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   The comfort of a BAFTA  (28.03.04)

    Great news for Aardman Animation this week, with details of this year's
    BAFTA nominations now surfacing for all to see. And there amongst the
    Comedy selections are those splendid claymation critters from 'Creature
    Comforts'.

     

    The competion is certainly stiff, with 'Bo' Selecta', 'Double Take' and 'Little
    Britain' sitting alongside Frank The Tortoise, Mr Tickles and company.
    But who knows? Maybe they can snaffle the golden mask away from under
    the noses of their live-action rivals. We'll find out come the 19th April,
    when the gongs are dished out.

    Regardless of the outcome, the nomination alone deserves applause.
    The Aardman team must be chuffed. And similarly, so should ITV who
    took the bold step of putting the series on in a primtime slot. Their gamble
    has seemingly reaped a handsome award, what with the BAFTA kudos
    and good ratings. Things were looking shakey after 'Mr Bean's so-so
    scheduling success (that's still a great show, though, with a very vocal
    fan base). Let's hope more 'gambles' follow...

                                                      More:  Creature Comforts   BAFTA

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   And the winners were...  (22.03.04)

    The results are in, folks. The British Animation Awards ceremony was
    held at The Shaw Theatre in Bloomsbury on Friday 19th March, and the
    gongs were divided rather evenly between the nominees. 'Angelina' got
    one, and 'Monkey Dust' and - well - here are the tvtoon winners:

    Best Animated Special
    Angelina Ballerina: The Show Must Go On

    Best Children’s Series
    Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids: Revenge of the Bogeyman

    Best Children’s Preschool Series
    Koala Brothers: A Letter for George

    Writers Award
    Yoko! Jakamoto! Toto!: The Special Thing

    Best Comedy
    Monkey Dust

    Children’s Choice Award
    Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids: Revenge of the Bogeyman


    So what can one say to this, apart from congratulating the winners?
    Well, 'Grizzly Tales' win in the Children's Choice section suggests that
    it thoroughly deserves its Children's Series victory too, given that its target
    audience obviously appreciates it as well. Ginger Gibbons' work on 'Angelina' 
    also deserves applause. We're not all in to pirouetting ballerinas, but you can
    not fault the way Helen Craig's illustrations have been brought in to life by the
    Grand Slamm team. Spellbound's 'Koala Brothers' is a top result again. There's
    some lovely work in that show, and its Australian scenery and characters makes
    for some very refreshing visuals. On a personal level, Tony Collingwood's award
    for 'Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!' is fab. As The Hound has mentioned before, that
    show tells its stories through music and action, rather than dialogue. Bloomin'
    tricky to pull off, is that. And then we have the Talkback Thames' 'Monkey Dust'.
    This controversial series has many fans, and it's picked up several awards over
    recent months, as the BBC are all-too pleased to tell us. Well done, one and all.

    So are there any BAA disappointments? Oh, yes. Pity poor 'Little Wolf'
    who bounded into the evening with three nominations, but went home
    emptyhanded. Likewise 'Meg & Mog' was twice overlooked. Still, the
    nominations are something, regardless of the outcome.

    Of course, there were other award categories at the ceremony, and you'll
    find all of the info on them at the official BAA site. Most notable was Chris
    Shepherd's double triumph for his short film 'Dad's Dead', and Aardman
    Animation picked up the Best Commercial gong for their 'Polo' advert.
    Blur picked up the Best Video award.

    Does scooping a BAA actually make a difference? Probably not, in most
    cases. It's not like you can get a bigger box-office boost from the awards,
    as you might with an Oscar. But upcoming or lesser-known names do get
    their chance to shine, and certainly, the animation industry is acutely aware
    of the event and its nominees. Slowly but surely, those BAAs are getting
    noticed by a mainstream audience. Hence we have the BBC proudly announcing
    their win to the world, and interviewing festival organiser Jayne Pilling too.
    The BAAs were set up to celebrate the diversity of British Animation,
    and any awards line up that places 'Monkey Dust' next to 'Angelina Ballerina'
    and 'The Koala Brothers' is most certainly doing just that...

    Roll on 2006!

                                                   More:  British Animation Awards (BAA)  

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   Record-breaking Beano  (17.03.04)

    Crikey. Remember that first-edition Beano which was put up for auction at
    Compal earlier in the month? Well, it did well, so it did. Very well indeed.
    It actually broke the record for a British Comic purchase on Tuesday 16th
    March, closing at a whopping great £12,100. That's nearly £5,000 higher
    than the previous figure!

    Interesting to see various news reports now stating that there are, perhaps,
    about a dozen-or-so of these much-desired originals out there in the Big
    Bad Comics World. That's a revised number, up from the nine copies that
    were previously thought to exist. This particular edition was said to be
    in rather fine fettle. Apparently its original youthful owner had written
    'keep first issue' on the cover in pencil.

    And it's just as well he did, eh?    

                                                                   More:  BBC News

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   Oggie-oggie!  (16.03.04)

    Like, here's some radical news, dude, surfing in from Galleon Holdings
    and James Driscoll, who brought us those ever-popular 'Shoe People'.
    Mr Driscoll and company are about to bring us a bunch of animated
    Cornish Pasty dudes called 'Oggies'. Fistral Freddie, Bondi Bruce, Lenny
    Zennor and the gang are extreme sports stars who like to surf, skate board
    and mountain bike here, there and everywhere.

    So, like, where have these dudes come from? Well, legend has it that, late
    one night, a Cornish baker fell asleep at the back of his shop. That gave a
    mischievous Piskie the chance to sprinkle 'bring-to-life' dust over a waiting
    batch of pasties. Them there pasties subsequently climbed out of the oven
    and took up residencee at surf-friendly Oggie Point.

    At least, that's the legend. In reality, these toon stars were actually cooked up
    by a St Ives businessman called Vincent Walker. Vincent subsequently met with
    James Driscoll, who steered the project towards his old friend, artist and writer
    Rob Lee. Rob designed those Shoe People, as well as 'Joshua Jones' and
    'Fireman Sam'.  Ex-Disney producer Chris Henderson and Emmy-award winning
    writer Carter Crocker were then added to the package which is now winging its
    way down to MIPTV this April, and hopefully, wuill secure full funding for its
    planned 26 x 11min episodes.

    Originally, those 'Oggies' were known as 'The Cornish Riviera Pasties'
    and what's more, Oggie star Fistral Freddie was created by Newquay Junior
    school children as a result of a competition run on the BBC Cornwall website.
    In October 2003 the Metroplitan Police used Freddie to launch a Safer Surfing
    campaign on the Internet. This dude is now the official mascot of the British
    Surfing Association's Unleashed Club which teaches youngsters how to surf
    the real waves safely. And you can see Freddie and friends over on the official
    'Unleashed' web site. The BBC feature pictures of the more Oggies on their
    own news page.
    
    With the current calls to get kids active again and curb childhood obesity,
    those always-active Oggies could have arrived on the toon scene at just
    the right time...
  
    Like, we''ll find out soon, won't we dudes?

                                                 More:  BBC News   Surfing Unleashed

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   Number one auction  (08.03.04)

    The fine folks at Compal Comics have just posted their March comic auction
    catalogue online over the weekend and, as always, there are some
    mouthwatering lots there for folks with money to burn.

     

    Top billing surely goes to a first edition 'Beano' comic from 1938, with
    an estimate of £5,500 - £6,000. The last one offered up went for a record
    breaking £7,500 back in December 2002. At the time it was suggested that
    only nine editionms of this much-desired comic were still known to be in
    existence. Is this one of the nine, or a new tenth edition? Whatever, it'll be
    fascinating to see how this one goes!

    As always, DC Thomson are very well represented here. Lots include a
    number of very early issues of 'The Dandy' , several without estimates.
    But as a guide, the ones with estimates are expected to fetch up to,
    or over, £200 each. Alongside the comics are some Dandy & Beano Club
    Menus dating from 1936-1943 (£100 - £150), some original 'Keyhole Kate'
    artwork from artist Allan Morley (£200-ish), a Jimmy Crichton 'Dandy' cover
    from 1940 with 'Corky The Cat' (£1,500 - £2,000). And best of all, a wonderful
    page of Lord Snooty Propganda art from Dudley Watkins also dating from
    1940 (£1,200 - £1,500). Lord Snooty and The Professor go back in time to
    recruit Robert The Bruce, Wellington And Napoleon for a stand-up fight
    with Hitler, Goering and Mussolini - Fantastic!

    It's not all Thomson, of course. 'Eagle' fans may be able to plug some gaps
    in their collection with several comic lots on offer, as well as a number of
    'Dan Dare' goodies, like a pocket watch (£220 - £250) and Walkie-Talkie
    Set (£100 - £150).

    This auction runs until Tuesday March 16 at 8 PM UK time and bids can be
    submitted online, by fax or by telephone - so what are you waiting for?

                                                                   More:  Compal Comics

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   Number 'Juan'!  (05.03.04)

    Pull on your poncho and pin down your sombrero, 'cos that number-crunching
    hombre hero El Nombre is about unleash a number 'Juan' record!

     

    For the uninitiated, El Nombre is a heroic Mexican gerbil, a masked
    crusader famous for thwarting the dastardly deeds of Don Fandango and
    allowing the good folk of Santa Flamingo to live their lives in peace and
    harmony. He was created by former kids' tv presenter Christopher
    Lillicrap and brought into stop-motion life by the talented folks at
    Ealing Animation. Initially, he was a star within the BBC's 'Numbertime'
    schools programme, but he's since swung into his very own hit series.

       Order 'He's The One' from amazon.co.uk!

    This years marks El Nombre's tenth anniversary and to celebrate, a top
    new tune has been put together by Chris Lillicrap and Richard Derbyshire.
    'He's The One' (or is that 'Juan'?) hits record stores in the UK on March 29th
    and a fun video has been made to accompany the track featuring El Nombre
    and pals performing 'Britney style dance moves'. It sounds a hoot, and it's set
    to be included on the single, which makes the whole package even more desirable.

    Both the old and new series of 'El Nombre' are currently being broadcast on
    BBC2, on Wednesday mornings at 10.20am and, frankly, you'd be mad
    not to set the video for them. This top series features some great fun
    moments and splendid animation.

    El Nombre is one heck of a hombre!

                                            More:   El Nombre   Ealing Animation

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   Hold the front page...  (13.02.04)

    Did you see it? Yours Truly has finally springcleaned the front page
    of this not-so-little site. Let's face it, the old home page was looking a bit
    tired. So what do you think - Is it an improvement? It's mighty tricky,
    juggling jolly graphics with speedy load times, but the new home page
    actually matches the old one, size for size...

    Now that the old tvtoons index is up to speed (well, almost) The Hound
    has been able to cast his beady eye further abroad at last. As promised
    last month, updated puppets pages will soon start appearing, plus a few
    more Fleetway St. additions. I'm working as quickly as I can to get new
    stuff online, but as you can imagine, maintaining a site this size takes
    one heck of a lot of time and effort. Plus there's the little fact of my own
    'secret' project which eats up every spare moment I have, not to mention
    our busy little sister store ToonsToGo where lots of Spring goodies are
    about to - um - 'spring' up. Ee, there's never a dull moment round
    these parts...

    Till next time!

             thehound@toonhound.com