"Kitten Kong" is an episode of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
television series ''
The Goodies
The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940–12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their eponymous television comed ...
'', written by The Goodies, with songs and music by
Bill Oddie
William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.
A birder since his childhood in Quinton, ...
.
Plot
Bill is cooking when Graeme and Tim return from
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
championships. Graeme and Tim are hungry, and want their dinner — however, there is only soggy lettuce and potato peel to eat because Bill has fed their normal food (and wine) to "Bunter", a
guinea pig
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...
, with dessert to follow.
When Bill explains to Tim and Graeme that he is being paid £30 to look after the guinea pig, the thought of being able to get some extra money leads to the Goodies setting up the office as the "Goodies Animal Clinic" for "loony animals". Graeme sends Tim and Bill out to collect them from their owners. The Goodies' animal "patients" include a gigantic-sized snake, a
gold fish
The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild hav ...
, a
hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
(which escapes from the basket ''en route'' to the office), a large dog, a
bushbaby
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...
, a
tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
, a
mongoose
A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...
, a
vampire bat
Vampire bats, species of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats found in Central and South America. Their food source is blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the com ...
, two singing dogs, and a tiny fluffy white kitten called "Twinkle".
Graeme's specially formulated growth mixture, which he feeds to the kitten, causes Twinkle to grow to super-size proportions. Graeme keeps Twinkle inside to stop him from wandering, but Bill decides to let Twinkle out for the night. Graeme, speaking with desperation in his voice, says urgently: "Come on. We've got to find him and catch him before he eats someone he shouldn't."
The following morning, Twinkle destroys
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
and the
Post Office Tower
The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...
, as well as squashing
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...
with his huge paw, and frightening various people and dogs.
Graeme makes an antidote to counteract the disastrous effect of his growth mixture and reduce Twinkle back to the normal size of a cat, but the Goodies have to disguise themselves as giant mice, and become airborne on their trandem, to be able to get close enough to Twinkle for the antidote to be successful — following which their "hot-air trandem balloon" is carried away by a
Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
airliner.
Twinkle returns to normal size, and all seems well. However, the Goodies then discover that there is yet another unexpected and unforeseen consequence resulting from Graeme's growth mixture — they now have a king-size mouse problem on their hands.
Award
A special episode, which was based on this episode, was called "Kitten Kong: Montreux '72 Edition", and was first broadcast in 1972.
It won the Silver Rose at the 1972
Rose d'Or Festival
The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lake ...
, held in
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. In the first episode of the next season, ''
The New Office
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'',
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor Order of the British Empire, OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies.
He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cam ...
is seen painting the trophy gold.
Nomination
"Kitten Kong" was the first ''Goodies'' episode to be nominated for a
BAFTA award for Best Light Entertainment Programme.
BAFTA 1972 Light Entertainment Production nomination
— official BAFTA website
Cultural references
*''King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
''
*'' Annie Get Your Gun'' (with the song " Anything You Can Do")
*''Tom and Jerry
''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
''
Notes
Although Concorde had its first flight in 1969, it did not go into service until 1976.
The original 25 minute episode is thought to no longer exist, making it the only ''Goodies'' episode which is officially lost; however, the expanded and more elaborate version for the 1972 Montreux festival is said to have only minor differences with its 1971 prototype. One difference is the ending; in the original the giant mice are represented by stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
of real mice inserted into the footage using chroma-key
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...
(CSO). In the Montreux version, giant model mouse heads are seen crashing through polystyrene
Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...
walls.
Graeme Garden makes a reference to the episode during "Earthanasia
"Earthanasia" is an episode of the British comedy television series ''The Goodies''. It was written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie.
This episode is also known as "''The End of the World Show''" and "''The End of the World''". ...
" while talking about animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
.
The image of the kitten climbing the Post Office Tower (shown above) became a signature image for ''The Goodies''. It was included in the title sequence of all their subsequent series made by the BBC.
DVD and VHS releases
The "Kitten Kong (Montreux special)" episode has been released on both DVD and VHS.
References
* ''The Complete Goodies'' — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
* ''The Goodies Rule OK'' — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
* ''From Fringe to Flying Circus — Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'' — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
* ''The Goodies Episode Summaries'' — Brett Allender
* ''The Goodies — Fact File'' — Matthew K. Sharp
* ''TV Heaven'' — Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, HarperCollins''Publishers'', London, 2005
External links
*
*
{{The Goodies episodes
1971 British television episodes
The Goodies (series 2) episodes
Lost television episodes