Aardman - Water Bottles - Wallace and Gromit Metal Water Bottle - Feathers McGraw

Product Information

In 2005 Aardman's storage facility caught fire, destroying almost all of Feathers' puppets from The Wrong Trousers, only 4 survive to this day (pictured below)

Wallace and Gromit are undoubtedly the superstars of the Aardman stable of characters, however their standing has been challenged in recent years by Shaun the Sheep. Shaun first appeared as a supporting character in the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave, but, like Morph before him, he couldn’t be contained and now has his own TV series (five seasons so far), a feature film and a half-hour Christmas special. Shaun is well represented in both the exhibition and the ubiquitous gift shop merchandise. A photo of Feathers is shown in the Shaun the Sheep Movie on the board where A. Trumper keeps photos of all the animals he has captured. Feathers McGraw appeared in several episodes of the acclaimed show ReBoot. However he was never mentioned in the show. As a child, I found that extremely thrilling. Feathers was some kind of wish fulfilment — an aspirational figure. Unlike the other characters I watched at the time — the buffoonish Ren and Stimpy, the whiny Little Bear, the slovenly and unproductive Very Hungry Caterpillar — Feathers was guided by principles. Evil principles, sure, but principles none the less.He makes a cameo appearance in Curse of the Were-Rabbit: After Victor says "eat carrot, bunny boy!," Gromit flies in a toy plane. You can see McGraw randomly sitting on a building to Gromit's left. The film presents a world where Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) employs hundreds of Christmas elves who help him command a high-tech spacecraft that delivers presents all around the world in record time. Santa’s eldest son Steve (Hugh Laurie) manages these operations and patiently waits to take over for his father, while his youngest son Arthur (James McAvoy), enthusiastic yet clumsy, diligently answers every kid’s letter to Santa because he’s too accident-prone to do anything else. But when one girl’s present gets lost in the shuffle, only Arthur seems to care that no child should be forgotten on Christmas Day while everyone else, including Santa, is caught up in their own petty grievances and insecurities. It’s up to Arthur, Santa’s grumpy, senile father (Bill Nighy), and an enthusiastic elf Briony (Ashley Jensen) to save the day using Evie, Santa’s old magic sleigh. That's why Wallace and Gromit came up with the perfect solution: the Feathers McGraw Metal Water Bottle! This handy double-walled metal bottle lets Feathers McGraw drink on the go, without having to lug around a heavy jug of water. A lot of the genius of The Wrong Trousers is that the film is a battle of the wills between two characters who never talk. Wallace, the only character in the film who speaks, is utterly oblivious to the actual action going on. He doesn’t realise that he’s being manipulated by Feathers, or that he is hurting Gromit’s feelings, even when Gromit becomes so dejected that he considers running away from home. How many of us would benefit from adopting such an attitude in our own lives — being honest about what we want, and how we want to get it, nosy dogs be damned?

Prendergast later founded Oh Yeah Wow which has gone on to forge a reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting young animation studios. Now the wheel has turned full circle as the Aardman super-fan has been invited to host a discussion with Aardman founders Peter Lord and David Proxton at ACMI in honour of the new exhibition.

Featured in...

Arthur Christmas is a little more conventional than Aardman’s other features, complete with familiar story beats and Christmas sentimentality, but it hits those story beats with so much commitment and complicates that sentimentality just enough that the film sings. It helps that Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith’s script features an airtight premise that endlessly riffs on the Santa story and allows for dizzyingly inventive CG animation (some of the best ever produced this side of Pixar). More than that, Arthur Christmas understands holiday fatigue, and how the season can bring out everyone’s dissatisfaction and fears. It’s only Arthur, the true believer, who never loses sight of what the season means, while the rest of his family tries to exercise their own egos. But it’s Arthur’s determination to make sure no kid gets left out that reminds his whole family that Christmas, at its best, provides a tiny light on an otherwise cold, dark day. When Gromit is imprisoned in A Close Shave, the graffiti on the cell wall reads "Feathers was here".

Late in The Wrong Trousers, Gromit threatens to expose Feathers, interrupting his plan to make off with a massive diamond. At such a point in the narrative, most other villains might deliver a long speech, rattling off all the cliches we are used to hearing from cornered baddies. But Feathers doesn’t. Without skipping a beat, the penguin pulls out a comically large gun from a bag, and threatens to shoot the dog dead. McGraw walked Wallace home and forced him into the wardrobe; Gromit attempted to intervene, threatening McGraw with a rolling pin, but the penguin holds Gromit at gunpoint and forced him into the same wardrobe with Wallace. Gromit hotwired the trousers to stamp continuously until the wardrobe's floor paneling broke off, allowing them to break free. The two tried to catch Feathers as he tried to evade them with their electric train set. Feathers McGraw was a lodger, renting a room with Wallace when he had financial issues. Not satisfied with the room on offer, McGraw moved into Gromit's room, forcing him to live in a doghouse. McGraw then proceeds to irritate Gromit further by playing music loud late at night, hogging the bathroom, and monopolising Wallace's time. Thinking Wallace has forgotten him, Gromit sadly leaves the house.Similarly to Gromit and Preston, Feathers McGraw does not express himself with spoken words. However, while former's facial expressions and body language speak volumes, McGraw's face is always blank and impassive, giving no hint of his emotions.