Sounds like a great book to check out. I have seen ANIMAL FARM and think it is a wonderfully animated film. The expressions of the characters are wonderful, and spot on, especially for such a deep, dark setting.

I haven’t been able to locate anything else from Halas Batchelor on DVD, unless I’m just not looking hard enough. On YouTube, they have ANIMAL FARM and a Public Health Service commercial they animated. And ANIMAL FARM is already on DVD. Not to mention that it is one of the very first animated features to come out of the United Kingdom.

I got that book for Christmas last year from a cousin of mine who lives in England. The DVD itself is worth while full of some great animation on it except I have had some problems playing some of the movies on it. It could be the British code that they encode on their DVDs that conflict with other DVD players. Maybe I am just not doing it right.

- I got that book for Christmas last year from a cousin of mine who lives in England. The DVD itself is worth while full of some great animation on it except I have had some problems playing some of the movies on it. It could be the British code that they encode on their DVDs that conflict with other DVD players. Maybe I am just not doing it right.

Was the DVD region coded? If not, it could be a problem with it being mastered in PAL as opposed to the US standard of NTSC. Some DVD players are capable of playing back both standards OK if you look hard enough.

I’ll have to check to see if the B&N or Borders in my area happens to have this book available to get, as I know I’d be more than interested in the shorts and history alone.

There had been once a DVD made available of the H&B shorts that came out from Hen’s Tooth Video, though it’s been out-of-print for a long while and I’ve read quality-wise it wasn’t that perfect.

I have fuzzy but warm memories of Do-Do the kid from outer space. I always wondered who was responsible. I can’t tell you anything about the content except the theme song rattled through my head after reading this article. Did they also do a Pinocchio television show around this same time period?

Hi Jerry,

I got this book the first day it was released here in the U.S. It is truly a must have. The diversity of product put out by the many fine artisans at Halas and Batchelor is astounding. The DVD is worth the price of the book. A five star plus recommendation! I had no problems playing the DVD on my computer or TV - give it another go Tom!

Awesome, this sounds like a GREAT book!

Are these the folks who also did ‘Watership Down?’

Tom, if your cousin sent the book from England, it’s probably a region 2 DVD, which is why you’d have problems playing it in the states :0(

I managed to score a copy of Halas’ book on animation a while back, and it’s a valued addition to my library. And of course “Timing For Animation” is a must-have for any animator’s bookshelf. I’ll definitely add this one to the list…

You can watch some short public information films created by Halas and Batchelor at the UK National Archives website - here and here.