Morph (animation)

Morph
A model of the main character, Morph on display at the National Media Museum, Bradford
First appearance	Take Hart, 15 February 1977
Created by	Peter Lord David Sproxton
Information
Nationality	British

Morph is a series of clay stop-motion comedy animations, named after the main character. This character was initially seen interacting with Tony Hart, beginning in 1977, on several of his UK TV programmes, notably Take Hart and Hartbeat.

History

Morph was produced for the BBC by Aardman Animations, later famous for the "Sledgehammer" music video and Wallace and Gromit. Morph appeared mainly in one-minute "shorts" interspersed throughout the show. These were connected to the main show by having Hart deliver a line or two to Morph who would reply in gobbledygook but with meaningful gestures. Later on, Morph was joined by cream-coloured Chas, who was much more badly behaved.

Morph can change shape, he would become spheres in order to move around, or extrude into cylinders to pass to different levels. He can also mimic other objects, or creatures. Morph lived in a wooden microscope box on an artists desk, and he and Chas both loved to eat cake, as seen in many of the shorts.

Some of the early plasticine models of Morph were destroyed in a fire at the warehouse where they were being stored, on 10 October 2005.^[1]

Morph and Chas appeared in shorts on the British children's TV programme SMart from 1994 onwards.

Morph's 30th birthday was celebrated in 2007 by creator Peter Lord and celebrity fan and comedian Phill Jupitus at events for the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol.

In March 2009, shortly after Hart's death, a flashmob of Morph characters was organised in London outside the Tate Modern art gallery.^[2]

In 2009, the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes featured Morph in a guest appearance as a representation of a present-day medic.^[3]

On 29 October 2013, Peter Lord (co-founder of Aardman Animations) created a fund raising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The campaign set a target of £75,000 to be used to fund 12 new one minute episodes. The target was reached on 6 November 2013 after only 9 days, attracting contributions from over 1,700 backers who will receive a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding.^[4][5]

In January 2014, Peter Lord and Aardman started production on 15 brand new episodes of Morph, with the help of donations from fans. The new series premiered on Morph's official YouTube channel from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015.

In 2015, a Morph experience will open at Land's End. The Land’s End signpost will be rebranded 'Lamb’s End' with original sets, models and characters from a range of Aardman productions. Visitors can also star in a real Shaun the Sheep scene, using green screen technology, and meet other characters from the Aardman family, including Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.^[6]

From 20 March to 2 October 2015 The Amazing Adventures of Morph have been restored in HD on YouTube.

In the summer of 2015, Morph returned to TV on CBBC with the new episodes.^[7]

From 6 November 2015 to 7 January 2016, The Lost Tapes from 2001 are revealed and they have been redubbed and remastered on YouTube.

In March 2016, it was announced that Sky plc had made a deal with Aardman Animations to produce new Morph material to be directed at its child audience.^[8]

From 6 May 2016 to 15 September 2017, all clips captured from Take Hart are revealed on the Morph YouTube channel.

In August 2017, new Morph merchandise was shown at Wallace & Gromit's Charity Shop.^[9]

Films, shorts, and TV series

• (*) means that it's been restored on YouTube.
• (#) means that it's made for YouTube.

Characters

• Morph – The curious and creative main character with tuscan red skin. He is a clay figure who can transform into many things.
• Chas – Morph's mischievous white-skinned best friend. Morph created him as a self-portrait, but he came to life.
• Nailbrush – Morph's 'canine' companion, a barking nailbrush.
• GrandMorph – Morph's elderly, bearded grandfather, who travels by skateboard and frequently invents things.
• Delilah – A bossy, bespectacled female character in a yellow dress with dark brownish-purple skin who is rather sexist.
• Folly – A scatter-brained girl made of tin-foil.
• Gillespie – A large, purple, dimwitted but peaceable friend of Morph's.
• The Very Small Creatures – An array of small plasticine balls with eyes who travel in a swarm; the smallest of the group, Little Green, features prominently on his own in a number of episodes.
• Gobbledygook – A green, omnivorous alien child (who arrived on the table by sleeping near Morph's box in The Amazing Adventures of Morph, but in The Morph Files, he arrived by mistakenly being printed from a 'Space Invaders' style game).
• The Paint Pots - A group of sentient paint pots who can morph their paint into facsimilles of people; unlike Morph and Chas, they are able to speak coherently (one of them even points out Morph's inability to speak English); they only appear in Take Hart
• Talking Lamp - A Luxo lamp who warns the others when Tony is entering the room; like the Paint Pots, he only appears in Take Hart, but later reappeared in a 2018 short in a silent role more akin to Luxo Jr.

Credits

See also

• Gumby
• Pingu
• Wallace and Gromit
• Shaun the Sheep
• Creature Comforts
• Cartoon Network (Japan)
• Pogo (TV channel)

References

External links

• Official Morph website
• Official Morph YouTube channel
• Information about Morph, with photograph
• B3ta interview with Tony Hart which discusses Morph
• A fond farewell to Morph: Tony Hart article about Morph
• Animation archive up in smoke: BBC News article about Aardman's warehouse fire
• Morph's page on Tony Hart's official site
• Limited edition Morph prints created for Morph's 30th anniversary
• Guardian article about Aardman's warehouse fire
• Kickstarter project to fund new production