"Jimbo and the Jet-Set" (1986) TV series

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Creator:

Peter Maddocks

Release Date:

10 May 1986 (UK)

Genre:

Animation | Family

Cast

Peter Hawkins	...	(voice)
Susan Sheridan	...	(voice)

Runtime:

UK:5 min (25 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Company:

Maddocks Cartoon Productions

Maddocks with his Jet Set: A review of Jimbo and The Jet Set

Peter Maddocks is one of those people who are often associated for his work in television animation from a particular era. So for anyone growing up with Penny Crayon, The Family Ness, and Jimbo and the Jet Set during the 1980s will understand his impact in British television animation. So, from what I have seen from Jimbo and The Jet Set, this is probably one of Maddocks' weakest series for the small screen.

With the formulaic approach to the narrative, with the exception of the origins-of-the-main-character episode, having Jimbo doing a command from the Chief only varies the storyline. From going into space, or to the jungles of Africa, the spectrum of such adventures can sometimes be tiresome, especially when watching over a dozen episodes on a DVD. The animation is common for most TV animation, focusing mainly on the lip sync of the character, while the character remains static, or does a particular action, like flying. It is unusual to note the traditional pencil animation on such aspects as the waves for the ocean, while basic cell animation is used for most of the character animation.

The vocal talents here are the main highlight of the series, with Peter Hawkins providing his trademark vocal range on numerous characters, while Susan Sheridan gets the job of doing Jimbo, and any other women characters appear occasionally throughout the series. I find this tragic, or sexist depending on your observation of the amount of female characters present, typecasting for Sheridan. But this didn't stop her from becoming renowned for such voice work in Noddy, and the Animal Shelf.

I can probably recommend this series to fans of Hawkins' and Sheridan's voice work, despite the fact that their vocal talents being used in more successful and more popular series, such as Captain Pugwash and Disney's The Black Cauldron. Kids may enjoyed the antics once in a while, but I won't be surprised if kids will be hooked with such simple story lines, with the voice acting masking such basic animation. I suppose if all things Peter Maddocks is your cup of tea, you might as well give it a shot, because I think you will find Maddocks' humour present from the comic strip presented here, but you may find it not that impressive. So for the series with Maddocks with his Jet Set, you may find it a bumpy ride with episodes becoming a tad formulaic.