Video: ‘Raptiles On De Rock’ Tributes Cook
A 2004 animated cartoon produced by Seymour Artists and titled ‘Raptiles On De Rock’ has been released to the public as a tribute to its writer and voice artist, the late Phillip Cook, who passed away earlier this year after a brave battle with cancer.
A spokesperson said, “Phillip took his inspiration from ‘Creature Comforts’, a 1989 Aardman Animation Stop Motion short film.
“He developed the script and voiced all the characters with a versatility similar to the likes of Mel Blanc or Daws Butler, classic cartoon voice artists of the 20th century.
“He worked at VSB television along with animator Al Seymour and together they took his vision to light. The film was animated in Bermuda in a classic hand drawn Hanna-Barbera style, however employing new digital ink and paint technology, taking some 6 months to produce. This is the second of two Raptiles short films which both screened at BIFF.”
“The first in 2003 and second in 2004. The film was also screened in the Cineme animated film festival in Chicago, at the Cartoon Club festival of Cinema and Comics in Rimini, Italy and also at the Hiroshima Animated Film festival in Japan. All in the same year. Both were also screened in local theatres on 35mm film.
“Interestingly also that year, Nickelodeon, the cartoon channel owned by Viacom, put out a call for animators worldwide to submit work for possible character series development. Seymour Artists submitted the film, but they replied saying that although it was charming, the local vernacular probably wouldn’t be totally understood by an international television audience.
“Cook and Seymour always discussed ‘comedic timing’ most evidenced in the early Warner Brothers cartoons and the importance of audience reaction. “It was a real pleasure working with him’ said Mr. Seymour. “We had loads of laughs in the recording sessions as I was feeding him the lines” Mr. Cook also wrote an additional Raptiles script and another original Bermudian cartoon short film.
“Seymour Artists are looking to producing them sometime in the near future as part of his legacy.”
Delightful.