Oscar's Orchestra

I always remember this British-French cartoon from the middle of the 1990s. I watched it for the first time when I was about 5 or 6 and I thought it was very good and enjoyable. It was shown on TCC (The Children's Channel) but sadly TCC went out of business in spring 1998 and it is now defunct. That was just a shame, wasn't it? It was also shown on the BBC as part of their children's block, CBBC and ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global) - owned Nickelodeon UK and Ireland.

It was produced by the same popular British animation studio who produces other such animated TV series and films as Dennis the Menace, Captain Zed and Zee Zone, The Secret Show and Rarg in association with Warner Music Vision and Europe Images.

It's about an evil dictator of the world, Thaddius Vent who has banned music forever and it's up to the talking piano called Oscar and his other fellow musical instruments to plot the evil madman Vent and his henchmen Lucius and Tank and soothsayer, Goodtooth. It is set in the distant future, the year 2743 in a city called New Vienna (we know it's in Austria).

"Oscar's Orchestra" got more attention than most children's animated TV shows, not least because Oscar was voiced by Dudley Moore. It would be nice to say that this series had more than that going for it, but...

The series was set in the Vienna of the future, a time where the evil Emperor Thaddeus Vent has banned all music from the home of Johann Strauss (because when he was young he was horrible at it, or something; I can't remember for sure), and any instruments found are to be removed from the city forthwith. But the Emperor's old piano, Oscar, is on the run and teams up with a set of other rogue instruments (a triangle, a harp, a violin etc) and a human friend in the battle to bring the sounds of music back to Vienna...

The problem with the show was that its surface intentions - to give young viewers an appreciation of classical music instead of all that dreadful popular music - never fully meshed with its status as a would-be diverting show; Oscar and his friends never really engaged, and the fact that Warner Music Vision was one of the production companies... plus the fact that a classical compilation album tied in to the series was released on WMV... it's hard not to be just a bit suspicious.

It all makes you wonder who it was aimed at; adults are more likely to appreciate the presence of the late comedian-musician (Dud's musical gifts are much less renowned than his comic ones), children already interested in the likes of Schubert, Vivaldi et al won't need this show to help them along, and children who aren't can't have been encouraged by this disappointing venture. Tony Collingwood did far better with "Captain Zed and the Zee Zone" and his delightful short film "Rarg." And if you choose them over "Oscar's Orchestra," so will you.