h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I heard that Nick Park was approached by a 'large American movie studio' about doing a feature length version of Wallace & Grommit. He explained that it took 3 years to do a 1/2 hour episode. The studio said 'Oh no worries, we can speed that up with 'puter animation'. The studio rang back a few moments later, explaining that their phone call had been mysteriously cut off. Parks explained that W&G were clay-mation not 'puter rendered & would be staying that way.

- Well that's the story I heard anyway

;^)#

The BBC offered him a contract for a 28 part series not long ago. He "compromised" by promising another half hour anim by 2001.

Mind you, I think less is better - when he has more people working for him W&G loses the plot, like the most recent one which isn't a patch on the earlier shows.

LOL - I think like many things, W&G benefits from a lack of committee & the presence of a benevolent dictator with a vision.

;^)#

Considered it, and nope, sorry don't really have a better idea. I guess the only way round it would be to analyze the structure of the paragraphs, or perhaps include referenced links to other pages when it gets really complicated.

Sorry, pal - I hereby formally withdraw my previous post (the part that refers to footnotes, anyway). It was probably one of those knee-jerk reaction posts where the words hit the page before the brain kicks into gear.

Ahem. A bit Brit-centric, isn't it? The American Gumby dates back to 1955 and surely deserves at least a mention in an article about stop-motion plasticene animation. See http://www.emsphone.com/gumby/ghistory.txt for some details.

And you might consider a more specific title...I was expecting rather more about the substance itself rather than just one particular use.

Middle-of-the-road: competent, but not exhaustive. I give it about a 5.

I had always thought Gumby was made of rubber - but that's probably because I had a rubber Gumby toy as a kid.
You live & learn.


;^)#

I found this a very interesting article - I use plasticene for making the sea in bottles that I am going to put ships into. Small comment -should it be Plasticine? This is the way it is spelled on the packaging of the stuff that I use. Of course, I could be using stuff from the same source as Barker pens and Roilex watches!

You should be aware of the need to explain people and things that may not be known to others. I'm old enough, and live in the UK, so Tony Hart, Sylvester Mckoy, and Gromit are well known, but I am sure that there are others less fortunate.

The recipe is a good idea, but meaningless to me, as I do not understand what some of the materials are. Also - from experience when melting waxy things, oils, etc; it is better to use something called an air bath - the mix goes into a pot, which fits into a larger pot with an air gap most of the way round otherwise the contents can overheat and even ignite. I'm probably being a bit picky here; I doubt if anyone would try to mix the damn stuff when the second method is so cheap!

Good use of links.

I give the article 8

chas (of morph fame) was white/grey. there was a blue guy, and some others i'm sure. i always liked the little colourful blob creatures!