Subscribe!Windfalls (1989)
Originally posted on 29 November 2025First episode title: Fine Weather Friend / Bella Donna
How familiar with the show am I?: I hadn't heard of it before.
Here's a unique animated show. The concept is that there are little people that live amongst nature, being named after - and made from - the various plants that can be found in the wild. But the exceptional part is the fact that all of the plants are real, animated in stop-motion, with what look like paper cut-outs added for faces and other things that can't be made out of plants. Let's see how that goes!
This is one of those shows where all of the speech is provided through narration, with a single voice actor. He starts by explaining that there are Windfalls (those tiny people) wherever there is a Windfall Land, which is wherever there are plants.
At the start of the "Fine Weather Friend" segment, we're introduced to two of the Windfalls, who appear in the scene by being assembled, their separate parts coming together as if a handful of plants suddenly decided that they want to be a person. Two male Windfalls: a taller thinner one called Berry and a shorter rounder one called Butterbur. As you can see, they are all named after plants. Berry has asterisk shapes for eyes, which a couple of other characters we'll see later also have, with no obvious pattern as to which characters are like that. Butterbur has a snazzy bowtie.
The two of them see a rainbow, and Butterbur says he's going to find out what rainbows are made of, so they walk over to it only for it to disappear. So they go looking for another. While they search, you can see that some things in this show are made of real plants even when they wouldn't actually be - the sun itself is a yellow flower!
Their search is of course unsuccessful, and they sit down for a rest. A female Windfall called Cornflower, in a blue "dress" that looks to be made from an actual cornflower, arrives and tells them she's going to visit her friend Daisy and she was told she could bring friends along. Butterbur is reluctant to give up so quickly on finding a rainbow, but Berry wants to meet Daisy now and says they can do that another time, so Butterbur reluctantly follows them both away. If you think about it, since he has no idea where to find a rainbow, the direction of where Daisy lives is as good a place to search as any!
The narrator claims "When they arrived, there was no sign of Daisy", but she's clearly visible to the viewer, motionless in a cluster of daisies. The Windfalls can't tell where she is and Butterbur moans that he just wants to leave if Daisy isn't even here. Then Berry suddenly points and asks what that is, and you might think he has spotted her... but it's actually just a rabbit. Is it smaller than the Windfalls, like the scale a rabbit is to a human? They're not shown in the same shot so it's impossible to tell.
Then Cornflower looks amongst the flowers and finds Daisy, declaring that she's fast asleep. To me, the fact that she's not animated at all in this section makes her look creepily like she's dead, though. If this wasn't such a cosy, little-child-aimed show, I'd think it was one of those moments where a character mistakes someone for sleeping only to find they're actually dead.
Just as Butterbur says they should just go back to looking for a rainbow, it starts to rain. And remember, it was sunny before. But these oblivious characters are not going to make the connection there. Berry says that they'll need to find shelter from the rain, but that doesn't visibly happen.
When the rain stops, Daisy wakes up. She apologises for being asleep when they came to visit, and says that she always gets very tired on rainy days. Cornflower provides the episode's title by jokingly calling Daisy her fine weather friend. Meaning the same as fair weather friend, this seems to be a rare instance of someone making a joke around that phrase that doesn't miss the point of the original.
Daisy says that she's alright now that the sun is out, and points out that a rainbow has come out too, which it has. Butterbur is excited to finally go over to it and see what it's made of, but Daisy explains that she already knows: raindrops and sunshine. So they all look at the rainbow, Butterbur trying to see the raindrops and sunshine in it, but only seeing a rainbow. Obviously, this is meant to somewhat demonstrate to children where we get rainbows from without going into the full science of it.
Between the named segments, there is a short skit involving a clown-like Windfall with a pointy hat, who takes it off and does various tricks involving putting petals into the hat and seeing them emerge as other things. First a butterfly, then a bird. Lastly they conjure up some stalks and the petals from the hat just become petals on the flowers, which I suppose is kind of a punchline.
In the second proper segment, "Bella Donna", Cornflower is practising a dance in front of Butterbur. Her steps look very... simple. She says she's been invited to the "Shady Wood" to perform, by someone called "Bella Donna". Butterbur says he's never heard of Bella Donna and Cornflower admits she hasn't either. Would you accept an invitation from someone you've never heard of to come to somewhere called Shady Wood?
Cornflower does, however, know that "Bella Donna" means beautiful lady, and concludes that the woman must be very important. Well, now we know how Cornflower thinks of other people. She dances away and the narration says that Butterbur is very impressed, even though she's still doing very simple-looking steps.
So we're told that he goes to tell Uncle Onion what is happening. When we see Uncle Onion, obviously his body is made of bits of onion peel, and he has the head of an older man with a moustache, and the same asterisk eyes as Berry. He's uninterested in what Butterbur is saying about Cornflower going to Shady Wood to dance, until Butterbur mentions the name Bella Donna, which worries Uncle Onion. Uncle Onion has such an extremely rhotic rural accent that he actually pronounces her name "Bella Donner". He says that there's nothing beautiful about her and tells Butterbur to follow him.
Next we see a dark forest that we wouldn't even need to be told is Shady Wood, but we're told anyway. There are a handful of small animals around, and Cornflower arrives, calling out for Bella Donna. Some leaves assemble themselves to become Bella Donna, who is a pretty eerie presence. She has yellow eyes surrounded by a lot of eyeshadow, reflecting the belladonna plant's traditional use in cosmetics, and speaks in a near-monotone, commanding Cornflower to dance.
Cornflower dances in steps just as simple as before, while Bella Donna stares at her, at one point moving from side to side a little as though she's going to join in the dance, but mostly just staying motionless and occasionally blinking. It's just... creepy.
Eventually she tells Cornflower that was very good, and, removing a bunch of berries from the plant matter on the top of her head, tells Cornflower that these are a gift for the birds of Windfall Land. Even when giving a present and saying that this is to say thank you, she comes across menacing.
But Cornflower doesn't seem to pick up on that vibe, and just says goodbye to her and leaves. Bella Donna waves, then dismantles herself back into her plant parts as the background music plays some discordant accordion notes. Were the people who made this okay?
Cornflower arrives back in Windfall Land to find Uncle Onion and Butterbur rushing towards her, warning her not to eat the berries. She's weirdly indignant at that, as if she had shown any sign of wanting to eat them when she was given them. Onion explains that belladonna is another name for deadly nightshade. And if you didn't know that that means those berries are poisonous, today is your lucky day.
A stunned Cornflower says that Bella Donna told her these berries were for the birds, and Onion agrees that it's safe for birds to eat them, and admits that Bella Donna isn't so bad after all. What a rollercoaster.
Butterbur says they should feed the birds then, and finally we actually see some animals in the same shot as the Windfalls for the first time, confirming that the birds are small, i.e. the size you would expect birds to be compared to a human. Are Windfalls bigger than I assumed, despite being visibly made of leaves and petals and such? I don't know my bird species, but these ones have brown bodies with long tails and a white band around their neck.
Unfortunately, despite the beautiful design and the unique way it was made, the story of this show wasn't doing anything for me at all. At least you have your looks, Windfalls.