Prepping Color...

You been busted...







Those of you that have read this blog often know that I'm a huge "Prep & Landing" fan...

Well those of you that are at Disney California Adventure for World of Color this Friday will get a special treat. There will be a pre-show featuring the lovable elves, Lanny and Wayne before the actual show begins. It's only a couple minutes long, but it's still a wonderful little promotion that they've put together to push, "Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice."

Anyone that's a fan of the WDAS short will sure to love it...

Not So Secret Santa...

What the Elf is going on here...




Don't forget to watch the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" special to see the new "Prep & Landing" short tomorrow...

That new six minute short will be there to give you more of those cute little elves from last Christmas's holiday special. If you follow the blog then you know how much I love that special and thought it was the best thing WDAS had done since Lasster came on board. Of course this was prior to "Tangled."

Set your dial or set your DVR...

Landing Respect...

Ho, ho, ho...





Walt Disney Animation Studios has been struggling to find the success that their younger sister studio has had for the last few years...

Personally, I've liked everything they've done since Lasseter took over far better than the decade of work that came before it. I thought "Bolt" was a well crafted story and "The Princess and the Frog" was a return to classic Disney animation. Both were financial disappointments, but not huge runaway successes like the Lamp is used to having.

But if you remember, my favorite project that WDAS has done so far is the ABC special, "Prep & Landing." I think that show has all the creativity and originality that everyone was looking for when imagining what Lasseter would come up with in charge of the Hat Building. Bolt had the baggage of coming from another story and Frog was another take on the Disney Princesses. This was original and charming. And it's been a huge success. Not only was it big in the ratings, it's won a good deal of awards since it came out. And over the weekend, it won some more.

The Creative Arts Emmys were held over the weekend and the Little Christmas Special won four Emmys. Prep won for Outstanding Animated Program. It won for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Animation: Background, Art direction and Storyboard. Congratulation to all the winners, you absolutely deserve it. Now get back to working with Wayne and Lanny.

I can't wait to see those Elves again in that new short...

Meanwhile, Up At The North Pole...

Let it snow... Let it be... Let snow... Let it be...


If you've been following the posts here since X-Mas you've noticed my love for all things Lanny and Wayne...

And the public agrees, along with the critics apparently. As I mentioned a short while back, it's my favorite thing the new regime has done. It's also the most successful thing they've done. By far, actually. The ratings for the show were beyond what The Alphabet Network had hoped for. And out of all things done since John Lasseter entered the picture ("How to hook up you Home Theater," "Bolt," "Princess and the Frog," "Prep & Landing"), it's the one, true hit; the only piece of animation to make it out of the ballpark in every sense of the word. And with success comes more of what the people like/want.

Another adventure with Lanny and Wayne is currently being worked on inside the story department of WDAS. It was to be. There is development being pushed for another special, although I don't know if it'll be another Christmas special and it most likely won't be ready for this year. But that is the thinking and another thought that hasn't yet been approve is to turn this into Pooh. Whahh?

Remember how "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" was created? It wasn't made as a feature, originally broke apart into shorts. Walt didn't feel it was ready to be seen by the public as an entire film, so he broke it into pieces. Once the first part was a success, the rest moved into production and a few years after the last one was completed they combined all of them and put it together as a feature. No one today thinks anything other than it being a feature. By that I mean kids and most adults. The thinking right now amongst those at the hat is... maybe. They like this idea for the Christmas Elves, and that's the thinking of the moment. If the next special delivers the same kind of numbers it'll be a given that this strategy follows up.

Does that mean we get a full film that gets a DVD/Blu-Ray release or a theatrical release? Too early to know for sure, but should the further adventures of these little guys prove popular then a combined feature will get at least a limited run (ala: "Tinker Bell") before going to home video. If all things go well, you might see a full release on the schedule, but not for a few years. Think 2012 or 2013, at least. But it's fun and great to hear. I don't know if the original directors, Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton will be heading the project, but I'd trust it more if they were.

Time will tell...

A Beautiful Landing...

The reviews for "Prep & Landing" are starting to come out...

Check out Variety's review of the show. Couldn't agree more. Watch it tonight.

I'm going to be checking my Naughty/Nice list...

Santa Wants You...

This is sooooo tassle!


Here's an example of great concept art turned into posters for a coming Christmas classic...



These and many more concept sketches and artwork were shown off at the D23 panel on "Prep & Landing" all the way back in September. I wondered if they'd release them.





And now they have, on the official website for the special you can download pdf's of each of these beautiful posters. And that's not all, there are all kinds of downloadable trinkets, plus recipes! Not to mention all the behind the scenes videos and commercial parodies. Go over and check the site out; it's soooo tinsel!






Don't forget to watch this Tuesday on ABC. I'm already looking forward to the DVD/Blu-Ray. I hear they're going to fill it with a load of extras.





What a great X-Mas treat...

Landing Delayed...

It appears that the debut of "Prep & Landing" tomorrow is a casualty of President Obama's press conference...

The X-Mas special has been delayed a week and will now premiere on December 8th. Set your DVR recorders. Ok, if you miss it then, it'll be rebroadcast on December 16th as well. Of course, if you do watch it on the 8th, this just means you can see it twice in two weeks. It's a great special and I can't wait to own the DVD. Actually, I plan on buying the Blu-Ray.

Cause it is sooooo tinsel...

P&L PSA...

If you've heard me talk about ABC airing WDAS' "Prep & Landing" you know how much I enjoyed it...

Take a look at this little animated short for P&L that runs like a public Service announcement from the past. Clever and cute just like the special.

Enjoy...

Prepping Prep & Landing...

The website for Walt Disney Animation Studios' ABC Special: "Prep & Landing" has went live and added all kinds of content...

There are several preview and making of videos on the site you might like to take a look at. Feel free to enjoy all the details about this wonderful holiday special. I know I've raved about this special before, but it really is worth the hype. It's clever, sweet and beautifully animated. If only all animation on television was this good.

And just so you know, if this special does well over Christmas the Mouse may have more gifts for you over the next few years. So, now who's list are you on?

Be nice...

Prepping The Landing...

I love how as time goes by Disney is adding more and more content to the website...

The Walt Disney Animation Studios website, I mean. You remember when they published a lot of concept artwork for "The Princess and the Frog" and before that there were the video interviews and slowly they've added little bits and pieces. Then yesterday, the "Rapunzel" artwork was added. Now we've got "Prep & Landing" artwork. Two new pieces that you see here. If you want to enjoy bigger versions then click HERE and HERE.

The holidays should be quite jolly with this on the air...

How Long Before More Shorts?

All right...

By now, everyone knows that the new Goofy short will premiere before "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" next month, but the real question is what is next? And when?

Well, from what my sources tell me, there are at least five shorts in active development. Three of which are well into production. The next one we will see after Goofy, may not be until next summer, but right now it looks as though the debut of "Bolt" a year from now will yield the next one. There has been talk of having a summer release of the next one, but as of right now there is no definite decision as to place one before next summers offerings.

So what will come in front of "Bolt"?

Well, that movie is being directed by Chris Williams and the short that will play in front of it will be one directed by...

Chris Williams?

Yup. Chris Williams got the job taking over the directing chores on "American Dog", now known as "Bolt" when John Lasseter saw the story reels for his new short, "Glago's Guest". So he not only has the pressure of being the first film released under The Mousetro's reign, but he also has a short that he directed attached to the front of his directorial debut. Not much pressure, eh?

From what I'm told "Glago's Guest" will be a very beautiful, artsy tale about a Russian guard out in the in the middle of nowhere that is visited by an extraterrestrial. It was good enough for Lasseter to trust him with a major animated feature. And before you ask... yes, it is CG.

So what else can we expect?

Well, as well as the short from Goofy's "How To", "Glago's Guest", we have "The Ballad of Nessie" and "Prep And Landing". There are another couple that are in preliminary stages. Yes, Disney's classic characters will be in some of these... in fact one short that is being planned will be directed by Disney Legend Eric Goldberg involving the classic trio themselves. There is a chance that the "Nessie" one could be ready by fall next year, but I don't think we'll see it before "Glago"... just my own intuition, schedules could change. The "Nessie" short(about the Loch Ness Monster, of course) should be interesting, it's being done by the directors of the Goofy short, it's hand drawn like the "Goofy" short and is very much in the style of Mary Blair's drawings. The story of "Prep" is about some very inept elves that prepare Santa's sleigh for Christmas Eve to disastrous results... do you think Disney will plan on releasing this one during a certain holiday season? There are many, many shorts being prepared for pitches, not all will make it into production, of course. The goal will be to have at least two a year by the end of next year... if things go well, they may try for three a year, but we'll have to see how they go and play for the audience.

But come December 21st, we'll get to see a new Disney short, and trust me...

It won't be the last.