Nickelodeon Thanksgiving Fest Animated Special 1989

[@only257]

Remember seeing this when I was 7 in 1991 until I was nine in 1993 brings back memories😊

[@Godlike_Virus]

I miss this animated special Nickelodeon used to air all the time. I think the last time they ever did was in 1993 or so. I still have it on tape from that year. =) Brings a smile to my face everytime. Good times. Youth.

[@Johnlindsey289]

I was 7 35 years ago and loved it since

[@powerturtlebusters]

I thought I made this up in my mind lol.

[@allentrice1547]

I love this Thanksgiving cartoons when I was 13 years old in 1990! I can imagine what about kids and turkey and food of course! Can't wait for 2022! 🦃🎃🍁🍂

[@mightyraptor01]

I like the same animation style they did for the dinosaur bumpers and that thunder lizards short they did!

[@risingphoenix3997]

This Show is the Best for Adventure and Fun and Comedy, and it has the Best Theme Song. Takes me back already.

[@deeactive1329]

Man I miss this special

[@Sandlot1992]

I wasn't born yet until 1992 since this special came out!

[@SaphiroAzure2]

My nostalgia is going off the charts! I kinda feel like eating some Thanksgiving meal type food.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Love it if you can share one or two of those 6 pilots that didn't get picked up (I recall Cosgrove-Hall, the guys behind Danger Mouse and Count Duckula, submitted a pilot for that first round.

[@GeoffreyDarby]

Sorry. I don't have any copies of any other pilots excepting Rocco's Modern Life, which I had to take down due to copyright infringement.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Geoffrey Darby That's OK. It did get a DVD release very recently through Shout! Factory on one of the Rocko's Modern Life season sets.

[@Theomite]

I remember seeing this back in the day on its original airing. But I thought it was 1988, not '89.

[@jessmarz649]

Will be sharing this

[@bradleycotton3237]

The artwork in some of these shorts reminds me of the Lecture Lady’s shorts from _Elmo’s World_ on _Sesame Street._

[@marcomacias3960]

i wonder if Darby worked with Sesame Workshop to do some short segments?

[@bryanloveseighties]

I'm not sure, but Joey Ahlbum made the Lecture Lady segments. In fact, Joey made a big name for himself creating a few Nickelodeon station IDs that were shown before the next show began.

[@danwilliams1989]

Anyone else referred to this special by Chad Rocco of Familiar Faces?

[@schemer1991]

Was pinwheel still airing reruns in November 1989 on Nickelodeon it was cancelled July 1990

[@VBaskin2010]

It's hard to imagine that without Vanessa th NickToons family wouldn't exist right?

[@WillCWilson]

Is this a slightly earlier edit? The other copy on here that aired on The Splat, and on Nickelodeon back in the day, has some differences to it, mainly in the video editing department, as well as the Nickelodeon Turkey at the end.

[@joepearson8641]

Sadly, the animation on the two shorts, especially the first one, was mangled by the animation team at Steven Hahn's studio in the Phillipines.

[@only257]

Joe Pearson interesting to learn that👻

[@alaskaberri]

🤣🤣🤣

[@BlueHylton7]

why is everyone fat

[@Godlike_Virus]

'Murica.

[@jeremym9011]

But WHY did they create Nicktoons? Was it because they HATED the way the Japanese and America did animation back then?!

[@archibaldcabebe6062]

+Jeremy M Likely a branch-out in original programming. ;)

[@GeoffreyDarby]

+Jeremy M We were looking into getting into animation and after Christmas in Tattertown we decided to try it on our own. Vanessa Coffee had worked on teenaged mutant turtles and she knew her stuff. I recall the script hoops we were making her go through until one day in a script meeting, I suggested we go to storyboard instead of another round of script. The look of relief on her face was palatable. Over others objections that's exactly what we did. Nicktoons was another story. We did 6 pilots using various small animation houses, or we put the folks into business. Disney afternoons were eating our lunch, and Loony Tunes we becoming very expensive to license. We had tried Count Duckula with Cosgrove Hall as a co production, and in the end decided to license it instead. We liked the guys at Cosgrove Hall, and gave them one of our pilots. They did both traditional cell animation as well as claymation. We tried to get them to do a claymation, with cell put on top to add effects and more depth. Sorta what Burton did with Nightmare before Christmas. (with the fog etc). In the end it is always story that wins. We were looking for creator driven characters. And did Vanessa deliver. It was very hard work but it paid off. We tested all six pilots and ended up with an embarrassment of riches. Rugrats, Doug and Ren and Stimpy all tested off the charts. Problem was we didn't have the money to make all 3. I recall many very tough meetings with the creators. Many tough meetings with lawyers, and nights spend with the finance guys trying to figure out how to afford it all. We partnered with Canal+ on Doug, and made only 6 Ren and Stimpy instead of the 26 11 minutes episodes we commissioned of Doug and Rugrats.

[@wutzit]

+Geoffrey Darby Wow, what an interesting story. I love to hear from people who had the chance to work at Nickelodeon in their golden years! AND was there when their first iconic Nicktoons were being conceptualized! Must've been stressful but fun at the same time!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Wouldn't surprise me if Ralph's little effort got something going. Nick back then mostly relied on a lot of acquired programs from all over.

[@grandhighness6422]

the thanksgivings nightmare part is racist.

[@Johnlindsey289]

How so?

[@Godlike_Virus]

Everything is racist now. Everybody is sensitive. Remember when farting and burping used to be the worst things you could do?