"That's it, Pilchard - I've got to win that competition
    and save Sunflower Valley!"
 

    This 24minute special is the precursor to Project:Build It, in which Bob the
    Builder and his pals compete to win the contract to develop a new town
    in Sunflower Valley...

    Here's the story:

    Bob and the gang are building an extension for Mr Adams the architect and
    in the course of their work, they're reusing the bricks from the walls they've
    knocked down - something that becomes relevant later. Bob's interrupted by
    their eager employer who's keen to tell him all about the competition to build
    a new town in nearby Sunflower Valley, and to show him a model of his
    proposed design that packs in skyrise buildings, hotels, restaurants
    and nightclubs aplenty.

    Ah, Sunflower Valley. Bob remembers it well. He used to go there as a young
    boy. It would be a shame to see it overrun with bricks and concrete. Bob's
    machine pals encourage him to enter the competition, but there's very little
    time for him to get his act together. And he's a builder, not a designer.

    That night, however, Bob has an epiphany. He dreams of Sunflower Valley
    being transformed into a neon-lit nightmare, with great thrusting monoliths,
    litter and cacophonic noise. There's no two ways about it. Bob has to enter
    the competition so he can save that wonderful valley. He leaves the machines
    to work on Mr Adams' extension and sets about designing his new town.
    But it's no easy thing. His designs just don't look right, with all those
    proposed bricks and mortar buildings scattered around such a beautiful
    landscape...

    That's our cue for Bob's second epiphany. He notices how his birdy pal
    and his animal friends build homes that blend into the natural landscape.
    And that's precisely what he's going to do too. What's more he and Roly
    quickly conjure up a slogan to accompany this Big Plan. The new town
    will Reduce Reuse Recycle all the materials used in its construction.
    and all the buildings will blend in naturally with their surroundings...

    From here on, we get to see Bob raising against time to get his design
    ready. Of course, the route is not without its hiccups. Firstly, Spud and
    Scrufty undermine the machines, on site. And then a power cut leaves
    him in the dark... until he brings up his new slogan again, fishes out the
    candles and gets to work once more by their flickering light...

    Needless to say, Bob wins the day. His new town plan inspires the judges
    and the public alike. And there's certainly no hard feelings from Mr Adams,
    who only wishes he had thought of such a clever design. Our story concludes
    with Bob and his machine pals travelling out to that magical valley to begin
    construction. As for what they do and how they do it - well - all of those
    developments are revealed in Project:Build It

     

    Now, this here film could so easily have been made as an ordinary
    run-of-the-mill extended episode. But instead, the team at HOT Animation
    have again pulled out all the stops to make this thing busy and inventive and
    frankly, a joy to behold. There are so many little pleasures to be found
    here. Early in the tale, Bob digs out an old reel of film featuring his younger
    self at play in Sunflower Valley. Young Bob sports a tie-dye T-shirt and
    studded collar, and his campfire antics are filmed with a free-roaming
    camera, complete with shifting focus and lots of film grain. It's fab!

    But his nightmare epiphany is better still. At first, we're gambolling with
    him and his animal pals through massed ranks of sunflowers. But then the
    flower heads bow and wither, great tooth-like buildings erupt skyward and
    the sunflowers return to frame this dark vision, as swirling neon windmills.
    Though obviously nowhere near as bleak, it shares similarities with Fiver's
    extraordinary vision in Watership Down. Truly, it's both a surprise and a
    delight to see something so sophisticated in Bob's bright little world.
    And it's just one more example of how the HOT team have continued to
    push at the creative envelope throughout all of Bob's film specials...
    
    Bob's world is so minutely realised. Your eye keeps picking out the
    detail - like the framed certificates in Mr Adams' office, all sporting a
    stamp and seal, like they do in the real world - like the ill-fitting suit Bob
    wears for his speech. No one references it, but you can pick up at once,
    Bob's a builder, he doesn't wear a suit all that often..

    Look, you can scoff if you want, but time and again, Bob and his various
    spin-offs and specials have laid down the benchmark for this kind of
    thing. These miniature productions deserve so much more attention
    and appreciation from the animation community at large, they
    really do...

 

    Big details
  
    » "Bob's Big Plan" introduces us to Scrambler the quad bike. He's part of
        prize for designing the proposed new town...

    » One of the new town designs seems to to have been constructed by a
        child. The buildings are all higgledy-piggledy, with wax crayon markings.
       And the design incorporates a castle and a big TinTin-esque rocket ship!...
.
    » Oh yes, and Florence Mountfitchett is one of the competition judges...

    » But here's a little detail that might embarrass Bob. His bedside clock
        reveals that he goes to bed at... 8.05pm!!!
     
 

    Big broadcast info
  
    "Bob's Big Plan" premiered on BBC2, on Monday 2nd May 2005 at 08.30am.
    "Project: Build It" took up a regular week day slot the next day...

 

     See also

      Tv Series:
      Bob the Builder
      Bob the Builder: Project Build-It
    
      Specials:  
      Bob the Builder: Built to be Wild
      Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember
      Bob the Builder: Knights of Can-a-lot
      Bob the Builder: Race to the Finish
      Bob the Builder: Scrambler to the Rescue
      Bob the Builder: Snowed Under
      Bob the Builder: When Bob Became a Builder
        

 

     Bob's Big DVD

      Bob the Builder: Bob's Big Plan
                Region 2 / film + three tv episodes / HIT / May 2005

 

    a HOT Animation production
    for HIT Entertainment Ltd

    co-director:                  Sarah Ball
    direcor & producer:       Jackie Cockle
    exec producer:             Jocelyn Stevenson
    writer:                          Sarah Ball
    originator:                    Keith Chapman
    original music:              Keith Hopwood
    title & credit
     music & lyrics:              Paul K Joyce
    vocals:                         Neil Morrissey
    animators:                   Sarah Pereira, Inge Van Wijngaarden,
                                       Victor Georgiev, Justin Exley,
                                       Dale Hemmenway
    puppets & machines:     Mackinnon and Saunders Ltd
    puppet co-ord for HOT:  Leigh Manning
    puppet maintenance:    Kristian Burdsall
    design:                        Curtis Jobling
    sets:                            The As and When Men
    costumes:                    Geraldine Corrigan, Karen Betty
    art direction:                Barbara Biddulph
    asst to the 
     art director:                 Chris Sievey
    props & set dressing:    Jon Kershaw, Robin Jackson,
                                       Michele Pouncey, Stewart Hutcheon,
                                       Sharon Taylor, Darren Gillingham,
                                       James Taylor, Hilary Utting,
                                       Darren Goodhead, Stephen Hasting
    storyboard artists:        Les Eaves, Kate Charlesworth
    lighting camera:           Iain Karim, Charles Copping
    camera asst/
     studio manager:           Paul Jones
    editor:                         Rob Francis
    dubbing editors:           Adam Taylor, Yvonne Davies
    dubbing mixer:             Paul Harrison
    On Line:                       422 Manchester  
    head of global
     production for HIT:       Karen Davidsen
    post-prod
     co-ordinator for HOT:    Kate Nowakowski
    prod asst/continuity:    Terry Bane
    prod sup for HIT:           Laura Dimaio
    script editor:                Sam Barlow
    voices:                        Neil Morrissey
                                       Rob Rackstraw
                                       Kate Harbour
                                       Alison Steadman
                                       Rupert Degas

 

      On the web

       Bob the Builder
       Bob's built himself a web site...

       HIT Entertainment
       Bob's owners...

       Mackinnon & Saunders
       Bob's modellers...

       Curtis Jobling
       Bob's designer....