Space Oddity from Andrew Ruttan on Vimeo.
When illustrator Andrew Kolb created a children’s book of the David Bowie classic “Space Oddity,” he got slapped with a cease-and-desist order from Bowie’s lawyers. But animator Andrew Ruttan took Kolb’s drawings—inspired by the melancholy space tune—and created a small video. It’s pretty good, especially now that we have no idea whether we’ll ever see Kolb’s book in print.
kylew
I think it’s such a shame that Bowie et all are so small minded. It IS an awesome song, but it’s not like there are thousands of companies lining up to make rival movies or books. This could have added to the mystique of the piece and introduced it to a new generation. Very short sighted in my opinion.
Kolb should just change it to Major Bob and release the book.
Storm
The issue is copyright. Did Kolb seek and obtain David Bowie’s permission before Kolb created his book? Original creators are obligated to defend their copyrights from infringers or risk losing those copyrights.
In any case, I love the song, and I love this little animation.
Harley
Storm, that’s not correct. You’re thinking of trademarks. Rights holders of creative content can’t lose copyright, even if they disappear and never acknowledge their existence again, such as the authors of the orphaned works that Google is trying to digitise.
Lefty
The best use of this song was in C.R.A.Z.Y., imo…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i4skKRMvJQ&feature=related