Wednesday 26 December 2012

The Snowman and The Snowdog

Did anyone watch the amazing Snowman and The Snowdog which aired Christmas Eve on Ch4? If not and you would like to watch it click here.

It is a 30 minute animation made to mark the 30th anniversary of the first airing of the original Snowman which featured the wonderful voice of Peter Auty (who was not credited on the original version)

The Snowman and The Snowdog was every bit as good as the original Snowman in my opinion. It is a beautifully animated imaginary story of a young boy and his pet dog. I must admit to getting emotional at times while watching it, there is no doubt that the writer has lost a dearly loved dog at some stage because it could not have made in such a touching way if not. The picture on the mantelpiece, the collar, the lead still hung up in its usual place, all these things struck an emotional chord with me which is amazing considering all the characters were fictional cartoon drawings.

This is a real Christmas classic and I highly recommend it. If you have ever lost a dog which meant a lot to you, I challenge you not to get a little bit emotional while watching.

11 comments:

Two Turtle Doves said...

Yes, I watched it and it was very good but I would say not quite as good as the original.

SerpentSlayer said...

In the first scene the boy is moving into a new house with his mother and his dog, he throws a ball to his dog, they couldn't be much happier. In the next scene we see a mournful boy standing over the grave of his dog, I almost cried.

It is probably because of my own experiences, having two wonderful, gentle and kind dogs as a boy and knowing the pain of losing them.

The bond between a boy and his dog is something special, something only those close to dogs themselves can even remotely understand. I suppose it has something to do with our hunter-gatherer's nature.

I'm glad you liked it too TC and I'm glad it had a happy ending too.



Tameside Citizen said...

That is a good point SS. A dog is not known as mans best friend for no reason. The bond between human and dog is ancient and it is strong. When I lost my dog it was a devastating blow from which I have still not fully recovered.

The scene in The Snowman which you describe was indeed a tear jerker, as was the scene when the young boy went to bed and looked at the picture of his dog beside his bed, then he awoke to the sound of a dog bark and that’s where the adventure begun.

That scene would only have worked with a dog, it would not have been the same if the dead pet was a cat, bird or gerbil etc.

I suspect if a survey was taken, most dog owners would have enjoyed the Snowman and Snowdog as much as we did, but many non dog owners may not have understood what all the fuss was about.

Eastmcr said...

Just a minor correction - it was Peter Auty and not Aled Jones who features in the original Snowman film - Aled Jones released "walking in the air" as a single in the same year.

Tameside Citizen said...

Thanks for the correction Eastmcr. :-)

I am faithful said...

As a dog owner I totally agree. Even non-emotional types become more attached to their dogs than they thought they would. There's no 'side' to dogs, even when they're being cunning to get a treat it's completely obvious.
In Shackleton's famous 'lost' Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition - 1914-17, they had to kill and eat their complement of dogs whilst stranded on the icepack to survive and even many of the hardened polar explorers who had originally seen the dogs as beasts of burden and simply there to work were upset by having to do this.

F**k Whitey said...

The Legal Services Commission has refused to reveal the legal aid bill spent defending the people convicted of Stephen Lawrence (awed silence from the entire universe at the mention of THE name)'s murder.
Why is their defence bill considered so controversial? I'd like to know what the TOTAL AMOUNT spent pursuing this politically motivated multi trial saga is, from start to finish. It must run into hundreds of millions.

The Theft of Britain said...

Sad but true.

Afrodesia Enriches China said...

David Cameron is desperately concoting a 'strategy' to woo the non-white vote amid fears its growing influence at the ballot box could permanently consign the Tories to the dustbin of UK political history.

Having made a lamentable effort to stem Labour's steady immigrant flow, the ailing toff party now has to translate Boris Johnson's London success into mass Tory support amongst England's black and muslim constituencies. This mirrors the recent clobbering the Republicans received in the US by the latino Democrat support, as gratitude for Bush's half bothered attempts at limiting their colonisation of the country. See you in Moss Side Dave.

By Julie Hyland 30 August 1999 said...

A third of all those evicted in Britain suffer with mental illness.

Can anything replace the Nokia N8? said...

iPhone doesn't record and Android is too leaky. Any suggestions?