Gogs is a Welsh claymation animated comedy television series created by Siôn Jones, Deiniol Morris, and Michael Mort and produced by Aaargh! Animation. The series is about the antics of the eponymous family of stereotypical dim-witted cavemen, which take the form of frequent slapstick and gross-out humour with no spoken dialogue. The series consists of 13 five-minute episodes and a 30-minute special. The first series of five episodes aired on S4C in 1993 and received wider attention when they aired on BBC Two in 1996. This was followed by a second series of eight episodes which aired in 1997, and the series concluded with the 30-minute special Gogwana in 1998, both of which first aired on BBC Two. The series was well-received, winning a number of international awards.
History
Development In the Welsh language, the term 'Gogs' is slang for 'Gogledd' which translates as 'North' and 'gogs' as 'Northerners'. The Welsh creators of the show - Deiniol Morris, Sion Jones and Michael Mort - decided that the single syllable word 'Gog' had just the right sound and a simple, direct quality which seemed to lend itself well to the primitive nature of the cave family. Production of the pilot episode was a collaboration between numerous companies and individuals in 1993. Welsh animation studio Aaargh! Animation Ltd was then created specifically for the purpose of making the 'Gogs' series as a result of the success of the initial pilot episode created by Deiniol Morris, Siôn Jones and Michael Mort. Aaargh! Animation Ltd. later went on to produce the animated segments of the 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary, and numerous TV commercials including ones for Levi jeans. Welsh channel S4C originally commissioned the pilot episode of Gogs. This episode was originally only aired on Welsh television and was mainly funded by S4C. The pilot episode script, originally entitled 'Y Cymro Cyntaf' ('The First Welshmen') centred around the idea of a group of cavemen discovering fire and then losing it immediately but after Deiniol enlisted fellow animator and Newport College alumnus Michael Mort to join the project early on, the concept was reworked to incorporate the classic family structure (which did not feature in the initial treatment). Mort also introduced the dinosaur element to the show as an homage to classic Ray Harryhausen movies. Mort was also responsible for designing and building the characters, as well as storyboarding, co-directing and animating the pilot episode. After the success of the pilot episode, Michael and Deiniol went on to form Aaargh! Animation to produce two more series of five-minute episodes. Sion Jones continued to be involved as a script writer and set builder over the course of the production. Deiniol subsequently directed the half hour special Gogwana, which was to be the series' finale. After the Gogs TV show was cancelled, Aaargh! Animation was dissolved, and Mort and Morris parted company. Deiniol Morris and Sion Jones did not subsequently pursue careers in the animation industry. Mort continued working in the field, directing many commercials and creating the character of Chuck Steel, who went on to appear in a short film (Chuck Steel: Raging Balls of Steel Justice (2013) and a feature length movie (Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (2021).
Airings The first series was initially brought to a minor Welsh audience by Meirion Davies of S4C in late 1993, complete with Welsh language titles and credits, and thereby less suitable for English language channels. Gogs sprung onto an international platform with the help of Colin Rose at the BBC, who had the show translated for an English-speaking audience and aired on BBC Two during the 1996 Christmas season. The Gogs did not use any language. This was a deliberate move by the creators of the show as it would make Gogs a better commercial prospect for prospective commissioners S4C by eliminating the costly need to translate and re-dub the voices and would also cut production costs by saving time in overdubbing and animating lip sync. After this, a second series, Gogs II, was produced and aired in 1997, and in 1998 the Gogwana 30-minute special and finale. The show also aired in the United States as a segment on The Three Friends and Jerry on Fox Family in 1998.
Later history and stalled film Both series of Gogs and the Gogwana special were critically well-received and garnered numerous awards. However, Gogwana would prove to be the last ever episode of the show. The high costs of producing claymation compared to the emerging sophistication of computer animation (one episode of Gogs took a very long time to produce with the small team, little resources and funding they had), and the prime time slot allocated to Gogs which would be better filled with "more conventional" sitcoms, ensured that Gogs was not commissioned for a third series or another special by the BBC. Steven Spielberg and his newly-founded DreamWorks Pictures had recently attempted to retain the services of Nick Park, head of British animation studio Aardman Animations and creator of Wallace and Gromit, to make an animated film set during the stone age; however, Aardman "resisted being bought by Hollywood lock stock and barrel." Shortly afterwards, Spielberg saw the first episode of Gogs, which revolves around the consequences of the Gogs discovering fire for the first time; Spielberg, being impressed by it, offered Gogs creators Deiniol Morris and Michael Mort work in the United States instead of Aardman. Morris and Mort met with Spielberg at his studio and admitted that they would be tempted by an offer to produce a theatrical Gogs film with DreamWorks, although no deal was made and there were no further developments to the plan. DreamWorks later resumed their contract with Park and Aardman, resulting in the films Chicken Run and Flushed Away. In 2005, Aardman announced that they were working with DreamWorks on an animated caveman comedy without Aaargh!; it was to be called Crood Awakening, in which a clan chief is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions like fire. Co-written by John Cleese, it eventually became the 2013 film The Croods.
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