Morph (TV series)
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Morph is a British series of clay stop-motion comedy animations, named after the main character, who is a small plasticine man, who speaks an unintelligible language and lives on a tabletop, his bedroom being a small wooden box. This fictional character was initially seen interacting with Tony Hart, beginning in 1977, on several of his UKTV programmes, notably Take Hart and Hartbeat.
| Morph | |
|---|---|
 A model of the main character, Morph, on display at the National Media Museum, Bradford | |
| First appearance | Take Hart, 15 February 1977 |
| Created by | Peter Lord David Sproxton |
| Motto | "Ba ba ba ba, ba ba da!" |
| In-universe information | |
| Nationality | British |
History
Morph was produced for the BBC by Aardman Animations, later famous for the "Sledgehammer" music video, Wallace and Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep. Morph appeared mainly in one-minute "shorts" interspersed throughout the Take Hart show. These were connected to the main show by having Hart deliver a line or two to Morph who would reply in gobbledygook but with meaningful gestures. Later on, Morph was joined by cream-coloured Chas, who was much more troublesome and mischievous.
Morph can change shape, he would become spheres in order to move around, or extrude into cylinders to pass to different levels. He can also mimic other objects, or creatures. Morph lived in a wooden microscope box on an artist's desk. He and Chas both loved to eat cake, as seen in many of the shorts. Most appearances of Morph revolve around his friendship and rivalry with Chas, with each often playing tricks on the other and laughing at each other's misfortune. Whilst Morph's nature is that of an innocent, curious character, Chas is much more mischievous, and prone to bad behaviour.
After Hart's shows ended, Morph and Chas appeared in shorts on the Children's BBC's successor programme SMart from 1994 onwards.
Some of the early plasticine models of Morph were destroyed in a fire at the warehouse where they were being stored, on 10 October 2005.[1]
Morph's 30th birthday was celebrated in 2007 by creator Peter Lord and celebrity fan and comedian Phill Jupitus at events for the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol. In March 2009, shortly after Hart's death, a flashmob of Morph characters was organised in London outside the Tate Modern art gallery.[2]
In 2009, the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes featured Morph in a guest appearance as a representation of a present-day medic.[3] Morph was used to give a comic feeling while in a very serious situation in Series 2, Episode 3 of Ashes to Ashes. The character was pictured in an episode of Take Hart, however, Morph appeared on the television after it was turned off, separating it from the context of the Take Hart episode.
On 29 October 2013, Peter Lord (co-founder of Aardman Animations) created a fund raising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The campaign set a target of £75,000 to be used to fund 12 new one minute episodes. The target was reached on 6 November 2013 after only 9 days, attracting contributions from over 1,700 backers who received a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding.[4][5] In January 2014, Peter Lord and Aardman began production on 15 new episodes featuring Morph. The new series premiered on Morph's official YouTube channel with 15 episodes from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015.
In 2015, a Morph experience opened at Land's End. The Land's End signpost was rebranded 'Lamb's End' with original sets, models and characters from a range of Aardman productions. Visitors were also able to star in a real Shaun the Sheep scene, using green screen technology, and meet other characters from the Aardman family, including Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.[6]
Released between 20 March and 2 October 2015, HD restored versions of The Amazing Adventures of Morph appeared on YouTube and in the summer of 2015, Morph returned to TV on CBBC with the 15 new episodes.[7] From 6 November 2015 to 7 January 2016, The Lost Tapes from 2001 were revealed having been redubbed and remastered on YouTube. In March 2016, it was announced that Sky plc had made a deal with Aardman Animations to produce new Morph material to be directed at its child audience.[8] From 6 May 2016 to 15 September 2017, all clips captured from Take Hart were revealed on the Morph YouTube channel. In August 2017, new Morph merchandise was shown at Wallace & Gromit's Charity Shop.[9] Between 2 March and 14 September 2018, 15 more episodes of the new Morph series, that were previously shown on Sky Kids, were shown on YouTube. From 15 February to 17 May 2019, all 13 episodes of The Morph Files, that were remastered into HD, were released on YouTube.
In May 2019, Morph and Chas appeared in an advert for Tesco as part of the company's centenary celebrations, which also featured celebrities Anneka Rice and Derrick Evans (the latter more commonly known as Mr. Motivator).[10]
On 9 November 2020, the new Morph series entitled "The Epic Adventures of Morph" appeared and began to stream on Sky Kids. The series features Morph, Chas, and two old characters—Delilah and GrandMorph—who were brought back to add more life to the show. There is also a very small cameo from Gillespie, who is another character from The Morph Files and The Amazing Adventures of Morph, along with Delilah and GrandMorph, that was revived for the series. To the great sadness of many Morph fans, however, Folly and Gobbledeegook were not brought into the new series, possibly an effort to make animation easier, be more minimalistic, or save production costs which involve more materials.
Films, shorts, and TV series
| 1977–83 | Take Hart |
| 1980–81 | The Amazing Adventures of Morph |
| 1984–93 | Hartbeat |
| 1994–2005 | SMart |
| 1996 | The Morph Files |
| 1997 | Morph TV (with Tony Hart) |
| 1998 | On Your Marks |
| 2001 | The Lost Tapes |
| 2006 | Morph (TV series) |
| 2009 | Ashes to Ashes (guest appearance) |
| 2012 | Ricky's Radical Reinventions |
| 2014–present | Brand New Morph |
| 2019–present | Retro Morph |
| 2020–present | The Epic Adventures of Morph [11] |
| 2021-present | The Very Small Creatures [12] |
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| Original episodes | 44 | 2006/4 November 2013 | 2006/23 October 2015 | |
| 1 | 17 | 4 July 2014 | 6 March 2015 | |
| 2 | 12 | 2 March 2018 | 14 September 2018 | |
Original episodes (2006, 2013–2015)
The original 44 episodes of Morph were originally produced on the Aardman website back in 2006, and were re-used on Aardman's YouTube channel by around September 2008 until 2010, and Morph's YouTube channel from 4 November 2013 until 23 October 2015. The original episodes uses the same clips originally used from Take Hart, Hartbeat, SMart and The Morph Files.
| # | Episode | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 101 (1) | Hats | 2006/4 November 2013 |
| 102 (2) | No Entry | 2006/4 November 2013 |
| 103 (3) | Magic Boots | 2006/4 November 2013 |
| 104 (4) | Invisimorph | 2006/4 November 2013 |
| 105 (5) | Sweet Showdown | 2006/4 November 2013 |
| 106 (6) | The Amazing Mimic | 2006/6 November 2013 |
| 107 (7) | Get The Picture | 2006/11 November 2013 |
| 108 (8) | Cake | 2006/14 November 2013 |
| 109 (9) | Robomorph | 2006/27 March 2014 |
| 110 (10) | Messy April Fools | 2006/1 April 2014 |
| 111 (11) | Card Trick | 2006/1 May 2014 |
| 112 (12) | Ice Cream | 2006/8 May 2014 |
| 113 (13) | Row Your Boat | 2006/15 May 2014 |
| 114 (14) | Sailors | 2006/22 May 2014 |
| 115 (15) | Cleaning | 2006/29 May 2014 |
| 116 (16) | Minimorph | 2006/5 June 2014 |
| 117 (17) | Football | 2006/12 June 2014 |
| 118 (18) | Sitting Comfortably? | 2006/19 June 2014 |
| 119 (19) | Pudding Time | 2006/26 June 2014 |
| 120 (20) | Blancmange | 2006 |
| 121 (21) | Self Portrait | 2006 |
| 122 (22) | Sculpture | 2006 |
| 123 (23) | Bed Time | 2006 |
| 124 (24) | Paint Job | 2006 |
| 125 (25) | Toll Bridge | 2006 |
| 126 (26) | Invisidog | 2006 |
| 127 (27) | Morph Off | 2006 |
| 128 (28) | Pop | 2006 |
| 129 (29) | Still Life | 2006 |
| 130 (30) | Poser | 2006 |
| 131 (31) | Abominable Snowman | 2006 |
| 132 (32) | Dog Show | 2006 |
| 133 (33) | Cowboys | 2006 |
| 134 (34) | Sharpshooter | 2006 |
| 135 (35) | Dinner Time | 2006 |
| 136 (36) | Sea Shell/Rock and Roll Hole | 2006 |
| 137 (37) | Hide and Seek | 2006 |
| 138 (38) | Strong Morph | 2006 |
| (39) | Sticky | 2006 |
| (40) | The Painters | 2006 |
| (41) | Cheese | 2006 |
| (42) | Washing Machine | 2006 |
| (43) | Bake Off | 2006 |
| (44) | Silver Disc Shooting | 2006 |
Series 1: 2014–2015
The first series of the then-named Brand New Morph was released on YouTube from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015 with a Red Nose Day special being released on 6 March. The first series was also aired on CBBC throughout the summer of 2015.
| # | Episode | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 201 (20) | Twin Decks | 4 July 2014 |
| 202 (21) | Portable Hole | 18 July 2014 |
| 203 (22) | Great Outdoors | 1 August 2014 |
| 204 (23) | Stand Up | 15 August 2014 |
| 205 (24) | Fetch | 29 August 2014 |
| 206 (25) | Bin It To Win It | 12 September 2014 |
| 207 (26) | Stick Up | 26 September 2014 |
| 208 (27) | Hiccups | 10 October 2014 |
| 209 (28) | Box of Tricks | 24 October 2014 |
| 210 (29) | Selfie | 7 November 2014 |
| 211 (30) | Clean Sweep | 21 November 2014 |
| 212 (31) | Goal | 5 December 2014 |
| 213 (32) | Xmas | 19 December 2014 |
| 214 (33) | Sloped World | 2 January 2015 |
| 215 (34) | Chas Express | 17 January 2015 |
| 216 (35) | Picture Perfect | 30 January 2015 |
| 217 (36) | Red Nose Day | 6 March 2015 |
Series 2: 2018
The 2nd series of Brand New Morph was released to YouTube from 2 March 2018 until 14 September 2018, it is the first series being produced for Sky Kids, which streamed the first 2 series of Morph on Sky TV.
| # | Episode | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 301 (37) | Phosing | 2 March 2018 |
| 302 (38) | One Man and His Dog | 16 March 2018 |
| 303 (39) | Treasure Map | 30 March 2018 |
| 304 (40) | Shadow Puppets | 13 April 2018 |
| 305 (41) | Magic Doors | 27 April 2018 |
| 306 (42) | Boot Camp | 11 May 2018 |
| 307 (43) | Desktop Rodeo | 25 May 2018 |
| 308 (44) | Tablet | 8 June 2018 |
| 309 (45) | New Neighbour | 22 June 2018 |
| 310 (46) | Birthday Party | 3 July 2018 |
| 311 (47) | Portable Portals | 20 July 2018 |
| 312 (48) | Lamp | 3 August 2018 |
| 313 (49) | Remote | 17 August 2018 |
| 314 (50) | Piñata | 31 August 2018 |
| 315 (51) | Rappers Delight | 14 September 2018 |
Series 3: 2021
The third series of Brand New Morph made its way to YouTube on 12 February 2021 until 31 December 2021, with the episodes taking place during some special events that occurred during the year. All of the episodes were produced during production for the 2nd series in 2018, 3 years before it was officially shown in 2021.
| # | Episode | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 316 (52) | Valentine's Day | 12 February 2021 |
| 317 (53) | Pancake Day | 16 February 2021 |
| 318 (54) | World Book Day | 4 March 2021 |
| 319 (55) | Easter | 2 April 2021 |
| 320 (56) | Beached | 25 June 2021 |
| 321 (57) | Back To School | 3 September 2021 |
| 322 (58) | Halloween | 29 October 2021 |
| 323 (59) | Fireworks | 5 November 2021 |
| 324 (60) | Christmas | 23 December 2021 |
| 325 (61) | New Year | 31 December 2021 |
Series 4: 2022
The fourth series of Brand New Morph (now titled: 'The Epic Adventures of Morph) made its way to YouTube on 1 April 2022 until 8 July 2022, with the episodes' running time now extended to five minutes. Delilah and Grandmorph made their return to the series as main characters also. The Very Small Creatures still appeared from time to time and Gillespie made a cameo in 'Beanstalk.' All of the episodes were produced in 2020, 2 years before it was officially shown in 2022.
| # | Episode | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 326 (62) | Tangled Web | 1 April 2022 |
| 327 (63) | Pie Spy | 8 April 2022 |
| 328 (64) | Chas Air | 15 April 2022 |
| 329 (65) | Medieval Morph | 22 April 2022 |
| 330 (66) | Size Matters | 29 April 2022 |
| 331 (67) | Daredevil Delilah | 6 May 2022 |
| 332 (68) | Finding Nailbrush | 13 May 2022 |
| 333 (69) | Double Trouble | 20 May 2022 |
| 334 (70) | Camping Caper | 27 May 2022 |
| 335 (71) | Beanstalk | 3 June 2022 |
| 336 (72) | Operation Sausage | 10 June 2022 |
| 337 (73) | Dolls House | 17 June 2022 |
| 338 (74) | Rainy Day | 24 June 2022 |
| 339 (75) | GAME ON! | 1 July 2022 |
| 340 (76) | Cheesed Off | 8 July 2022 |
Characters
Main
- Morph – The protagonist with terracotta skin. He is a clay figure who can transform into many things. He is very clever, curious and creative, and has a good sense of humour.
- Chas – Morph's white-skinned best friend. He is amoral, narcissistic, and dimwitted but has a good friendship with Morph, although this doesn’t stop him playing tricks on him at times. Chas was originally named Stu.[13]
- Nailbrush – Morph's 'canine' companion, a barking, male nailbrush. He is very loyal to Morph, although he sometimes gets him into trouble.
Supporting
- Grandmorph – Morph's elderly, bearded grandfather, who travels by skateboard and frequently invents things. Although wise and kind-hearted, Grandmorph is very strict, and often punishes Morph and Chas when they misbehave.
- Delilah – A bossy, bespectacled female character in a yellow dress with dark brownish-purple skin. She has a good relationship with Morph.
- Folly – A scatter-brained girl made of tin-foil.
- Gillespie – A large, blue friend of Morph's. He is very clueless and silly but is peaceable and often meditates.
- The Very Small Creatures – An array of small plasticine balls with eyes who travel in a swarm; the smallest of the group, Little Green, features prominently on his own in a number of episodes.
- Gobbledygook – A green, omnivorous alien child (who arrived on the table by sleeping near Morph's box in The Amazing Adventures of Morph, but in The Morph Files, he arrived by mistakenly being printed from a 'Space Invaders' style game).
- The Paint Pots – A group of sentient paint pots who can morph their paint into facsimiles of people; unlike Morph and Chas, they are able to speak coherently (one of them even chides Morph for his non-existent linguistic skills on multiple occasions); they only appear in Take Hart.
- Luxo the Lamp – A Luxo lamp who warns the others when Tony is entering the room; like the Paint Pots, it only appears in Take Hart, but later reappeared in a 2018 short in a silent role more akin to Luxo Jr.
See also
- Gumby
- Davey and Goliath
- Pingu
- Wallace and Gromit
- Shaun the Sheep
- Creature Comforts
- Cartoon Network (Japan)
- Pogo (TV channel)
References
- ^ Morris, Steven (11 October 2005). "Curses, Gromit! Fire destroys animation firm's history on eve of box office triumph". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "Morph flashmob honours Tony Hart". News.bbc.co.uk. 1 March 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ Mirror.co.uk (28 April 2009). "1980s kids' plasticine star Morph to star in Ashes To Ashes". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "'Bring back Morph' campaign launched". BBC News. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "All New Adventures of Morph from Aardman Animations". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "Bristol's Shaun the Sheep to be star of new family tourist attraction | Bristol Post". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
- ^ Agency (20 May 2015). "Morph returns to TV after 15 years with new CBBC show". Retrieved 27 November 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ Financial Times, 31 March 2016
- ^ "The Gromit Unleashed Shop". Wallaceandgromitcharityshop.org.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "Even more prices that take you back | #Tesco100Years - YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2019-05-13.
- ^ "The Epic Adventures of Morph to debut on Sky Kids". 28 October 2020.
- ^ "Aardman Working on First Preschool Series in over a Decade". June 2021.
- ^ "History".
External links
- Official Morph website
- Official Morph YouTube channel
- Information about Morph, with photograph
- B3ta interview with Tony Hart which discusses Morph
- A fond farewell to Morph: Tony Hart article about Morph
- Animation archive up in smoke: BBC News article about Aardman's warehouse fire
- Morph's page on Tony Hart's official site
- Limited edition Morph prints created for Morph's 30th anniversary
- Guardian article about Aardman's warehouse fire
- Kickstarter project to fund new production