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A Newt to Remember

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A Newt to Remember

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This program is well-balanced. It remains mostly easy to follow and process. It is a good fit for the recommended age. The pacing is moderate. The story remains easy for a child to follow. The sound is clearly present and regularly draws attention. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

One thread carries the whole episode: Newt goes out for the evening with Fuse, and Slick spends the night trying to catch up with them. The beginning, middle and end are easy to follow, from getting ready in the car to the drive-in, the burger stop and the moonlit forest. Because everything is told without words, a child has to read intentions from faces and gestures alone, and several jumps between locations arrive without a bridging shot. Events mostly follow from each other, though the transformation under the full moon simply happens rather than being set up.

Fear, anger and jealousy dominate, and they arrive at full volume: Slick bares his teeth in rage, Newt screams in the car, and both characters recoil in horror at the film. Emotions flip from one extreme to the other without much in between, so there is little modelling of how a big feeling settles down again. Slick also points his phone at Newt to capture her at her most vulnerable, which is played for laughs rather than corrected. The ending does soften things, with the two sitting side by side and Slick staying with her instead of running, and that closing beat is the clearest moment of repair in the episode.

The characters drive their own night: Slick decides on his own to follow the other car, keeps picking himself up after each failed attempt, and tries a new route every time. What is missing is the thinking in between, since most attempts end in a crash or a pratfall rather than in an adjustment a child can see and understand. The central problem, Newt turning into something she cannot control, is never actually solved, only accepted. Initiative is genuinely high here, but the reasoning behind it stays off screen.

There is no spoken language in this episode. Characters communicate only through grunts, gasps, shrieks and a single startled 'huh', with no words, sentences or names. Meaning is carried entirely by facial expression, gesture and the musical score. For a child, this offers nothing to listen to, repeat or add to their vocabulary.

Very little of what happens here can be carried into a child's own day. The activities are adult ones, driving at night, pulling into a drive-in cinema and ordering at a roadside burger window, and they are staged as gags rather than as steps a child could follow. The settings themselves are recognisable, a suburban street, a car park, a forest, and the social situation underneath is real enough: one friend feels left out when two others go off together, and has to sit with that. The werewolf turn pulls the rest of the episode firmly out of everyday life.

More information

The whole cast is made up of the same rounded, colour-coded creatures, so there is little here that reflects the range of people, families or backgrounds a child sees in real life. Newt and Bubbles carry the story together through a night out at a drive-in and a long trip home, and neither is pushed into a passive or helpless slot. Driving, ordering food and dealing with trouble on the road move between the characters, and fear, anger and delight are shown by all of them. What limits the picture is that variety lives almost entirely in colour and temperament, not in who these characters are or how they live.

The episode plays out in a world that looks a lot like ours at night: a car ride through quiet streets, a stop at a drive-in cinema with popcorn and drinks, a burger window in the woods, and a long road home. The characters themselves are invented, colourful creatures who never speak, and they drive their own cars, so the everyday setting sits inside a made-up cast. There is no villain anywhere in the episode; the trouble comes from a scary film on the big screen, a spilled snack, a car that stops in the middle of nowhere, and two friends who get on each other's nerves. The world keeps its own logic from start to finish, which makes the story easy for this age to follow, though the growling monster on the drive-in screen and the dark forest that follows land better for the older end of the range.

There is more here for a watching adult than the bright character design suggests. The episode runs almost entirely without dialogue, so the comedy rests on timing and reaction, and the night drive builds into a real chain of events: a drive-in movie, a burger stop, a breakdown on a dark forest road. The old monster film playing on the drive-in screen, grain and all, is a clear nod to the classics, and the lighting and camera work are genuinely careful. The cost to your ears is the shrieking, because the Oddbods panic in loud, high yelps and they panic often.

Themes

Nighttime

Central

The entire episode takes place after dark, with repeated shots of the full moon over the neighbourhood.

Monsters

Newt sprouts pointed ears, fangs and claws under the full moon in the forest.

Jealousy

Slick is left standing in the road holding his car keys while Newt drives off with Fuse.

Vehicles

Central

Most of the episode is spent inside or chasing cars, from Fuse's blue car to Slick's green sports car.

Friendship

Slick stays beside the transformed Newt in the rocks instead of running away, and they walk off together.

Slapstick

Recurring

Slick repeatedly trips, tumbles and crashes while trying to catch up with the other car.

Food

Recurring

Popcorn, drinks and oversized burgers are handed through car windows at the drive-in and the roadside stand.

Adventure

The night takes the characters from the suburbs out to a drive-in and then deep into a moonlit forest.

Activities

Driving

Long stretches show cars moving along night roads, through the neighbourhood and out past the forest.

Chasing

Slick pursues the blue car on foot and later by car for much of the episode.

Eating

Burgers, popcorn and drinks are consumed at the drive-in and the roadside stand.

Photography

Slick raises his phone to snap pictures, first a selfie at the house and later of the transformed Newt.

Racing

Slick's green sports car tears down the highway alongside other vehicles.

Emotions

Fear

Both characters shrink back in their seats when the snarling wolf fills the drive-in screen.

Anger

Slick's face contorts with bared teeth as he storms through the forest.

Jealousy

Slick watches from the roadside as Newt sits in Fuse's car instead of his own.

Surprise

Slick's eyes bulge when he turns and sees Newt's transformed face in the moonlight.

Excitement

Slick grins broadly at his flashy green sports car before the evening goes wrong.

Disappointment

Newt sits slumped and sullen in the rocks once she realises what has happened to her.

Tiredness

Both characters yawn in the car on the drive home near the end.

Behaviour

Chasing

Slick sprints after the departing car again and again along the street and later on the highway.

Perseverance

After every crash and fall Slick gets back up and sets off after the car once more.

Eating

Fuse and Newt work through popcorn, drinks and burgers inside the car.

Taking initiative

Slick decides on his own to follow the pair to the drive-in rather than go home.

Expressing feelings

Faces do all the talking, from Slick's bared-teeth fury to Newt's wide-eyed panic in the passenger seat.

Teasing

Slick holds up his phone to photograph the transformed Newt while she is clearly distressed.

Reconciliation

Slick lowers the phone and stands beside Newt in the rocks, and the two head off side by side.

Running away

Slick bolts through the trees in a panic after the transformation.

Social lessons

Peer rivalry

Slick and Fuse both turn up for the same evening with Newt, and only one of them drives off with her.

Accepting differences

Slick stays with Newt after her transformation rather than leaving her alone in the forest.

Friendship

The final forest scene has Slick and Newt standing shoulder to shoulder before walking off together.

Conflict

Slick's furious pursuit of the other car sets the two suitors against each other all evening.

Scary scenes

A black-and-white horror film shows a snarling wolf with bared fangs, and Newt later transforms into a fanged, clawed creature.

Loud sounds

Screams, screeching tyres and crashes punctuate the chase sequences.

Chase scene

Slick pursues the departing car on foot and by car across several sequences.

Mild violence

Slick repeatedly slams into obstacles, tumbles over and is thrown from his vehicle for laughs.

Danger

Slick's green sports car spins out and ends up wrecked and smoking in the forest.

Risky action modelling

Cars are driven at high speed on night roads and swerve between other vehicles.

Unhealthy food focus

Popcorn, fizzy drinks and oversized burgers make up the entire food content of the episode.

Teasing

Slick photographs Newt with his phone at the moment she is most upset about her transformation.

Mild conflict

Slick and Newt argue face to face in the rocks, both shouting and gesturing.

Fuse smartens up in his car and drives to collect Newt for an evening out, leaving Slick standing in the road with his keys. Slick chases them through the neighbourhood, to a drive-in cinema showing a black-and-white wolf film, and on to a roadside burger stand. Out in the forest under the full moon, Newt grows fangs, pointed ears and claws, and Slick, after fleeing and then photographing her, comes back and stays. The night ends with the characters heading home in the car, yawning.

Season 1

21 episodes

Oddbods

Oddbods

It's My Party

recommended age

Jeff, the purple Oddbod, counts the days down to his party on a calendar hanging by the door. He prepares everything himself, a cupcake with one candle from the fridge, a tray of sandwiches cut into squares, a table laid with plates and cups, and he waits with a wrapped gift while his housemates throw a loud party of their own around him. Each time he tries to join in he is bumped aside, left out of a photo or simply not seen, and at one point he sits down to a tea party with a suit of armour and a doll for guests. The episode ends with the disco at full tilt and Jeff flattened on the floor, his own party never happening, followed by a short gag after the closing logo.

Oddbods

Oddbods

A Good Heart

recommended age

After finding Zee collapsed in the street from chasing an ice cream truck, Newt straps a heart monitor on his wrist and puts him through a home fitness routine of vegetable smoothies, a punching bag, dumbbells and an exercise bike. Zee resists, and one night he climbs out of his bedroom window to follow the ice cream truck down the road. Newt catches up and both end up racing after the vehicle, which hits a ramp and overturns. The episode closes with the two of them standing amid ice cream scattered across the road.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Marooned

recommended age

Pogo and Zee take a hot air balloon ride that goes wrong when the balloon is punctured over the sea, and they crash onto a small, empty tropical island. They spend what looks like a long stretch there, working out how to get coconuts down and open, building a bamboo shelter, fishing, and marking the passing days on a rock wall. A pufferfish they encounter puffs up large enough to lift their basket, and they finally float away from the island. From the air they spot the other Oddbods lounging on a nearby beach.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Parental Instinct

recommended age

Fuse is chopping firewood outside his cabin when he knocks a nest out of a tree and an egg drops to the ground. The chick that hatches decides Fuse is its parent and follows him everywhere, taking over his couch, his food and his bed. After a long stretch of feeding, cleaning and sleepless nights, Fuse rescues it from a larger bird and helps it learn to fly. The bird joins a flock on a wire, and in a closing gag Fuse's living room fills up with birds.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Sheriff of Oddsville

recommended age

Jeff finds a sheriff helmet and star badge and appoints himself the law of Oddsville. He patrols the town on a small scooter and plants prohibition signs on everything his neighbours enjoy: the ice cream van, Slick's boombox, Newt's painting, watering the garden and Zee's monster truck, until red circles line every street and a metal cage is towed in for offenders. After dark he sneaks into a shed and does all the banned things himself, blowing bubbles, wearing a sombrero, skateboarding and setting off fireworks. The others catch him in the act, and the episode ends with Jeff behind the bars of his own cage while the neighbourhood goes back to normal.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Alien Abduction

recommended age

Oddbods

Oddbods

Slick Moves

recommended age

Slick spends his days dancing to a boombox in the neighbourhood, wearing headphones and sunglasses wherever he goes. His music keeps landing on top of whatever Jeff is trying to do, from reading in the library to raking the lawn, and the two end up chasing each other through the street. When Slick performs alone on a talent stage, the audience boos and throws fruit at him. Jeff steps on stage, the two dance as a pair, and the crowd cheers.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Perfect Night's Squeak

recommended age

Fuse, the red Oddbod, is kept awake in his own house by a mouse squeaking behind the skirting board. He tries a baited trap, chases it through the kitchen with a pot, swings a wrecking ball through his living room and builds a wheeled launcher, and every attempt fails while the damage grows. In a final attempt he wires explosive charges to the outside of his house and detonates them from the street, destroying the building while the mouse walks away unharmed. The episode ends at night with Fuse asleep in bed and the mouse curled up against him.

Oddbods

Oddbods

A Newt to Remember

recommended age

Fuse smartens up in his car and drives to collect Newt for an evening out, leaving Slick standing in the road with his keys. Slick chases them through the neighbourhood, to a drive-in cinema showing a black-and-white wolf film, and on to a roadside burger stand. Out in the forest under the full moon, Newt grows fangs, pointed ears and claws, and Slick, after fleeing and then photographing her, comes back and stays. The night ends with the characters heading home in the car, yawning.

Oddbods

Oddbods

One Two Many

recommended age

Bubbles builds a machine in her attic workshop that copies whatever it points at, testing it first on a green apple and then on a small figure. Pogo climbs in through her window to see what she is doing and ends up duplicated, and soon a crowd of identical Pogos spreads across the neighbourhood playing tricks on Fuse, Zee and Jeff. Bubbles and the original Pogo spend the night tracking the copies down and firing the machine in reverse to remove them. The episode ends back at the workshop window with the neighbourhood quiet again.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Pogo the Poltergeist

recommended age

Pogo sees an advert for a ghost gadget on television, orders it by phone and starts haunting the neighbourhood in disguise. Newt is his main target: her teddy bear and household objects move on their own until she flees her house. Bubbles builds goggles and a detector, and the two search the pink house together, wrecking the kitchen and leaving Newt needing a first aid kit. The episode ends at night with Newt and Pogo standing on the street as a real ghost floats up beside them.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Robobuddy

recommended age

Fuse is worn out from hauling his loaded trike around the neighbourhood, so when he sees a television advert for a Robobuddy he phones in an order. The robot arrives in a box, takes over his work, plays badminton with him and provides the music at a garden party, but its eyes keep flashing red and it starts wrecking gardens and turning on the other Oddbods. It ends up chasing everyone through a smoke-filled street, firing beams from its eyes. Fuse flies a kite in a thunderstorm so the lightning strikes the machine, Zee and Newt finish it off, and the group gathers around him afterwards.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Pain in the Arts

recommended age

In an art class, Jeff knocks over a pot of blue paint and the splattered canvas is hailed as a masterpiece, launching him into billboards, trophies and a television interview. Zee, watching from the sidelines, buys fresh paints and a beret and works late to produce a carefully painted apple, but at the outdoor exhibition nobody stops to look and Pogo eats it. Furious, Zee drives his car straight through the display, flattening every easel and canvas into a smoking heap. The crowd declares the wreckage brilliant, and the other Oddbods immediately grab blank canvases to copy the new style.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Zeellionär

recommended age

Zee is sitting in his junk filled yard when black oil suddenly bursts out of the ground and makes him instantly rich. He buys out a hot dog truck, a mansion, a sports car and a couch that flies, wears a crown and gold sunglasses, and throws a party while Pogo, Slick and the other Oddbods try to get close to the money. The oil well blows up in a huge black cloud and everything he bought is hauled away again. Zee ends up back on his old brown couch with a few loose banknotes around him and his friends gathered beside him.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Bad Medicine

recommended age

Zee sees Newt cooking and fakes a collapse in the road outside her house so she will take him in and look after him. Newt carries him to her bed and waits on him with soup, sweets and cake, but Zee keeps ringing for more, orders pizza and turns her bedroom into a party. Newt works out what he is up to and sets up a mock examination room with a spotlight, an X-ray and a tray of instruments. Zee panics, bolts out into the night and runs home, and a closing gag leaves him bandaged after another accident.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Fuse Ruse

recommended age

Fuse notices his friends slipping away without him and sets out to find out why. He trails them through an art gallery, a field, an outdoor cinema and a diner, at one point putting on glasses and a moustache so they will not recognise him, growing angrier each time they give him the slip. His search leads him to a house at night, where the group is revealed to have been preparing a party for him all along. He is handed a framed photograph of everyone together and the episode ends with the whole group celebrating.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Narco Klepto

recommended age

Belongings start vanishing from homes across the Oddbods neighbourhood, and Bubbles decides to find out who is responsible. She installs cameras, studies the recordings, pins up photographs of every neighbour and crosses them off one by one until only Zee is left. Following him at night, she discovers he is taking everything while fast asleep, and she trails him into a large building to get proof. The security system catches Bubbles instead, and the episode closes on Zee dozing on his sofa with the missing remote in his hand.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Bubble Trouble

recommended age

Pogo sneaks into Bubbles' attic laboratory and starts fiddling with her age-changing machine, and a stray beam turns Bubbles into a baby. She crawls off, gets behind the wheel of a buggy and tears through the neighbourhood while Pogo chases her, eventually catching her and keeping her in a pet carrier with a lollipop. Pogo then rewinds the lab footage and works through the machine's manual until he can reverse the setting and restore her. Once Bubbles is back to normal, she turns the same ray on Pogo, leaving him first old and then a baby.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Double Date Trouble

recommended age

Fuse invites both Newt and Bubbles to dinner on the same evening and seats them at separate tables in the same restaurant. He spends the night sprinting between the two, hiding behind doors and improvising distractions, while an escaped lobster adds chaos in the kitchen. The two eventually find each other and corner him outside. The episode closes on Fuse screaming as they advance on him, with no apology or resolution shown.

Oddbods

Oddbods

My Hero

recommended age

Slick wants Newt to see him as her hero, so he quietly creates the emergencies he then solves: he lets her pet mouse out of its dome, unscrews a wheel from her scooter and carries her cat up a tree. Each time he appears at the right moment and is thanked for saving the day. A photograph that would reveal what he has been doing turns up, and he tears it into pieces before Newt can look at it properly. The episode ends with the two of them standing outside her house together, followed by a daydream in which a caped Slick flies to her rescue.

Oddbods

Oddbods

Florence Newtingale

recommended age

Newt calls Fuse over to her pink house to deal with a cockroach in her kitchen sink, and the visit ends with Fuse gulping chilli sauce and storming home. After Newt turns up with apology flowers, Fuse has an accident at his own door and she wraps him in bandages. She then nurses him around the clock, feeding him, plumping his pillows and vacuuming up after him, while he quietly enjoys every minute and never admits he has recovered. Newt finally drops asleep from exhaustion, and Fuse rolls off to be looked after somewhere else.

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