Nowadays everyone’s got something
to say about the world. You can’t move
for vox pops, talking heads and opinion
slots plastered across the media. But what
about all the animals we interact with
every day, our pets, the urban wildlife and
animals in the zoo, might they be just as talkative
and opinionated if given the
chance to speak?
Well, this here stop-motion series from Aardman
Animations gives them that
chance. It turns the microphones and the cameras
on the great and small
creatures of our world and beyond. From cats
and dogs to microbes and aliens
and everything two-legged, two-winged, four-legged,
multi-legged, multi-limbed
and no-limbed in-between. They give us their opinion
on work, holidays, sickness,
Christmas, sports, family and the universe.
There’s a ton of speculation,
misconception, insight and befuddlement and
it’s all very sly, clever and
funny indeed. Even cleverer is the fact that
it’s our own voices coming out
of the characters’ mouths. That’s because
the Aardman team have gathered
together members of the Great British Public
and placed microphones
in front of them to let them ramble. These
voices have then been aligned
to some fabulous grinning creations and the
incongruity of it all works
superbly. There’s so much depth to each enunciated
performance, they’re
a joy to watch. And the performances are matched
by the environments.
Each critter has been presented within a precise
snapshot of their particular
world. They’re carefully dressed and staged to
highlight the humour, the
pathos or charm of the scenario, twisting
expectations, unearthing new
meaning and relevance behind even the most
mundane of comments.
Of course, if you know your toons, you’ll
know that this series is actually
a spin-off from the Academy Award-winning
short film of the same name,
directed by Nick Park way back in 1990. That film
was originally produced
as part of Aardman’s “Lip Synch”
series, but it quickly grew legs and ran
away with plaudits around the world. Aardman employed
the same concept
in a Heat Electric/Total Heating commercial
campaign in which Frank the
Tortoise, Carol the Cat and Pablo the Parrot expounded
on the merits of
central heating, and a clutch of high-profile advertising
awards soon followed.
The critics loved those creatures and so did
the British public.
Jump forward seventeen years and this series
commission takes up the concept
again and runs with it, right around the globe. Longtime
Aardman associate
Richard Goleszowski directs this time
and he takes us under water, out into the
garden, on to the shoreline and even under the microscope
in the quest for all
those animal opinions.
ITV
made the brave decision to premiere the series in
a peak timeslot, next to their flagship soap
“Coronation Street”, which resulted
in some impressive viewing figures.
Originally,
two series of thirteen episodes were commissioned. But if we jump
forward in time still further, to 2007, we’ll
find that an additional thirteen episodes
were produced. This time around, the vox pops shifted
to America, using voices
from the USA aligned to some brand-new varmints
and locations. Some folks
bill this as Series Three, whilst others like to
refer to it as “Creature Comforts
in the USA”. Either way, it’s distinct from
the previous two series in both content
and presentation, so it has a
separate entry, here at Toonhound. Once
more, critics warmed to the talking creatures
and their sly juxtaposition,
but the Stateside audience was muted. The
series was dropped by CBS after
only three episodes.
Even so, the animals themselves refused to
lie down. They starred in a short
charity film special that was aired during
Red Nose Day 2007. And in addition
we got eight new “Creature Discomforts”
television advertisements. These featured
disabled animals discussing how their disability effects
them around their home
and working environments. There’s just something
deliciously simple about
this vox pop concept that has allowed
the Aardman team to got back to the
font (or should that be, water bowl?) time
and time again…
Merry
Christmas Everybody!
The second series of the show includes an
extended Christmas special.
“Merry Christmas Everybody” invites
the animals to share their experiences
of the big Winter holiday and to sing us their
version of “The Twelve Days of
Christmas”. It has a 23min running time…
Creature Comforts (2003-2004): Animated Animals Speak Their Minds
Nowadays everyone’s got something
to say about the world. You can’t move
for vox pops, talking heads and opinion
slots plastered across the media. But what
about all the animals we interact with
every day, our pets, the urban wildlife and
animals in the zoo, might they be just as talkative
and opinionated if given the
chance to speak?
Well, this here stop-motion series from Aardman
Animations gives them that
chance. It turns the microphones and the cameras
on the great and small
creatures of our world and beyond. From cats
and dogs to microbes and aliens
and everything two-legged, two-winged, four-legged,
multi-legged, multi-limbed
and no-limbed in-between. They give us their opinion
on work, holidays, sickness,
Christmas, sports, family and the universe.
There’s a ton of speculation,
misconception, insight and befuddlement and
it’s all very sly, clever and
funny indeed. Even cleverer is the fact that
it’s our own voices coming out
of the characters’ mouths. That’s because
the Aardman team have gathered
together members of the Great British Public
and placed microphones
in front of them to let them ramble. These
voices have then been aligned
to some fabulous grinning creations and the
incongruity of it all works
superbly. There’s so much depth to each enunciated
performance, they’re
a joy to watch. And the performances are matched
by the environments.
Each critter has been presented within a precise
snapshot of their particular
world. They’re carefully dressed and staged to
highlight the humour, the
pathos or charm of the scenario, twisting
expectations, unearthing new
meaning and relevance behind even the most
mundane of comments.
Of course, if you know your toons, you’ll
know that this series is actually
a spin-off from the Academy Award-winning
short film of the same name,
directed by Nick Park way back in 1990. That film
was originally produced
as part of Aardman’s “Lip Synch”
series, but it quickly grew legs and ran
away with plaudits around the world. Aardman employed
the same concept
in a Heat Electric/Total Heating commercial
campaign in which Frank the
Tortoise, Carol the Cat and Pablo the Parrot expounded
on the merits of
central heating, and a clutch of high-profile advertising
awards soon followed.
The critics loved those creatures and so did
the British public.
Jump forward seventeen years and this series
commission takes up the concept
again and runs with it, right around the globe. Longtime
Aardman associate
Richard Goleszowski directs this time
and he takes us under water, out into the
garden, on to the shoreline and even under the microscope
in the quest for all
those animal opinions.
ITV
made the brave decision to premiere the series in
a peak timeslot, next to their flagship soap
“Coronation Street”, which resulted
in some impressive viewing figures.
Originally,
two series of thirteen episodes were commissioned. But if we jump
forward in time still further, to 2007, we’ll
find that an additional thirteen episodes
were produced. This time around, the vox pops shifted
to America, using voices
from the USA aligned to some brand-new varmints
and locations. Some folks
bill this as Series Three, whilst others like to
refer to it as “Creature Comforts
in the USA”. Either way, it’s distinct from
the previous two series in both content
and presentation, so it has a
separate entry, here at Toonhound. Once
more, critics warmed to the talking creatures
and their sly juxtaposition,
but the Stateside audience was muted. The
series was dropped by CBS after
only three episodes.
Even so, the animals themselves refused to
lie down. They starred in a short
charity film special that was aired during
Red Nose Day 2007. And in addition
we got eight new “Creature Discomforts”
television advertisements. These featured
disabled animals discussing how their disability effects
them around their home
and working environments. There’s just something
deliciously simple about
this vox pop concept that has allowed
the Aardman team to got back to the
font (or should that be, water bowl?) time
and time again…
Merry
Christmas Everybody!
The second series of the show includes an
extended Christmas special.
“Merry Christmas Everybody” invites
the animals to share their experiences
of the big Winter holiday and to sing us their
version of “The Twelve Days of
Christmas”. It has a 23min running time…