BRING BACK MORPH!…Okay, We Will!
Hold onto your paintbrushes, kids – he’s coming back and not before time. Morph, the beloved terracotta mini man from Aardman’s messy desk origins with Take Hart who later found a home on the CITV program SMart is set to return. Since then, apart from the occasional guest appearance, Morph has been hanging around the merchandise shelves resting on his laurels. But now he’s back and ready for more mischief, but he needs your help.
‘Chas will be up to his old tricks again’
Original co-creator Peter Lord will be spearheading the operation and is excited to be potentially bringing back his treasured friend to life. “We love Morph here at Aardman. He’s one of the first characters we created when we started out in the crazy world of animation”
With well other 80,000 followers on the character’s Facebook page it seems a natural fit to bring the production to the audience that misses him so greatly. “I’m amazed and humbled that even though it has been over 30 years since his birth, the little guy still has such a passionate following on Facebook and YouTube. We’ve had so many people asking for him to make a comeback that I thought it’s about time we start hatching a plan.”
Morph back to life at Aardman studios
The crew will stay true to the original production using the same clay and stop motion techniques as was used in the very first episode. The aim of the campaign is to bring morph back and into today’s modern world, with 12 all new one-minute episodes to be released online for the masses to enjoy. As well as offering a unique insight into the studio throughout production they will be taking votes, questions and ideas from fans in order to get the audience as involved as possible. This is an innovative way of satisfying the wants and need of viewers, so why not get involved at the start at the funding stage?
As with any Kickstarter campaign you may well be asking “What’s in it for me?” Well the fact that this particular campaign is headed up by one of the most famous stop-motion companies across the world would lead one to hope they have some good stuff up their sleeves, and they haven’t disappointed. As well as the usual credits and DVD rewards, unique incentives include the following: Pledges of £25 can get you some ‘pre-love Aardman clay’, (modelling clay used on the actual production), £150 will get you a signed, special edition print, £300 will get you a 2-person personal tour around the Bristol based studio and for pledges of £1500+ you can have yourself made into a morph character as well as receiving a multitude of production credits.
All of that said, it may be surprising to find Aardman using a crowd-funding site such as Kickstarter in the first place. With the company’s massive cult following and multiple awards, you may find yourself wondering just why they need the money anyway? The fact of the matter is that they have already raised half the funds for the production themselves. Despite being in partnership with big production companies such as the BBC and Sony, Aardman fundamentally remains an independent studio and they want to be able to achieve funding for the public online series independently aided by you, the public.
The hope is that the production of the new episodes will be underway come January if the campaign goal is met. So give the little guys, the big company and Peter Lord a helping hand and contribute to animation history by backing this massively adventurous campaign!