Mickey Saves Christmas

[Ben]

Ooh, thanks Dan! Yeah, I may peek, but probably still hold it for our Christmas Eve show. Haven’t decided what that is yet, but obviously there’s a newly restored/extended classic that will also be available…

[Daniel]

Behind-the-scenes featurette:



Informative, but WAY too short! Would've loved for it to go into more detail, and maybe point out the nods and Easter eggs.

[Ben]

A couple of inaccuracies, though… "24 frames"? Well, yes, but this looks technically to have been shot on twos, as Aardman does (as opposed to NB4X and Laika features, which shoot true 24fps), and it’s a bit insulting to call it "rough animation"! It’s *final* animation, augmented with VFX. The way they say it makes it sound like the animators do some kind of preliminary positioning and then the magic of VFX comes in and actually makes it all good by cleaning up "things we’re not supposed to see", as if there were mistakes. Not very accurate (most of the shots will be VFX free anyway) or reflective of a project that’s very existence is a celebration of the hand-crafted medium that only relies on VFX when it needs to (and usually for budget rather than creative reasons).

Just a shame that they have to make even this "bright 'n' shiny" by way of, "hey isn’t everything cool with effects!", instead of celebrating the more accurate method of production and showing that to be awe-inspiring, painstaking and very cool in itself.

Hopefully this isn’t the extent of the EPK material and we'll maybe get a proper mini-doc on D+ after the initial run. I’m guessing this also wasn’t touched on in the new Mickey doc, even though the timing would have been great to run into it, especially reflecting at the doc's end hat Mickey is still relevant, entertaining us today and still pushing new boundaries by breaking into different mediums…

[Randall]

Might want fix that typo in your second line, Ben.

And no, no mention of this in the new Mickey doc.

[Ben]

…and…

[Randall]

Ah, that's better.

[Dacey]

Okay, now I'm curious about this typo...

But really, I'm a bit amazed this special got a primetime ABC airing (and on all of Disney's other networks). It's rather clearly intended for the Disney Junior block, which is fine. But the target audience for this seems to be that demographic. It's cute and gets the job done, but perhaps isn't as "special" as it could be, with some odd direction and a story that ends before it even begins. Heck, the actual Roadster Racers Christmas special they did a few years ago was probably more rewarding with this, with the right amount of emotion and heart.

What I'm saying is keep those expectations in check.

[Daniel]

The writer also wrote many Roadster episodes, which I kinda suspected when it had a Cuckoo-Loca Easter egg.

[Daniel]

Spot the Hidden Mickey's!



Missed maybe two, but caught all the rest!

[Ben]

Spot the hidden Mickey's what…!?

[Daniel]

"Spot", as in see/notice. Guess I should've stuck with "Find" like the video header.

[Ben]

Typo. Or typi. Fixed.

[Daniel]

A Halloween special in the same vein is airing this Sunday:





Looks cute. Nice to see Witch Hazel again!

[Daniel]

Song clip:



Couple of neat in-jokes. The yard decorations is brilliant!

[Daniel]

A new Christmas special will debut in one week:





Disney Channel will also be airing an extended version of last years special on November 25. Hopefully it adds something noteworthy!