Battletanx (Cuddles the Bear) – 1998

This was a really fun project. The idea was that a cute, somehow familiar little teddy bear begins telling us about laundry, but is rudely interrupted by a tank, which plows into the laundry room and chases down the bear, shooting off its arm and ear, igniting it, and finally running over it. As I understand the story, there was a little concern expressed by another company who uses a little teddy bear in their laundry commercials, and the spot was pulled before it had run very long. This always seemed to happen with the really good spots.

I designed the bear puppet and made it from scratch, and was the main puppeteer on the spot. Jonathan Searles operated the running feet, and Jamie Hyneman came up with the flammable gel to set the puppet on fire with while my arm was inside of it. He assured me that it would be safe. It wasn’t really safe after all, but I escaped unharmed, luckily!

Most of these shots are video screen grabs, so not the best quality.