Search - Teletubbies :: Bedtime & Playtime Stories

The Teletubbies' Stories CD plays like a reheated episode of the notoriously babyish TV series minus the eye-poppingly bright and only questionably cute visuals. That's not to say that this record is without merits. For one, as defenders of the improbably controversy-shadowed show point out, each of its 10 story tracks are told methodically, in a manner befitting the 2-year-old and younger crowd. When a roaring wind runs away with the Tubbies' favorite things in "Big Wind and Come Back Everything," for instance, listeners run through the loop of Tubbies to get a read on how forlorn each feels. When the hat, scooter, bag, and ball are returned, we circle through the gamut, this one of relief. Similarly simple-to-follow sagas fill the "Playtime Stories" half of the CD, which includes "Tubby Toast Accident" (about an explosion of excess breakfast) and "Laa-Laa's Best Song" (in which the yellow Tubbie tinkers with a song and gleans that the best way to sing is her own way). The "Bedtime Stories" half of the CD doesn't differentiate much from "Playtime." There's a bummer of a story about a broken-down custard machine and one about Dipsy's dazzling way with a lullaby. A wordless rendition of "Rock-a-Bye Baby" and a Tubbiless telling of the classic tale of the Gingerbread Boy also show up. Beyond the easy-to-grasp and therefore potentially educational aspect, this record carries a couple of hidden benefits: caregivers concerned that their tykes are spending too much time in front of the tube will find it offers a guiltless but almost as compelling alternative to the TV show. And, because it's so simple-minded, the CD is easy for adults to tune out. That makes it superb fare for maintaining steady nerves on long car trips, at the very least. --Tammy La Gorce