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The sight gags in Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit films are all part of their charm, from Gromit’s vinyl collection (mostly Bach) to his highbrow reading matter (Crime and Punishment by Fido Dogstoyevsky, The Republic by Pluto…) to his alma mater (where else would a clever canine graduate from but Dogwarts University?).
The background details invite multiple rewatches as well as giving Aardman Animations a chance to nod towards their wider world and company history. Shaun the Sheep fans will have enjoyed spotting a cameo from the farmer of Mossy Bottom Farm in recent outing Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, a film that also included an even briefer cameo from a version of Gromit that’s older than most of the audience would have been.
In the early 1980s, young animator Nick Park was studying at the National Film and Television School and working on an early iteration of his new man-and-his-dog characters. As seen in the very first screen test for these characters (watch it here), the original design for dog Gromit was quite different from the final version. With brown fur and a large grinning mouth, this Gromit was goofy and toothy – nothing like the furrowed-brow, world-weary dog he turned out to be.
In the back of one Vengeance Most Fowl shot, Aardman’s art team pay tribute to the OG Gromit by including what looks very much like a sketch of him on the pinboard at the police station. Attached to the bottom of the famous “Have You Seen this Chicken?” poster from The Wrong Trousers is a “Found Dog” notice featuring 1980s Gromit, complete with mouth.
That’s just one of the Easter Eggs hiding in plain sight in Vengeance Most Fowl. Fans can also spot references to early Aardman film (and later British Gas ad campaign) Creature Comforts, and a nod to the very first Wallace and Gromit Film A Grand Day Out in the moment we see Feathers McGraw hesitating over whether to click on the picture of the moon when asked to select “all squares containing cheese” on an online CAPTCHA test.
There’s a more poignant nod hanging by Wallace’s front door in Vengeance Most Fowl. A tweed flat cap on a hook next to the raincoats is a tribute paid to actor Peter Sallis, who provided the voice of Wallace in each of the films until he passed away in 2017 aged 97. The hat was closely associated with Sallis’ character of Norman “Cleggy” Clegg in popular UK sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
Wallace is now voiced by frequent Aardman contributor, actor and voice artist Ben Whitehead.
And that’s just a handful of intricately crafted references in the new Aardman film. Let us know what else you spotted below.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer and Netflix.
The post Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Easter Egg Sneaks in Original 1980s Gromit appeared first on Den of Geek.
