Wallace & Gromit on the moon
Cracking Contraptions
It had been a while since the last Wallace and Gromit adventure and the public were calling out for more, but with Nick Park busy writing for Curse of the Were-Rabbit it would be a few years before the next Wallace & Gromit adventure. Japanese broadcasters were desperate for new material and enquired whether there were any shorts they could air on TV. This is where the idea for Cracking Contraptions emerged - Aardman had already produced 12 stills of wacky inventions for a calendar and with the pieces being so short, there wouldn't be much time-consuming script work. In addition to this, with the prospect of a Wallace and Gromit feature film on the horizon this was the perfect opportunity to involve new directors and animators in the world of Wallace & Gromit and immerse them in the style ready for the big event.
Cracking Contraptions formed into a series of ten stop-motion animations varying from 1 to 3 minutes in length. Each episode featured one of Wallace's new inventions and Gromit's skeptical reaction to it. Episodes first appeared on the Internet on the BBC's site and AtomFilms in October 2002.
Episodes were broadcast individually on BBC One throughout the Christmas period in 2002. They were simultaneously released on a limited-edition VHS and Region 2 DVD. The series was also included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.