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Morph

Morph is the well known, lovable plasticine Character that first brought Aardman to fame. Created in 1976 Morph was first Broadcast on the children's Art program Take Hart and Hartbeat by the late Tony Hart. Morph later appeared in another children's art program, SMart, New,online, episodes arrived on July 4th, 2014.

Website[]

The Morph website is a new move by Aardman, when viewing the website you can scroll across the page instead of down. The website includes news, Videos, Products, Pictures, wallpapers and Avatars.

History[]

Morph was produced for the BBC by Aardman Animations, later famous for the "Sledgehammer" music video and Wallace and Gromit. Morph appeared mainly in one minute "shorts" interspersed throughout the 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 badly behaved.

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 artists desk, and he and Chas both loved to eat cake, as seen in many of the shorts.

Some of the early plasticine models of Morph were destroyed in a fire at the warehouse they were being stored on 10 October 2005.[1]

Morph and Chas appeared in shorts on the British children's TV programme SMart from 1994 onwards.

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]

In 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 will receive 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 started production on 15 brand new episodes of Morph, with the help of donations from fans. The new series premiered on Morph's official YouTube channel on 4 July 2014.

In 2015, a morph experience will open at Land's End. The Land’s End signpost will be rebranded 'Lamb’s End' with original sets, models and characters from a range of Aardman productions. Visitors can also 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]

In 2015, Morph will return to TV on CBBC on The New Adventures of Morph.[7]

Films, shorts, and TV series[]

1966–1970 Take Hart
1973–1974 The Amazing Adventures of Morph
1977–1980 Hartbeat
1984–1990 SMart
1994 The Morph Files
1996 Morph TV (with Tony Hart)
1998 On Your Marks
2004 Morph (TV series)
2007 Ashes to Ashes (guest appearance)
2009 Ricky's Radical Reinventions
2010–2011 Brand New Morph
2014–present The New Adventures of Morph[8]

Characters[]

  • Morph - The curious and creative main character with terracotta skin.
  • Chas - Morph's living statue cream-skinned cousin.
  • Nailbrush - Morph's 'canine' companion, a barking nailbrush.
  • Gran-Morph - Morph's elderly, bearded grandfather, who travels by skateboard and frequently invents things.
  • Delilah - A bossy, bespectacled female character in a yellow dress with dark purple skin.
  • Folly - A scatter-brained girl made of tin-foil.
  • Gillespie - A large, blue, dimwitted but peaceable friend of Morph's.
  • 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.
  • Goobledygook - A green, omnivorous alien child (who arrived on the table by accident piloting a milk bottle-like craft in the original series - in the Morph Files, he arrived by accidentally printing him from the 'space raiders' style game).

Credits[]

1973[]

  • Narrator: Tony Hart
  • Animators: Bob Brandsford, Tom O' Loughlin, Dick Thompson
  • Modelmaker: Joe Hate
  • Lighting/Camera: David Detiege
  • Special Effects: Irv Spector
  • Editor: Lovell Norman
  • Executive Producers: Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones
  • Produced by: Herbert Klynn
  • Written and Directed by: David DePatie, Friz Freleng

1994[]

  • Narrator: Neil Morrissey
  • Animation by: Neal Thompson
  • Storyboard: Norma Rivera Klingler
  • Stop-Motion Animation: Rich Moore, Bob Foster, Tim Maltby
  • Modelmaker: Hysook Cho
  • Lighting/Camera: Lyndon Ruddy
  • Computer Animation: David Stephan
  • Sound Designers: Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone
  • Editor: Rob DeSales
  • Special Sound Effects: Ken Solomon
  • Special Visual Effects: Irv Spector
  • Foley Artist: Joseph Barbera
  • Sound Design & Foley: StarToons Sound, a division of Lucas Digital Ltd., Marin County, California
  • For StarToons Sound: William Hanna, Tom Ray, Maurice Noble, Gary Hartle, Lenord Robinson, Greg Reyna
  • Additional Digital Effects: Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucas Digital Ltd., Marin County, California
  • For Industrial Light & Magic: Peter Hastings, Sherri Stoner, Lenord Robinson, Bradford Keatts, Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Tom Ruegger
  • Licensing & Marketing: Dale McKennon
  • For Link Licensing: Tuck Tucker, Nelson Recinos
  • Special Thanks to: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Liz Holzman, Al Zegler, Bob Matz, and Earl Kress
  • Music by: Richard Stone
  • Film Editor: Mike Milo
  • Production Designer: Joseph Barbera
  • Director of Photography: William Hanna
  • Executive Producers: Jean MacCurdy, Steven Spielberg
  • Produced by: Liz Holzman
  • Written by: Sherri Stoner
  • Directed by: Earl Kress
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