Don't You Open That Trap Door...!

My first exposure of this wonderfully creepy series was through a little-known Saturday Morning show known as "Ghost Train" - which broadcast other spooky-related cartoons such as The Real Ghostbusters and Scooby-Doo. Little did I know how much I would come to love and appreciate The Trap Door as I grew up...

The series was typically 80's, where being weird and insane was (and still is) in. Created by Terry Brain and Charlie Mills (known in the credits as "Brainbox Mills"), it centred on Berk, the "overworked servant of The Thing upstairs", his annoying pet spider Drutt and the brilliant skulhead known as "Moany Boni". Together, all three wind up pitted against a host of strange, gross and downright odd monsters that emerged out of the titular Trap Door.

There are so many reasons why I adore this show, but I'll name two of them;

Firstly, it's stop-motion. This is proof of why the likes of Aardman are still around today - because they show time and again just what can be accomplished without the need of CGI; popular and far-advanced it has become now, there's still a great charm of seeing something hand-made brought to life before our eyes with time, care and patience. And the animation quality for The Trap Door especially is outstanding. No surprise that Terry Brian would later go to work for Aardman as an animator for Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Creature Comforts.

Second: Willie Rushton. The man was a legend at so many things - cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor, co-founder of Private Eye magazine, favoured panellist of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, and much-adored voice actor of both animation and audiobooks. All voices (including monster-related) were performed by Rushton himself, and how wonderfully he brought each character to life. Even as far as providing "additional material" for every episode from start to finish. I wouldn't be surprised if a good amount of ad-libbing was involved here...!

In truth, it defiantly nails the "horror" theme, yet the surreal humour balances it out as only we British know how. Terry and Charlie would continue their mad streak with the equally bizarre "Stoppit and Tidyup".

The Trap Door only lasted for two seasons - but as the old saying goes, it was "Short but Sweet". And many still remember it fondly with good reasons =)

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Buy The Complete Trap Door on DVD

Listen to an extended version of Trap Door theme tune, performed by Zygott!

See "Brainbox Mills" talk about how they created their animations

Hear Willie Rushton sing a familiar song to the tune of another - with appropriate visuals!

Lenny Henry's Polar Bears

Lenny Henry has had a very successful career as one of Britain's top comedians - and his humour have made him just as popular in voice-over work, particularly in the animation department. Famous Fred, Little Robots, Tinga Tinga Tales and Aardman's Pirates! movie are just a crust of what he's been involved in.

But one series I especially adored was a segment that was part of his 2003 series Lenny Henry in Pieces. Unlike the other sketches involved in Series 2, this one was different as it was animated. Directed by Pierre Coffin (Despicable Me, Pat and Stanley), it was about a family of polar bears living at Dudley Zoo - Gary (Lenny Henry) and Claudia (Alison Steadman), their son Shane (Barry Farrimond) and Uncle Ian (Trevor Peacock).

The family - as interpreted by me. From left to right; Shane, Gary, Claudia and Ian

You might think that it sounds too simple a premise to work with, but true to the saying, "it's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary". The scripts by Chris Reddy and the performances of the small but amazing cast are the reasons why I always get belly laughs whenever I rewatch these episodes...something else that DVD sales are missing out on!

Viewing caution is required. Some elements in the videos below may be unsuitable for younger viewers - including minor cursing and polar bear nonsense.

Tony Hart and Morph

Tony Hart with SMart presenter Kirsten O'Brien

Tony Hart (1925 - 2009) was perhaps the best thing that happened to the BBC for many inspiring artists, myself included. Before Digital Art Software like Photoshop become as big as it has today, Tony showed many of us what can be done with the traditional methods of pen, pencil, paint, chalk, crayon, paper and various other techniques. It's a shame that his old shows such as Take Hart or Hartbeat have yet received a second TV Airing or even a DVD release because this is the type of presenting that's missed in today's hyped-up generation, especially when art is involved. Being an artist isn't as big a joke as Spongebob's "behind the scenes" features make it out to be...

Tony's natural deliverance and "on the spot" creations make his programmes so much more enjoyable than anything "staged", IMO. And he has done many things for children's programmes at the time, including designing the iconic Blue Peter logo.

Old Friends - Tony with Morph

Not only that, but Tony also brought into our lives the fantastic Morph and Chas. While Wallace and Gromit have become their best-loved characters of all time, it was Morph and his chums that helped put Peter Lord and Nick Park's Aardman Studios in the Animation Directories. And like many popular stars, Morph and Chas began as secondary characters in Tony's Take Hart series, often seen interacting or messing about with Tony in dozens of Intermission Skits. In fact, the two characters proved popular enough to be given their own series - The Amazing Adventures of Morph, with Tony all the way as storyteller and (I presume) writer.

Morph and Chas

In later years, Morph and Tony would help each other along the way to remain in the hearts and memories of the small screen viewers. Snippets of TAAOM would be edited with new animation for The Morph Files, where all traces and vocal work of Tony would be replaced by Neil "Bob the Builder" Morrissey. While Neil was fine in his own way, there's something about Tony's gentle voice that's become a staple in Morph's roots. And I find it a shame and surprise that The Morph Files have somehow found its way to DVD before TAAOM, the latter which I literally grew up with.

However, the next Morph series, Morph TV, made amends when they were gracious enough to reinstate Tony's old art tutorials for the next generation to learn from. And though Tony has long since passed on, his legacy still lives on in spirit.

As for Morph, as well as being a feature in SMart (1994 - 2009), he and Chas have since returned to TV in Ricky's Radical Reinventions (2012) and plenty of the old sketches are available for viewing on Aardman's official YouTube Page.

Who knows what Morph and Friends will get up to next!

For now, take a trip back in time to 1980 with The Amazing Adventures of Morph!

Before his retirement in 2001, Tony Hart presented several more art-related programmes throughout the '90s - at one point, he dealt with the antics of The Art Box Bunch!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Morph on Toonhound

Morph's Official Website

Tony Hart's Official Website

Tony Hart's Wikipedia Page

Buy "The Morph Files" from Play.com!

Learn how Morph came to be!

DC Nation Shorts

While I'm not really a regular reader of anything DC / Marvel-related, I will admit that this looks really cool.

As part of the DC Nation block on Cartoon Network US, Warner Bros. have released a mini-series entitled DC Nation shorts which, as the name suggests, gives various animation teams the chance to tell mini-adventures of some of our favourite super hero characters. Amongst the majority readily available online, these are considered my faves:

Plastic Man - originally released as a pilot for an animated TV Series by Tom Kenny, Andy Suriano and Stephen DeStefan, these new shorts very much take full advantage of the traditional "squash-and-stretch" methods.


Super Best Friends Forever - created by Lauren Faust (of the current My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reboot), we see Super Girl, Wonder Girl and Batgirl team up to fight crime - and do other "super awesome fun stuff" too.


DC's World's Funnest - in keeping with their award-winning series Creature Comforts, Aardman Animations showcases kid-versions of Superman, Catwoman, Batman and Robin and the Joker as only they know how.


Various other shorts include Mad Presents..., Doctor Fate, Catwoman, and the familiar return of Teen Titans. Only a matter of time until these bite-sized little wonders are made available to the United Kingdom I shouldn't wonder...but check them out whichever way you can. A true definition of "Short but Sweet".

Don't forget to check out a Behind The Scenes video about the series also!

Rony Oren

British viewers may recall seeing one or two of the following programmes below at some point of the '90s, at a time when Channel 4 used to show animation at reasonable hours. They all have one thing in common - they were created by one person.

Rony Oren is pretty big in his part of the world. Once he opened shop with FrameByFrame Productions, went on to animate and produce thousands of stop-motion productions in his lifetime, from adverts / commercials to kids shows and short films - as well as writing and drawing children's books of his own. He's pretty much the Nick Park of Israeli!

What makes Rony's animation work noticeable is how rubbery and bouncy his technique is. Something that's quite reminiscent of Pingu or Morph or Mio Mao.

Although all of his works have been broadcast worldwide, three of his shows have been showcased vastly in the UK - all which I recall watching, whether it was 6am or 12am.


Foxy Fables was one of his earliest works in 1987. Co-written and voiced by Andy Seacombe and Teddy Kempner, the series adapted a number of Aesop and Uncle Remus fables often ending with a moral - while still delivering hilarious dialogue all the way.


Andy and Teddy would collaborate again for Rony's next series, Tales of a Wise King - again, each episode sharing a moral from adapted stories of mythology, fantasy and magic, all teaching viewers about using your brains.


The last of Rony's series I recall Channel 4 showing was Grabbit the Rabbit - and as with the two above, this also adapts stories from Jean de la Fontaine and Joel Chandler Harris, although by this time Rony's style seem to have more spit and polish involved.


Rony is still animating and writing to this day - so anyone interested in how to create their own claymation characters should keep an eye out for his useful selection of books to add to your library!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Rony Oren's Official Website

Claytoons - Rony Oren's Animation Studio

Rony Oren on YouTube!

Plonsters

As you may know, if you've been following this Blog of mine long enough, I've always been an admirer of anything obscure, original or just downright nutty - so this stop-motion series from Germany fits all three roles nicely...

Plonsters was created by Bettina Matthaei and produced by Anima Studio für Film & Grafik GmbH in the late 1980's. Having been aired in Australia and Norway, it eventually made its way to British airwaves, which I happened to catch sight of as part of Channel Five's Milkshake! block during some channel surfing one morning.
The series follows the adventures of three plasticine creatures known as Plif (green), Plops (blue) and Plummy (orange). With each episode lasting no less than 5 minutes, showcasing simple yet fun storylines for youngsters to follow, it really does prove what one can do with some plasticine and a little imagination...

In fact, going by the gibberish language from the Plonsters, the series seems to have the same universal appeal as with Morph and Pingu in a way - but you be the judge.

Check out the Plonsters YouTube Channel for all avaliable episodes!

Also check out Bettina Matthaei's own web site  (It's in German - however you can translate it by using Google Translate!)