Children's TV - Teletubbies

Teletubbies is a children’s television programme about four multi-coloured toddlers of a mythological species called "Teletubbies.” They are called Teletubbies because of the television screens in the characters bellies. The four characters of the Teletubbies are humanoid creatures each with a uniquely-shaped antenna coming out their heads and each having their own colour (Purple, Green, Yellow or Red) the names of the four Teletubbies are Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po. Tinky Winky and Dipsy rhyme and Laa-Laa is repeats of the word Laa helping the children remember the characters. The Teletubbies talk in an infant’s style of voice and talk gibberish or small words of English. The occasional words of English helps the children relate that word to the situation on the screen (i.e. “ball” when they find and play with a ball or “run” when they start running around) and as young children won’t understand full sentences the character don’t need to talk in proper English and are very expressive in their tone of voice as that is what children respond to. The Teletubbies live in a hill (like the hobbit) in a beautiful, grassy landscape filled with flowers and populated with bunnies. The setting designed to keep the attention spans of infants and unlock different sections of the mind, while also educating young children and toddlers of transitions that can be expected in life. The setting is also designed to create a comfortable, safe and serene place for the Teletubbies to live. The use of open space helps the children to not feel threatened by what’s on screen and can enjoy the action.

The Teletubbies live with a number of different characters, such as Noo-Noo (again a repetitive name to help the children remember it) and the voice trumpets, a set of periscopes that rise from the ground and interact with the Teletubbies and act as an on screen narrator to engage the children by breaking the fourth wall and asking questions. Noo-Noo is a blue vacuum cleaner with a tendency to suck up the Teletubbies toys and cause mischief.

The storylines of each episode include a range of events that are usually repeated in different episodes, such as the playful interactions between the Teletubbies and the voice trumpets, the mischief caused by Noo-noo, the footage of live children displayed on the screens in the Teletubbies stomachs and the "magical event" that occurs once per episode. This magical event is different in each episode but is always strange and fun for the children to watch (i.e. a parade of animals in pairs walking by). Each episode is ended by the narrator and voice trumpets telling the Teletubbies to say goodbye to the viewer as they jump into their hill/home. 

The Story of the Wind and the Sun

The North Wind was always boasting of his great strength and how his strength makes him better that everything else. One day the Sun argued that there was great power in gentleness and challenged the wind in a contest of power.

Far below, a man traveled a winding road. He was wearing a warm winter coat. The sun challenged the wind to see who could force the coat of the man bellow. The wind bragged "It will be quite simple for me to force him to remove his coat." So he started to blow so hard, the birds clung to the trees. The world bellow was suddenly filled with dust and leaves. But the harder the wind blew down the road, the tighter the shivering man clung to his coat.

The sun patiently waited until the wind grew too tired to blow and when he was the Sun came out from behind a cloud. He warmed the air and the frosty ground so much that the man on the road unbuttoned his coat. The longer the sun gently shone the warmer the world became and soon the man felt so hot, he took off his coat and sat down in a shady spot.

"How did you do that?" said the Wind. "It was easy," said the Sun, "I patiently waited until you were done then I lit the day and through gentleness I got my way."

Suitability

This is the shortest of the stories I researched and I fear it may be too short to create a decent length performance. The story is also about personified weather and so to turn them into a physical beings on stage, they would be very abstract and might be confusing to the kids. However I find the story teaches a few good morals that I feel the children can benefit from hearing, the morals include the importance of patience and how being gentle can be beneficial. The story also follows the generic conventions of a children's story, there is a good character (the sun) and a bad one (the wind). the story line is basic so there is a beginning, a complication (the bet) and a resolution with the good character victorious. This generic story structure I feel is good for the children as it is something they will be familiar with and happy with.