The Box of Delights (1984)

TBoD is much-loved by many people. I suspect that some part of the warm feelings that accompany thoughts of the series is to do with similar feelings toward the holiday season in which it's always shown; i.e. the lead up to Christmas. I'm not implying that to love TBoD you need also to love Christmas, but there's a definite correlation there. As such, while I very much enjoy what it does on a technical level, the 'seasonal magic' is merely perfunctory for me.

I apologise if it seems like I'm treading on someone's childhood when I say that the story was frequently uneven, losing ground in the middle section before pulling it back for an exciting ending that was itself followed by what I'd consider a clichéd cop out if it wasn't for the slight ambiguity that lingers as the credits roll.

The story revolves around eleven-year-old schoolboy Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield), travelling home for the holidays. His adventure begins before he's even stepped off the train, and it moves to the next level when he bumps into a bearded Patrick Troughton (both pictured above), an encounter that changes the course of his winter break. The box, more like a box of tricks than one of delights, is sought by a number of unscrupulous people who'll do almost anything to retrieve it. Kay and his friends must do their best to help keep it from their lupine hands.

The young actors are all fine, but the danger level never reaches the heights that were needed to keep me fully engaged with their plight. But I admit that I sometimes find it difficult to relate to privileged rich kids.

It will likely appeal to fans of the BBC's more well-publicised adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988), which it predates by four years. (The original novel by John Masefield also predates Lewis' Narnia books. The Box of Delights was published in 1935, whereas The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe didn't appear until 1950. I've not read Masefield's book.)

The 'technical' aspects I mentioned above are used to enable the magical properties of the box to be realised. The effects are a mixture of practical, chroma key, suit actors and hand drawn animation. The latter was my favourite - the scenes of animals running, flying, etc, through various environments are beautiful.

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each (I really liked the episode titles).

3 hobsessions out of 5