Blinky Bill
| Blinky Bill | |
|---|---|
 Blinky Bill poster | |
| Directed by | Yoram Gross |
| Written by | Yoram Gross Leonard Lee John Palmer |
| Produced by | Yoram Gross |
| Starring | Robyn Moore Keith Scott |
| Cinematography | Frank Hammond Paul Ozerski |
| Edited by | G.Y. Jerzy Lee Smith |
| Music by | Guy Gross |
| Distributed by | Beyond Distribution |
Release dates | 17 September 1992 Australia24 September 1992  United States30 March 1994  France18 February 1995  Netherlands |
Running time | 80 min. |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala who is a children's fiction character in three stories of New Zealand-born Australian author Dorothy Wall.
These stories are Blinky Bill, Blinky Bill and Nutsy and Blinky Bill Grows Up.
The main character, Blinky Bill, is known for his mischievousness and his love for his mother. His friends include his adopted sister Nutsy, his kangaroo friend Splodge, his Platypus friend Flap, Marcia his Marsupial friend, and his mentor Mr Wombat or Wombo, as Blinky prefers to call him. In general throughout the stories he does things that are realistic for koalas as well as things that child readers would like to do.
On another level, the Blinky Bill stories also present messages of conservation. Wall tells the stories directly to the children and Blinky often interacts with the readers in an introduction. Her dedications are often to 'All the Kind Children', with her own son Peter and other common Australian names of the 1930s appearing. They are also illustrated by Dorothy Wall herself. Blinky Bill was in 1934 classified R rating.[citation needed]
Though the books have never been out of print, the Blinky Bill story has also been adapted for television and cinema. The first television series from the 1980s featured actors interacting with puppet animals and went under the title of The New Adventures of Blinky Bill. Blinky Bill was also made into an animated movie by Yoram Gross Film Studios in 1992 and in 1994 there was a second children's series on the ABC Kids channel. It was called The Adventures of Blinky Bill. More recently there have been computer games based on the Blinky Bill franchise, and these have been moderately successful.
Blinky Bill is also the nickname of the light at the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Blinky The Character
One of Blinky's favorite words is "extraordinary" and he ends most episode with his catchphrase.
Song Lyrics
There are 2 opening versions of the song and 2 ending versions of the song.
Opening 1
This is the story of Blinky Bill and Flap and Nutsy too,
And Wombo, Ruff, and Marcia, and Splodge the Kangaroo.
Now they all live in Greenpatch Town, as happy as can be,
With friends and neighbors all around, the same as you and me.
But then one dark and gloomy night, when all the bush was still,
Some bandits came and stole the trees to feed their woodchip mill!
And, when at last, the morning came, the timber trucks moved on-
And there- where Greenpatch used to be, the little town was gone!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Save us from that woodchip mill.
If you do don't it, no one will,
Good old Blinky Bill!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Get in there, and fight until
We're safely back on Greenpatch hill,
Good old Blinky Bill!
So come and see what happens next to Blinky and his friends,
But ten-to-one you'll NEVER guess the way the story ends.
Watch Blinky help to save the bush, and replant every tree,
So come on, we'll rebuild the town- just you watch and see!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Save us from that woodchip mill.
If you do don't it, no one will,
Good old Blinky Bill!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Get in there, and fight until
We're safely back on Greenpatch hill,
Good old Blinky Bill!
(instrumental break)
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Save us from that woodchip mill.
If you do don't it, no one will,
Good old Blinky Bill!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Get in there, and fight until
We're safely back on Greenpatch hill,
Good... old... Blin-ky... Bill!
Good on ya, Blinky!
©
Opening 2
©
This is the story of Blinky Bill and Flap and Nutsy too,
And Wombo, Ruff, and Marcia, and Splodge the Kangaroo.
Now they all live in Greenpatch Town, as happy as can be,
With friends and neighbors all around, the same as you and me.
But it’s not always fun and games for Blinky and his crew.
Disasters shouldn't happen, but, alas- they sometime do!
There's mysteries and secrets, out there amongst the trees,
And nobody needs enemies, when you've got friends like these!
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill,
You'll never catch him standing still,
Life is pretty boring till
You've met Blinky Bill.
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Our cheeky mate from Greenpatch hill,
If you don't know him, you soon will-
Good old Blinky Bill!
So come and see what happens next to Blinky and his friends,
But ten-to-one you'll NEVER guess the way the story ends.
Our little mischief-maker, the one who never fails,
Enjoy his great adventure in these new exciting tales.
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill,
You'll never catch him standing still,
Life is pretty boring till
You've met Blinky Bill.
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Our cheeky mate from Greenpatch hill,
If you don't know him, you soon will-
Good old Blinky Bill!
(instrumental break)
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill,
You'll never catch him standing still,
Life is pretty boring till
You've met Blinky Bill.
Hey, hey, Blinky Bill-
Our cheeky mate from Greenpatch hill,
If you don't know him, you soon will-
Good... old... Blin-ky... Bill!
Good on ya, Blinky!
Ending 1 (incomplete)
G'day old mate, I'm Blinky Bill! I bet you heard of me-
I'm living in Australia, up a eucalyptus tree.
Now don't you listen to a word those awful grownups say;
I'm always on my best behavior nearly every day.
I'm Blinky Bill,
My whole life's a thrill.
I do exactly what I want-
I'm Blinky Bill!
He's Blinky Bill,
His whole life's a thrill.
He does exactly what he wants-
He's Blinky, Blinky... Bill, Bi-ll, Bi-ll!
(laughing)
Ending 2 (incomplete)
Yahoo, didgeridoo-
Blinky Bill and all his crew:
Nutsy, Flap, and Marcia, too,
and Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kangaroo.
"It's (going-to-school?) time," Miss Magpie said, "We'll have a lovely day-
We're going on a bushwalk!" Young Blinky yelled, "Hurray!"
"Indeed," said Splodge, (sorry, can't make out the rest)
"And I'll bring the essentials- like chocolate cake!" said Flap.
Yahoo, didgeridoo-
Blinky Bill and all his crew:
Nutsy, Flap, and Marcia, too,
and Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kangaroo.
They went down an old bush-track, a-twisting and a-turning,
Then rolled upon the bank and fell exhausted on the grass!
An unfamiliar landscape stretched before them, far and wide,
And Flap- he nearly fainted! "We're completely lost!" he cried.
You want to know what happens next?
Keep watching and you'll see-
Here comes the next adventure of
Blinky Bill! (Blinky Bill!) Blinky Bill! ("That's me!")
Yahoo, didgeridoo-
Blinky Bill and all his crew:
Nutsy, Flap, and Marcia, too,
and Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kanga... Splodge the Kangaroo.
Plots
In the first series, Blinky and the others have to save Green Patch Hill from the woodchip mill.
In the second series, Blinky has adventures in Green Patch Hill. Halfway through the series, the school has an excursion. During the excursion, Blinky, Nutsy, Flap, Marcia and Splodge decide to venture while the rest of the class were taking a nap. Blinky originally wanted to scare Miss Magpie and the other kids with a spooky voice, but suddenly, he and his friends fell down from a cave and couldn't get back to them. This then left Blinky and his friends have adventures away from Green Patch Hill, while the townspeople from Green Patch Hill try to find Blinky and his friends. In the end, Blinky and his friends come back home safely.
Another series called Blinky Bill round the world adventures. Blinky, Nutsy and Flap go on a balloon with other animal companions from a circus on a round the world trip. While trying to get all their companions back to their home towns, two people from the circus try to catch them and get them back to their circus.
See also
External links
- Blinky Bill, the quaint little Australian story and decorations by Dorothy Wall (Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1933) - digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
- Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall, A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook
- Blinky Bill at the National Film and Sound Archive