"Claymation with a kick.... in the teeth!'"
 

    Say hello to young Ogo, Oglas, Ogla, long-haired Igi, grandpa Gogas and baby Girj,
    otherwise known as The Gogs, and otherwise unnamed within these two series
    of prehistoric encounters because The Gogs do not actually use language to
    communicate with one another. Instead they gesticulate, thump, grunt, and
    - um - expel in equal proportion. Yep, the Gog family are our all-farting, all-belching,
    snot-dribbling, bottom-exposing caveman ancestors. More missing stink, than
    missing link. They inhabit a lost world of hungry dinosaurs, extremes of climate, and
    environmental chaos. The word 'subtlety' hasn't been invented here. They're crude,
    but never just rude, and frequently very funny to watch.

    This prehistory claymation was the brainchild of Mike Mort and Deiniol Morris of
    Aaargh! Animation. A pilot was developed in 1993 and the subsequent first series
    brought initially to welsh screens by Meirion Davies of S4C. From there it was
    sprung on to a national platform with the help of Colin Rose at the BBC.
    The five episodes of that first series - Gogs I - were first screened nationally on
    BBC2 as a run of daily episodes during the Christmas Holiday schedules in 1995.
    Gogs went on to acquire a 1995 Children's BAFTA Award for Best Animation, and a
    prestigious Banff Animation award, and it also spawned a sequel, imaginatively
    titled Gogs II...

    But that wasn't the end of things, of course. A half-hour feature beckoned. Gogwana
    has bigger sets, bigger effects and bigger bogeys and takes the club-thumping clan
    out of their cave and off on an extraordinary dino-filled, pygmy-stuffed adventure to
    a new home. What's more BAFTA stardom beckoned again when the film was
    nominated for Best Animation in the prestigious film section...

    Aaargh! have gone from strength to strength on the back of those Gogs. They
    won plaudits for their Levi 501s commercial - the Mr Bombastic/Shaggy one -
    they've also animated for ReadyBrek, and in 2001 they mined still more
    BAFTA gold, winning their second Children's BAFTA for Best Animation for
    the film "Aunt Tiger". This was Aaargh!'s contribution to the "Animated Tales of
    the World" tv series. The Animated Tales series proved to be the world's largest ever
    co-production venture with numerous animation studios contributing versions
    of famous and some not-so-famous folk tales from around the globe....

    For those who need to know, the ever-chomping dino in that first Gogs series
    has a name. He's apparently called Ray...

    Trivia Hounds will also note that comedian/actor Josie Lawrence lends her voice
    to The Gogs. Is that her shrieking tones on the funky end titles too - what do
    you think?    

 

      Awards
    
      1998 British Animation Award - Best children's Series
      1995 BAFTA - Best Animation
      1995 Banff Animation Award

 

      See also

      Gogwana
      half-hour Gogs special... 

 

     Gogs on DVD

     Gogs - The Complete Collection
     Gogs I, Gogs II, Gogwana / 89mins / R2 / Warner Vision / April 2001

 

       an Aaargh! and S4C production
       for BBC Bristol

     director:          Deiniol Morris
     producer:        Helen Nabarro
     exec prod:      Mike Mort, Deiniol Morris
     for S4C:          Meirion Davies
     for the BBC:    Colin Rose
     voices:           Marie Clifford
                          Gillian Flisa
                          Dafydd Emyr
                          Rosie Lawrence
                          Rob Rackstraw
                          Nick Upton

 

     On the web


       Gogs Promo
       http://webone.com.au/~adrian/gogs/intro.shtml
       A Gogs preview site. Contains a detailed press release and a page
       introducing the various members of the Gogs clan. This is a 'mirror' site
       for pages that now no longer exist, so catch it whilst you can!...


 
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