Aardman’s tragedy

We learned yesterday that our beloved Aardman Studios caught fire, losing their "whole history," as Nick Parks depressingly said. That means years of Wallace & Gromit, Creature Comforts, Chicken Run,
and other characters have melted into the plasticine from which they
were formed. And on the same weekend that the reports have come in
saying that The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the top movie in theaters this weekend.

We
had some guests over during the weekend who hadn’t seen any Wallace and
Gromit shorts. So I drug the old VHS tapes (remember those?) out of the
closet for back-to-back showings of The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave. 
It reminded me just how much I enjoyed these movies in college. I’ve
been looking forward to their first feature film ever since I heard
they had begun planning three years ago. Following on the heels of The Corpse Bride, this looks to be a terrific time for claymation. It’s nice to see a bit of the organic amidst the CGI nowadays.

But how depressing that so much has been lost. Still, even  Nick Parks put the loss into its proper 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.

Send an Aardcard
to the studio to console them on their loss, or just to a friend for
fun. Tonight, my wife and I are driving 30 miles to see Wallace and
Gromit on the big screen for the first time ever. We’ll let you know
how it is.