Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Return of the Twiddlebugs


Two weeks ago I shared the news of Sesame Workshop's new international series of claymation shorts titled The Adventures of Bert and Ernie. Well, information has been released on a second animated spin-off in the works. Sesame Workshop is also planning to a series of short computer animated shorts staring the Twiddlebugs! The Twiddlebugs are a species of colorful insects that live in Ernie's window box and have been a part of the Sesame Street universe since 1972's illustrated adventure "Sherlock Hemlock and the Great Twiddlebug Mystery".

The computer animated series is set to be produced by Magnetic Dreams Animation Studio. Magnetic Dreams has worked with Street for several years now, producing dozens of inserts and characters. There are 52 three-minute episodes of The Twiddlebugs currently in production. Although no distribution outlets have been announced, sources predict a fall 2008 debut of the shorts.

Magnetic Dreams Animation Studio provided the Twiddlebug's CGI debut in season 37 in a newly created sketch (which you watch below). The sketch severed as a test, and somewhat of a pilot, for this new series of shorts. I will keep you updated with more information on all the Sesame Street related projects and series as more information is released.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

How I despise CGI. It's flat, cold, lifeless, and utterly devoid of the spark that makes Muppet magic, or any other kind of magic, for that matter. The creators would be wise to render Muppet characters as they were intended, i.e. real objects occupying and moving through three real dimensions, with real light striking their real, touchable, textural surfaces. These "Twiddles" are every bit the sad Xbox rejects.

Anonymous said...

The 3d twiddles are great. You are just mad that they aren't real so you could get the to diddle your butthole.