Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings

British-Canadian children's TV series (1974–1976)

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings

Genre| Children's television series
Created by| Edward McLachlan
Written by| Glyn Frewler
Directed by| Ivor Wood
Narrated by| Bernard Cribbins
Theme music composer| Mike Batt
Composer| Mike Batt
Country of origin| United Kingdom
Original language| English
No. of series| 2
No. of episodes| 24
Production
Editor| Helen Kelsey
Running time| 5 minutes
Production company| FilmFair
Original release
Network| ITV
Release| 5 October 1974 (1974-10-05) –
1976 (1976)

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings is a British-Canadian children's animated series about the adventures of a young boy named Simon, who has a magic blackboard.[1] Things that Simon draws on the chalkboard become real in the Land of Chalk Drawings, which Simon can enter by climbing over a fence near his home with a ladder. The stories often revolve around the unintended effects that Simon's drawings have on the Land of Chalk Drawings, such as when an upset Simon draws a picture of his angry self, which goes on a rampage.

The programme is based upon a series of four children's books by Edward McLachlan. It was produced in the mid-1970s by FilmFair Productions in London for ITV and was originally a five-minute programme, broadcast around tea time in Britain. Despite that, it was first screened in Canada during CBC's Children's Cinema program on 5th October 1974 while selected ITV regions didn't start showing the program until 27th March 1976.[2][3] It also became familiar to North American audiences in the mid-1970s when it was featured on Captain Kangaroo (where it was narrated by Bob Keeshan instead of Bernard Cribbins), later on Pinwheel, and after that, on Romper Room. In Canada, it aired on TVOntario. The writer and performer of the theme song is Mike Batt, with his first wife Wendy on vocals. Mike Batt also wrote the theme for The Wombles, also produced by FilmFair and narrated by Bernard Cribbins.

In 2002 the series was remade in Canada, with Ernie Coombs as the narrator.

## Original episodes

[edit]

### Series overview

[edit]

Series  | Episodes  | First aired  | Last aired

|
|
|

1  | 12  | 5 October 1974  | 1975
2  | 12  | 1975  | 1976

### Series 1

[edit]

No.

overall

| No. in

series

| Title

|
|

1  | 1  | "Simon Meets Henry"
2  | 2  | "Simon Meets the Teacher and the Children"
3  | 3  | "Simon and the Chalk Drawing Band"
4  | 4  | "Simon and the Moon Rocket (part one)"
5  | 5  | "Simon and the Moon Rocket (part two)"
6  | 6  | "Simon and the Caveman"
7  | 7  | "Simon and the Sea"
8  | 8  | "Simon and the Chameleon"
9  | 9  | "Simon's Double"
10  | 10  | "Simon and the Elephant"
11  | 11  | "Simon and the Football Match"
12  | 12  | "Simon and the Return Match"

### Series 2

[edit]

No.

overall

| No. in

series

| Title

|
|

13  | 1  | "Simon and the Early Morning"
14  | 2  | "Simon and the Chalk Drawing Cars"
15  | 3  | "Simon and the Dinosaur"
16  | 4  | "Simon and the Knight"
17  | 5  | "Simon and the Rainbow"
18  | 6  | "Simon and the Pied Piper"
19  | 7  | "Simon and the Robot"
20  | 8  | "Simon and the Measles"
21  | 9  | "Simon and the Flags"
22  | 10  | "Simon and the Chalk Drawing Sports Day"
23  | 11  | "Simon and the Pop Singer"
24  | 12  | "Simon and the Detective"

## 2002 revival

[edit]

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings

Genre| Children's television
Narrated by| Ernie Coombs (Canadian version)
Country of origin| Canada
China
Original languages| English
Chinese
No. of series| 1
No. of episodes| 13 (65 shorts)
Production
Running time| 5 minutes
Production companies| CINAR Corporation
Shanghai Animation Film Studio
Original release
Network| Teletoon
OTV (Shanghai Media Group)
Release| 2 September (2002-09-02)[4] –
18 September 2002 (2002-09-18)[5]

A new series premiered in 2002 on Teletoon in Canada with a new theme song, an updated and more casual outfit for Simon, a different colour scheme and narrated by Ernie Coombs (in his final role; in a tragic subnote, he would suffer an ultimately-fatal stroke while recording his last sessions for the show [citation needed]). It was co-produced by Cinar Animation and Shanghai Animation Film Studio and directed by Francois Perreault. Simon's friend Henry is replaced with a girl named Lily. In this new version, Simon wears a striped T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

## Parody

[edit]

The series was later parodied on NBC's Saturday Night Live by Mike Myers.[6] The sketches open with the same musical theme and similar lyrics, but take place in Simon's bathtub, where he shows and discusses his "drawerings" with viewers.

## See also

[edit]

* The Magic Chalk (1949)
* ChalkZone (1998/2002)
* Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
* Penny Crayon (1989)
* Zaczarowany ołówek

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 230–232. ISBN 1903111277.
2. ^ "Children's Program: 5th October 1974".
3. ^ "Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings: New series (27th March 1976)".
4. ^ "Fall 2002 Highlights: Teletoon" (Press release). Toronto: Teletoon. Channel Canada. 28 August 2002. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
5. ^ "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2 March 2016.[dead link] Alt URL
6. ^ O'Connell, Mark (2017). Modern Brides & Modern Grooms: A Guide to Planning Straight, Gay, and Other Nontraditional Twenty-First-Century Weddings. Skyhorse. ISBN 9781510711525.

## External links

[edit]

* Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings at IMDb
* Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (2002) at IMDb
* Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings at TheChestnut.com. Retrieved 5 January 2014.

* v
* t
* e

FilmFair

Stop-motion animation series|

* The Herbs (1968)
* Hattytown Tales (1969–73)
* The Adventures of Parsley (1970)
* The Wombles (1973–75)
* Paddington (1975–86)
* Moschops (1983)
* The Adventures of Portland Bill (1983–86)
* Edward and Friends (1987–88)
* Windfalls (1989)
* Huxley Pig (1989–90)
* The Gingerbread Man (1992)
* Astro Farm (1992–96)

Hand-drawn animation series|

* Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (1974–76)
* The Perishers (1979)
* The Blunders (1986–87)
* The Shoe People (1987–88)
* Bangers and Mash (1989)
* The Dreamstone (1990–95)
* Nellie the Elephant (1990)
* Rod 'n' Emu (1991)
* Junglies (1991–92)
* The Legend of White Fang (1992–94)
* The Legends of Treasure Island (1993–95)

People|

* Ivor Wood

* v
* t
* e

Teletoon Canada, Inc original programming

* Télétoon
* Télétoon la nuit
* Teletoon Retro
* Télétoon Rétro
* Teletoon at Night
* Cartoon Network (Canada)
* Boomerang (Canada)
* Corus Entertainment
* StackTV

1997|

* The Adventures of Paddington Bear
* Animal Crackers
* Blazing Dragons
* Caillou5
* Captain Red Beard
* Captain Star
* Donkey Kong Country
* Ned's Newt
* Pippi Longstocking
* Splat!

1998|

* Patrol 03
* Blake and Mortimer
* Nanook's Great Hunt
* Flying Rhino Junior High

1999|

* Bad Dog
* Cybersix
* Fly Tales
* Redwall
* Rescue Heroes
* Toad Patrol
* Angela Anaconda
* Tales from the Cryptkeeper
* Mega Babies

2000|

* Rainbow Fish5
* Blaster's Universe
* Flight Squad
* The Baskervilles
* Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King
* Maggie and the Ferocious Beast5
* The Kids from Room 402
* A Miss Mallard Mystery
* Eckhart
* What About Mimi?
* For Better or For Worse

2001|

* John Callahan's Quads!1
* Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse5
* Untalkative Bunny
* Braceface
* Jackie Chan Adventures
* Undergrads1
* What's with Andy?
* The Upstairs Downstairs Bears
* Pecola
* The Ripping Friends1

2002|

* RoboRoach
* Edward
* Pig City
* Daft Planet1
* Fred the Caveman
* Kaput and Zösky
* Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
* Totally Spies!
* Olliver's Adventures
* Doodlez
* Clone High1

2003|

* Yakkity Yak
* Ratz
* Kid Paddle
* My Dad the Rock Star
* A Treasure in My Garden
* Silverwing

2004|

* Potatoes and Dragons
* Creepschool
* Atomic Betty
* The Tofus
* Delta State1
* Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends5
* Zeroman
* 6teen

2005|

* Bromwell High1
* Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs5
* The Zimmer Twins
* Sons of Butcher1
* Carl²
* Station X1
* Delilah & Julius
* The Wrong Coast1
* Gerald McBoing-Boing
* Planet Sketch
* Skyland
* Class of the Titans

2006|

* Spider Riders8
* W
* Di-Gata Defenders
* Johnny Test

2007|

* Chaotic
* Chop Socky Chooks
* Wayside
* George of the Jungle
* Iggy Arbuckle
* Bakugan Battle Brawlers8
* Total Drama
* Futz!
* Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy
* Tripping the Rift1

2008|

* Fred's Head
* Punch!1
* World of Quest
* Life's a Zoo1
* Best Ed

2009|

* Jimmy Two-Shoes
* Stoked
* Majority Rules!
* Hot Wheels Battle Force 5

2010|

* Spliced
* The Future Is Wild
* The Amazing Spiez!
* Bolts and Blip
* MetaJets
* The Dating Guy1
* Skatoony

2011|

* My Babysitter's a Vampire
* My Life Me
* Detentionaire
* Crash Canyon1
* GeoFreakZ

2012|

* Mudpit
* Knuckleheads1
* Fugget About It1
* Matt Hatter Chronicles

2013|

* Rocket Monkeys
* Just Kidding2, 7
* Camp Lakebottom
* Grojband

2014|

* Packages from Planet X
* Monster in a Box
* The Day My Butt Went Psycho!
* Dr. Dimensionpants
* Chop Chop Ninja Challenge

2015|

* Endangered Species
* Pirate Express
* Night Sweats1, 2
* Inspector Gadget6
* 2 Nuts and a Richard!1

2016|

* Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race4
* Looped
* Freaktown
* Cracked
* Atomic Puppet
* Mike Ward Show1, 3
* Supernoobs6
* Counterfeit Cat

2017|

* Winston Steinburger and Sir Dudley Ding Dong
* The Bagel and Becky Show
* ToonMarty
* Hotel Transylvania: The Series

2018|

* Wishfart
* Snowsnaps3, 5
* Chop Chop Ninja
* Boni3
* Cupcake & Dino: General Services
* Bravest Warriors
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* Total DramaRama
* Bakugan: Battle Planet8

2019|

* D.N. Ace
* The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi1

2020|

* Doomsday Brothers1
* The Télétoon Show1, 3

2023|

* Red Ketchup1
* Psi Cops1

* 1Teletoon at Night/Télétoon la nuit/Adult Swim (Canada) series
* 2Teletoon-produced only
* 3Télétoon-produced only
* 4Moved to Cartoon Network
* 5Moved to Treehouse TV
* 6Moved to Family
* 7Moved to La Chaîne Disney
* 8Co-produced with TV Tokyo

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