Dipdap

September 25, 2014 4:23 AM

Dipdap is a children's BBC show for pre-schoolers. Completely wordless, it's a fairly delightful and surprisingly funny mixture of shape recognition, music and discovery (and lots of visual comedy), where "the line" draws a series of challenges and problems for Dipdap to solve. Here's every single episode of it.
posted by dng (18 comments total)

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. The most fun you can have on a Thursday afternoon is to smoke pot and watch cartoons.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:33 AM on September 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

In BBC, no one draws the line, the line draws you.
posted by fairmettle at 4:56 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I find these pleasantly reminiscent of the classic La Linea cartoons.
posted by JHarris at 5:11 AM on September 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

Absolute magic, and much loved in our household... Our three year old even watches it sometimes ;) The Line is truly a total bastard at times, though. The android app (probably available for other platforms, I've not checked) also comes highly recommended, and lets you be the line!

In case anyone cares, Plant is probably the best episode, though goodness knows where it is in the FP link, and a quick search doesn't give me an easy link. (Update - Sod it, I went looking, and it's at about 1:00:15). Stupidly, I can feel myself forming an opinion for an ideal watching order, in the spirit of the recent Pratchett (et al) book threads, but I refuse to go there :)

If there's a DVD source out there, I've not found it, which is a shame. One-click purchasing wouldn't be fast enough.

(Not sure it's entirely relevant, but it's greatness has been appropriately recognised with a Children's BAFTA award in 2011, which is nice)
posted by PeteTheHair at 5:11 AM on September 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

My kids love it! But for me it reminds me chillingly of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream :-)
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 5:27 AM on September 25, 2014

"...a fairly delightful and surprisingly funny mixture of shape recognition, music and discovery"

Hmm, that could be the subtitle for my autobiography.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:42 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Dipdap's great, and my kids love it too. Would this be a link to an entirely... legal upload of all 52 episodes, though, I wonder? (sorry)
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 5:56 AM on September 25, 2014

I bet this is from the same stable as the similarly mental Teletubbies and In The Night Garden and Pob ...

Yep, it is. Ragdoll Productions. There are also similar classic-era cartoons with a similar premise - a Tom And Jerry at least, if I remember ...
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:23 AM on September 25, 2014

Pretty charming, thanks for that.
posted by lbebber at 6:43 AM on September 25, 2014

:)
posted by Fizz at 6:59 AM on September 25, 2014

All growed up :)
posted by GallonOfAlan at 7:14 AM on September 25, 2014

I bet this is from the same stable as the similarly mental Teletubbies and In The Night Garden and Pob ...

And Boohbah!
posted by chavenet at 8:29 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I kept expecting it to try and teach me calculus...
posted by Devonian at 9:10 AM on September 25, 2014

Dipdap's great, and my kids love it too. Would this be a link to an entirely... legal upload of all 52 episodes, though, I wonder? (sorry)
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 1:56 PM on September 25 [+] [!]


I've been trying to find a DVD of it, to no avail, because my niece bloody loves it and is never satisfied with the meagre helpings on the iplayer whenever she's round here.

So in answer to your question, probably not
posted by dng at 9:53 AM on September 25, 2014

Definitely watching this next time I'm tripping (that's the closest you can get to what it's like being a toddler anyway imho).
posted by yoHighness at 10:25 AM on September 25, 2014

Devonian: You're in luck, sort of: The Mechanical Universe, programmes 2 and 7. Be sure to watch for when the Utah teapot is definite integrated.
posted by oonh at 1:08 PM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

We binge-watched these at our house. It's a successor to Harold and the Purple Crayon.
posted by hot_monster at 3:44 PM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'll have to see if the kid likes this, anything is better than hearing that godforsaken Peter Rabbit theme tune again.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:39 AM on September 26, 2014