Plasmo

The character of Plasmo was originally developed by Anthony Lawrence in 1981 for a short film entitled "Plasmo versus the Space Bullies". The short was shot on a Super 8 mm film. It became "popular with [his fellow] College students". The second Plasmo film was a sequel titled "Plasmo and the Space Party". It was made in 1983. As Lawrence was unhappy with the quality and format of the Super 8, when he began work on the next Plasmo film, which was called "Happy Hatchday to Plasmo" and released in 1986, he used a newly acquired "second hand 16mm Bolex" instead.

Despite being turned down for funding by the Australian Film Commission three times, Lawrence continued working on the film, and "began updating the ABC on [his] intentions to create a children's animation", in the hopes that they would be willing to buy the idea upon Happy Hatchday's completion. Lawrence completed the film in 1988, and sent it to the ABC headquarters in Sydney for inspection. In this film, Plasmo is a young alien who is being sought by the bounty hunters Coredor and Brucho, although by the time of the TV series they have become his (somewhat grumpy) companions.

The ABC told Lawrence about their plans to buy the film a year later. Although Lawrence was "pleased" by this, he was unhappy with the price they were willing to pay, as they were "way under what [he] was expecting". He haggled the price up in order to "cover some additional post production expenses" involved in the process of transferring the series to videotape. The film was broadcast by the ABC and was re-broadcast over the next five years. The ABC did not financially back a future TV series "at this early stage", according to Lawrence they said they "would be interested in seeing something". Lawrence started work on the project after applying for script development in 1990 from the Australian Children's Television Foundation. However, in 1992 the project became stalled due to the "need...to show investors and buyers what a new episode would look like".

A pilot, which was funded by Film Victoria, was created in 1993 and shot over 4 months. The short, entitled "Plasmo and the Bookworm", later became the seventh episode of the television series. Despite the pilot winning an Adelaide Children's Television Festival award, the series only became fully funded two years later, after a new producer became attached to the project. The team were restricted to under 30 minutes of animation by the FFC funding guidelines, however the series had a "running time of sixty five minutes". After various appeals and 10BA documents, the funding eventually came from "Film Victoria, an ABC pre-sale, a BBC pre-sale, and a distribution guarantee from Beyond Distribution".

The twelve remaining episodes of the thirteen part series were shot between 1996 and 1997. The series, which was broadcast numerous times between the years of 1997 and 2002, was sold to different countries around the world. A second series of Plasmo has been written, and a "twenty minute documentary about the making of Plasmo" has been released.[7]

The series used puppets made of plasticine, foam latex and solid plastic replacement style puppets. CG was used in some scenes as in addition to chroma key, matte paintings, hanging miniatures, double exposures, peppers ghost, live action effects and rod puppetry.

The character designs, and the general look and feel of the show, changed a lot between the pilot and the series, which was produced a few years later.[8]

The sled in the second episode Blast Off! has Rosebud on the bumper, referencing Citizen Kane. Lawrence describes the moral of Blast off! as "go for your dreams, even when others scoff!".[9] He explained that he designed the Duorvin as a vertical spacecraft in order to "break the stereotype". However he concedes that this is most probably due to the fact that they "don't fit TV screen ratio".[10] He explains Plasmo's unique reaction to the ghosts in Space Ghosts! thus: "Much fear is conditioned into us. As Plasmo lacks this conditioning, he doesn't respond to the ghosts in the usual way."[11] He said that he never thought the [A]BC (Lawrence wrote BBC) would let them "get away with...Brucho flashing his naked bottom at Coredor", and added that the piece of animation was animated by Sharon Parker.[12] He explains the moral of Big Dam comes from the fact that "Plasmo's innocent and creative mind allows him to come up with solutions to gigantic problems yet using simple means."[13] He explains that the theme of Nice to be Nice is that "the WAY we say something, or emphasize words, can make all the difference to its interpretation by the listener."[14] He points out that Plasmo and the Golden Robot is "the first time we see the true bonding between the [four main] characters as they each stand up to an external threat".[15] He did write an episode to explain "HOW Plasmo acquired the Megalon Engine" featured in this episode, but explained that it would have been "too expensive to shoot on [their] tiny budget".[16]

1. Plasmo and the Moontower
2. Blast Off!
3. Deep Space
4. Plasmo Arrives!
5. Tour of Monjotroldeclipdoc
6. Space Ghosts!
7. Plasmo and the Bookworm
8. Rainy Day
9. Big Dam
10. Nice to be Nice
11. Plasmo and the Golden Robot
12. Bon voyage to Plasmo
13. The return of Kila Wami!

The series has been translated into French, Catalan, Spanish and Japanese.

In 1997 a video of the series was released by ABC Video and Roadshow Entertainment and contained the very first seven episodes as well as an edited version of "Plasmo and the Bookworm". The edited version of "Plasmo and the Bookworm" includes the usual opening and closing titles, the scenes with narration by Harold Baigent (who also voices the librarian) removed and Brucho's voice being redubbed by Phillip Houghton. The video also includes a promo for other children's videos from ABC Video including Bananas in Pyjamas, Play School, Johnson and Friends, Fireman Sam, Lift Off, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Widget the World Watcher, Postman Pat, ABC For Kids Live in Concert, Ferry Boat Fred, The Adventures of Blinky Bill and The Adventures of Spot.

Plasmo was released onto DVD as PLASMO: the SERIES on DVD. The DVD contains all thirteen 5 minute episodes of the Plasmo series, in their original broadcast format, on one disc. The priced is $28 AUS, plus $5 for postage and handling. The DVD is only available via email. The DVD is in English, in Color, PAL, and is Region Free (Region 0).[19]

On 12 March 2009, a 120-page graphic novel based on the series was released. The majority of the work, which is entitled PLASMO, is essentially the 13-episode television series story told through the medium of the graphic novel. The last 12 pages however "looks at never previously released comic and storyboard drafts of the series", and includes notation on both character development and design, and construction of the puppets. While the novel is officially aimed at 8-12 year olds, the "complexity and humor from the story-lines and characters" appeals to older audiences. The book was authored by Anthony Lawrence.[20]

Of the final episode in the series, blogger Jackson Chew (under the pseudonym of Plasmo & the Infinite Sadness) writes "how can so much drama, selflessness, a beautiful soundtrack, poignancy and a silly bit of humour be packed into a 4 minutes and 37 seconds clay animation?". He adds that "'epic'...isn’t adequate enough a word to describe the density of that episode".[21]

• Plasmo at IMDb
• Anthony Lawrence at innersense – includes Plasmo production and critical reception
• Plasmo Behind The Scenes playlist
• Plasmo at Plantilla Awesome Inc.
• PLASMO at Librarians on Youtube