Dudley the Dragon

[Princeton]

Has anyone seen this show? It was mainly on in the early 90's and the title character was (obviously) a dragon, but he was green, so it made him look a little like Mopatop. Dudley was a full body puppet, and I actually saw a plushie of him at Good Stuff Cheap (does anyone have a Good Stuff Cheap store near them? I loved the one near me but they tore it down ), but unfortunately didn't get it. So, does anyone else remember this show?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Sure, Dudley came waaay before Mopatop though. He was originally a mascot for energy conservation in Canada when I was a kid in the 1980s and used to have a live show that toured to family events and festivals in the summer. Later they gave him his own TV show in Canada, I didn't know that it aired in the U.S.

The main puppeteer behind Dudley was James Rankin, who has also worked with the Muppets. There is a picture of Dudley available here.

Episodes are available on VHS from http://www.schoolservicesofcanada.com/DudleyTheDragon/DudleyTheDragon.htm I don't know if it's ever been released on DVD.

 

[MGov]

Dudley was also a ballon in the Macy's Parade. The year the balloon premiered, it was particularly windy. The Cat in the Hat knocked over a lamp post and killed a woman. Since the Dudley balloon was so big, they pulled it out of the parade out of fear it would get away from the handlers as well.

 

[Teenager's]

Sweet! Yea!

I loved this show!....it aired in the US....
I used to live in downtown Chicago and I remember at FAO Schwartz when I was 4 or 5 they had a lot of the Dudley plushes and a variety of them. I liked the standing version more than the sitting one but when I was 12 I bought one off of ebay....

I also remember the day that they stopped showing Dudley....I don't know if they annouced it or not....but I didn't know it was going off the air...and I was set to watch it at the regular time...and all the regular shows were regularly scheduled but then at Dudley's time they started a Marathon of the Book of Virtues on PBS....I was so confused and upset

Also in Chicago the PBS stores (WTTW Store of Knowledge) would host events where the costumed characters would come in and present and meet people. One time they had Miss Frizzle....she was Cool.....but anyway Dudley was scheduled for an appearence but not at the local store....My mom took me...BUUUUUUT......my mom is usually late leaving to things and we also got lost on the way there....and we got to the store as they were closing and 10 minutes after he left......I was upset......but that night I bought my first puppet in the store....it was a Folkmanis Beaver....

 

[mzredbox]

I remember Dudley! haha

 

[Princeton]

I liked the standing version more than the sitting one but when I was 12 I bought one off of ebay....

Wow, you ordered stuff off of eBay when you were just twelve?

 

[fishbone]

yeah i caught that show on on demand..it reminded me of slim goodbody

 

[Fragglemuppet]

I remember seeing part of one episode. I had forgotten the name of it, and actually wondered from time to time if I had really seen it, but now here it is! Rankin? As in a descendent of "the Rankin" from Rankin Bass? And what did he do with the muppets?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I believe he worked on the Dog City series that was co-produced with Nelvana. Quite possibly background work in some of the Muppet specials taped in the 1980s as well, but I am not completely sure about that.

 

[wes]

yea Dudley the dragon, came on PBS down here, he works on the same principle as Big Bird as I remember. He was cool but the other puppets on the show were not that good. But hey they had a television show and I didn't so they must have done something right!!