Well, it would seem that for the many fans of the internet series Apollo’s Pad, your prayers have been answered.  Many people have asked for the series to be on television, and now it is!  Apollo’s Pad has just inked a deal that will see eight, 11 minute episodes on their late night time slot as a “test run” on Teletoon (East) here in Canada.  It would be a part of their “Teletoon at Night” segments.

I caught two of those episodes last night and I was amazed with how engaging the episodes were.  Super pacing and really well edited.  I found myself wanting more.  Now as a warning, the humour is not for everyone and the show intentionally tries to “push the envelope”.  It runs right after Robot Chicken and much of the humour is very similar.  So if you are easily offended, or do not like Robot Chicken, then Apollo’s Pad is NOT for you.  This is definitely not a kid’s show and should only be watched by mature audiences.

You can catch these episodes on Sunday nights at 10:30 pm.  The show is made by the same people who brought you Mr. Meaty.

I love showcasing all of the great puppet stuff happening involving Canadians.  Here is a sweet little video from Georgetown, Ontario artist Brennan Finlay.  The video was made by another (former) Ontarian, Filmmaker Julian Grant.  The song is a love letter to Chicago, one of the US cities that I would love to visit, and new hometown of Mr. Grant.  Enjoy!

There is a great interview over at Strange Kids Club (a site dedicated to 80s nostalgia, toys, cinema, horror, and all things animated, illustrated or otherwise art-related)!  It should be noted that the cool puppet on their website was built by the wonderful Mr. Hatter!

The SKC interview a company called Beans and Bueller.  The two artists (Ryan and Sabina) behind Beans and Buller are two fellow “Torontonians”.  Yay,  Canada!  Yay, Toronto!  They have some pretty amazing and quirky shorts and have even scored their first web series for later this year called Bedtime for Bryan.   Click on all of the cool links and check out more about Beans and Buller, and the awesome interview over at Strange Kids Club.

Thanks to Rondal for the heads up!

DUMSTRUCK, will be opening April 22nd in NY and April 29th in LA.

At the annual Vent Haven Convention in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, the ventriloquism capital of the world, director Mark Goffman discovers extraordinary characters straight out of a Christopher Guest mockumentary, but in this humorous and heartfelt documentary, the “characters” are real.

“Dumbstruck” follows five professional ventriloquists at all levels of ability and fame over the course of the most unusual year in ventriloquism history: Dylan, a shy 13-year-old whose dream of being a professional conflicts with his dad’s preference for football; Kim, a former Miss Ohio beauty queen, who yearns to ‘make it’ on the cruise ship circuit; Dan, a successful cruise ship performer who struggles to maintain a family life, although he is on the seas much of the year; Terry, who, after a 22 year struggle to “make it” in Corsicana, Texas, finds himself on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” with a chance to win $1 million; and Wilma — all six-foot-five of her — who brings her dummies to Walmart and ‘entertains’ in senior homes.

Along the way, Terry Fator emerges from obscurity to sign a 100 million dollar Las Vegas deal to become the most successful ventriloquist in history. With its heart firmly planted on its polyester sleeve, Dumbstruck takes the American dream sideways and never loses its way.

Executive Producer for the series “White Collar” and previously a writer on series including “The West Wing,” DUMBSTRUCK marks Goffman’s feature film directorial debut. The film is produced by Lindsay Goffman, executive produced by Elon Musk (Executive Producer, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) with David O. Sacks (Producer, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) as a consulting producer. Daniel Licht (“Dexter”) created the original score, with original music from Oscar nominated singer/songwriter Bird York.

Check out the Trailer! CLICK HERE!

This animatronic looks so smooth and life like.  This really makes me excited for the future of animatronics. Check it out.

When I first started to be interested in puppetry, one of the first local Canadian puppet companies I looked at was Radical Sheep Productions.  In fact As a teacher, I took my first Grade 1 class to visit the studio.  As a company, they  made many different shows, including Ruffus The Dog.  Radical Sheep is no longer the company it once was and most (if not all) of their creative people have moved on to other things.  Well it seems that Ruffus is making a small comeback.

Many of the old shows are being put up on YouTube and on their website.  Also Rob Mills (creator and puppeteer of Ruffus) has been working on his version of A Christmas Carol.  Check out the teaser and some behind the scenes footage.

Enjoy.

Big City Park is a wonderful puppet show that airs on CBeebeies.  The abundance of puppetry airing in the UK makes me very happy.  I just wish my home country of Canada would follow suit.

The series was shot outside in Ormeau Park, Belfast and was a co production between CBeebies Scotland and Sixteen South Productions.  Sixteen South is also responsible for producing the Northern Irish branch of Sesame Street – Sesame Tree (I’ll be writing more on this soon).

In each episode of Big City Park,  3 children join the characters, May the Park Keeper, Rauri, Billy the badger and Dara the fox for a day of outdoor adventure and play.

Big City Park was recently nominated  at The Irish Film and Television Awards.   At last weeks glamorous award ceremony, in Dublin, the show was presented with the IFTA award for the Best Children’s and Youth Programme!  The award is not only a well deserved accolade for all those who worked to create a special and charming show but also for the art of puppetry on screen.  Congratulations to all those involved!

Enjoy a sample of this whimsical show below.

Special thanks to Josh for the heads up!

I don’t know about you people out there in Internet Land, but I just love Puppet Heap shorts. Love the style. Love the mood. Love the simplicity. Check out their latest series of shorts – I Knew an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Here’s the first episode, to get you started. Watch the rest here!

Our very own Pasha Romanowski of Project Puppet, has just launched one of the most exciting new websites/companies since…well…ummmm…Project Puppet!  The new website is called Puppetsmith and it (in a nutshell) looks to offer tutorials to puppet builders on how to use some more advanced puppet building techniques.  Read the official overview here:

The Purpose of Puppetsmith

The purpose of Puppetsmith is to provide a safe place where puppet builders can pool their collective knowledge – to learn, to share, to collaborate, to advise, to experiment, to critique, and to grow in their craft. The ongoing projects and tutorials will address more advanced building methods and techniques and showcase the work and unique processes of various puppet builders. It is my hope that the Puppetsmith website will become an instrumental tool in the advancement of both the individual and group talents present in today’s global puppet building community.

This is something that many puppet builders have been asking for, for a long time.  For its first tutorial, Pasha had asked people to submit their own designs, and one lucky reader a young man by the name of Johnathan Little was selected.  Yes, Puppet Buzz’s own Jon Little!  Congrats, Jon.

His super design (based on the Forma Series from Project Puppet) will be turn into a puppet that Johnathan will be able to keep.  I am very excited about Puppetsmith and I think I may even learn a thing or two.

So check out this great new resource and let them know that Puppet Buzz sent cha’.  Which probably doesn’t mean much, but it sounds good.

Space Knights is a show from New Zealand, that retells the tales of the Knights of the Round Table using puppets.  The puppets themselves were built by Chris Slane, political cartoonist for the NZListener, chief sculptor and puppeteer for TV series.

Check out a sample of the show with these three videos.  Enjoy!