The Fire That Destroyed Wallace & Gromit's History | Some Boi Online 

Such a good video, bet you did your research for this one. We appreciate it.

I do have to respect how the creator seemed to realize that it was just a bunch of stuff at the end of the day. But indeed it's like a massive chunk of his legacy just gone up in flames.

The archives may be gone but the memories will never fade.

The fire in the Aardman warehouse was so incredibly sad, as so much Aardman history was lost but I suppose something positive to take from this is that the fire thankfully didn't occur during the production of any of Aardman's work so even though a lot of history was lost at least the different Aardman works will still live on and were still able to be made as intended and planned.

I heard about this in the “Grand Night In Aardman” documentary, it’s so sad to think about most of the sets and figures up to 2005, are now gone, great video btw, keep up the great work bro

Such a sad moment knowing we will never see these props again, truly heartbreaking to the fans and creators

Loosing the grand day out figures is the most devastating because of how much work it took for Nick to make the short :(

I remember as a child finding out about this via the Were-Rabbit DVD extras, and have also from time to time looked into this tragic event - great video on the subject! P.S. I think the rocket from A Grand Day Out survived too, seeing as I saw a fairly recent article where it was pictured with Nick Park

You'll be pleased to know that in fact few props from the wrong trousers and a close shave survived! The museum set used in the wrong trousers is on display at National Media Museum, Bradford And even features the Wallace prop used in the museum scene (Wallace in the trousers asleep with his helmet) glued to the ceiling showcasing how the techno trousers worked as well as a model of feathers McGraw new the window with the same pose he had in the short, it's the only set and models which survived the fire, the Wallace and gromit in the motorcycle prop from a close shave is also on display at some media museum as well as one of the members of the flock of sheep in a scared pose when Preston roars at the sheep and Wallace and wendoline, there on display at some media museum also but I'm not sure which, I also saw a photo of Preston's sniffing model alongside some other models from curse of the were rabbit and other stop motion films I don't know however when it was taken or where. Hope this info helps!

Wow. Now this is a tragic tale I had not expected to find but honestly while the losses of so many assets is quite sad, I'm glad it didn't do much worse for the company overall. The studio luckily still lives on and is afaik doing well with newer projects and hopefully the props for those survive in a new and more fireproof storage. It truly would've been much worse if this fire would have lead to the complete downfall of Aardman as a company.

You know what would be neat? If they made a movie where the claymation characters try to escape the fire

Hearing about the fire through one of COTW's DVD features honestly tore me up when I was younger and all this time I thought all the stuff from COTW was also lost in the fire.

Bruh... I've seen other sources covering this, and none have made me as close to bursting into tears as this one. From you addressing the specific props that went up in flames, to the music choices, I was ready to bawl my eyes out at 3 in the morning.

Honestly, I think the reason why there hasn’t been any articles or conversations about this incident is because nobody probably WANTS to remember it. In my opinion, it’s one of the worst tragedies in animation and film history to ever occur. Still, this is a great video, as always!

I absolutely love Aardman. My father introduced me to their films and I became as fascinated as he was with their animation. I can't believe I never heard about this, it is very sad and yet... it just makes me appreciate even more the amount of work this productions take, seeing all the props, the drafts, so much time and effort put into a single frame. It would've been incredible to one day see all of those assets. Thank you for sharing!

god, this is just... incredibly depressing. thinking about those assets, models, set pieces, storyboards, everything that had months, even years of so much care, love and effort put into it just burning and melting to the ground absolutely breaks my heart. it's even more painful hearing about it happening to models that represent beloved characters that many of us remember enjoying in our childhoods, and knowing that all that effort was burnt away so quickly by one small appliance fault and the fire couldn't have been stopped if the people at Aardman tried. it's absolutely devastating, i can't even imagine the amount of pain the people who worked on those pieces of art had to go through and probably still go through. luckily no one died or got injured that day, but i still send my condolences to everyone who worked on those assets because the death of any piece of art is still a tragedy in my book.

This is probably the saddest video on your channel. And of course, it would be, the loss of the assets of such an iconic franchise is a sad thing. Not just the figures, but the storyboards were irreplaceable, and knowing that they're lost forever makes my heart sink.

It's sad that the props were lost, but the films survived and that's what the public sees. Most props from classic films have been lost because nobody cared enough to save them. Although choosing a fragile old building as an archive might not have been the best idea.

As someone who is heavily into preserving lost media and holding surviving props/animatronics from an old dark ride. Stories like this crush my soul and to think that all the work done by a bunch of talented individuals is forever lost from that fire. Man....

I really do appreciate your efforts to keep Aardmans name alive! Coming from a life long fan :)

The fact that Nick Park mentions that this wasn't as bad as it could have been adds a rather dark perspective on things in hindsight. Considering the Kyoto Animation Arson in 2019, which did have a very human cost. Not just a human cost in the sense of the deaths, but also the psychological after-effects of loss (for example, to this very day, Naoko Yamada is traumatised by the loss of her co-workers and friends in the arson, despite not being present at the site during the time of the fire).

I just realized the majority of Wallace’s robots are based off the Cooker (The L.A.D, Shopper 13,The arms that come out of the Anti-Pesto Van, etc)

Love how much effort and info you pack into a short video. Great work!

I remember the set for the museum in The Wrong Trousers was saved and is on display at the National Media Museum in Bradford. But that's awesome that the props for Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Chicken Run were saved, along with the reels of the original films! And at least Nick had his films finished, with the props no longer in use.

I had watched the Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave when I was a little kid and I still remember these legendary short films today.

Wow, I never knew about the fire, that's really sad. Also, you really do your research.

The way I first found out about this was when they mentioned in a bonus feature on the Wallace & Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit DVD. Still one of the most heartbreaking things regarding one of my favorite childhood series.

0:33 that gif you used for the fire is actually a gif a friend of mine named airtooth uses for his villain defeats videos

for the size of your channel the quality of your videos are insane, thanks fo covering this kind of topic, as much as i am a Wallace and Gromit fan i didn't even know about the fire till this video

I sometimes imagine going back in time to save whatever I can from the fire and having the company’s respect.

That Aardman Fire was so sad.

Great video! I really like your usage of the Wallace & Gromit music. Apart from the obvious good fit for such a video, you've also put it to great effect, making the whole video feel like a real experience. Love this kind of dedication ^^

Truly saddening. Wallace and Gromit holds a big piece of my childhood. Actually made me tear up. Beautifully made video.

Dude, those music pieces you included definitely replicate to how Aardman went through that travesty, cracking job lad

a lot of the models in that blaze were made by a university mentor of mine from my days at Sheffield Hallam... he worked for Aardman as model and set builder on Creature Comforts, Sledgehammer and made sets and models for adverts like Chewits and Lurpack. A LOT of that stuff went with the blaze too... but thankfully there's still the Aardman stuff still in Bradford Media Museum (a fantastic museum btw, great sections on Animation with cels from Cosgrove Hall and Bob Godfrey, as well as the W&G stuff... they even have a good TV section with a fan built Dalek, the Screen used Zippy and George from Rainbow, Gerry Anderson puppets and even one or two of the Smash robots)

I'm glad you mentioned the IWM as I saw the Chicken Run models there in Jan 2005 (and took pics) so it's good to learn that they were clear of the fire still in Oct

probably one of the worst things (in my opinion) is probably that you could never do a shot-for-shot re-do of any short films that weren't in widescreen. it would be time consuming, yes, but i think it would've been interesting had the fire not wiped almost everything from anything before 2005

Good grief. 19 years after the fact and I'm just now hearing about this. Such a shame to have lost all those treasures.

what's even sadder is if those storyboards were among the destruction that means we won't ever get an the art of wallace and gromit book.

This was a very interesting video! I find stuff like this fascinating and appreciate the time you put into telling it alot!

It is very sad that the original props were lost... but yeah, in context with what you're trying to achieve with animation i.e bringing them to life of film, once they've been given life through all that hard work, that becomes their true legacy, and the fact the original film stock is still around is perhaps far more valuable than the props themselves.

Your video was very interesting and I've never known that the Wallace and Gromit things went up in flames

Me and my brother loved Wallace and Gromit, We watched them when we were just kids and it's really a tragedy that their legacy went down to hell. But it would of been a greater tragedy that the films would have been lost if not had been recorded, Or that the new movie would have gone down with them if not for their relocation. Wallace and Gromit, Thanks for being apart both me and brother's my childhood ❤️

I remember seeing it on the news, I cried so much seeing it all ablaze like that. Still breaks my heart now. 😔 I was absolutely devastated for Aardman Animations, as that was the company’s history gone and there was nothing that could be done. It really sucks that the archive prior to 2005 is gone forever, but at least nobody died because of that fire, and there was some surviving models, sets and props. Let’s hope nothing like this ever happens again.

The original cooker model from a grand day out survived

This definitely shows why I often fear disasters, other than losing loved ones. There are plenty of things that could be repaired or replaced… but sadly, our very creations are not one of them, especially historical relics of our creations from its very beginning. While I am doing my best to learn to move on from those kind of incidents, the fear still haunts me, especially in my dreams.

I never even knew this happened, and I loved Wallace & Gromit as a kid. Sad story, but it could've been a whole lot worse if people were hurt or killed from this.

Another good video and very thoroughly researched. Do we know if the building itself was restored.?

I still get a small pain in my heart every time o remember their happened as I was 11 when it happened and still love this stuff

A couple of models from The Wrong Trousers have actually been confirmed to have survived the Aardman fire, those being Feathers McGraw in a bottle and Wallace wearing the Techno-Trousers during the bank robbery scene.

This makes me so sad. Chicken Run was my first introduction to go Ardman Studio and I found it hysterically funny.

I never knew this :( . it adds an element of saddness now rewatching those older Aardman productions. Such wonderful history lost 😞

I can't believe half of my childhood went up in goddamn flames by the way great video my dude

If I could time travel, stopping this fire would be on the top 5 things I would do

OMG DUDE, I just realised who you are! I remember commenting on your Kermit video back in the day and saying you'd go far on RU-vid. Glad to see I was right! Congrats on all your success, keep up the good work. I loved this video!

if you haven't already you should do a video on the darker side of Aardman, like angry kid, Babylon and Pib and Pog

Rip Wallace and gromit old short movies 1989-2005 and brought back

4:19 I’ve never seen this photo before. The crossovers that we always wanted, haha. That’s made my day, I’m screenshooting that.

Part of the museum set from The Wrong Trousers is on show at the Media Museum in Bradford, so at least that survived due to not being in the warehouse.

The fire must've happened right as I was getting into Aardman's stuff. I woulda been 4 at the time and my parents would've gotten the original trio on DVD for us. They seem to have thrived since I first got into them, so I'm happy to presume the fire wasn't too catastrophic in the long run.

I saw Curse of the Were Rabbit in theaters just two days after the fire broke out in the storage facility, completely unaware of what happened until I got the movie on DVD.

I'm so sad now.... 😭

I miss them so much, I feel sorry for the Aardman studio. Wallace & Gromit is one of my favourite british franchises 😔

I have always been a huge fan of Wallace and Gromit my whole life but unfortunately I never knew about this occurrence. This is extremely depressing.

If I had a Time Machine, I’d prevent this from happening

I had no idea that this had taken place. I love the movie Chicken Run I have it on DVD as well as the Wallace and Gromit movies as well. I wonder if there will be more to be seen. That fire was such a tragic thing to happen. I'm grateful nobody was hurt and my heart feels for those who lost so much.

So sad. Great vid. Thanks

I got a question may it be worth making a video on Wallace and gromit props on display at the national science and media museum or heck even props on display in general a breakdown of where you can see different props and sets?

Lesssgooo since boiiii

I wish the original or should I say classic Wallace and gromit props could have survived, if that fire didn't happen.💔😢 But luckily I'm glad that the three classic Wallace and gromit movies survived, but have never been lost from that fire. Otherwise we wouldn't have got those films completely restored years later, and we released on DVD. And hopefully if they might be released on Blu-ray very soon

You deserve this subscription.

thank you so much this one of the most sensitive rarely spoken subjects i personal i rarely ever talk about not because it's hard to it's been a long time since it happened & i usually don't talk about it cus get this answer well that's too bad or sure that's sad so hows the weather? no one really takes any real serious interests in it i'm bothered by the lack of interest in it .... but it does make it hard to talk about my hobbies & interests in stuff like this but i know i'm not alone with my love for ardman works & wallace & gromit

The Props may be gone but the Shorts are still here, we can still Enjoy the Shorts for what they are

When I visited the Shaun the Sheep experience in Land's End, Cornwall, back in 2017, there was a salvaged model of Rocky from Chicken Run, a replica model of the puma/jaguar from the original Creature Comforts short, and some replicated sets from World of Invention, Shaun the Sheep and more. I do have photos of these from my visit if you're interested and need them for a future video.

I realized how Nick Park cared more for the employees's lives and security than the puppets. If it's not wholesome then what is it?

The thought of British icons surrounded by flames is so sad especially morph for me as I loved morph when I was younger and the props don’t exist anymore

I remember when I lived in Bradford, the media museum had the wrong trousers set where the penguin was making Wallace steal the diamond and later, it was labeled as the only surviving set

Aardman is such amazing work, but it's sad to hear that, and things got recover for the 4th Short movie, A Matter of Loaf & Death

This song “Gromit Leaves Home” almost made me cry.

It really doesn't help that not only does Plasticine melt when exposed to high temperatures, but it also becomes flammable at those same temperatures, so it's almost no wonder the fire was outrageous. (It gets really sad when you imagine the models slowly melting while on fire.)

@someboi online The turtle puppet or figure from creature comforts survived I saw it in the background of a aardman studio tour video

What about the 2 set pieces in the entrance building of Blackpool Pleasure Beach?

Smoke detectors and fire sprinkler systems should always be mandatory when it comes to structures that can easily catch fire and burn down.

It is very sad that this happened to the building.

Hey, could you provide us the link for the blog post you mention? Thanks!

"Someone, 'Arson around'!" - PC Albert Mackintosh

RIP Peter Sallis

I really hope that at least on set of the wrong trousers we’re somewhere safe as it’s my favourite Wallace and gromit film and in my opinion the most iconic

6:34, in the wake of the Kyoto Animation (KyoAni) Arson that claimed the lives of more than 30 people, I would have to agree with Nick Park's assessment of the Aardman Fire. Devasting but a comparatively small loss to that of artists that made their productions let alone the original film reels. Models can be remade and I would wager most people likely prefer the smoother, more refined models of Wallace and Gromit we see in later productions anyway. Though I would agree that the loss of concept art and other pre-production materials was probably the biggest loss

Aardman is such an iconic animation company I found it so heartbreaking that fire incinerated everything that was in that building.

i didn't know about this. i have learned something new.

from what i heard most chicken run figures are in storage at a museum somewhere in the UK alongside the parking meter robot from a grand day out

Where did the Close Shave behind the scenes footage come from? I'd love to see where it came from

I really hope there’s more Wallace and gromit in the future

The tenth of October, 2005 was the day that humanity was set back a million years

Found out that a set from the wrong trousers survives, as does their motorbike (which is confirmed). Both of these are on display at the Bradford Media Museum.

Well, that's depressing. I'm just glad that none of the employees were in that building when the fire occurred.

Great video

The only surviving stuff from that fire is the Museum from the Wrong trousers and the lady who owns the robot dog from A Close Shave. Unfortunately, the lady (I can't remember her name) is almost completely destroyed as the model was in the building when it caught fire. The Museum set however is still fully in tact and is on show in the National Science and Media museum in Bradford.

This really hurts I never knew such a tragedy occured