Dennis the Menace

Welcome to "Matthew Rants", and boy it has been a long time since I ranted a lot. Today I will rant about this dreadful British cartoon. In Britain it was known as "Dennis and Gnasher". It appeared on those Beano comics in Britain. It never came to the U.S. of A until 2005. It appeared on PBS Sprout On Demand. (Look before I continue I did it once and only once. I never watch PBS or it's infantile counterparts. It just came out of curiosity.) As I watched it, it was so predictable. Dennis (a kid with black bushy hair and a red and black shirt with horizontal stripes) sound like Numbuh 4 when he talks. Gnasher is a Ruff clone except he is looking kind of like a hybrid between a rat and a bear or weasel and a cat. Something like that. He is one hell of a trouble-maker. Worst of all he flirts with the ladies! His parents try to discipline him and make him end up taking a hair cut. OK This one contains a spoiler. He escapes this barber named Slasher Brown (sounds like something off from a horror film). He escapes him and Brown sends an army of barbers to capture him and have his hair cut. As Dennis and Gnasher are being chased across the road, kids are rooting for him and encouraging him! Naturally, in the end, he looses and a policeman searches for the delinquent, something like that. I can't tell you any more about this. After this was over, I checked out other episodes on demand and read descriptions of them, BUT DIDN'T WATCH THEM. I clicked the exit button of my remote and boy was I bothered, turned to Cartoon Network and my wounds were healed thanks to THE HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI SHOW. A few months later I didn't see this show on demand. Thank God! Because I think parents wrote letters to PBS Sprout and it got taken off the air or a lack of interest. Whatever it is, he is nothing but trouble. I don't watch PBS sprout keep in mind. Parents do your future of your children a favor and don't let them watch it, because this is one of those cartoons where a trouble-making character drives people bananas and gives growing up and maturity a bad name. So, avoid it like the plague.

If you are looking for a decent representation of the British Beano comic Dennis & Gnasher in cartoon form this is it. Excellent animation, with suitably voiced characters from Dennis, the noises of dog gnasher and mum and dad. Having been a fan of the comic as a child both myself and my wife were pleasantly surprised that this excellent tv series emerged for our own children to watch around 2004. Having got a DVD collection of 13 episodes they are worth repeat viewing. The humour and jokes stand up to adult viewing and definitely are not just for the children. Brilliantly observed humour fully getting into the spirit of the comic creation. A much underrated gem of a cartoon. Avoid all the many imitations before & since especially the far inferior American version.

Easily the best version of the cartoon in my opinion.

Fun and full of entertainment for all ages

This was an extremely popular show in the UK, and followed on the hugely popular comic's Dennis the Menace. Season 1 of 26 episodes ran on the BBC and the popularity produced a second 26 episodes the following year.

NOT to be confused with the blonde boy of the same name in the USA, the UK version had a black and red striped shirt and spiked black hair.

I guess it was renamed Dennis and Gnasher to avoid the confusion when shown in the USA. Gnasher was Dennis's dog.

There were 52 episodes in all, but after a ten year gap rumor has it that he has been reworked, redesigned and looks like he may grace our screens again in the very near future. The original 52 were made by Tony Collingwood and the animation by Kieron Seamons. Well worth seeing again and again !