The Chiodo Brothers facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Chiodo Bros.
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From left to right: Stephen Chiodo, Charles Chiodo, and Edward Chiodo
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| Born |
Charles Anthony Chiodo
May 24, 1952 Stephen Joseph Chiodo March 2, 1954 Edward Michael Chiodo August 25, 1960 |
| Occupation | Special effects artists |
| Years active | 1982-present |
The Chiodo Brothers are a team of three brothers: Stephen, Charles, and Edward Chiodo. They were born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Deer Park. These brothers are famous for their incredible special effects in movies and TV shows. They are experts at creating creatures, using clay to make models, and bringing things to life with stop-motion animation and animatronics. Animatronics are like robotic puppets that can move.
They are especially known for their own movie, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. They also made puppets and effects for many other films. These include Critters, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Team America: World Police. The Chiodo Brothers created the cool clay animation part in the "Large Marge" scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure. They also made the stop-motion characters for the North Pole scenes in the movie Elf.
In 2010, they created the tiny mouse scenes for the movie Dinner for Schmucks. They also made the stop-motion Stone Age creatures for Cup Noodles ads in the 1990s. The brothers even worked as puppeteers on the TV show The Thundermans. They produced a puppet part for an episode of The Simpsons called "The Fight Before Christmas" in 2010. A music band called Chiodos was even named after them!
Their Work on The Simpsons
The Chiodo Brothers' studio has created clay animation parts for five different episodes of The Simpsons:
- A funny version of Davey and Goliath for the episode "HOMR" in 2001.
- Parodies of The California Raisins and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town for the episode "'-'Tis the Fifteenth Season" in 2003.
- A "couch gag" featuring the character Gumby for "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" in 2005.
- A parody of Wallace and Gromit for "Angry Dad: The Movie" in 2011.
- A dream sequence that made fun of Davey and Goliath for "Ned 'n' Edna's Blend Agenda" in 2012.
Recent Projects
On August 23, 2019, it was announced that the Chiodo Brothers were working on a stop-motion animated TV special. This special was based on the 2006 book Alien Xmas, which Stephen Chiodo helped write. The special, also called Alien Xmas, was released on Netflix on November 20, 2020. It was produced by Jon Favreau.
Special Effects in Movies and TV
The Chiodo Brothers have contributed their special effects talents to many films and TV shows:
- Flicks (1983) – They made character masks.
- Critters (1986) – They designed and supervised the "critter" creatures.
- Faerie Tale Theatre (1986, TV series; 1 episode) – They created models and effects.
- Critters 2 (1988) – They designed and supervised the creatures again.
- UHF (1988) – They created clay animation for the movie.
- Monsters (1988, TV series; 1 episode) – They created a monster.
- Critters 3 (1991) – They designed and supervised the critters.
- Ernest Scared Stupid (1991) – They designed the creature effects.
- Critters 4 (1992) – They designed and supervised the critters.
- Crash the Curiousaurus [ABC Weekend Special] (1995) – They made the Curiousaurus puppet costume.
- Masked Rider (1996) – They created the Ferbus puppet and Maggot costumes.
- The Stupids (1996) – They did stop-motion animation.
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997) – They made puppets for characters like Lerigot and Maligore.
- Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation (1997-1998) – They created the Turtle puppets.
- The Mr. Potato Head Show (1998–1999; 13 episodes) – They made the puppets.
- King Cobra (1999) – They created the creature effects.
- Elf (2003) – They supervised the stop-motion animation.
- Team America: World Police (2004) – They supervised the puppets.
- The Bite-Sized Adventures of Sam Sandwich (2012, TV series) – They were the main puppet makers.
- Alien Abduction (2014) – They designed the creatures.
- Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021) - They did stop-motion animation.
