Since they were first conceived for the BBC in 1997, the Teletubbies have been a source of unending controversy. Various accusations of their corrupting influence have been levelled at these four cuddly aliens, including allegations of strong gay and communist inclinations (amongst many others). I, for one, hope that at least these two accusations are true, but by far the most widespread debate surrounding the Teletubbies is whether they hinder the normal development of your toddler.

Aimed at children between the ages of 1 and 2-2½, the majority of the show's detractors cite the Teletubbies manner of speech as the main problem; a stream of only half-intelligible gibberish that mirrors the speech of very young children. The argument is that young children need examples of correct speech to learn and improve, and that long exposure to this baby-talk will ultimately inhibit and delay their language development. Whether or not this criticism is valid is still a matter of debate, and the judgement is ultimately left up to parents. For my own part I do partially agree with the criticism and I limit my daughter’s exposure to Teletubbies. But that is to say that I do permit her to watch it as a small part of a wider and more varied exposure to television; exposure that, in general, accounts for only a very small proportion of her daily routine.

So who are these gay commies? A Teletubby is a furry, rounded, primary-coloured creature with an aerial sticking out of its head and rubber grips on its feet (presumably as protection from lightning :). They smile, twitch their noses, and run around a lot. Four such Teletubbies, Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, live together in a communal hobbit-hole in the middle of lush green fields called Teletubbyland; green fields that are overrun with a plague of cuddly rabbits. They are so called because of small screens that each has embedded in their belly. These screens can show TV pictures that are beamed to them from an ever vigilant windmill that stands on the hill overlooking Teletubbyland. Apart from receiving these images, the tubbs are kept under control by an omnipotent ruler whose orders are beamed across Teletubbyland via the decidedly Orwellian loudspeakers that dot the countryside.

Teletubbies; Animals Big and Small, being the first Teletubbies release on DVD in this region, is one large, 71-minute episode created from the contents of approximately five normal episodes; each in some way related to the tubbs and their interaction with animals.

Little Lamb: First of all there’s the story of the little lamb who rolls into Teletubbyland (yes, rolls - as in 'on wheels') and who appears to be very sad. Despite the best efforts of the Teletubbies to cheer the little fellow up, what he really needs is another wheeled lamb to play with.

How Now Brown Cow: The Teletubbies learn to say ‘How Now Brown Cow’ from one of the many Orwellian loudspeakers dotted around Teletubbyland. Much mirth is had by all.

Crawling: Taking to their knees, the Teletubbies crawl around Teletubbyland; some on the paths, some over the grassy hills, some between the trees, some around the flowers. They are so tired it’s time for a sleep!

Butterfly: A CGI butterfly wings its way into Teletubbyland, landing on each of the tubbs in turn. You better keep still you hyperactive Teletubbies!

Dog: Finally, there’s the story of the friendly, inanimate dog who wanders into Telytubbyland. The tubbs call the dog, pat the dog, but mostly say ‘dog’ over and over and over again. Boy is this one annoying.

Throughout all the stories in Teletubbyland, the ever vigilant windmill broadcasts a bunch of live-action adventures to Tele-tummies; each one featuring little kids visiting some interesting animals. These animals include penguins, elephants, a litter of cuddly puppies and a group of swans on the pond.

All in all there’s some reasonable content here for your little ones, especially if they are as interested in animals as my daughter is. However, I must wonder at the choice of format. The attention span of your average toddler is a lot shorter than older children, so I would have thought five shorter episodes would have been more appropriate than combining them into one long one. My 18-month-old daughter certainly won't sit watching Teletubbies for that long; but come to think of it, I have a sneaking suspicion she'd watch five hours of Maisy if I let her..

Produced very recently for broadcast television, Teletubbies' full-frame image has been drawn primarily from video stock and is clean crisp and colourful. Teletubbyland is a bright and cheerful place, and its inhabitants are all imbued with bright primary colours. There isn’t a shadow to be seen, and areas of black are very limited. The live-action clips are a little different, with a variety of locations sporting a wide range of hues and shadows. Roadshow’s transfer is perfect in both instances, with good colour balance and saturation, and the live-action clips displaying perfect flesh tones, reasonable shadow detail (given the video source) and good black level. The transfer itself is perfect, with no MPEG artefacts to be seen. All in all a great looking image, and although presented on a dual layer disc, the layer change does not seem to be placed within the main feature.

In terms of audio there’s not much to report, with the English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack being simple and serviceable; offering nothing in the way of surround or subwoofer activity, and limited to the Teletubbies’ perfunctory dialogue, a little narration, and a simple, circus-like theme music. It’s all as you might expect and rendered perfectly well into the digital medium.

Nicely animated menus provide access to some extras that your little ones may certainly be interested in. Indeed, my daughter found some of these extras much more entertaining than the tubbs themselves.

• Come and See Baby Animals: Presumably culled from other Teletubby episodes, we are provided with four more live-action clips featuring farm kids and the baby animals on their farms. We see a calf being fed from a bottle, lambs out in the pasture, piglets drinking from mum, and chicks in the chicken coop. Great entertainment value if my daughter’s reaction is anything to go by.

• Come and See Animal Fun: Some older kids have fun with some animal-related activities. There’s the assembling of a large jigsaw rabbit, the reading of a great story called Owl Babies by a dude with a fantastic Jamaican Barry White voice, the construction of animals from paper-mache, and a girl at play with her plastic toy animals. Pretty forgettable except for the fantastic story.

• Rabbits in Tellytubbyland: Teletubbyland suffers from a plague of cuddly rabbits, and if you can’t get enough of them, here’s another 1 min 3 sec of footage of them running about the place.

• Other Titles: A montage showing the other Teletubby titles available on VHS.

If you approve of the Teletubbies and your child enjoys watching them, you may well want to check out Teletubbies: Animals Big and Small. Presented with a nice digital transfer by Roadshow, there is certainly nothing to complain about technically. If your child has never seen the show, then I do suggest you try a few episodes from the ABC (weekday mornings) before purchasing. There is no doubt that Teletubbies are an acquired taste for both child and parent alike. Unfortunately, I like to sit with my daughter when she watches television, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't last the distance. Thankfully, my daughter isn't much different.