Thundermaus
Thundermaus is a children's sci-fi space comedy for adults, featuring teddy bears. We follow the adventures of the salvage ship ISS Thundermaus, as its crew of bears, blunder through the universe, trying to find their way back home. Among the crew is the sea salty Captain Ted, his worrisome assistant Deloris, the eccentric scientist Professor Pepperdine, the ships annoying chatterbox computer: Margery and a rather rude cleaning robot called Brian. Each episode hosts a range of strange scenarios and alien creatures, pitted against our teddy bear heroes.
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JS AdamsDirectorDV Mission
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Heidi WildingKey Cast"Deloris "DV Mission
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Sci-fi, comedy, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction
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Runtime:5 minutes
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Completion Date:January 7, 2019
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Production Budget:0 USD
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Making Waves Film FestivalPortsmouth
United Kingdom
February 13, 2019
Official Selection
Distribution Information
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Trash ArtsCountry: United KingdomRights: All Rights, Internet, Theatrical, Video / Disc, Free TV
JS Adams is a writer, musician and film maker. Graduating from London Southbank University in 2010, he regularly made short films and music videos in and around London, until the recession hit and the work dried up, forcing him to leave London and return to his home town of Portsmouth.
Between 2011 and 2016, he ran a popular art gallery in Portsmouth called 'White Elephant' which became the community hub of various art collaborations, gatherings and home to the production of his Tv series 'Thundermaus'.
'Thundermaus' began as an entry into the 48hr film festival, (held annually in Portsmouth), which Mr Adams and his team had been attending since its inception in 2007 and received many awards and accolades in the local news papers.
In 2011 his team decided to do something different and entered a short film about Teddy bears in space, called 'Thundermaus'. The film was nominated for 11 awards including best actress and won an award for 'most Inspired Special Effect' regarding a scene with a planetoid (made entirely of cake) that explodes at the end of the film.
As a result, festival organisers requested Mr Adams make further Thundermaus episodes, which were entered into the festival in the subsequent years, culminating in four sequels, two of which won further awards and nominations.
One episode entered into the festival, was later aired on national television via the Free View channel, featuring an interview with Mr Adams and his assistant / cameraman Kevin Alan Wilkins.
The latest episode (episode Six) was made independently of the festival, using much higher production values, with a view to branching out and gain funding to make Thundermaus into a professional Television series.
Splitting his time between writing and performing gigs with his band, Mr Adams is currently looking for production company interest, to develop Thundermaus into a Tv series for potential outlet on major Tv networks such as Channel 4 and the BBC.
I created a indy Tv series idea, based on a short film entered into the popular DV Mission 48hr film Challenge: our submitted concept was puppetry, using Teddy Bears in Space and we titled it "Thundermaus".
The audience’s reception to our film entry was so positive that the organisers requested more Thundermaus episodes to be created. I immediately began to think of the potential of making Thundermaus as an online Tv series, with reasonably good production values, pitched somewhere between The Clangers and Jerry Anderson's "Space 1999".
But as an independent production it necessitated all the headaches of securing studio space to build sets and secure funding to make it all happen.
Unable to get help from Arts Council funding, I secured a large car workshop with my partner, which lead to becoming a successful Art Gallery and Shop Share business, which also gave me space to work and develop Thundermaus.
This sparked a 5 year long journey, during which I had to put on many hats and cover many roles, such as managing the shop itself and liaison with clients, while simultaneously trying to juggle the series as scriptwriter, story-boardist and prop builder.
I took on a small film crew and each year we would make another short episode for the Film Festival and try to improve on the general aesthetics and production values. As a result, we generally received good results, winning awards and gaining notable publicity in our local News Paper.
We also set up a Facebook and blog page to help promote the series, which lead to an interview with my cameraman and myself, on That’s Solent TV, where we displayed various props and discussed the series. This gained us some airtime on The Freeview channel, where they broadcast a one-minute segment from Thundermaus.
Currently I am looking for a Tv production company with experience in Sci-Fi films or miniature work, to continue the series.