| Prep & Landing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Animated television special |
| Written by |
|
| Story by | Chris Williams |
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | Michael Giacchino |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Dorothy McKim[1] |
| Cinematography | Rob Dressel |
| Editor | William J. Caparella |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Budget | $14 million |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | December 8, 2009 (2009-12-08) |
Prep & Landing is an American animatedtelevision special, based on an idea byChris Williams atWalt Disney Animation Studios and developed by Kevin Deters andStevie Wermers-Skelton into a half-hour Christmas special. The first installment in thePrep & Landing series, it first aired on December 8, 2009, onABC.[2]
The special was released online the next day, along with an original one-minute short filmTiny's Big Adventure.[3] A sequel,Operation: Secret Santa, aired on December 7, 2010, reprising the original cast with the addition ofBetty White asMrs. Claus. The second half-hour Christmas TV special,Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice aired on December 5, 2011, on ABC.[4] A third half-hour special, produced atDisney Television Animation,Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol was announced for release on November 27, 2025 (Thanksgiving night) onDisney Channel, the first of the series to debut via that channel, followed byDisney+ on the next day and bererun onFreeform as part of the25 Days of Christmas, as well as an additional airing to be determined on ABC.[5][6]
Wayne, a Christmas elf, is part of an elite organization known as "Prep & Landing", whose job is to ready millions of homes around the world forSanta Claus's visit. After working with "Prep & Landing" for 227 years, Wayne looks forward to getting promoted to director of the naughty list. Instead, his former partner and trainee, Peterson, gets the promotion. Wayne is introduced to Lanny, a freshly graduated rookie, whom Wayne has to also 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 massivesnow storm and that Wayne and Lanny have not 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 as the director of the nice list, but he turns it down so he can work with Lanny.
Prep and Landing was originally pitched by directorChris Williams as a short film for the newly re-opened shorts program atWalt Disney Animation Studios. Liking the idea,John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation) considered it to work best as a television special. ABC executives, keen to repeat the success of the 2007DreamWorks Animation specialShrek the Halls, approved the project.
Following Williams' directorial debut on the short filmGlago's Guest, he was moved on to co-direct the feature filmBolt. The special continued production under directors Kevin Deters andStevie Wermers-Skelton's (Goofy'sHow to Hook Up Your Home Theater) control.
The original premiere date was scheduled for December 1, but a speech at theUnited States Military Academy inWest Point, New York byPresidentBarack Obama delayed the special's debut one week to December 8, 2009.
The special was released on DVD on November 22, 2011, along with the short filmsTiny's BIG Adventure andOperation: Secret Santa.[7] It was also released on DVD and Blu-ray ofPrep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection on November 6, 2012, together withOperation: Secret Santa,Naughty vs. Nice, andTiny's BIG Adventure.[8][9]
| 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.
On December 1, 2009, prior to its first broadcast,Prep & Landing was nominated for nineAnnie Awards in seven categories by theInternational Animated Film Association,ASIFA-Hollywood.[10] It won three awards, including the award forBest Animated Television Production.[10]
On February 10, 2010,Prep & Landing was nominated for two awards at the8th Visual Effects Society Awards, winning in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special category and losing in the Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial category.[11]
On August 21, 2010,Prep & Landing was honored with fourEmmy Awards including theOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category.
| Award | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Best Animated Television Production | ABC andWalt Disney Animation Studios | Won |
| Character Animation in a Television Production | Mark Mitchell | Nominated |
| Character Animation in a Television Production | Tony Smeed | Nominated |
| Character Design in a Television Production | Bill Schwab | Won |
| Music in a Television Production | Michael Giacchino | Nominated |
| Production Design in a Television Production | Mac George | Nominated |
| Production Design in a Television Production | Andy Harkness | Won |
| Storyboarding in a Television Production | Joe Mateo | Nominated |
| Writing in a Television Production | Kevin Deters,Stevie Wermers-Skelton | Nominated |
An 8-page comic story, titledPrep & Landing: Mansion Impossible, was released on November 16, 2011, inAvengers #19,Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20, andMarvel Adventures Spider-Man #20. The comic tells a story of Wayne and Lanny preparingAvengers Mansion for a visit from Santa. It was written by Kevin Deters, and illustrated by Joe Mateo.[12]