Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions

Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions
Cover art for the Cracking Contraptions R2 DVD
Directed by	Loyd Price Christopher Sadler
Produced by	Harry Linden Peter Lord
Written by	Merlin Crossingham Seamus Malone, Nick Park Loyd Price, Christopher Sadler Mike Salter
Starring	Peter Sallis - Wallace
Music by	Julian Nott
Cinematography	Andy MacCormack
Distributed by	Atom Films, BBC
Release date(s)	15 October 2002(Atomfilms) 6 December 2002 (UK Broadcast) 31 January 2003 (USA)
Running time	Approx. 2 minutes x 10 episodes. Total Running Time: 23:47 minutes in all
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions are a series of ten Wallace and Gromit stop motion animations varying in length from 1 to 3 minutes. Each episode features one of Wallace's new inventions and Gromit's skeptical reaction to it. The series was produced and released in 2002 by Aardman Animations.

Releases

Episodes were broadcast individually on BBC One throughout the Christmas period in 2002. They were subsequently released on a limited-edition BBC VHS and Region 2 DVD. The series was also included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and can be found on the Wal-Mart exclusive DVD, "Gromit's Tail-Waggin' DVD", packaged with "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit". All ten episodes were later aired as a 25 minute compilation on BBC Three during Christmas 2008, shortly before The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit premiered on BBC One.

Episodes first appeared on the Internet at Atom Films: Soccamatic for free viewing 15 October 2002, and the entire series for paid subscribers 21 October 2002-July, 2003.^[1][2] Starting April 2003 Microsoft sponsored free viewing of individual episodes, one per week.^[3] Christmas Cardomatic was viewable free in December 2003.

The series is now available free online at the official Wallace and Gromit website,^[4] and the Aardman YouTube channel ("aardman").^[5]

Episode descriptions

The Soccamatic

Wallace and Gromit head to the local football field for a bit of practice, with Wallace kicking and Gromit playing goalie. Realizing how skillful Gromit is at blocking shots, Wallace activates his Soccamatic - a machine that repeatedly launches balls toward the goal, previously owned by a fictional soccer team in 1936 (The year the contraption was made was even on the machine.). Gromit ducks as the balls fly past. The machine runs out of balls, but Wallace re-loads it via an overhead mechanism that dumps the balls in. Meanwhile Gromit has pulled on gloves and pilot gear. Pulling a cord, he inflates his goalkeeper vest and gloves. This completely blocks the goal, enabling the balls to bounce off and prompting Wallace to suggest that they play tennis instead. Wallace in the end hit a ball into Gromit's inflated vest, attempting to burst it but it did nothing, bounced and Wallace yelled "Ha-ha, 15 love!".

The Tellyscope

To try activating his TV automatically without getting up and sharing with Gromit a new contraption he invented, Wallace activates his Tellyscope which shoots a tennis ball into the wall turning gears and cogs activating the TV. Wallace selects a channel and expects the channel on cheese ("The Cheese Files") to come on. Instead a different channel comes on relating to the penguin criminals ("When Penguins Turn"). Having run out of the tennis balls he tries using the TV remote which Gromit handed over to, but its size and shape destroys the system sending the TV to shoot across the room and into Wallace, pinning him to the wall.

A Christmas Cardomatic

It is almost Christmas and Wallace tries working on his Christmas Cardomatic by taking pictures of Gromit in a giant robin costume. His machine works but the fake scene painted on the curtains does not match as well to the real scene outside.

The Autochef

To speed up his cooking, Wallace activates the Auto Chef, a robot chef with a tea nozzle, a frying pan and a temperature gauge. Wallace tries serving scrambled eggs, but they end up landing on Gromit's head. Wallace tries serving fried eggs, but the eggs are shot at Wallace's face blinding him. The Auto Chef starts going out of control so Gromit blocks the tea nozzle tea is squirting from with his banana. The Auto Chef's head explodes off its body (after it comically says the word "knickers").

The Snowmanotron

To try and win the annual "Snowman Competition", Gromit builds a snow sculpture on "The Thinker". Wallace then pulls up in the Snowmanotron (a snowplow-like machine). The machine creates a snowman, but when the door of it opens it destroys Gromit's more artistic sculpture. Wallace's entry turns out to be rather crude and Gromit feeling flat heads back in. The door slam shakes some snow off the roof that lands on Wallace. Having heard the noise but not Wallace who is calling him for help inside the snowman, Gromit emerges from the house again. Discovering what he thinks is a better snowman, he adds the eyes and nose. Gromit wins the competition and was featured in the news while Wallace slowly defrosts from his frozen state.

Shopper 13

To speed up the task of bringing cheese home from the shop, Wallace deploys Shopper 13, a remote-controlled trolley equipped with a camera and accessories to retrieve/carry items. Though it successfully picks up the largest wheel of Edam in the shop Wallace frequently patronises, the weight causes one wheel to fall off. Gromit guides it to grab a loaf of French bread, which it uses as a cane to limp home. The other wheel comes off at the front walk, destroying the robot and in the process, dumps the Edam in the garden. Wallace sends out Shaun the Sheep to bring it in, but Shaun begins eating the cheese instead. Wallace keeps calling Gromit, who is still at the basement, to stop Shaun, but Gromit ignored him while Shaun happily munched away on the cheese.

The Snoozatron

Wallace is unable to sleep having eaten too much cheese, so he activates his Snoozatron to remedy the problem. Gromit puts on a sheep costume and heads downstairs as grabber arms place a teddy bear and water bottle on Wallace's bed. After Gromit reaches the dining room, a huge spring built into the floor repeatedly bounces him upward, through a trap door in the ceiling, and into Wallace's bedroom. Wallace literally counts sheep and soon falls asleep, but the mechanism continues to bounce Gromit up and down the whole night.

The Turbo Diner

While trying to repair the Auto Chef, Wallace tries a new replacement contraption. To help speed up Gromit's chores of preparing the table, Wallace activates the Turbo Diner, a machine that operates with coin usage. Various parts clean the table, clamp Wallace and Gromit's hands and legs onto the chair arms and legs and light the candles. But then the meter runs out of coins (as Wallace inserted a 10-pence inside, giving the machine 10 seconds to work only). The table and meter are too far away for either Wallace or Gromit to reach because of the wrist and thigh clamps. Eventually the candles go out, leaving them in darkness and stuck forever.

The Bully-Proof Vest

It is a dark and stormy night, so Wallace is nervous about the sounds outside. While bringing out his tea, he does not notice the strange figure (actually Gromit in a black fleece costume and beret) lurking in the shadows. When a cracker is taken from his hand, he discovers it in a dark corner and then discovers Gromit making ninja moves with a rolling pin. He then activates his Bully Proof Vest, a box on his chest with a boxing-glove on a spring that shoots Gromit across the room and through a door. After seeing his invention worked he starts to leave but trips on the rolling pin and falls. The button for the invention hits the floor, activating it again and shooting Wallace vertically into the ceiling, where he is pinned to and stuck.

The 525 Crackervac

To speed up Gromit's chores of sweeping up, Wallace activates the 525 Crackervac, a vacuum cleaner with sharp metal teeth and it sucks up things really fast. However it goes after his crackers, but Wallace pulls the box of it out of its mouth breaking it in two. Wallace tries to stop the 525 Crackervac from getting at another cracker. But Gromit lassos the machine, which flings him onto its back and sending it out of control. He ties its neck and then its bag bursts, causing Wallace (and the area where he is sitting) to get covered with dust.

References

1. ^ New Wallace & Gromit Series Hits AtomFilms Animation Magazine, 14 October 2002.
2. ^ 'Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions': Nick Park Talk Today: Online Chat with Nick Park. USA Today. 16 October 2002.
3. ^ "Wallace & Gromit". Atom Films. Archived from the original on 1 June 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20030601145415/atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/spotlights/wallacegromit/. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
4. ^ Wallace and Gromit. (Flash video). Official Aardman Animations website. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
5. ^ Wallace & Gromit: Cracking Contraptions - Playlist. Aardman Animation YouTube channel. Retrieved 12 August 2010.

External links

• Cracking Contraptions at the Internet Movie Database
• Cracking Contraptions on the official website
• Cracking Contraptions on the BBC website