The Morph Files

{{short description|British stop-motion animated TV series (1996)}}{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}{{Use British English|date=October 2019}}{{Infobox television

| genre = Clay animation
Children's television series
Comedy
Adventure
Slapstick

| creator = Aardman Animations
Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| developer = Aardman Animations
Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| writer = Andy Walker

| director = Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| creative_director = Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| narrated = Neil Morrissey

| theme_music_composer = Andy Walker

| opentheme = "The Morph Files"

| endtheme = "The Morph Files"

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English
(only for the narrator)

| num_series = 1

| num_episodes = 13

| executive_producer = Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| producer = Jacqueline White

| editor = Andrew Hassenruck

| cinematography = Peter Lord
David Sproxton

| runtime = 9 min

| company = Aardman Animations

| channel = CBBC

| first_aired = {{start date|1996|1|4|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1996|3|29|df=y}}

| related = {{Plainlist|

}}

}}

The Morph Files is a 1996 British children's stop-motion animated comedy television series featuring Morph. The series was narrated by Neil Morrissey and produced by Aardman Animations. The series is a mix of new animation and old footage from former shows, and features the same cast from The Amazing Adventures of Morph as well as footage from that show. It was originally aired on the BBC in 1996 and was later aired on the ABC in Australia from 1 June 1998 to 13 June 2000, ATV World in Hong Kong, SABC 2 in South Africa and Channel 5 and Arts Central in Singapore as well as on military television on BFBS and SSVC Television in a number of countries such as Germany, Falkland Islands and Cyprus.

Reception

A review in The Video Librarian called the series "grating" due to the fact that the claymation characters sounded "like eunuch Teletubbies (or pre-literate Chipmunks)".{{Cite news |last=Pitman |first=R. |date=July 1, 2000 |title=The Morph Files, Vol. 1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1976993026/4D06A4A98F86435CPQ/1 |access-date=2025-04-08 |work=The Video Librarian |via=ProQuest}} It described one of the segments as "bland and uninspiring", while acknowledging that the series was "occasionally inventive".

Episodes

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:70%;"

! style="background:#ff0" | No.

! style="background:#ff0" | Title

! style="background:#ff0" | Original air date

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=1

|Title=Babysitting

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|1|4|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=2

|Title=Skiing

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|1|11|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=3

|Title=Gobbledygook

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|1|18|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=4

|Title=Doctor Morph

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|1|25|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=5

|Title=The Dog Show

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|2|1|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=6

|Title=Exercising

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|2|15|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=7

|Title=Games

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|2|22|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=8

|Title=The Film Show

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|2|29|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=9

|Title=Gardening

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|3|7|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=10

|Title=Mirrors

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|3|14|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=11

|Title=Little Green

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|3|21|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=12

|Title=Cowboys

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|3|28|df=y}}

}}

{{Episode list

|LineColor= FF5F5F

|EpisodeNumber=13

|Title=The Birthday Party

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1996|3|29|df=y}}

}}

Home media releases

In 1998, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the series on VHS in the United States. Each of the three VHS tapes contained four (and five) episodes from the series. In the United Kingdom, the entire series was released on both VHS and DVD by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment whilst other VHS tapes were released by Roadshow Entertainment and ABC Video in Australia.

References

{{reflist}}