John Ryan, the creator of the lovably useless Captain Pugwash, has died. Those of us who read The Eagle in our formative years will also remember him for the pompous Harris Tweed, Special Agent. The real-time animation technique he developed (or rather improvised) for Pugwash was delightfully creaky and enhanced the old-fashioned, good-natured charm of the stories. Like Oliver Postgate, who also died recently, he was one of a generation of gifted artists working in a golden age of children's TV animation and spreading a lot of innocent happiness. (By the way, the long-lived myth that Pugwash characters included one Master Bates and Seaman Stains has no foundation, and caused Ryan considerable distress.)
And Roger the Cabin Boy was actually Jim. In fact, Ryan successfully sued various papers for printing that urban legend, I believe.
ReplyDeleteBut there is a Master Bates. I bought the DVD for the kids and found him present and correct, to my surprise. There appears to be an urban myth wrapped up inside an urban legend here.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReally Gaw?! Good lord...
ReplyDeleteNah, it's Master Mate.
ReplyDeleteThere really is a Willy though.
Sorry, must have misheard. Probably down to the screaming and shouting that provoked me to stick the dvd on.
ReplyDeleteWill check again though, just in case.
You can watch them on Youtube. Master Mate is so called because he is the mate.
ReplyDeletePugwash does pronounce his name a little 'mb'-ishly, mind (but no 's' at the end)
The origins of this particular myth, and Ryan's attempts to stop it in its tracks, are discussed in more detail here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/pugwash.asp
Also, the word 'pugwash' has a number of spectacularly disgusting slang meanings, but whether these pre- or post-date the show I have no idea. (If you really want to know, trying looking it up at urbandictionary.com.)