''Sweet Disaster'' is a 1986 series of short films, made for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. It consists of "animated visions of the apocalypse", and includes films such as ''Babylon'' and ''Sweet Disaster''. The series was conceived by producer David Hopkins. TheLostContinent explains "Hopkins scripted each of these films aside from the dialogue-free Dreamless Sleep". The films are fairly obscure; Nick Park noted that Babylon "hasn't really seen the light of day for a long time."

Films

''Babylon'' (1986)

''Babylon'' was one of several

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

films commissioned by Channel 4 Commissioning Editor Paul Madden. The film was directed by

Peter Lord Peter Lord CBE (born 1953) is an English animator, director, producer and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring ...

and

David Sproxton David Sproxton, (born 6 January 1954) is a British entrepreneur, best known as one of the co-founders, with Peter Lord, of the Aardman Animations studio. Sproxton was appointed a Order of the British Empire, Commander of the Order of the Briti ...

. The editor is David McCormick. It is included on the Aardman Classics DVD, and so is the least obscure of the series. The short is 15 minutes long. Its release date in the UK was 4 May 1986, and it was later released in Canada on 7 June 2003 at the Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Tony Robinson Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series ''Blackadder'' and has presented several historical documentarie ...

plays the role of Voice of Speaker. The film received two awards: Peter Lord and David Sproxton won the Audience Award, and Peter Lord won the Award of Merit for a Film Between 5 and 15 Minutes This was the first film project Nick Park worked on after joining Aardman Animations in the mid 80s. Aardman agreed to supply Park with extra resources for ''

A Grand Day Out ''A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit'', later marketed as ''A Grand Day Out'', is a 1989 British stop-motion animated short film starring Wallace and Gromit. It was directed, co-written, and animated by Nick Park at the National Film and ...

'' if he agreed to help them finish the film.

''Dreamless Sleep'' (1986)

''Dreamless Sleep'' was made by

David Anderson David Anderson may refer to: People In academia or science *David Anderson (academic) (born 1952), American college professor * David Anderson (engineer) (1880–1953), Scottish civil engineer and lawyer * David Anderson, 2nd Viscount Waverley (191 ...

. ScreenOnline notes that the film "spent ten wordless minutes subtly conveying a couple's fear in the face of an incoming nuclear blast." The film won the Hiroshima Peace Prize. The film had an estimated budget of £125,000 The short was made in Bristol. The title of the short came from David Anderson "going to a carol concert in Bristol with the composer Martin Kiszko and listening to '

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in The United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis R ...

''Paradise Regained'' (1986)

''Paradise Regained'' was directed by Andrew Franks. The film had an estimated budget of £80,000.

''Conversations by a Californian Swimming Pool'' (1986)

''Conversations by a Californian Swimming Pool'' was directed by Andrew Franks. The film had an estimated budget of £80,000.

''Death of a Speechwriter'' (1986)

''Death of a Speechwriter'' was directed by David Hopkins.

played The Speechwriter. The film had an estimated budget of £75,000.

Critical reception

Animation World Network Animation World Network (often just "AWN") is an online publishing group that specializes in resources for animators, with an extensive website offering news, articles and links for professional animators and animation fans. Specifically, AWN c ...

described ''Babylon'' as "hauntingly powerful", and described Dreamless Sleep as "equally haunting". ScreenOnline cited Dreamless Sleep as an example of how "later work strengthened Anderson's command of his complex technical resources".

References

{{Aardman Animations 1986 films 1986 animated films 1980s animated short films Aardman Animations short films Animated film series British animated short films Films directed by Peter Lord Film series introduced in 1986 Short film series 1980s British films Babylon