The Ice Age franchise expanded this week – to Disney + and Disney + Hotstar – the shorts series Ice Age: Scrat Tales, but it’s the creator and swansong for the animated costume Blue Sky Studios. In less than two years under Disney’s new owner as part of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Blue Sky with Disney was shut down last April, citing the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. Ice Age: With Scrat Tales, Blue Sky delivers its finale in Ice Age mythology: a series of six shorts where they fight for acorns, featuring the helpless saber-toothed squirrel scrat and her adorable, naughty baby scrat. Speaking of Acorn, Blue Sky has released a (possibly non-canonical) video on YouTube showing Scratt finally eating what he’s been chasing forever. Yes, it actually happened.
“In the last days of Blue Sky Studios, a small group of artists came together to make a final shot. The shot is a farewell, a farewell on our own terms, written in the description of an unlisted YouTube video titled “Connecticut, US-based animation film studio” The End. ” He jumps on it, grabs it, strokes it and then lifts it over his head as if he has won a big trophy. Then, looking around, he scratches something he has never done before. He looks for a moment to see if anyone is watching him – and then pushes through the rest of the acorn.
“The End” is only 34 seconds long, and doesn’t have the same polish as recent productions, probably because Blue Sky animators worked on this short in their own time. The two-line description, featuring the words “a farewell on our own terms”, seems to be a split shot at Disney, as the entertainment giant will undoubtedly snatch everything from the franchise even though it was their heart to omit them. Disney may be in crosshairs these days for its missteps with the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill, but it has already been internally harassed for its dealings. Pixar staff have expressed frustration with their recent releases, which include Soul, LukaAnd Turning Red, theaters avoided and moved to Disney +
While Blue Sky may say goodbye to the ice age, fans don’t need to. If you want to see intact acorns and acorn-chasing scratches, tune in where Ice Age: Scrat Tales – Disney + and Disney + Hotstar are available. Six shorts have seen the baby scratch acorn for the first time (“Nuts About You”), the scratch is trying to put the baby scratch to sleep (“LoFi scrat bits to sleep / chill to”), the scratch baby scratch is showing acorns how to plan (x and uh) -O’s “), Scrat and Baby Scrat are chasing Acorns in a dark cave in a terrifying Funhouse Hall of Mirror (” Nati Reflection “), adventurers with dodo birds (” Titter Toddlers “)), and Acorns in the mountains. Flying from (“Not the End”).
The whole Ice Age franchise – including Ice ageIce Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Ice Age: Collision Course, and the spin-off movie The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild – now streaming on Disney + and Disney + Hotstar.