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Robot (The Goodies)

2022-07-30T06:22:43Z

2001:8003:A999:F200:9806:BC75:51BE:FDB1: /* Plot */

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]
| image =
| caption =
| series_no = 9
| episode = 2
| director =
| writer =
| producer =
| production =
| airdate = 9 January 1982 <br />(Saturday — 6.45 p.m.)
| length =
| guests =
* [[David Rappaport]] as the voice of the Robot
| prev = [[Snow White 2]]
| next = [[Football Crazy (The Goodies)|Football Crazy]]
| episode_list = List of The Goodies episodes
}}

"'''Robot'''" is an episode of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[comedy]] television series ''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]''.

This episode is also known as "'''Automation'''".{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}

This episode was made by [[London Weekend Television|LWT]] for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]].

Written by [[The Goodies]], with songs and music by Bill Oddie.

==Plot==
Tim and Graeme are studying a readout of their end of year profits and expenses, and deduce that they must fire Bill in order to keep the business running at a profit. Graeme suggests that they introduce automation now that Bill is gone, while Bill announces that he's going to [[Picketing (protest)|picket]]. Unfortunately, the lettering on his picket sign, which reads "Support your striking mate!" starts to run after it starts raining, leading the sign to now read "up yours mate!", which causes Bill to get knocked out by an offended passerby.

Back at the Goodies office, Bill is packing up his things, while Tim nervously paces around the living room. Bill says it must be because of the guilt they are feeling for firing him, but Tim explains that they are expecting a little visitor and will soon be hearing the patter of tiny feet. Suddenly, they hear the sound of a baby crying and Graeme bursts in and announces that they are now the proud parents of a baby robot. Bill is aghast at being replaced with such a thing, but Graeme explains that when it grows up it will be able to do everything that he does. Convinced that Graeme has lost his mind, Bill exits.

Later that night, Tim and Graeme are woken up by the wailing of the robot. They get into an argument over who should get up to look after him and decide that they need an [[Au pair]] to look after the robot. The next morning, a group of attractive would-be Au pairs arrive at the house, and a randy Tim is suddenly excited about the prospect of getting some hired help. However, one final applicant arrives - a still bearded Bill, in a pink sweater, mini-skirt, blonde wig and with an outrageously large bust, wanders in and introduces himself as Helga from [[Sweden]]. Tim is disgusted by "Helga", but Graeme insists they hire her, citing a well-known rule of life about never to hire a pretty Au pair as it always causes trouble. Tim and Graeme explain to "Helga" what is expected of "her" and suggest "she" take the robot out for a walk.

"Helga" immediately tries to do away with the defenceless robot while out on their walk - using a variety of methods to dispose of him. None of these work and the robot turns the tables on his carer and eventually gets "Helga" encased in a concrete block. Fed up, "Helga" dumps the robot at the steps of a [[homeless shelter]] and runs away.

Later, Tim spanks "Helga" as punishment for losing the robot when they go on walks. Graeme enters and tells off "Helga". Tim and Graeme demand an explanation from "Helga" as to why the robot keeps going missing. Bill, who's now dropped the accent and speaks in his normal voice, comments that the robot is growing up and they can't rule his life. A nostalgic Graeme goes to his computer to play their home movies featuring his robot son. These movies include such moments of Graeme shoving dozens of ice creams into the mouth of the robot and "Helga" subsequently being vomited on by the robot. The film ends with secret video that Graeme recorded of "Helga" dumping the robot at the shelter.

Graeme then proudly announces that "Helga's" efforts to get rid of the robot were useless, as it is always programmed to come home. Bill inquires where the robot is now, and Graeme admits that he has no idea. Tim and Graeme then get into a debate over the gender of their cybernetic offspring when their "son" rather a daughter bursts in (now much larger than the last time he appeared) accompanied by a pink female robot (which Graeme refers to as a "tin trollop). Tim demands that the robot get up to his room immediately, to which the robot replies "You said it, baldy". The sounds of them engaging in hanky panky are heard as Graeme and Tim lament over where they went wrong as parents.

Helga chides the duo for having "got rid of that nice furry little bloke Bill"; for the robot is "ruining your life … and your ceiling!" (as it bangs and clunks around upstairs with its girlfriend) and Graeme's bid to put a stop to the robot's antics with "a jolly good talking-to!" with Helga's suggestion of setting up a good example. The robot comes back down and Tim tries to lay down the law. The robot treats Tim's dressing down with contempt, his interest only raising when Graeme walks in dressed up in kitchen utensils and cooking pans pretending to be a robot, in order to set a good example for his son. But this backfires when the robot becomes amorous with Graeme and advances on him. Tim admits that their son is beyond saving, saying he's only interested in sex and playing loud music. Tim then makes an offhand comment about how "next thing you know, he'll probably grow long hair and a beard", and almost instantly, a beard and Oddie-esque long hair appears on the robot. Graeme is aghast, declaring that they've turned the robot into Bill and talk about how much they loathed him. "Helga" wanders in and jumps to Bill's defence - saying he thought Bill was a fine human being. "Obviously you didn't know him" Graeme responds. Bill replies "Know him ... I '''''am''''' him!", taking off his Helga wig. Tim and Graeme then realise they want him back, saying they don't need a robot. The robot then warns them to be careful, to which Bill launches into an agitated rant about how robots are taking over. He mentions [[C-3PO]], [[K-9 (Doctor Who)|K-9]], [[R2-D2]], [[Twiki (robot)|Twiki]] and [[Metal Mickey]] as he launches into an impassioned speech about the greatness of the human race. Graeme is worried about agitating the robot, and sure enough, he responds by storming out of the Goodies' apartment, leading his "comrades" - i.e. the kitchen appliances (oven, fridge) out of the home in protest. Tim vainly asks them to "Come back", but they leave.

To the strains of Bill's song "Come Back", the Goodies set off in pursuit of their whitegoods and the robot, with the help of a giant magnet. Eventually, it's left to Tim to defeat the angry appliances, and after being cornered and advanced upon by the robot and his allies, he uses the giant magnet to lift himself up to a lightpost, thereby causing the robot and the appliances to crash into each other and explode.

Tim then returns to the Goodies' home saying that the robot has learnt his lesson, to which a barely recognisable, severely damaged robot appears and says "Sorry, mummy". Graeme says that he doesn't need the robot anymore, as Bill is doing all of the housework now. Tim follows Graeme into the kitchen, where he sees Bill sitting at the table. With robotic movements, Bill puts his hand into a bowl of mixture and mixes it at high speed. Tim says that there is only one of him - to which Graeme responds that he's mass-produced Bill. He then leads Tim into the living room, where a room full of "Bill clones" are performing a variety of household chores (e.g. one acts as a TV set, another acts as an oven, another is doing the washing).

==Notes==
Bill Oddie refers to [[Metal Mickey]], a robot which originally appeared on the children's television show ''[[Saturday Banana]]'' hosted by Oddie.

==DVD and VHS releases==
{{Main|The Goodies videography}}
This episode has been released on both DVD and VHS.

==References==
<references/>
* "''The Complete Goodies''" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
* "''The Goodies Rule OK''" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
* "''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
* "''The Goodies Episode Summaries''" — Brett Allender
* "''The Goodies — Fact File''" — Matthew K. Sharp

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0591020|title=Robot}}

{{The Goodies episodes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robot (Goodies Episode)}}
[[Category:The Goodies (series 9) episodes]]
[[Category:1982 British television episodes]]

Saturday Night Grease

2022-07-30T04:34:25Z

2001:8003:A999:F200:9806:BC75:51BE:FDB1: /* Plot */

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]
| image =
| caption =
| series_no = 8
| episode = 2
| director =
| writer =
| producer = [[Jim Franklin (director)|Jim Franklin]] and <br />[[Bob Spiers]]
| production =
| airdate = 21 January 1980 <br />(Monday — 8.10 p.m.)
| length =
| guests =
* [[Maria Eldridge]]
* [[Chris Eymand]]
* [[Spencer Shires]]
* [[Okon Jones]]
* [[Sandy Strallen]]
* [[Mark White (actor)|Mark White]]
* [[David Machin]]
| prev = [[Goodies and Politics]]
| next = [[A Kick in the Arts]]
| episode_list = List of The Goodies episodes
}}
"'''Saturday Night Grease'''" is the second episode of the eighth series of the [[United Kingdom|British]] television [[comedy]] series ''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]''. The 65th episode of the show overall, it was first broadcast at 8.10pm on 21 January 1980 on [[BBC2]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Saturday Night Grease The Goodies Series 8 Episode 2 of 6 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x4k5y |website=BBC |publisher=BBC |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>

This episode is also known as "'''Discotheque'''".{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}. It was written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.

==Plot==
Tim has developed a crush on [[Olivia Newton-John]], whose portrait has replaced that of [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] on his wall. His obsession prompts him to emulate the mannerisms, hairstyle and fashions exhibited by Newton-John's ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]'' co-star, John Travolta, in ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', although he admits to not having seen the latter film because of its X-rating. Tim visits a disco but is promptly ejected. He returns home and confides in Graeme and Bill that he is visiting discos in the hope of finding a date.

Graeme and Bill offer to accompany Tim to a disco. Bill wears a tail-coat with ridiculously long tails and [[Tap dance#Tap shoes|tap shoes]] with actual [[Tap (valve)|taps]] on them. Graeme wears a pink dress, parodying the [[Grease (film)#Pink Ladies|pink ladies]] of ''Grease''. When Tim confesses his inability to dance, Graeme teaches him the ''Disco Heave'', part of which involves miming vomiting induced by hearing a [[Max Bygraves]] record. But, once the teachings done Graeme was utterly revolted by the prospect of "snogging when the impatient Tim gets carried away with his smutting behaviour and hot-headedly decides to go out dancing by himself (using his "smoky urban charm" for some "choreographed canoodling, heavy petting and I'm gonna do it my way!").

At the disco, mixed dancing is forbidden. Tim is arrested for touching a girl when attempting to dance with her. Bill sets up his own disco, called "Disco Billius", which is so exclusive that even celebrities are denied entry. Graeme visits Bill to seek help to bail Tim out of prison. Bill is more interested in organising a mixed dancing competition to be televised by the BBC, which will provide prize money of £5,000. Bill surmises that no one will be willing to perform mixed dancing before a camera, so the competition will be declared void and the prize money will therefore go to him as organiser. Graeme bails Tim out of prison 'on account', and they enter the 'Panorama Disco Dancing Championships' hosted by Robin Yad (a spoof of [[Robin Day]]). With Graeme dressed as Newton-John's Sandy Olsson and Tim as Travolta's Danny Zuko from ''Grease'', they perform ''[[You're The One That I Want]]''. At the end of their winning performance, Bill removes Graeme's Sandy wig, revealing him to be a man. Bill tries to claim the money by default, while Tim delivers an impassioned speech in defense of mixed dancing, which prompts all present to dance together to ''[[the Tennessee Waltz]]''. The police intervene to stop the mixed dancing and then give chase to the three Goodies. Ensuing chase sequences spoof ''[[The Hustle (song)|the Hustle]]'', ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'', [[the Village People]]'s ''[[In the Navy]]'', ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', an [[Rain dance|Indian rain dance]], ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]'' and the Hawaiian [[hula]], culminating a choreographed brawl that spoofs the orchestrated ultra-violence of ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]''.

==Cultural references==
* ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]''
* ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]''
* [[Bee Gees]] – Tim imitates [[Barry Gibb]]'s falsetto from the ''[[Staying Alive (soundtrack album)|Staying Alive]]'' soundtrack when his tight trousers are zipped up.
* [[John Travolta]]
* [[Olivia Newton-John]]
* ''[[Network (1976 film)|Network]]''
* [[Village People|The Village People]]
* [[Robin Day]] – spoofed as ''Robin Yad''
* ''[[Top Hat]]'' – dance sequence
* ''[[Singin' in the Rain (film)|Singin' in the Rain]]'' – dance sequence with umbrellas
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' – dance sequence, with the music of the song ''Follow the Yellow Brick Road''
* ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'' – dance sequence
* [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Ginger Rogers]] – name of cafe
* [[The Hustle (song)]] – classic 1970s disco instrumental

==Notes==
This was the first episode of ''The Goodies'' that 'Clean-Up TV' campaigner [[Mary Whitehouse]] complained about - even though the trio had made many attempts to annoy her after she called them "wholesome entertainment" in 1970 (the episode "[[Gender Education (Goodies episode)|Gender Education]]" parodied Whitehouse). She complained, "Tim Brooke-Taylor was seen undressing to mock John Travolta in an exceedingly tight pair of underpants Her complaint was against the opening scene, which Tim's underpants with a distinctive carrot motif on the front." She described ''The Goodies'' as "too sexually orientated".<ref name="CornellDay1996">{{cite book|author1=Paul Cornell|author2=Martin Day|author3=Keith Topping|title=The Guinness Book of Classic British TV|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06YHAQAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Guinness|isbn=978-0-85112-628-9|page=149}}</ref>

The episode was filmed in early 1979, when disco music was at its height, and movies like ''Saturday Night Fever'' and ''Grease'' were box-office hits.

==DVD and VHS releases==
{{Main|The Goodies videography}}
This episode has been released on both DVD and VHS.

==References==
<references/>
* "''The Complete Goodies''" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
* "''The Goodies Rule OK''" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
* "''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
* "''The Goodies Episode Summaries''" — Brett Allender
* "''The Goodies — Fact File''" — Matthew K. Sharp
* "''TV Heaven''" — Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, HarperCollins''Publishers'', London, 2005

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0591024|title=Saturday Night Grease}}

{{The Goodies episodes}}

[[Category:The Goodies (series 8) episodes]]
[[Category:1980 British television episodes]]