The Mother Goose Video Treasury (1987 Video) User Reviews

Corny but great

[ricedarci · 8/10 · 14 February 2007]

This is one of the only films that I vividly remember watching OVER and OVER when I was a child. The VHS got so worn out on Volumes I and II and I still watched it despite the static and jumpy picture. Yes as an adult it is corny and I'm not sure how my mother put up with it, but I'm glad she did!

I haven't seen this movie in many many years, but from what I remember it follows a goose named Birtrim around a small town. He runs into many mother goose characters such as Humpty Dumpty and Jack be Nimble, and Mother Goose always loses her glasses. It is a mix of puppets and actors that put a colorful spin on classic Mother Goose rhymes.

A timeless treasury of nursery rhymes that I hadn't seen for absolutely ages

[Stompgal_87 · 8/10 · 4 October 2013]

When I was little I liked watching three different nursery rhyme collections on VHS; Longman Video Classic Nursery Rhymes (a series of songs and poems brought to life by real actors, real animals, string puppets and animation in a pop-up book), The Grand Old Duke of York (featuring around 12 or 13 children of various ages and races reciting nursery rhymes, poems and lesser-known songs against colourful if cheaply designed sets and outdoors during a picnic) and this one. While it is not the most memorable of the nursery rhyme collections from my childhood, I found it on YouTube and it jogged my memory to a certain extent because there were some performances that were more memorable than others.

Pretty much all of the costumes were pantomime-like yet vibrant and most of the puppets reminded me of those from 'The Muppet Show' or 'Sesame Street.' On a slightly more positive note, the scenery and sets were realistic and not as cheaply designed as those in The Grand Old Duke of York. The most memorable performances for me are 'Old King Cole (even though it sounded different from its performances in Grand Old Duke of York and the Longman Video Classic Nursery Rhymes),' 'Jack Be Nimble' and 'London Bridge.' Because I hadn't seen this since my VHS got worn out, a lot of it was initially forgettable but I liked it when Mother Goose called Bertram (who I mistook for Mother Goose for several years) "such a helpful goose" because my mum called me that later in life whenever I helped her with certain things. I also liked how the tunes of the background music matched the tunes of some of the rhymes. Another thing I'd forgotten about was that this video is American but this doesn't bother me.

Overall this treasury of nursery rhymes was well worth searching for and it gave me as substantial a nostalgic trip as Bertram's porridge. 8/10.

UPDATE 7/11/13: I watched two more episodes of this treasury that featured different rhymes; one included Old Mother Hubbard,' 'Jack and Jill,' 'Over the Hills and Far Away (reminds me of an extended version of 'Tom, Tom the Piper's Son')' and 'It's Raining, It's Pouring,' which was accompanied by a cheap rainfall effect; and the other one where I couldn't help feeling sorry for Bertram upon learning there are no stories about him until he helps Little Bo Peep find the sheep's tails and encourages the children in the old woman's shoe to behave so they can have bread and jam. Although I can't recall watching them as a child, I still found them as entertaining as the other two episodes despite some lyrical changes in 'Jack and Jill,' 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe' and 'There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.'

Eight and Unders Will Be Enchanted

[Msuperfan · 7/10 · 9 February 2015]

My children, and now grandchildren, enjoyed watching this video. The 11-year-old now rolls her eyes, although she loved it "way back when." The two four-year-old granddaughters are thrilled to watch.

Adults will notice things like dual roles, chroma key compositing, and fishing lines helping Contrary Mary's garden "grow." But the kids don't care.

The performers don't make fun of the material or mug. They play at a good sincerity level for the grade-school-or-younger audience. The singing and musical accompaniments are competent. Costuming is in bright colors and suitable for the subject.

One of the best things about these programs is the lack of talking down to the kids the way some grown-ups can do. They appear to be enjoying being silly, for kids' sake. And that's fine.

You can probably buy this for less than five dollars online, and it should make your kids happy many times over.

A little bit cheesy, but my children and I enjoyed it!

[engeer · 8/10 · 12 October 2022]

My sister picked up the whole 4 VHS set (possibly at a dollar store?) when my children were young. Each video has a hint of a storyline to it, but the target audience is preschoolers, so don't expect anything too "deep". That said, the music was pleasant and not obnoxious and the acting reminded me of watching a televised stage production. The sets were also reminiscent of minimalist set design concept sometimes used in live theatre. We didn't have cable/satellite when the kids were young, and so many days were spent with kids' videos on repeat ad Infinitum ... and this set was actually pleasant for me to listen to.

The original VHS was recorded in the SLP mode, or whatever the slowest tape speed was, thus the quality would probably not look that great on todays large HD screens, even so, I would love to find a DVD or digital version to share with my grandchildren. I think their moms would enjoy the trip down memory lane.

This is such a GREAT series!

[bridgetdelaney-05050 · 10/10 · 21 April 2023]

I had all four tapes growing up. These were MY TAPES. My sister wasn't allowed to touch them and it was only okay for her to watch them if I was okay with it. I LOVED these tapes!

I still love the series today! I can find it on YouTube and I love that! The songs and rhymes are well done and fit perfectly with Burtram going around the town. People make fun of the puppets, but I think they are done very well! I've seen much worse productions!

It's nothing like those new irritating nursery rhyme videos that are put on YouTube. These are fun to hear, not irritating. I'd recommend these for any children!

One of the most nostalgic kids videos of the '80s.

[Mark-AA84 · 9/10 · 15 February 2023]

I remember watching the Mother Goose Treasury (all four parts) with my younger sister when we were both still children. The nursery rhymes and stories are well selected, the characters are neat and wonderfully costumed, and the music was well orchestrated. This is not one of those videos where one would expect to hear tinker toy styled music. Another video series whose shows have well orchestrated music is the Wee Sing series, which is what I also recommend. This is also one of those video collections that may have been out of print. Try looking for Mother Goose's treasury on YouTube.

Oh, I also love Bertram. Honk! Honk!

The sheer insipid badness of it is hilarious.

[specismaster · 5/10 · 20 July 2006]

My late grandmother used to rent this video from the library for me up until I was around four years old. I loved watching it, and I even loved that giant animatronic goose Bertram.

Recently I ordered a copy of this from Amazon, to dig up some deep-rooted memories. It worked, but I never realized at such a young age how many gaps there were in the production. It never irked me, though, because said gaps were pretty hilarious to look at. For instance, a camera change might have come a couple seconds too quickly, a really cheap (though perhaps acceptable 19 years ago) effect might have been employed, and the puppets--they generally all looked horribly malformed, to put it kindly, and their mouths were opened in questionable sync with their dialogue.

To their credit, though, most of the actors displayed an earnest talent, considering what it was for which they were being paid to perform. Some of them were actually okay dancers.

I get the feeling that the production was too complex for its own good, but that really never even crossed my mind as a child. Heck, I liked the constant set and costume changes; children have short attention spans anyway.

But to anybody over the age of, say, six, this is laughably convoluted and worth a watch just to go MST3K on it.