Aardman Animation is hoping to bring back its early character Morph through a crowd-funding drive on Kickstarter. Aardman co-founder Peter Lord looks to raise £75,000 to film the plasticine-animated character in 12 new one-minute episodes. Lord says on his Kickstarter page that he is “very keen on keeping the humor, slapstick and surrealism of the originals, whilst at the same time bringing Morph slightly more in line with the modern world.”
The team has already raised over £22,000 to bring Morph back and has until Nov. 28 to hit the goal. The wordless character began life on designer Tony Hart’s desk in the British children’s art series Take Hart, continues to enjoy a loyal fan-base in the U.K.
“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,” wrote Lord. “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.”
Lord hopes that when the budget is reached, the stop-motion production can begin in January, with the aim of releasing the new episodes by July. The campaign’s backers will have access to a private production blog offering details of scripts, storyboards, animatics, animation and release, plus the opportunity to submit and vote on ideas for the episodes.
So Aardman Animations are now handing round the begging bowl. I suggest the fact that David Sproxton and Pete Lord (both multi miliionaires) are using Kickstarter to raise money for Morph is pretty disgusting, when either of them could dip a hand into their own bottomless pockets and pull out some spare change.
Why is corporate begging of any kind acceptable? Why are millionaires using Kickstarter to save them money better spent on their luxury lifestyles? Why are they using a crowd funding website to resuscitate a clapped out old brand and fill the shops with more plastic merchandise? Isn’t Kickstarter for people who actually NEED money for their projects, not bloated corporations whose coffers are already brimming? Don’t they feel ashamed?
THESE are the questions that should be asked. Corporate begging. THAT is the real story here.
Aardman are hardly a bloated corporation and I think it’s a great idea to make it a community interactive project
Oh yeah, let’s all donate our hard earned dosh to a bunch of millionaires so they don’t have to dip a hand into their own pockets. Breathtaking the way intelligent people can have their critical faculties turned to goo by the sight of a walking lump of Plasticine.
As the wise man said on the hoarding outside Wapping Wharf: “Give us £10,000 and we’ll dig up Tony Hart”. That just about sums it up