Due to the recent loss of his creator, beloved author Michael Bond, I thought I'd take the time to take a look at my personal favourite adaptation of the Paddington Bear books. There's been a few including - most recently - a live action movie, which has a sequel due out in November of this year. Paddington himself is most commonly depicted with a red hat and blue duffel coat, but it wasn't always this way. No, for a long while, he was shown with a black hat. Like in this version
This was first broadcast in January of 1976, and was a stop motion animation for the BBC. Paddingtom himself is three-dimensional, while everyone else is a cut-out. The episodes were scripted by Michael Bond, while narration and character voices came from actor Michael Hordern. This series was commonly repeated throughout the years, and I tended to catch episodes while growing up in the 90s. At five minutes each, they're nice little shorts that leave a warm feeling with the viewer.
To me, this is the iconic Paddington image. More so that another other image of him. I know the red hat is very popular, but there's something about the black hat that just stands out to me. Paddington himself is a little delight, and has been a personal favourite character for as long as I can remember. I still own copies of all the main books, and and attempting to track down the few I don't have just so I can read through them.
Being a very well meaning bear, Paddington never wants to get into the scrapes he tends to find himself in, and it always seemed to get across the message that even if you go into something with the best of intentions, it may not end up as you hope. At least, personally. It also managed to never be very moralizing, which was always fun
I find myself kind of reaching for things to say here and a lot of it is because I don't think I've actually processed that Mr. Bond has passed. I expect, when it hits, I shall be very sad. But, like he said himself, it's always fun to picture that small area of London. To picture Mr. Gruber and Paddington sitting out with their elevenses and watching the world pass by.
That's the image of Paddington that everyone should have. And it's the image that will always make me smile to think of.
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| One of my dear Paddington plushes. Yes, I have a few. He's adorable, okay?! |
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