Morph (animation)


Morph is a series of clay stop-motion comedy animations, named after the main character. This character was initially seen interacting with Tony Hart, beginning in 1977, on several of his UK TV programmes, notably Take Hart and Hartbeat.

History

Morph was produced for the BBC by Aardman Animations, later famous for the "Sledgehammer" music video, Wallace and Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep. Morph appeared mainly in one-minute "shorts" interspersed throughout the Take Hart show. These were connected to the main show by having Hart deliver a line or two to Morph who would reply in gobbledygook but with meaningful gestures. Later on, Morph was joined by cream-coloured Chas, who was much more badly behaved.
Morph can change shape, he would become spheres in order to move around, or extrude into cylinders to pass to different levels. He can also mimic other objects, or creatures. Morph lived in a wooden microscope box on an artists desk, and he and Chas both loved to eat cake, as seen in many of the shorts.
After Hart's shows ended, Morph and Chas appeared in shorts on the Children's BBC's successor programme SMart from 1994 onwards.
Some of the early plasticine models of Morph were destroyed in a fire at the warehouse where they were being stored, on 10 October 2005.
Morph's 30th birthday was celebrated in 2007 by creator Peter Lord and celebrity fan and comedian Phill Jupitus at events for the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol. In March 2009, shortly after Hart's death, a flashmob of Morph characters was organised in London outside the Tate Modern art gallery.
In 2009, the BBC drama Ashes to Ashes featured Morph in a guest appearance as a representation of a present-day medic.
On 29 October 2013, Peter Lord created a fund raising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The campaign set a target of £75,000 to be used to fund 12 new one minute episodes. The target was reached on 6 November 2013 after only 9 days, attracting contributions from over 1,700 backers who received a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding. In January 2014, Peter Lord and Aardman began production on 15 new episodes featuring Morph. The new series premiered on Morph's official YouTube channel with 15 episodes from 4 July 2014 to 30 January 2015.
In 2015, a Morph experience opened at Land's End. The Land's End signpost was rebranded 'Lamb's End' with original sets, models and characters from a range of Aardman productions. Visitors were also able to star in a real Shaun the Sheep scene, using green screen technology, and meet other characters from the Aardman family, including Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.
Released between 20 March and 2 October 2015, HD restored versions of The Amazing Adventures of Morph appeared on YouTube and in the summer of 2015, Morph returned to TV on CBBC with the 15 new episodes. From 6 November 2015 to 7 January 2016, The Lost Tapes from 2001 were revealed having been redubbed and remastered on YouTube. In March 2016, it was announced that Sky plc had made a deal with Aardman Animations to produce new Morph material to be directed at its child audience. From 6 May 2016 to 15 September 2017, all clips captured from Take Hart were revealed on the Morph YouTube channel. In August 2017, new Morph merchandise was shown at Wallace & Gromit's Charity Shop. Between 2 March and 14 September 2018, 15 more episodes of the new Morph series, that were previously shown on Sky Kids, were shown on YouTube. From 15 February to 17 May 2019, all 13 episodes of The Morph Files, that were remastered into HD, were released on YouTube.
In May 2019, Morph and Chas appeared in an advert for Tesco as part of the company's centenary celebrations, which also featured celebrities Anneka Rice and Derrick Evans.

Films, shorts, and TV series

Series overview

Season 1: 2013–14

The First Season of Morph was aired on 4 November 2013 and ended on 26 June 2014.
#EpisodeOriginal airdate
101 Hats4 November 2013
102 No Entry4 November 2013
103 Magic Boots4 November 2013
104 Invisimorph4 November 2013
105 Sweet Showdown4 November 2013
106 The Amazing Mimic6 November 2013
107 Get The Picture11 November 2013
108 Cake14 November 2013
109 Robomorph27 March 2014
110 Messy April Fools1 April 2014
111 Card Trick1 May 2014
112 Ice Cream8 May 2014
113 Row Your Boat15 May 2014
114 Sailors22 May 2014
115 Cleaning29 May 2014
116 Minimorph5 June 2014
117 Football12 June 2014
118 Sitting Comfortably?19 June 2014
119 Pudding Time26 June 2014

Season 2: 2014–15

Season 3: 2018

Characters

1980