Dodo in Christmas Adventure

1 Jan 1965
Sound
5m

Meet the animated sci-fi fixer from a strange atomic race who knows the value of Christmas.

Never heard of Dodo, the kid from outer space? He's the science fiction fixer from a strange atomic race! And he knows the value of Christmas - far more than his Earthly "friend" Professor Fingers who thinks that explosives make suitable presents for "the more stubborn boys". The propeller-heeled, antenna-eared Dodo featured in over 70 cartoons produced in Britain but mainly seen in North America.

The series was produced by Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films, best known for their feature length animated version of George Orwell's Animal Farm produced a decade earlier. The series was conceived and written by Lady Stearn Robinson (the second wife of Nobel prize winning British chemist Sir Robert Robinson), and financed by Robert Maxwell's Anroste Productions. Eagle-eyed viewers might spot a recycled shot of Santa's sleigh from Halas & Batchelor's earlier film The Christmas Visitor (1958), with Dodo painted in.

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Halas & Batchelor

Celebrating the vital and varied work of the pioneering British animation studio

Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films were a defining force in British animation for more than five decades. Founded in 1940 by the Hungarian-born John Halas and Watford-born Joy Batchelor, the company progressed from producing cinema advertisements to creating vital public information films during and after the Second World War, before producing Britain's first animated feature film, Animal Farm, in 1954.

Whether working in advertising, children's television or independent short films, Halas and Batchelor championed animation as both a commercial enterprise and an art form. Though more than the story of John and Joy, their vision, advocacy and innovation helped shape the careers of generations of artists and practitioners, while bringing a broad range animated storytelling to audiences on screens both large and small.