Read All About It! | |
---|---|
Written by | Clive Endersby |
Directed by | Jeremy Pollock |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 40 |
Production | |
Producer | Jeremy Pollock |
Running time | 15 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | TVOntario |
Release | September 11, 1979 December 23, 1980 | –
Read All About It! is a Canadian educational television series that was produced from 1979 to 1980 by TVOntario. It starred David Craig Collard as Chris, Lydia Zajc as Lynne, Stacey Arnold as Samantha, and Sean Hewitt as Duneedon, ruler of the galaxy Trialviron. In the second season Michael Dwyer joined the cast as Alex. The main goal of the show was to educate viewers in reading, writing and history. Each episode ran for approximately 15 minutes. Eric Robertson composed the music for the show being filmed in Brampton, Ontario.
The show is set in the fictitious town of Herbertville, where 11-year-old Chris Anderson inherits his Uncle Derek's coach house seven years after Derek's mysterious disappearance; Derek is now legally presumed dead. The coach house contains two artificially intelligent robots built by Derek: Otto, a device which communicates by printing its thoughts on paper; and Theta, a talking computer with an integrated monitor. The terms of Derek's will stipulate that Chris can only use the coach house before he's 21 if it's for a worthwhile purpose, so he and his friends Lynne and Samantha start a newspaper called The Herbertville Chronicle.
In episode two, the kids discover the coach house also houses a transporter which allows teleportation to and from the galaxy of Trialviron. After inadvertently triggering the transporter, Lynne and Samantha are trapped within Trialviron by Duneedon, the despotic ruler of the galaxy, but manage to escape. This launches a season-long serial, in which the newspaper is focused on unraveling a conspiracy headed by Herbertville mayor Don Eden (the alter ego of Duneedon) who wants to claim King's Park as his own to get a rare mineral he needs to invade Earth.
The transporter is also able to transport literary characters into the coach house, such as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Merlin the Magician from King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, and Captain Hook from Peter Pan. These characters sometimes help, and sometimes hinder, the trio's investigation into the conspiracy.
Seen in this serial are Chris, Samantha and Lynne. Recurring players include Duneedon (a.k.a. Mayor Don Eden); Duncan O'Regan (self-described 'security guard extraordinaire' who also seems to be part of the conspiracy); Dr. Crystal Couplet (a friendly Trialveron resident and poet who speaks in rhyme); Joseph Walker (an 80-year-old Herbertville resident who has valuable memories of the town's past); and Ann Blake (a Herbertville town councilor). Chris' Uncle Derek is also eventually found alive, being held captive by Duneedon, and is seen in several episodes.
The second season also consists of 20 episodes, but is divided into separate smaller arcs.
Recurring:
Read All About It! episodes are presented as "chapters" as in a book.
A DVD release of Read All About It was done by the Visual Education Center of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is a correction that conflicts with the statement given by the writer Clive Endersby:
"Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no plans to do anything with them [Read All About It and Polka Dot Door]. Due to special 'educational' arrangements (ie: lower fees) that channels like TVOntario had with the various unions (Writers, actors, directors, musicians) renewals of clearance rights and royalties had to be paid in advance for a set number of years — rather than an after-payment of a percentage of sales as is normal for commercial programs.
"Because of the cutbacks (or lack of growth) in funding for these types of stations, they cannot afford to renew these clearances 'up front' which would decimate their program budgets in any one year. Both TVO and the various union members would dearly love to switch these contracts to a 'percentage of a sales' system but the law is the law and neither side can change an existing contract without agreement from all who signed it." [1]
Read All About It! | |
---|---|
Written by | Clive Endersby |
Directed by | Jeremy Pollock |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 40 |
Production | |
Producer | Jeremy Pollock |
Running time | 15 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | TVOntario |
Release | September 11, 1979 December 23, 1980 | –
Read All About It! is a Canadian educational television series that was produced from 1979 to 1980 by TVOntario. It starred David Craig Collard as Chris, Lydia Zajc as Lynne, Stacey Arnold as Samantha, and Sean Hewitt as Duneedon, ruler of the galaxy Trialviron. In the second season Michael Dwyer joined the cast as Alex. The main goal of the show was to educate viewers in reading, writing and history. Each episode ran for approximately 15 minutes. Eric Robertson composed the music for the show being filmed in Brampton, Ontario.
The show is set in the fictitious town of Herbertville, where 11-year-old Chris Anderson inherits his Uncle Derek's coach house seven years after Derek's mysterious disappearance; Derek is now legally presumed dead. The coach house contains two artificially intelligent robots built by Derek: Otto, a device which communicates by printing its thoughts on paper; and Theta, a talking computer with an integrated monitor. The terms of Derek's will stipulate that Chris can only use the coach house before he's 21 if it's for a worthwhile purpose, so he and his friends Lynne and Samantha start a newspaper called The Herbertville Chronicle.
In episode two, the kids discover the coach house also houses a transporter which allows teleportation to and from the galaxy of Trialviron. After inadvertently triggering the transporter, Lynne and Samantha are trapped within Trialviron by Duneedon, the despotic ruler of the galaxy, but manage to escape. This launches a season-long serial, in which the newspaper is focused on unraveling a conspiracy headed by Herbertville mayor Don Eden (the alter ego of Duneedon) who wants to claim King's Park as his own to get a rare mineral he needs to invade Earth.
The transporter is also able to transport literary characters into the coach house, such as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Merlin the Magician from King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, and Captain Hook from Peter Pan. These characters sometimes help, and sometimes hinder, the trio's investigation into the conspiracy.
Seen in this serial are Chris, Samantha and Lynne. Recurring players include Duneedon (a.k.a. Mayor Don Eden); Duncan O'Regan (self-described 'security guard extraordinaire' who also seems to be part of the conspiracy); Dr. Crystal Couplet (a friendly Trialveron resident and poet who speaks in rhyme); Joseph Walker (an 80-year-old Herbertville resident who has valuable memories of the town's past); and Ann Blake (a Herbertville town councilor). Chris' Uncle Derek is also eventually found alive, being held captive by Duneedon, and is seen in several episodes.
The second season also consists of 20 episodes, but is divided into separate smaller arcs.
Recurring:
Read All About It! episodes are presented as "chapters" as in a book.
A DVD release of Read All About It was done by the Visual Education Center of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is a correction that conflicts with the statement given by the writer Clive Endersby:
"Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no plans to do anything with them [Read All About It and Polka Dot Door]. Due to special 'educational' arrangements (ie: lower fees) that channels like TVOntario had with the various unions (Writers, actors, directors, musicians) renewals of clearance rights and royalties had to be paid in advance for a set number of years — rather than an after-payment of a percentage of sales as is normal for commercial programs.
"Because of the cutbacks (or lack of growth) in funding for these types of stations, they cannot afford to renew these clearances 'up front' which would decimate their program budgets in any one year. Both TVO and the various union members would dearly love to switch these contracts to a 'percentage of a sales' system but the law is the law and neither side can change an existing contract without agreement from all who signed it." [1]