THE WINNER (CARTOON)

'The Winner' is a cult British animation created, written and voiced by 3D animator / designer John S Barnard and poet/songwriter Graham Heathcliff Pierrepoint, hosted entirely through the internet. The series revolves around the running gag of it being a poor Winnie the Pooh imitation, and stars twisted caricatures of the characters created by A.A. Milne. There have currently been three episodes aired on the internet to date, through both Youtube and Google Video.

Contents

Central Themes and Characters

Recurring Jokes and In-Gags

Episodes

Future

Trivia

Links

Central Themes and Characters

Each episode revolves around the exploits of two central characters, 'The Winner' and 'The Piglut.' Each episode usually opens with a discussion or debate between the pair, usually leading the eponymous Winner creating a wayward scenario for Piglut to try and neutralise, often to little avail. The location of the series has varied from episode to episode, from a stately home, to a Barnsley nightclub, to Meadowhall Shopping Centre near Sheffield, England (the since lost original designs for episode four saw the pair visit both a bell tower in Doncaster and, for the first time, Winner's house). The relationship between the two characters is seen as an adult, absurd twist upon the roles of Pooh and Piglet, in that one is a well-meaning yet low-intellect philosopher, whilst the other is a timid, intellectual lateral thinker.

★ 'The Winner (aka 'Pooh')'
The Winner as a character is the central stooge of the show's screenplay, and is depicted as a well-meaning, yet intellectually-impaired, foul-mouthed and bad-tempered bear. Winner's position is often to create a nonsensical twist upon purposefully mundane events (i.e. his refusal to help Piglut obtain a bank loan from Natwest due to spontaneously going blind, further implicating that they 'have to go to the beach', in the pilot episode), leaving the common-sensical Piglut to try and repair matters. Winner wears little but a red shirt on which his name is spelt 'Teh Winner' (a reference to leet), and is notable for having one eye twice the size of the other. He is dark brown in colour, and is often seen to be scowling.
Barnard, who voices the character, is said to have based Winner's rasping, anarchic voice upon his own pastiche of Adrian Edmonson. He carries a strong Yorkshire dialect and often sounds irritated when he is in fact quite the opposite.

★ 'Piglut'
Piglut is seen as the straight man of the series and as a punching bag for his friend's foibles and misadventures. He is depicted as a bipedal elephant with no arms, and is dressed in a pink shirt with his name written on the front (albeit 'piglet' spelt wrong). He consistently refers to Winner as Pooh, whilst Winner refers to him as ''The'' Piglut. Piglut has a sensitive, yet easily-irritated demeanor, often becoming as foul-mouthed as his counterpart in some instances. Within the series, Piglut is shown to only have ever been at harmony once with his friend - within the first scene of the pilot episode.
Pierrepoint voices Piglut, in a high, concerned lilt, said to be inspired by both Pingu and Jimmy Somerville.

Recurring Jokes and In-Gags

The Winner's humor revolves around the absurd, giving extremely mundane events a sideways twist, whilst maintaining a theme of crass language and the central preoccupation of Winner's stupidity. The style of humor is comparable to that of Tenacious D's televion show (and furthermore The Pick of Destiny), undoubtedly an inspirational factor on the part of Barnard. A lot of the humour further revolves around the character's voices, which are intentionally ridiculous.
The duo often find themselves situated around locations in South Yorkshire, from where Barnard was born and raised.

Episodes

'1. 'Lawrence' '
The Winner attempts to help Piglut ease his money woes, only to run into spontaneous physical disability.
'2. 'Chris' '
The Winner is inquisitive about Piglut's origins, leading them to seek the knowledge of Christopher Robin pastiche Scott Robbing.
'3. 'Retard' '
The duo do some shopping at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, only for The Winner to push the barriers of science, and run into an unwanted conversationalist.
'4. 'Bell' (CANCELLED) '
The Winner and Piglut steal a bell from a Doncaster church tower in order for the bear to prevent aliens from abducting him.
'5. 'The Winner Movie' (UNCONFIRMED) '
It is currently unknown whether a feature-length Winner project will go ahead.

Future

In September 2006, work began on episode four of the series, only for it to be both delayed and later lost by Barnard and Pierrepoint due to computer issues. Barnard and Pierrepoint have since confirmed that an all-new episode four will eventually become a reality, though they are currently working heavily on finalizing the first episode of their first 3D animation together, Sidewards.
Pierrepoint has since expressed want to do "at least two more Winners", though the status of episode four has yet to change from being green-lighted.

Trivia

★ The central idea behind the series originates from Barnard's discovery of a cartoon being shown on Greek television, also entitled 'The Winner', which appeared a little too close to Winnie the Pooh for comfort. The central themes of the episodes being consistently pointless, Winner having a constant need to 'go to the beach' and Piglut appearing as an animal he clearly isn't are all purposely referencing this little-known (and possibly highly illegal) animated series.

★ In the pilot episode, Pierrepoint voices Winner's expletive after the credit roll, not Barnard.

★ The episode 'Retard' references no less than three real-life people in Barnard and Pierrepoint's lives.

★ Each episode reportedly takes a full day to write, create and voice.

★ The dialogue between Piglut and Tamela in 'Retard' was recorded by Pierrepoint in one full take.

★ The nightclub 'Hedonism', featured in 'Chris', no longer exists in real life.

★ 'Chris' credits the voice of Scott Robbing to 'BullStar', a pseudonym used by Barnard's younger brother.

★ Despite being extremely near-to-the-knuckle in terms of both content and language, there has never been one use of the word cunt within the first three episodes, though Winner was heard to utter it during an explanation of his alien trap in the mock-up for 'Bell' (''..then he comes along [h]ere, stands there an[d] activates a pressure pad, which makes the bell come down and capture the cunt'').

★ According to Barnard and Pierrepoint, both Winner and Piglut use pseudonyms. The Winner's real name is 'Alan Trincham' (an obscure reference to Altrincham, whereas Piglut's real name is 'Luke Annetts'.

★ Barnard and Pierrepoint have intentions to introduce more recurring characters should there be future escapades; notably 'Teh Tigger' (based on Tigger of the Pooh stories), and 'evil' variations on the central duo (with Pierrepoint and Barnard switching roles to play their evil counterparts).

★ The series is often perceived to be a 2D animation, though is completely animated in 3D. There have been several giveaways to this aspect in previous episodes, notably Winner spinning round to indicate his flatness in 'Lawrence', and the bear leaping in and out of the 2D scenery after a camera shift in 'Retard'.

★ Barnard and Pierrepoint famously hold the series, though slightly mocking, in quite low regard. This is in reference to their astonishment at the show's popularity and overshadowing of Barnard's more laborsome (and perhaps more critically approved) series Testicle Chin Man (Pierrepoint recently remarked that "''Only complete arseholes watch and actually like The Winner.''")

Links

★ 'The Winner' Homepage

★ Winner's 'Myspace Page'

★ Pilot Episode - 'Lawrence'