When Momo met Ooman and Moof

Nickelodeon’s new animated short has Mr Peach tuning up his jungle drums to follow the charming, colourful prehistoric action.

 

When illutrator Benedict Bowen invited Momo:tempo to join him and Karrot Entertainment in the swampy everglades and ignious plains of ancient Earth, none of them had much of a clue whether the bloke from Bournemouth could score a cartoon. Or get inside the mind of a young caveboy and his best mate, a baby woolly mammoth. ..Well, and you’re there already – turns out, this was not going to be a problem. Especially with such a beautifully drawn world to explore.

 

“My absolute favourite board game from Christmases past was called Lost Valley Of The Dinosaurs. It evoked a kind of cartoon sense of adventure from the mines of old King Solomon himself, or something – larva flows and swamps and terrible lizards and lost gold” says Timo. “The very opening frame of Ben’s animatic, sent over to me from the chaps at Karrot a couple of years ago, had me instantly transported back to that tabletop reverie. It was an immediate, single-image trigger for me to want to dive right in.”

Ooman & Moof is written for young children. Those just about to start school, in fact, so the storytelling had to be almost completely straight. An interesting audience to write for, in any sense.

“Ben was clear on the way Nickelodeon wanted to target the tone to those who’s humour is largely slapstick and friendly. But I think we all felt that the best way to talk to, well, anyone – but also littler humans – is honestly from the idea. If we found that prehistoric world kind of gorgeous and evocative, anyone might. All we had to do was not clutter up the experience for them.”

Was this a challenge to turn into music?

“Nah,” grins Timo. “Cute little tunes is essentially just what I do. The thing for this was to make it sound in some way like animal skins and bits of bone are in the mix, even while we allow a kind of bouncy bright coloured production. The point is the same on anything I get to tackle – can I make something the audience will love that I will also want to put in a Momo live set? And the theme to Ooman & Moof? You freaking bet!”

And writer and production team seemed pleased with the result. As Ben says “Can’t praise Timo enough. He came out of nowhere with that first mix and nailed it!”

“It was a pleasure working with such positive people in such a beautiful little pocket universe,” responds Timo. “A wonderful little glimpse at making something for the little adventurers in us all.”

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