As a little girl, I loved Enid Blyton's stories and books for their imaginative stories that transports one vividly to all these different lands and places, their entertainment value and the memorable characters. Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands adapts some of the Magic of the Faraway Tree and Magic Wishing Chair stories and does so wonderfully. Fans of those stories and of Blyton and anybody who likes a good story will be captivated and it's just as magical and entertaining on its own terms.
Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands I find to be a wonderful show and one of the most underrated animated shows of the late 90s. Adaptation-wise, the show doesn't disappoint. It may not be word for word, detail for detail and there are changes, like Fran instead of Fanny; Rick instead of Dick(these two in all fairness is more to do with modern reprints), Jigs instead of Chinky(understandable due to political correctness, Noddy's Toyland Adventures did the same thing replacing golliwogs with goblins) and Beth being the younger sister as well as a few omitted characters(ie. in the Land of Ice and Snow chapter the villain is a snowman), but they don't detract at all. What's more important is whether the spirit, charm and magic of these stories are present, and in Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands they absolutely are, and the personalities of the characters(ie. Saucepan Man's deafness) are intact.
The animation is very nice and colourful. There is an 80s look to it, especially in the Magic Wishing Chair episodes, but that's not at all a bad thing, if anything it's part of the charm. The bright colours, smooth and very traditional drawing and very detailed and imaginative background art are most appealing, especially in the Magic of the Faraway Tree episodes(the Faraway Tree looks even more enchanting than you'd expect), and bring all the different lands to vivid life(some charming and some strange). The music has the right amount of dream-like whimsy, complete with a very memorable theme song, the main thing that stuck most in my head in the long amount of time not seeing the show. The writing has plenty of Blyton's style mixed with more modern dialogue that translates well by today's standards in a way that some of Blyton's writing wouldn't do now. There's a real childlike innocence and plenty of humour(a lot of it being the recurring joke with Saucepan Man mishearing everything), all in a way that adults won't find too dumbed down and children will have absolutely no trouble following it.
In terms of the show's stories, they are kept simple and are very, very easy to follow with many elements, story parts and characters that children and adults alike will recognise and adore. The story ideas and lands are very imaginative, so much so that as a child I wished of having a garden tree that on top had new lands that changed every now and then, and are brought to life just as charmingly and excitingly. Admittedly though for me, Magic Wishing Chair's first episode did introduce the characters a little better than that for Magic of the Faraway Tree, the latter's first episode(The Land of Toys) is still great and entertaining but the former's first episode actually felt more like an introduction, the latter felt like that there was an episode or two before it so those who are not so familiar with the stories may not know at first who's who.
The characters in both the Magic of the Faraway Tree and Magic Wishing Chair stories are so entertaining and distinctive in personality and appearance(whether cute, funny, sinister etc.) and are very engaging and memorable, even Angry Pixie grows on you. Some of them even having endearingly childish names like Watzisname or Magician Greatheart to name a few. The children are very appealing and of the support characters Silky, Moonface and Jigs I am especially fond of. Minor and secondary characters are fun and memorable if somewhat archetypal(with the character designs and voices it's clear who the heroes and villains are, but that's how they would be through a child's eyes), the Faraway Tree Land of Spells episode had a very creepy villain by child's standards. The voice acting is very good.
Overall, very magical and incredibly entertaining, such a shame that other than Youtube the show is not easily available because it deserves to be. 10/10 Bethany Cox
