The summers of the late 60's and early 70's when I was a little girl always seemed so much nicer than now and I have often wondered was it just childish optimism that makes me remember them with such affection. It was this affection that made me buy this almost iconic memory of that time, although I was fearful it would not be as I remembered it. I was so wrong, in fact, Robinson Crusoe turned out to be much better that I recalled. I instantly remembered the opening titles, short and sweet, but, I hadn't appreciated how well the story was told; plain,simple and extremely maturely for a children's programme, they understood that children wanted intelligent viewing in those days, so much different to the bubblegum for the eye served up today. Robert Hoffmann is superb as Crusoe and I admit I didn't think of him as eye candy as a 10 year old, but, grown up me appreciates that aspect a lot more. The narration of Lee Payant is perfection and the rest of the cast all add up to great television viewing. I have seen comments about the quality of the print, it isn't that bad although the sound could have done with some cleaning up of the background artifacts, but, I'm not complaining, I'm just glad to have the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful series again. Sadly many kids today will not appreciate this series if it were shown again and that is their loss.
