Little Monsters, the TV show supposedly built around the twisted minds of a batch of 10 year old boys. Apparently every single game was devised by the kids themselves, though this is highly debatable, and on the back of the games, these boys are either geniuses in the making using their creative juices in the wrong environment, or they're just sadists.
The simple premise is, these boys seem to hate men, for some reason. There are no female contestants. Quite how fully grown men end up in this situation, reduced to being ordered around by kids two thirds of their own height is never explained. The games included "highlights" such as human battleship, running while electrocuted and some incredibly strange end-game involving a warehouse, £1000 and a lot of sub-challenges. At various points during the show one or two boys decide for no apparent reason to get somebody out the cage that they keep the adults in and administer some sort of "punishment". The end game is a venture to obtain £1000, then promptly lose half of it on a 50-50 chance. If you lose a game you walk the plank and have to jump into the River Thames.
Admittedly, it's all acting at the end of the day. These children, once you take away the fact they do nothing but shout, probably wouldn't harm a fly. You get the distinct impression from the contestant introductions that they're all totally out of their depth in the interview department. None of them are particularly charming, none of them seem particularly keen to shout and throw insults at the contestants endlessly and the impression painted is that the kids just don't want to be there. No wonder most of them have disappeared into obscurity.
This is a show supposedly devised around a group of warped ten year olds. Unfortunately it has the distinct aroma of a grown-up trying to think like a ten year old. As a result the boys begin to look less like little monsters and more like puppets. They don't seem to quite follow what's going on any more than anybody else does. They do no pieces to camera, any ounce of "presenting" or introducing what's going on is done by the appropriate boy in a fashion that suggests he's reading an cue card off the floor, and there's no enthusiasm from any of them in the parts that aren't messy.
The female presenter who apparently oversees this entire charade but makes no attempt to rein the boys in, provides voice-overs and general links. Interestingly enough, the boys like and respect her. A real little monster would act the same regardless of whether he's talking to a bloke or a lass, surely? No, there's too much wrong with this show to make it credible. Getting a bunch of boy actors to shout, scream and generally sell the fact that their alter egos are little monsters would have been more interesting. Sometimes it's worth the extra expense to sell a convincing on-screen illusion, little people who will hold the illusion until they're told to stop, in the name of professionalism.
However if you're on a budget (as this show clearly was) sacrifices have to be made. In this case it was the monsters. Worth an initial viewing to see what all the fuss was about, but it was never going to make a second series.
The simple premise is, these boys seem to hate men, for some reason. There are no female contestants. Quite how fully grown men end up in this situation, reduced to being ordered around by kids two thirds of their own height is never explained. The games included "highlights" such as human battleship, running while electrocuted and some incredibly strange end-game involving a warehouse, £1000 and a lot of sub-challenges. At various points during the show one or two boys decide for no apparent reason to get somebody out the cage that they keep the adults in and administer some sort of "punishment". The end game is a venture to obtain £1000, then promptly lose half of it on a 50-50 chance. If you lose a game you walk the plank and have to jump into the River Thames.
Admittedly, it's all acting at the end of the day. These children, once you take away the fact they do nothing but shout, probably wouldn't harm a fly. You get the distinct impression from the contestant introductions that they're all totally out of their depth in the interview department. None of them are particularly charming, none of them seem particularly keen to shout and throw insults at the contestants endlessly and the impression painted is that the kids just don't want to be there. No wonder most of them have disappeared into obscurity.
This is a show supposedly devised around a group of warped ten year olds. Unfortunately it has the distinct aroma of a grown-up trying to think like a ten year old. As a result the boys begin to look less like little monsters and more like puppets. They don't seem to quite follow what's going on any more than anybody else does. They do no pieces to camera, any ounce of "presenting" or introducing what's going on is done by the appropriate boy in a fashion that suggests he's reading an cue card off the floor, and there's no enthusiasm from any of them in the parts that aren't messy.
The female presenter who apparently oversees this entire charade but makes no attempt to rein the boys in, provides voice-overs and general links. Interestingly enough, the boys like and respect her. A real little monster would act the same regardless of whether he's talking to a bloke or a lass, surely? No, there's too much wrong with this show to make it credible. Getting a bunch of boy actors to shout, scream and generally sell the fact that their alter egos are little monsters would have been more interesting. Sometimes it's worth the extra expense to sell a convincing on-screen illusion, little people who will hold the illusion until they're told to stop, in the name of professionalism.
However if you're on a budget (as this show clearly was) sacrifices have to be made. In this case it was the monsters. Worth an initial viewing to see what all the fuss was about, but it was never going to make a second series.
