Watch This [Outer] Space

Did you hear the announcement this week about The Clangers?

The Clangers were wonderful - a family of pink mouse-like creatures, who lived on a blue Moon-like planet. They lived in craters topped by dustbin lids which closed with a “clang” (hence their name).

They spoke in whistling voices (created by Swanee whistles), wore armour made from scrap metal. their diet was Blue String Pudding and Green Broth supplied by the friendly Soup Dragon, who lived in the depths of the planet.

From 1969 – 1972, a series of programmes about these creatures were broadcast, gained a cult following, and were endlessly repeated.

Oliver Postgate, one of the two original creators, has died – but his colleague Peter Firmin [now aged 84] has been collaborating with Oliver’s son Daniel to create a new series, for broadcast in 2015.

According to the CEO of the production company “It’s absolutely vital we retain the charm of the original series. You can’t do that with CGI animation so we are going to use the original stop-frame motion technique. Peter Firmin is the most energetic 80-something you will ever meet. He is working on the puppet models and with Daniel Postgate supervising the script, that’s a pretty good start. The Clangers will still whistle, they will communicate in much the same way as before. The Soup Dragon will be there. We’re going to be faithful to the original but we’ll have higher quality of stop-motion animation.”

Questions;

1. Should I start knitting a Soup Dragon now?
2. Does anyone have a recipe for Blue String Pudding?

A short clip for those who don’t know The Clangers–& those who do!