Moschops is a British stop motion-animated children's television series produced by FilmFair, and broadcast on ITV in 1983.[2]

Moschops
Also known asKnobbel
GenreChildren's television
Written byRuth Boswell
Gregory Stewart
Directed byMartin Pullen
Voices ofBernard Cribbins
Narrated byBernard Cribbins
ComposerDaryl Runswick
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producerGraham Clutterbuck
ProducerRuth Boswell
EditorRobert Dunbar
Running time11 minutes
Production companyFilmFair
Original release
NetworkITV
Release5 July (1983-07-05) –
27 September 1983 (1983-09-27)[1]

The characters in Moschops are designed by Sue Marke. All of the cast are prehistoric animals, except for Flower, who is the world's first flower.

The characters' names imply their species or genus. The title character, Moschops, is a young therapsid of the genus Moschops; Ally is a theropod of the genus Allosaurus; Grandfather Diplodocus is a sauropod of the genus Diplodocus; Mrs. Kerry is a ceratopsid of the genus Triceratops; Uncle Rex is a Tyrannosaurus rex; and Mr. Ichthyosaurus is an ichthyosaur of the genus Ichthyosaurus.

In the series, Moschops and Ally are friends. They live in a cave with Grandfather Diplodocus and Uncle Rex.

From 1984 to 1985, Omroepvereniging VARA, the Dutch public broadcasting network, broadcast a Dutch-dubbed version titled Knobbel. Channel 4 retransmitted Moschops in 1988. The series was also broadcast in Canada on the Knowledge Network & TVOntario and New Zealand on Channel 2.

Episode list edit

No. Title Original air date
01"Moschops and The First Flower"5 July 1983 (1983-07-05)
02"All's Well That Ends Well"12 July 1983 (1983-07-12)
03"Night-time Sun"19 July 1983 (1983-07-19)
04"Fiercest Dinosaur"26 July 1983 (1983-07-26)
05"Tidiest Dinosaur"2 August 1983 (1983-08-02)
06"Ally Takes to the Air"9 August 1983 (1983-08-09)
07"Wheels Within Wheels"16 August 1983 (1983-08-16)
08"Moschops's Garden"23 August 1983 (1983-08-23)
09"Moschops's Party"30 August 1983 (1983-08-30)
10"Just Like Me"6 September 1983 (1983-09-06)
11"No Place Like Home"15 September 1983 (1983-09-15)
12"Moschops's Tent"20 September 1983 (1983-09-20)
13"Rainbow"27 September 1983 (1983-09-27)

Video releases edit

Home video releases
Video title Medium Release date Distributor Episodes
Moschops VHS
(PAL)
? Castle Vision 1–4
Adventures in Dinosaurland VHS
(NTSC)
5 May 1993 (1993-05-05) Family Home Entertainment 2–5
Moschops DVD-Video
(Region 2)
12 July 2004 (2004-07-12) E1 Entertainment 1–3
Moschops: The First Flower DVD-Video
(Region 2)
27 March 2006 (2006-03-27) Abbey Home Media 1–5
Moschops: Ally Takes to the Air DVD-Video
(Region 2)
12 March 2007 (2007-03-12) Abbey Home Media 6–10

Moschops in print edit

For a short time after the series aired, Pippin featured a Moschops comic strip.

Purnell Publishers of Bristol published eight small picture books based on the television programme: Moschops and the Fierceness Lesson (1983), Moschops and the Mystery (1983), Moschops and the Surprise (1983), Moschops Digs a Hole (1983), Moschops and the Sneezes (1983), Moschops Plays Football (1983), Moschops' Kite (1984), and Moschops' Birthday (1984).

Other Moschops books include Moschops Annual (1983), Moschops Playtime Book (1983), and Moschops Dot-to-Dot (1984).

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Moschops". BFI Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  2. ^ "Toonhound - Moschops (1983)". www.toonhound.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.

References edit

  • "Moschops". Curious British Telly. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.

. Retrieved 5 January 2013.

External links edit