Wallace And Gromit

Having passed the Christmas holidays where the old shorts regularly air, I've become charmed to the series again.

A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave tie as my favourite (and yes, I was one of those that bought nearly every piece of Shaun merchandise). :P

The series has also spawned a character spin off, several mini series and a feature film.

edited 1st Jan '15 1:46:40 PM by Psi001

I never saw A Matter of Loaf and Death. I should get around to that.

It's probably the weakest of the main series, if still in a 'good but not great' kinda way. It's also surprisingly dark.

edited 1st Jan '15 12:49:26 PM by Psi001

I agree with Brad Bird that the The Wrong Trousers is hands down the greatest 30 minutes of animation in history.

I remember my uncle mailed my siblings and me VHSes of The Wrong Trousers and A Grand Day Out as a present, which we fell in love with enough to go out and buy A Close Shave and a plush of Wallace, Gromit, Wendolene, and... either Shaun the Sheep or Feathers McGraw, but I can't remember which. Later on, we've been trying to keep up with almost every major Aardman project.

The Wrong Trousers was probably my favorite; it had exciting bits of action, Feathers was the best villain in the whole franchise, and Gromit running away gets me crying every time. I still have a nostalgic love for A Grand Day Out though, since I preferred that one as a kid.

edited 1st Jan '15 6:05:56 PM by PPPSSC

Is it weird that I considered this, The P Js, and Davey And Goliath to be the best claymation works of all time?

You'll be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't label it, or at least some Aardman work, within the top list.

I second The P Js as another winner, along with Shaun The Sheep, which is probably the best we'll get to mass produced Wallace and Gromit episodes right now.

no gumby?

Pjs? Animation wise? Sure. Everything else? NAH.

Anyways, Wallace and Gromit is good. Though, I haven't watched them in years. Should really re watch the cartoons.

edited 2nd Jan '15 12:30:58 PM by Teddy

Agreed with The Wrong Trousers as the best of the shorts.

If they ever do another W&G I kinda want them to bring Feathers McGraw back. :D

edited 16th Jan '15 6:04:43 AM by Yeow95

While I agree on The Wrong Trousers being a work of art, I feel A Grand Day Out gets underrated compared to it. I mean, sure the animation is cruder, but it's story is probably the most creative and surreal out of all of them and the Cooker is probably the most endearing one shot after Shaun (maybe more so since Shaun gained most of his personality in his own series).

Ever played the Project Zoo video game?

edited 16th Jan '15 8:32:35 AM by Psi001

When's the next time they're making new Wallace and Gromit shorts?

I dunno. Though Shaun will apparently get a Xmas short this year.

According to some sources, they may be less willing to make new Wallace And Gromits. Nick Park stated he didn't want them to turn into a ritual and only made them when he wanted to try something revolutionary with them. Also keep in mind Peter Sallis has retired now.

That said I wouldn't have minded seeing more Cracking Contraptions shorts.

edited 16th Jan '15 9:09:33 AM by Psi001

I think the real reason is because stop-motion animation is really slow to produce.

It is a slow process (A Grand Day Out took eight years), though it depends on resources and staff. From what I know Shaun is still claymation animated, and has so far spawned four seasons (plus two mini ones of minute long shorts), a movie and a special in the same amount of time (though I don't know when production itself had begun).

edited 16th Jan '15 9:55:19 AM by Psi001

^ What?! A Grand Day Out really took that long to produce? Wow...

Though I can't help but question that Aardman nowadays has modern technology to make the process go faster than it did back when A Grand Day Out was made? Not talking about using printed 3D models like Laika does or using CG elements like The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and The Pirates: Band of Misfits did; but at the very least something that cut down the length of the process significantly.

That and Aardman shortly afterwards was able to make The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave in much less time than that (Trousers was released three years after Grand Day Out, followed by A Close Shave two years later).

(Though unrelated, I remember Redline having a similar development timelength due to every frame in the film being handdrawn).

edited 20th Jan '15 7:46:29 AM by Yeow95

Well keep in mind most of the first film was made solely by Park, he was only hired by Aardman about halfway in, when he got a few members to assist him.

Apparently A Grand Day Out was meant to be a much more elaborate Star Wars type story. The Cooker was in fact a remount of the old story in which Wallace would be arrested by alien police for illegal parking. Then when Park got to Aardman they warned him such a story would take an extra decade to make.

I think that was maybe what made the final product so enjoyable, since big budget effects couldn't take over, Park relied solely on loads of lovely scenes of character acting, and the whole thing had a much more cosy, organic feel. The crudeness if anything made it more charming since you could tell someone had lovingly crafted each frame and model. That's not to say the later higher budget shorts are bad, but they lack some sort of atmosphere and touch the first lot did.

edited 20th Jan '15 5:09:57 PM by Psi001

Are there any future plans for Wallace and Gromit? It is Aardman Animation's most iconic franchise after all.

If they did, it wouldn't be with the original Wallace voice.

Ben Whitehead has undergone a good bit of Vocal Evolution, but he's still not quite got the voice down pat (the accent keeps slipping). I think this is his most recent work:

Still more projects with a slightly odd sounding Wallace is better than none at all.

edited 21st Jan '15 4:29:09 AM by Psi001

Hey not bad!

And Shaun the Sheep is getting his own film (excited!), kind of hoping that Wallace and Gromit get a little background cameo at least.

Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace, has sadly passed away at 96.

Raise a Wendsleydale in his honor. :(

Oh no...

It's going to find someone who can hold a candle to Peter Sallis' Wallace. He will be sorely missed.

Oh man, This is sad to hear. He has the most iconic voice of all the Aardman characters. Was there any upcoming projects he was going to be featured in?

He'd retired from acting for a while before. He'd coached a soundalike for Wallace that's been used in several side projects and commercials.