The Hound: January 2009

	...cartoon news interviews and views from the UK!
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		Toto's return-o Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! on CBeebies... A classic found Studio aka's Lost and Found...	A royal recommission More Little Princess on Five... Pootling about Q Pootle 5 is coming?... BAFTAs & Oscars™ Brits gets nominated... Farewell Tony Hart Tony Hart has died... Small thoughts We don't make 'em like we used to... more »
		news archive » interviews » giveaways » A royal recommission (31.01.09) Here's some right royal news. There's more Little Princess on the way. That's because UK broadcaster Five have just commissioned a third series of this Milkshake! favourite from TV-Loonland and The Illuminated Film Company... Little Princess really is a kazoo-tapping star, isn't she? The new 35 x 11mins series promises us two new regular characters in the form of a youngster called Algernon and a Shetland pony called Horace, plus that great blistering blusterer of an - er - actorer Brian Blessed will be reprising the role he played in the Winter Special, as Great Uncle Walter takes up residence in the new episodes too... Kazoos at the ready, then... Altogether... "She's a Little Princess..." More: Little Princess Pootling about (31.01.09) No, no, this isn't a news story about Pootle and the Flumps. The Pootle we're talking about here is the friendly green alien Q Pootle 5, who stars in a series of very popular picture books drawn by Nick Butterworth (Percy the Park Keeper). Q Pootle 5 and his pal Oopsy are so popular, in fact, that they're about to jump off the page and into their very own animated pilot episode, which will hopefully serve as the precursor to a proper series commission... The toon is being animated by UK animation company Blue Zoo, working alongside Nick Butterworth's own production outfit, Snapper Productions. Martin Freeman (The Office) and Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacy) will be providing the voices!... More: Blue Zoo BAFTAs & Oscars™ (22.01.09) As another month rolls on, so too do the award nominations. First up are this year's BAFTA nominations. These are the - erm - "adult" awards, not to be confusd with the annual Children's celebrations, handed out last November. British toon fans will have their eye on a tasty trio, nominated in this year's Short Animation category. Here they are: CODSWALLOP Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod (The Brothers McLeod) VARMINTS Sue Goffe, Marc Craste (studio aka) A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker (Aardman Animation) That's three great films from three top studios, each with their merits. The momentum is perhaps with our pals Wallace and Gromit, but the Fellowship may well feel that the two have already been handsomely rewarded in the past...? Well, we'll see on awards night, February 8th... Meanwhile, the Academy Award nominees are also out of the hat, and congratulations are forthcoming to Nexus Productions (Smith & Foulkes), whose film about two twisted undertakers, This Way Up, has been put forward for this year's Best Animated Short. The film has great gallows style to it, deliciously dark. This year's gongs are handed out on February 22nd. Let's keep our sanguine limbs crossed for the duo!... More: BAFTA The Academy Farewell Tony Hart (19.01.09) Some sad news, early in this New Year, as we mourn the passing of BBC presenter/artist Tony Hart. For Brits of a certain age, Tony was Mr TV Artist. He presented a series of art programmes on the BBC which encouraged youngsters to pick up a pen or a paintbrush and get creating. The Hound was just one such viewer who was inspired by what he saw on the likes of "Vision On" and "Take Hart". He had a wonderfully inclusive way about him - fatherly, and so engaging... Amongst those also mourning today must be Peter Lord and David Sproxton of Aardman Animation, because Tony's TV endeavours were so regularly interwoven by their animated interstistials; free-roaming animation in a variety of media which were used to segue Tony's creative outpourings. In time, of course, this led to the birth of Morph the little plasticene man, and his rival Chaz and an extended family of friends who lived on and around Tony's desk, getting up to all sorts of animated mischief. And from these somewhat humble beginnings an animation powerhouse was formed, with Aardman taking the experience they garnered and running with it to worldwide award-winning success... More: Tony Hart Toto's return-o (10.01.09) Now here's some jolly New Year news. The BBC have just picked up Collingwood O'Hare's double BAFTA-winning series Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! for broadcast on CBeebies. You remember the show, don't you? - Yoko the bird, Jakamoko the armadillo and Toto the oh-so cheeky monkey are three flighty animal sprites who get up to all sorts of mischief across the plains and forests of their Latin American homeland. Their adventures are told through music and rhythm, and the series is completely infectious. So if you missed it the first time round, well, here's a welcome re-run for you to sample, and to samba along to! The press blurb tells us that the 52 x 5min episodes will broadcast weekdays within CBeebies' Big Fun Time block, from 26th January. What's more, 26 previously unseen interstitials will also premiere on the CBeebies website, as part of the series' promotion. And if it's a success, maybe we can at last get to see a complete and proper DVD for this fabulous, funky series...? More: Collingwood O'Hare A classic found (06.01.09) So all the talk in recent days has rightly focused on our friends in West Wallaby Street, and of their ratings success on BBC1 over Xmas. But you know, there was another cartoon gem to be found over on Channel 4, on Christmas Eve, if you looked hard enough. Studio aka's "Lost and Found" is/was, quite simply, divine. It's directed by Philip Hunt, and adapted from the award-winning picture book by Oliver Jeffers. It tells of a young boy in a sleepy fishing village, who wakes up one day to find a wandering penguin on his doorstep. The boy resolves to take his lost guest home to the South Pole in a row boat, but - well - let's not spoil the delicious development that arises when they get there. Suffice it to say, you'll be warmed to the cockles by the outcome... You know, this one really did sneak up on The Hound. It was immediately beautiful, of course, as one would expect when one recalls the company's gorgeous work elsewhere, for Lloyds TSB , etc. But for a wee while, this viewer feared it might be trying almost too hard to be liked. Perhaps it was the oh-so cosy narration from Jim Broadbent which tipped the scale. It felt unnecessary. The Hound wanted the story to breathe unaided, as it were. But as the adventure progressed, and the boy and the penguin set sail together, the film's charms took a firm hold until, in its final denouement, as Max Richter's lullalby score swelled, it was able to draw a big lump to the throat and - yes! - even a trembling tear... Gosh, what a charmer this is. Another half-hour classic in fact, to sit alongside the likes of "The Snowman", "Granpa" and "War Game" in the festive schedules. There's a trailer and pictures to view on the studio aka web site. Better yet, the film is coming to DVD in March. And needless to say, The Hound already has his copy reserved... More: studio aka Small thoughts (16.12.08) Alongside the various obituaries, news of Oliver Postgate's recent passing has brought a whole of Childrens TV Commentators out of the closet. And it's been fascinating to hear and to read. What's been most interesting is hearing the oft-repeated notion that we somehow don't make animated series like we used to, we don't do whimsy or wonder, we don't create little worlds and charactes who jump into existence for no other reason that to simply live and breathe and to open our eyes to a different kind of universe. Oh, no. We don't do that anymore. But The Hound thinks the folks who say these things just haven't been looking hard enough... Till next time! thehound@toonhound.com home » news archive »
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