The Trap Door Story  The Trap Door is an 80’s children’s TV animated show. In a castle, in a strange and horrible land, lives Berk, a blue monster. Berk looks after the master of the castle, waiting on him hand and foot. You know when his master needs him, as there is a big booming voice that shouts from above Berk! Berk!! We don't get to see his master (he lives upstairs) but we are sure that he is a huge horrible monster. In the basement / kitchen where Berk works is the trapdoor. It’s a portal to a place that is inhabited by strange beasts and monsters. It is usually opened by Berk to lure a monster through it so he can bonk it on the head and serve it up as food for his master. But the monsters that come through the trapdoor are normally too much trouble than they are worth, so Berk limits the number of times it opens. Luckily, or is that unluckily, Berk has company in the basement, in the form of Boni and Drutt.      The Trap Door Characters Berk     (voiced by Willy Rushton) Berk is the loyal servant of his master, the Thing Upstairs. He isn't loyal out of duty, but loyal because he's afraid of what his master will do to him if he doesn't look after him. He’s relegated to the kitchen area in the basement, where he prepares the wriggling, writhing, slimy and downright disgusting meals for his master (who likes them that way). He also does any tasks that his master tells him to do. Berk is always muttering about his master, calling him The Great Bloat, Fat Lump, Noisy Wind Bag, and many more. I think it helps him let of steam, as a result of being bossed around all the time. When ever a nasty monster makes it up through the trap door, Berk gets hold of his trusty rolling pin, to bonk them with. Bonking them on the head seems to do the job most of the time, where the offending monster is either thrown back through the trap door, is sent upstairs for his master to eat or Berk starts running. One of his most relaxing tasks is to go outside fishing in the swamp, for creatures for the Thing Upstairs to eat. The trouble is what lives in the swamp can bite back, so it’s best to keep a safe distance. Once he made his own potion to make himself feel better. The trouble was that he turned himself into a frightening blue monster, who threw all his friends around the room. Each time he burped, he turned back to normal and then again into the monster. Luckily it wore off after a while, to his friends relief.     Boni     (voiced by Willy Rushton) Boni, as his name might give away, is a skeleton. But there is one major difference and that is he seems to have lost his body (maybe Berk's master ate it). So he's just a skull, relegated to living his life out on a shelf in the kitchen. But that doesn't stop Boni commenting on everything that Berk does, such as leaving the trap door open. Poor Berk gets it in the neck from him most of the time, which is why he calls him Moany Boni. Berk has even threatened to throw him down the trapdoor every so often. As you can tell, Boni whinges about most things, including he’s bored, cold, etc. His mood only brightened when he got his body back for a few minutes. But this was a trick created by a little monster that gave Boni, Berk and Drutt the thing they most desired, before taking it away from them (the cruel thing!).     Drutt     (voiced by Willy Rushton) Berk's other companion is a small scuttling, 8 legged, creature called Drutt. He doesn't talk, but makes strange rasping / farting noises. Drutt has one aim in life, and that is to eat anything that moves. But sometimes he bites off more than he can chew, such as the times he has opened the trapdoor to eat whatever comes through. But sometimes the creatures that come through the trapdoor want to eat him instead (serves you right). Drutt has to be nimble on his feet, otherwise he’s squashed underfoot by either Berk or one of the trap door monsters (seems to happen quite regularly). Maybe Berk should refer to his as his flat mate :) Once Berk threw him down the trapdoor to get rid of him, as he was fed up with him interrupting his cooking. Poor Boni missed him, which made Berk feel guilty. Even trying to fish for him with a big fat worm didn’t work. Luckily Rog had come across him on his travels and returned him. Later, Drutt went missing for a few days and Berk went looking for him. But when they found him, to his surprise he had given birth and was the proud mother of 4 baby drutts. Boni wasn’t too happy with them, as they all came along and ate his birthday cake and he didn’t even get a slice!     Rog     (voiced by Willy Rushton) Rog is one of the friendly monsters that live down the trap door. He likes to come and visit his friends, but Berk isn’t always glad to see him. He’s a bit slow, mentally and physically, but makes up for this with strength. One word of advice, don’t upset him, otherwise he’ll use his fists to bonk you back down the trap door, along with a large bruise. Many monsters have been given this treatment, much to the delight of Berk. But Rog lost his fight against the big red monster. Berk and his friends thought poor Rog had died, so they buried him. Luckily he was only knocked out and dug himself out, which surprised his friends.     The Thing Upstairs     (voiced by Willy Rushton) He is the master of the castle and Berk. He is a huge monster that we catch glimpses of in his room upstairs, but is probably too horrible to look at. We do know that he has many huge eyeballs, that Berk has to clean. Berk had to go down the trap door to find one when it accidentally rolled down there. Berk was not pleased. He makes Berk do many tasks for him, such a cooking, plumbing, dentistry, and is always shouting for him to do ‘this and that’. Did you know that he’s never given Berk the day off, which is probably why Berk is always being unkind about him, by calling him names behind his back. Still, Berk gets him back in other ways, such as the time he pulled out the wrong tooth when The Thing had tooth ache (it was an honest mistake).   The Yellow Bubo     (voiced by Willy Rushton) He is a horrible little monster that loves to torment Berk and his friends. When he first came out of the trapdoor, he was invisible and started chucking food at everyone, much to their annoyance. Eventually they hit him with some yellow mush that made him visible. If he really annoys Berk, then he captures him by grabbing the spout on top of his head and blowing into it. The next thing you know, he looks like a balloon, which he lets go to see him flying around the room. The Trap Door DVDs The Trap Door T-Shirts The Trap Door Video Intro The Trap Door Episodes Series 1 (1984)  1. Breakfast Time  2. Slither, Wriggle and Writhe  3. Food For Thort  4. Lurkings  5. Gourmet’s Delight  6. Creepy Crawly  7. The Big Thing  8. Ghoulies  9. The Dose  10. The Thingy  11. Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite  12. Fester Rancid  13. The Pain  14. The Little Thing  15. Don’t Open That Door  16. Junk Food  17. Yechh  18. Flyin’ Wosit Fingy  19. Strange Goings On  20. Midnight Snack  21. Nasty Stuff  22. Sniff That  23. Vile Pile  24. Slightly Weird  25. Bye Bye Berk   Series 2 (1986)   1. Scunge  2. Oh Globbits  3. Moany Boni  4. The Horrible Thing  5. Not Very Nice  6. Bugs  7. Yum Yum  8. Birthday Surprise  9. The Stupid Thing  10. Boo!  11. The Lump  12. The Splund  13. Nasty Beasty  14. What a Weirdo  15. The Big Red Thing The Trap Door Images (click to enlarge) © JedisParadise.com Toys & Gifts T-Shirts Bargain DVDs