Scrat Tales, Peanuts, Ghost In The Shell SAC_2045 and More TV News

Disney has unveiled the first look at a new series of shorts starring Scrat, the fan favourite sabre-toothed squirrel from the Ice Age movies. The irrepressible prehistoric rodent will star in six brand new shorts under the title of Ice Age: Scrat Tales, launching on Disney Plus on April 13.

These shorts were the last project to be completed at Blue Sky Studios before the house of mouse ordered its closure last year. Disney will be keeping the Ice Age franchise alive even after the studio that created it has gone, with the spin-off The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild, the first non-Blue Sky produced instalment of the franchise. The whole story gives these shorts a sort of bittersweet air for Blue Sky fans (and former staff), knowing it's the last new thing we'll see from them. Still, it is perhaps a fitting place to end, considering that it was the first Ice Age film that began their movie career and made them a household name.

The shorts will see Scrat take on fatherhood as he introduces Baby Scrat to the ice age world. Disney has released the titles, staff and synopsis for each of the short films.

Nuts About You. Directed by Michael Berardini and Donnie Long. Story by Michael Berardini. Scrat meets his son Baby Scrat and experiences the pure joy of being a new parent—until Baby Scrat sees The Acorn for the first time.

LoFi Scrat Beats to Sleep/Chill To. Directed by Donnie Long and Matt Munn. Story by Donnie Long. Scrat pounds out a percussive lullaby to get a crying Baby Scrat to fall asleep.

X’s and Uh-O’s. Directed by Donnie Long and Drew Winey. Story by James Young Jackson and Drew Winey. Scrat demonstrates for Baby Scrat how to plant The Acorn, but Scrat is really the one being taught a lesson.

Nutty Reflections. Directed by Donnie Long and Eric Prah. Story by Galen Tan Chu. Scrat and Baby Scrat run after The Acorn into a dark cave, which resembles a creepy funhouse hall of mirrors.

Teeter Toddler. Directed by Jeff Gabor and Donnie Long. Story by Galen Tan Chu. Thanks to a dodo bird, Scrat and Baby Scrat end up on opposite sides of a log held up by a single branch.

Nut The End. Directed by Lisa Allen Keane and Donnie Long. Story by Michael Thurmeier.  The Acorn goes flying off a cliff. With it seemingly gone forever, can Scrat and Baby Scrat live in harmony?

Elsewhere in the world of streaming television, Apple TV+ is about to go Peanuts crazy. March 11 will see the release of the six-episode season two of The Snoopy Show, which has been previewed in the new trailer you can see below. Two new Peanuts specials It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown. and To Mom (and Dad), With Love, streaming from April 15 and May 6 respectively. The first is launching to celebrate Earth Day, and will feature a brand new song written by singer-songwriter Ben Folds.  The latter will release in time for American Mother's Day (the holiday is celebrated Earlier in other countries including the UK and Ireland). Apple TV+ will also be streaming a number of classic Peanuts specials from March 4, including Charlie Brown's All-Stars!, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, and Charlie Brown, and Snoopy’s Reunion.

The BBC is resurrecting the beloved UK preschool series Big Cook, Little Cook after nearly two decades. The series combined animation and live-action as Big Cook Ben (actually regular person-sized) and the foot-high Little Cook, Small taught kids cooking and told them stories. The 2020's version has brand new Big and Little cooks, replacing Ben with Jen (played by Ibinabo Jack) and a new Small (Courtney Bowman). Animation will be used for the story segment that makes up part of each episode.

At the start of each episode, Jen and Small are visited by a fictional character. Small tells us a short animated story featuring this famous customer, before they cook a recipe from Jen’s ‘Big Cooks Cookery Book’. If an ingredient is missing, Small flies outside on her magic spoon to visit where the food is made, bringing some back to the cafe for the recipe.

Many viewers of the original may now be able to introduce the series to their own children! The series will begin airing Monday-Friday from February 28 on CBeebies and on iPlayer. The BBC commissioned independent producer Dot To Dot to produce 50 episodes.

Netflix has confirmed that Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 will return for season 2 in May. Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner Black Lotus) are back with more cyberpunk action with Section 9 and The Major. Based on the iconic manga by Masamune Shirow, SAC_2045 is the first CG animated outing in the franchise. The change met with a mixed reaction from fans when season 1 was released back in 2020, but those who did like it have been kept waiting for this second batch of 12 episodes for quite some time. Check out the new trailer, below

Paramount Plus has revealed a trailer for the return of Wanda and Cosmo in  The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, which is set to stream from March 31. The twist is that this time the series is live-action, with only the OddParents themselves animated. It looks like a strange mix of the old live-action Nickelodeon sitcoms with the more wacky world of Nick Toons.