The Morph Files

For someone who has watched these for a long time, this brilliant series will probably give that person a great deal of nostalgia. Despite this, the Morph Files is an incredibly entertaining series, you can never become bored! Fun for the whole family!

Morph is a little red plasticine man, who lives with his brother Chas, as well as his friends and family. In each episode Morph and Chas have many adventures. Narrated by Neil Morrissey, this series will be a delight to anyone who enjoys plasticine humour!

The episodes, plots and personal ratings:

Babysitting: Morph and Chas try to make a baby who is being babysitted go to sleep. With a very funny bit at the beginning, this episode is exceedingly entertaining, although due to the only "all right" plot, it arguably is not quite the best. 8/10.

Skiing: Not as funny as some of the others, this Morph episode proves to have its moments and has its exciting, rather slapsticky moments, when Morph and Chas not only go skiing, but meet a Yeti! 8 and a half out of 10.

Gobbledeegook: With the main plot being Chas and Morph meeting an alien who likes to steal stuff, this Morph short also includes incredibly funny and clever funny parts not relevant to the plot. 9/10.

Doctor Morph: Featuring both Morph's friends and himself as a doctor, many people become ill in this also funny episode. Has entertaining funny bits, both to do and not to do with the plot. 8/10

The Dog Show: Very dog and animal orientated, this short is recommended particularly to anyone with a pet! Otherwise, this enjoyable short may not entertain others as much. It shows Morph's "nailbrush" being put in a dog show.

Exercising: Probably the episode with the best theme, Exercising is about Morph and Chas working out, after they realise how little weight they are losing and how much weight they are gaining. With brilliant gags and jokes, this Morph episode may just be the most entertaining of all! 9/10

Games: Despite including lots of jokes, this short falls slightly flat without a good plot line, which is what makes many other episodes in this series so good. Other people may prefer this method of just random things happening, but others who like plots in Morph will think otherwise. 7 and a half out of 10

The Film Show: Morph wants to go the cinema, but because he can't find anything to wear, his grandpa makes a film show for everyone. Unfortunately we don't see the cute happy Morph in this episode very much, but luckily this short is brought up quite a lot by the gags. 8/10

Gardening: When Morph goes off swimming, he decides to take up the hobby of gardening - which proves to have chaotic results! Anyone who enjoys gardening a lot will like this more than anyone else, otherwise an entertaining episode. 8/10

Mirrors: With a slightly weak plot, this Morph episode may entertain quite a few people, but not all that many others - as much as the other episodes in this series. Not only do Morph and Chas mess around with mirrors, but Morph becomes invisible! There is a fantastic "Duck Soup" mirror spoof featured as well! 7 and a half out of 10

Little Green: One of the cutest episodes, this introduces Little Green, a little green blob that can only take so much - and he'd taken it at least twice! Morph grows to like him eventually - despite being annoyed by him at first. With not all that many gags, this makes up with a cute short of friendship. 9/10.

Cowboys: Mainly for people who like cowboys, this will excite all children who pursuit the hobby of playing cowboys - even the grown-ups in this short play along! However, for the elder people, one may receive some nostalgia. 8/10

The Birthday Party: It's Morph's birthday and no-one else seems to know! What will Morph do? With not many jokes, this still has a cute plot and lets one relate to Morph like a friend. :-) 8/10

Enjoy "The Morph Files"!

The Morph Files was my first exposure to Morph when I was young, and I have become a fan of Morph since. Before I move on to this specific series, I think it would be necessary to give you a brief idea on who Morph is.

If you haven't heard of Morph, it is about a plasticine man who has the ability to change shape, and he lives on top of an artist's desk (presumably Tony Hart's). He also has a friend called Chas, and they would frequently get into fights. Morph was first introduced in the 70's before getting his own show in the 80's (called The Amazing Adventures of Morph), and in recent years he was been given another series available on YouTube. I always admired the comedy of the show, and to this day it still makes me chuckle when I'm feeling down.

Moving on to the actual review of the programme, The Morph Files basically takes place on the artist's desk, but there is a new touch to it; a computer has been added to it. As indicated by the opening sequence, Morph receives a computer, which he then sets up along with Chas. Throughout the show, Morph and Chas would use the computer to play games or do arty things. I didn't think the scenes interfered with the overall programme.

However, the scenes where the computer is used are one of the few scenes that are newly animated, because throughout all of the episodes, the show would use previous footage from past Morph clips. No, I'm not just referring to the short segments that aired on various CBBC shows in the 90's, I'm referring to both them AND The Amazing Adventures of Morph.

I kind of felt a little saddened when I realised this years later after when I last seen the show as a kid. While it doesn't sound like a big deal, the usage of recycled footage in the show leaves a few continuity errors, such as the sudden animation change from one clip to a past episode of TAAoM for example. I think I even noticed this error when I was young watching it back then.

I should point out that most of the episodes reuse storylines from TAAoM, which becomes apparent when the show uses full clips from it. However, the episodes tend to add a different twist to the recycled stories (usually involving the computer), but it does feel a little lazy. I should also mention that the show isn't narrated by the great Tony Hart, but instead the show is narrated by Neil Morrissey, which you may recognise him from Men Behaving Badly and Bob The Builder. I don't think he's a bad narrator, but I kind of wished the creators would have stuck to Tony Hart.

Despite the aforementioned elements, I still found it to be hilarious. It's a good show to watch with children, and it's pretty nostalgic as well.

6/10