Kelly Says....Uh-Oh! (Teletubbies)

Member Name: burtybookworm

Product:	Teletubbies
Date:	18/11/08 (230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its educatioinal for the most part, grabs toddlers attention, they love it!

Disadvantages: The baby-talk is not helpful for children in my opinion. Don't get me started on the sun!!

Thanks to DancingCopper, I have been given a challenge to write about the Teletubbies - not a challenge that I would take up lightly given that I'm not in the Teletubbies target audience, but one I will try for nonetheless, as I want to win and he has a challenge of his own (Button Moon!) and if I win, he has to post a picture of himself in a dress...too good an opportunity to pass up, plus I like a challenge, it has brightened my dull tuesday!

Introduction to the teletubbies
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Produced by Ragdoll Productions this children's show started on the BBC in 1997 and ran through to January 2001. The show features four bright coloured alien type creatures (Tinky Winky, Laalaa, Dipsy and Po) played by actors in costume. The show is aimed at children around the ages of one and four and proved to be extremely popular - and not just with children of these ages!

The four characters are joined in their strange world (where it seems the only "real" things are the baby in the sun and rabbits that look super-human and super large!) by Noo-Noo who appears to be their housekeeper and is shaped like a hoover and the baby in the sun -the face of a baby called Jessica but more about that in a moment!

The 25 minute show is interspersed with them playing, saying "Eh-oh" along with various other baby speech sayings and activities and playing short films through the silver screens that are located on their stomachs. (see? Weird!) Each film is suitable for the Country it is being shown in (It has been hugely popular around the world) and shows activities that children are doing at school which seem to be immensely educational.

Slightly Scary Sun-baby.....
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I almost laughed when DancingCopper suggested this to review, as like many people, I have heard of the teletubbies and I have indeed caught a couple of episodes back in the early days when I was at college. However, I have to say and ask my mum if you don't believe me - it really did scare the life out of me. I found those big lumbering costumes too much to bear quite literally, and most of all, the baby in the sun completely freaked me out.

One episode I have just watched (to refresh my memory!) begins with the baby rising into the sky getting bigger and bigger, the baby laughing more and more manically. I'm sure that baby Jessica is a gorgeous little creature and her laughter is the most beautiful thing ever when you are seeing her in the flesh. However, I found this creepy beyond anything, how do children stand it without crying themselves?!

Controversy
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I had read on Wikipedia that the language of the Teletubbies has been developed due to the way in which children of this age talk and the programme is also done to match the short attention spans of the children. I have also read that this has caused a lot of controversy amongst "Educationalists", and quite frankly I can see why. The narrator will say "hello" and then the teletubbies will repeat - however what the teletubbies actually say is "Eh-oh" which has become somewhat of a catchphrase. Despite the argument that this is suitable for these children as they cannot pronounce the correct word, I don't believe that repeating "Eh-oh" will help them improve on their speech, surely this will only encourage them to speak more baby talk if their idols are also speaking this way?

The character of Tinky-Winky also caused the Teletubbies to be centre stage with the World wide media, and especially with Religious Fundamentalists in America when it was first shown over there.
Tinky-winky is a male teletubbies, purple with a triangle antenna on his head. Back in 1999, an American Reverend decided to "Out" Tinky-winky and say that the teletubby was gay - he wears the colour of gay pride, he carries a handbag and in one episode he dances around in a tutu.

However, the outing of Tinky-winky surely isn't that bad! Reverend Jerry Falwell believed that showing the teletubby in this way was damaging to young children and promotes gay lifestyles. However, I don't think it would be damaging to children of this age at all, rather it might show that children should have some tolerance to people that might be different to themselves.

Also, this is not the first time that this kind of thing has been misinterpreted - I can think of Rainbow for one instance - firstly I know when I was a child watching this I was never quite sure on George sexuality or even gender!
Secondly, I remember several emails coming round years and years later which were scripts from Rainbow where there was an unbelievable amount of sexual connotation! I don't ever remember picking up on that as a child so I doubt very much that children today would pick up on it in Tinky-Winky either!

Last thoughts
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As a whole, I clearly don't like this programme, yes, its bright and the characters are lovely and bright for children, and I am sure its educational for the most part, but the language for children is not very encouraging. It is the most surreal programme for children I have ever seen in my life, I almost thought I had eaten/taken something funny looking at them all in bright colours with giant rabbits and as baby stuck inside a hot sun!

I realise that from a childs point of view this characters are fun, and because a lot of what they say is repeated, it holds the childs interest and is picked up properly.
However, from my adult perspective I just find this far too strange to comprehend, and it does quite frankly frighten the crap out of me! I don't have children however, but I can imagine that most children of that age really do love the teletubbies. I think If I had children, I would let them watch this but perhaps I'd be wary with all the baby language that is encouraged, I cant see how that helps with a babies progress at all, although I could be wrong!

With regards to the comments about gay characters being portrayed in childtens shows all I have to say is - get a life!! There is always one person that reads too much in to childrens programmes. They should put things in to perspective, how much is a 3 year old going to realise that the big purple Teletubby is actually gay (supposedly, all claims denied!) anyway? It is truly ridiculous and sad when this kind of things happens and removes any magic left for shows like this.

Summary: A joy for children apparently.....