Rex the Runt
is a British live action stop motion animated claymation pixilation comedy franchise, primarily consisting of a television show and two short films produced by Aardman Animations for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment and Egmont Imagination. Its main characters are four plasticine dogs: Rex, Wendy, Bad Bob and Vince.
Rex was first introduced as a minor character in Ident, a short film directed by Richard Goleszowski for the Lip Synch series. During the seven years of development of the characters, Goleszowski produced three pilots, subtitled How Dinosaurs Became Extinct, Dreams and North by North Pole.
Thirteen ten-minute episodes of the series aired over two weeks on BBC2 from December 1998. A second thirteen episode series aired from September 2001 on the same channel. As well as the core cast guest voices included Paul Merton, Morwenna Banks, Judith Chalmers, Antoine de Caunes, Bob Holness, Simon Day, Bob Monkhouse, Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Arthur Smith, June Whitfield, Kathy Burke, Pam Ayres and Eddie Izzard.
The animation is unusual in that the models are almost two-dimensional and are animated to exaggerate this - they are flattened in appearance and animated on a sheet of glass with the backgrounds behind the sheet.
Characters
Main
- Rex, the protagonist — a timid, irritable runt. He is quick-witted and usually comes up with plans to get out of the scrapes the gang finds themselves in. However, he can also annoy the others by being a smart aleck. His favourite superhero is Rocket Raymond.
- Bad Bob is a "big, fat slob", interested in food and TV. His friends, and occasionally even he himself, describe him as a "Big, fat, jelly-wobbly, fat bast-", usually getting cut off towards the end. He is distinguishable by his eye patch, which changes from eye to eye, and often carries around a revolver almost the size of himself. However grumpy he might be, he is intelligent and loyal.
- Wendy is the only female housemate, distinguishable by her eyelashes, pink colour, noticeably hemispheric breasts, and wears a pink bow on her head. She is cynical, sarcastic, and fiercely independent. Wendy provides solutions to problems albeit in a distant or non-caring way. She speaks in a Mancunian accent.
- Vince is the pet of the household, although all four are dogs. He is distinguished by his prominent buckteeth and mismatched eyes. He speaks in single words or short disjointed phrases, his favourites being "Spaghetti", "Tuesday", "Jam", and "Trousers". Vince suffers from "Random Pavarotti Disease", causing him to randomly blurt out snatches of opera. While he appears to be unintelligent, he occasionally shows great ingenuity, for example by building an elaborate Heath Robinson machine designed to kill a mouse. The other members of the gang often respond to Vince's random outbursts by irritably telling him to "shut it". Vince often has a habit of copying what others have said, sometimes even if they have just said it in their minds, which Bad Bob finds really annoying.
Others
- Doctor Dogg is a medical doctor. Moustachioed, complacent and greedy, he's an opportunistic money-grabber, whose habitual charge for any treatment is "ten quid" - regardless of whether the cure works or does more harm than good. He isn't above using the main characters in medical research. Voiced by Paul Merton.
- Arthur Dustcart, another semi-regular character, who first makes an appearance in the last episode of the first series, but appears quite frequently in the second. He is an ugly but experienced dustman, sporting sleepy mismatched eyes, a neckerchief, a pair of dirty underpants and a large nose with prominent nasal hair. Despite his grotesque appearance and smell, he and Wendy get on rather well, much to the annoyance of Rex. He becomes a friend of the household when he helps find Rex after he was turned into spaghetti.
- Mrs. Bloomers, head of Kumfy Kennels. Treats dogs with care, until she put Vince in the kennel and he ate a chihuahua.
- Judith Poodle, hostess of a holiday program. Usually ends her sentences with "Ruff!"
- Mr. Formal, the Runts' bank manager, until Bad Bob brought his gun and made him think they were bank robbers.
- Melting Blob Slime, a three-year-old, but very smart slime creature who warned the Runts about the black hole.
- Kylie Mandlebrotska, Rex's old math teacher, until she fell into the black hole.
- Easter Island Aliens, three space aliens from the planet Thribb, where the people look like the Moai statues from Easter Island.
- Mr Chittock, angry neighbour to Rex, after the gang went into his house and drank his beer. Voiced by veteran alternative comedian Stephen Frost.
- Johnny Saveloy, a teenage sausage who was really very old but was kept in a state of artificial youth due to the Church of Chemicology. Voiced by Bob Monkhouse.
- Stinky Basil, a smarmy French talent-spotter. Voiced by Antoine De Caunes, known best in the UK for presenting the Channel 4 late-night adult entertainment show Eurotrash.
- The Happy Rabbits, a band who may sing beautifully but are really cranky and will not let anybody stand in their way.
Episode list
Series 1 (1998 – 1999)
Series 2 (2001)
Cast
Main cast
- Andrew Franks as Rex
- Colin Rote as Rex
- Kevin Wrench as Bad Bob
- Andy Jeffers as Bad Bob
- Elisabeth Hadley as Wendy
- Steve Box as Vince
- Paul Merton as Doctor Dogg
- Arthur Smith as Arthur Dustcart
Guest stars
- Morwenna Banks as Mrs Bloomers
- Judith Chalmers as Judith Poodle
- Bob Holness as Mr Formal
- Eddie Izzard as Melting Blob Man, and Easter Island Head Aliens
- Kathy Burke as Kylie Mandelbrotska
- Antoine de Caunes as Stinky Basil, and French Delegate
- June Whitfield as Judge Pikelet
- Simon Day as Constable Funnyname
- Pam Ayres as Aunty Brenda
- Stanley Unwin as Mr Wangle, Accountant to the Stars
- Bob Monkhouse as Johnny Saveloy
- Tommy Cannon as Tiddles the Destroyer
- Graham Norton as Osvaldo Halitosis and the Plants
- Bobby Ball as Wayne
- Phill Jupitus as Morris the One-Gloved Mouse, The Ants and Sergeant Major
- Jonathan Ross as Handsome Rex and Awards Announcer
- Loyd Grossman as himself
Credits
Series 1
- Writers: Richard Goleszowski, David Max Freedman, Alan Gilbey, Kevin Wrench & Andrew Franks
- Music & Theme Tune: Stuart Gordon
- Songs Composed by: Kevin Wrench & Andrew Franks
- Executive Producers: Mikael Shields, Steve Walsh, Ulla Brockenhuus-Schack, Poul Kofod
- Series Producer: Michael Rose
- Producer: Jacqueline White
- Devised & Directed by: Richard Goleszowski
- Executive Producers for Aardman: Peter Lord, David Sproxton
- Executive Producer for BBC Bristol: Colin Rose
- An Aardman Animations Production for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment & Egmont Imagination
Series 2
- Written by: Ben Caudell, Peter Holmes, Andrew Viner
- Original Music: Stuart Gordon, Ben Jones
- Executive Producer for BBC: Colin Rose
- Executive Producers for Egmont Imagination: Paul Kofod & Tom Van Waveren
- Executive Producers for Aardman: Peter Lord & David Sproxton, Michael Rose
- Producer: Jacqueline White
- Directed by: Richard Goleszowski, Dan Capozzi, Chris Sadler, Sam Fell, Peter Peake
- An Aardman Animations Production for BBC Bristol in association with Egmont Imagination
Merchandise
- Rex The Runt: The Complete First Season
- Rex The Runt: The Complete Collection
- Rex The Runt: Rainy Day Companion
- Aardman's Darkside
- Rex The Runt plush toys of the four main characters were available via Aardman at one point, as well as a handbag of Vince's head, though this is particularly rare.
- Sweets shaped like the main characters were available in the early 2000s
Underdog