Cute and Violent 'Pib and Pog' Now on AtomFilms

The violent-and-absurd, cute-and-cuddly cartoon genre is one of my favorites. When I watch, I know the fluffy animals, fanciful mythological creatures, and children’s characters staring back at me with brightly colored expressions or doe-eyed innocence are up to no good, but it’s always fun to see exactly what kind of no good they’re up to.

Homestar Runner (Tilzy.TV page), with its surreal antics, has long been king of the animated absurd, and there’s no better place to watch violent cartoons than in the pastel-colored forest of Happy Tree Friends (Tilzy.TV Page).

FilmCow’s incredibly popular Charlie the Unicorn (judging by YouTube views alone, the video’s been seen more than 15 million times in the last year), is a shiny example of something that combines the best of both worlds. Playfully eccentric unicorns take a hesitant friend on a trip to the magical land of sweet, sugary goodness that is Candy Mountain and, in the end, someone ends up a little bloodied.

Pib and Pog is another stellar combination of cartoon violence and absurdity that’s worth watching. And thanks to Atom Films (Tilzy.TV page), now you can.

The “independent entertainment” website announced yesterday that it will partner with UK-based Aardman Animations (of Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit fame) and director Peter Peake (of similar fame), to produce multiple episodes of the children’s-show-gone-wrong-themed Pib and Pog for its very own broadband animated series.

Created as a short film by Aardman and Peake in 1994, there are currently three new episodes of Pib and Pog available online (in addition to the original short), with promises of more to come in the following weeks.

The show itself is a claymation mix of a Mr. Potato Head aesthetic, an Itchy and Scratchy aggression, a little Little Buzzers (Tilzy.TV page), and a smart, soft-spoken, British narrator, clumped together with an informative, children’s programming premise. Or, basically, another entertaining rendition of things cutesy “who in reality are anything but cute.”