A Grand Day Out is a 1989 British stop-motion animated science fiction comedy short film directed and animated by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations and the National Film and Television School. Starring Peter Sallis and based on a story by Park, it is the first instalment of the Wallace & Gromit franchise. Out of all of the films of the franchise, this one has the most simplistic plot.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1991, but lost to Creature Comforts, another short by Park released that same year.
Plot[]
Inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit are very devastated when they realized that they have run out of cheese in the house. With the local corner shop closed for the Bank Holiday, Wallace decides to take a trip to the moon, as "everybody knows the moon's made of cheese." Naturally, he has to take his faithful dog with him. Wallace builds a rocket in his basement, with the help of Gromit, lights the fuse, and the duo prepares to depart Earth, only for Wallace to claim that forgot crackers and heads off to the kitchen to get some packets, jumping onto the rocket, and the boys then set off to the moon. Among the way, Gromit builds a house of cards, only for it to collapse when Wallace activates the lever after getting toast from the Rocket's built-in toaster and noticing a blue-coloured siren ringing.
Upon landing, Wallace tries the cheese and eats the moon (which he suggests tastes like Wensleydale) but starts to question his theory on the moon. Also, a strange coin-operated robot shaped like an oven (complete with arms, wheels and and creepy weird eyes) is encountered by the duo. Wallace inserts a coin into the slot (one of it's eyes), but nothing happens: when Wallace and Gromit leave, the Robot suddenly comes to life. It goes to their picnic spot and discovers a skiing magazine: this seems that the robot wishes to go with them to Earth so he can try out some skiing in its desire. Later, the Robot realizes Wallace, and takes a club. Afterward, it tries to strike Wallace, but the money fades, to which Wallace takes the Robot's club as a souvenir, and prepares to leave for the day. Wallace and Gromit then believe it is after them for stealing the moon cheese and try to escape.
The robot breaks into the rocket but is blown out by a gas explosion, allowing Wallace and Gromit to escape back home. The robot then discovers that the wreckage from the rocket can bend, so it fashions the pieces into skis and fashions a pair of long moon rocks into skiing poles, and uses the moon's surface as a skiing course with its equipment as Lunar Skiing is born, waving goodbye to Wallace and Gromit as they return home and continuing to ski across the moon.
Cast[]
Production[]
The film was Nick Park's graduation project at the National Film & Television School (NFTS) in 1982. He had written the story at a pub with a friend from his art school, about a duo of characters Park had drawn in his sketchbook. Apart from voice acting (provided by Peter Sallis) and story writing, Park had to do most of the film all by himself, as the other students were too busy with their own projects to work on. After about five years, Park realised he needed help as he had only finished about less than a third of its eventual length. Aardman Animations founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton saw his film to have potential, and offered to help him finish his film if he helped them with their own projects, as they needed a new animator. Park helped Aardman with projects such as "Sledgehammer", Lip Sync and Creature Comforts before finishing his own film. The film was to have a longer story, running for around 40 minutes, but Aardman persuaded him to shorten the story as it would take too long to complete. Park hired Julian Nott to compose the film's soundtrack, who gave a jazz-like feel to the score but later regretted using that sound. The film took seven years to make, and Peter Sallis was particularly surprised to see the final film.
Release[]
Reception[]
Video[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- There are two very early screen tests that were done for this film during development, one with Wallace in the basement and another named “Dog Test” with Gromit who had a very different design that included an actual mouth, unlike his final appearance.
- Wallace and Gromit look slightly different from their later appearances, in which Wallace has a narrower mouth and thinner head whilst Gromit has a longer snout.
- This is one of three films in the franchise that does not feature a love interest for Wallace and and one of two where his voice actor is the only actor, the others being Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and The Wrong Trousers, respectively.
- On the way to the rocket, Wallace drops a packet of crackers.
- Originally on the moon, there was going to be more characters (mostly aliens, and was to be a "spoof of Star Wars") and a McDonald’s fast food restaurant that Wallace and Gromit were going to visit. At some point in the story, Wallace was going to be thrown into prison and Gromit had to rescue him. This idea was scrapped because Aardman told Nick it would take around nine more years to finish the film if he had animated all of those scenes.
- Wallace and Gromit was the first Aardman media to be the title protagonists' names.
- This is the first Aardman adaptation to only have one person speak, followed by The Wrong Trousers.
- This is the first Aardman film to feature the original logo.
- This is the first Aardman film to not feature any females.
- In the basement, there is a red sled that says "Rose Bud" on it. This is a reference to a scene in Citizen Kane. Another Rosebud sled would be seen in the 2008 BBC One Christmas idents.
- A mounted moose head can be seen in Wallace's basement, one also later appearing on the ground floor in The Wrong Trousers. Right after the Moon Rocket has taken off from the basement, the moose's eyes are seen looking upward.
Goofs[]
- Wallace paints the same part of the rocket three times.
- When he is rushing to get in the ship the first time, Wallace kicks away the paint-stained ladder, which falls to the ground as they take off and leave Earth. Yet when they land on the moon, they use the same ladder to get in and out of the ship.
- The robot uses matches to light up Wallace's moon Rocket's fuel supply, which makes it blast off in the process. In reality, this would have caused a explosion that would have destroyed the entire rocket.
- Fingerprint marks are seen on Wallace and Gromit in many scenes. Also, Wallace's arms sometimes gain tiny lumps and indentations when he moves them, due to the animators touching them during animation processing.
Quotes[]
- Wallace: Eeh, these bank holidays. It’s a problem to decide...
- Wallace: No Cheese, Gromit! Not a bit in the house!
- Wallace: Gromit, That's it Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!
(Looks at "Cheese Holidays" magazine, then out the window)
- Wallace: Everybody knows the moon is made of cheese...
(a machine malfunctions)
- Wallace: Come on stupid... Oh!
(eating the moon)
- Wallace: It's like no cheese I've ever tasted...
(Wallace and Gromit are on their spaceship, about to leave Earth)
- Wallace: No Crackers Gromit! We've forgotten the crackers!
(Wallace giving Gromit an instruction to head back home)
- Wallace: Set coordinates for 62 West Wallaby Street.
Credits[]
- Animation and Design by Nick Park.
- Additional Model making by Janet Sanger, Michael Hort, Michael Wright and Andrew Davies.
- Special Thanks to Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Richard Goleszowski, Sara Mullock,
Melanie Hall, Glen Hall and Alan Gardener of Aardman Animations. - Also Thanks to Lesley Manning, Stephen Lawrence, Andrea Gardner,
Jeremy Clarke, Darren Long, Charles Patey, Cliff Thorne and Roy Swift.
Triad Neg Cutters, Peter Bath of Technicolor and Harbutts Plasticine. - Written by Nick Park with thanks to Steve Rushton.
- Music by Julian Nott.
- Sound Effects and Sound Editing by Adrian Rhodes and Danny Hambrook with thanks to Chris Billing.
- Rostrum Camera by Danny Boon and Jeremy Moorshead.
- Production by Soozy Mealing.
- Edited by Rob Copeland.
- Wallace's Voice: Peter Sallis.
- Photographed and Directed by Nick Park.
- © National Film and Television School 1989.
References[]
External links[]
