Archived Pages from 20th Century!!
Seeking out little-known animation is much like surfing the web. You see one compilation, one or two directors really interest you, you look for more of their work, this usually leads to more compilations with yet more interesting directors, etc. The most technically intriguing animation is done with 3-D puppets. These strange toons aren't simply drawn; they're built! You can actually TOUCH the sets, actors, etc., if you only knew where in the world they were. On film, we actually see "living" dolls, toys, etc., which, when well done, seem like they could easily be living among us, which may cause minor paranoia about small movements in the corners of our vision... Welcome to one of my obessions! On this, my most ambitious web page: I offer you a look at animation that deserves to be better known. Come with me to worlds both beautiful and terrible, naive and intri cate. Curl up with the heavenly goodness and naivete of Art Clokey's Davey & Goliath or George Pal's Puppetoons, or be disturbed by the hellish visions of Jan Svankmejer and his "sons" The Brothers Quay. Better still, come back to the very beginning, with the amazing inventor of "puppet films", Ladislas Starevich! Surprisingly, I have found no other mention of any of these animators on the web. Most of this infor mation is based on my admittedly limited knowledge, since the work being discussed is not well-known enough for me to be able to find much research material. Clips and pictures are from my own collec tion. Public video availability, if known, is mentioned. Check 'em out... and keep checking back for new quicktimes, artists, etc. Ladislas Starevich: The Father of 3-D Animation Revised 6/30/96 Jan Svankmejer: Alchemist of the Surreal Revised 7/15/96 The Brothers Quay: Twisted Americans in Europe Art Clokey: The Davey & Goliath Revised 7/14/96 George Pal: The Puppetoon Home Page
The world of stop-motion animation is huge; although I'll always be adding more coverage, I'm never going to cover it all. These excellent sites cover stop-motion animators whose work I haven't covered. If you want your site added, e-mail me and I'll check it out.
They aren't really brothers, but they DO know how to handle a Bolex. Their first feature is The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb, and here's a great site about it from the video distributor. Think David Lynch meets Art Clokey. The bolexbrothers site is maintained by Manga Entertainment.
Everyone was asking about those TOOL videos that they thought the Quays did... well, it was this guy! Don't think of him as a Quay rip-off, though... he's quite original. Think of it like this: The Quays are to Jan Svankmajer as Fred Stuhr is to the Quays. He's taking his influences in his own direction, in other words. The Stuhr pages are on the Animation Nerd's Paradise site. The Fred Stuhr Art Gallery The Fred Stuhr Interview The Animation Nerd's Paradise site is maintained by Michelle Klein-Hass.
What can I say? He's the biggest, best mainstream stop-motion animator ever. He started with Willis O'Brien on the original King Kong, then went on to do the Sinbad movies and just about anything else with big-profile stop-motion for years. This site is HUGE, with lots of behind-the-scenes stuff. The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen site is maintained by J. Rodkey. Wait, There's More! Reckoning Where I credit Contributors to this site... meet tradin' pals here! The Whole Toon Catalog A good source for these videos. I am not affiliated. And of course, my hand-picked Statistics, and What is to Come...
(Note: This does not mention additions to my Hot Links)
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This web site is maintained/edited entirely by Tim Fitzpatrick E-mail me if you want to be notified of any updates to this site. Also, feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments, job offers, advertising or sponsorship offers, gift offers, cash offers, etc. I will design YOUR web page for a reasonable price. This page originally created October 24, 1995. Last revised July 16, 1996. I will always be interested in: Netscape is too expensive, unstable and RAM-hungry? Try: Microsoft Internet Explorer
