I thought nothing could be worse than Thomas the Tank Engine. Then there came The Hoobs. 
Thought about this, and another whose theme song was repeated over and over was Rocket Robin Hood. It was a cartoon (with crappy animation) set in the future, and based on Robin Hood. Apparently, Robin and his men (and Maid Marian) all live on Sherwood Asteroid, and are the nemeses of the Sheriff of N.O.T.T.
But no stories ever seemed to be completed, because—you guessed it—the theme song had to be repeated again. Band of brothers, marching together, heads held high in all kind of weather …
Jeez, how do I remember this stuff?
You must be joking! That was a delightful series that also resulted in some wonderful spin-off toys, some of which were featured at a model railroad shop that I used to frequent, including both individual models and entire miniature dioramas. The whole thing was a wondrous childhood experience.
The BBC’s “Rainbow” and the Czech (?) claymation “Pingu”
Rainbow mostly because it was outdated even in the 80 when I was watching it, but mostly because it was on before a show I did want to watch. Pingu is like Tellitubbies in its inanity.
At least Rocket Robin Hood had some action. Tales of the Wizard of Oz had…anti-comedy?
I read one book to my daughter, and either read it saw a little more of it. Reading it to my daughter, i was bothered that all the characters were male, so i named one of the engines that was visible in the distance and wasn’t part of the story “Lucilla”. But then i saw more of the series, and discovered there were a few female characters, and they were all passenger cars!
That may have been the most overtly sexist children’s media to ever grace our home. It was not invited back.
A friend’s son was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine as a toddler. I joked that the bad guys must be the diesel locomotives but was told that was actually true.
Modes of travel with human faces don’t do it for me. The Cars characters don’t bug me as much, but I find Thomas and Jay Jay to be creepy.
Also, want one of the engines sealed up in a tunnel because he didn’t want to work?
I presume the engines were all male because locomotives are associated with the hard labour of pulling trains. I see no implication of greater intelligence or any other positive attribute other than brute strength. I suppose you can see “sexism” everywhere if you look hard enough.
That said, the Thomas the Tank Engine series started in the UK in 1984 and in the US in 1989 and may indeed have had some hints of now-outdated social mores like classism. But overall I think it was just harmless children’s entertainment and those looking to find fault are just looking too hard. To paraphrase an old expression, sometimes a train locomotive is just a train locomotive.
The sexism on that show wasn’t very hard to find at all.
I watched reruns of this show in the 80s as a 5-year-old and I quite liked the show, including the theme song (at that age I wanted my own heroic theme song and I think I might have even adapted the song to how I imagined myself at the time!) Back then I didn’t mind the recycled, constantly repeating vignettes. As an adult, though, it seems like the animators having been very lazy.
One vignette that did irk me was of future Friar Tuck taking a single bite from a piece of food from a giant pile, throwing it behind him, doing the same with the next one, and repeating (see the end of this 44-second video). Even at that age, it seemed wasteful, and I wondered how he managed to get so fat if he took only one bite out of each food item.
Tales of the Wizard of Oz was entertaining enough, but I agree - the animation was very basic. Almost like what came out of Communist countries in those days.
Edit: Almost like some of what came out of Communist countries in those days. There were cartoons from e.g. Czechoslovakia that definitely put the animation in “Tales of the Wizard of Oz” very much to shame.
Back in my university days, I had a roommate who thought that was hilarious. So whenever we had a big bowl or plate of something suitable (e.g. chicken bones, corn cobs, pens, balls, etc.) we would try to crack each other up with our best Friar Tuck one-bite imitations. I haven’t thought about that for a long time!
, no. It jumped out and bit me in the face. I honestly don’t think any other children’s work in my house was nearly as blatantly sexist.
Well, someone uploaded a live-action remake of the same vignette!
Did you ever see the “Oobi” episode with the foot?
Yeah, that’s the episode. John Oliver did a segment about railroads and had that bit in there, I couldn’t believe it was from a kid’s show.
Teletubbies
Yo Gabba Gabba. Just awful. My children tried to watch it, just to tease me, but even they didn’t like it.
In the Night Garden does my head in, but is apparently soothing for small children.
The original stories for Thomas the Tank Engine date back to the 1940s, so they are really not in tune with modern sensibilities. They could do more to update them though.