But special effects alone do not make a good film, therefore we have fine animators as well. First and foremost we are glad to have the support of Harold Whitaker, who is one of the most experienced British animators. Also, a young talent, Uli (Ulrich) Meyer was working on the film; at only 24 years old he animated some of our nicest scenes. Now he has gone to join the Disney staff. Apart from myself there is Hal Clay, one of the better Eastern animators and, when he finds the time, Wolfgang Urchs himself. We expect to finish work on this film by the end of ‘87. This first venture into feature animation is giving us a lot of experience; we face many problems and solve them one way or another, but there is a lot of work behind every scene and we all aim for the very best we can.
Paramount and UIP seem to like what they are getting – a rather good film for a very small budget. And there are plans to do another feature.
The Story:
Stowaways on the Ark is about a couple of woodworms who, by some coincidence, live in one of the trees used to build “Noah’s Ark”. This way they enter the Ark totally unnoticed by Noah and his family. Wudi Wud (the woodworm) and his wife Alice are very happy about this, because as there is so much wood around them, they will never have to worry about food.
But this situation is soon to change drastically. Once the Ark is christened, some evil termites enter the ship aboard a wine bottle! This means danger, not only to the small family of Wudi, but also for the Ark itself. As soon as the termites are aboard, they start to destroy the wood. Unfortunately the other animals only know of the woodworms and not the termites, so it is no wonder they blame Wudi and his family for destroying the ship.
As a result, the poor worms are hunted, not only by the villainous termites, but by practically everybody aboard Noah’s Ark. Because the woodworms are the only ones who know the real danger, it is up to them to save the ship. And so the little woodworms contribute to the success of the mission of Noah’s Ark.
