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Post by raggedbone on Mar 27, 2007 15:19:10 GMT
OK, it's Tuesday afternoon and my uni work isn't getting done ... so I was just wondering, with the 22nd anniversary fast approaching, what were people's first memories of T.Bag ...
Personally, I first tuned in on a Wednesday afternoon to watch Episode 2 of 'T.Bag Strikes Again' (September 3rd 1986, to be exact, so I would have been five!) and vividly recall T.Bag's gleeful rhyme when she thought she'd nabbed the two silver twos on the shoes ... 'I've got the shoes with the silver number twos, so hard luck to yous and a scooby-dooby-dos!' ... after that, I was hooked!
How about everyone else?
RB
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Post by Jamie on Mar 28, 2007 19:16:38 GMT
My first memory of T-Bag was the last episode of Wonders In Letterland but I have only very vague memories (being a youthful twenty-five now and only being only three years old at the time I not surprised I can not really remember more).
I do vividly remember the big chest being locked with the riddle on the side and the T and the E making the key and the big green hedge behind the chest.
Watching the last part of Wonders got me hooked on watching T-Bag and I watched from Strikes Again onwards. I started recording Bounces Back (on one of these new fancy betamax recorders) and every subsequent series - and loved every minute.
Take Off With T. Bag first airing on my 11th birthday (September 8th 1992) was one of the biggest treats - me sharing my birthday with Tabatha Bag (even though it was still her Birthday when the series ended in November!)
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Post by blackiecats on May 18, 2007 21:34:03 GMT
I think the first I saw was the first episode of T-Bag Strikes Again and I watched all of that series. I don't think I ever saw Wonders in Letterland until around 2001/2002 when I got a VHS copy of it. I only have vague memories of T-Bag Bounces Back so I'm guessing I watched that series on and off. I did however watch all the other series religously from Turn on to T-Bag onwards (well except for Take off with T-Bag) I watched the first episode of Take off with T-Bag and that's it. I'd actually never seen the full series (just like Wonder in Letterland) until I got it all on VHS in a trade around 2002. I'd never been a huge fan of Take off with T-Bag because of the change of format. I was a fan of the missing objects having to be collected Actually I think the series went down hill from Sunstones of Montezuma. To start with I always rememer hating the cup and saucer spaceship and never understood exactly why that was introduced (even as a kid) T-Bag can magic herself anywhere, so why does she need a spaceship? It was also sad that the first episode in Sunstones... didn't start off at the Old Curiosity Shop too like all the other seasons before it did. I still enjoy Sunstones of Montezuma though as it does have most traits of previous series intact. I very rarely watch my copy of Take off with T-Bag though as I still feel it went way off track with what I enjoyed about the show in previous seasons.
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Post by raggedbone on May 20, 2007 19:15:06 GMT
I also started from 'T.Bag Strikes Again', having completely missed 'Wonders in Letterland' (I was three at the time, so it's not surprising!!), though I did watch the show religiously after that. I didn't have copies of most of the first five series till around 2001/2002 myself, but I could still remember pretty much the setting and plot of every episode.
Of the original and repeat transmissions between 1986 and 1993, the only episodes I missed were half of the first showing of 'T.Bag Bounces Back', Episode 10 in 1987 (I walked in at the moment Debbie was breaking into the T.Room from the secret passage) and the repeat of 'T.Bag Bounces Back,' Episode 1 in 1989 (having failed to notice it in the listings!!) So you could say I was a bit of a fan!!
I too remember being severely let down by 'Take off with T.Bag' when it was shown in 1992. I watched and recorded every episode, but my heart wasn't really in it, mainly due to the removal of the girl and the lessening of the quest plot. Fifteen years on, looking with more adult eyes, I still think the writers made a mistake in removing the girl and the treasure hunt -- the lack of a Polly or Penny removes one of the plot strands to the series so that the episodes are less packed than they were before, the birthday surprise quest lacks the prominence of the earlier treasure hunts (indeed, it's bearly mentioned in Episode 6) and so it pretty much becomes the T.Bag and T.Shirt show -- Tow-Ling is there as well, but he's fairly annoying and he's thankfully sent off on his own a lot!! However, there is plenty in there to keep you watching ... and laughing!! So polished is the T.Bag/T.Shirt relationship by this point that the series is filled with memorable moments -- Episode 5, with Doctor Strangbag, is marvellous, as is Episode 8 with Commander Bin-Bag. My absolute favourite is Episode 6 -- it's take on Ancient Rome is wonderfully barmy and hilarious.
'T.Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma', I have to admit, is my favourite of the four Georgina Hale series -- in spite of the lack of the curiosity shop opener (the change of theme tune more annoyed me!!) I just think all the elements from the earlier series and the new Hale set-up come together like never before, each episode is beautifully written, acted and directed, and I think Penny is the perfect nemesis for Tabatha Bag -- stroppy, argumentitive, sarcastic, bossy, and she has a complete hate-hate relationship with T.Bag -- compared to Natalie Wood in the previous series, she also has some acting talent!! I actually like the flying cup and saucer as it fits in with the show's history of tea jokes and puns.
All the best,
RB
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Post by blackiecats on May 21, 2007 23:37:53 GMT
the birthday surprise quest lacks the prominence of the earlier treasure hunts (indeed, it's bearly mentioned in Episode 6) and so it pretty much becomes the T.Bag and T.Shirt show I do remember one of the episodes not having a golden envelope at the end, would episode 6 be that episode? (the change of theme tune more annoyed me!!) I didn't mind it and thought it was catchy! lol I think Penny is the perfect nemesis for Tabatha Bag -- stroppy, argumentitive, sarcastic, bossy, and she has a complete hate-hate relationship with T.Bag -- compared to Natalie Wood in the previous series, she also has some acting talent!! 100% agree with you there! I think Natalie Wood's acting in episode 1 was awful! She sounded nothing like a girl from ancient Greece who was working at the temple. Yet her acting in the episode where they are playing a part in a film wasn't too bad, so why couldn't she have put more effort into ep 1? Perhaps the director wanted her to play the role as a normal 90's girl of that age? It's a shame they didn't get Kellie Bright back for Rings of Olympus instead. and I agree that Evelyn Sweeney was a much better actress and she was good in Sunstones of Montezuma. I still like Debbie best though and wish we had, had a series where she faced Tabatha Bag I actually like the flying cup and saucer as it fits in with the show's history of tea jokes and puns. I'd have liked it a bit more if it had an origin. Like T-Bag magiced it up or something to save on using her magic so much. Well something like that anyway.... It just appeared from nowhere and that's probably what bothered me! lol
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Post by raggedbone on May 22, 2007 13:21:10 GMT
I do remember one of the episodes not having a golden envelope at the end, would episode 6 be that episode? That's the one -- it's mentioned a couple of the times at the beginning of the episode, and then T.Bag and T.Shirt rush off at the end, having rescued Tow-Ling from slavery, without having found a golden envelope!! How they got to Vienna in the next episode remains a mystery!! I didn't mind the theme tunes themself -- although I remember hearing the 'Sunstones' theme later on on one of those Panpipe Moods albums!! -- I just thought the original theme was such a big part of the series identity, that it felt a little wrong not to have it there anymore. Yes, I too wish Kellie Bright had stayed on, but at that point she was probably too busy with 'The Upper Hand'. The weird thing is, Episode 1 was one of the last ones shot in the series!! Don't get me wrong, I think Natalie Wood improves as the series goes on; but she always seems so self-conscious, shuffling and muttering her way through most of the series. Either that or she just plain can't act. I think they were trying to aim for the kind of characterisation (stroppy '90s kid) they got with Penny, to reflect similar changes with T.Shirt and the new T.Bag; but she's not really up to it. I have a very big soft spot for Jennie Stallwood, although my favourite of the girls has to be Kellie Bright -- she's just so perfect for the role and such a good actress. In earlier series, T.Rooms had been made wherever T.Bag could house them -- I suppose with the Curiosity Shop gone, there was no need for a formal introduction (although it's referred to as 'the new T.Room' in Episode 3 of 'Sunstones'.) In fact, in most of Series 8, it is still called the T.Room. I think it bothered me more in 'Take off with T.Bag', where it was just a spaceship, rather than the traditional T.Room layout -- like the birthday quest plot itself, I think T.Bag thrived on the familiar and there were just too many changes in the final series. All the best, RB ;-)
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