Grasshopper Island
(1971)

TV Series

Country: UK

Genre: Family Adventure

Synopsis

Three brothers nicknamed Smarty (because he has answers to all sorts of questions), Toughy (because he wants to be a soldier) and Mouse (because he likes cheese), are fed up with adult authority and decide to run away. Hitching a ride on a boat captained by a sort of Elderly Boy (the wonderful Charles Hawtrey) they arrive at what they think is a deserted island. In fact, the island is home to the eccentric grasshopper expert Cornelius Button and his feisty housekeeper Lupus. After making friends with their new neighbours, the boys find they must join forces with them in order to defeat Cornelius' arch-rival, Doctor Hopper.

Notes

• Comprising 13 episodes of approximately 13 minutes each
• Smarty, Toughy and Mouse (their real names are not given in the credits) were in fact the three sons of series creator Joy Whitby. The two youngest, Toughy and Mouse, had their hair dyed (blond and red respectively) for the show.
• The sequences on Grasshopper Island (which comprise the bulk of this series) were shot on the island of Corsica.
• The English 2008 DVD release of this series edited it down by more than 70 minutes, and reduced the total number of episodes from 13 to 12 (considerably reducing the length of the episodes). The opening and closing titles of the episodes (except for the opening titles of the first episode and the closing titles of the last) were removed (though this only accounts for approximately 11 minutes of the cuts) in order to make the equivalent of a continuous feature length movie. Likewise, certain scenes were shifted around, and the original narration replaced. In essence, the English DVD release is a new production, an attempt to make a film using a selection of the footage from the original series. However, the 2013 German (Region 2) DVD release (see links at top right of this page) presents the whole original series uncut (albeit with German titles), and includes the option to play the episodes with their original English language soundtrack.