The pair will be putting their musical and artistic talents to work on the title sequence for the BBC's Olympic Games coverage. Though the Gorillaz characters won't be involved directly, rest assured, a monkey does feature. This is same the monkey familiar to all those who saw Albarn and Hewlett's work on the opera Monkey: Journey to the West. Only this time it's a journey to the East.
"Monkey and the characters will travel across China to Beijing," Hewlett explained. "While they will use magical powers to fight off various monsters and demons, they'll also use all sorts of Olympic sports as well. So Monkey might use gymnastic powers, Pigsy will be hurdling and Sandy uses tae kwon do."
The characters will be drawn in Hewlett's characteristic comic-book style, while the musical accompaniment comes courtesy of Blur's frontman. The concept clearly takes its inspiration from Monkey: Journey to the West, the "circus opera" co-conceived by Albarn and Hewlett last year.
"The whole idea was intriguing," said executive producer Jonathan Bramley. "[Gorillaz are] hugely successful and contemporary, and we like to refresh our coverage and attract new viewers. It's a little bit different and, hopefully, it'll capture the essence of what we think the Olympics is all about, and maybe wake a few people up."
A fine goal for television programming everywhere: wake people up! And then capture the "essence" of the Olympics by pitting animated monkeys and pigs against magical monsters.
Then again, "pigs v demons" sounds much more interesting than the six hours of discus coverage. Maybe what the Olympics needs is fewer athletic challenges and more fantasy showdowns.
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