Creature Comforts-Series 2-Part 1 (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Making Of-Eyeballs And Fishlips-The Making Of Creature Comforts 2 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The People Behind The Puppets Featurette-Creating Creature Comforts 2: Rehearsals
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	120:33 (Case: 70)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	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	No

    The First Series of Creature Comforts has already been reviewed by this site. Now, the Second Series comes to DVD beginning with Part 1 which includes the first six episodes of series 2 from this award winning animated series.

    Firstly, a gripe. Each DVD of Creature Comforts is separately sold on a single disc which carries 50 to 60 minutes of content excluding extras. The actual episodes are approximately 9 minutes each. There is no reason why the whole of each series could not have been put onto one disc together with the extra features. In fact, the First Series has been released in the US in just this format.

    The second part of this series has now been released in the UK and contains the final 7 episodes including the 30 minute Christmas Episode.

    Gripes aside, there is no criticizing the show. Creature Comforts captures the best of both worlds. It is an entertaining diversion containing funny plasticine animals. At the same time it is a clever observation on modern life divided, as before, into central themes.

    For those who came in late, Creature Comforts is a series of short animated interviews conducted with “The Great British Public”. The animation is stop-motion featuring detailed plasticine animal puppets. One of the interviewers, Derek Sinclair, is responsible for the documentaries which form the Special Features on this disc.

    The skill of Director Richard Gloeszowski is to edit those interviews into witty and interesting observations. Part of that skill is the choice of the animals to represent each interviewee. In one of the best parts of the Making of feature included on the DVD the interviewees consider what animals they would like to be. The elderly Muriel is adamant that she doesn’t want to be a cow. One wonders at her reaction when she found out that she was turned into a bat!

    It is all about the characters. Series 2 features Trixie and the droll Captain Cuddlepuss, Derek and Keith the pitbulls, and the aforementioned bats Muriel and Catherine. The constant humour comes from the quirky responses to the questions and the precise marrying of the voices with the animals.

    There are no plans to do a third series of Creature Comforts although it was announced in February that Aardman Animation Studios had been commissioned to make a version of the programme for the American market.

Video

     Like its predecessors, Series 2 Part 1 of Creature Comforts comes to DVD with a clear bright transfer.

     It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced, no doubt consistent with its original aspect ratio.

    The picture is suitably sharp and detailed.

    The colours are clear and bright.

     There are no blemishes or artefacts on the DVD.

    There are no subtitles.

    The Extra Features are shot using what appears to be a variety of equipment and the quality of the image is just as varied. In particular the Rehearsals footage is rough and ready.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Creature Comforts is presented with a 2.0 Stereo mix (192 kbps) which is appropriate for this kind of programme especially given that the sound was originally recorded in interviews and not in a studio using sophisticated techniques.

    Lip sync is definitely not a problem. The Making of Documentary shows us that Creature Comforts has one person who phoneticises the script and another to create the 13 different mouth shapes to render each of those sounds.

    At times the dialogue can be a little bit hard to hear and there are occasions where the accents are difficult to understand, such as with the Geordie mouse, but these are intentional.

    As mentioned previously, the recording location for each of the interviews varied so the quality is not consistent. Having said that, part of the joy of the show is adapting to the quirky characters.

    The only minor complaint is that the sound level for the credits is recorded quite high which may cause you to jump to the remote only to have to turn the level up again for the content.

    The jaunty theme from composer Rory McLeod is again used providing a neat bookend to the episodes.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    As with the previous DVDs, Creature Comforts comes with an interesting series of extras

Menu Animation & Audio

Featurette-Making Of

    Eyeballs and Fishlips: The Making of Creature Comforts 2 gives an interesting insight into the creative process involved in bringing the show to the small screen. As with other forms of animation stop motion is a constant stream of blood, sweat and tears creating each episode. It is lengthy at almost 38 minutes.

    The Making of primarily focuses on the transformation of two wrestling buddies into a short segment. To watch the final short scene is to really appreciate the skill of the filmmakers in bringing out the nuances of the characters.

Featurettes-Behind The Scenes

    Creating Creature Comforts 2 The Rehearsals is a series of live rehearsals of the scenes with the production team acting out movements to the voices of the characters to try to flesh out tiny movements which will give the characters their depth. Whilst interesting to watch at just over 20 minutes it is just a little long.

    The People Behind the Puppets includes detailed footage of some of the interviewees and their animal counterparts. We are introduced to Muriel and Catherine (who are octogenarians in a home), the Sharpei and the slugs. Some of this footage is in the Making of feature. It was fascinating to see the original voices and how they matched to the puppets.

    Finally, there is a function which allows the viewer to select all of the segments featuring their favourite character.

    This DVD is not yet available in Region 1.

    Another joyful addition to the Creature Comforts family, Series 2 Part 1 is a funny and wry observation on modern life. Some of the new characters for this Series are particularly memorable and the Extras are very interesting and show clearly the level of patience and artistry required to be a stop-motion animator. Despite the short content time on this DVD it still comes highly recommended.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall