Aardman's Perfect Improv

On the magnetic draw of 'Creature Comforts.'

Creature Comforts (1989)

Happy Thursday! And welcome to the new members who’ve joined since Sunday. Our issue today is about the art of unscripted animation, as seen in Aardman’s Creature Comforts.

Aardman needs no introduction. Everybody knows Wallace & Gromit, and the studio’s film Chicken Run remains the biggest stop-motion feature in box-office history. There isn’t an animation team in Britain, or a stop-motion team anywhere, with the clout that Aardman enjoys now.

Creature Comforts is among the projects responsible for that clout. It’s not a film or a series — it’s more of a concept that crosses mediums. Creature Comforts began in 1989 as a short, which won Aardman its very first Oscar. That short led to a hit series of commercials, and then to a major TV show. Guiding them all was a core idea: that unscripted, everyday human speech can shine as dialogue for animation.

But how? And why? That’s what we’re discovering today. Here we go!