On November 3rd the first episode Wallace and Gromit’s new World of Invention series began on BBC One, and viewers were treated to a second episode on Wednesday the 10th. Here’s hoping they release it on DVD in the States pretty quick so us US-bound fans can see it! For now I’ll have to suffice with some preview articles and reviews.
How do the Techno Trousers work? What’s inside the Rocket? How did Wallace rebuild Preston the Cyber Dog?
Find out the answers to these questions and more in Haynes Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions Manual, as the lid is lifted on the wonderful contraptions of everyone’s favourite inventor.
Finally, as a reader of wallaceandgromit.net you’re entitled to a coupon code, just enter PERS1WG1 when you check out to get 20% off your first card and/or calendar order until November 19th.
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I’m delighted to be able to share that they made the cover once again, this time for their upcoming World of Invention series!
Thanks to Amy Brill of the BBC for letting me know and getting me the great high-resolution image of the cover. In her email she also described what was available inside:
a giant Wallace & Gromit poster and wall chart, to celebrate their return to our screens in BBC1’s World of Invention. Plus an exclusive interview with their Oscar-winning creator Nick Park.
Excellent!
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Well, I’m happy to announce that the site has gone fully live! Complete with a game (which I really should stop playing and go to sleep!), kits and a new competition, the site is a real treat.
And if you’re like me and in the United States so can’t see the video on the BBC site, you can check out the WallaceandGromitWOI Channel on YouTube for some early clips and BBC One commercials for the show.
Well done, lads!
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This week by a representative from the BBC who let me know that they had launched their “coming up” page for Wallace and Gromit’s World Of Invention series! It’s pretty sparse at the moment, but you can check it out here:
I’m pretty excited to see what ends up there! The buzz around this new series has been picking up, just today there was an article over at expatica.com: Channels snap up Wallace and Gromit TV series:
The BBC-commissioned show has already been sold to 12 territories worldwide and was attracting big interest at the MIPCOM audiovisual entertainment show that runs to Thursday in the French resort of Cannes.
“There’s been a lot of interest and we’ve got lots of pre-sales,” Aardman Rights executive Lucy Wendover told AFP.
The show premieres in Britain next week and has been bought by channels including France Television, Germany’s Super RTL, Australia’s ABC, Sweden’s SVT, Finland’s YLE, Thailand’s PBS and Viva Entertainment in the Middle East.
Now, I may live on the wrong continent but I was also contacted this week by Bradley Sturch of Animate & Create who let me know about an upcoming Canterbury Anifest on October 9th:
The festival will run from 11am – 8pm and will feature a host of special guests including Aardman Animations and the models of Wallace & Gromit, Small Films and the children of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firman talking about Bagpuss and The Clangers. There will be a special screening of the CGI hit The Gruffalo as well as screenings of animations created by budding film makers from around Britain.
To round off the day there will be a comedy show starring Phill Jupitus and Emma Kennedy, who will be chatting about their favourite Looney Tune cartoons.
It promises to be a fantastic day out for families and animation fans alike, with day tickets only £25 per person for all the days activities or £20 concession (over 65s and students with a valid student card)
If anyone attends and gets photos of the Wallace and Gromit models, I’d be happy to post your favorites and give you credit, so please let me know by sending an email to elizabeth@wallaceandgromit.net
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This week I received an email from Melanie Seasons of onlinefire.co.uk letting me know that Wallace and Gromit were being featured on this years Royal Mail Chirstmas stamps!
2nd Class – Wallace and Gromit carol singing
Suitably wrapped up against the cold Wallace and Gromit go carol singing
1st Class – Gromit posting Christmas cards
A robin watches Gromit as he posts the duo’s cards.
2nd Class Large – Wallace and Gromit carol Singing
The wider format of the Large stamp shows a lit up Christmas tree in the background.
1st Class Large – Gromit posting Christmas cards
The wider format of the Large stamp reveals the wicked penguin Feathers McGraw about to launch a snowball from behind the pillar box.
60p – Wallace dressing the Christmas tree
Wallace places a Christmas fairy that looks suspiciously like Feathers McGraw on top of the Christmas tree.
97p – Gromit with Christmas pudding
Gromit arrives with a magnificent Christmas pudding.
£1.45 – Gromit’s Christmas pullover
Wallace gives a thumbs-up as Gromit tries on his seasonal gift of a bone-themed pullover.
(click image to enlarge)
The press release:
They are multi Academy Award winners and global screen stars, and now Wallace and Gromit will make a special appearance in millions of homes worldwide after signing-up to feature on Royal Mail’s Christmas stamps, unveiled today.
Available from 2nd November, the stamps feature the nation’s favourite animated characters going about their Christmas duties with the 1st Class stamp showing the two posting their Christmas cards.
Wallace and Gromit go carol singing on the 2nd Class stamp and dress the Christmas tree on the 60p stamp. As usual, Gromit is left to do the majority of the work, carrying the cards and hauling an unfeasibly large Christmas pudding around on the 97p stamp with his reward being a bone-themed jumper shown on the £1.46 stamp.
Like the duo’s award-winning films, the stamps are packed with detail, but with the added challenge of reducing the ‘World of Wallace and Gromit’ down to stamp size.
To achieve this Royal Mail’s design team worked closely with Nick Park and Aardman Animations to devise brand new scenes featuring the pair.
The approach to the stamps was similar to how Aardman Animations create a film, with Nick Park drawing scenes and visual jokes involving the characters, before refining the designs so that they would work in a definitive stamp format. Each stamp was then constructed with models, props and background sets – all created especially for the issue.
Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit, said; “It’s been such a wonderful honour and a pleasure to work with Royal Mail and to have my characters, Wallace and Gromit, immortalised on their very own stamps.
“It was one of the biggest challenges my talented team and I have faced yet – to create memorable Christmas images of the duo – the size of postage stamps. But we knew we’d lick it in the end.”
Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson, said; “The process of developing these stamps has been a labour of love for all concerned – but I think it has resulted in one of the finest sets of Christmas stamps Royal Mail has ever produced.
“Nick and his team’s attention to detail is legendary, but their efforts to bring Christmas with Wallace and Gromit to life on stamps is truly extraordinary. Keen-eyed collectors armed with a magnifying glass will see that the envelope seen being posted on the 1st Class stamp features the actual 1st Class stamp.”
There is even a video about it where Nick Park himself discusses the stamps, check it out here:
How exciting! I can’t wait to get a set of my own.
Wallace and Gromit have seen their share of awards this year due to hitting the award cycle late with the Christmas day release of A Matter of Loaf and Death in 2008. First, they were nominated for a Oscar which they unfortunately didn’t get, in what Los Angeles Times blogger Steven Zeitchik called possibly the biggest upset of the show: Oscar liveblog: One of the night’s biggest upsets?
But on to more winning news, Christopher Dalby gave me the heads up that Aardman did quite well at the British Animation Awards back in April. The duo walked home with the “Children’s Choice” award for A Matter of Loaf and Death, and their spinoff Shaun the Sheep won for “Best Children’s Series”! More details over on the BBC website: Aardman wins at British Animation Awards. This award adds to the 36th annual Annie Award for “Best Animated Short Subject” they won in 2009.
Awards aside, Wallace and Gromit have been doing quite well elsewhere too. There is a new Spaceport Exhibit: Wallace & Gromit in Space with activities.
HarperCollins Publishers recently announced that they were to become the official publisher for the forthcoming Wallace and Gromit six-part TV series due to air this autumn on BBC One, with a hardback collection of inventions entitled Wallace and Gromit: A World of Invention. (as reported by booktrade.info: Harpercollins’ Smashing Deal Secures Wallace And Gromit Tie-In)
Wallace and Gromit on American television? It’s true! The duo will be guest appearing on The Simpsons some time during the next season! A Los Angeles Times article talks about it here: COMIC-CON: ‘The Simpsons’ get ‘Glee’-ful for upcoming season.
But hurry, the competition is only open through the end of July. Which reminds me, I’ve been quite tempted to join their Collectors Club, one of the options for your yearly free gift is something from the Wallace & Gromit Collection.
I received an email from Christopher Dalby recently letting me know that Marks and Spencer has started selling a small but growing range of Wallace and Gromit products! A quick search of “Wallace and Gromit” currently yields several results, including an alarm clock, tea set, mugs and keychains. (Side note for folks outside the UK: Order several things at once! The shipping costs are high but don’t increase quickly with more items, for me ordering mugs AND a keychain had the same 15 pound shipping charge to the US.)
And as always, there is the Aardman store! Check out their Wallace and Gromit section for the ever-changing offerings of merchandise:
England is one of the many countries seeking to host the World Cup in 2018, and NPower has gotten behind the bid – with a Wallace and Gromit video!
In one of the funniest football ads to be shown on British TV for many years, Wallace & Gromit, the eternal entrepreneurs, are all set to profit from an English World Cup with their madcap pie-making business – “WAG’s Pies Ltd”. As usual, their best-laid plans are threatened when Wallace’s latest invention – a pie-delivery machine – threatens the game with an errant pie.
And if you’re a UK resident (I’m not, darn!) they are giving out free smartpower electricity monitors to new and existing customers in order to help people raise awareness on how to save energy.
They’re also running a competition for UK residents where participants will have a chance to win:
a 42” flatscreen eco TV
a Toshiba eco-friendly laptop
three eco kettles
three DAB radios
two ‘money can’t buy’ Aardman claymations models of you!
