Creature Comforts-Episodes 7-13 (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Favourite Bits TV Spots-4 Featurette-Bringing Creature Comforts To Life Game-Who Said That? DVD-ROM Extras
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	62:52 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Goleszowski
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Rory McLeod

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.75:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Aardman Animations have been around for quite a while now, but really probably only entered most people's consciousness with the successes of Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run & the original Creature Comforts, an Oscar winner for Best Animated Short in 1991.This disc contains the second half of a TV series based on the original short, made in 2003. Although he is still with Aardman, the creator of the original short, Nick Park was not directly involved. His current project is a Wallace & Gromit feature film.

    As with most of Aardman's work, the animation used is based upon plasticine models, painstakingly moved for each and every frame. Each day's work can produce 3-4 seconds of screen time. That's right 3-4 SECONDS! The process involved here is that a number of interviewers were sent out to interview ordinary people by asking them a combination of straightforward questions like What do you think of going to the beach? mixed with some slightly more oddball ones. This resulted in a large collection of soundbites. The best of these were chosen and then people involved in the project, such as the animators, mimed to the voices in an exaggerated way in order for the animators to be able to work out how to move the models to correspond with the voices. Based upon the nature of each voice and the comments made, the team then decided which animal would best suit the voice, such as slugs, worms, seals, dogs, hamsters, monkeys and many more. Once the choice was made, the animators set about matching a plasticine model of the animal to the chosen voice. The result can be hilarious, as we enter the world of the family pet, or creatures in the garden and get an insight into their fears, desires and opinions.

    The disc includes 7 episodes of the series with different themes, each one focusing on animals in a different environment. Each episode runs for approximately 9 minutes. The episodes are:

• The Beach - Interviews with beach side creatures such as crabs, starfish and others about what they like and don't like about the beach and also their opinions on pollution.
• The Pet Shop - One of the best episodes in this set includes interviews with animals in pet shops about the waiting, difficulties dating and some funny dog vs stick insect stuff.
• What's it all About?- Questioning animals about the meaning of life, the universe and everything including their views on the creation vs evolution debate.
• Being a Bird - Investigates what it would be like to be a bird including the fear of flying and other funny discussions.
• Is Anyone Out There? - Discussion of extraterrestrial life and whether it exists or not, including interviews with the aliens themselves. A highlight.
• Cats or Dogs - Cats and dogs discuss the age old conundrum of whether cats or dogs are better.
• Merry Christmas - Various animals discuss the meaning of Christmas to them and what presents they would like to receive.

    There is some funny stuff here and if you were a fan of the original short you will certainly get a kick out of this. In my opinion, this series at 13 episodes has perhaps stretched the concept a little too far and it gets a little repetitive. Having said that, it is fun and if you enjoyed the first disc, there is more to enjoy here.

Video

    The video quality is very good, and of the quality you would expect from modern well-produced television.

    The feature is presented in a 1.75:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some very light grain throughout.

    The colour was excellent, well saturated with no colour artefacts.

    There were no noticeable artefacts of any kind.

    There are no subtitles.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good but considering that most of the sound is dialogue, your home theatre will not get much of a workout.

    This DVD contains one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problems with audio sync.

    The theme of this series by Rory McLeod is perfectly suitable, being fun and whimsical.

    The surround speakers added some mild atmosphere when there was music but this was pretty rare. The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu was cute, included some rude noises and was fun, although slightly fiddly.

Favourite Bits (9:55)

    A short featurette which involves the director discussing his favourite parts of the show but also of the process of creating the show. Not bad.

Bringing Creature Comforts to Life (2:56)

    This featurette is comparisons of storyboards to the crew acting out the voices to the final production.

TV Extras

    A variety of television advertisements and short promos done with characters from the new and old Creature Comforts. Included are

• ITV Channel Idents (1:04) Two short promos for ITV
• National TV Awards 2003 (1:04) Promo for TV Awards show
• PG Tips (1:08) Advertisements of tea bags
• Heat Electric Commercials (5:56) These are old ads made at a similar time to the original short. They are very funny but the video quality is awful.

Who Said That?

    A simple matching game for matching quotes from the show to the animal which said them. The best bit is if you get the answer wrong...

DVD-ROM extras

    This includes 3 amusing posters, 8 soundbites from the series and links to the Aardman and Creature Comforts websites.

    This DVD is available in the same format in Region 2 and does not seem to be available in Region 1, although the original short is. You may as well stick to the local product.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has a decent selection of extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall