3.4 /10 2 Votes
Country of origin United KingdomFrance No. of episodes 26 | 4.7/10 No. of seasons 1 Final episode date 27 September 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Tim MaileDouglas Tuber Starring Justin FletcherCiara JansonJon LeeKelly MetzgerSkandar Keynes Genres Animation, Animated series Cast Ciara Janson, Justin Fletcher, Skandar Keynes, Jon Lee, Kath Soucie |
Famous 5: On The Case is a British/French animated television series which is currently broadcast in the United Kingdom, on the Disney Channel, and in the United States, on Qubo. It is a British and French television co-production, loosely based on The Famous Five series of books created by Enid Blyton. At least some of the episodes have been developed for television by Douglas Tuber and Tim Maile, the writers of the former Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. On 21 June 2008 the show debuted in Italy and Australia on Disney Channel.
Contents

The central characters, children of the original Famous Five, embark on a new series of adventures. During these adventures the new Famous Five are able to make use of newer technology such as laptop computers and mobile phones which had not been invented in their parents' day.

Characters

Criticism

The show has attracted some criticism from some Blyton fans. Vivienne Endecott, a member of the Enid Blyton Society, has said she was "wary" of the show, telling The Daily Telegraph "I don't really see how you can take the Famous Five out of their era, which is 1940s Britain; anybody can write about four children and a dog, and my concern is that modern kids who watch this will think that the Famous Five is all about gadgets and multi-culturalism." Blyton's biographer, Barbara Stoney told the Daily Mail, "I am not in favour. How can you say it is Enid Blyton when it is nothing like her original stories and the characters are not the same? I don't think Enid Blyton would have appreciated too much the mucking around with her stuff."
Tony Summerfield, also of the Enid Blyton Society, stated "The only loose connection is that they are the Famous Five's offspring. Inevitably, anything that is brought up to date is likely to be different, shall we say." Steve Aranguren, the vice president of global original programming at the Disney Channel stated that "We wanted to bring the sense of adventure in the original books to a new generation of Famous Five fans, however, we needed to give the characters a contemporary voice." Jeff Norton, of Chorion Limited, the company that owns the television rights to Enid Blyton's works, told the Press Association "We tried to imagine where the original Famous Five would go in their lives." He also stated "we spoke to Enid Blyton's daughter and she thought her mother would love what we have done".
Episodes
There are 26 episodes and each episode is 22 minutes long.
Series 1: 2008
- The Case of the Fudgie Fry Pirates- 5 April 2008
- The Case of the Plant That Could Eat Your House- 12 April 2008
- The Case of the Impolite and Snarly Thing- 19 April 2008 (Note: Dylan wears brown shorts at the beginning of this episode)
- The Case of the Sticks and Their Tricks- 26 April 2008
- The Case of the Plot to Pull the Plug- 3 May 2008 (Note: this is the first episode to have snow in Falcongate)
- The Case of the Thief Who Drinks From the Toilet- 10 May 2008
- The Case of the Hot Air BA-BOOM!- 17 May 2008
- The Case of the Stinky Smell- 24 May 2008
- The Case of the Defective Detective- 31 May 2008
- The Case of Allies Really Bad Singing- 7 June 2008
- The Case of the Medieval Meathead- 14 June 2008
- The Case of the Messy Mucked up Masterpiece- 21 June 2008
- The Case of the Guy Who Makes You Act Like A Chicken- 28 June 2008
- The Case of the Felon with Frosty Fingers- 5 July 2008
- The Case of the Bogus Banknotes- 12 July 2008
- The Case of 8 Arms and No Fingerprints- 19 July 2008
- The Case of the Flowers That Make Your Body Go All Wobbly- 26 July 2008
- The Case of the Guy Who Looks Very Good For A 2000 Year Old- 2 August 2008 (Note: Max wears a blue sleeveless shirt in this episode)
- The Case of the Gobbling Goop- 9 August 2008
- The Case of the Surfer Dude Who is Truly Rude- 16 August 2008
- The Case of the Cactus, The Coot and The Cowboy Boot- 23 August 2008
- The Case of the Seal Who Gets All Up In Your Face- 30 August 2008
- The Case of the Snow, The Glow and The OH-NO!- 6 September 2008
- The Case of the Fish That Flew The Coop- 13 September 2008
- The Case of the Smashed and Tangled Muesem- 20 September 2008
- The Case of the Golden Medal and the Horse of Steel- 27 September 2008
Merchandise
Along with the series, Hodder Books has produced a "flipper" novel of some of the 130 episodes. Each book contains two of the stories and are now available in all good bookstores in the UK. It has not yet been confirmed on whether other merchandise will be released. The books are:
- Case Files 1 & 2: The Case of the Fudgie Fry Pirates & The Case of the Plant that Could Eat Your House
- Case Files 3 & 4: The Case of the Impolite Snarly Thing & The Case of the Sticks and Their Tricks
- Case Files 5 & 6: The Case of the Plot to Pull the Plug & The Case of the Thief Who Drinks from the Toilet
- Case Files 7 & 8: The Case of the Hot-Air Ba-Boom! & The Case of the Stinky Smell
- Case Files 9 & 10: The Case of the Defective Detective & The Case of Allie's Really Very Bad Singing
- Case Files 11 & 12: The Case of the Medieval Meathead & The Case of the Messy Mucked Up Masterpiece
- Case Files 13 & 14: The Case of the Guy Who Makes You Act Like A Chicken & The Case of the Felon with Frosty Fingers
- Case Files 15 & 16: The Case of the Bogus Banknotes & The Case of Eight Arms and No Fingerprints
- Case Files 17 & 18: The Case of the Flowers That Make Your Body All Wobbly & The Case of the Guy Who Looks Pretty Good for a 2000 Year-Old
- Case Files 19 & 20: The Case of the Gobbling Goop & The Case of the Surfer Dude Who's Truly Rude
- Case Files 21 & 22: The Case of the Cactus, the Coot, and the Cowboy Boot & The Case of the Seal Who Gets All Up In Your Face
- Case Files 23 & 24: The Case of the Snow, the Glow and the Oh, No! & The Case of the Fish That Flew the Coop
International sales
According to the online magazine License! Global the series has been sold to several international broadcasters. These are Super RTL (Germany), RTBF (Belgium), the Netherlands version of Jetix, and LNK (Lithuania); along with Disney France, Disney Africa, Disney Middle-East and Disney Asia and Australia.