Merry Christmas Teletubbies!

I though that my "Teletubby" days were over, but my six year old daughter has chosen to watch our copy of Teletubbies: Merry Christmas, Teletubbies! Of the many, many videotapes we have purchased over the years, it definitely surprised me that she unearthed this one and wanted to watch it. Since we have already "de-Teletubbied" the toybox, I thought that we had outgrown these colorful pre-school characters, but my daughter does not seem to want to part with the videos for some reason.

The Merry Christmas, Teletubbies! is a two tape set (a total of 90 minutes), which is way too much Teletubbies for any adult to sit through at one time, though when we first received it when my son was about two and my daughter almost one, they certainly watched it "Again, again, again!" as the Teletubbies say.

In the spirit of Christmas, one videotape is red and the other green. The green one focuses on gifts for Dipsey and Laa-Laa and the red one focuses on gifts for Tinky Winky and Po. Each basically contains two episodes of the television show. Both open, as the television series does with a baby's face in the middle of the sun and a voice saying "Over the hills and far away, Teletubbies come to play."

On the green tape, each of the four Teletubbies jump out to greet us and on the screen is printed "Merry Christmas Teletubbies! 1" thereby making this the first of the two-volume set. A speaker pops up out of the ground and sings "Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat, Please put a penny in the old man's hat." The Teletubbies then jump around in celebration that Christmas is coming.

We then get to see a video on Dipsey's tummy screen in which children pick out a live Christmas tree and take it home to decorate. This is an event that many children can relate to.

The voice over tells that "One day in Teletubby Land, something appeared in the hills." And just like that a Christmas tree grows before our eyes and becomes magically decorated. The Teletubbies go to see the tree and find four gifts, one wrapped in each coordinating color: red, blue, green and yellow. They do not open them just yet though.

After some dancing and running around, as Teletubbies do, they watch a video on Laa-Laa's tummy screen showing children making homemade Christmas cards, with one of their grandfathers, who, if given a red suit, would make a great Santa Clause because of his white beard. The decorate the cards by drawing a pictures with a white wax candle on a piece of paper and then using watercolor paint over it (note: white crayons on white paper will have the same effect). The paper will show the paint, but anywhere there is wax will remain white. This is a craft that even pre-schoolers could do.

Back to the Christmas tree, where now there is only the yellow gift underneath. Laa-Laa opens inside their house it to find garland decorated with Christmas balls, ornaments and tinsel. Unfortunately, the Noo-Noo is tidying up and sucks up her gift, but after a while he feels "tickly" in his stomach and spits them all out again, and causing the Teletubbies home to become beautifully decorated.

We then hear a portion of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from the speaker which the Teletubbies try to repeat a few times while dancing around and being silly.

A video is then shown on Po's tummy screen which has children making Christmas crackers and putting prizes inside for their friends. After the video, Dipsey gets to open his present, which is a giant Christmas cracker and takes all four Teletubbies to get open. The first tape ends as the television episodes do with all of the Teletubbies saying goodbye.

Haven't had enough yet? Well then, once you have finished tape number one, insert the red tape and continue watching the Teletubbies in their Christmas episodes. Again, we see the baby face in the sun, and hear the voice over inviting the Teletubbies to come play, but this time we see the Christmas Tree already in Teletubbie Land and have "Merry Christmas, Teletubbies! 2" on the screen.

The format for the second tape is the same as the first, and exactly the same as the television series since this is basically some of the television episodes merged together.

Dipsey begins this tape by dancing to a musical rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" but soon it is time to watch a video on Tinky Winky's tummy screen. This time we see a group of children singing Christmas carols in a mall.

Tinky Winky then gets to open his present, wrapped in blue paper, and he brings it inside the house to do so. The interior is still decorated from Laa-Laa's present so it is very festive looking. A a silver star floats out of the box, out of the house and through the air until it rests atop the Christmas tree.

Then its back inside for some more songs from the speakers which the Teletubbies try to sing while eating Tubby Toast.

The last video is shown on Laa-Laa's tummy and in it we see children playing in the snow and making a snowman. One present remains and when Po opens hers, a cloud float out of the box. Snow begins to fall from it and all four Teletubbies enjoy playing in the snow. Finally, its time for "Tubby bye-bye!"

I was ready to get rid of this video since I felt my children were too old for it, and I was right. My daughter did watch both videos, but she was playing with some dolls during most of the show and it did not keep her attention the way it did when she was a toddler. After it was finished she suggested we give to a friend of ours who will be turning two years old soon, so I would say we have definitely outgrown the Teletubbies!

Would I recommend Merry Christmas, Teletubbies!? Yes, as long as the intended viewer is a fan of the Teletubbies television series. It appears to be five episodes of the television series (one where the Christmas tree all four gifts appear and one for each Teletubby to open his or her gift). For the young toddler set, the familiarity of the characters carrying on in their usual ways will be welcome. For older children (and parents), the monotony and babbling of the Teletubbies could get a bit annoying.