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DVD Description
James May is a man on a mission: he wants to get kids out of their bedrooms and away from their video games, he wants to drag parents off their backsides and get them all playing together again. Using some of the world’s best loved toys, James May puts generations of families at the heart of some ludicrously ambitious adventures and extraordinary feats of engineering that fire the imagination and remind us of the joys of doing things together. James’s adventure sees him, his team and the general public tackling some mind-bogglingly spectacular challenges.
“For too long now we have regarded the great toys as mere playthings. It’s time to use them to bring people together and achieve greatness. And I bet it’ll be a right laugh as well.” James May
Episode 1: James’s Spitfire Spectacular
Episode 2: James Builds a Plasticine Garden
Episode 3: James Builds a Meccano Bridge
Episode 4: James’s Great Scalextric Race
Episode 5: James’s Model Railway Madness
Episode 6: James Builds a Lego House
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: James May goes on a mission to reconnect today's youth with some of Britain's best loved toys of yesteryear. In an effort to get kids to put down their games consoles, the technology-enthusiast introduces the new generation to the pleasures, frustrations and ultimate sense of accomplishment found in Plasticine, Lego, Airfix, Scalextrix, Meccano and model railways. Each toy is explored in a group project on a giant, often surreal scale, designed to unite family members of all ages and reawaken the big kid in all of us. ...James May's Toy Stories - Complete Series
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
James May is a self-confessed geek and big kid. So if either of those descriptions appeal to you, then you're going to enjoy James May's Toy Stories. The idea of the series is to highlight to the youth of today that games consoles and television aren't the be all end all. It's a way of educating them about the toys that used to delight and entertain young people.
The toys involved across the programmes include: plasticine, LEGO, Airfix, Scalextrix, Meccano and model railways. However, rather than just playing with the toys and trying to get kids interested, James draws attention big style. There are no attic-based train sets or plasticine sausages here. No, the projects undertaken in the show are huge and incredibly interesting. There's the full sized plasticine garden, a Meccano bridge - and perhaps the most famous; the LEGO house.
Every episode is fascinating because it shows just what is possible with these toys, and how much interest they awaken in people. Each event had the help of the British public as well as professionals, and each is stunning. My particular favourite is the LEGO house - it's just amazing. Words really cannot describe.
So, whether you're a fan of Top Gear or not - I'd say watch this. It appeals to all ages: it'll take some of you back in time and send you into your lofts, and it'll make others wish they'd thought of that...
The toys involved across the programmes include: plasticine, LEGO, Airfix, Scalextrix, Meccano and model railways. However, rather than just playing with the toys and trying to get kids interested, James draws attention big style. There are no attic-based train sets or plasticine sausages here. No, the projects undertaken in the show are huge and incredibly interesting. There's the full sized plasticine garden, a Meccano bridge - and perhaps the most famous; the LEGO house.
Every episode is fascinating because it shows just what is possible with these toys, and how much interest they awaken in people. Each event had the help of the British public as well as professionals, and each is stunning. My particular favourite is the LEGO house - it's just amazing. Words really cannot describe.
So, whether you're a fan of Top Gear or not - I'd say watch this. It appeals to all ages: it'll take some of you back in time and send you into your lofts, and it'll make others wish they'd thought of that...
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
This six-part series has been one of the most enjoyable of 2009. It revolves around the simple idea of using various famous (well, for people aged 40+) childhood toys in a community project. This format avoids straight rose-tinted nostalgia in favour of getting adults and children involved in playing with the toys on a grand scale... a very grand scale. So for the Airfix episode the attempt is made to construct a lifesize Spitfire aircraft. The plasticine episode, rather obliquely, creates a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. There's a Meccano bridge across a real river, a full size Scalextric racing track, a full size model railway and most famously a house built out of Lego.
Each program presents the entertaining side of the planning, chronicling the problems as much as the triumphs, as well as the amusing reactions of the people involved. It's a delight to see children who have never got their fingers gummed up with Airfix glue before hating doing an activity that doesn't involve sitting in front a tv screen then gradually finding that they enjoy making something that's real. It's just as much fun seeing the adults reliving their youth as well as the enthusiasts who are still devoted to the particular toy and who are inevitably male with loft extensions to house their hobby.
Through it all James May's genuine enthusiasm comes over well. It pleases me that of all the Top Gear presenters he's the one that appears to be getting the most work. He has an appealing and gentle approach that finds good-spirited fun in most situations such as the po-faced reactions of the Flower Show judges or meeting a particularly nerdy enthusiast. My only minor problem is that these days the BBC are incapable of making a tv show without a 'celebrity' appearing and so inevitably some crop up to, as always, add precisely nothing, but thankfully their slots are small. In addition the nostalgia is tainted by the realization that the toys do still exist, except they have often been dumbed down and they are usually being made in some far flung corner of the globe, but I would hope that this series gives the toys a boost.
This is simply the best possible show that could have been made about the toys, and it's the only series I've watched all year in which I've smiled from start to finish.
Each program presents the entertaining side of the planning, chronicling the problems as much as the triumphs, as well as the amusing reactions of the people involved. It's a delight to see children who have never got their fingers gummed up with Airfix glue before hating doing an activity that doesn't involve sitting in front a tv screen then gradually finding that they enjoy making something that's real. It's just as much fun seeing the adults reliving their youth as well as the enthusiasts who are still devoted to the particular toy and who are inevitably male with loft extensions to house their hobby.
Through it all James May's genuine enthusiasm comes over well. It pleases me that of all the Top Gear presenters he's the one that appears to be getting the most work. He has an appealing and gentle approach that finds good-spirited fun in most situations such as the po-faced reactions of the Flower Show judges or meeting a particularly nerdy enthusiast. My only minor problem is that these days the BBC are incapable of making a tv show without a 'celebrity' appearing and so inevitably some crop up to, as always, add precisely nothing, but thankfully their slots are small. In addition the nostalgia is tainted by the realization that the toys do still exist, except they have often been dumbed down and they are usually being made in some far flung corner of the globe, but I would hope that this series gives the toys a boost.
This is simply the best possible show that could have been made about the toys, and it's the only series I've watched all year in which I've smiled from start to finish.
The dvd is excellent and I can use it with my students in interior architecture - for the lego house or the chelsea show- since there are some subtitles and they are French! Excellent purchase!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Buy this and the book - both excellent!
If you enjoyed the TV programmes then you really do need to have this for the permanent collection! But need the book as well!
Published 15 months ago by R T
A Brilliant Bit of Nostalgia
It is astonishing how much joy can be put into an hour long programme. Even for people who are not, perhaps, fully acquainted with some of the toys featured, James May's... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Megitha
Interesting & Educational.
Bought this for my sons to replace the ones we'd tape off the TV.
Everything on the TV appears on this, even the parts my sons were involved in so its GREAT.
Everything on the TV appears on this, even the parts my sons were involved in so its GREAT.
Published 19 months ago by Jenks
james may
did not see the series on tv[dont own one]..now i have the dvd i cannot stop watching the whole series.
Published 20 months ago by geoff
entertaining
My 11 year old son saw most of this series on TV and really enjoyed it so as soon as it came out on DVD he asked to buy it. He likes James May from watching Top Gear. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mrs A C
Interesting, Informative, Entertaining AND Educational!
Interesting, Informative, Entertaining AND Educational!
If you want to be entertained and informed at the same time and especially if you have young children who in need... Read more
If you want to be entertained and informed at the same time and especially if you have young children who in need... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Andrew W
Enjoyable DVD
Really enjoyed this series when on TV. Some bad language, blasphemy and inuendo which is a real shame as otherwise it would be great to introduce young children to some toys with... Read more
Published 22 months ago by rodamazon
Brilliant|!
I have only watched it once, so far, but I expect I'll watch it over and over.
Published 23 months ago by A. J. Renton
Bringing out the inner child
James May takes the toys of his pre computer game childhood and trys to bring them to the children of today and of course their parents - the children of yesterday. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Smoke
James May's Toy Stories
I bought this as a stocking filler for my son as he missed a couple of episodes from the series when it was on TV. He loves it
Published on 15 Jan 2010 by Mrs. J. Standen
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