#ibtimothy

When I first saw the commercial for Netflix with the hand puppet beaver and the talking fish, I thought, "Now that's creative!" I loved how fluidly the beaver switched from hand puppet to animation on his way to his river home. When I did some further research I found this post on meoble.com. It gave a little background with a link to the commercial on youtube.

Then I came upon the comments and one person, Karen, had this to say:

"This ad is a total rip-off of a well established stop motion series Beaver Creek Episodes, which has been on youtube since 2008. Every motif has already been used by Ian Timothy, including a similarly decorated lodge, a duck friend who wears hats, a flat screen tv, even the talking fish. How low, Netflix, the animator is only 17."

So I went to youtube to investigate, and she's right.  Beaver Creek is brilliant! There's the duck and the fish with the same low voice. And Ian Timothy, the creator, is indeed 17 years old! Congrats on making something awesome Ian, and I'm awaiting episode 8! 

Very impressive! He also made a great film that detailed the "Art and Science of Animation" very eloquently. Check out his youtube channel, IBTimothy.  You'll also see a fun behind the scenes film where his dad's musical talents are on display.

So in conclusion, I'm disappointed in the Netflix commercial. Granted there are differences: the Beaver is British and not a hick, and there's a cool elevator in his pad. But the fish in the end, which was a funny punchline, is way too similar to Beaver Creek's fish. However, I am glad that their commercial lead me to Beaver Creek, and that is something I'm very very thankful for.

Keep it up Ian, and hopefully I can get on with my next stop-motion project.