Wallace and Gromit fans slam BBC as they make 'embarrassing' changes to iconic show: 'The worst thing!'
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Wallace and Gromit fans have expressed outrage over the new 4K Ultra HD remasters of four classic specials, claiming AI-enhanced restoration has damaged the beloved stop-motion animation series.
The restored versions, which include 1989's A Grand Day Out, 1993's The Wrong Trousers, 1995's A Close Shave and 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death, were meant to offer clearer, crisper visuals in Ultra High Definition.
However, long-time followers of Nick Park's Academy Award-winning creation have taken to social media to criticise what they describe as "garbage AI remasters".
The controversy surrounds Shout! Factory's Collector's Edition, priced at $119.98 (£94.38), which includes ten short films and the feature-length The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Fans claim the restoration process has compromised the original charm and texture of the claymation classics.
Reddit users shared comparison photos highlighting the degradation in quality, with one example showing text becoming considerably less readable in the upscaled version.
The YouTube channel highlighted the difference in pictures
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"The original work is altered under the guise of preservation, but in reality, the essence and details of the original are lost", one Reddit user wrote.
Another unhappy fan called the remaster "an embarrassment" and urged others to avoid Shout Factory products.
"Of all the things you could use AI to remaster and improve on imperfections, Wallace and Gromit (or any claymation) is just about the worst thing to apply it to", someone else said.
A fourth annoyed fan added: "This is very disappointing for a company that puts so much time and effort into stop-motion movies."
Fans have been left infuriated by the changes
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The backlash has been particularly focused on the AI processing's removal of the distinctive clay textures that characterised the original animations.
Professional critics have also weighed in on the controversial remasters, with Slant magazine noting significant issues with the latest special in particular.
The short most affected is A Matter of Loaf and Death which has been so drastically de-noised that it suffers from a clear loss of detail in some shots', the publication stated.
While Slant acknowledged that stop-motion generally benefits from 4K presentation, they concluded that "definitive transfers remain frustratingly out of reach".
A detailed critique emerged on YouTube, where the channel Interactive Menu and Screen Access posted a nearly 17-minute analysis of the new masters.
"It's an upscale, with some AI nonsense. I am disappointed", the YouTuber concluded in their review.
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The colour and details have been enhanced by AI
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The controversy comes as Wallace and Gromit prepare for their return to screens with new film Vengeance Most Fowl, twenty years after The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The upcoming feature has achieved a perfect 100 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews.
Ironically, the new film's plot centres on concerns about technology, as Gromit worries about Wallace's attachment to a "smart gnome" that turns malevolent.
Aardman director Merlin Crossingham assured fans about the film's traditional approach, telling the Metro: "We start with the stop-motion and we put them in front of the camera, and if the story needs something that we can't quite do in stop-motion, then we look at what the alternatives are".
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