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Clip description
Sonny (Garry Pankhurst) and older brother Mark (Ken James) race through the Waratah National Park Wildlife Reserve playing a game of hide and seek with Skippy. Skippy wins round one and hides her eyes with her paws for a rematch. However, someone is secretly filming and, back in a viewing room, it is revealed to be Dr Stark (Frank Thring). The dastardly doctor is behind a plan to ‘make a deal’ with head ranger Matt Hammond (Ed Devereaux) to secure the amazing Skippy for his private zoo. This teaser leads into the opening titles introducing the audience to the characters, bush setting and the special relationship between Sonny and Skippy, all set to the now world- famous theme song.
Curator’s notes
In an interview for the documentary Skippy: Australia’s First Superstar (2009), Lee Robinson saw as key the fact that, ‘The little boy had all this wonderful country to roam about in and the whole concept was to always have the feeling that he was free to roam the country and know the animals and so on’. Executive producer John McCallum comments that in the creation of the pilot program, the first thing they discussed was the name, rejecting Springy, Hoppy and Jumpy in favour of Skippy. The second point of discussion was the creation of a ‘simple yet memorable’ theme tune.
The Skippy theme song, composed by English-born Eric Jupp, is one of the most recognisable Australian tunes. A leading film and TV composer, Jupp’s last major TV credit was the score for The New Adventures of Skippy, 1992.
