SFXB Forum

I also downloaded defenders of the Earth.It has a great theme tune but the rest of it is cras compared to Centurions.

@FZeroOne QUOTEVanessa, this is a very long shot, but the show you're thinking of wasn't "Chorlton and the Wheelies"...?Hiya, thanks for the suggestion, but no, it wasn't that. I do remember Chorlton and the Wheelies very well, and I used to like it too. But this show was (as far as I am aware) a one-off and not a series. It was also aired few years after C&tW, although I can't say if that was it's first run or a re-run. I do remember that there was a big car race series during the show, and the bad guys sabotaged the good guys car. And then during one race, the "sabotaged part" kept getting more and more loose, making you wonder if the car would crash. I wish I could remember the characters more though I thought Battle of the Planets was just great! Never saw Centurions, but I though Defenders of the Earth was pants. Maybe I was too old by the time that came out?

Defenders' only selling-point was the theme tune.

(Vanessa @ Mar. 14 2012,00:56)QUOTEThinking back, I do have a very vague recollection of a childrens show I saw in the 80's and I've never been able to find anything at all about it since. It was a puppet show, (although not Sci-Fi, sorry) and there were various characters played by animals, a bit like Wind in the Willows. There was a racing car, and a big race during the show. I think the main characters may have lived on the top of a hill or something... Can't for the life of me remember much more. Any ideas anyone? It can't be just me that remembers this... I think it's likely to be the Norwegian stop-motion animation film Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, which I recall seeing on UK TV sometime in the mid-'80s. You can watch the start of it here.[Happosai]

Thank you Happosai!That's it! that's it! THAT'S IT!!!At last, I knew I hadn't imagined it. And I've spent so long trying to find out what that show was. How on earth did you figure it out from my very vague description? No matter, I'm just so glad it does exist, as everyone I've ever described it to just looked at me blankly.I love that (very rare) feeling you get when something you knew existed is actually proved right.I'm definitely going to get myself a copy of that.Goodness, it's been 30 years or more since I've seen that show. What a nostalgia rush.

I've always had a love of animation, especially more unusual forms, such as stop-motion (I particularly love Eastern European animators such as Jan Svankmajer, Piotr Kamler, Jiri Trnka, Yuri Norstein, Jiri Barta...), and so know quite a lot of more obscure animation from the whole of the 20th century.The first thing that came to mind when you mentioned a puppet-based animation with a car race was the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, and watching that clip on YT it appeared to match up to the rest of your description. I don't think I've seen it since the '80s either, but will give it a watch sometime soon.Glad to have been able to help![Happosai]