What makes it different from others?

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

There is no need to be nostalgic about the Telegoons. All 26 episodes can be found in DVD sets advertised on a 'well known Internet auction site'. Someone in the UK sells them, legally I hope, for about £5. This is fantastic value for six and a half hours of wonderful entertainment.Nothing like this will ever be made again. The show is in black and white. Some of the film quality is poor and there are occasional sound hisses, but it doesn't matter. Plenty of information about the Telegoons is easily found by anyone who can type nine letters into a reputable search engine.Each episode is 15 minutes. Original radio Goon Show scripts were edited and re-voiced by Messrs Milligan, Sellers and Secombe. There are fewer sound effects and none of the musical interludes of the radio programmes.Shows begin with introductions of about two minutes, usually unrelated to the story that follows. The makers have introduced some excellent visual gags. You see Eccles felling and whittling trees to become the world's worst pole-vaulter. Henry Crun totters downstairs in a lighthouse to answer a phone that stops ringing just as he arrives. And so on.After the warm up, the main theme starts, be it Scradge, The Hastings Flyer, Napoleon's Piano, Fort Knight or whatever. The puppets are marvellous characterisations of Seagoon, Gritpype-Thynne, Moriarty, Eccles, Bluebottle, Bloodnok, Henry Crun, Minnie Bannister, etc. The radio Goon Shows were classics but the Telegoons were and are even better.I haven't laughed so much for ages, partly in remembrance of times past but largely because of the surreal humour that remains fresh after almost half a century.

Unfortunately, these guys, due to their genius of comedic gift, &, ability were "light years"' ahead of their time , yes they were extremely funny in their day, but by todays standard they would be in another League. They were so Original in their "stuff" that even today no-one comes close. If they had had the advantage of todays media they would be ""GODS"", without a doubt. Having "watched: the guys on Telley back in the 60's when I was just a wee lad, (every Saturday, I think, {after Doctor Who, I may be hallucinating here}, but anyway, my-god these guys were funny. I think if they were shown on TV now they would be more successful now than back in the 60's, (but then again I am an expert in everything, not true, just line # 11).

My whole family were enthralled by The Telegoons. We watched every episode that we could. For me, as a 14 year-old, the Telegoon puppets *were* the Goons, and brought to life the radio characters as only television can for those of us who are members of the television generation. I have never forgotten the memory of seeing Eccles exploded, covered in black soot, sitting up on the power lines. As part of research I am conducting into The Telegoons, I have managed to contact several of the people who worked on the series all those years ago. Their unsung story is at last getting some air time. Since it is not within the rules to place a url in this comment, use a good search engine to search for the name of the TV series, and you'll find what you have seeking for all these years. (I am webmaster of the Official Goon Show Preservation Society Telegoons website).

I thought they were called the Telly Goons, but it's so long ago that my memories of them are very vague. Even though I must have been only nine or ten I can still see the puppets very cleary, and the warning "Don't go near the canal, Neddy" stays with me. I'm sure they made a strong impression on many of us Torchy and Twizzel fans as they were the first intentionally funny puppet series I can remember. I wonder if all the episodes went the same way as many Dr. Who series of the period, or if the BBC still have archive copies. I'd love to see them again.