In Memoriam: Oliver Postgate

"Once upon a time, not so long ago, there were two overgrown boys called Oliver and Peter.
And Peter lived on a farm.
It was a rather unusual farm because it didn't grow any crops and there were no sheep or cows, but it was the home of Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, the Clangers and of course Bagpuss.
And there they made the most beautiful, the most brilliant, funny old Small Films in the whole wide world or so we like to think..."

(reproduced from the opening page of the Smallfilms official web site)

I was very sorry to hear that Oliver Postgate, co-creator of wonderful childrens animated shows such as The Clangers, Bagpuss and Pogle's Wood, died earlier this week aged 83.

Postgate's partner, Naomi Linnell, confirmed he died at a nursing home near his home in Broadstairs in Kent on Monday.

BBC News reports how Postgate created some of the best-loved children's TV, often in collaboration with the artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin. In a poll earlier this year, Bagpuss, a saggy pink cloth cat, was voted the best TV animal of all-time.

Ivor the Engine, about a little Welsh steam engine who wanted to sing in a choir, was Postgate and Firmin's first creation followed by Noggin the Nog, Pogle's Wood and many more. Bagpuss and The Clangers - rights to which were recently bought by media company Coolbai - remain popular to this day for many fans old and young.

"Oliver Postgate should be remembered as one of the great children's storytellers of the 20th century," commented Ben Davies on the New Statesman web site. Postgate wrote for the magazine's site between November 2006 and February 2008. "Generations were transported by his imagination - and thanks to creations like Bagpuss and Ivor the Engine - were inspired to use their own." (You can read all Oliver's contributions to newstatesman.com by clicking here)

For all his delight at creating many wonderful and characters for television and the young at heart, Postgate became increasingly disillusioned by modern times.

"We now live in a world which no longer needs people," he wrote in his autobiography, Seeing Things, published in 2001, "a world in which many people have no meaningful part to play in their own lives and have gradually become passengers, inert consumers, nurtured and given identity by supermarkets, spin-doctors, and the bright, brittle media."

He gave much of his money to charity and was a conscientious objector during World War 2, and was very concerned about the environment in later years.

Postgate himself was never one not to play a meaningful part, and brought much joy to many in all that he created.

More Tributes
• BBC Obituary: Oliver Postgate
• In pictures: Oliver Postgate's career
• The Daily Mail: From Bagpuss to the Clangers, he enchanted youngsters... So why did Oliver Postgate fall out of love with TV and his children?
The Daily Mail, 9th December 2008
• The Guardian: Oliver Postgate: a very traditional subversive
• The New Statesman: Thank You, Oliver Postgate
• Socialist Unity Tribute
"What he understood brilliantly is that children are self-aware of the transient nature of their own childhood..."
• The Stage: And when Oliver goes to sleep, children’s television goes to sleep…
• Telegraph Obituary
• The Times Obituary
• Oliver Postgate memorial on lastingtribute.co.uk
Pay tribute to Postgate yourselves

Oliver Himself...
• Oliver Postgate's official web site(?): www.oliverpostgate.co.uk
• Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate in his own words
The Guardian, 9 December 2008: Oliver Postgate talks about his creations, including how the voice of Bagpuss character Professor Yaffle was based on philosopher Bertrand Russell
• You can read all Oliver's contributions to newstatesman.com by clicking here

Related News Items and Web Sites
• Bagpuss poised to make comeback
(BBC News, 24 October 2008) The original Bagpuss is on display at the Canterbury Museum.
• The Dragon Friendly Society
This Society exclusively publishes books and videos of the children's television programmes made by Smallfilms.
• Official Small Films Web Site

New art team tackles villains for BVC's Shades

Briitsh onlince comics publisher Broken Voice Comics has just published Chapters 9 and 10 of its flagship title Shades on its website (www.brokenvoice.co.uk).

Written by David A J Berner, the new chapters of the comic continue BVC's timely examination of the characteristics and traits that have come to define the British national character and are the first to be illustrated by the new art team of E.C. Nickel and Muamal Khairi.

“The fact that its story is set in the UK means that Shades is able to re-examine the super hero genre in a way that US comics usually don't,” suggests Berner. “The conventions and norms of the genre are so well-established in the US mainstream that they often seem to be taken for granted or self-consciously spoofed.”

The first half of Shades (Chapters 1 - 8) was illustrated by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj and is available to read in its entirety online. It tells the story of retired tailor Stanley Miller as he attempts to reunite a group of faded British heroes - a group which includes a prehistoric shaman, a World War 2 fighter pilot and the First Century warrior queen Boudicca!

Covering some five centuries of British history, these opening chapters pitch this motley group against an evil mystic, a giant experimental super-bomber and a demonic serpent.

In the second half of the story (Chapters 9 - 16), the stakes are due to be raised even further, as our heroes are forced to confront a threefold threat to the nation.

The new art team for this part of the story comprises Brazilian artist E.C. Nickel (pencils and inks) and Indonesian colourist Muamal Khairi. The challenge for them was to retain something of the distinctive style set by Chattoraj while bringing something of their own to the title.

“Nickel and Qoiri are already doing a fantastic job,” says Berner. “Anyone familiar with their work will know they each have a distinctive style of their own but that they both share Harsho's love of detail and character.”

As for the future plot, Berner explains that readers can expect the action levels to increase significantly from here on in. “Shades was always designed to be a single-story graphic novel,” he says. “And so Chapters 9 - 16 will essentially be building towards the climax of that story.

“Without giving too much away, I can reveal that we'll be seeing a lot more of the bad guys in the new chapters. We'll be getting to understand just how they became the people they are and, as their evil plans unfold, you can be sure the action will start ratcheting up through the gears!”

Broken Voice Comics was founded in February 2006 by David Berner, formerly the Senior Editor of webcomic studio Midnite Comics which ceased operations at the end of 2005.

Since its official launch in March 2006, BVC has been the new home of Berner's own comic projects, notably his online graphic novel Shades and his two four-part fantasy mini-series, The Spires and Hunted. In addition, the site also hosts a small number of Guest Titles which initially comprised three titles previously featured at Midnite Comics (Rob Jones's Perfect Storm and two titles by E.C. Nickel, Immortality and The Long Vigil). More recently, the site has added Lee Munday's The Lumbering Dead to its line-up, as well as Thy Will Be Done, another title by E.C. Nickel, created in collaboration with Alexandre Lobao.

Established fan favourite G.A.A.K. by Darryl Hughes and Monique McNaughton is the most recent addition to the line-up.

• Shades is updated every Monday on the BVC web site. It is also serialised at the Graphic Smash (www.graphicsmash.com) and Drunk Duck (www.drunkduck.com) websites.

Stormtrooper on a Spacehopper

... probably one the dreaded Copyright Police will be jumping on, but what the heck: more madcap pop culture designs can be found on RedBubble. They include a Star Wars Eco-Saber and a Starbucks parody. These guys obviously like to live dangerously...

Planet of the Apes - Down the Tube!

Commuters on the London Underground were amazed last Tuesday when characters from the Planet of the Apes films joined them on the Tube!

The apes were in town to celebrate the re-release of the classic film, now 40 years old, on Blu-ray DVD.

We don't want to annoy the copyright holders of the photos so check them out on the Daily Mail or The Sun's own web sites.

• Buy Planet Of The Apes Blu-Ray Collection from amazon.co.uk

• There's a chance to win the Blu-Ray set on the i-Gizmo web site. Entries need to be in by 16 December 2008