Button Moon

My memories are hazy (apart from the great theme tune of course), but I seem to recall Mr Spoon would take a telescope with him on his sojourns and use it to spy on people back on "Earth".

I'm sure one such person was Mrs Spoon. Clearly Mr Spoon was a control freak or there was a fundamental lack of trust in their relationship.

And clearly Button Moon wasn't actually button-shaped or Mr Spoon would have fallen through the holes. And why was the moon named after him anyway?

Usually shown in the midday slot along with Rainbow or Let's Pretend.

The catchy theme tune ('We've been to Button Moon, we've followed Mr Spoon') was the work of Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson. It set the scene, and wrapped up each 11 minute episode, of the tales of the Spoon Family and their journeys to the mysterious planet which looked, well, suspiciously like a button, where lived irritating characters such as the West Country voiced teddy.

Aimed at pre-schoolers it quickly gained a cult following amongst teenagers and students (as did many other series of the 1980s). It seems there were fewer episodes than I remember - rather like the legendary Mr Benn ...

This was on of the oddest kids programmes from the early 80's. Mr Spoon (a wooden spoon with a big nose) and his wife and child lived under the gaze of Button Moon (a large yellow button) which they went up to in the space ship that our hero Mr Spoon had made. Basically it was hand held wooden spoons over a black velvet backdrop being moved about with a narration , and i know that i was too old to be watching it when i did but it was hypnotic. A very strange one indeed that has to be seen to be believed.

A firm favourite of mine during my nursery school years, 'Button Moon' had a large following of fans in those who were tots in the early Eighties. It was a very low-budget show with the characters were put together using wooden spoons and tin cans but it worked when complimented with simple story-telling and a solid musical score.

There was something very surreal about 'Button Moon' that I loved as a child (although I could see why people now link it to a drugs' trip!) but it was a show that proves you don't need high-quality CGI to keep small children (and adults!) entertained. Upon viewing it recently, after a friend bought the DVD, it certainly brought back memories and would no doubt be equally as popular with today's toddlers as it was with kids in the Eighties.

I can safely say that Button Moon was my most favourite piece of children's television ever to have graced our great screens. All I remember from my childhood is sitting close to the TV and watching every single (short but worth it) episode and dreaming of flying off to my own big button in the sky... and it was all low budget too! forget your expensive production line 'toons that kids are entertained with nowadays, nothing beats a baked bean tin and the contents of your kitchen drawer! Even years later, I can still say it is incredibly entertaining, as while drunk at the beginning of my uni years myself and the guys next door lay giggling in my room watching the amusing vacuum cleaner and his "vvmmvvvmvvvvvm" speech, completely in hysterics at the wobbly jelly, our friends teddy, rag doll and lest not forget the army of bottles! Trippy as it was, button moon RULED - as it still does!