"Yodell-ay'all!"
—Brian
The Presentators was a short-lived series of animated shorts created by Aardman, commissioned by Nickelodeon UK and aired as commercial bumpers between 2002 and 2004. The shorts deal with the three eponymous Presentators, Brian, Stefan and Dan, as they attempt to host a show of some description without screwing it up.
The trio first appeared as animators in the award-winning 2001 short, The Deadline, in which they apologised for missing the deadline for their new film.
Not much else can be said; these shorts are really short (as in, it'd take less than half an hour to watch the entire series, including the original short on which they are based), and information on them is somewhat scarce. The series doesn't even have its own page on The Other Wiki. However, from 2009 to 2010, the series, in its (presumed) entirety was posted to Aardman Animations' YouTube channel, along with The Deadline, and can be viewed here.
The Presentators contains examples of:
- Big Red Lever: The Lever episode revolves mostly around Brian's obsession with one.
- British Brevity: A textbook example, perhaps even an extreme one.
- Call-Back: Dan says, 'You can never have too much storage!' in the Makeover episode. Later, in the Weather episode, he references this line as part of an Orphaned Punchline.
- Cartoon Creature: The three presenters. Interestingly, they can sometimes be heard stretching when they move around, fitting with their stick-thin limbs. We also never get to see their lower bodies.
- Censored for Comedy: Large portions of Dan's Silly Love Song in the Sound Effects episode are blocked out by Brian and Stef messing around with the sound button, which makes the song sound an awful lot like another kind of song...
- Classically-Trained Extra: Stefan, if Brian-mocking-him-behind-his-back is to believed.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Brian. Case in point: he brought a stick in a box to the studio, thinking it was a stick insect.
- Companion Cube: 'Kirsty', the Stick... Insect.
- Crying Wolf: On the Phone-In episode, Brian pranks his fellow Presentators twice by calling in with fake voices, first as a viewer to say it should be 'The Brian Show', and then as an old lady ordering pizza. Then a gruff voice claiming to be 'The Boss' calls in to express his displeasure with the show; Stefan and Dan naturally assume it's Brian and mocks him. Then Brian walks on-screen, just as Dan says 'what are you gonna do, take us off the air?' He does.
- Expressive Ears: Brian's ears were like that in earlier episodes, they would even wiggle whenever he'd move.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: Dan falls victim to this after eating a cake with nuts, bolts and 57 Chillis in it.
- Four-Fingered Hands: The presenters have these.
- Freudian Trio: The cheery and optimistic Brian is the Id; the level-headed and considerate Stefan is the Ego; and the sarcastic and pessimistic Dan is the Superego.
- Gilligan Cut: In the original short, Stefan makes it clear that they're 'not singing that song again'. What next?Stefan and Dan, wearing flower ruffs around their heads: "Busy bee, busy bee, all the flowers that you can see!"
- Hat of Power: The Hats in the "Musical Hats" episode, which are capable of playing music when lifted off the table.
- Hugh Mann: The Alien impersonating Dan gives off this impression.
- Invisible Anatomy: We never see the lower half of the presenters' bodies. A good thing, perhaps, as Brian is of the opinion that Stef's feet are 'alien'. Nor do we get to see Brian's leather pants in the Vacation episode.
- Minimalist Cast: The three presenters are the only characters seen or heard in the majority of the series; the only others are the handyman calling in looking for 'Frank', the presenters' boss, and the alien who impersonates Dan.
- Most Animators Are Animators: Brian, Stefan and Dan were originally a trio of animators apologising for missing their deadline. One gets the feeling that the animators who created them were somewhat frustrated with their own deadlines.
- Nightmare Retardant: In-Universe example. Stef tries to read a spooky story, but his co-presenters interrupt and ask he change it to make it less scary. It ends up starting with 'One day, there was a small dog'. They consider this quite spooky anyhow.
- Not So Above It All: In "Musical Hats", Stefan gets the other two to leave before revealing his secret desire to be a Cowboy.
- Only Sane Man: Stefan. Most of the time, anyway.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In-Universe example. On the "Phone-In" episode, Brian (who's at the switchboard) calls in with an exaggerated American accent, but abruptly drops it halfway through his prank call, giving the game away.
- Poetry: One episode revolves around Brian and Stefan reading a poem written by Dan, which horrifies them in the end.
- Punctuated Pounding: Dan, while smacking 'Kirsty' the 'Stick Insect' against the table.
- Reality-Changing Miniature: The weather map in the "Weather" episode alters Stef and Dan's side of the studio when Brian slaps weather symbols on it. So, naturally, when Brian puts a pencil on the map, a giant pencil crushes them both.
- The Theme Park Version: A literal example. It turns out that, when Brian supposedly visited America and came back with stereotypical Swiss souvenirs like cheese and a Cuckoo clock, he actually went to Switzerland in Texas, which is 'like the one in Europe, only bigger and with better rides'.
- In another version of the episode that aired on American television, it was the same plot except he went to Switzerland Land, which is a theme park.
- They Look Like Us Now: An Alien impersonates Dan for the majority of the Aliens episode.
- Totally Radical: Brian talks like this, with some southern localisms thrown in, when attempting an American accent on his return from his vacation. While dressed in Lederhosen.
