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Wallace and Gromit Studio Loses History

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the violent-mood-changes dept.

TheFarmerInTheDell writes "CNN is reporting that the Aardman Animations building in Bristol, home of Wallace and Gromit, has been destroyed by fire From the article: 'Today was supposed to be a day of celebration, with the news that 'Wallace and Gromit' had gone in at No. 1 at the U.S. box office, but instead our whole history has been wiped out'"

11 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. APB by sielwolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Be on the lookout for a penguin with a rubber glove on its head.

    --
    What is music when you despise all sound?
  2. Backup by Stian+Engen · · Score: 5, Funny

    And that is why 11 out of 10 firemen recommend off-site backup! How do you backup clay btw?

    1. Re:Backup by CheeseTroll · · Score: 5, Funny

      Aren't clay sculptures preserved by firing them, as in a kiln? Sounds like some characters were making an attempt at self-preservation!

      --
      A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
  3. Not everything is lost, only a warehouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    An e-mail sent this morning to all the subscriptors of the Aarmand website:

    On the day that Aardman celebrate a chart-topping opening weekend in the US with
    Wallace & Gromit 'The Curse of the Were-rabbit', news of a fire at our storage
    unit in Bristol has been devastating.

    The facility used to store sets, awards, and historical artefacts, is not a part
    of the Aardman studio, and we are glad to report that no Aardman staff have been
    affected. However, we have lost a number of irreplaceable storyboards, awards,
    props and pieces of film memorabilia from our 30 year history.

    None of the material from the new Wallace & Gromit film 'The Curse of the
    Wererabbit' was in storage at the time, but we have lost many original sets from
    Chicken Run, Creature Comforts, and the three Wallace & Gromit short films, that
    were used for reference and toured around the world for exhibition.

    This will not in any way affect existing or future Aardman productions as 100%
    of sets and props are purpose built for each production.

    Wallace & Gromit 'The Curse of the Were-rabbit': http://www.wandg.com/

  4. Aardman Animations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe a pyromaniac is burning all the animation studios in alphabetical order?

  5. Re:News for Nerds! by rovingeyes · · Score: 5, Funny
    I read this 12 hours ago on the BBC

    Well their time zone is ahead of us, so they get the news early. Don't blame /. ;)

  6. From TFA by proverbialcow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, said the earthquake in South Asia helped put the loss into perspective.

    "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.

    Good to hear that Nick Park is so well-grounded.

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  7. Re:Why not to store everything in one location. by Propagandhi · · Score: 5, Funny

    If it was so important to them they should have spend the money to store it in multiple locations.

    You're totally right, this is what they get for being so lazy. Had I been in charge of storage I would have carefully hid each bit of priceless memorabelia in a scattering of booby-trapped tombs in the most remote sections of the world. Furthermore, carbon copies of each item would have been blasted into a complex orbit which passed through our solar system only once every 217,326 light years, thereby protecting each piece in the case of Earth's total destruction.

    Oh... wait... no, that wouldn't be practical... I'd just keep everything in a warehouse so that I'd know where the hell it was...

  8. Re:Please No!! by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny
    Not according to Nick Page, who made most of the stuff.
    Nick Park later added "getting called Nick Page on slashdot. That's pretty humiliating."
    --
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  9. After One Week's Delay... by OgGreeb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Halliburton will announce they have received a FEMA no-bid $10 billion dollar contract to rebuild a devastated chicken farm in England.

    --
    -- Gary Goldberg KA3ZYW 301/249-6501 AIM:OgGreeb Digital Marketing Inc., Bowie, MD //www.digimark.net/
  10. Firing clay figures by pbhj · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a bit of a beginner with this type of thing but ... the only general fire figures I could come up with put burn temperatures below 700C. Granted the commercial setting and open space of a warehouse probably promotes fast burning.

    Earthenware is fired to 1000C (roughly 1700F, I think). It seems that the temps reached may not be enough to properly fire the pieces. Also there's the quartz inversion point at about 570C - heating too quickly up to this point could be disastrous.

    I also doubt that the pieces are wedged properly to remove air (as they aren't intending to fire them) and so explosion with the air expansion is likely.

    Finally ... I thought they used plasticine!

    Plasticine (aka "modelling clay") melts when heated, FWIW.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasticine
    http://www.vanaken.com/howclay.htm (note "melting them in a large vat")