The Olden Days (1993 TV Movie) User Reviews

Big tits, Small dicks, poofy blocks in military uniform :)

[mighty_pickman · 10/10 · 22 April 2003]

The Victorian mudfields come alive thanks to the fellas from the D-Generation. Comedy genius with subplots like Stupid Hat Day, Gov Frontbottom's one man performance of South Pacific & the lost ABC camera plus heaps of fake facial hair. Comedy at it's finest! 10/10

Hilarious and ingenious.

[nconrau · 10/10 · 7 April 2002]

This series is SO funny. It was created by, I reckon anyway, some of the funniest Australians ever. The best bit is in the last 'episode' when they stop the over dubbing, and the guy actually says "The man's mad!" That's sheer brilliance. I recommend it to every Australian - I don't know if Americans or English people would find it as funny.

Laughed my butt off!!!

[JM571 · 8/10 · 10 November 1999]

You can imagine the makers of the Olden Days sitting down over a case of beer or five and getting really silly whilst making this excellent remake/dubover, and having a great time whilst doing so. I was laughing til I cried at the sheer brilliance of it all, the way the d-gen crew were able to take segments of a pre-existing television series, and put together a story that was hilarious. Highlights : the Aboriginal tracker finding the missing Camera 3, the Automatic Teller Machine, and the Argument About Sgt Olden Going Out Of Focus. I just wish that this sort of thing would be done a bit more often.

Too funny to stay neglected

[mauriceserico · 10/10 · 18 June 2017]

The Late Show comedy team produced this hilarious parody in the spirit of "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" using the most absurd dialogue superimposed on the wobbly cardboard world of the 1970s ABC powerhouse gold rush series "Rush". The gags are beautifully built into the visuals of the show and are so ridiculous and unexpected that I warn you not to eat or drink while watching this. You will not be able to look at bread rolls and hats the same after this.

Brilliant

[Winston-15 · 10/10 · 13 April 1999]

This weekly segment of 'The Late Show' was one of the funniest things anyone is likely to see. It's absolutely brilliant. It's hard to grasp how long they would've spent watching old episodes of 'Rush' and getting the phrasing just right. Once again, it's absolutely brilliant.

Bad hat

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 30 March 2020]

I like the hat basher gag and also the bit where he pretends he's an ATM

"You're always making me look the fool and, worse still, you're continually going out of focus!"

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 22 November 2008]

The idea of over-dubbing an old movie or TV show with humorous jokes was not a new one. Woody Allen first used it in 'What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966),' and, indeed, even the D-Generation team themselves had weaved re-dubbed scenes from "Homicide (1964-1977)" {starring none other than Judge Muttonchops himself, Alwyn Kurts, albeit without the ridiculously fake sideburns} into their earlier sketch shows. When Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, Rob Sitch and Jason Stephens opened the classic ABC Saturday night comedy series "The Late Show" in 1992, they decided to expand upon the idea using clips from the drama "Rush (1974-1976)," which they broadcast as a weekly serial. The compiled episodes have since been released on video and DVD, along with Season Two's 'Bargearse,' an equally-hilarious over-dubbed version of the cop drama "Bluey (1976)." I can't imagine how much time the comedians spent poring over episodes of the original series, but they have done a remarkable job in splicing together already-present visuals with spoken gags that miraculously complement each other.

Whereas "Rush" took place on the 19th century Australian goldfields, "The Olden Days" opens on the mudfields, where tough miners brave strenuous conditions in order to make a living through, as far as I could tell, shovelling mud. Gov. Frontbottom (voiced by Tony Martin) – a little bit poncey, slightly foppish and quite keen to spend a lot of time alone with some rough, sweaty and well-built miners – ostensibly commands the mudfields, but his flamboyant personality only breeds contempt and amusement among the lowly miners. The real hero of the story is Sgt. Olden (voiced by Mick Molloy), a gruff and unshaven man-of-the-people, whose greatest claim to fame is that he out-performed Frontbottom in last year's "Playschool" auditions. Frequently self-referential and always ridiculous, "The Olden Days" cleverly and hilariously weaves sex jokes and bodily function gags into a coherent series of stories involving scenes from a 1970s drama series. Highlights include Olden's 007 opening credits, miners forced to give themselves a wedgie for refusing to adhere to Funny Hat Day, and a human Automatic Teller Machine.