Creature Comforts

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Creature Comforts
Format	Comedy, Animation
Created by	Nick Park, Richard Goleszowski
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	27 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Aardman Animations
Running time	10 minutes
Broadcast
Picture format	4:3 (1989) 16:9 (2003 - Present)
Original airing	1989 (Original Film) 1 October 2003 - Present

Creature Comforts was originally a 1989 short film made in United Kingdom about how animals feel about living in a zoo, and later became a series of commercials for Heat Electric. In 2003 a television series in the same style was released.

Contents 1 The original film 2 The series 3 Regular characters 4 Miscellaneous 5 American version 5.1 US version staff 6 Creature Discomforts 7 DVD releases 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] The original film

The original 5-minute film Creature Comforts was conceived and directed by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations featuring the voice acting of common everyday members of the British public in the same vein as the "man on the street" Vox Pop interviews. It was produced as part of a series called Lip Synch for Channel 4.

The film shows various animals in a zoo being interviewed about their living conditions. These include turtles, a female gorilla, a family of polar bears, and a melancholic jaguar who complains about the "lack of space" and the "grass with pollen that gives me hay fever every day!"

The dialogue was created by interviewing residents of a housing development, an old people's home and a family that lived in a local shop (the polar bears). Clay animation was then created that attributed the answers to zoo animals. One of the most popular characters was the jaguar. He was in fact a Brazilian student who lived in a hotel and was talking about his own situation. (Source: DVD audio commentary).

This soon led to a series of British television commercials for the Electricity Board which were made in the same style, featuring a closing voice-over by Johnny Morris. Ironically, many members of the public mistakenly believed these commercials were advertising gas heating, the main competitor to electricity.^[1]

[edit] The series

In 2003 a series of Creature Comforts films directed by Richard Goleszowski was made for British television network ITV by Aardman Animations. The series has since aired as repeats on Comedy Central, usually late at night. Starting in 2005 it has also aired in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in The Netherlands on Veronica, on pay-TV channel US.TV, and on Internet peer-to-peer TV Joost Aardman Animations Channel.

A 30 minute special in which the regular characters attempt to perform and interpret the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was first aired on 25 December 2005. The special was broadcast in Canada on the CBC on 26 December 2005.

Humour pervades all aspects of the series, for example:

• A highly philosophical speech given by an amoeba.
• An alligator praising her neighbourhood the sewer.
• Animals being scared of their own terrain (aquaphobic sharks and walruses, birds afraid of heights, etc.)
• Background details such as:
  • Insects swarming into a gap in the paving stones when a slug mimics a bird call.
  • Greys blinking in unison.
  • A lab mouse being interviewed while another mouse with a human ear on his back walks by.

The series gently mocks the constructed performance sometimes given by members of the general public when being interviewed for television vox-pops and documentaries. This includes the attempts to present a cogent but simple conclusive answer to a general question - a sound bite - and the attempts to present a cheery spin on a complex issue while the subject attempts to hide their personal issues and problems with the issue.

It has been speculated however, that instructions were given to the subjects who were interviewed. In the case of the Jaguar he refers to the food they are given: "...looks more like dog food than food proper for wild animals" which seems suspicious.

[edit] Regular characters

The following characters are among those who make regular appearances throughout the first series. These animals are always portrayed by the same interviewees to maintain consistency throughout the series.

• Pickles the Guide Dog — A guide dog with an optimistic outlook and a high-pitched, exaggerated laugh.
• Fluffy the Hamster — A depressed hamster who has a pessimistic view on everything including: the beach, clowns, Christmas, etc.
• Clement the Bloodhound — Clement has gone to see medical specialists several times in his life - and has usually been thrown out without treatment or clear definition of his problems.
• Trixie and Capt. Cuddlepuss — A dog and a cat, respectively, who act like a bored, married couple. They argue over cats having bad breath and Yorkshire terriers wearing lipstick.
• Spanner and Trousers — Two dogs who hang out at the skips. They debate over subjects like evolution and getting reincarnated as a bird.
• Earl the Greyhound — A racing dog, notorious for being interrupted mid-sentence by the race starting.
• Toby — A highly-refined Blue Persian cat. He once had a severe cold which was treated with Famel syrup (which contains creosote, leaving him smelling like a fencepost for a week). He is sure that cats are more intelligent than dogs, since they bury their leavings.
• Gary and Nigel — Two garden slugs - red and orange, respectively - who seem like gardening professionals and frequently get crawled on by ladybirds. Gary's wife is comparatively overweight and is reported to be on a diet of leaves.
• Sid and Nancy, the Shed Rats — Two rats who seem to be married. Sid wishes to build another shed so he can listen to the football, but Nancy thinks he wants to view pornography.
• Ted and Stan — Baby birds, possible brothers.
• Victor the Geordie Mouse — A friendly mouse with a Geordie accent. His son has diabetes.
• Frank the Tortoise — Frank first appeared in an advertisement sponsoring radiators, in which he mentioned going on a "ten-mile slog". He likes a lot of foods involving chips.
• Brian the Amoeba — Despite being an extremely primitive lifeform, Brian is highly philosophical.
• The Rudges — A group of sea anemones and a female starfish who suspect that Earth's life originates from another planet, and that they have evolved to their full potential.

[edit] Miscellaneous

A special short was aired in the UK as part of Red Nose Day 2007.^[2]

[edit] American version

Starting June 2007, CBS planned to broadcast seven episodes of an Americanized version of the show, featuring ordinary American people providing the voices, in the same vein as the British original. The series was titled Creature Comforts and was seen Monday nights at 8PM ET/PT from 4 June to 18 June 2007 (only three episodes were broadcast due to low ratings, and was replaced with reruns of The New Adventures Of Old Christine);^[3] the series was also simulcast in Canada on the CH system.

CBS also created a web presence with the help of the Creature Comforts staff. A behind-the-scenes collaborative account/blog of each episode was posted in conjunction with the 3 short-lived airings.^[4]

The American version was co-produced by Aardman Animations and The Gotham Group.

Seven episodes of this series were produced. However, the series ran for only three episodes before being cancelled by CBS due to low ratings. Its remaining episodes were later premiered on Animal Planet in 2008 (see below).

A standard DVD of the show's seven episodes was released on 9 October 2007 by Sony, now entitled Creature Comforts America. Currently there is no Blu-Ray version, even though the show was mastered in 1080 HD 16x9.^[5]

On 8 February 2008, the show won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Production" of 2007.^[6]

In Australia, public broadcaster ABC Television began airing the American season in Australia on 18 February 2008, having aired the original British version since its inception on both ABC1 and the digital only ABC2.

On 24 April 2008, Animal Planet picked-up the first season of the American version. It was broadcast in both SD letterbox and native HD formats. Episodes 1&2 premiered on 24 April, Episodes 3&4 premiered on 1 May and Episodes 5&6 premiered on 9 May.

Creature Comforts was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" but on 13 September 2008, it lost out to The Simpsons. Teresa Drilling, one of the show's many animators, won an individual Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation".

[edit] US version staff

• Executive producers: Miles Bullough, David Sproxton, Peter Lord, Nick Park
• Executive producer: Kit Boss
• Producers: Kenny Micka, Gareth Owen
• Directors: David Osmand, Merlin Crossingham

[edit] Creature Discomforts

A series of four ads highlighting disability and featuring the voices of disabled people telling of their experiences premiered on ITV on Christmas Day 2007. Four more ads featuring new characters debuted in Summer 2008.^[7][8]

[edit] DVD releases

DVD Title	Country of Release	Region	Date of Release	DVD company	Catalog Number	Notes
Creature Comforts	United Kingdom	1	28 November 2000	Image Entertainment	ID0106CUDVD	The original 1989 film presented in widescreen. Also includes the other Aardman animations Wat's Pig, Not Without My Handbag and Adam
Creature Comforts — Series 1, Part 1	United Kingdom	2	17 November 2003	Momentum Pictures		The first half of Series 1, the original 1989 film, and other extras
Creature Comforts — Series 1, Part 2	United Kingdom	2	5 April 2004	Momentum Pictures		The second half of Series 1, featuring many extras including ITV1 idents, Heat Electric ads, and more
Creature Comforts — The Complete First Season	United States	1	27 September 2005	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment	08694	Features the original 1989 film in full-screen as an extra
Creature Comforts — Complete Series 1	United Kingdom	2	31 October 2005	Momentum Pictures		2-disc set of the first series.
Creature Comforts — Series 2, Part 1	United Kingdom	2	21 November 2005	Momentum Pictures		First half of Series 2, plus many making of extras.
Creature Comforts — Series 2, Part 2	United Kingdom	2	20 February 2006	Momentum Pictures		Second half of Series 2, plus extras
Creature Comforts — The Complete Second Season	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment	14823	2-disc set of the Second Series and the "Merry Christmas, Everybody" DVD release [see below]
Creature Comforts — Merry Christmas Everybody	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		Also included in the Second Series DVD release
Creature Comforts — The Complete First and Second Seasons	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		2-Disc set of the First and Second Series
Creature Comforts — Complete Series 2	United Kingdom	2	6 November 2006	Momentum Pictures		3-disc set of the Second Series and "Merry Christmas Everybody"
Creature Comforts America — The Complete First Season	United States	1	9 October 2007	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		The seven episodes made for the cancelled American version

The TV Series (UK Version) is now available to watch on the official Aardman Youtube channel. ([1])

[edit] See also

• List of Creature Comforts episodes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Creature Comforts

• Creature Comforts Official website
• Creature Comforts (episodes)
• "Watch the original Oscar winning Creature Comforts online" at AtomFilms
• Creature Comforts (1989) at the Internet Movie Database
• Creature Comforts (2003 series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Creature Comforts (2007 American series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Article about CBS winning TV rights