Lavender Castle
| Lavender Castle | |
|---|---|
 Titlescreen | |
| Genre |
Adventure Children's Fantasy Science fiction |
| Format | Stop motion/CGI serial |
| Created by |
Gerry Anderson Rodney Matthews |
| Written by |
Gerry Anderson Chris Bowden Pauline Fisk Craig Hemmings Rodney Matthews Chris Trengove |
| Directed by | Chris Taylor |
| Voices of |
Kate Harbour Jimmy Hibbert David Holt Rob Rackstraw |
| Composer(s) | Crispin Merrell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes |
26 (13 in alternative 22-minute format) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Brian Cosgrove Craig Hemmings |
| Producer(s) | Gerry Anderson |
| Camera setup | Single |
| Running time | 10 mins approx. per episode |
| Production company(s) |
Cosgrove Hall Films Gerry Anderson Productions Carrington Productions International |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original run | 7 January 1999 – 9 March 2000 |
Lavender Castle is a British stop motion/CGI television series created by Rodney Matthews and produced by Gerry Anderson. It was produced in 1997 through a collaboration between Carrington Productions International, Gerry Anderson Productions and Cosgrove Hall Films, and was first broadcast on CITV between 1999 and 2000.
The series follows the story of Captain Thrice and his crew, on a quest to find the peaceful city of Lavender Castle before the evil Dr Agon.
Format
Lavender Castle is a place of mystery and legend, fabled throughout the universe, a floating city of light, a place of peace, harmony and all the things that have ever been dreamt of. It is the centre of the universe and the greatest source of power - should it be destroyed, the universe would be plunged into darkness forever. Evil scientist Dr Agon plans to do just that. A lonely meglomaniac with technology-assisted powers of transmutation, he yearns for darkness and has pledged to destroy Lavender Castle from his fortress spaceship, the Dark Station, the most awesome destructive power in the universe, crewed by unseen slaves working deep in the bowels.
In order to prevent this, Captain Thrice has set out on a quest to find the elusive Lavender Castle before Dr Agon. A previous encounter with Lavender Castle gave life to Thrice's walking stick and left the Captain with a special knowledge of its power and abilities. Travelling in his cottage spaceship, the Paradox, Thrice assembles a crew of misfits to join him in his quest, combatting evil wherever they find it as they travel the universe searching for clues that will lead them to Lavender Castle. But Lavender Castle works in mysterious ways and lends its power to the Paradox crew to protect them when they most need help.
Characters
Captain Thrice: the wise, elderly three-eyed captain of the Paradox, always accompanied by his talking, sentient Walking Stick. Years before, he fortuitously came across Lavender Castle during his space travels, and is since that time bent on finding it anew to try to protect it from Dr. Agon's evil schemes.
Isambard: Captain Thrice's first mate and engineer, in charge of the Paradox 's engines. A brilliant mechanic, his methods are however rather unorthodox (for instance, whacking the central engine with his hammer to make it work is always a viable solution for him). He is very proud of his position and refers to the Paradox 's engine as his "baby". He also invented many gadgets in the past; "some of them even work", according to him.
Roger : The Paradox 's pilot, anciently a pilot in the Space Force, then a freelance mercenary before being captured by Short Fred Ledd, along with his last passenger Lyca. Talented and heroic, but also reckless and gung-ho, Roger has a tendency to act before thinking, which sometimes leads the whole crew into troubles. He seems often bent on impressing the lovely Lyca, but fails most of the time.
Lyca: The Paradox 's doctor, a talented healer, and an adept of herbal medicine, who joined the crew after being freed from Short Fred Ledd along with Roger. The only female of the crew, Lyca is a very sweet and gentle soul, but she is also far removed from the classic Damsel in Distress stereotype, being on the contrary quite brave and adventurous. She is very protective of Sproggle and tends to see him as a little brother.
Sproggle: The Paradox 's lovable but extremely incompetent navigator, who would like to define himself as such, while he can hardly make apart his left from his right. Originally an orphaned child who served as Short Fred Ledd's slave before being rescued by Captain Thrice. Gentle, naïve and easily bewildered, Sproggle also has a somewhat simplistic syntax, usually speaking in third person and with very few words. "Oooooh... Sproggle scared!" seems to be one of his favourite expressions.
Sir Squeakalot: a robot designed to look like a knight's suite of armour, but who behaves more like a mild-mannered and nervous servant. He is the Paradox 's housekeeper, originally owned by Short Fred Ledd. Somewhat phlegmatic and refined, he is much of a gentleman and speaks in a distinguished English accent. He tends to be moderately nervous around Isambard, who seems often bent on having him test his new inventions.
Dr. Cedric Agon: the series' main antagonist, an evil, megalomaniac mad scientist who is bent on destroying Lavender Castle, and thus plunging the whole universe into darkness and despair forever. Self-proclaiming himself "Destroyer of Worlds", he constantly travels in pursuit of the Paradox and its crew, aboard the Dark Station, his own gigantic, heavily armed space fortress manned by an unseen crew of slaves imprisoned into the ship's bowels.
Trump: Dr. Agon's pet and sidekick, a flying critter resembling a cross between a bat and a trumped lizard. Capable of talking, Trump also enjoys emitting sarcastic raspberry sounds now and then.
Short Fred Ledd: a one-legged, dim-witted space pirate who roams galactic seastreams in his own galleon-shaped craft, the Cutting Snark. He often uses a pair of crutches to move around, though being perfectly able to stand on his unique leg all the same. Mean, greedy and rancorous, he is bent on hijacking the Paradox and selling its crew as slaves, which occasionally drives him to work for Dr. Agon.
Voice actors
- David Holt - Captain Thrice / Sproggle
- Rob Rackstraw - Roger / Isambard
- Kate Harbour - Lyca / Walking Stick
- Jimmy Hibbert - Sir Squeakalot / Dr. Cedric Agon / Trump
Episode list
Credits
- From an original concept by Rodney Matthews
- Produced at Cosgrove Hall Films Limited
- Producer: Gerry Anderson
- Executive Producer: Craig Hemmings
- For Cosgrove Hall: Brian Cosgrove
- For HIT Entertainment: Kate Fawkes, Peter Orton
- Director: Chris Taylor
- Designer: Rodney Matthews
- Line Producer: Chris Bowden
- Script: Gerry Anderson, Chris Trengove, Pauline Fisk
- Stories: Gerry Anderson, Rodney Matthews, Craig Hemmings, Chris Trengove, Pauline Fisk
- Music: Crispin Merrell
- Dialogue Recording: Angelsound
- Puppets: Mackinnon & Saunders
- Animators: Tim Collings, Matt Palmer, Lisa Goddard, Justin Exley
- Sets: Jess Spain, Richard Sykes, Rick Kent, Paul Jones, Samantha Hanks, Nick Wilson
- Props: Owen Ballhatchet, Alison Davies
- Costumes: Clare Elliott, Geraldine Corrigan, Karen Betty, Barbara Biddulph
- Visual fx: Stephen Weston
- Assistant: Manfred-Dean Yurke
- Art director: Peter Hillier
- Lighting Camera: Tim Harper
- Off-line Editing: Flix Facilities
- Production Manager: Laura Duncalf
- Co-ordination: Mary Anderson
- Production Assistant: Debbie Peers
- Audio Post: Hullabaloo studios
- On-line Facility: 4:2:2 Manchester
External links
- Lavender Castle at the Internet Movie Database
- Lavender Castle at TV.com
- Rodney Matthews' website
- Toonhound.com Entry
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
