Noah and Nelly In... Skyl Ark - Production

Production

The illustration style used in Noah and Nelly appears to have developed from the style used for Roobarb, but cel animation is used where Roobarb had marker drawings. Although this technique is arguably more polished, it does not create the same degree of "boiling" (i.e., deliberate misalignment of successive frames of animation) that was used to such innovative effect in the earlier series. Producer Bob Godfrey seems to have deliberately gone back to a more rough and ready style for his third cartoon series Henry's Cat, which was also better known than Noah and Nelly. It seems that more mainstream production techniques may have led to Noah and Nelly's ending up less famous than its siblings, in spite of its unique storyline and witty script. Equally, however, it could simply be down to the fact that Noah and Nelly was not repeated anywhere near as frequently as its stablemates; its final repeat run (which only covered selected episodes, not the full 26) was in 1980, a mere four years after it began, and it has not been shown on British television since. By contrast, both Roobarb and Henry's Cat were repeated into the 1990s and beyond.