Morph
(1977-Present, Safe For All Ages)
2/2/18
I know for a fact that I’m not alone in this, but one of my favorite cartoons growing up was Wallace and Gromit. At least a dozen times when I was a kid I’d ask my parents if we could go down the block to the video store to rent one (if not all) of the short films on VHS, my personal favorite being A Close Shave, the sheep, especially Shaun, being as funny as they are adorable. And I swear, to this day, my dad gets completely cracked up by the scene in A Grand Day Out when the title duo blast off in their homemade rocket from their basement and the crowd of mice whip out their sunglasses to wear as they watch. And as an added bonus, Dad still likes to poke just the tiniest of fun at me as Wallace and I are both, as the lovable protagonist himself would put it, “just crackers about cheese!” Seriously, though, I do love me a good slice of cheese :) But I digress. As Aardman Animation, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit, began putting out more top-quality Claymation works and even movies over the years, like Chicken Run, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and, of course, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, I decided I wanted to see what some of their older stuff was like. What I found didn’t disappoint. One of their first franchise characters is still alive and well after 40 years, and not just on the other side of the pond.
Residing within a large art studio in the heart of England, Morph is a living figure of tuscan red clay, who sleeps in a pencil box and, just as his name implies, is able to transform into various creatures and objects, often with quirky results. With a curiosity and mischievous streak belied by his four-inch stature, Morph is always on the hunt for fun, the more than occasional cake, and a good old-fashioned prank with—or on—his even more mischievous and more hungry white-colored partner in crime, Chas. Joined by his other friends, both the humans who stop in at the studio and the other hand-crafted residents who live underneath the table, every day means the start of a new adventure for the amazing Morph!
That Morph has been in so many British T.V. shows over the years is a testament to his popularity. He first appeared alongside BBC children’s T.V. host Tony Hart in his two art programs, Take Hart and Hartbeat, from the late 70’s to the early 90’s. From 1980-81, Morph starred in a spin-off show of his own, The Amazing Adventures of Morph, with Hart narrating and sometimes participating in the shenanigans of Morph and his friends. He got yet another spin-off in 1996, The Morph Files, narrated by English actor Neil Morrissey and featuring a mix of new animation and storylines with footage from Amazing Adventures in order to create new stories, which now center partly on Morph and Chas’s interactions and hijinks with their new (human-sized) computer. He even made a guest appearance (a rather creepy one) in the second third-season episode of the sci-fi police procedural drama series, Ashes to Ashes in 2009. And then, after a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in October 2013, Aardman co-founder Peter Lord has led production on brand new Morph shorts to be uploaded to Morph’s official Youtube channel. Since then, Morph’s earlier series and shorts have also been uploaded for audiences around the world to enjoy.
Since its founding in 1972, Aardman’s specialty has been the ability to create characters so expressive that no words are needed to understand them. Morph is the result of this talent turned into both a work of art and comedy gold. Morph and the other characters do speak, but in a sort of high-pitched gobbledygook. To achieve this, the animation is played at half speed while the voice actor records in his normal voice. Then both the video and the vocals are sped up to twice normal speed, achieving the characters’ signature chipmunk voices. Here, the “words” sound mostly like (ridiculously cute) baby talk, while the intentions are portrayed through tone, expressions, actions, and body language. But every so often, it is somewhat possible make out a semi-coherent sentence, such as when Morph, about to draw a picture of himself, proudly declares to the audience something very much like, “I’m gonna make a self-portrait, of me!” or when Chas, about to fix a washing machine for Morph, announces, “Never fear, Chas is here!”
Also noteworthy is the way each character’s voice is just different enough to reflect their distinct personality: Morph has a smoother voice, being the more sensible one (though I use that term fairly loosely), while Chas’s voice is rougher and more gravely, as befitting a natural-born delinquent.
Morph’s other friends are also instantly recognizable and funny in their own right:
- GrandMorph – Morph's bearded, googly-eyed grandfather, an inventor who likes to travel by skateboard
- Delilah – A bossy, easily annoyed female with large glasses and a yellow dress
- Folly – A bead-eyed tin-foil girl who is kind, if somewhat ditzy
- Gillespie – Large and slow-witted, but gentle and patient
- Nailbrush – Morph’s dog-like pet that also just so happens to be a literal nailbrush
- The Very Small Creatures – A collective group of small colored plasticine balls that always travels together, with Little Green, the smallest of all, often trying extra hard just to keep up (Poor thing!)
- Gobbledygook [Go figure!] – A little green alien child with bright red eyes, a large appetite, and a language even the others can’t understand—and believe me, that’s saying something!
From a storytelling perspective, while narration isn’t necessary in a typical Morph short, the choices made in The Amazing Adventures of Morph and The Morph Files regarding not only narration, but also context and editing, make such a striking difference in the viewing experience, even with the footage being exactly the same in each series. In Amazing Adventures, Tony Hart appears on screen in each 4-5 minute episode, reading aloud from the book that chronicles Morph’s exploits (hence the series’ name) and often translating into intelligible words what each character is saying. At the same time, Hart acts as a sort of parental figure to them, praising them, scolding them, and otherwise interacting with them directly. We never actually see him talking on-screen, but sometimes he (or at least his hands) and any of the Claymation characters will be in the same shot together. (Note the subtle change in frame rate of Hart’s movements in these shots, namely how it flows a lot less smoothly due to the stop motion.) In The Morph Files, Neil Morrissey is never on-screen and says just enough to keep the story going, often in the form of jokes or other humorous remarks. And scenes of Morph and Chas with their computer (the screen images being 2-D animated) are interspersed in between footage from Amazing Adventures and other shorts in a given 9-10 episode, tying them all together in a single narrative. Consider the episodes, “The Baby-sitters” and “Babysitting”, respectively, which both involve the gang trying to get a crying baby to sleep. In the former, Hart begins by stating that the problem arose when Folly failed to tell everyone that she was babysitting, and now they all have to band together in order to stop the noise. In the latter, Morrisey frames the episode as being about Morph trying to get peace and quiet so that he can relax, and the baby’s screaming is yet another hindrance he has to address in extravagant fashion.
I must say, though, that the combination of multiple shorts in The Morph Files can be a bit jarring. Because they were all made at separate stages and times, the differences in the age and quality of the animation is glaringly obvious. But this is a minor nitpick in my opinion. In fact, it is cool to see through each series how much Morph has evolved over time, much like the art of Claymation. What’s more, half the fun comes from watching all the humorous ways the various art supplies and knick-knacks in the studio are utilized, especially the ones that are small to humans but large to Morph. From disguising himself as a pencil among pencils during a game of hide-and-seek, to using an electric fan’s wind to fly a kite. As traditional as life-sized bananas in Morph’s garden, or as modern as he and Chas running and dancing to the rhythmic scratches of a turntable’s records. Because Morph’s designs, characters, and settings are so simple, nothing in a given plot ever feels dated or out of place, allowing for a boundless array of scenarios, limited only be one’s imagination.
Like many good shows aimed at children, Morph’s greatest strength lays in its approachability. Episodes are short and not complex, with amusing, creative little stories that provide a quick but genuine and satisfying laugh. Narrated or not, the actions of the characters are what tell the stories, with their “words” being a bonus to the charming aesthetic rather than a language barrier. And with non-English speaking audiences able to get in on the fun as well, here is a series that literally anybody in the world and their inner children can smile at.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
Residing within a large art studio in the heart of England, Morph is a living figure of tuscan red clay, who sleeps in a pencil box and, just as his name implies, is able to transform into various creatures and objects, often with quirky results. With a curiosity and mischievous streak belied by his four-inch stature, Morph is always on the hunt for fun, the more than occasional cake, and a good old-fashioned prank with—or on—his even more mischievous and more hungry white-colored partner in crime, Chas. Joined by his other friends, both the humans who stop in at the studio and the other hand-crafted residents who live underneath the table, every day means the start of a new adventure for the amazing Morph!
That Morph has been in so many British T.V. shows over the years is a testament to his popularity. He first appeared alongside BBC children’s T.V. host Tony Hart in his two art programs, Take Hart and Hartbeat, from the late 70’s to the early 90’s. From 1980-81, Morph starred in a spin-off show of his own, The Amazing Adventures of Morph, with Hart narrating and sometimes participating in the shenanigans of Morph and his friends. He got yet another spin-off in 1996, The Morph Files, narrated by English actor Neil Morrissey and featuring a mix of new animation and storylines with footage from Amazing Adventures in order to create new stories, which now center partly on Morph and Chas’s interactions and hijinks with their new (human-sized) computer. He even made a guest appearance (a rather creepy one) in the second third-season episode of the sci-fi police procedural drama series, Ashes to Ashes in 2009. And then, after a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in October 2013, Aardman co-founder Peter Lord has led production on brand new Morph shorts to be uploaded to Morph’s official Youtube channel. Since then, Morph’s earlier series and shorts have also been uploaded for audiences around the world to enjoy.
Since its founding in 1972, Aardman’s specialty has been the ability to create characters so expressive that no words are needed to understand them. Morph is the result of this talent turned into both a work of art and comedy gold. Morph and the other characters do speak, but in a sort of high-pitched gobbledygook. To achieve this, the animation is played at half speed while the voice actor records in his normal voice. Then both the video and the vocals are sped up to twice normal speed, achieving the characters’ signature chipmunk voices. Here, the “words” sound mostly like (ridiculously cute) baby talk, while the intentions are portrayed through tone, expressions, actions, and body language. But every so often, it is somewhat possible make out a semi-coherent sentence, such as when Morph, about to draw a picture of himself, proudly declares to the audience something very much like, “I’m gonna make a self-portrait, of me!” or when Chas, about to fix a washing machine for Morph, announces, “Never fear, Chas is here!”
Also noteworthy is the way each character’s voice is just different enough to reflect their distinct personality: Morph has a smoother voice, being the more sensible one (though I use that term fairly loosely), while Chas’s voice is rougher and more gravely, as befitting a natural-born delinquent.
Morph’s other friends are also instantly recognizable and funny in their own right:
- GrandMorph – Morph's bearded, googly-eyed grandfather, an inventor who likes to travel by skateboard
- Delilah – A bossy, easily annoyed female with large glasses and a yellow dress
- Folly – A bead-eyed tin-foil girl who is kind, if somewhat ditzy
- Gillespie – Large and slow-witted, but gentle and patient
- Nailbrush – Morph’s dog-like pet that also just so happens to be a literal nailbrush
- The Very Small Creatures – A collective group of small colored plasticine balls that always travels together, with Little Green, the smallest of all, often trying extra hard just to keep up (Poor thing!)
- Gobbledygook [Go figure!] – A little green alien child with bright red eyes, a large appetite, and a language even the others can’t understand—and believe me, that’s saying something!
From a storytelling perspective, while narration isn’t necessary in a typical Morph short, the choices made in The Amazing Adventures of Morph and The Morph Files regarding not only narration, but also context and editing, make such a striking difference in the viewing experience, even with the footage being exactly the same in each series. In Amazing Adventures, Tony Hart appears on screen in each 4-5 minute episode, reading aloud from the book that chronicles Morph’s exploits (hence the series’ name) and often translating into intelligible words what each character is saying. At the same time, Hart acts as a sort of parental figure to them, praising them, scolding them, and otherwise interacting with them directly. We never actually see him talking on-screen, but sometimes he (or at least his hands) and any of the Claymation characters will be in the same shot together. (Note the subtle change in frame rate of Hart’s movements in these shots, namely how it flows a lot less smoothly due to the stop motion.) In The Morph Files, Neil Morrissey is never on-screen and says just enough to keep the story going, often in the form of jokes or other humorous remarks. And scenes of Morph and Chas with their computer (the screen images being 2-D animated) are interspersed in between footage from Amazing Adventures and other shorts in a given 9-10 episode, tying them all together in a single narrative. Consider the episodes, “The Baby-sitters” and “Babysitting”, respectively, which both involve the gang trying to get a crying baby to sleep. In the former, Hart begins by stating that the problem arose when Folly failed to tell everyone that she was babysitting, and now they all have to band together in order to stop the noise. In the latter, Morrisey frames the episode as being about Morph trying to get peace and quiet so that he can relax, and the baby’s screaming is yet another hindrance he has to address in extravagant fashion.
I must say, though, that the combination of multiple shorts in The Morph Files can be a bit jarring. Because they were all made at separate stages and times, the differences in the age and quality of the animation is glaringly obvious. But this is a minor nitpick in my opinion. In fact, it is cool to see through each series how much Morph has evolved over time, much like the art of Claymation. What’s more, half the fun comes from watching all the humorous ways the various art supplies and knick-knacks in the studio are utilized, especially the ones that are small to humans but large to Morph. From disguising himself as a pencil among pencils during a game of hide-and-seek, to using an electric fan’s wind to fly a kite. As traditional as life-sized bananas in Morph’s garden, or as modern as he and Chas running and dancing to the rhythmic scratches of a turntable’s records. Because Morph’s designs, characters, and settings are so simple, nothing in a given plot ever feels dated or out of place, allowing for a boundless array of scenarios, limited only be one’s imagination.
Like many good shows aimed at children, Morph’s greatest strength lays in its approachability. Episodes are short and not complex, with amusing, creative little stories that provide a quick but genuine and satisfying laugh. Narrated or not, the actions of the characters are what tell the stories, with their “words” being a bonus to the charming aesthetic rather than a language barrier. And with non-English speaking audiences able to get in on the fun as well, here is a series that literally anybody in the world and their inner children can smile at.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
EPISODE SONGS:
”Play Time!” - Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
”Play Time!” - Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
“Wild Imagination” - Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
All other music and sound clips are from the following Morph series (created by Peter Lord and David Sproxton):
Short: “Self Portrait”
Short: “Washing Machine”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 1: “How it All Began”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 2: “The Day Nothing Happened”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 3: “Morph Plays Golf”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 4: “Morph’s Birthday Party”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 15: “Anyone For Cricket”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 17: “The Strange Visitor”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 19: “The Small Creature Green”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 20: “GrandMorph’s Beard”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 21: “The Baby-Sitters”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 23: “Gobbledegook the Burglar”
The Morph Files, Ep. 1: “Babysitting”
The Morph Files, Ep. 7: “Games”
Morph (2013), Season 1 Ep. 10: “Messy April Fools”
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Morph on Wikipedia
Aardman Animations on Wikipedia
Morph's Official Website
Morph on Aardman's Official Website
Morph's Official Facebook Page
Morph's Official Twitter Page
Morph's Official Youtube Channel
Aardman's Offical Youtube Channel
Morph on Tv Tropes
Buy Morph at the Aardstore
Buy The Morph Files on Amazon
Buy The Morph Files on Ebay
^^ Back to T.V. Shows, Web Series, and Other Narrative Programs
Short: “Self Portrait”
Short: “Washing Machine”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 1: “How it All Began”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 2: “The Day Nothing Happened”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 3: “Morph Plays Golf”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 4: “Morph’s Birthday Party”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 15: “Anyone For Cricket”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 17: “The Strange Visitor”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 19: “The Small Creature Green”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 20: “GrandMorph’s Beard”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 21: “The Baby-Sitters”
The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Ep. 23: “Gobbledegook the Burglar”
The Morph Files, Ep. 1: “Babysitting”
The Morph Files, Ep. 7: “Games”
Morph (2013), Season 1 Ep. 10: “Messy April Fools”
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Morph on Wikipedia
Aardman Animations on Wikipedia
Morph's Official Website
Morph on Aardman's Official Website
Morph's Official Facebook Page
Morph's Official Twitter Page
Morph's Official Youtube Channel
Aardman's Offical Youtube Channel
Morph on Tv Tropes
Buy Morph at the Aardstore
Buy The Morph Files on Amazon
Buy The Morph Files on Ebay
^^ Back to T.V. Shows, Web Series, and Other Narrative Programs