From everything I've seen on TV as a child, this series has made the most profound impression. I was probably too young to fully understand everything that happened which added to the excitement and mystery.
Some weeks ago I discovered to my delight that the series still existed unlike so many other programs of that era that have been deleted to re-use the then expensive Ampex tapes they were recorded on. What's more, there was a DVD version available. I got it right away.
One thing that i had completely forgotten was that the whole series is acted in a drawn background, with the actors using the then new blue screen technique to be added to the drawings. The wonderfully imaginative drawings by Carl Hollander are amazing - they're halfway between humorous and a little creepy; just the right mix for this story.
As the story unfolded my memory came rushing back. One of the things that I realised is that one of the recurring themes that I come across in my dreams must have been inspired by this series. I bet Carl Jung would have loved it: the story has highly symbolic / archetypal, even alchemical connotations. It's also smart: it tosses concepts at the (young) viewer that are almost never seen in children's series: too gnarly, too obscure, too confusing maybe? I loved it, anyhow.
The acting is good, which can be expected from this cast: Henk van Ulsen, Henk Molenberg, Sylvia de Leur, a delightfully over-acting Ton van Duinhoven and even a young Jeroen Krabbé warming up for his later Evil Dude roles :)
The only thing that feels a bit over-the-top is the continuous bickering between Valet (Henk Molenberg) and any other character that he happens to be with: Doctor Kroch or Sylvia. There's, for instance, a lot of argumentative "I want it My Way!"-type foot-stamping which I wouldn't have missed.
I also found the names for the two crooks Oenk and Boenk a bit too childish for the story as a whole.
But all in all, it's a rare gem. It might give children something to dream about, but nothing too bad.
