Preston is a non-speaking character in Wallace and Gromit and the main antagonist of A Close Shave. He is actually a robotic cyber-dog who is a fearsome looking one. He appears in A Close Shave as a deuteragonist. He was left to Wendolene by her father (Mr. Ramsbottom ). He forced her into starting an illegal sheep rustling scam for wool for her shop during the wool shortage but soon after pilfering Wallace's blueprints for the Wash-o-matic and adapting them for his own ends, he turned to making his own dog food. Unfortunately for him, his plans failed as Shaun swung in and knocked him flying into the Mutton-o-matic dog food making machine. He was then reassembled on a trolley and behaves like a normal dog.
Appearance in "The Curse of the Ramsbottoms"
In "The Curse of the Ramsbottom" comic strip from the book Wallace and Gromit and the Lost Slipper, he is now a cyber-butler under the employ of Wendolene and her evil fiance, the cheese magnate Rhett Leicester with his army of gnomes.
Personality
Preston was build to be a friendly, and helpful aid, but unfortunately, the end product was anything but. Preston is a pitiless thug and criminal, obsessed with wealth. He was willing to sink to the lowest depths to complete his agenda, willing to dispose of anyone or anything that interfered. He'd also be willing to brutally mince up sheep or humans to make more valuable dog food.
A portrait of him with his inventor indicates that perhaps at one time, Preston was the faithful companion he was designed to be before his more sinister programming came to be.
He feels no loyalty towards Wendolene, whom he had forced into his sheep rustling scheme and had take part in his slaughter of the innocent animals. When she tried to stop him from attacking Shaun, he locked her up with the rest of them and did not hesitate to add her to the herd that was to be minced next.
After his destruction at the hands of Shaun however, he has been rendered totally harmless by Wallace and now acts as the more faithful pet he was meant to be.
Trivia
- Preston is named after the lancashire town of Preston, which Nick Park comes from.
- Preston might be a parody of The Terminator due to being covered in skin and is an robot. Also both Preston's and first Terminator's fates were similar: Preston was crushed by a machine and the terminator was crushed by a hydraulic press.
- He resembles several different breeds of dog, but he mostly looks like an anthromoporthic presa canario.
- The Preston also shares similarities with the robots from the Simpsons episode, Itchy and Scratchy Land, as well as the animatronics from the indie survival horror game, Five Nights at Freddy's (though this can be considered merely coincidental as the game was released more than a decade after A Close Shave).
- Apart from growling and roaring, Preston is silent.
- Unlike the penguin, who threatened to kill Wallace, Preston has killed many sheep very inhumanely, and because of this, he is probably the darkest character Aardman has created, alongside Mrs Tweedy.
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