- Prep & Landing
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Disney Prep & Landing 
Genre Animated television special Directed by Kevin Deters
Stevie Wermers-SkeltonProduced by Dorothy McKim[1]
John Lasseter
Executive Producers
Chris WilliamsWritten by Kevin Deters
Stevie Wermers-SkeltonStarring Dave Foley
Derek Richardson
Sarah Chalke
Additional Voices:
Riley Jane
Courtney Cox
Jean-Luc BilodeauMusic by Michael Giacchino Production company Walt Disney Animation Studios Budget $14,000,000 Country United States Language English Original channel ABC Release date December 8, 2009 Running time 22 minutes Disney Prep & Landing is a computer animated television special, based on an idea by Chris Williams at Walt Disney Animation Studios and developed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton into a half-hour Christmas special. It first aired December 8, 2009 on ABC.[2]
The special was released on-line the next day, along with an original one minute short film Tiny's BIG Adventure.[3] A sequel, Operation: Secret Santa, aired on December 7, 2010, reprising the original cast with the addition of Betty White as Mrs. Claus. Another half-hour Christmas TV special, Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice will air on December 5, 2011, on ABC.[4]
Contents
Plot
Wayne, a Christmas elf, is part of an elite organization known as "Prep & Landing", whose job is to ready Santa Claus's visit to millions of homes. After working with "Prep & Landing" for 227 years, Wayne looks forward to getting promoted. Instead, his former partner gets the promotion, and Wayne is introduced to Lanny, a rookie whom Wayne has to train. Wayne is still bitter about the promotion, and decides to slack off during a mission. He permits Lanny to do all of the work, which is disastrous. Meanwhile, Santa is informed mid-flight of a massive snow storm and that Wayne and Lanny haven't fully prepared the house yet. He is told to cancel the landing, which has never happened before; they promise to make it up for Timmy, a boy living at the house. Wayne and Lanny discover that the re-routing was a final decision, but after hearing Timmy thank them in his sleep, Wayne decides to fix it. He calls up Santa, telling him that he must land at Timmy's house. Wayne and Lanny then work together to land Santa safely on Timmy's roof. On Christmas morning, Santa shows Wayne that Timmy had a merry Christmas. Santa offers a promotion to Wayne, but he turns it down so he can work with Lanny.
Cast
- Dave Foley as Wayne, the main character. He worked in "Prep & Landing" for 227 years and looked forward to being promoted to Director of Naughty List Intelligence, but he was stuck with Lanny to train as his partner. His call sign is "Little Drummer Boy".
- Derek Richardson as Lanny, an overly enthusiastic "Prep & Landing" rookie, whom was given by Magee to Wayne to train. He looks up to Wayne, being his biggest fan. His call sign is "Tree Skirt" and his catchphrase is "This is soo tinsel!".
- Sarah Chalke as Magee, the North Pole Christmas Eve Command Center Coordinator (NPCECCC) for Santa's flight. She was promoted to her current position from Toy Design after not listening to her friend Jerry and taking the job (something she admittedly regrets). Her call sign is “Jingle Bell.” She is almost never seen without a mug of eggnog in her hand. She is seen to get very stressed under pressure. This is most evident when she faints after Santa's sleigh almost slides off a roof.
- W. Morgan Sheppard as 'The Big Guy' Santa Claus. His call sign is “Partridge”. “Pear Tree” is his sleigh (in flight) (The coded message "The Patridge is in the Pear Tree" means Santa is in the sleigh) and “Big Red” (a tall, red, old-fashioned telephone) is the phone Magee uses to call him.
- Mason Vale Cotton as Timmy Terwelp, an excited young boy who befriends Wayne before he is put back to bed only seconds later. He takes a picture of Wayne which is promptly deleted by Lanny.
- Nathan Greno and David DeLuise as the Reindeer, Dasher and Dancer. Their call sign, along with the other six reindeer is "Eight Maids 'a Milking", something Dasher hates.
- Hayes Macarthur as Thrasher, Dasher's aggressive cousin and Reindeer for "Prep & Landing". Thrasher's P&L transport was the last one out before Santa's flight, making it imperative that Wayne and Lanny get onboard.
- Tiny is Magee's assistant in the command center. He has his own short film on-line, "Tiny's Big Adventure," which takes place during the show. Tiny attempts to get Magee a new cup of coffee, but misses the last cup and has to make a new one, something quite difficult since he cannot reach the storage shelf. All that is shown of Tiny is the top of his hat, but, when Wayne threatens to expose Magee and Tiny's relationship, we see it point straight up with alarm.
Production
Prep and Landing was originally pitched by director Chris Williams as a short film for the newly re-opened shorts program at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Liking the idea, John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation) considered it to work best as a television special and with ABC executives were keen to repeat the success of the 2007 DreamWorks Animation special Shrek the Halls, approved the project.
Following Williams directorial debut on the short film Glago's Guest, he was moved on to co-direct the feature film Bolt. The special continued production under directors Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton (Goofy's How to Hook Up Your Home Theater) control.
Release
The original premiere date was scheduled for December 1; however, a speech at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York on his Afghan war strategy by President Barack Obama delayed the special's debut one week to December 8, 2009.
The special will get its DVD release on November 22, 2011, along with the short films Tiny's BIG Adventure and Operation: Secret Santa.[5]
Hidden gags
Prep & Landing includes a number of references and in-jokes left by the animators. Many pay homage to other Christmas specials and traditions. For example, Magee's office has the Christmas tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas.[6] When Wayne prepares to enter Santa's office, Miss Holly is typing the lyrics to "Jingle Bells".[6] The launch code given by Magee is "dash away," from the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas ("Dash away, dash away, dash away all").[6] Timmy Terwelp himself is named in honor of Tiny Tim, a character from Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol.[6]
Others are related to Disney itself. Mickey's Christmas Carol is shown on the television of Lanny and Wayne's assigned house.[6] Although Timmy's residence appears to be in the Ohio Valley region of the United States, the latitude and longitude given for his house (N 34' 9' 20" / W 118' 19' 23") are of The Walt Disney Company's world headquarters in Burbank, California.[6] A license plate with the characters "12501 WED" is a reference to the birth date of Walt Disney.[6] The German Shepherd shown in the prologue getting dusted to sleep was a recolored version of the titular character of the 2008 film Bolt, which was completing production as Prep & Landing was being made.[6] Timmy's night-light features Goofy in a pose from the poster for the theatrical short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.[6]
Lastly, some of the references were inspired by the show's co-director, Kevin Deters. During a scene in which Wayne is "being naughty" and making himself a drink, the milk carton Wayne is using has the logo of Deter's Dairy, a real-life dairy located in Quincy, Illinois, Kevin Deters' hometown.[6] A toy giraffe in Timmy's bedroom is based on a similar toy belonging to one of Deters' children.[6] When Santa shows Wayne what happened at Timmy's house Christmas morning, the home shown is based on Deters' boyhood home.[6]
Ratings
Airing # Air Date Rating Share Rating/Share
(18-49)Viewers
(millions)Rank
(timeslot)Rank
(night)Rank
(week)1 December 8, 2009 5.8 9 4.1 12.042 1 1 13T 2 December 16, 2009 6.8 33T 3 December 24, 2009 3.3 68T
T - Tied for that slot in that week.Awards
On December 1, 2009, prior to its first broadcast, Prep & Landing was nominated for nine Annie Awards in seven categories by the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood.[7] It won three awards, including the award for Best Animated Television Production.[7]
On August 21, 2010, Prep & Landing was honored with four Emmy Awards including the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category.
Result Award Winner/Nominee Recipient(s) Won Best Animated Television Production ABC and Walt Disney Animation Studios Nominated Character Animation in a Television Production Mark Mitchell Nominated Character Animation in a Television Production Tony Smeed Won Character Design in a Television Production Bill Schwab Nominated Music in a Television Production Michael Giacchino Nominated Production Design in a Television Production Mac George Won Production Design in a Television Production Andy Harkness Nominated Storyboarding in a Television Production Joe Mateo Nominated Writing in a Television Production Kevin Deters, Stevie Wermers-Skelton See also
References
- ^ "Disney's Prep & Landing Holiday Special Docks at ABC". AWN.com (Animation World Network). May 22, 2009. http://news.awn.com/index.php?newsitem_no=27807. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
- ^ Desowitz, Bill (July 15, 2008). "An Inviting Glago's Guest". Animation World Magazine (Animation World Network). http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&category2=&article_no=3699&page=1. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ "‘Disney Prep & Landing’ Takes Its Covert Operation Digital with Fun New Online and Mobile Features for the Whole Family". Disney via Business Wire. December 8, 2009. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091208006350/en/%E2%80%98Disney-Prep-Landing%E2%80%99-Takes-Covert-Operation-Digital. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ ""PREP & LANDING: NAUGHTY VS. NICE," PRODUCED BY WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS, AIRS MONDAY, DECEMBER 5 ON THE ABC TELEVISION NETWORK". ABC Medianet. http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/showpage/showpage.aspx?program_id=003359&type=lead. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ Liu, Ed (May 20, 2011). "PR: Disney's "Prep & Landing" Arrives on DVD November 22, 2011". Toon Zone. http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/37664/pr-disneys-prep-amp-landing-arrives-on-dvd-november-22-2011. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jim Hill (2009-12-24). "Did You Spot All of the In-Jokes and Disney References in Prep & Landing?". Jim Hill Media. http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2009/12/24/did-you-spot-all-of-the-in-jokes-disney-references-in-prep-and-landing.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
- ^ a b "37th Annual Annie Nominations and Awards Recipients". AnnieAwards.org. http://www.annieawards.org/consideration.html. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- Hill, Jim (September 16, 2009). "Disney’s “Prep & Landing” wows animation fans at the D23 EXPO". Jim Hill Media (Jim Hill Media). http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2009/09/16/disney-s-prep-landing-wows-animation-fans-at-the-d23-expo.aspx_r=1.
External links
John Lasseter Directed Feature filmsShort filmsLuxo Jr. (1986) · Red's Dream (1987) · Tin Toy (1988) · Knick Knack (1989) · Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) · Tokyo Mater (2008)Produced Feature filmsSpirited Away (2001) · Monsters, Inc. (2001) · Finding Nemo (2003) · Howl's Moving Castle (2004) · The Incredibles (2004) · Tales from Earthsea (2006) · Meet the Robinsons (2007) · Ratatouille (2007) · WALL-E (2008) · Bolt (2008) · Tinker Bell (2008) · Up (2009) · Ponyo (2009) · Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009) · The Princess and the Frog (2009) · Toy Story 3 (2010) · Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010) · Tangled (2010) · Cars 2 (2011) · Winnie the Pooh (2011) · Tinker Bell and the Pixie Hollow Games (2011) · Brave (2012) · Wreck-It Ralph (2012) · Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings (2012) · Monsters University (2013)Short filmsLuxo Jr. (1986) · Geri's Game (1997) · For the Birds (2000) · Mike's New Car (2002) · Jack-Jack Attack (2005) · One Man Band (2006) · Lifted (2006) · Your Friend the Rat (2007) · How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007) · Presto (2008) · Glago's Guest (2008) · BURN-E (2008) · Super Rhino (2008) · Partly Cloudy (2009) · Dug's Special Mission (2009) · Day & Night (2010) · Hawaiian Vacation (2011) · The Ballad of Nessie (2011)TelevisionOther Lady and the Lamp (1979) · Nitemare (1980) · The Fox and the Hound (1981) · Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) · The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984) · Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) · The Brave Little Toaster (1987) · Porco Rosso (1992)Studios Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) (2001-present) The Simpsons ("HOMR") (2001) · Futurama ("Roswell That Ends Well") (2002) · The Simpsons ("Three Gays of the Condo") (2003) · Samurai Jack ("The Birth of Evil") (2004) · South Park ("Best Friends Forever") (2005) · The Simpsons ("The Seemingly Never-Ending Story") (2006) · South Park ("Make Love, Not Warcraft") (2007) · The Simpsons ("Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind") (2008) · South Park ("Margaritaville") (2009) · Prep & Landing (2010) · Futurama ("The Late Philip J. Fry") (2011)
Complete list: (1979–2000) · (2001–present)Categories:- English-language films
- Christmas television specials
- Computer-animated films
- Disney animated short films
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