"It's the 'New Zoo Revue,' coming right at you, with three delightful animals, who have fun with what they do!" - 'New Zoo Revue' Theme
The New Zoo Revue: Season One DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
What would you say if I told you that an owl could teach you about the joys of painting, a hippo about the importance of having confidence in oneself, and a frog that greed is most definitely not good? If you were one of the millions of kids who grew up watching New Zoo Revue in the 1970s, then you'll have no problem accepting this as fact. With the first season of this charming show now on DVD, grownup fans of this sweet, wacky series can share their childhood favorite with a new generation.
New Zoo Revue centers on three animal characters and two of their human pals. Freddie the Frog is a naïve, gullible, happy-go-lucky youngster. His curiosity sometimes gets him in trouble, but he always means well. Charlie the Owl is a mildly gruff smarty-pants, but is kind at heart. He has a tendency to be a know-it-all, as evidenced by the fact that he doesn't leave home without wearing a mortarboard atop his head. Henrietta Hippo is a sweet-talking Southern belle who loves to sing and dance. She also enjoys playing hostess to her circle of friends. Humans Doug (Doug Momary) and Emmy Jo (Emily Peden) often drop by Freddie's pond, Charlie's treehouse, and Henrietta's traditional home to offer advice, sing a song, or simply visit.
New Zoo Revue's animal characters, like those on fellow '70s kids' fave H.R. Pufnstuf, are played by actors in full-body costumes. Its bright, colorful, beautifully fake sets are reminiscent of Pufnstuf, too. (Check out Henrietta's wonderfully tacky kitchen with its bright yellow wallpaper covered with giant daisies!) The comparison pretty much ends there. Where Pufnstuf is frenetic and single-minded (Jimmy finds a way back home, Witchie Poo captures Jimmy's magic flute, Jimmy misses his chance to go home so that he can save his flute), Revue is gentle and instructive.
Each episode centers on either a concept (the ocean, the sun) or a value/personality trait (courage, pride, kindness). The show manages to be instructive without being preachy or judgmental. Its messages are well-integrated into the plots, and the shows are funny and entertaining. In "Confidence," Henrietta becomes nervous at the idea of dancing in her club's talent show. She enjoys dancing and thinks that she is good at it, but worries that her lack of proper training and her inexperience with dancing in front of large groups will lead to embarrassment. In order to build her confidence through discipline, Freddie transforms himself into a ballet master (complete with a monocle) and drives a tutu- and tiara-clad Henrietta to do ballet exercises. He even refuses to let her eat, saying that ballet masters do not allow their pupils to eat on the day before a performance. When Henrietta points out that the talent show is actually four days away, he counters that it must mean that he is four times as good as most ballet masters. Charlie takes over the confidence-building task. He is convinced that if Henrietta can learn to tell jokes in front of her friends, she will gain the confidence that she needs to dance. The delicate hippo bombs at this exercise - she delivers the punch lines without even telling the jokes - and begins to dance in order to save face. With the help of her friends, Henrietta learns that confidence can't really be taught - it has to come from within.
The series originated in 1969 at KWHY-TV in Los Angeles. Co-creator Barbara Atlas had designed a green beanbag frog named Freddie for sale at her husband's toy store. (Atlas was busy woman - among other achievements, she also designed the skirt/pants combo that came to be known as "culottes"). The TV station asked if she would be interested in designing a line of toys for a children's show it was developing. She told the station that she would rather create a show of her own instead, and they agreed. She recruited Doug Momary, a writer/performer and the son of a friend, to help create the show. Momary would eventually star in New Zoo Revue, as well as writing all of its songs and many of its scripts. You have to admire the range of his talent. His onscreen warmth is matched by co-star Emily Peden, whom he met and married while working on the show.
One reason the show is so successful is the level of offbeat detail Momary and Atlas have given to the world its characters inhabit. In one episode, we learn that Charlie was once an advisor to Princess Grace. Having a Southern belle hippo (who also happens to be a ballet dancer) is a funny idea, especially when Henrietta talks about life back on the plantation. When Henrietta plans to go on a vacation, Doug decides to bring over his suitcase just in case she needs an extra bag. He thinks better of it when Emmy Jo points out that it is a carpetbag. Details like this make the show just as fun for adults as it is for kids, sort of like a more gently paced Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends crossed with Barney, minus the latter show's spooky, creepy kids and cloying tone.
It is also refreshing that while Freddie is obviously the youngster of the group, he is not viewed as the unlearned one who needs to be corrected by his elders. Instead, the characters take turns teaching and learning, even Doug and Emmy Jo. Rather than treating kids as goof-offs who need to be taught a lesson, the series respects them as members of the community at large, capable of gaining knowledge from others and of imparting knowledge themselves.
The visuals are also great. The sets are rich and cheery, from Charlie's treehouse with its colorful beakers and operable cage elevator to Freddie's water-filled pond. The sets were obviously made on the cheap, but with plenty of imagination, ingenuity, and care. The animal costumes are fun, although Freddie can admittedly look a little scary at times. The clothes worn by the animals are also terrific. Who can resist a hippo that carries a hanky? Doug and Emmy Jo contribute to the show's already high kitsch appeal with their polyester-rich wardrobe and '70s shaggerific hairstyles.
New Zoo Revue: Season 1 does have its flaws. The episodes have a tiny, translucent BCI logo in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. (BCI is the distributor of the DVDs.) This logo is barely noticeable, but most DVD viewers would prefer not having it appear at all. The episodes also seem to be edited. The packing indicates that each episode runs twenty-four minutes. In actuality, they run only twenty-two minutes. This seems short for a series produced in the early 1970s. Although a syndicated children's show would not necessarily have the same running time as a primetime network sitcom, some of the cuts between scenes are a bit too sudden.
The fifty-nine episodes that make up New Zoo Revue: Season 1 are divided onto six double-sided DVDs. The DVDs are housed in three slim, clear keepcases. The discs snap onto hubs on the inside front and inside back cover of each keepcase. When the keepcase is closed, they lie face to face. The front covers each feature one of the animal characters from the series. The back covers include the episode titles and brief plot synopses. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case. The interiors include large production stills. The three keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve. The front of the sleeve features a picture of the animal characters. Pressing a button on the front of the cardboard sleeve activates an electronic version of the theme song.
Because the DVDs are double-sided (and because the unique, two-DVD keepcases sometimes allow the DVDs to become detached from their hubs when the case is opened), parents may want to take responsibility for loading this title into their DVD player in order to prevent damage to the discs by clumsy little hands.
The DVD menus are simple and fun. Viewers can choose an individual episode, or play all of the disc's episodes. There are no chapter stops.
