Updated – The full short has been released – you can read our exclusive full review and watch the short here.
Today thanks to Entertainment Weekly (and the keen eye of our reader, Rachel), we have more details from the Spring release of Pixar’s newest short, Radiator Springs 500½. Along with the release, the EW article also points out that RS500½ will also kick off a new series of shorts called, “Tales From Radiator Springs“. (The second film in the series will be called To Protect and Serve which we discussed a few weeks ago and appears to now be slated for a 2015 release instead of fall of 2014.)
The official synopsis from Disney Insider (UPDATED: Link removed, no longer active) for the six-minute short is –
A “leisurely drive” planned in honor of Radiator Springs’ town founder, Stanley, turns precarious as Baja pros descend on the town and challenge Lightning McQueen to an off-road race. Meanwhile, the townsfolk, led by a Stanley-costumed Mater, enjoy the planned “leisurely drive” to retrace Stanley’s original frontier route. Thinking they’re on the same course, a wrong turn sends McQueen and the Baja pros on a treacherously wild bid for survival. The misunderstanding leaves the racing professionals in awe of the “legend” of Stanley: the Original Off-Road Racer.
In the article, Gibbs also fills us in on some background and inspiration surrounding the vehicles that we’ll see in the short.
Gibbs, (Scott) Morse, and the Pixar team had a lot of fun with the new characters, who were inspired by the racers who compete in Mexico’s famous Baja 1000 race. “They have all these different classes for that race, so we tried to pick the most interesting cars,” says Gibbs. “So there’s four of them: a Baja Bug, a Class-1 dune buggy, a Meyers Manx dune buggy, and a trophy truck, the big money ones, you know, with huge suspension and huge wheels.”
So, although an official release date has yet to be announced, we do know that the short will not premiere on the Disney Channel as was discussed at the 2013 D23 Expo, but will instead premiere as part of Disney’s new app/service “Disney Movies Anywhere”.
Chat about your thoughts on the upcoming short in the comments below or on the Pixar Post Forum topic dedicated to RS500½.
Perfect timing on the gifts for sure – let's hope they come out before your Birthday! I really do wonder about how two story lines can be managed in six minutes, so that will be interesting to see how they wrangle that! 🙂
Had me at \”Stanley costumed Mater\”! Looks like this will be one of the funniest Cars Toons yet! It will be interesting to see how they can fit two stories into the six-minute short: the race, and the leisurely route. I totally agree about the merchandise, T.J.. And my birthday is coming up, so the new characters and Stanley-Mater will be a great thing to ask for.