A new mural by artist Dave Bain has gone up in Bristol, and features Wallace and Gromit front and center, but also Shaun, Feathers, Morph, and others – see who you can spot! It was covered by several news outlets:

• The Standard: Mural celebrating Aardman characters unveiled
• Bristol Live: Giant mural celebrating Aardman characters unveiled at Cabot Circus
• BBC: Aardman character mural unveiled in Bristol city centre
• CBBC: Aardman: Check out this amazing artwork with Wallace, Gromit and Shaun the Sheep

There was also a bit of a panic last November, picked up by outlets like Gizmodo (Aardman Animations Is Running Out of Its Iconic Clay) following the shuttering of a clay manufacturer that was used. But Aardman was quick to quell those worries, as reported by the New York Times, (‘No Need to Worry,’ Says ‘Wallace and Gromit’ Film Studio, After Clay Supplier Shuts Down, “Aardman Animations said on Monday it had plenty of clay to keep molding.” Phew!

In November we also saw the release of The Grand Getaway VR Experience, which I picked up myself, and will report on that more personally soon. But in the lead up to the announcement, another trailer was released, this time for “Jamtastic!” which is included in the game:

As for the reviews? Quite positive! TheGamer.com reports “The Grand Getaway becomes one of the most awkwardly endearing games I’ve played in a long time.”

And Way Too Many Games, which while admitting it was short, concluded: “For anyone looking for a delightful, family-friendly adventure, Wallace & Gromit in the Grand Getaway is a cracking good time!”

The Wrong Trousers turned 30 years old at the end of last year, which prompted several outlets to do some tributes including a lovely one from The Conversation that I quite enjoyed: The Wrong Trousers: why the Wallace and Gromit animation is still a family favourite 30 years later.

I also enjoyed the news from the Wensleydale Creamery about a knitted surprise in their visitor center, Wallace and Gromit! Cracking New Additions at our Visitor Centre Gromit! They had previous popped up on social media as folks saw them “outdoors in the centre of Hawes marketplace” throughout the summer and autumn, but they now call the creamery their permanent home.

I also noticed a few rumors about new movie starting to pop up. It looks like the movie will indeed land in December of 2024, and some comments from Aardman recently were picked up by Whats On Netflix: ‘Wallace & Gromit’ Netflix Movie: Everything We Know.

Finally, on a personal note, my young children (2 and 4) have gotten quite into Shaun the Sheep, so I was delighted that back in October we were able to celebrate Halloween with my two little sheep, along with my husband dressed as the Farmer and me going as Bitzer:

I’m also happy to report that they’ve finally also gotten into Wallace and Gromit and they enjoyed the new Chicken Run movie!

First up, it’s been 10 years since the first Gromit Unleashed trail was set up. The Gromit Unleashed trail featured dozens of statues from the films, and over the years there have been trails featuring Gromit, Wallace, Shaun, Feathers, and most recently, Morph.

Gromit Unleashed has produced a video showcasing some of the highlights to celebrate the anniversary.

With that, it was announced that the trail will be returning to Bristol with new statues in 2025! Check out Aardman’s announcement here: New Gromit Unleashed trail announced for 2025.

Get the latest at GromitUnleashed.org, including updates about the trail, new shop additions, and more if you sign up for their regular newsletter.

Speaking of anniversaries, can you believe The Wrong Trousers is turning 30 this year? Indeed, it was released in December of 1993! A lovely article from Country Life shares some details about the film, and features a few videos, including the iconic train chase scene: Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers turns 30.

In the last bit of news, Meta (formerly Facebook, Inc.) recently hosted Meta Connect and in a small clip during the event we saw Wallace and Gromit! It featured the new Wallace and Gromit VR game, The Grand Getaway, which is coming soon to Meta Quest.

A teaser video about it was released back in June:

I have a Meta Quest 2, and I’ve Added it to my wishlist!

Still no news about the next Wallace and Gromit film that is due to be released in 2024, but I’m keeping an eye out.

Finally, I know I don’t usually cover much about Shaun the Sheep here, but Shaun + space is too much to resist! You may recall that Shaun went on a special mission back in 2022, to space on the Artemis I mission.

Shaun is flying on the Artemis I mission, which is the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft with an ESA European Service Module, going around the Moon and back. This mission is not carrying a human crew but will instead be controlled from the ground with its woolly specialist as a passenger.” (source)

This year he returned home to Bristol, as reported by the BBC: “Hero’s return for astronaut Shaun the Sheep“:

“Shaun covered almost 1.5 million miles on his lunar travels before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

…

Wednesday saw Dr David Parker, the agency’s director of exploration, visit Aardman studios in Bristol, where all of Shaun’s TV programmes and films are produced.

…

Dr Parker unveiled Shaun’s official Esa astronaut photo, and presented Aardman with a certificate from Nasa.”

It’s been a real treat to see my passion for space and Shaun the Sheep come together like this.

The only site site I could find with any information about them was here: Toonhound: Cracking Collectibles: Vivid Imaginations Polyresin Figures, which is where I confirmed that I had indeed gotten them all. In general, I’ve found their Wallace and Gromit page on collectibles to be quite nice, and I browse it from time to time when I’m looking for ideas about what I’d like to hunt down next. The Wesco clocks continue to be high on the temptation list, and they’re frequent fliers over on eBay.

I will say that one of the challenges of being a collector in the United States is that most of these things simply never made it here. A lot of the “freebie” things that many UK collectors were never available. If I ever want any of the product tie-ins I have to order from overseas, and end up spending a hefty chunk on shipping from the UK. For private sales like those you find on Facebook groups, a lot of folks simply don’t want to go to the trouble of shipping outside of the country.

Thankfully, I was able to complete the Vivid Imaginations collection by sticking to the US. And I was really struck by the kindness of folks I did transactions with. I hadn’t used eBay in many years, and there are a lot of folks who now use it as a business, rather than casual sellers dealing in their own collections. There’s definitely a lot of business to be had in Wallace and Gromit collectibles, but I have largely interacted with really kind people who would leave nice notes and such in the boxes I received. So it was a more personal and heartwarming experience than I expected. These figures were loved in their last life, and will be loved in their new one, too.

To celebrate, I’ve created a new Collectibles page! This will be very personal to me, since I don’t have the inclination to do anything more comprehensive than what I’ve been able to focus on. My hope is that I can provide the close-ups and whatever information I can find about the things that I have in my collection, at least, and that may be of interest to some folks.

And so I leave you with a quick look at what was the most difficult one to find: the train chase scene from The Wrong Trousers (more photos here).

Enjoy, and happy collecting!

As shared in the announcement, “in 2024, premiering exclusively on Netflix, with the exception of the UK, where it will debut first on the BBC.”

This is exciting news for fans worldwide, including those of us in the United States where we sometimes see delayed releases of movies from the UK. The film will feature a “Smart Gnome” invention by Wallace and “Gromit becoming concerned that Wallace is a little too dependent on his inventions.” I’m actually really excited to see a film where the inventions really are the focus, like the series of Cracking Contraptions shorts but with a clear plot, rather than supplemental to the story. I suspect there may be a little social commentary in there too, about how all of us are growing a little to dependent upon our devices!

If you’d like to read more, other outlets have also covered this news, including:

• BBC Media Centre: A brand new Wallace & Gromit adventure for BBC One
• London News Today: Cracking news! Wallace and Gromit return to the BBC for a new movie in 2024
• Collider: New ‘Wallace and Gromit’ Movie to Premiere On Netflix In 2024 and Here’s the First Synopsis
• Deadline: Wallace & Gromit Are Back: BBC And Netflix To Air Sixth Animation In 2024 As Netflix Unveils ‘Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget’ First Look And Cast
• Variety: Netflix Sets ‘Chicken Run’ Sequel, Wallace & Gromit Film With Aardman, BBC
• Gizmodo: A New Wallace & Gromit Movie Is Coming to Netflix
• Daily Mail: Wallace & Gromit set to return for new film in 2024 as BBC confirm first special in over a decade
• BBC Newsround: Wallace and Gromit to return for another cracking adventure!

As you can see, a new Chicken Run film is also in the making. What an exciting time!

The following are ones from Aardman’s YouTube account that I watched:

• Adam
• Animated Conversations: Down and Out
• Conversation Pieces series:
  • Palmy Days
  • On Probation
  • Early Bird
  • Sales Pitch
• Lip Synch series:
  • War Story
  • Next
  • Ident
  • Going Equipped
  • Creature Comforts

I also didn’t realize that Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer music video was done by Aardman at their studio in Bristol! Watching the video now sure took me back, and got the song stuck in my head for days. You can enjoy the earworm and amazing video too, here on his YouTube channel: Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer (HD version)

Commercials factored heavily into Aardman’s financial success, but aside from references to a few specific ones, they didn’t talk about them much. I was surprised that the Serta sheep commercials in particular weren’t mentioned (I wrote about them in 2003). Here in the US those sheep are quite famous and people loved the plush sheep, I have six of them! There are still several playlists on YouTube that have collected the old sheep commercials, they’re a lot of fun. As a computer person, I also enjoyed the Enterprise 64 commercial, “Dem Bones” which was mentioned in the book. It’s technically brilliant and fun to watch, even if the company went out of business not too long after the commercial aired.

It was also allowed me a good excuse to introduce my beloved Aardman favorites to my two year old. Now, obviously, at two there are limits to what he can really enjoy, but after watching A Grand Day Out he brought me my Gromit stuffed animal and asked for more, so I’m calling that a big win! He also enjoyed a bunch of classic Morph, and the book led me to the Morph kickstarter that they did a few years ago, and subsequently published on the Morph YouTube channel.

The feature films are next on my list. I’ve seen them all, of course, but now that I’ve read the work and history of all of them, there’s a more personal connection to them. Particularly of note, I struggled to enjoy Early Man because the football (soccer) segments were seemingly never-ending to my American sports attention span. I’ll give it another watch. I’m also eager to watch The Pirates! again, since I watched it when I was pretty far-removed from my Aardman fandom moments, and I don’t think I took enough time to appreciate it.

Finally, I’ve expanded my collection of Wallace and Gromit goodies over the past month, finally hitting eBay and other collectable sites to pick up a few things I’ve always had my eye on. It’s certainly been a fun thing to spend time searching for during a pandemic!

I highly recommend the book. Peter and David are exceptional people and their company is a true artistic and financial success that has stayed true to their roots. I especially enjoyed at the end where they talked about their local involvement in Bristol and the work to establish an employee-owned collective-like organization for the future. Kudos, folks! Looking forward to more Wallace and Gromit.

Now as the mother of two young sons, the eldest of whom is just starting to get into Shaun the Sheep, this is a wonderful time to return and get back on top of all the latest news.

Hello again!

What has gone on since my last update? A whole lot! The following is my own collection of news of note covering these past five years as a US fan.

In a previous post, I mentioned the announcement of Shaun in the City in 2015. Just like the first Gromit Unleashed, figurines and a charity auction concluded that event. Gromit Unleashed also came back to Bristol as Gromit Unleased 2 in 2018, which was unfortunate timing for me because I was pregnant with my first son and wasn’t able to travel overseas while it was running! I did get my collector hands on some figurines though, before the pandemic in 2020 closed international shipping from the Gromit Unleashed shop (I do hope it resumes again soon, there are so many great things there).

As a US collector, it can sometimes be tough to get Wallace and Gromit goodies stateside, but this has changed some in recent years. First, there are now a trio of Funko Pop! figurines featuring Wallace, Gromit, and Shaun. I pre-ordered them as soon as they were available, and was delighted as each one trickled in over a few months last year.

I was also delighted this year to see Aardman’s Artist shop on Threadless mentioned at the beginning of this post open recently. I bought several t-shirts, a magnet, and the item I’m most excited and impressed about: a large blanket! The quality is excellent, and the image looks great. I have already spent a good amount of time snuggled up and reading with it.

Speaking of reading, two books worth mentioning also came out in these past couple years. In 2016, the beautiful The Art of Aardman book was released, which I highly recommend for anyone looking for a beautiful and thoughtfully edited book across dozens of Aardman characters. The second was Aardman: An Epic Journey, published as A Grand Success! in the US, by Peter Lord and Dave Sproxton. I have to admit that I haven’t read it yet (my reading queue is long), but it’s now the next book on my list!

The most recent news is fresh off the presses, the release of a new mobile game, The Big Fix-up! It’s a game for Android and iPhone that uses your camera to create augmented reality (AR) scenarios as you progress through the game. What’s really cool about it, is that it has whole new videos with Wallace and Gromit, as well as the rest of the characters in the game. It crashed a few times on me (oops!) but it’s really cute and I’ve been enjoying it.

Other tidbits worth mentioning, is that we said goodbye to our beloved Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace, in 2017. He passed away at age 96. Vice Press also released a limited series of prints which almost immediately sold out of the allotted 100. I did manage to get my hands on the one for A Matter of Loaf and Death.

I’m sure there’s dozens of small news items I missed, but I has been over five years since I’ve written.

And do feel free to contact me at elizabeth@wallaceandgromit.net if you have any news tidbits or anything else you’d like to see featured here. I’m just a fan and don’t have any special insight into the goings on of Aardman or Wallace and Gromit news, so I depend on you, social media, and keyword news alerts for all my news!

See you in the next time!

Thanks to Lionsgate Home Entertainment, I was granted an early release copy of the [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD] edition that arrived last week and I took time to watch last night.

The Movie

If you weren’t fortunate enough to catch the film in the theater during the short time it was there here in the US, you’re in for a treat! The premise of the film is that Shaun and his fellow farm-dwelling sheep friends want to take a day off from the typical routine. After a series of calamities, this plan for a day off takes all of them, the Farmer and Bitzer the dog into The Big City where much of the movie takes place. There, the sheep try to blend in with city life, while trying to avoid Trumper, a power mad Animal Containment Officer. The Farmer unintentionally tries his hand at a new career and it’s up to Shaun, Timmy and the rest of the sheep to make sure they all get home.

The box reports an estimated running time of 85 minutes, and astoundingly the film moves along quickly and humorously with no dialogue. Sounds from the animals and people, plenty of the character expressions that Aardman is famous for to make the characters come to life, but aside from the amusing songs throughout the film, there are no real words in the film. It was quite an impressive feat, and as far as I know, a new one for one of Aardman’s big theatrical releases. Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit films all have dialogue.

The special features and beyond

The box came with two disks, a DVD and a Blu-ray copy of the film, as well as a voucher with a code for the Digital HD Edition.

Special Features

Making the Shaun movie: This was a making of documentary about the film that lasts about 12 minutes, with comments from various members of the production team and even some words from Shaun (and Wallace and Gromit!) creator Nick Park himself. The making of takes you through script writing and story, model making, set building, animating, voice recording, music and reviewing the final cut.

Meet the characters: In approximately 5 minutes, this segment introduces you to several characters in the film: Shaun, Slip, Timmy and Trumper.

Join Shaun behind the scenes: In 3 minutes of original content (not lifted from earlier Making), you follow Shaun from how the claymation characters move to a quick explanation of how different models are built, learning how the humans and sheep characters are different.

Meet the crew: If you saw the earlier Making short, you can likely skip this one, as the commentary from the crew is duplicated here. But you do get great perspective from the crew if you just want to watch this one on its own, or are looking for a quick behind the scenes refresher.

Parody Poster Gallery: In this little feature, you can page through several parody movie posters based on other blockbusters that were in theaters around the same time as Shaun the Sheep. Enjoy little Timmy on the cover of Ant-lamb, the sheep crew as they star in Fantastic Flock or catch death-defying Shaun featured on the poster for Mutton Impossible: Rogue Bacon.

Digital HD Edition

While waiting for the Blu-ray to load up, I took the opportunity to pull out my Android tablet and download the Digital HD version from Vudu. The process was straight forward, and by the time the Blu-ray menu popped up, I was on my way to downloading it to my tablet as well. It’s really great when the offer for a digital copy works so well.

Your turn!

If you’re outside the US, you’ve probably had the opportunity to pick up the film already, but if you’re in the US your chance comes up this Tuesday, November 24th. You can likely pre-order it already from your favorite vendor, or hop out on Tuesday to pick it up directly. I highly recommend it, I’m sure I’ll be watching it again really soon.

As I mentioned in that last post, I got the Creature Comforts Gromit Figurine and the Gromit Classic. They both came out beautifully.

I also purchased a copy of Wallace and Gromit Monopoly. So much fun!

Beyond Gromit Unleashed, over the past 18 months we’ve also had the pleasure of seeing the Wallace and Gromit Comics by Titan be released in book form, so far with 3 volumes released. The first was released back in October 2013, second in November of 2014 and the third that I pre-ordered and had on my doorstep at the end of March.

The books are wonderfully bound and the comics within are beautifully colored. The book is organized so that there are several pages of comics and then full color spreads of pictures from their various adventures, from movies to shorts, as seen here.

The release in the US of these comics made me particularly happy, because aside from shipping and cost issues that I often run into, as far as I know it was the first time these comics are available in printed form (not digital) on this side of the ocean.

I highly recommend picking up all three if you haven’t already, with a lean $16.99 price tag each you won’t regret it. They’re all available via Amazon and other major book sellers here in the US.

I’ve added a few more photos of the products mentioned in this post here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/72157652137568358

First up, exciting news today about the availability of Gromit Unleashed Monopoly. I’ve long resisted the branded Monopoly games, but in this case I gave in. The game costs £29.95 and shipping to the United States is expensive so I decided to also purchase a couple Gromit figurines as well (Classic and Creature Comforts). All told, shipping came out to a whopping £34.53, but I think it was worth it. It’s also worthy to note, that they support International orders through their system now, so there is no longer a need to email them directly.

In more shopping news, I was delighted to learn earlier this year that Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Newspaper Comic Strip Collection Volume 1 was released, and doubly so that just last week (November 4th), Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Newspaper Comic Strip Collection Volume 2 came out! It’s on my way to my home as we speak. Check out a great review of Volume 1 by Victoria Irwin here: The Complete Newspaper Wallace & Gromit Comic Strips Collection.

In other Gromit Unleashed news, they launched a YouTube channel back in March that continues to host a bunch of goodies:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GromitUnleashed

They also decided to have a Gromit Unleashed exhibition in Hong Kong over the summer! It kicked off on July 21st and went through August 31st, with Gromit Unleased Newsletter saying:

For the first time outside the UK, 70 Gromit Unleashed sculptures have come together to create a unique exhibition at ELEMENTS mall in Hong Kong, with each Gromit individually designed and decorated by an array of top designers, celebrities and international brands – including four designs from Aardman Animations!

The Bristol Post wrote a couple articles about it:Gromit Unleashed launches in Hong Kong with a 4 metre tall Gromit and Gromit unleashed on Hong Kong for new exhibition. Also check out a video and some photos of the exhibition over on WallaceAndGromit.com: Gromit Unleashed Hits Hong Kong! I’ve also embedded the video in this post.

The Bristol Post reports that the auction in Kowloon a total of £45,389 was raised.

Finally, Shaun in the City was announced! A follow-up to the Gromit trail, this time London will be welcoming statues of one of our favorite Wallace and Gromit characters who has gone on to make success in his own series, Shaun the Sheep! I’ve been following their Twitter account @shaun_inthecity and the preparations are well underway for the installation. News about this was shared by The Telegraph Giant Shaun the Sheep take to the streets

Photo: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Over the summer, from from May 24 to September 7, Bristol was host to a Wallace and Gromit Exhibition at M Shed Museum. The exhibit featured concept sketches, models and actual sets from the films, some great photos from the exhibition were shared in this article from Bristol Culture: Wallace & Gromit exhibition at M Shed. And Tricia Orchard shared another series of photos here: Wallace and Gromit at The MShed. A post by The Guardian also gave some show highlights: Wallace and Gromit – a sneaky preview of the M Shed exhibition.

And last but not least, here’s a sampling of articles talking about other news from the past several months featuring the duo:

• How we made Wallace and Gromit
• Aardman and Nominet Trust team up to get kids coding
• Shaun the Sheep voted favourite BBC children’s TV character of past 70 years
• Blackpool decorator’s ‘cracking paint job’ for Gromit
• It’s a cracking year for Aardman Animations after successes in its film and TV divisions
• President Tony Tan visits world of Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit
• Shaun the Sheep attraction heading to Land’s End
• Wallace and Gromit’s van joins star cars exhibition

Thanks for reading, until next time!

Plus, the fine folks at The Grand Appeal included a hand written note with my purchase.

Speaking of Gromit Unleashed, the organization continues to release the figurines for sale on their site and at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway. I’m still hoping that in 2014 they’ll have enough to ship internationally! Finally, one of the Gromits has found a public home: Gromit’s grand new dog house decided by voters

In musical news, the duo just finished up their Musical Marvels events in London and Sydney. There are currently no upcoming shows but you can sign up for their newsletter to be notified of any updates.

I’m a big fan of Wensleydale cheese (sold at Whole Foods here in the United States) so it was great to see this news: Wensleydale cheese finally wins protected status

Have a kiddo with a LeapPad? This news should interest you! LeapFrog brings Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep to LeapPad

This fall through December 31st, Homepride Flour sponsored Wallace & Gromit’s BIG Bake which included a fundraising kit for individuals to bake goods and sell them for the Wallace and Gromit charity. The winner will be announced at 5pm on Monday 13th January 2014. Keep an eye on Wallace and Gromit’s Charity Pintrerest page for more.

In the spirit of things, here is a sampling of what came out of that!

• Gromit Cake by Debbie Brown (recipe with photos)
• Gromit’s Bathtime Cake (recipe with photos)