Muzzy in Gondoland (often shortened to simply Muzzy) is an animated film first created by the BBC in 1986 as a way of teaching English as a second language. The English version of Muzzy features the voices of Willie Rushton, Miriam Margolyes, Susan Sheridan, Derek Griffiths, Jack May and Benjamin Whitrow. DMP Organization later acquired the rights to Muzzy and translated into other languages (see below). It is unknown, however, who plays whom in the various dubbed versions of the film.
A sequel, Muzzy Comes Back was released in 1989.
Digital Education has developed a new version of the course, which was released in 2013.
Plot
The first part of the film simply introduces the titular furry greenish-blue extraterrestrial Muzzy (Jack May), King Nigel (Willie Rushton) and Queen Erza (Miriam Margolyes) of Gondoland, their daughter Princess Sylvia (Susan Sheridan), Bob the gardener (Derek Griffiths) and evil scientist Corvax (Derek Griffiths), along with their personalities. It is not until later that the actual story gets going. When it does, Bob is sweeping the garden, when Corvax calls him over to count how many trees and bushes there are. By the time Bob has counted the number of flowers, the beautiful Princess Sylvia has beckoned Bob over, and the two decide to elope as they are in love. Unfortunately, Corvax, who also loves Sylvia, sees what is happening, and he immediately rushes to inform the King and Queen. Furious, the King decides they should track the two down by helicopter and catch them. This they do, they easily captured them, and when they catch Bob and Sylvia, Sylvia is taken back to the palace, while Bob is taken away to jail by the King's soldiers. At cell number 19, Bob meets Muzzy who informs him that he has been jailed for eating parking meters in the town square. (He eats metallic and other indigestible objects, with his favorite food being clocks.)
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Sylvia is getting ready to go to bed when Corvax tries flirting with her and wins her affection, but she is clearly unimpressed. Crushed and sad, Corvax decides to go to the computer lab to duplicate the princess on his computer after Sylvia goes to bed. However, as it turns out, the duplicate hates him just as much as the original Sylvia. Frustrated, Corvax bangs the computer frantically, which causing it to explode (but still works as revealed later) and produce five more duplicates who roam around the palace. (The first six Sylvia clones wear different-colored dresses, such as yellow, blue, black and white, brown, red, and green)
Bob, realizing Muzzy's unusual diet, encourages Muzzy to eat the bars to the prison cell, and the two prisoners jump out the window and are free. They head back to the palace. When Bob and Muzzy return to the palace, they find the real Sylvia in the garden doing her exercises. She tells them to wait in the tool shed for her to come to them with food for Bob and clocks for Muzzy at 7:00Â p.m.
Back in the royal computer lab, Corvax has fixed the computer, or so he thinks, and proceeds to set the computer to vacuum up the six duplicates of Sylvia. Unfortunately, in the process, as opposed to getting rid of the clones, the computer simply makes more. Before long, hundreds of duplicates are swarming the palace.
Down on the ground floor, Nigel notices that the Sylvia duplicates are coming from upstairs, where he decides to go to investigate further. Seeing that Corvax can't stop the computer, Nigel decides to fix it himself. He pulls a plug attached to the computer, only to be sucked up inside it instead. The infinite duplication is stopped. Not knowing how to save Nigel, Corvax decides to escape by helicopter. Seeing him do so, Bob chases after him.
While all this is going on, Sylvia, Muzzy, and Erza decide to rescue Nigel, although Muzzy does most of the work, by rearranging the computer programs that Corvax installed and then releasing the King from inside the machine. Bob then returns with Corvax, and Bob is exonerated while the Corvax is taken away by the King's troops, forced to become a slave within the palace for the punishment. Bob and Sylvia are reunited, and Nigel eventually approves their marriage.
Afterwards, Muzzy manages to send all of the Sylvia duplicates back into the computer. Bob and Sylvia then get married, and Muzzy leaves Gondoland in his spaceship as the film closed.
Characters
- Muzzy - a furry greenish blue extraterrestrial - played by Jack May
- King Nigel - a lion - played by Willie Rushton
- Queen Erza - a rat - played by Miriam Margolyes
- Princess Sylvia - a rat - played by Susan Sheridan
- Bob - a mouse - played by Derek Griffiths
- Corvax - a green goblin - played by Derek Griffiths
- Norman - a human - played by Benjamin Whitrow
- The Cat - played by Susan Sheridan
- Mary - a human - played by Miriam Margolyes
- The Trader - a kangaroo - played by Derek Griffiths
- The Police Officer - a mouse - played by Derek Griffiths
- The Waiter - a human - played by Derek Griffiths
- The Newswoman - a human - played by Susan Sheridan
- Narrator 1 - played by Jack May
- Narrator 2 - played by Miriam Margolyes
- Cyclist 1 - a human from France played by Jack May
- Cyclist 2 - a human from Britain played by Derek Griffiths
- Cyclist 3 - a human from Germany played by Jack May
- Cyclist 4 - a human from Italy played by Derek Griffiths
- Cyclist 5 - a human from Greece played by Jack May
- Cyclist 6 - a human from Japan played by Derek Griffiths
- Patient 1 - a human played by Susan Sheridan
- Patient 2 - a human played by Willie Rushton
- Patient 3 - human played by Miriam Margolyes
- Patient 4 - human played by Jack May
- The Boy - human played by Susan Sheridan
Credits
- Directed by: Richard Taylor
- Executive Producer: Joe Hambrook
- Original English Scripts: Wendy Harris, Joe Hambrook, Richard Taylor
- Spanish version: Juan Antonio Ollero
- French version: Elizabeth Gruninger
- German version: Claudia Eilers
- Italian version: Arturo Tosi
- Animation: Richard Taylor Cartoon Films Ltd.
- Additional Animation: Jollification Pty.
- Music by: Peter Shade
- Produced by Richard Taylor Cartoon Films for BBC English by Television
As a language course
DMP Organization, worldwide distributor of the Muzzy courses has licensed the development of the New Muzzy to Digital Education SA. There are various distributors of the course around the world. The original system was available in the following languages: French, Spanish, Italian and German. The program was well known for its long-running television commercial, which received heavy airplay on Nickelodeon. As of 2012, it is now available in the following languages: English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish.
References
External links
- Muzzy in Gondoland on Internet Movie Database