10 Things You Need to Know About Oscar’s Hotel

**SO. DAMN. MUCH. has been recently revealed in the run up to the release of upcoming series Oscar’s Hotel For Fantastical Creatures.**

After keeping a tight lid on things, PJ Liguori and co. are now spilling all sorts of juicy information about the show. Just for you, here’s the full rundown of EVERYTHING you need to know to keep you clued in!

1. The Basics

Oscar’s Hotel For Fantastical Creatures is a six episode web series that originated from New Form Digital’s original “Incubator” short films which premiered in October 2014. As well as PJ, other creators that year included Bertie Gilbert and Tim Hautekiet.

After being picked up for a six-episode series, Oscar’s Hotel for Fantastical Creatures is now leaving YouTube and moving over to Vimeo on Demand. The series will be available to watch from 15 September, and is available for pre-order now over at oscarshotelseries.com.

2. You don’t need to have seen the original short film

While the series will be influenced by the short film released last year, it will not be running in direct canon with what happened in it.

Honestly though, by this point, why haven’t you seen it? Tut, tut. Correct that now.

The new web series will be based around the character of Oliver taking over the hotel after his uncle Oscar gets called away for “unexpected cosmic council business”. Trying to maintain order while seriously out of his depth, Oliver ends up going on a number of adventures with his magical and mystical guests.

3. It stars a load of great YouTubers

As well as Chris Kendall reprising his role as Oliver, there will be a whole host of YouTubers present in Oscar’s Hotel. After his previous announcement that YouTube’s Holy Trinity (otherwise known as Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart and Grace Helbig) will be part of the cast, PJ has now further announced the inclusion of, *deep breath*, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, Dan Howell, Phil Lester, Mitchell Davis, Tom “TomSka” Ridgewell, Jack Howard, Dean Dobbs, Benjamin Cook, Bertie Gilbert, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Marzia Bisognin. We’re going to need a little lie down now.

4. The cast list doesn’t stop there

As if all that YouTube talent wasn’t enough, also checking into the hotel are Albert and Norbet the Repossession Fish, voiced by some pretty incredible actors.

Firstly, there’s none other than the BAFTA nominated Alfred Molina. Star of Indiana Jones, An Education and Chocolat, he is probably best known for playing the iconic Doctor Octopus in Spiderman 2. And if that wasn’t enough, starring alongside him will be…

5. PATRICK STEWART

Let’s just repeat that.
Patrick. Freaking. Stewart.
Captain Jean Luc Picard.
Professor Charles Xavier.
One half of our friendship goals with Ian Mckellen.
All round absolute legend.

THAT Patrick Stewart.

Pretty CLAWsome right? Right?! ….We’ll go stand over there in the corner.

6. The creatures are in good hands

It was going to take someone pretty damn special to make some of PJ’s creations become reality, and boy oh boy did they get the best in the business.

The Jim Henson Creature Shop, creators of fantasy characters in films such as Labyrinth, Where the Wild Things Are and of course the people behind The Muppets, are bringing Oscar’s Hotel to life with a combination of their expert prosthetics and puppetry, as well as being producers on the series. (We’re also now secretly hoping for an Oscar’s Hotel/Muppets crossover one day. PJ and Miss Piggy, imagine it!)

PJ gave us a glimpse of what Creature Shop had been getting up to in a behind-the-scenes video he released on 21 July.

7. Some familiar faces will be returning

Fans of PJ’s previous work will not be left disappointed with the upcoming series, with the promise some of his most beloved (or in one case terrifying) characters checking in to the hotel for a night or two.

As well as the Repossession Fish already mentioned, the demon horse from Party Nightmare will be returning and, *gulp*, Wiggles the Clown among others.

8. They took VidCon by storm

There was a whole load of Oscar’s Hotel goodness happening at VidCon for anyone lucky enough to attend. On top of an exclusive, limited edition t-shirt designed by Olan Rogers on offer, the cast and crew took part in a panel event, were handing out discount codes for the show, popped up at meet and greets around the convention, and were also supplying these awesome temporary tattoos which we demand be made available for all of us here at TenEighty HQ.

Love the tattoos @Chris_Kendall_ @kickthepj #OscarsHotel pic.twitter.com/Nj2SrFMFKm

— Kayla Castro (@xkaylacastrox) July 25, 2015

Red, the hotel’s taxi driver, also stopped by for a selfie or two on the main floor, and was free to answer some questions surrounding his new found fame.

This is what happens when I meet @mmitchelldaviss while he is dressed as Red from Oscars Hotel!!! Love him lots!!! pic.twitter.com/GZUZsOQEcA

— spook dude (@MckenzySlate) July 26, 2015

Finally, there was an Oscar’s Hotel show on the main stage of the convention as part of the Closing Cermony, which included a quiz with the cast members, Jack and Dean airing out some aggression issues, exclusives being shown to the audience, merchandise being thrown from the stage and a drive-by appearance from Albert and Norbert.

And now we have the repossession fish! pic.twitter.com/rBwFX7IZei

— New Form (@NewFormDigital) July 25, 2015

For anyone would didn’t attend Vidcon, we’ve been told to keep our online eyes peeled for some upcoming opportunities! (And we’re sure if we bug them enough we can get a thing or two at SitC…just sayin’.)

9. You can show your support on Twitter

There is now an official Twibbon available for you to add the Oscar’s Hotel logo to your Twitter profile pics. You can do that here.

10. There’s a short teaser if you’re not excited enough already

Why can’t it be 15 September now? WHY?!

11. Oscar’s Hotel wasn’t the only Incubator short to be picked up for a series

One bonus point for the road: while we at TenEighty are getting excited about PJ and company’s upcoming series, we should also mention that across the pond, US YouTuber Sawyer Hartman has also been picked up for a series after his New Form Digital short Parallax also caught the attention of Vimeo.

“PJ Liguori and Sawyer Hartman are two amazing talents whose diverse creative visions are representative of the breadth of talent that New Form Digital is supporting,” said Kathleen Grace, Chief Creative Officer for New Form Digital.

Now called The Parallax Theory, Sawyers sci-fi thriller series will also be six episodes long, and will be based around a young physicist named Jonathan who discovers information regarding an upcoming and potentially fatal meteor strike, and what he has to do to stop it.

Feeling Inspired?

If you wonder how he does it, why not check out PJ’s guide to being creative. Alternatively, you can check out this year’s Incubator series, featuring Jack & Dean, Emily Diana Ruth and Ben Cook.

We have more stories about PJ and Oscar’s Hotel too, why not check these out: