Stale Popcorn

If you have ever watched BBC2′s Top Gear then you probably know who James May is. Captain Sensible, the one more fascinated by facts & figures than Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Hammond, & the one most likely to come out with a totally random fact to astound the viewer.

What you might not know, though, is that he has also made another series for BBC looking at classic toys like Scalextric, Hornby trains etc. And following on from that show we get James May’s Toy Stories where, every week, James May takes a much loved classic toy & helps it fulfill it’s full potential by playing with it at a giant level, while also filling us in on the history of the toy of the week & meeting up with enthusiasts & trying to get the general public interested as well.

What this means is that we get episodes on Plasticine where he creates an entire garden out of the popular modelling clay for the Chelsea Flower Show, a recreation of a long closed train journey between Barnstaple & Bideford with a Hornby railway track, a full size house built entirely of Lego, the first motor car race on a long closed, legendary, British race track with Scalextric, a bridge made out of Meccanno across a Liverpool canal & a fullsize WWII Spitfire out of Airfix.

But the main thing is that, no matter what that particular episode is about the enthusiasm & passion James May shows in trying to get people interested in helping him is infectious & it soon drags you in, & it’s helped by a fair amount of humour (mainly at the expense of the “enthusiasts”, it has to be said). And the whole thing is a great deal of fun and fascinating, especially if you are of the right age to have grown up with these toys as a big part of your childhood (like me!).

I found this a consistently fascinating program, with each episode interesting, funny and full of nostalgia, and it has to be said I would never have thought that a Scalextric race between two miniature cars could have been as entertaining and exciting as the race on the classic Brooklands car racing track turned out to be!

James May proves that these much loved “classic” toys still have a place in the world and this show should be enjoyed by anyone who grew up in the 1970′s or 80′s, and will probably bring back a lot of memories.

It might not be something that you watch again and again, but these toys deserve the celebration that they are given in these six episodes, and you owe it to yourself to add this to your DVD shelf.

Posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am under DVD Reviews (R2) by Gareth.

Agree, disagree or just want to share your opinion? Then leave a comment.

Please Note: This website is not meant for use by minors and the views expressed in the Talkbacks section below are not ours, and are completely the opinions and views of the person commenting. The Talkbacks are intended for discussion of the above post. By all means disagree with the opinions expressed above, but comments which attack, insult or threaten the author or anyone else will be deleted.

Also, comments that we deem too far removed from the topic at hand, intended to incite hate or could be considered overly offensive to our readership may also be deleted. This site and all its features, is intended to be enjoyed by the masses and behaviour that could be considered as bullying, racist, sexist or of any other hate-filled agenda will not be tolerated!

Trackback.

Credit Counseling - Credit Consolidation - click fraud protection - Phoenix Landscaping