Product description

The Trap Door [1984]

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050582324662
Label : Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer : Universal Pictures UK
Publisher : Universal Pictures UK
Release date : 2005-02-21
Title : The Trap Door [1984]
Actor : William Rushton
Audience rating : Universal, suitable for all
Format : PAL
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1984-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 200
Studio : Universal Pictures UK
Theatrical releaseDate : 1984

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-04 rating:

trapdoor review
i loved this show when i was a little sprog in the 80's, absolutely brilliant i thought, always have done. Im not sure how long this has been on dvd, but i've bought it recently and treated myself to trip down memory lane. All the characters are great, but for some reason i still find myself cracking up at little drutt. Even though the models where relatively crudely done plasticine, i think adds to the overall enjoyment of it. The creatures that used to come out of the trapdoor as well where ingeniously thought out of nowhere, very simple yet quite horrible sometimes. And with the legendary Willie Rushton doing the voices it all came back to me of what a fun time i had watching this way back in the days when kids tv was just plain good fun.

review by: date: 2008-05-27 rating:

Hilarious! Never has a blue blob of plasticene had so much character!
I think the other reviewers have said it all. I just want to agree with them on how good this is. For some reason I remember this as being shown on Channel 4 in the middle of the night, or early hours of the morning! I think it used to come on after The Tube, which was on Channel 4 until 4 in the morning, and maybe The Trap Door came on after that or was on BBC and I had changed channels by then, I seem to recall that The Clangers, and The Moomins were also sometimes shown in the middle of the night, which I thought was strange for kids tv. But then it was probably meant to be classed as early morning television and I was still up! I only wish they'd made another series. As it is, it was interesting to see on the dvd, that the 2nd series was not quite as good as the first, and the set was remade with different plasticene and Berk looked decidedly different, as did Boney. (As much as a blue blob and a skeleton head _can_ look different that is! But they do nevertheless). I loved the theme tune and it would have been nice if each story was presented exactly as it would have been in its original tv broadcast, but I'm just grateful to have it on dvd at all, but maybe they could do another release along with some extras too, and make sure that each story is presented with the theme tune. They did it with "Willow the Wisp" and those stories are only very short, yet they still included the theme tune with each one, so they could do it with this one too for a future release.

review by: Xing date: 2006-11-20 rating:

Absolute classic
I remember watching this back when I was little and feeling the delicious shivers creep up and down my spine as the theme music started. I was overjoyed to see that it was finally out on DVD - more than that, it still holds up pretty well if you want to watch something that isn't too demanding and doesn't try to be adult like a lot of animation nowadays. Seems to have a bit of social commentary going on with the 'orrible Thing Upstairs having a blatant Cockney accent while Burk speaks with West Country vowels and Boney sounds like a baritone Kenneth Williams. But never mind that, revel in the joy of plasticine models, the sheer absurdity of Drut being male and having babies, and the wonderfully inventive monsters which come out of that trapdoor. It's a pretty good metaphor for the psyche, now I think about it: superconcious, ego, id.

Warning: as others have stated, this DVD does not include the opening and ending theme for each episode. The opening theme is included separately, which seems pointless as it is very much an introduction to the episode and doesn't really stand on its own. That's the only reason I gave this four out of five stars.

"Stay away from that trapdoor, cause there's something down there..."

review by: Reviewer date: 2006-10-09 rating:

An 80s Classic
When I added this to my wishlist I knew it was one I remember and would really enjoy. What I didn't realise was how much I would enjoy it! TV as it used to be, TV as it is supposed to be!

Stay away from that trap dooooooor... cos there's something down there!

Cannot recommend this enough!

review by: God of Gods date: 2006-09-06 rating:

A show that could never be today.
If The Trap Door were to debut in 2006 then it would be low-grade CGI crap with no atmosphere or icky moments. What does that tell you about the current crop of PC-trash children's programming?

As it is, The Trap Door was an icon of 80s children's television. 'ooever knew that plasticine models could be so effective? But it wasn't just that. The castle that Berk and Boni (and the Thing upstairs) lived in was such a brilliant, atmospheric set. The 'owling winds, the dead trees and the constant dark and fog really did add a lot to it.

Berk was some kind of blue creature and was also a butler/servant to the ever-unseen cockney-voiced Thing, 'oo would always complain about the noise or being 'ungry. Whenever Berk would turn his back an 'orrible monster would creep out of the Trap Door in the basement. The Trap Door led directly into the catacombs beneath the castle where an infinity of worms and diabolical nasties dwelled. They'd cause no end of trouble for poor ol' Berk. You'd think he'd learn to keep it shut.

The theme song, despite sounding very 80s, was pretty damn cool too. One particular episode devoted its entire running time to an extended version of it. But that's one of my gripes. The running time was only 5 minutes (barely) for each episode, which was a bit annoying since it always seemed to end just as it was starting.

It only lasted for two seasons for some reason. But even though they only made a handful of episodes, The Trap Door has remained popular for over 20 years and that more than you can say for children's TV of today.

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