Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to an experience. I
just have one question for you. Theme: “Have you ever, ever felt like this?”
Welcome to Round the Twist, an Australian show that is equal parts comedy, supernatural,
and sometimes inadvertently, horror. It’s not categorized as a horror show,
not like Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark,
it just so happens that some scenes in the show traumatized young kids.
The first and second seasons of Round the Twist were adapted from the works of Paul Jennings,
an English born Australian writer known for his compilations of whacky, silly, and sometimes
horrific short stories. I read a few that were adapted into episodes, and found I really enjoyed
his writing. His work is primarily considered comedy, which I agree with, and he is also known
for his plot twists, primarily in the form of a surprise ending. This gives the name of the show
a couple different meanings, the first being from the British term Round the Twist, which can mean
to drive someone mad or act unreasonable, “His incessant snoring is driving me round the twist”,
or an idiom meaning that someone’s behavior is strange. “You’d have to be round the twist
to think Murder, She Wrote is a bad show.” The family’s last name is Twist, and I also thought
the phrase could be referring to the lighthouse, with its spiral staircase that twists around the
structure. I found one source that listed it as an offensive term for calling someone mentally
disabled, though I mostly found definitions that are akin to the saying “This is driving me nuts.”
The theme song, which has no business being as catchy as it is, definitely indicates the
title represents a feeling, with lyrics that sing “Have you ever felt like this?” (clip).
Jennings’s work falls in line with a lot other zany series that I felt drawn to as a kid;
I think his writing is unique in the genre of young adult fiction, but if I had to compare
his work to other authors, it reminds me of the Wayside School books by Louis Sachar,
and the Alien Teacher books by Bruce Coville. I remember this book cover so vividly,
and I hated it because I thought it was gross and actively tried to ignore it in
the school’s library. I’d sooner look at a Goosebumps book cover than this.
This genre of off kilter stories for young people was extremely popular when I was young;
because they often delved into creepy things, me and my friends often felt a
sense of rebellion when we read and talked about the scarier parts behind our parents backs.
Despite the comparison, I think Paul Jennings is a stand out, with stories that engage and
stick with people. In preparation for this video I read several short stories,
including The Cabbage patch fib, which was adapted for the show, and Yes is No,
which I found particularly mature and clever. His books and the show he collaborated on were wildly
popular, especially in Australia and the UK, but the show also had a run in the US on Fox kids.
The show follows the Twist family as they move from a busy city to a quaint countryside town by
the sea, their new home a quirky lighthouse. The family consists of widowed father Tony,
and his three children, 14 year old twins Pete and Linda, and eight year old Bonson. After
they move in, the children find themselves getting involved in strange happenings,
including, but not limited to: magic underwear that can make you fly,
finding babies made out of cabbage, and willies that spin around like a propeller.
I can see why Round the Twist is such a beloved and yet scarring show. It’s weird, sometimes
gross, and sometimes unnecessarily scary, everything I probably would have loved as a kid.
I chose three episodes to talk about, all from the first or second season, mostly because I wanted
to watch the ones that Jennings had his hand in. Let’s start with WUNDERPANTS from season 1, 1990.
Let’s see, set your microwave to 5 minutes and make sure to
let underwear stand for at least one minute before removing, bon appetit?
Youngest son Bronson has a fondness for animals; in fact he has a stash under his bed,
hidden away so his Dad doesn’t find out. Older brother Pete tells him that there is going to be
a frog jumping contest, and that they MUST beat town bully Gribble. Bronson grabs a
shabby looking shoe box from under his bed. “This is Loopy Leaper.” Meet my poison dart
frog! Heh, it’s not but I wouldn’t put it past Jennings to have a poisonous, slimy menace wreck
havoc on the contest, though that wouldn't be entirely dissimilar to what happens later on.
At breakfast, Daddy Twist is upset to find little white hairs caught in the bristols
of his toothbrush. As an aside, this guy reminds me of the singer from REO Speedwagon,
I’m just waiting for him to sell me a compilation of the world’s most romantic hit songs. Bronson
tells him he used it to brush his mouse. He loses it and in the commotion, Loopy Leaper
Leaps into Dad’s trousers, where he proceeds to do a dance like he has ants in his pants.
The frog jumping contest is plot B, plot A is about these extremely 90s looking underwears.
The family needs to leave but his underwear isn’t dry yet, so he puts it in the microwave.
When he removes them, they are sparkling, and when he wears them he finds he has magical
powers. Pete: “My underpants, they feel funny, and tingly.” (Garth clip?) He soon finds out
he has the power of Super strength, flight, super speed, swim like a dolphin, and the
ability to fully conceal himself into a bunch of mannequins. You know, the important stuff.
To parallel the frog race, the kids also must participate in a school race. Pete tries flirting
with one of my school mates, only to neg her instead, I guess the underwear does not give
you the power of charm. He uses his super speed to pass her, and she is like “the audacity of
this bitch.” The next section really captures the show’s wacky sense of humor; two Japanese
men are visiting the small coastal town, perhaps hoping to buy some real estate,
and they happen to see Pete running his little heart out towards the ocean. Pete
dives into the ocean, where he proceeds to flip around like a dolphin. The men
are so impressed they take selfies with him. Though these special effects leave
something to be desired, I was pretty amused by these incredible selfies. Unfortunately,
the water caused the magic undies to shrink and Pete can no longer wear them.In the meantime,
everyone is gearing up for the frog race, which is going to be videotaped for posterity; Gribble
grabs the mic and says “He’ll eat them alive.” You have no idea how accurate that statement is.
I love the kid who plays the announcer, he puts every ounce of his energy into every scene. (clip)
Loopy Leaper hasn’t shown up yet as he got himself lost,
but the race is set to begin anyway. To no one’s surprise, Gribble’s frog is not a frog,
but a giant toad. Pete finds Loopy in the Locker room and brings him to the race,
where absolutely nothing is happening. Oh this kid is reading misery, nice. This kid explains
that it’s not damp enough in the barn. “The frogs are conserving their energy.” We have
just been frogsplained. After this kid sprays them with the hose, this happens.
(mugga eats a frog) What… and I cannot stress this enough… the FUCK. This got disgusting so fast;
the road eats all of the frogs in the competition and it’s genuinely gross. Pete has an idea though,
he puts on the TEENY TINY Magical underwear on Loopy, and he leaps THROUGH THE ROOF. THROUGH THE
SKY. The out of town visitors manage to get some wonderful selfies right before the frog GOES INTO
ORBIT. But wait, he’s making his return; CAN HE STICK THE LANDING. (SPLAT) This show is fucked up.
The next episode I watched is called Know All, and it is my favorite out of the ones
I’ve seen. This popped onto my radar after a clip from the show went viral on Twitter;
it gave me the impression that it was actually children’s horror,
but as you can probably tell from Wunderpants, it’s definitely more in the realms of comedy.
This episode just so happens to have some frightening elements. Starting with this
sad clown who has been ratoutiled by this guinea pig. Guinea piggy’d.
Father Twist is working on one of his new sculptures when suddenly,
they all hear weird music from above. God? They quickly run to the top of
the lighthouse to find the source. Dad: “These instruments are alive!”
I don’t know why this statement had me rolling on the floor laughing when I first watched this,
but it did. I don’t know if it was his delivery or what. Dad: “These instruments are alive!”
Suddenly, they see something in the ocean floating towards the
lighthouse. It’s a heavy trunk. Thank you god you work in mysterious ways.
Goddamn this show likes mannequins.
The trunk holds circus items, like clown costumes and juggling pins. They decide
to put some of the clothing on their scarecrow, who is an abomination and begs
for death. “He does look different. Sadder.” “Everybody loves a clown, so why don’t you?”
That night, Linda is having nightmares and starts babbling about a lady clown
named Elspeth. Dad: “Who’s Elspeth?” Linda: “The lady clown.” The next
morning everyone is dressed as circus performers; Linda insists the clothes
have magical powers and make her feel kinda sad. “The Teeears of a clooown”
The scarecrow is also changing due to the power of the clothes. Yeah, you know
what’s going to happen. We have a Frosty the Snowman situation,
this demonic thing is gonna come to life and be all (distorted) HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Plot B involves the town’s real estate agent, Mr. Gribble, trying to sell the lighthouse
property to some American investors from Texas. They are greeted by Dad, still dressed up as a
fortune teller, then Linda who insists the scarecrow is alive, then lastly by Peter,
who can now unicycle like a pro. And when I say Peter I mean a stunt double. You can clearly see
his face in this shot! Everyone is mesmerized. Bronson: “That’s my brother!” It’s really not.
Gribble tries to give Dad an acquisition order, but it starts raining and everyone leaves.
Dad isn’t worried about the order because he already knows it will be thrown out;
the fortune teller clothes have given him the ability to predict the future,
and pull off this patterned material. Category Is: Joanne’s Fabric.
Linda “Scarecrow's moved.” (STRIKE A POSE)
Peter and Bronson wander off to find Nell,
the previous owner of the lighthouse; they think she may know something about the circus trunk.
The scarecrow is now fully sentient. (clip)
It’s the tongue that gets me. I don’t like it. It bothers me. He takes the pole out of
his back and starts chasing Linda in one of the most absurd things I’ve ever seen on TV.
There’s a pretty rough jumpscare, right before the creature CRASHES through the window with VELOCITY.
But the real question is… the question that’s all
been burning in our minds is… what price the earth?
I can see how this was scary for kids - though the frightening aspects of this
chase are soon cut by a hilarious stair surfing scene. TA DAAAAAAAAA
Nell tells them that the trunk is from a circus that went down in a
shipwreck. The clothes of the dead performers possess strange powers.
She also tells them the main clown was in love with the lady clown.
Gribble senior is still trying to sell the lighthouse and surrounding property to the
American investors. Gribble: “I mean, it’s a wonderful buy.” But what price the lighthouse?
They are scared away by Linda, who is still being chased by the maniacal scarecrow. Nell insists
they take her costume off, and it is revealed that the scarecrow is possessed by the circus’s lead
clown, and he thought Linda was his Lady clown. His chase was his way of flirting. #ForeverAlone
Don’t worry though, Dad to the rescue!! He dresses up his mannequin in the lady
clown’s outfit, and voila! We have a love interest! STRIKE A POSE.
They romantically flip towards each other and are happy once again. The family takes
their new undead clowns to a circus, where they can resurrect their circus brethren.
The last episode I want to mention is called Little Squirt, which is about a pissing contest.
Yes, a literal pissing contest. My god STOP HIGH FIVING EACH OTHER. (GROSS) This one isn’t worth
talking about in great detail, I just wanted to show a tiny bit of it because I think it really
shows the bizarre mind of Paul Jennings. Bronson wants to take part in the peeing
contest but just can’t pee hard enough. He comes across a water spirit that looks like a mime,
who thinks Bronson is responsible for throwing rocks into the river, when really it’s Gribble who
wants to build a water park over it. This water spirit travels throughout the water to frankly
HARASS Bronson and his friends. Stephen King presents:THE DRIP. It primarily travels through
things connected to water, like pipes and hoses, so don’t ask me how it got into this pop bottle.
Bronson stops Gribble from building his intrusive Aquaworld, and as a thank you,
the water spirit helps him win the pissing contest. I don’t know
if this means the spirit was in this kid's penis and shot himself up or…I
don’t know. I don’t want to think about it too much because it’s making my head hurt.
I watched several more episodes from this series and I enjoyed them. The show was meant to be
watched by both children and adults, and I think it was successful in that way; I liked it for its
weird, supernatural elements and for the nostalgia and dopamine rush I felt when I remembered being
a kid and reading books in a similar vein. One thing I’ve noticed in Australian humor is that
things like body parts and nudity are treated very casually and not as sexualized as you see here in
the US. Bodies aren’t sexual as much as they’re just there, often portrayed as lumpy sacks used
as a comedic device, hense the hellicopter penis. (clip) And if you’re Australian and I am getting
it very wrong, please educate me in the comments, it’s just something I’ve picked up on when noting
the differences between our TV shows and what I’ve been told by a few friends I have out there.
There are times when I wished the show would be more consistent with tone;
because it is mostly a comedy with fantastical elements, it catches you off guard when there is
something more on the spooky side happening. I thought the chase scene with the scarecrow
was a little off key. I watched that episode right after seeing Wunderpants,
so the shift in tone was a little jarring. Usually when something is scary in the show, it’s more
so the result of these fantastical creatures just looking too odd for kids. Like this lint monster,
for example. A young kid might find this living conglomeration of dust particles frightening,
but older people will see it’s meant to be comedic. It’s accidentally a little freaky.
The scarecrow on the other hand was meant to be scary, otherwise there wouldn’t be jumpscares
or a sense of danger. There wasn’t a sense of danger with the lint monster, just bafflement.
Though I will say this range intensity does fall in line with Jennings writings; you could read
something very zany and it would immediately be followed with something more disturbing.
Very few things give me more whimsy than thinking about the silly young adult fiction I read in my
younger years, and even though this show didn’t quite give me a burst of nostalgic dopamine,
it did remind me of the authors I used to love as a child. It put the work of
Paul Jennings on my to-read list, and I got to see this cult classic show
that so many people seem to love. When I brought it up on Twitter, I got a huge,
enthusiastic response with many people expressing their fondness for this childhood classic.
I definitely recommend giving seasons 1 and 2 a shot; as for seasons 3 and 4,
Paul Jennings wasn’t involved but I did watch a couple episodes and found they
were also oddly enjoyable, just know that the cast changes basically every season,
so don’t get too attached to the actors. If you’re interested in reading the
stories the episodes are based on, I definitely recommend Jennings’s short stories collection.
If you have any episodes of Round the Twist you think I or other people should watch,
definitely leave your suggestions in the comments,
I can’t WAIT to see what people have to say about this show. Until next time, stay spooky.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on Round the Twist - I hope it sparked
your memories of young adult fiction and weird clowns. If you want more retrospectives by me,
I have a few on offer, but first a heartfelt thank you to my patrons who continually allow
me to make the content I love and enjoy. If you want to support me and the channel, please
consider donating a few bucks, but no worries if not; likes and shares are equally important to me.
If you want to see more content from me, here are a couple suggestions. On the right
I have a retrospective on the classic show The Adventures of Pete and Pete,
and on the left I have a breakdown on one of the most disgusting episodes from
the Goosebumps television series. Thanks again and as always, I will see you in the next one.