Patchwork Pals
Episode 15: "Patchwork Frog" (4 minutes)
Germany: Studio Filmbilder
CBeebies, Monday 30 October, 13:20
This is proof that something can be incredibly simple but still entertaining.
Patchwork Pals is set on a patchwork quilt, with each square containing a different animal. In each episode, we visit a different square, and see a little vignette about that particular animal. As such, the visuals are completely flat, the backgrounds are plain fields of colour, and the characters are made of very simple shapes. However, it is made appealing by the clever use of texture (everything is made of various types of fabric textures, and even the outlines of the characters look like embroidered thread), nice pantomining, and the character designs being absolutely adorable.
In this episode, we meet the frog, who of course lives on a lily pad. He loves to sing, but isn't so good at it, and the noise is starting to irritate the animals in the neighbouring squares. Three neighbours visit: first the bee, then the beaver, then the bear: each tries to push the frog so that he floats away, but each time, the frog comes back, cheerfully singing, the same as ever. The third time the frog returns, he is carrying a top hat and cane à la Warner Brothers' Michigan J Frog, and dances straight off the edge of the lily pad and into the pond. As ever, however, he continues to sing...only to find that he actually has a good singing voice when he is underwater! The neighbours approve and applaud the frog's "concert".
What made it hilarious for me was how relentlessly cheerful the frog was. He seriously didn't give one what the neighbours though; he just kept singing his little song. He was, without a doubt, what the young'uns call a troll.
Bullying?
Obviously there was nothing explicitly educational here. However, I did worry about the social messages, and wondered whether there was an implication that bullying was ok. The neighbours don't try to resolve the issue with words; they don't ask the frog to stop singing; they just shove him away, and aren't punished in any way for this behaviour. True the frog is not injured or upset at all, but I don't think it's good to teach children that this is how they should deal with their problems.
This little niggle aside, however, I do think that the programme was charming and entertaining, and just shows that you can still make good programming even with a budget of two and sixpence.
Available to watch online until 28 November 2017.
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