Creature Comforts - Vols. 1 And 2 (Box Set) (DVD)

...2 of the TV series Creature Comforts which was on TV last year. It is produced by Aardman, who also produced Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. The characters creature comforts were also in some PG Tips adverts at the same time as the show was on, and longer ago the first Creature Comforts were starring in Electricity adverts and they are included on the DVD too.

The show itself is filmed digitally and it takes four days to make ...
...don’t act out a particular creature but the creature is created from the voice after the people have been recorded speaking about a topic. The creatures take about three weeks to make from a wire frame and plasticine. The creatures don’t actually think they are animals or realise where they come from or what their limitations are and this makes them all the funnier, especially as the directors have worked very hard to humanise them as much as possible ... more

This DVD is of Series 1 Part 2 of the TV series Creature Comforts which was on TV last year. It is produced by Aardman, who also produced Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. The characters creature comforts were also in some PG Tips adverts at the same time as the show was on, and longer ago the first Creature Comforts were starring in Electricity adverts and they are included on the DVD too.

The show itself is filmed digitally and it takes four days to make 15 seconds of program. The programs were all about nine minutes long so it took ages to make. Chicken Run took a week to make four seconds of film though so they have speeded up a lot.

It also takes a lot of time to interview members of the public and about half of the recordings of voices end up in the show. They don’t act out a particular creature but the creature is created from the voice after the people have been recorded speaking about a topic. The creatures take about three weeks to make from a wire frame and plasticine. The creatures don’t actually think they are animals or realise where they come from or what their limitations are and this makes them all the funnier, especially as the directors have worked very hard to humanise them as much as possible with their facial expressions and by making the character fit what the humans said on a topic and not the other way about.

The DVD itself contains seven Episodes. These are
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“The Beach.” In this episode all the creatures are talking about what they like about the British weather and a summer holiday in Britain. The donkey and the octopus are on the beach pouring down with rain yet the donkey reckons she just does the rides for the kids. One of my favourite characters first appears here although she appears in other episodes and it is the star fish which is flat on her back sunbathing with all five legs sprayed out. The characters are also moaning about the pollution on the beaches and the dangers of sunstroke. In the extras part of the show, one scene from this episode is explained how it was made, and it was really clever and very effective. There are some really funny moments such as the irony they use in a pig which is eating pork scratchings and a beached whale that reckons the sea doesn’t come in often enough, and as a lot of accents are very Northern, this could be a beach like Southport. The accents are really funny because if you recognise them, then you can recognise someone who you know who might say some of the things the creatures say which makes it even funnier.

“The Pet Shop.” This episode is about animals which are all caged in a pet shop. One of the funniest parts is a female which is a chameleon, but the voice is of a female who is looking for a date and lots of the animals are talking about being left on the shelf. The Irish snake is feeling isolated and alone and he is very pessimistic about everything and there are some scenes between a dog and a couple of stick insects which are very funny too.

“What’s it all About.” This episode is all about evolution and it’s really funny to see creatures such as slugs, fleas and an amoeba discussing how far they have evolved from specks of dirt. The sea anemones that were in the beach episode are also used in a scene where they discuss that they think they didn’t really come from the sea and one of the best lines is from the Cat which is on the sofa in most episodes with a Dog who says out loud, “What sort of idiot wants to prove he came from a monkey?”

“Being a Bird.” The bird episode is really funny. I really liked the owl, which had the voice of a pilot discussing what he liked about flying, and also a couple of baby birds who have never flown the nest talking about how they have never flown only jumped. The swans talk about turbulence and how they didn’t really like flying and the crows reckon no one can be frightened of flying its just they are frightened of crashing and dying.

“Is anyone out there?” This is all about what people think of outer space, aliens and UFO’s and it uses some new accents like American accents and French accents. The French accent is an alien which only has one eye and is really hysterical and the American accent is an alien in London.

“Cats or Dogs.” The cats and dogs episode is all about humans who prefer one or the other kind of pet. The rodent appears again and he is really funny as he imitates cats which he hates. The fleas don’t mind because they appreciate either and the fat cat is relieved he has never had fleas only scabies. They also talk about pet shows with breeded dogs which are mutants.

“Merry Xmas”. This was shown on Xmas day and features the slugs again who are buried in snow and the fat rodent and the reindeer on what their work is all about. It also has a turkey who feels it is being pulled in pieces and why people send pets’ cards and how Santa does his delivery in four hours.

I really like this DVD because it is very well animated and the human characteristics that all the characters have are really funny. There is loads of background action in all the shots too and you can sometimes miss this the first time you watch it or miss the joke because of what is going on in the background. It is also impressive because it took so long to make it, and it represents a lot of hard work, and the DVD is bright and colourful and very musical and would probably be liked by all ages. I watched it last year when I remembered it was on, and I got this for a present recently and it was just as funny second time around, or even third time now :)

Extras on the DVD include the Directors best clips, all the old PG Tips and Heat Electric adverts and some other clips. There is also a quick “Who said That” game and wallpapers and quotes from the characters.

There are weblinks to www.creaturecomforts.tv where you can also get more information on how the program is made and freebies such as E Cards and ring tones and wallpapers for mobiles and computers. The runtime of the DVD is 63 minutes with an extra 18 minutes worth of extras and it costs around £13.99. It is rated as a PG.
 

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