Now for a treat, this show is a rarity that comes only once a generation and were going to talk about it, presenting the Mr Hell Show.
Mr Hell originally started as a demotivational series of greeting cards about a painfully honest devil named Mr Hell, a collaboration between British and Canadian animators including Jeff "Swampy" Marsh of Phineas & Ferb fame back when he was working in Britain long before he made it big with Disney were involved in the creation of a late night adult cartoon for BBC2. Mr Hell voiced by the late Bob Monkhouse (his final role before his death) gives the title character some class while he goes about the various sketches with quick fire gags and sinful mayhem worthy of Saints Row. Among the many other characters with their own mini sketches are the Victorian Lady Detective who can't solve cases because of the sexist laws of 1888, Josh the reincarnation guy who starts a conversation about the subject only to be brutally killed and Serge the Seal of Death who wants revenge on the Fashion Industry for killing his parents (Surprised PETA don't use him as a mascot) yet when he gets close to finding allies he brutally kills everyone as his post traumatic stress disorder drives him to mass murder.
The writing was very clever, the jokes most of the time hit the mark and Mr Hell is such a devious bad ass that it's more than worthy of a second season but with Bob Monkhouse's death a year after broadcast and in house jokes hinting at the cost being too high to continue further, Mr Hell Show faded into the background but under the radar the DVD came out giving some of it's very small fanbase a chance to watch it all again.
This show is high on the animation rarity scale particularly in the UK and even more so in Canada and if your a fan of Bob Monkhouse it's a worthy piece of history to have.
I'm going to do something rare and talk about live action on a blog normally reserved for anime and cartoons but since I want to try some new things lets look at some live action shows from my childhood. Keep in mind this is the British List, there is a seperate list for Nickelodeon and other related channels with live action shows, this is just the British part of the list.
Honorable Mention
The Worst Witch: Sitcom about a Witches Academy that long predates Harry Potter, the titular Worst Witch is Mildred Hubble a witch-in-training with more than a little bit of bad luck in her school time. Left off the list because it's being remade.
10. Rosie & Jim
This is a young kids show about two ragdolls that come to life and explore the world on the British canals with the owner of the Narrowboat as they come across places of interest and learn about the interesting little crafting areas and hidden gems of the British Isles along the canals of the long forgotten Industrial Revolution. The show has iconic status from the quacking duck ornament ontop of the Narrowboat.
9. Bernard's Watch
Sitcom about a boy who acquires a Magic Pocket Watch that can stop time of which he uses to solve problems, it was a very creative series but suffered from an unpopular remake.
8. Spatz
While the life and times of a burger restaurant seems like a recipe for a bad Spongebob ripoff, this sitcom looks at the original concept of the fastfood restaurant which was intended to be a delicacy for the rich and wealthy hence the title sequence, so give them credit for being different but it's still an entertaining little show.
7. Woof!
Sitcom about a boy who shapeshifts into a dog, very much the same type of show as Bernard's Watch, situation resolved by the powers the user possess but Woof at least tried to make it a bit more interesting.
6. Finders Keepers
A kids Gameshow where you tear apart a large studio house in pursuit of certain items to claim big prizes, me and my sister always said we could do a better job than the contestents.
5. Fun House
Similar to Finders Keepers instead ten times messier, ten times the mullet (Long story) and featured Go-Karts. This was the ultimate kids amusement park experience; may have inspired the creation of the adult ball pit. (Britain has a Ball Pit Bar in London strictly for adults, keep in mind Fun House is nearly 30 years old)
4. Rainbow
How can I not write a list like this and not include Rainbow, it's part of British TV History. The antics of the three puppets Zippy, George and Bungle in a house owned by presenter Geoffrey (Not the 1st presenter) as they did various activities. It ran for over a 1000 episodes, a rarity for a show of it's type in Britain and has cult status alongside the likes of Wallace and Gromit. Random Fact: Zippy & George share their voices with Doctor Who's Daleks.
3. The Sooty Show
The misadventures of a mute mischeivous puppet named Sooty who along with a dog named Sweep and a panda named Soo often indulges in slapstick by spraying his owner with a water pistol and using Magic Tricks for more slapstick, it's been a staple of British TV since the 50s and very little has changed apart from Sooty's owner.
2. ZZZap!
Billed as the television comic, ZZZap! has a showcase of comical showcases and creative works.
Cuthbert Lilly was a clumsy man which I dub Mr Bean Lite.
Smart Arty was an artist done in stereotypical French style but actually did some creative art pieces.
Tricky Dicky was a prankster with a spy style look.
Daisy Dares was someone who challenged kids to a dare often involving swimming pools and messy gunge.
Minnie the Mini Magician I didn't remember very well, but I guess she did magic tricks.
The Handymen were a pair of hands who did little clever crafts and tricks for an audience, despite being called Handymen the hands belonged to a woman.
1. Knightmare
Before World of Warcraft turned the fantasy gaming world into a realm of mediocrity we had Knightmare. A combination of Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying thinking set on a mixture of video game and live action as you guide a player wearing a helmet that makes them blind. The object of the game was to complete the quest without dying. Easier said than done but it was fun to watch kids try especially when they had to command the blind player.
Merry Christmas to everyone at theOtaku, for post 29 of the 30 reviews since I turned 30 we look at all the short movies of Wallace & Gromit, so quite the treat this Christmas as we are looking at a true British Television tradtion as these short films are on every Christmas without fail.
A Grand Day Out
One thing you'll notice about all these films is that it's all done in Claymation, the British are the masters of stop motion animation and claymation is a sub form of this art as thousands upon thousands of clay models are made and animated over a period of many years, 7 years for this first film alone and the effort really shows in the end results along with the writing. Gromit has no voice as well as a few other characters through out these short film reviews as body language and facial expressions are used to show Gromit's emotions while Wallace is voice by veteran actor Peter Sallis who portrays the inventor as a nice but dim sort with a strong love for cheese and sounding somewhat Yorkshire.
In their first adventure Wallace is out of cheese so the inventor decides to create a rocket to travel to the moon which is made of cheese, but unbeknownst to the duo, a robot is watching everything they do but has a dream of wanting to ski so while he tries his best to stop Wallace and Gromit from what they are doing he ends up with two make shift skis; the short film is probably the weakest of the four but understandable considering it was very late 80s and a first attempt from the fledgling Aardman studios.
The Wrong Trousers
In this short film it's Gromit's birthday but the bills are racking up and Wallace needs to find something to make up the short fall so he decides to rent a room out. The occupant is a penguin known as the notorious jewel thief, Feathers McGraw who doesn't have a voice but his body language does give a nice impression of how threatening he is; upon seeing the capabilities of Wallace's Techno Trousers, Feathers finds a way to not only drive Gromit away but make use of Wallace in order to steal the Jewel he's after, his plan culvinates in an epic chase scene involving a toy train set which must've taken many years to animate just for the animation quality alone.
This is the strongest of the four short films as you start to understand some of the subtle jokes left in by the writers as well as how impressive the animation really is just by looking at the final chase scene alone, it's a triumph of British animation and still stands the test of time.
A Close Shave
Two years after Wrong Trousers we come to another film featuring the introduction of Shaun the Sheep who would later have his own claymation cartoon series.
In this one, rumors are spreading of a sheep rustler in town but no one quite knows what's going on until Shaun's escape from a large truck starts the events of the film rolling. Wallace & Gromit are working as window cleaners as they get called to wash the windows of the local wool seller Wendolene and her dog Preston, Wendolene can talk but Preston doesn't, neither does Shaun or the other sheep. Upon finding Shaun in their house, Wallace decides to clean him up using the washing function of the Knit-O-Matic only for Shaun to lose some of his wool and gain a sweater; Preston recognises the sheep as Shaun and decides to frame Gromit as the sheep rustler which succeeds but Wallace ends up housing the sheep that Preston has rustled. Upon breaking Gromit out of jail the duo discover that Preston is the rustler along with Wendolene who has been dragged in against her will. After a hilarious chase scene that ends in a dog food factory, they discover that Preston is an evil robot dog so the duo along with Wendolene and the sheep put a stop to Preston.
This is where you discover more about Wallace's character as well as create a lot more emotion as Gromit looks genuinely upset about his predicament, as well as create a new lovable character in Shaun the Sheep, while not nearly as fun as Wrong Trousers it serves as a brilliant follow up film to it.
A Matter of Loaf and Death
It would take 13 years before another short film was produced, by this time we had already had the duo in their first feature film but that's for another review. In this last short film, Wallace & Gromit are baker delivery men but watching their every move is Piella Bakewell a serial killer and former pin up model with a grudge against bakers for making her fat, she hopes to murder Wallace to complete her bakers dozen of bakers she has already cut down so she takes advantage of Wallace's hopeless romantic side, (a trait he's had since a Close Shave) and attempts to trick the dippy Yorkshire man into marrying her so she can finish the job of murdering Wallace easier but stopping her along the way are Gromit and Piella's dog Fluffles which also culvinates into a crazy sequence of events involving a cartoon style bomb. This final film (For now) is not only the funniest but also the darkest of the four films, while the deaths are anti violence it doesn't take a genius to work out that they are still gruesome, it's pleasing to know that the writing is still strong with this franchise and hopes that future films remain just as good but with Peter Sallis aged 95 and the only major voice required for this franchise retired since 2012 it's unlikely we'll get another Wallace & Gromit short film anytime soon unless a suitable replacement is found to voice Wallace.
Conclusion
The franchise is a testament to British culture as a whole and showcases the results of years of hard work in stop motion animation and claymation, no other country can do this as well as the British, and while the jokes are lost on international audiences, it will always be a part of British culture. Merry Christmas everyone, one last review of the 30 reviews run followed by a special announcement, so stay tuned from Boxing Day to New Year.
Happy New Year everyone, at time of writing I'm in the future that is 2015 as Britain goes into the New Year before America. But there are a number of people we will miss who didn't make it this year but since 2014 was so cruel to celebrities, this has to be split into several parts starting with those we lost from January-March
So lets give these people a last goodbye.
James Avery 1945-2013
Before 2014 even began we lost the voice of Shredder, main villain of the Ninja Turtles as well as performing a memorable role as Philip Banks in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Hal Sutherland 1929-2014
A prominent animator for Disney throughout the 50s whose credits include Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan and the last theatrical Donald Duck cartoons; he would later provide animation for 70s Filmation super hero works including Flash Gordon, Batman, Aquaman and Superman. His last work was on He-man.
Seizo Katou 1927-2014
Veteran voice actor whose credits include the Japanese voice of Megatron from the Transformers franchise among hundred other roles.
Ichiro Nagai 1931-2014
Veteran voice actor whose credits include Happousai from Ranma 1/2 among hundreds of other roles along with Japanese dub roles as Yoda and Dumbledore.
Masaaki Tsukada 1938-2014
Veteran voice actor whose credits include Yamamoto Genryūsai from Bleach among hundreds of other roles.
Arthur Rankin Jr 1924-2014
One half of Rankin/Bass productions responsible for Thundercats, numerous Christmas Specials and animated versions of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Gordon Bell 1934-2014
British Cartoonist whose works were featured in pretty much every British comic from Beano to the Dandy. Works include Dennis the Menace (British version) along with numerous others.
Jimmy Murakami 1933-2014
Animator for Christmas short film the Snowman as well as other books by author Raymond Briggs, also provided animation for the cartoon adaption of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Harold Ramis 1944-2014
While not animation related, Harold Ramis was still an important part of geek culture as writer and acting role as Dr Egon Spengler for the Ghostbusters films.
Runa Akiyama 1954-2014
Veteran voice actress whose roles included many characters from the Time Bokan franchise.
Now my final review of this year is a special entry for Christmas, time for the Snowman.
Every year on British TV on Channel 4 specifically, the Snowman has always played, in fact since both this and the Channel were made in 1982 it has never failed to be played in all 32 years.
The story begins with an extract from the book by Raymond Briggs the short film is based on which reads.
"I remember that winter because it had brought the heaviest snows I had ever seen. Snow had fallen steadily all night long and in the morning I woke in a room filled with light and silence, the whole world seemed to be held in a dream-like stillness. It was a magical day... and it was on that day I made the Snowman"
A small note that this is the only dialogue you'll hear in the entire production along with the only scene of live action footage, this short was made using music only and hand drawn animation and although the opening has altered over the years with David Bowie being one of those who has started the story, the actual film has remained unchanged, even it's 30th anniversary sequel the Snowman and the Snowdog keeps most of the traditional techniques.
The story is about a boy named James who one night on Christmas Eve built a Snowman, on the stroke of midnight the Snowman comes to life and proceeds to explore James' house as it tries to understand how everything works including riding a Motorcycle, as the night continues, the Snowman then flies off with James to the North Pole set to the song "Walking in the Air" sung by choir boy Peter Auty and this is the high point of the film, it's a showcase of the most beautiful winter scenery hand drawn to perfection set to some moving yet haunting music, you can't help but get emotional during this scene.
Once the flight to the North Pole is complete, the Snowman along with James and many other Snowman have some fun and meet Santa Claus where James receives a scarf as a gift, upon arriving back home James goes to bed while the Snowman returns to the position he was built in. On Christmas morning, James awakes to find that the Snowman has melted, the film ends on James mourning the loss of the Snowman, if you were already crying at the music then you'll be in floods of tears by the end.
Whether you interpret the ending as a sad one or not is debatable, yes it's sad, but James takes away a magical memory as it's implied that the narrator at the start is the boy grown up and the sequel makes it clear when a new boy moves into the same house and finds an old picture of James and the Snowman.
So this is what the British have to offer in terms of Christmas Animated Specials and whether your favorite is Charlie Brown, The Grinch or one of the hundred others that are played every year, I take pride knowing that every Christmas this film reminds me that the year I went through was all worth it.
Happy Christmas everyone, see ya next year.
