Preston (Wallace & Gromit)

"Daddy created him for good but... he's turned out evil!"

- Wendolene about Preston.

Preston is the main antagonist of the 1995 Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave.

History
Preston was a robotic dog created by a scientist to help with his wool factory. After the scientist died, Preston took care of his daughter, Wendolene, who now owns the wool factory and shop.

However, Preston went rogue and made a scheme to steal sheep and turn them into his own brand of dog food. He had a huge, diabolical machine that would grind the live sheep to meat and dispense them into cans. The newspaper mentions that some of the sheep were killed on the spot instead of stolen, most likely due to Preston's violent temper. After discovering Wallace's knitting machine, he decided to steal the blueprints so he can make his own version for shearing sheep. When Gromit tried to unveil his plot, Preston framed the other dog for his own thefts and killings.

With Gromit in jail, Preston had free range over the clueless Wallace and the nonthreatening Wendolene. Preston's plan was eventually foiled by Shaun, who broke Gromit out of jail. Preston was sucked into his own grinding machine while trying to use it on Wallace and Wendolene, and was crushed into pieces. He was eventually reassembled, and seemingly restored to his original, kinder nature.

Trivia

 * Preston is most likely a parody of the Terminator: Both of their fates are similar, as Preston is crushed by a machine and Terminator by a hydraulic press.
 * He is the first Aardman antagonist to be redeemed.
 * His true robotic form resembles Mechagodzilla. Like the original Mechagodzilla, Preston also wore a fake skin disguise to conceal his true identity.
 * Preston resembles several different breeds of dog, but he mostly looks like an anthromoporthic presa canario.
 * He is also similar to Long Eared Jack as both were thought to be real animals but only to be discovered as robots near the end of their films. However while Jack was being controlled by Carols, Preston had a mind of his own.
 * In the film, when Preston turns on Wendolene, she tells him "Daddy didn't create you for this!", foreshadowing his eventual reveal as a robot.
 * He is named after the Lancashire town of the same name, which Nick Park (the creator of Wallace and Gromit) was born in.
 * He is similar to Philip, another canine villain in the Wallace and Gromit series. The main difference between them is that Preston is a robot while Philip is a regular dog.