Thursday 15 October 2020

Bleep and Booster


Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton 
with Bleep and Booster puppets

Bleep and Booster was a cartoon series by the Austrian sculptor and artist William Timym (aka Tim) which was featured on Blue Peter between 1964 and 1977.

Bleep and Booster were friends who had adventures in space. Bleep was a robot-like alien from the planet Miron and Booster was a human boy who travelled around with Bleep on his father's spaceship, Space Freighter 9, performing missions and getting into adventures. The technique used on Bleep and Booster was called animatic animation, which basically means still pictures that were scanned with narration from Peter Hawkins. This was a technique commonly used in the sixties and seventies on programs like Jackanory but was used with great affect on Blue Peter for many other features including historical and science items.

There were 313 five-minute episodes featured on Blue Peter and many of the stories also appeared in the Blue Peter annuals in book form. Bleep and Booster also had their own annuals for a number of years. 

The narrator of Bleep and Booster also provided narration and voices for The Flowerpot Men and Captain Pugwash. The artist Tim also created the cartoon character Bengo, a boxer puppy who first appeared in the Daily Express before becoming another regular on Blue Peter in 1962. Tim also created a statue of Petra and a sculpture of Guy The Gorilla in London Zoo.

 


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