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"Life as the sole sale item in the clearance corner of Eben’s Bikes can get lonely," says the short’s blurb.
"So Red, a unicycle, dreams up a clown owner and his own juggling act that steals the show. But all too soon, the applause turns into the sound of rainfall, as reality rushes back. Red must resign himself to sitting in the corner and awaiting his fate."
The film was directed by John Lasseter, with technical direction by Eben Ostby, hence ‘Eben’s Bikes’.
This Pixar short was one of a handful that led to Lasseter’s full-length feature ‘Toy Story’, the film that put CGI on the map.
‘Red’s Dream’ was cutting-edge for 1987. Spokes and tyre treads, and the realistic rain drops seen later in the short, were seen as tough computer animation challenges at the time.
Only a tiny snippet of ‘Red’s Dream’ is available on Pixar’s website. However, with Apple needing content for its video iPod, Jobs did a deal with himself and allowed iTunes 6.0 to stock ‘Red’s Dream’ and other Pixar shorts.
