Magic Mountain (TV series)
Magic Mountain is a live-action children's television program broadcast on ABC TV on the ABC For Kids broadcasting block from 1997 to 1998 and on China Central Television in China. It was released on VHS, but there has been no DVD release yet. It is a full-body puppet series aimed at children aged two to five years. The series was repeated on ABC TV until 13 February 2004. It was repeated in China until 2013. The ABC's Magic Mountain website was removed during September 2010 when the new ABC Kids website was introduced.
Production
The series was produced in China, with both a Chinese and Australian English dub in mind. Much of the crew is Chinese. It was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, China Central Television and Southern Star Entertainment. Production took place between 1997 and 1998. The series has been dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese, Arabic and Hebrew, among many other languages. The program was also screened in the UK on Nick Jr, TVO in Canada, TVNZ 2 in New Zealand and TVP 1 in Poland.Summary
Magic Mountain follows the adventures of four national but iconic creatures of China; Dragon, Lion, Panda and Tortoise – four friends having lots of fun with a little Dragon magic thrown in. Dragon lives in a cave, and is very wise, with magical powers that often get the others out of trouble. Lion is very playful, full of ideas and is constantly getting into mischief, Panda is a little bit vain, but still a likeable character who is quite smart, and Tortoise is a motherly figure, always looking out for the others and trying to help them. These four creatures "enjoy wonderful times as they invent unusual games, play tricks on each other, and have exciting adventures as they explore their enchanting world."Episodes
Series 1
- Dragon Loses His Magic – Dragon is helping Panda tidy her house. But he blows the house tidy a bit too much and he loses his magic! Panda, Lion and Tortoise do their best to get his magic back until Tortoise comes up with an idea: sing a get well Dragon song. After that, his magic comes back and he is a magic dragon again!
- Doctor Lion
- Flying Panda
- Invisible Lion
- Runaway Cart
- Tortoise's Restaurant
- Lion Moves House
- Sports Day
- Princess Panda
- Monster in the Night
- The Hollow Tree
- Surprise Party
- Panda's Midnight Feast
- Dragon Sneezes
- Secret Apple Tree
- Explorers
- Dragon's Treasure
- Territories
- The Robber
- Very Fast Tortoise
- Emergency Rescue
- Upside Down Tortoise
- Double Panda
- Panda Loses Her Memory
- Lion Circus
- Hide and Seek
Series 2
- The Dare
- It's Raining, It's Pouring
- Brave Prince Lion
- Dragon Gives Up Flying
- Panda Club
- A Sticky Situation
- Lion's Night Time Fun Fair
- Lion's New Friend
- Panda The Ballerina
- Bedtime Story
- Runaway Lion
- Treasure Map
- Weather Magic
- Three Wishes
- Dragon's Birthday
- Magnifico
- Tortoise The Hero – When Tortoise sees Panda playing a hero adventure game, she wants to join in the fun too. But Panda won't let her. Lion and Dragon decide to help by getting pretend strife, so that Tortoise can rescue them to prove herself a hero. But only when Panda gets into real trouble, does Tortoise get the chance to be a hero?
- A House For Tortoise
- Dropping In
- The Swap
- Missing Friends
- Dragon's Apprentice
- Let's Stick Together
- Stop Tricking Panda
- Cousin Dragon
- The Return of Cousin Dragon
Release
All releases consist of 4 or more episodes packaged together. None of the second series has been released outside of China. The complete series of 52 episodes was once available on VCD in China.VHS (Australia)
Magic Mountain: Flying Panda – 1997Magic Mountain: Princess Panda – 1997Magic Mountain: Surprise Party – 1998Magic Mountain: Dragon's Treasure – 1999 Magic Mountain: Hide and Seek – 1999Other media
A 31-page paperback colouring book based on the series was released in March 1999.A storybook titled Tortoise the hero was published in April 2000. There was also some rare plushes from 1999.