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New Wallace and Gromit film for Christmas '24; Peter Sallis still dead

Started by Old Nehamkin, January 21, 2022, 11:58:11 AM

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Quote from: Thomas on January 23, 2022, 02:18:35 PMI prefer its working title, Trouble at Mill.

Me too.  And I prefer the working title for their feature film, too:  The Great Vegetable Plot

Replies From View

Quote from: Thomas on January 23, 2022, 02:18:35 PMBen Whitehead is a good Wallace, but I'm so familiar with Sallis' every syllable that even Whitehead's latest contributions - which many laud as spot-on - sound unhappily off to me. I can hear the strain in his vowels. Too low here, too high there - it's distracting, like waiting for a tightrope walker to trip up.

I have a dense southern ear, so am not picking up on the subtler details.  I can imagine it'll probably be grating for anyone attuned to the actual Lancashire nuances that should be behind the caricature.

mothman

Fuck! AMoLaD was Christmas 2008?! I have a 12yo now who wasn't even conceived then!!

George White

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on January 22, 2022, 06:13:24 PMShaun the Sheep's world is a lot more elastic than Wallace & Gromit, much more sitcommy and inconsistent. Like in Farmaggeddon it's a big deal that there's an alien even though there have been multiple aliens in the series, and also the farm suddenly has vast corn fields which are then gone in the next series. I think that's the Richard Starzak influence as opposed to Nick Park.
It's 'sitcom movie logic', you know when you suddenly have the characters in a different looking set.

Replies From View

Nobody has really mentioned it yet, but I think Sallis' age was coming through in the voice of A Matter of Loaf and Death, and possibly also Wererabbit.  Some of the more characterful readings in the first few films were beginning to fade, and to my ear that last short felt patched together from multiple takes, a thin voice always on the verge of cracking.  The enthusiastic exclamations of "oh ho!" and things like this were sounding dry, and I dunno.  Something wasn't quite there anymore.

So arguably Ben Whitehead can bring something more than impersonation, once he's settled into it.  We'll see.

H-O-W-L

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 23, 2022, 01:08:57 PMThe coin-op moon robot is so bloody weird. As I said with the other ones you can see where Park gets his ideas, from Hammer horror to Hitchcock, but this is practically Dadaist.

Who put it there?
If it's a policeman, why is it coin-operated?
Will the second coin run out?

Very existential. Never repeated and miles away from simple stuff like Wererabbit

Very Douglas Adams esque, no?

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Quote from: George White on January 23, 2022, 02:58:49 PMIt's 'sitcom movie logic', you know when you suddenly have the characters in a different looking set.

Different-looking but secretly the same?

GoblinAhFuckScary

Quote from: Thomas on January 23, 2022, 02:18:35 PMBen Whitehead is a good Wallace, but I'm so familiar with Sallis' every syllable that even Whitehead's latest contributions - which many laud as spot-on - sound unhappily off to me. I can hear the strain in his vowels. Too low here, too high there - it's distracting, like waiting for a tightrope walker to trip up.

Honestly think they shouldn't have bothered. Sounds fucking naff, and I am so south I'm in the fucking Channel

FredNurke

Quote from: Replies From View on January 23, 2022, 02:54:11 PMI have a dense southern ear, so am not picking up on the subtler details.  I can imagine it'll probably be grating for anyone attuned to the actual Lancashire nuances that should be behind the caricature.

Just to set the cat among the pigeons a bit: Sallis (like Bill Owen) was a Londoner, although of course by that time he'd had a fair bit of experience with other accents.

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Peter Sallis and Bill Owen; that's two Londoners so far.  Any others?

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Quote from: GoblinAhFuckScary on January 23, 2022, 03:36:16 PMHonestly think they shouldn't have bothered. Sounds fucking naff, and I am so south I'm in the fucking Channel

Perhaps it's best viewed as an improvement on his previous efforts:



His current version is about as close as I think we'll ever get.  It's a more passable effort than, for example, most of the actors passing themselves off as previous incarnations of the Doctor on Big Finish.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I almost always pronounce "Camembert" like Wallace does. The only other correct way to say it is "come on, bear."

Replies From View

I always announce "fuck off, bear", even when it's relatively formal work gatherings with food, where there happens to be Camembert there.



Absolutely nobody gets it.

Petey Pate

Excited by news of a new Wallace and Gromit short but titling it 'Peter Sallis Still Dead' seems a bit disrespectful.

GoblinAhFuckScary

Quote from: Replies From View on January 23, 2022, 07:19:43 PMI always announce "fuck off, bear", even when it's relatively formal work gatherings with food, where there happens to be Camembert there.

Paddington 3 tagline got me hyped. Maybe this is the time to share my Billy Childish/Paddington crossover that is so specific that it will never go anywhere


popcorn

Quote from: Replies From View on January 23, 2022, 01:20:26 PMGet the DVDs and watch them with the commentaries turned on.  The commentary track for The Wrong Trousers even has the proper original music cues in the background.

What does that mean?

Replies From View

Quote from: popcorn on January 24, 2022, 02:11:59 AMWhat does that mean?

The original BBC broadcasts featured different music cues and to my ears the subsequent changes (due to rights issues) have always been really jarring.

Gromit's birthday card chimed "Happy Birthday to you" rather than "For he's a jolly good fellow".  Then later when the penguin's radio is left on, there are different pieces of music blaring out, including "how much is that doggy in the window".

A lot of people have probably never heard the originals, but if you have and still miss them, you can hear them in the background of the commentary track recorded by Nick Park and Steve Box.


MrsWarboysLover

Quote from: Replies From View on January 24, 2022, 07:04:50 AMThe original BBC broadcasts featured different music cues and to my ears the subsequent changes (due to rights issues) have always been really jarring.

Gromit's birthday card chimed "Happy Birthday to you" rather than "For he's a jolly good fellow".  Then later when the penguin's radio is left on, there are different pieces of music blaring out, including "how much is that doggy in the window".

A lot of people have probably never heard the originals, but if you have and still miss them, you can hear them in the background of the commentary track recorded by Nick Park and Steve Box.



Oh no, I've only ever seen it with the original sound! it would definitely lose something with those tracks being changed

Quote from: Replies From View on January 23, 2022, 02:49:59 PMMe too.  And I prefer the working title for their feature film, too:  The Great Vegetable Plot

I also preferred the original ending that was planned for the film, which is on the DVD extras.

Replies From View

Quote from: MrsWarboysLover on January 24, 2022, 08:18:50 AMI also preferred the original ending that was planned for the film, which is on the DVD extras.

Me too.  It made more sense within the logic it had set up for itself (albeit logic lifted entirely from the 1950s version of The Fly) and wrapped up the plot so much more neatly.

But Nick Park (and/or others) couldn't bring themselves to "kill" the new rabbit character they'd created, so they rewrote the ending.

So you've instead got this deranged cheese-eating rabbit in the wild that will definitely die soon because it refuses to eat any vegetables and thinks its mission is to go back inside the house and wear slippers.

MrsWarboysLover

Quote from: Replies From View on January 24, 2022, 08:25:42 AMMe too.  It made more sense within the logic it had set up for itself (albeit logic lifted entirely from the 1950s version of The Fly) and wrapped up the plot so much more neatly.

But Nick Park (and/or others) couldn't bring themselves to "kill" the new rabbit character they'd created, so they rewrote the ending.

So you've instead got this deranged cheese-eating rabbit in the wild that will definitely die soon because it refuses to eat any vegetables and thinks its mission is to go back inside the house and wear slippers.

Not only that (although I agree) but i liked that they nipped the romance with Wallace and Lady Tottington in the bud, and did it in a funny way. It's much more in keeping with the tone in my mind.

George White

Quote from: Replies From View on January 23, 2022, 06:18:28 PMPerhaps it's best viewed as an improvement on his previous efforts:



His current version is about as close as I think we'll ever get.  It's a more passable effort than, for example, most of the actors passing themselves off as previous incarnations of the Doctor on Big Finish.
Also as late as 2008, notice a white actor (Peter Marinker, the real voice of FLash Gordon in the 1980 film) doing "Goodness Gracious Me"/Spike Milligan-level "Indian shopkeeper".

GoblinAhFuckScary

Quote from: Replies From View on January 24, 2022, 07:04:50 AMThe original BBC broadcasts featured different music cues and to my ears the subsequent changes (due to rights issues) have always been really jarring.

Gromit's birthday card chimed "Happy Birthday to you" rather than "For he's a jolly good fellow".  Then later when the penguin's radio is left on, there are different pieces of music blaring out, including "how much is that doggy in the window".

A lot of people have probably never heard the originals, but if you have and still miss them, you can hear them in the background of the commentary track recorded by Nick Park and Steve Box.



Checked on Iplayer and you're right! The VHS release I own absolutely has the original cues, mind. It actually breaks the joke with Gromit's card, where the original happy birthday tune was loud and jarring. He has no need to react in shock to a gentle sound.

Original available here

Shaky

Quote from: George White on January 24, 2022, 08:31:19 AMAlso as late as 2008, notice a white actor (Peter Marinker, the real voice of FLash Gordon in the 1980 film) doing "Goodness Gracious Me"/Spike Milligan-level "Indian shopkeeper".

Shit, last time I checked I still couldn't find who'd dubbed Sam J Jones in that movie. Thanks for popping that in there!

Replies From View

Quote from: George White on January 24, 2022, 08:31:19 AMAlso as late as 2008, notice a white actor (Peter Marinker, the real voice of FLash Gordon in the 1980 film) doing "Goodness Gracious Me"/Spike Milligan-level "Indian shopkeeper".

Apu was still in the Simpsons at this point, I believe.

idunnosomename

Quote from: George White on January 24, 2022, 08:31:19 AMAlso as late as 2008, notice a white actor (Peter Marinker, the real voice of FLash Gordon in the 1980 film) doing "Goodness Gracious Me"/Spike Milligan-level "Indian shopkeeper".
when he was on the answermachine I thought he was Welsh at first

George White

Quote from: Shaky on January 24, 2022, 09:15:04 AMShit, last time I checked I still couldn't find who'd dubbed Sam J Jones in that movie. Thanks for popping that in there!
He was also Bane in the BBC radio Batman.

Yes, Apu was still on in the Simpsons, but this is Britain, not America. There were surely Asian voice talents there.  You could have gotten Kulvinder Ghir or Sanjeev Kohli.
Or Vincent Ebrahim, who played the almost identical Mr. Caliche in Were-Rabbit.

And even as a kid, I did wonder, "are they deliberately trying to do a 70s sitcom thing with Mr. Paneer?"

Old Nehamkin

I recently came across this unseen-by-me piece of Aardman ephemera from the 90s - a fire safety advert starring Wallace and Gromit's non-union equivalents, Unnamed Domestic Inventor Man and his trusty feline sidekick, Smokey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGPl5vUSL0I


There's nothing particularly remarkable about the ad, but I find myself oddly fascinated/unsettled by the ersatz, almost-faceless Wallace stand-in and it's curious to see Aardman themselves producing a kind of knock-off version of one of their own properties. Maybe there was some sort of licensing/editorial issue with actually using W & G or maybe they just didn't want to imply that Wallace smokes fags, who knows.

It's also kind of ironic to think that these characters quite likely ended up melting to death in the 2005 Aardman warehouse fire. Stubbing out that ash tray can only protect you so much, it turns out.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Surprisingly sloppy animation near the end, as he's going out the door. He's not walking so much as just stamping up and down. A Matter of Loaf and Death is better than this, at least.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on January 24, 2022, 12:29:14 PMI recently came across this unseen-by-me piece of Aardman ephemera from the 90s - a fire safety advert starring Wallace and Gromit's non-union equivalents, Unnamed Domestic Inventor Man and his trusty feline sidekick, Smokey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGPl5vUSL0I


There's nothing particularly remarkable about the ad, but I find myself oddly fascinated/unsettled by the ersatz, almost-faceless Wallace stand-in and it's curious to see Aardman themselves producing a kind of knock-off version of one of their own properties. Maybe there was some sort of licensing/editorial issue with actually using W & G or maybe they just didn't want to imply that Wallace smokes fags, who knows.

It's also kind of ironic to think that these characters quite likely ended up melting to death in the 2005 Aardman warehouse fire. Stubbing out that ash tray can only protect you so much, it turns out.
maybe they didnt pull out all the plugs. Sure fire way to get a foot injury that

Wouldnt have thought that was aardman, it sucks. The transition between the cartoon eyes back to model shots is rubbish. The only good thing is the moving camera, which i guess is easy if they've got the kit. I've made better things out of blu-tack than that cat

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I don't know what you're all talking about - it's brilliant.

That's not a Wallace stand-in - it follows in the footsteps of all the other stuff Aardman had the inventiveness to do before their formula decreed everything had to have a coat hanger mouth.

Get the Aardman Animated Classics DVD, or at least find its contents and locate them online.  That slightly rough and wonky raw inventiveness is exactly what Aardman used to be about before they were working on bigger and glossier productions, and needed character models and movements that could be easily replicated by trainee animators.