Portal:Animation

"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode of the first season of the animated comedy television series South Park. The show's first Christmas special, it portrays the Jewish character Kyle feeling excluded from the town's Christmas celebrations and being comforted by Mr. Hankey, who can talk and sing. As Mr. Hankey does not come alive in the presence of other characters, they begin to think that Kyle is delusional. In another plot strand, the townspeople remove all symbols of Christmas from South Park to render the celebrations politically correct and inoffensive. When all the children start believing in him, Mr. Hankey finally reveals himself to everyone and scolds them for losing sight of the good things of Christmas and focusing on the bad. The townspeople apologize to Kyle, then sing Christmas songs and watch Mr. Hankey fly away with Santa Claus. Heavily influenced by the Peanuts Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was the first South Park musical episode and the only episode in season one in which Kenny does not die. It is a satire of political correctness and religious sensitivity and has been described as one of the classic South Park episodes.

• ... that the live-action comedy series Community had a stop motion animated Christmas special?
• ... that, for the animated film Us Again, director and writer Zach Parrish considered a video of an elderly couple dancing to be visceral and ideal inspiration?
• ... that although Blizzard's franchise Overwatch is centered around video games, its lore is mainly told through animated shorts, comics, and novels?
• ... that at age 12, Shaylee Mansfield became the first deaf actor to be credited alongside the voice actors for a signed performance in an animated production?
• ... that the creators of the cartoon Jade Armor filmed live-action martial arts stunts to visualize the show's animated action sequences?
• ... that the animated film The Exigency took thirteen years to make?

Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American director of animated and, occasionally, live-action films. As the American animation industry fell into decline during the 1960s and 1970s, Bakshi tried to bring a change in the industry by establishing an alternative to mainstream animation in independent and adult-oriented productions. From 1972 until 1994, he directed nine theatrically-released feature films, writing five of them, and oversaw ten television projects as a director, producer and animator. Beginning his career at the Terrytoons television cartoon studio as a cel polisher, Bakshi was eventually promoted to director. He moved to the animation division of Paramount Pictures in 1967 and started his own studio, Bakshi Productions, in 1968. Through producer Steve Krantz, Bakshi made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat, released in 1972. It was the first animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, and the most successful independent animated feature of all time.

The accolades received by WALL-E, the 2008 American animation film, include Best Picture from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics Society, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, where WALL-E became the first animated feature to win that award. The film was nominated for seven Annie Awards, six Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (pictured) at the 81st Academy Awards. Walt Disney Pictures pushed for an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination, but it was not nominated, provoking controversy about the Academy deliberately restricting WALL-E to the Best Animated Feature category. The character of WALL-E was listed at number 63 on Empire's 2008 online poll of the 100 greatest movie characters. Time listed WALL-E number one in its top 10 movies of 2008 and, in early 2010, number one in "Best Movies of the Decade."

• ...that comedy writer Al Jean (pictured), who has been awarded with four Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons, graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics?
• ...that The Old Lady and the Pigeons lost the Oscar but won the Genie?
• ...that to watch an early screening of "The Gathering", attendees of the Star Wars Celebration VI had to bring their kids with them?

Films released

• 1930 – Night (Disney, United States)
• 1947 – Smoked Hams (United States)
• 1951 – A Hound for Trouble (Warner Bros., United States)
• 1956 – Rabbitson Crusoe (United States)

Television series and specials

• 1966 – Space Ace, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on Fuji TV
• 1991 – City Hunter '91, a Japanese anime series begins airing on Yomiuri TV

Births

• 1950 – Jay Leno, American stand-up comedian and television host, voice actor
• 1965 – Steven Blum, American voice actor