to in the Midlands.

That's the one!

Gimme A Pound

The Crowman wrote: »

This is it, it was made by Halas & Batchelor who did the Autobahn green flying alien one as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ymlIN2slQ

Halas & Batchelor were mostly to blame for this filler: the above two, The Butterfly Ball, Hamilton The Elephant, and does anyone remember Barnaby? The boy with the stage Irish accented fairy godfather.

They also did british WW2 propaganda animation, and a feature length cartoon: Animal Farm.

The Crowman

There was another one that was constantly shown that I think might have been Halas & Batchelor. It was on the theme of opera and there was a bit where a waiter was holding up a platter with a pigs head which starts singing an opera duet with him before the waiter and pig swap heads. Can't remember what it was called.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

The Crowman wrote: »

I remember the old Garda Patrol intro was just the title in black letters on a bare background and the sound of someone banging a Bodhran. It was replaced circa 1985 by a snazzier intro with different music.

I remember watching Mart and Market and Landmark they used to be on for fifteen minutes before the Six O Clock News. I'd say every farmer in the country watched it.

Beechwoodspark

Those cartoons remind me of the time bart and Lisa watched the Iron Curtain’s answer to itchy and scratchy -“worker and parasite”

https://youtu.be/z2_dhUv_CrI

JohnnyFlash

RTE was a hotbed of socialism in the early 80's, and employees were aligned to a trade union that was little more than a front for the Workers Party. It was almost mandatory to be a member if you were working off-screen - in lighting, sound, camera etc. The management were more of the Blackrock College variety, and wouldn't have had the same politics. Being a member in good standing of FF was almost expected for them.

Lolek and Bolek was shown as a continuity filler - the finest Polish communist cartoon series of the era. Other cartoons from that side of the Iron Curtain were shown as well, especially around lunchtime on a Sunday. The televised mass would often run a bit over, so they'd put a cartoon on to fill in the later time slots. This was an earnest attempt to try and impress young minds about how soviet socialism trumped any belief in a higher power.

A particular highlight for the comrades was having a calendar displayed in the kitchen of Biddy and Miley's house in Glenroe. The soap couple were having a domestic argument of some sort, but the eagle-eyed viewer couldn't help but notice that the calendar said 'Fúck Farmers'.

Gimme A Pound

Don't remember the pig opera one but I see they did The Owl And The Pussycat - flashback.

One I would love to find is this short of a guy getting up for work - it's a mixture of drawings and obviously bits cut out of magazines. Then he heads out to his garage but he doesn't have a car, he has a rocket with a union Jack on it. Anyway he heads up to space for a bit, sees lots of mad psychedelic stuff, then heads home and it turned out to be a dream. He then gets up and actually goes to work in his car.

Anyone?

JupiterKid

I loved the Butterfly Ball cartoon as a kid - think it was made around 1976 or thereabouts.

Roger Glover (of 70s legends Deep Purple) sang the lead vocals.

bodhrandude

Another that both ITV and RTE 2 showed was the Ratties narrated by Spike Milligan.

whisky_galore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0fuVoSa3dc

The Crowman

Then there were surreal claymation animation things and weird shorts that would be shown just once and you'd never see them again, like this. I remember it being shown just the one time but it's so bizarre that it stuck in my head for years. There were a lot of other things that I can't identify as I can't remember what they were called.

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

Comhrá

Anyone remember RTE continuity announcer Bridin Gilroy? She used ocasionally sing a song to fill between programmes. She was in the Joan Baez style.

Loves_lorries

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

RTE was a hotbed of socialism in the early 80's, and employees were aligned to a trade union that was little more than a front for the Workers Party. It was almost mandatory to be a member if you were working off-screen - in lighting, sound, camera etc. The management were more of the Blackrock College variety, and wouldn't have had the same politics. Being a member in good standing of FF was almost expected for them.

Lolek and Bolek was shown as a continuity filler - the finest Polish communist cartoon series of the era. Other cartoons from that side of the Iron Curtain were shown as well, especially around lunchtime on a Sunday. The televised mass would often run a bit over, so they'd put a cartoon on to fill in the later time slots. This was an earnest attempt to try and impress young minds about how soviet socialism trumped any belief in a higher power.

A particular highlight for the comrades was having a calendar displayed in the kitchen of Biddy and Miley's house in Glenroe. The soap couple were having a domestic argument of some sort, but the eagle-eyed viewer couldn't help but notice that the calendar said 'Fúck Farmers'.

RTE still is a socialist ( of the Michael D and Mary Robinson variety) hotbed.

Ursus Horribilis

Most of the Halas and Batchelor cartoons they showed were pure muck. Miserable, low-rent cartoons which weren't half as entertaining as their American equivalents.

The Crowman

Emily Spicy Vault wrote: »

Don't remember the pig opera one but I see they did The Owl And The Pussycat - flashback.

One I would love to find is this short of a guy getting up for work - it's a mixture of drawings and obviously bits cut out of magazines. Then he heads out to his garage but he doesn't have a car, he has a rocket with a union Jack on it. Anyway he heads up to space for a bit, sees lots of mad psychedelic stuff, then heads home and it turned out to be a dream. He then gets up and actually goes to work in his car.

Anyone?

I remember that one about the guy with the rocket. I've a funny feeling there were two of them that were shown in rotation. I think maybe the guy had a bowler hat?

Atoms for Peace

Mr Benn had a bowler hat.

The Crowman

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

Mr Benn had a bowler hat.

The rocket one wasn't Mr Benn, I could be mixing up elements of the two though.

Firefox11

storker wrote: »

That's the one!

I remember watching this......and then the film krull as a kid.:)

The Crowman

Another Halas & Batchelor one that I remember being shown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nprPZnc-EiU

The Crowman

JupiterKid wrote: »

I loved the Butterfly Ball cartoon as a kid - think it was made around 1976 or thereabouts.

Roger Glover (of 70s legends Deep Purple) sang the lead vocals.

It was Ronnie James Dio who sang it. Roger Glover wrote the music, I'm sure it part of some kind of overall prog rock opera.

JupiterKid

I’m sure RTÉ never showed this as a time filler in the 80s. Not did the BBC or ITV for that matter. But they were made nonetheless, in case Armageddon lurked dangerously close...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNVMm2KpiDI

Hotblack Desiato

Emily Spicy Vault wrote: »

Halas & Batchelor were mostly to blame for this filler: the above two, The Butterfly Ball, Hamilton The Elephant, and does anyone remember Barnaby? The boy with the stage Irish accented fairy godfather.

They also did british WW2 propaganda animation, and a feature length cartoon: Animal Farm.

They did loads of road safety PIFs in the 50s and 60s too, but RTE didn't show those! They're on the "Charley Says" DVDs.

La Serenissima used to be on UTV.

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

This was an earnest attempt to try and impress young minds about how soviet socialism trumped any belief in a higher power.

Nah, just trying to wind up the creeping Jesus types in management I reckon. Even as a kid it was obvious how crap they were compared to capitalist cartoons

Hotblack Desiato

Bits of the Protect and Survive films were shown on Panorama once - 14 minutes in. BBC got into a fair bit of trouble with the UK government over this as the films were technically secret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=milbW4RDIco

They could also be heard in the background in Threads.

Some more fun viewing from around that time was QED's A Guide to Armageddon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GJttnC8PoA

I saw both of these at the time and they scared the bejaysus out of me.

The Crowman

Anyone remember this? It was a bit long to be used as filler between programmes but I remember RTE showing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTPJ6AL_Rk

The Crowman

Deleted User wrote: »

RTE played Popeye ad-nauseum early evenings around late 70's early 80s- must have been very cheap TV for them.

I remember the ones they showed most often were those which I think probably dated from the 50's, these were by far the best. They had the opening with Popeye blowing his pipe like a ships horn and the familiar theme music. There was a not so good reboot from maybe the 70's that they would show as well and finally there was the atrocity that was Popeye And Son from circa mid 80's in which Popeye and Olive had this awful sap of a teenage son who was the main focus of the storylines and the un PC elements and violence of the older series was mostly missing. Everyone hated it and it didn't last long.

the purple tin

Does anyone remember a bit from the 80's where it would show an artist drawing a picture, all you saw was his hand and I think there might have been music in the background.
The film was sped up so it took around 5 mins. He usually did pictures of birds. Who was the artist? Myfirst thought was Don Conroy but I think he had an irish name.

Larbre34

Larbre34 wrote: »

Still made more compelling viewing than 98% of digital channels today.

This, a million times. It's a digital shíte fest that passes as tv in 2018. Ineffably awful.

Blue850

the purple tin wrote: »

Does anyone remember a bit from the 80's where it would show an artist drawing a picture, all you saw was his hand and I think there might have been music in the background.
The film was sped up so it took around 5 mins. He usually did pictures of birds. Who was the artist? Myfirst thought was Don Conroy but I think he had an irish name.

Gerrit Van Gelderen

The Crowman

the purple tin wrote: »

Does anyone remember a bit from the 80's where it would show an artist drawing a picture, all you saw was his hand and I think there might have been music in the background.
The film was sped up so it took around 5 mins. He usually did pictures of birds. Who was the artist? Myfirst thought was Don Conroy but I think he had an irish name.

Blue850 wrote: »

Gerrit Van Gelderen

Beat me to it. The programe he did was To The Waters And The Wild. He used to also draw this animated carricature of himself that was like his head with the body of a bird.

Duckworth_Luas

Not a time filler, as it's over an hour long, but the Halas and Batchelor version of Animal Farm from the early 1950s used to be regularly aired by RTE in the 1980s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78Fi4csAVY

Interestingly the film was funded by the CIA as an anti-Stalin/anti-Communist propaganda piece.

Losty Dublin

Remember 1....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEssgMQ1O_k

The Crowman

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

Not a time filler, as it's over an hour long, but the Halas and Batchelor version of Animal Farm from the early 1950s used to be regularly aired by RTE in the 1980s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78Fi4csAVY

Interestingly the film was funded by the CIA as an anti-Stalin/anti-Communist propaganda piece.

We did Animal Farm for the Enter Cert so we watched that on video in class as well.

Sundew

The Crowman wrote: »

There was another one that was constantly shown that I think might have been Halas & Batchelor. It was on the theme of opera and there was a bit where a waiter was holding up a platter with a pigs head which starts singing an opera duet with him before the waiter and pig swap heads. Can't remember what it was called.

I used to love this and have been trying to find it online with no success. It was an animation to a famous opera song. I was thinking it might be “ the drinking song” but I’m not 100% sure on that. There was the tenor with the pigs head on a platter , a fat soprano and a thin one, as she hit the high note I think she grew taller and I’m pretty sure I recall glass shattering! I loved this filler.....often on before the news!

Teyla Emmagan

That Storyteller song still goes through my head. It's like an ear worm I've had since 1983. Seriously annoying. "In Germany, I'm Johann. In England I am John".

There was a cartoon that used to be on Anything Goes about a guy called Simon and the strick people he drew came to life. "My name is Simon and the things I draw come true, and the pictures (?) take me to climb the ladder with you".

Sundew

The Crowman wrote: »

There was another one that was constantly shown that I think might have been Halas & Batchelor. It was on the theme of opera and there was a bit where a waiter was holding up a platter with a pigs head which starts singing an opera duet with him before the waiter and pig swap heads. Can't remember what it was called.

Crow an the animation was done to this opera song “ La Donna e mobile” from Rigoletto.It was one of my favorite fillers. Remember the tenor with the pigs head on the platter and the thin lady ! Would give anything to see it again!
If anybody finds it would love a link to it!

This is the tune here performed by Pavarotti!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3zetSuYRg

Hotblack Desiato

The Crowman wrote: »

Anyone remember this? It was a bit long to be used as filler between programmes but I remember RTE showing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTPJ6AL_Rk

It was renamed Jeremy on RTE. (And according to here Barnaby on the BBC, but I don't remember that.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9_nhyTlkc

branie2

There was a cartoon filler about an Englishman who becomes an astronaut, and gets a knighthood from the Queen.

NewbridgeIR

The Crowman wrote: »

Anyone remember this? It was a bit long to be used as filler between programmes but I remember RTE showing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTPJ6AL_Rk

YES!


Plus the Canadian equivalent Jeremy The Bear

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

EDIT: Hotblack - just saw your post.

dense

Lolek and Bolek.


Maybe they were 70s dudes though.

cml387

As I remember the end of the cartoon version of Animal Farm had a happy ending where the animals overthrew the pigs and lived happily ever after.

Which of course completely destroyed the whole point of the book.

JupiterKid

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

The Crowman wrote: »

Anyone remember this? It was a bit long to be used as filler between programmes but I remember RTE showing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTPJ6AL_Rk

YES!


Plus the Canadian equivalent Jeremy The Bear

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

EDIT: Hotblack - just saw your post.

Wow - that brings back some really lovely and very early childhood memories - Jeremy The Bear! 😊

Duckworth_Luas

cml387 wrote: »

As I remember the end of the cartoon version of Animal Farm had a happy ending where the animals overthrew the pigs and lived happily ever after.

Which of course completely destroyed the whole point of the book.

Changes to the plot were done at the insistence of the CIA.

Ipso

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

Not a time filler, as it's over an hour long, but the Halas and Batchelor version of Animal Farm from the early 1950s used to be regularly aired by RTE in the 1980s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78Fi4csAVY

Interestingly the film was funded by the CIA as an anti-Stalin/anti-Communist propaganda piece.

In the book, I thought Napoleon was supposed to be Stalin and Snowball was Trotsky.
It’s obviously a nod to the Russian revolution but applies to all totalitarian regimes.

Duckworth_Luas

Anyone remember the Children's Film Foundation films RTE used to show in the 80s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceijNYF0KA8

There was one set in Ireland, called something like "The Johnstown Monster".

Here's a clip from one called "The Boy Who Turned Yellow".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7vSxWnHi64

I'd no clue what it was about back then, even less now.