'Prep & Landing' Wins 4 Creative Arts Emmys

Prep & Landing, the first TV special produced for ABC by Walt Disney Animation Studios, won four Creative Arts Emmys Saturday night. This "pre-show" at the Nokia Theater in L.A. was a lead-up to the Emmys, which will air live, August 29.

Prep & Landing swept the animation categories, winning Outstanding Animation Program (Exec. Producers Chris Williams and John Lasseter, Producer Dorothy McKim, and Directors/Writers Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton were singled out for this award), and three Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation (a juried award won by Background Key Designer William M. George III, Art Director Andy Harkness, and Storyboard Artist Joe Mateo).

Other winners of the night include The Simpsons, the Robot Chicken Christmas Special, and The Ricky Gervais Show.

This portion of the Emmys will air this Friday on E!, while the main Emmys ceremony will air live on August 29, with host Jimmy Fallon.

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The 37th Annie Awards' Winners

Getting lost in the sea of celebration resulting from Up's Best Picture nomination by the Academy is the list of winners at the 37th Annual Annie Awards. The big winners were Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox:

Best Animated Feature
Up (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Animated Television Production
Prep and Landing — (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Best Home Entertainment Production
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Best Animated Short Subject
Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5

Best Animated Television Production for Children
The Penguins of Madagascar (Nickelodeon and DreamWorks)

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Eric Goldberg for The Princess and the Frog

Character Design in a Feature Production
Shane Prigmore for Coraline

Directing in a Feature Production
Pete Docter “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios

Writing in a Television Production
Daniel Chun - The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox

Go here for a complete list of winners (and nominees).

I am very surprised (and pleased) about Robot Chicken and Futurama's wins. I am also very glad that Eric Goldberg's talents were rewarded; Louis really was a great, well-designed and -animated character. Also, unexpectedly, Prep and Landing received several awards.

Congratualtions to Disney, Pixar, and all of the other winners at this year's Annie Awards!

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A Short Review of 'Prep & Landing'

Prep & Landing, a 30-minute animated short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, just premiered on ABC, and it was great. It follows the adventure of what happens to one elf when he gets himself, temporarily, on the naughty list.


While the story is a bit cliche with the "guy wants a promotion but ends up forgetting about it when he learns his lesson" theme, the overall special was wonderful. It took an exceptionally unique twist on the world of Santa and the elves with high tech gear cleverly connected with traditional Christmas keywords and names for things.


The reindeer were funny and all of the character designs were very quirky and cool. The animation was also unique and great. The whole Christmas special felt very "John Lasseter" to me with its formulaic plot and focus on character. The score by Michael Giacchino was also great--he managed to work multiple, recognizable Christmas tunes into a score that fit the action perfectly. Other tie-ins to Christmas, such as the classic Nat King Cole Chirstmas Song and a TV playing Mickey's A Christmas Carol made the special even better.


While not perfect, I'll certainly watch Prep & Landing again before Christmas. Even though the plot was lacking, the characters were unique, the animation was flawless, the score was wonderful, and its premise was very clever and interesting. You'll definitely want to check out the first 30-minute TV Christmas special to ever come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios.

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ABC Brings You A Christmas Special and Pixar Short Films

ABC always kicks it up a notch when the holidays come around. Well, the holidays have come around, and kick it up, they have. First, I'd like to talk about the new Christmas special that will be premiering on December 1. It is called Prep & Landing and is the story of an elite group of covert elves that prep the homes before Santa's arrival. It is the first special created by Walt Disney Animation Studios that will be shown on ABC. And, since it was created there, John Lasseter has had quite a bit to do with its production, so we should all expect great things from the half an hour long, computer-generated special. Watch some great behind the scenes videos at this link. They have some great interviews, clips from the special, and some really interesting animation secrets revealed. Look for Prep and Landing on ABC this 1st of December at 8:30/7:30c.


Also coming up on ABC is a two-hour special showcasing, for the first time ever on television, the Pixar Shorts! They will show every short from The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. to Boundin', the Cars Toons to Presto. Even though I have them all on DVD, I look forward to watching them all in a row; I hope there are introductions and perhaps some behind-the-scenes footage, as well. But, even if there isn't, it should be very nice to see all of my favorites again (my top three are For the Birds, Presto, and Boundin'). This special will air on December 2 as a part of ABC's 25 Days of Christmas. Check out the press release at AWN. Even though it isn't entirely Christmas-related, those two straight hours of Pixar shorts will be a wonderful watching experience... So nice to know there are jackalopes around.

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