A Grand Day Out

Wallace builds a homemade rocket because he runs out of cheese and assumes the moon is made of it. That simple joke drives the 1989 short and introduces the Wallace and Gromit mix of absurd invention and deadpan reactions.

Yes, it was Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit debut and began as a National Film and Television School project. Aardman later became closely identified with the characters through shorts such as "The Wrong Trousers" in 1993.

Peter Sallis voices Wallace, giving the character the cheerful northern English sound that became central to the series. Gromit does not speak, so his personality comes from expression, timing, and stop-motion animation.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but Nick Park's "Creature Comforts" won that year. The nomination still helped establish Wallace and Gromit internationally before later films such as "A Close Shave."