Blue Peter, you've included some epic moments throughout 2020, but the one that struck me through October 2020 was on the best week of my life, when Scream Street made its return to screens and introduced new character Six. This was from the time Wolfgang made his triumphant return to screens, and Blue Peter did all these features for Halloween, including a behind the scenes look at The Witches, a bat craft from a Horrible Histories star and, the best part, Adam's behind the scenes tour of Scream Street, which is my favourite bit of 2020 on Blue Peter. I never knew Blue Peter would be focusing on Scream Street until last October. For those who missed it, see how those epically spooky adventures even geared to adults were made, with the assistance of Adam. BUT! There are a few questions that need to be asked:
Is Luke going on an adventure with Doug and smoking two joints?
Is Mrs. Watson climbing a tree?
Is Doug hanging out with a goblin whilst suffering from a broken arm and getting the munchies from smoking too much zombie marijuana?
Find out - if you can - if Scream Street airs new episodes on the 22nd of March next year!
Mimi & The Mountain Dragon is like a segment of Disney's Fantasia meets Christmas specials like The Snowman - properly animated and done by one of my favourite animation studios, Factory, the studio behind my favourite shows Strange Hill High and Scream Street, this is one tenderly told tale of family and using music to tame a fierce heart that should only be told to children and families young and old on Christmas, including reckless adults like me. If Disney did a live-action version of Mimi & The Mountain Dragon, I'd be all in on seeing it. Unlike the original book, which contains speaking, the special is told through music and singing, teaching us about the love of a family and how the power of music can tame a fierce, bad-tempered heart like the Mountain Dragon's. My favourite part is when Mimi hums, as it is so haunting to one, and near to the end, when Mimi starts singing and a whole chorus joins her - it just brings magical images to your head, including images of friends you love so dearly, including ones like ones from shows like Scream Street, Bluey, Dog Loves Books and Love Monster. Just as with Disney's Fantasia, the wordless images of Mimi, the Mountain Dragon, the baby dragon, the villagers, the village and the snow-covered surroundings make you want to see the music as a tale of friendship and loyalty, one which gives you the courage to think that your family is the group of people who care for you most in your life. I was struck on the heart when I first heard Mimi sing. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a dear friend like Mimi and her baby dragon friend. 'Til next year, Mimi...
GRIZZ: Right, let's see: salad, sausages, burgers, cooked sweetcorn...all present and accounted for. You actually did a good job on the food, Ice Bear.
ICE: Ice Bear is best chef.
PANDA: I think he says he wants us to tuck in.
GRIZZ: Oh yeah. Well, it is BBQ time after all.
GRIZZ: Hmmm, boy, these burgers are good.
PANDA: I sure love those sausages.
GRIZZ: I prefer the sweetcorn when it's popped like popcorn.
PANDA: What? You prefer popcorn instead of sweetcorn with butter?
GRIZZ: Maybe.
PANDA: Well, CBBC's airing the Burrito thing as we spea-
GRIZZ: No no no, not the time that burrito gave one of us smelly breath!
SQUEAKY-SQUEAK-SQUEAK!
GRIZZ: Did you guys hear that?
PANDA: No.
GRIZZ: It sounded like some sort of squeak.
[A squirrel scurries down from a nearby tree and proceeds to eat the sweetcorn. A hedgehog joins him, eating the sausages.]
PANDA: Talk about a hedgehog loving chilli dogs.
[A fox comes by an eats the burgers. He snatches Grizz's burger.]
GRIZZ: Hey, that's mine!
PANDA: Let them have what they eat.
GRIZZ: [angrily] That's it - I am not standing to have another barbeque anymore! Every time we do, animals surround us!
ICE: Ice Bear is a friend to animals.
GRIZZ: Inside, everyone!
5 MINUTES LATER...
[The bears are staring at one of Tasty's BBQ videos, nodding their heads in time to the music.]
Come back to this blog post later during Summer for lots of tasty and healthy BBQ recipes for you and your family:
By now, you're probably having trouble getting kids who are excited for Christmas to sleep. Forget The Night Before Christmas, it's time for something completely different: Hush Little Polar Bear. As you listen to the story, imagine you're snuggling next to a Mama polar bear for comfort like Luke, Resus, Cleo and me, while two polar bear cubs nestle by your toes like two perfect white little hot water bottles.
PANDA: So...should we go in there to spend all our Christmas money?
GRIZZ: Who cares, let's go and explore all the cool toys anyway.
IN THE TOY SHOP....
[Grizz finds an orange space hopper and begins bouncing it like a basketball. Panda finds a remote control airplane and begins to fly it around the shop, attracting the attention of the shopgoers. Ice Bear just stares at a lullaby machine, turns it on and the music is activated.]
GRIZZ: Hey....HEY! Ice Bear!
ICE BEAR: Huh?
GRIZZ: We got our gifts!
ICE BEAR: Ice Bear is in a trance.
GRIZZ: Good!
PANDA: Let's get going, we don't want Chloe to get disappointed.
GRIZZ: Does she even have a baby brother?
PANDA: Her old lullaby machine is broken, so Ice Bear made the right decision.
Every day is like a tea party when you eat at the Care Bears pop-up cafe! First We Bare Bears, then Sesame Street, then My Little Pony and now this. Japan is such a fun country, filled with endless possibilities - and Precious Moments joined in on the fun too!
Meet Otah, a cute and lovable otter who resides only in Gardens By The Bay in Singapore. He loves to play and make wishes by the lemon tree, and, with his Grandma's help, makes the best ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies and lemonade! He loves setting up a lemonade stand to save money for presents for his family, and he's a very kind and inquisitive otter. Otah's world is a magical one, and Singaporeans love to have fun in his house and his favourite place by the Wishing Lemon Tree. Find out more here:
I've recently found evidence of a Sesame Street pop-up cafe, which means you can eat your way through ABC's and 123's...and maybe share a cookie with Cookie Monster. Tiny Pop's furry monster superstars having their own cafe in Japan means young children will definitely eat out and learn at the same time. Remember the We Bare Bears pop-up cafe I mentioned in an earlier post? It's like that, except for younger children. Check out more from Little Day Out:
[Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella and Six and I are sitting around the fireplace eating chocolate bars and drinking hot cocoa.]
LUELLA: Thanks for the hot cocoa and the chocolate bar, Sybil.
ME: That's okay, I'll always warm your Winter. I'm glad we invited Shaun and Bitzer along for the ride too, ISN'T IT, GUYS?!
SHAUN: Baa!
BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!
LUKE: Sybil, I....it's just that...
ME: So, do you defeat the Grumpus every year?
CLEO: Not exactly. With you, we can celebrate Christmas in your creative ways. We can see Hetty Feather with her Broadway style dance moves, or Hank Zipzer doing a Christmas Romeo & Juliet, or..er...erm...
SIX: Carol Singing & Her Friends?
[Everyone laughs]
ME: Good one, Six. Wait, you stole it from Almost Never, didn't you?
SIX: I watched it.
ME: It's repeated a. Lot.
[Luke sighs, and walks out of the house into the snowy garden outside.]
RESUS: At least you don't see Almost Never on iPlayer. You've got lots of things to do every Christmas, watch The Grumpus and Jody In Wonderland, check out your presents, read Horrid Henry's Christmas Cracker....
ME: Boy, such a lot. Luke? Luke?!
[Luke sits outside, shivering. Through the night, he gets covered in snow...and then collapses]
[The next morning, I sit on my bed, crying. Resus and the others attempt to comfort me.]
CLEO: I feel the same way as you do, Luke will be sure to come back in.
ME: I can't be complete without Luke. I...I love him, and nothing should ever come between us, not ever!
BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro!
ME: What is it, Bitzer?
BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!
ME: Come on everyone, out into the garden!
OUTSIDE....
ME: [gasps] LUKE! [crying] Oh my god...I'm so sorry, I've left you out of our conversation. You never said what you meant to say to me...I love you.
[My tears begin to melt away the ice and snow surrounding Luke]
LUELLA: Sybil, look!
ME: What is it!
LUELLA: Your tears, they're melting away the snow around Luke!
ME: Luke!
[The snow melts away around Luke, and he stirs. Both of us embrace joyfully]
ME: LUKE!
LUKE: Sybil!
RESUS/CLEO/LUELLA/SIX: Hooray!
DIG: Wuff-wuff!
LULU: Rrraaarrr!!
SHAUN: Baaa!
BITZER: Awwooooooo!!!
[Luke and I kiss]
RESUS: Hey! You forgot the mistletoe!
LUELLA: Never mind, my dark angel, we kiss under the mistletoe near the end of The Grumpus.
RESUS: Well! As if I thought I knew.
INSIDE...
LUKE: I'm so glad you treated me to hot chocolate, Sybil, my throat was turning into an ice rink outside.
ME: All the best to heal my one true love.
LUELLA: And if it weren't for her tears, she'd leave Luke out to die now.
LUKE: Oh! I seem to have a whipped cream moustache!
ME: Me too, Luke. Hey, how's about we share a hot chocolate-flavoured kiss?
LUKE: Come here, you little...!
[Both of us drink our cocoa and kiss.]
RESUS: Ooh...saucy....
Merry Christmas!
Watch Scream Street's The Grumpus and Shaun The Sheep's Fireside Favourite on iPlayer:
I love those little pop-up cafes they put up in Japan. They're so colourful and fun and bright and make an eating experience twice the fun. Examples include My Little Pony, Mr. Men, Care Bears and this - We Bare Bears. It feels like you're eating with the bears, Chloe and Nom-Nom in Milkshake Heaven. Almost everything in this cafe has the bears on it, including the food! No wonder CBBC's recent stars were popular enough to get their own cafe. Eating with the bears is more fun than ordering from their food truck!
While seeing the We Bare Bears episode 'Food Truck' on CBBC for the first time, I happened upon this video from Tasty about recipes you can do with your kids, including pizza cookies and cheesy taco breadsticks. Give it a whirl! Just watch We Bare Bears first.
Three dreams over the past few days leading up to now!
The first dream I had before our stay at Grandma's happening right now, and saw Danger Mouse, Timon, Pumbaa and me welcoming Simon to both the neighbourhood and Tiny Pop. Mari made a selection of cakes to welcome Simon and his family, some featured Timon and Pumbaa's image on them, and I was getting used to playing with Simon and his little brother Gaspard. I think Simon might be a new favourite thing to see on Tiny Pop besides Esme & Roy....
In the dream I had last night, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and I challenged Strawberry Shortcake and Clifford The Big Red Dog to a race. It was a competition of big and small, of berries and dog treats, of red and pink, of girls and dogs. There is a legend that a tractor and a digger once challenged each other to a race, which was shown on TV across the globe, but now it's recreated with scented girls and big red dogs, with little fillies being referees. Watch 'Travis & Scoop's Race Day' on iPlayer:
The dream's soundtrack was 'Putting The Dog To Sleep' and saw me swimming across a lazy river on a sunny day. Throughout some points in the dream, it switched drastically to Luke's torture and solitude in darkness, including his bloodied scar and his visions, and his fight with Issie, his right side changing into his werewolf form with the song's every sudden drumbeat. My visions based on 'Putting The Dog To Sleep' had turned into a dark, CBBC-based animatic about Scream Street's absence from the channel last November and the tragedy, blood and violence it secretly caused with Luke's exile.
This is a present I got from Sally for Christmas yesterday - My Book Of Magical Stories. Hurrah! Now I get to write down my I.B.F.Fs & The Polar Bear story. I've currently written down about sliding down snowy slopes, eating fish, drinking from the cold Arctic ocean, playing with other cubs and learning to fish in a peaceful snowy glen with grass and flowers, playing with the polar bear family in the snow, journeying home on an ice floe and under the Northern Lights, resulting in the snuggliest bedtime ever back in the cave with me, Luke, Resus and Cleo snuggling near Mama for comfort and warmth, our baths in the snow and in the ocean, returning home swimming in the water and sharing a big, cuddly polar bear hug with Mama. You see, I was inspired by L'Enfant Qui Voulait Etre Un Ours' and various wildlife clips from the BBC to make this story, plus the sleep story I've made up where we were raised by polar bears, inspired by Cam's sleep story from The Dare Game.
I have never heard of a band named The Antlers before. Now I have, with their song 'Putting The Dog To Sleep', and this song reminds me of what happened to Luke, Resus and Cleo last month, when CBBC cruelly abandoned them in favour of shows like Itch and She-Ra...
When Halloween weekend hit, all of CBBC cruelly exiled Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella and Six for violating laws and including what I love doing in their lineup. Everyone screamed and shouted at my best friends as they left, but Issie, star of CBBC's drama Mystic, noticed Luke and, with a dagger in her hand, attacked Luke, viciously scratching him round the eye, drawing blood. Seeing her, all of CBBC attacked Luke's friends, scarring them round various body parts and nearly killing them. Even the Stupid Siblings and the Grape Jelly Duo were in on the action, teasing and jeering mockingly. Luke was in tears seeing this, and had no choice but to run for his life, exiling himself into darkness for one month to see into his actions.
The song in the video above is what Luke sings as he wanders his eternal prison, blood dripping from his scar and his werewolf side appearing on one side of his body with every sudden drumbeat. He is shown visions of everyone laughing and joking and having fun on CBBC, friends joking with friends, CBBC enjoying great success, etc., including every episode of every programme shown last month, including Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed. He is also shown various visions, including a fetus changing into a sleeping version of himself changing into his werewolf form, and a dead wolf changing into a version of himself lying dead and naked, with his body covered in blood. Eventually, Issie appears in Darkness and fights with Luke in his werewolf form, causing blood to appear everywhere with every scratch and cut, and for Luke to lie there in darkness, covered in blood, all weak like in his vision of the dead wolf. Still having a second chance, Luke scratches Issie round the eye, causing a severe bloody injury which causes her to limp out of the darkness back to CBBC. Just as Luke was about to become weak and die, Resus and Cleo, having fully recovered from their injuries along with Luella and Six, emerged from the darkness and told Luke that they're allowed to go back to CBBC now. After a month in solitude without food, water, love or friends, Luke agreed, and they emerged from the darkness to go back to CBBC.
Upset? You should feel proud of Luke. Through all this bravery, he kept a straight face through his time in Darkness, and this week, he's back. If this story were an animatic, this would be the perfect subject. He'll be back in two weeks with normal Scream Street adventures, but until then, watch Scream Street on iPlayer:
Now that it's Christmas Eve, you may be missing your friends right now as much as I'm going to miss Luke, Resus and Cleo next week. Why don't you write them a heartwarming letter telling them how much you love them and wishing them a merry Christmas? That should raise spirits high. Or you can write letters to members of your family saying how much you miss them? Have a merry Christmas!
