Rex the Runt

Did You Know?

• Underdog is an advertising character voiced by Joe Pasquale, first appearing in 2010, animated by Aardman in the same style as Rex the Runt figures but wearing bandages, promoting National Accident Helpline.
• Series 1 was originally broadcast over Christmas 1998 in prime-time family slots, but after complaints about language and content, later episodes were moved to later time slots.
• The show was originally planned as comedy skits for Saturday Zoo before the BBC became interested.

Characters

Rex is the protagonist, a timid and irritable runt who is quick-witted and often devises plans to extricate the group from trouble, though his smart-aleck tendencies can annoy the others. His favourite superhero is Rocket Raymond, and his name translates to 'King' in Latin. Bad Bob is a large, slobbish dog interested in food and television; he is often called a 'big, fat, jelly-wobbly, fat bastard' by his friends or himself, though the phrase is usually cut short.

He wears an eye patch that switches eyes and carries a revolver nearly his size, but is intelligent, loyal, and builds gadgets from household items, such as a time machine made from a bean can. Wendy is the sole female housemate, identifiable by her eyelashes, pink colour, hemispheric breasts, and a red or pink bow on her head. She is cynical, sarcastic, and independent, offering solutions in a detached manner, and speaks with a Mancunian accent.

Vince is the pet of the household, though all four are dogs; he has prominent buckteeth and mismatched eyes, speaks in single words or short phrases like 'Spaghetti' and 'Tuesday', and suffers from 'Random Pavarotti Disease', causing him to blurt out opera. He occasionally shows ingenuity, such as building a complex machine to kill a mouse, but the others often tell him to 'shut it'. Doctor Dogg, voiced by Paul Merton, is a greedy, moustachioed medical doctor who charges ten quid for any treatment, regardless of its effectiveness, and is not above using the main characters in research.

References to other Aardman productions

Several episodes contain inside references to other Aardman projects. In 'Adventures on Telly, Part 1', Wallace from Wallace and Gromit washes Rex's windows until Bad Bob pushes his ladder over. Pib and Pog appear in the spectator gallery during the courtroom scene of 'The Trials of Wendy' and in the audience for Rex's band in 'Stinky's Search for a Star'. In 'Johnny Saveloy's Undoing', jars labelled 'Wallace' and 'Gromit' appear, along with one reading 'Nick Park'.

In 'Patio', Osvaldo Halitosis is actually Morph wearing a trench coat, hat, and moustache. In 'Wayne the Zebra', a Chicken Run-style chicken is rejected during auditions, and Bad Bob consults the Aardman book Cracking Animation. The episode title 'A Crap Day Out' may pun on A Grand Day Out. Rex lives at '7, Marsupial Way, Rexford', similar to Wallace's 'West Wallaby Street'.

Later Aardman works also reference the series: in Chicken Run, Nick and Fetcher eat Chuffy dog food; in Creature Comforts, a blue alien wears a Vince T-shirt; in Flushed Away, a rat wears a Rex T-shirt; in Shaun the Sheep Movie, Vince appears among photographed animals; and in Farmageddon, the stars briefly form Bad Bob.

Production

The series originated from two short films entirely animated by Richard Starzak in his free time, with crude animation and different character designs unknown to the Aardman crew until a year later. A third pilot, North by North Pole, was produced in 1996 as a pitch for the BBC, with smoother animation; parts of it were reused in 'The Adventures On Telly, Part 2' due to the cost of reshooting. Series 1 was produced between late 1997 and early 1998 at Wetherell Place, Aardman's smallest studio, with a storyboard artist working continuously and a model shop on-site.

The unusual animation technique involved laying characters on a sheet of glass with backgrounds behind it, angled at 45 degrees from the animators. Two to three episodes could be in production simultaneously, each taking four to six weeks; some scenes used blue-screen. Animation of Series 1 took ten months, followed by post-production, and the series aired in December 1998. The models lacked armatures due to the animation style, making them easier to move.

Merchandise

Merchandise for Rex the Runt includes the book Rex the Runt's Rainy Day Companion by Kevin Wrench and Andrew Franks; five plushies of Rex, Wendy, Bad Bob, Vince, and a duplicate Vince wearing a chicken bib; DVDs released in various countries; a bag shaped like Vince; limited-edition Starburst Juicy Gums; T-shirts with the logo or cast; and a video game titled Rex the Runt: Lost Marbles, based on the episode 'Holiday in Vince', in which the characters enter Vince's body to collect marbles and cure his Random Pavarotti Disease.