If You Love Wallace & Gromit

Hanna has claimed--entirely appropriately--the finder's credit for first spotting this rather indescribable artifact of 1960s British television on a Dr. Who episode [Update: Hanna says it's "The Sea Devils"]--and later coming across a blog post (I'm sorry! I've misplaced the link), which led us to this adorable-yet-strange British stop-motion animated series called The Clangers.

This two-series show (which ran from 1968-1972) is made up of ten-minute episodes featuring the Clangers, a race of small pink knitted aliens, and a cast of characters including the Soup Dragon, the Iron Chicken, the Hoots, the (terrifying) Froglets, and the Music Note Trees.

Here is the episode called "The Treasure":



While the complete series is only available from the UK on Region 2 DVDs, you can view a number of episodes on YouTube:

The Intruder.

Music.

The Pipe Organ.

The Visitor.

And Hanna's favorite, The Iron Chicken.

They make great study-break or bedtime viewing. Just the thing by which to nod off over a mug of whiskey-laced hot chocolate with vanilla marshmallows.