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It seems like this year Disney’s not rolling out anything special for Christmas. Decorations and celebrations at the parks started at least as soon as Thanksgiving passed, if not earlier, and the Christmas Day Parade filmed at the beginning of December. Holiday-themed posts are rare on the official Disney Parks blog. With Christmas starting so early around Disney, by the time the actual dates for the holidays roll around there isn’t much to report.
Even Disney’s televised Christmas special retreads last year’s material. However, that might not be such a bad thing. I loved the premise of “Prep & Landing” and thought its mechanics were well-executed. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed viewing it, right up until it hit its climax: expounding the message that if a child failed to receive his present from Santa, his Christmas would be ruined not just that year, but for all the years of his life.
I have a hard time coming up with a theme more contrary to what Christmas should be about. I was so sad that an otherwise stellar Disney Christmas special ruined itself through such a repellant premise. I’m glad that Disney’s revisiting the “Prep & Landing” universe this year.
At the moment, the only new material from the special-ops elves is the short “Operation Secret Santa” available on the Prep & Landing website. It actually did air on television, screening during the commercials during ABC’s annual run of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
The full 30-minute new “Prep & Landing” special won’t actually debut until 2011, which I admit I find a bit of a head-scratcher. In fact, just looking at the official P&L website would lead one to believe there wasn’t a new feature coming out. There is a lot of internet chatter about the new special, titled “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice,” including a Disney press release about the short.
The short covers the further adventures of Lanny and Wayne, as this time they must retrieve top secret North Pole technology from a Naughty Kid computer hacker. Lanny and Wayne’s mission puts them into contact with Wayne’s estranged brother Noel, a naughty kid expert.
This new P&L special sounds fantastic, especially because it seems to contain less potential for disappointingly consumerist Christmas messages. But that last Yuletide point is actually a bit of a head-scratcher; “Naughty vs. Nice” doesn’t even air until some unspecified point in 2011. Maybe Disney’s saving it up for a Christmas in July special.
Actually, given the recent press release, it’s more likely that N vs. N will run early in 2011. Perhaps it will air within the first few days of the new year, still fitting nicely within the traditional 12 Days of Christmas.
Related Articles:
“Prep & Landing” Latest Christmas Classic
Filming the Disney Christmas Day Parade
Disney Fostering Holiday Greed?
*(This image by Huge Cool is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
