User reviews

Fireman Sam is a two-sided affair. On the one hand, because the first 4 seasons are a long way from the later ones, but above all because the switch from stop-motion to CGI animations has given the series an extreme kink. In addition, the stories are designed to be more superficial and less value-oriented. So you can rate the first seasons with a very good 9 stars, the later with a lucky 3 stars, so that in the end (unfortunately) an overall rating of 6 points comes out; and that's still benevolent, because the CGI era is much more extensive than that of classic stop motion.

Previously, the show had likeable characters, good animation, and good episodes. But the CGI series/seasons are just plain awful and one of the worst children's cartoons, Note: I will only be reviewing the CGI series/seasons.

For example, now Dilys (Norman's mother) has been completely redesigned! She looks almost nothing like her original design!

The only connections to previous seasons are: the names of the characters, the show still being set in Pontypandy (albeit with a different layout), the theme music, some of the character designs bearing a slight resemblance to how they looked in Season 5, and Sam still using his "Great Fires of London" !" catchphrase in seasons 6 and 7, but that's pretty much it.

This tries very hard to modernize Fireman Sam/Sam Tân.

CGI animation looks jagged, robotic, weird, scary, ugly, outdated, weak, etc.

Animation errors exist in these seasons as well, like in the episode "Floating Cart" where Norman, Mike, Helen and their van disappear for a very short time, but still. This has been fixed (at least in the US version) Another example is in the episode "Sticky Situation", where right at the beginning of the episode, you can see a literal red line (probably used to make the animation) on the right side of the screen. How did no one in the animation department notice this until James A Williams did?!

Also, many characters have had their personalities switched.

Norman Price is the worst example, and the only one I'm going to give, he has become annoying, selfish, idiotic, whiny, obnoxious, obnoxious, stupid, bratty, and arrogant who does horrible things for little reason.

The voice acting is sometimes painful to listen to.

For example, children (UK only) sound terrible, as they don't sound like children, but like adults with high-pitched voices.

The worst example is Norman Price, as Steve Kymann does a terrible job voicing him, and his voice in the UK is just unbearable, as it sounds like a cross between Carl Wheezer and JarJar Binks, with a Welsh accent.

I could say a lot more, but I think this quote says it all: "And I can easily agree that CGI Fireman Sam is definitely one of those bad reboots! Why do I call this a reboot instead of just Season 6 onwards? Because Season 6 seriously feels like I'm watching a completely different show! The characters look and act different, the setting is different, the animation is different, the feel is different. One of the best things about Season 5 was because even though it was made a few years after the original series ended, that season felt like a sequel season to the show. Kind of like Samurai Jack Season 5. The characters were the same, the setting was the same, the humor was the same, and some elements from the original seasons were present in this season. But Season 6 has basically nothing connected to the fifth season, or the other four seasons, except for, Sam's catchphrase of "Great Fires of London!", the characters' names and theme song. That's basically it!"

• James A. Williams, from his "CGI Fireman Sam" rant video

Once he TIED JAMES TO A CHAIR AND GLUED A DOOR SO POOR JAMES WAS STUCK IN THERE!

It doesn't help that he spends a lot of screen time in many episodes of these seasons, even when he's not the main focus. The writers seem to have the motto: "When in doubt, always put Norman into the scene"

I watched most episodes of this show with my son when he was 3 and 4 years old. While I loved the earlier stop motion version of Fireman Sam, my son roundly rejected it, instead preferring the shiny computer animated episodes. I think the computer animation lacks a little soul, but my son loved them.

My son was very interested in firefighting, and this is one of the few shows for little kids on the topic. So he loved watching it. The show was fairly entertaining for me.

Norman Price is the world's worst role model for a little kid. That said, he's so awful that my kids mostly griped about what an awful kid he is. That gave us a good starting point to talk about behavior.

This is a fun little show we discovered on our Comcast "On Demand" feature. It concerns the adventures of a team of firefighters in a small town in Wales. Fireman Sam is the main character, with several other folks in town contributing. One thing we appreciate about it is that it is not "diluted" for US audiences - the dialog contains several UK/Welsh specific phrases and terms, which my 6 year old son has had fun hearing, while learning how another culture expresses itself. The characterizations are standard but well-drawn; the firefighters are not superheroes, just brave and steady. There is the naughty boy who gets in scrapes and the average town folk who sometimes require the fire service. A good show for youngsters to view with characters they can understand, and very family-friendly without being sappy.

Despite the poor animation and poor performance of the actors, I thought it was good for kids and I have good memories of when I was a kid and I saw this series. I recommend.

This show, at least the modern CG seasons are pure garbage. Fires randomly start that wouldn't. People do the dumbest things. The voice acting is... not even acting; it's grown men trying to be kids-any other show would use boys or women. The scripts are terrible, the "animation" is atrocious. The plots are thin. It's annoying to watch for anyone with half a brain. Yes, it's a kid's show, but parents often end up watching the same thing as their (young) kids.

If I had a choice, I'd remove this from Netflix. But I can't and my 2yo loves fire trucks... I can only hope the poor quality is temporary.

Why haven't they employed kids to do the kids voices. So very annoying.

When we were in primary school, Fireman Sam was something that my siblings and I used to watch without fail every day. At 18 I remember it with such fondness. It looked wonderful, was funny, educational and adventurous. I often laughed at Norman's naughty antics, and often sang along with the irresistibly catchy theme song. I marvelled at how the characters looked, the construction of the village PontyPandy itself and how colourful it was. I loved the fun and creativity of the stories, while they taught us very important things without it being forced down our throats. And the characters are endearing, Sam, Norman, Elvis, Penny, Basil and Norman's mum all to name a few.Plus John Alderton was perfect with the narration and voices. Overall, a great show! 10/10 Bethany Cox

Little boy Normans voice in the animated show makes me want to fill my ears with cement and smash my tv, unwatchable because of it.

I can remember first seeing this stop-motion animated kids' programme when I was very young, probably shortly before or after its demise. Like most other shows I can remember from my childhood, I liked this one a lot. I can also recall still watching reruns of it several years later. It has been over a decade since then, but I remember accidentally coming across the show on TV once a few years ago, and even if that hadn't happened, I would still remember it very well!

Fireman Sam was a firefighter who lived in Pontypandy, a town in Wales. Other main characters in the show included Sam's fellow firefighters (Station Officer Basil Steele, Penny Morris, Trevor Evans, and Elvis Cridlington) along with several other townspeople. He was a hero to the town, and certain people in the community often needed the help of Sam and the other firefighters, whether it was for a fire or something else, including Norman, a mischievous kid who often found himself in trouble due to his lack of self-control.

"Fireman Sam" was an educational programme which could teach kids about safety. To make it entertaining as well, the show was also rich with adventure and humour. A lot of the laughs came from Norman's mischievous ways. Another highlight was the very catchy theme song. For all those reasons, the show is very memorable, and I'm sure many kids today could enjoy it just as much as those who watched while they were kids in the '80s or '90s! I'm sure there are still reruns of the show played, so it's not one of those kids' shows that have been forgotten, fortunately.

This show is terrible! The same whiny kid Norman seems to start every fire and never learns his lesson. And the Elvis character is such a stupid fire fighter. Netflix needs to remove the show!

This programme has a lot of nice elements. The dreamy village setting is nice, the messages of guidance are clear and the story lines easy to follow. Our young children like it a lot. Which means I end up watching it a lot, too :-) If I could, I'd change a few things. The utter hero-worship of Sam, modest though he is, is too much; the kids always end up wanting to be him. Also, he's a rescue service of every kind, if a fuse went in the telly they'd "ring Fireman Sam". But toughest is Norman's harshly horrible voice which is the most unpleasant kid's voice you've ever know mixed with the most OTT caricature of Welsh.

None of these things are crimes and the good of the show very much outweighs the bad. It's just when you've watched twenty or thirty of them in a summer, they start to grate just a tiny bit...!

Another childhood classic that I grew up with, and still watch to this day, my life would never have been complete without Fireman Sam. The theme song is a real gem and well suited for an action-oriented children's program. A round of applause for Ben Henegan and Ian Lawson for the composition, Robin Lyons for the lyrics and Mal Pope for the vocals.

There are also so many likable characters (even naughty Norman Price), that I can't think of one I dislike, not to mention episodes (from the classic series, anyway). And we have to give the narrator John Alderton a pat on the back for managing to provide the right voice for a certain character.

I also approve of Series 5, for its inclusion of female voice actors, uprated Rescue Theme, and improved stop motion animation techniques (that's far from saying that the animation in the Classic Series is bad, which it isn't). And although the writing isn't quite as solid as it is in the Classic Series, it's still quite good. Series 5 is also proof of how a reboot of a classic TV show should be and should've stayed that way instead of going CGI. Wasted potential, if you ask me.

It's too kiddie and slow. It's nothing new.

Verdict: fire these animators.

I remember this show from my countless hours of viewing in the early 90's (probably aged no more than 4 at the time). I saw it again recently and it brought back such memories...this show is an absolute classic. The theme song alone is great.If you liked postman pat or something like that then you'll love this.

The modern English version of Fireman Sam is a terrible rendition of the classic animated kids show. The series promotes nothing about teamwork with Sam been the only hero in every single episode (who is on duty 24/7) with the other fireman just used as comic relief or sidekicks in a ridiculously over-funded small country town fire department. The voice overs are terrible, the awful Normal Price is highly irritating and all the kids sound like adults doing bad impersonations. Over 90% of the town's fire problems would be solved if they just let Norman die... Also the kids constantly get away with doing highly dangerous or downright stupid stunts with just a minor lecture from Sam at the end and a silly promise not to do it again.

I love Fireman Sam so much! It is one of the best British children's shows in the world because it has a very catchy theme song, nice stories with lots of details, good voice acting, and great characters. I know people say that these traits are gone in the CGI series of the show, but I don't think so. Yes in the CGI series, some of the characters' voices sound annoying and Norman Price is an arsonist, but those traits were changed back in season 13. Since in that season, Norman is nicer and less troublesome, and there are now characters that have GOOD voices. So yeah it's a great show, and I love it!!!!

I think it is stupid that it is always the children who do things wrong and must be told off and ashamed. And of course it is always the firemen who are the heroes, except for Elvis. It is boring to watch somebody making mistakes and beeing corrected.

I used to watch this when I was little, brings back memories man! It's meant for kids, and for kids it great, I don't think rating it low is fair just because you don't like it, you are most likely over 15+ And this is coming from a 13 year old.

Was a pretty decent show for kids for a number of seasons. The new version shown on Netflix is absolute garbage for no other reason than the voices. What happened? Are there only two voice actors left for the entire show?

My kids are watching those old episodes (nineties), new episode not puppet like one they're not interested in, the new edition of Fireman Sam they don't even want to watch!