Spitting Image

[jobotic]

I laughed properly twice at that trailer. That's a good hit-rate really. I'm looking forward to grabbing this from a convenient magnet link.

What bits?

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

shiiiiiiit

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

Who's doing the voices for this new series, then?

Sounds like Lewis MacLeod doing the voice over on that trailer and also him doing Trump.

Please tell me Culshaw isn't involved.

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

All the old ones are up on the Youtube btw
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyF1AmRE_Qv7_ro57JHDuEyxasnGtA5V

It's saying that all of these (apart from Series 3 Episode 6 for some reason) are blocked in the UK thanks to an ITV copyright claim.  Fucking killjoys.

[Consignia]

Who's doing the voices for this new series, then?
Please tell me Culshaw isn't involved.

Culshaw doesn't appear to be involved despite my earlier prediction:

While it's clearly shit news, and I hate Matt Forde more than most, he's one of many, I received this from Avalon's pr people today:

"Writers on the show include: Al Murray, Bert Tyler-Moore & George Jeffrie (The Windsors), Bill Odenkirk (The Simpsons), Brona C. Titley (The Tracey Ullman Show), David X. Cohen (The Simpsons), Gemma Arrowsmith (The Tracey Ullman Show), Jason Hazeley & Nico Tatarowicz (Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe/Murder in Successville), Karl Minns (Russell Howard's Good News), Keisha Zollar, Laura Major (Famalam), Matt Forde, Patric Verrone (The Simpsons), Phil Wang, Richard Herring, Sophie Duker (Frankie Boyle's New World Order) and Travis Jay (Dave Chapelle and Friends) with many more joining the growing team. "

Also on the performing front; "Voice artists include: Billy West (Futurama), Debra Stephenson (The Impressions Show), Debra Wilson (Family Guy), Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Jess Robinson (The Imitation Game) John DiMaggio (Futurama), Lewis MacLeod (Dead Ringers), Lobo Chan (Killing Eve), Matt Forde (Unspun) and Phil LaMarr (Pulp Fiction), with many more joining as the puppet cast grows."

I did get Lewis MacLeod though. And Debra Stephenson is another Dead Ringers mainstay.

[Uncle TechTip]

It didn't look completely terrible, which if i compare to my reaction to 3D TV or Newzoids, is an improvement. Maybe a nostalgic attachment to the puppet style, though they are going big on body doubles which always freaked me out. Voices were good too.

[Jollity]

I laughed at the bit in the trailer where Prince Andrew was hit with a plank, though I couldn't really explain why. The rest, though, I'm not sure. I think the previous four years may have given me my fill of Trump jokes, because I just found those bits annoying. They'll be the same jokes we can get every day on the internet for free.

Also, it's on BritBox. I had never even heard of that until this trailer. I don't think that'll help with the viewing figures.

[Retinend]

That Eilish puppet is total shit honestly. If it wasn't for the green hair (which isn't even her trademark, even I've noticed she dyes it a lot and I despise her music) you would not recognize her.

Disagree! I think she and all of the puppets look and sound really great*.  Spitting Image is one of those shows I always wanted to watch but was never put on repeat in my generation (I am 29), so I'm extremely hyped for this.

*didn't recognize the anal oil lass at 1 minute in, though?

[dr_christian_troy]

Disagree! I think she and all of the puppets look and sound really great*.  Spitting Image is one of those shows I always wanted to watch but was never put on repeat in my generation (I am 29), so I'm extremely hyped for this.

*didn't recognize the anal oil lass at 1 minute in, though?

That'll be Gwyneth Paltrow - she released vagina-scented candles through her "Goop" company a while ago I believe.

[Jumblegraws]

It didn't look completely terrible, which if i compare to my reaction to 3D TV or Newzoids, is an improvement. Maybe a nostalgic attachment to the puppet style, though they are going big on body doubles which always freaked me out. Voices were good too.

Am I the only person who thought 2DTV had some pretty decent sketches? That said, I was 14 when I watched it and all Jon Culshaw's impressions have a lisp and need to clear their throats.

[Consignia]

I didn't mind 2DTV, but then again both Newzoids and Dead Ringers made and make (respectively) me chuckle occasionally. The impressions aren't great and all three the hit rate is low (espeically considering the number of writers), but I guess if you throw enough shit at the wall some of it occasionally sticks.

[Blue Jam]

I remember 2DTV being quite good when it was 10 minutes long, and then I think the next series had 30-minute episodes and it became apparent that the writers were struggling to fill the extra time.

Headcases had one good and very savage sketch about Robert Mugabe but the rest was terrible.

[Blue Jam]

Who is the bodybuilder guy in the trailer? The Rock?

Also I really hope this doesn't feature too many musical parodies. They were always my least favourite bits of Spitting Image.

[the science eel]

Yeah, but the very best ones were often the best musical parodies ever.

[Evian Mousemat]

This looks profoundly shit.

Watching it did helpfully uncover the buried memory of one of the most terrifying moments in my childhood at the Spitting Image Rubberworks in Covent Garden, which I assumed was all pre-recorded VO for animatronics until I walked across the room during one of the puppet's monologues and it stopped, stared at me, and said "Where are you going? Christ, you can't take them anywhere can you?". It shook me to my core.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah, but the very best ones were often the best musical parodies ever.

I liked the one where they took the piss out of Genesis.

[Twonty Gostelow]

It looks pretty faithful to the traditional Spitting Image to me, and definitely better than I thought it would be.

People forget that a lot of the old Spitting Image was actually pretty weak and obvious, only remembering the good bits.

[Retinend]

I'm watching the first series now and I'm amazed - it's exactly as good as I always thought it would be!

I have some questions for the oldies, here: it seems co-creator Roger Law had a problem with ITV creating Ant and Dec puppets for use in 2006's "Best Ever Spitting Image" https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a39486/ant-and-dec-stunt-ends-spitting-image-return/

...to such an extent that he broke off negotiations for the planned return of Spitting Image at that time.

Question 1: what the hell is wrong with Law? Why is the creation of some funny new puppets a reason to throw your toys out of the pram?
Question 2: why is the show coming back now, if Law didn't really want it to come back then, and he's not dead yet?

[dr_christian_troy]

I'm watching the first series now and I'm amazed - it's exactly as good as I always thought it would be!

I have some questions for the oldies, here: it seems co-creator Roger Law had a problem with ITV creating Ant and Dec puppets for use in 2006's "Best Ever Spitting Image" https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a39486/ant-and-dec-stunt-ends-spitting-image-return/

...to such an extent that he broke off negotiations for the planned return of Spitting Image at that time.

Question 1: what the hell is wrong with Law? Why is the creation of some funny new puppets a reason to throw your toys out of the pram?
Question 2: why is the show coming back now, if Law didn't really want it to come back then, and he's not dead yet?

To answer the first question with half-facts and half-speculation, I believe it was purely in relation to Spitting Image puppets being created without the involvement of the SI team. Fluck and Law had been working together since the late 70s (you can see an early variation of their caricature work in the pilot episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News, or at the very least the involvement of David Stoten who is a longtime collaborator of John Lloyd having since worked on the QI annuals - SOTCAA have a good article on this), and it's apparent from the decline in quality and arguably the lack of promotion by the final series in 1996 that ITV were not willing to give the show the wide berth they previously had during the Thatcher years.

Lloyd has been the most keen of all of them to bring the show back or so it would seem, but for a better understanding of who wanted to do what, it would be worth tracking down the 30th anniversary documentary by BBC Arena if possible. The irony is, had the series reached 1997 when Princess Di died, as demonstrated by the satire provided by Private Eye at the time, the series would have almost certainly be demonised in whatever reaction they would have provided and a reboot would have been most likely off the table entirely.

You could also argue that they may feel the need to revisit the concept in the current climate because frankly, there isn't much political satire (in terms of the UK, with HIGNFY and the like but that's about it) out there like there used to be. Ultimately the recent trailer demonstrated that they are still good at making puppets. Some of the impressions were rather good. The writing will be key though, and it could be said that the trailer won't be able to demonstrate that too effectively because they may very well be relying on whatever is happening in the news in the week on release.

If you look at the original run, as the Major era began to degrade the savagery of satire in comparison to what the Thatcher years had fueled for the show, you'll notice in later seasons that there were far more sketches and animated sequences not entirely relevant to the week in which the episode was released. This allowed for various parts of the show to be pre-recorded in advance, and therefore not specifically topical in the way that say Drop The Dead Donkey would have been, produced in the week it was aired. This is the risk with the new series as far as I'm concerned. Then again, by the mid-90s the political aspect of the show was dying and there was a greater focus on celebrity. Now over 25 years later, both political and celebrity culture are at their peak, and so it will be very interesting to see how they maintain the balance and if this will be at all effective - or indeed, done well.

Happy to be corrected on any of this by the way, but that's what I gather anyways. In the meantime, I desperately want to take a visit to Cambridge University to take a thorough look at the Spitting Image archive there. An oral history of the series is a book that needs to be written before we lose any of the main players involved to time. Preferably with the title Rubber Thingies.

[Twonty Gostelow]

I'm watching the first series now and I'm amazed - it's exactly as good as I always thought it would be!

I need to revisit the first series and see if there's a noticeable difference between the first half, when Tony Hendra was involved, and then later when Grant and Naylor came in and the show started to catch on. The most recent ones I've seen were the later series (Grant & Naylor had long gone obviously), and it was a pretty mixed bag with a lot of weak jokes.

[Blue Jam]

I see John "Bender" DiMaggio is among the voice actors in this. Is that him voicing Mark Zuckerberg? That's been driving me mad.

[Malcy]

Tried to post the picture of the James Corden puppet but it won't work.

[olliebean]

Tried to post the picture of the James Corden puppet but it won't work.

Here you go:

[olliebean]

Whoops, sorry, that's not the puppet. Easy mistake to make.

[Cursus]

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

I must admit the Corden puppet did make me laugh when I first saw it.

[idunnosomename]

Lets play who the fuck is this

[Malcy]

Piers Morgan?

[idunnosomename]

See i thought it was Keir Starmer and still do

[Malcy]

See i thought it was Keir Starmer and still do

Couldn't tell you what he looks like. I done a reverse image search and Kevin Spacey was the first result!