ToyTalkBlog

Hit parade

Children’s toys and children’s TV shows enjoy a symbiotic relationship , and if the world of children’s toys is to make any sense, you have to watch the TV shows that give birth to them.

I therefore have two excuses for watching kids’ TV. It’s research and my boys are watching anyway, so I like to monitor what they’re being exposed to. The current favourite show in our house is Ben 10. We actually started off by watching the movie, Race Against Time, which piqued my interest by having the Six Million Dollar Man in it. Lee Majors was a major TV star back when six million dollars was a lot of money and I was interested to see how he’d aged. Annoyingly well was the answer, although in his new guise of ‘Grandpa’ he was probably more interested in bionic hip joints than running at 60 miles per hour.

Anyway, the film lit the blue touch paper and the cartoon show is now being demanded on a more or less hourly basis. Having watched many episodes I have concluded that it is actually a pretty good show and the aliens that drive the related toy line are imaginative and fun.

What really stands out, however, is that theme tune. A few days into the current love affair with Ben 10, I found myself humming the tune and then quietly singing the first few words. It’s catchy and it got me thinking about the best theme tunes on kids’ TV, which is as good a subject as any for a blog entry.

My Top Five runs like this:

1. Ben 10 – “It started when an alien device did what it did…” . Okay, it sounds like the music came first and the words had to be somehow squeezed in, but it works and it’s a real foot-tapper.

2. The Backyardigans – “We’re your backyard friends, the Backyardigans…”. Sadly, this is falling out of favour now as my boys grow up, but the adventures of Pablo, Tyrone and the rest will always be fondly remembered, and the West End musical-style song and dance routines are simply brilliant.

3. What’s New Scooby-Doo? It isn’t the lyrics that make this one memorable, it’s the pounding guitar riff that makes you want to finally go out and buy that electric guitar.

4. SpongeBob SquarePants – “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” I was sold after that, but the theme goes on to drum “SpongeBob SquarePants!” into your head repeatedly until you can’t help but sing along.

5. Tom and Jerry – Let’s not forget the classics. Few themes can generate such an air of joyous expectation as the instantly recognisable, orchestral opening to these venerable cartoons.

Disagree with my choices? Leave a comment below… (but you’re wrong).

Surprise, surprise?

Surprising your children on their birthday or at Christmas isn’t easy when you run a toy website. With a mountain of press releases, brochures and catalogues in the office it’s inevitable that most of them will fall into small hands sooner or later, which makes my five-year-old dauntingly well prepped when it comes to present lists.

When I was young, you had to wait for the Autumn/Winter catalogues to arrive for a real bask in toy-browsing heaven (the Spring/Summer catalogues, with their ridiculously curtailed toy sections, weren’t worth looking at). ITV would carry some toy adverts as Christmas approached, and they were certainly illuminating, but when you have access to information (including gorgeous full-colour images) on almost every major toy launch the UK will witness in the coming year, the job of surprising a child becomes extremely difficult.

Last night my eldest son was to be found on the sofa, casually flicking through the Bandai Power Rangers brochure, with the air of a satisfied cat perusing a selection of mice. His younger brother, not yet three but catching on fast, scooted over for a quick look as well. His judgment on the brochure was a distinctly awestruck ‘Wow’.

I only hope I can come up with something for the little guy’s birthday in a few weeks that will get a similar wide-eyed response.