Episode 170 - SuperTed (Mike Young, 1982-1986) (with Elain Price)
SuperTed (Mike Young, 1982-1986).
“SuperTed and the Inca Treasure” (S1E1, 1982).
“SuperTed and the Giant Kites” (S1E4, 1983).
“SuperTed on Planet Spot” (S1E12, 1983).
The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!
Special guest Dr. Elain Price (Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, Swansea University) joins Chris and Alex for this rundown of SuperTed (Mike Young, 1982-1986) where they reflect on the series’ contribution to - and place within - histories of animation, including its influence upon the development of Welsh animation production over the last 40 years. Focusing on the episodes “SuperTed and the Inca Treasure” (S1E1, 1982), “SuperTed and the Giant Kites” (S1E4, 1983) and “SuperTed on Planet Spot” (S1E12, 1983), topics for Episode 170 include Elain’s own work on Welsh-language television channel S4C (the first to be aimed at a Welsh-speaking audience) and the broadcast of SuperTed on the first night of the channel in 1982; industry, investment, and the marketing of Mike Young’s television adaptation of his own childen’s books; links between the anthropomorphic character of SuperTed and Sid Griffith’s silent-era Welsh cartoon series Jerry the Troublesome Tyke (1925-1927); regional fantasy and parochial Welsh representation; and what SuperTed can tell us about national identity and the transportable nature of children’s television more broadly.
**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**
**As featured on Feedspot’s 25 Best London Education Podcasts**
**As featured on MillionPodcast’s Best 10 UK Animation Podcasts and Best 60 Movie Podcasts in the UK**
Suggested Readings
Chignell, Hugh, Ieuan Franklin, and Kristin Skoo. 2015. Regional Aesthetics
Mapping UK Media Cultures. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Davies, Geraint Talfan and Nick Morris. 2008. Media in Wales - Serving Public Values. Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs.
Holliday, Christopher. 2024. “Early British animation and cartoonal ‘co-conspiracy’: the case of Jerry the Troublesome Tyke (1925-1927)” Early Popular Visual Culture 22, no. 1: ‘The British Silent Film Festival and Symposium, Part 1’ (February): 26–41.
Price, Elain. 2013. “A cultural exchange - S4C, Channel 4 and film.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 33, no. 3: 418–433.
Price, Elain. 2022. Broadcasting for Wales - The Early Years of S4C Cardiff: University of Wales Press.