The Great Episode Friday (TGEF)

This is the first post of The Great Episode Friday. Every week I will select one animated episode that  either sums up my week or just deserves special recognition.

This week's winner is...

Wallace and Gromit's A Grand Day Out!

Is there anything more British than Wallace and Gromit? Cheese, tea and knitting, it's got it all!

So why have I chosen this episode this week? Well this is a brand new blog and is the start of a new adventure into the unknown much like Wallace and Gromit's trip to the moon.

A Grand Day Out is where it all began for Wallace and Gromit. Created by Nick Park, who was still a student at the time, the animation took eight years to complete and introduced a number of concepts rarely seen before.

The short contains a small cast three characters with only one of them having the ability to speak. Nick Park heavily relies on his animation ability to tell the story from Gromit and the Cooker's point of view.

Gromit's eyebrows are key to the plot and are so expressive that he rarely requires any other body language to communicate his feelings. Gromit regularly breaks the fourth wall which allows the audience to fill in what they think he might be saying. The Cooker, however has no facial expressions and relies on his arms and antenna to show his emotions and an animated dream sequence being transmitted to highlight his skiing ambitions.

Wallace and Gromit research holiday destinations. Copyright Aardman Animations.

A Grand Day Out it follows the story of one man and his dog and their quest for something to do on the Bank Holiday...and cheese. As "everybody knows the moon's made of cheese" the pair decide to build a rocket (complete with wallpaper from your Gran's house, armchairs and of course a toaster) and fly to the moon.

Once they have reached their dream vacation destination they stumble upon a coin activated cooker (yes really) who is none too pleased with Wallace coming to his home and destroying the landscape to put on his crackers.

Cooker then attempts to seek his revenge on Wallace by walloping him on the head with a baseball bat, but just as he is about to strike, he runs out of pennies.

After being reactivated by Wallace the Cooker, who is now livid, begins to clear up Wallace's mess and finds a magazine that advertises skiing holidays.

Cooker has a change of heart and becomes desperate to join Wallace and Gromit on their rocket ship back to Earth.

Thinking Cooker is back to complete his attempted murder Wallace and Gromit fly off and leave without him. Cooker is devastated and fears he will never fulfil his skiing dreams.

But Cooker is in luck as by clinging desperately to the rocket he in fact managed to rip two strips of metal off, which he moulds into skis and joyfully heads off to scale the cheese mountains.

If this description of the slightly bonkers episode hasn't put you off, you will certainly enjoy it. Believe me, nothing else will make you cry for a cooker like this does.

You can watch the episode here on Youtube. I did not upload this but enjoy it while you can before it is inevitably removed. This is a classic piece of British film that is a monumental part of animated history.

Until the next time.