Rainbow S15E29 (1984) - FULL EPISODE

Robots. Zippy's playing with his toy robot, and soon he and the others start to wonder what life would be like if they had a real one. Geoffrey comes up with an idea to show them that they may not be the answer to all of life's problems. I believe that this is the final episode of series 15, originally broadcast on Friday, 27th July, 1984.
This is a really strange one, with an odd construction and its oh-so-futuristic technology. And what do Rod, Jane and Freddy look like? There's just something of a weird air to it all, which is a bit of a trademark for Stanley Bates. Yes: this episode was written by Bungle himself. Stanley's magnum opus was probably the 1986 Christmas special, which at times crosses over from the bizarre to the outright sinister (not necessarily a criticism), but at least we don't go quite that far here. I've no idea what the skit at the beginning was all about, though, with those R2D2 and C3PO wannabes. How odd.
I do think there's a fundamentally good message on show, thought, and Geoffrey's malicious compliance makes the point well. I think there's a bit of a blunder around 4:40 where he forgets to take away Zippy's squash, but it's covered well as Zippy himself hides it and then giggles to himself in the background. Obviously we're also treated to a robot-themed song, and the story Jane reads us is Robox Lends a Hand. (Listen out for a nice little "Simple, pimple" sneaked in before the event, if you get what I mean.)
Many thanks to Lee for providing this recording, and apologies for having to snip out the opening titles.
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