Parenting's NUTS!!
Ice Age: Scrat Tales is the first TV series of the Ice Age franchise. It also marks the last production completed by Blue Sky Studios before its closure in 2021. note The series depicts Scrat the Saber-toothed Squirrel on his wildest adventure yet...raising an adopted baby prehistoric squirrel. While Scrat loves his child, major issues arise between them when Scrat realizes Baby Scrat has inherited his exact same love of acorns. In the vein of Looney Tunes, each three to four-minute episode depicts Scrat bonding with Baby Scrat, while also arguing over who gets the acorn. It's as crazy as it is heartfelt.
The series premiered on Disney+ in 2022. Its release was accompanied by a short piece of animation
featuring Scrat that the animators put together as a final send-off both to Scrat and to Blue Sky Studios.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Scratte was intended to appear again, and Baby Scrat is heavily implied to be her son (take a guess who’s the father). However, Disney only greenlit six shorts, effectively preventing the shorts later down in production that would feature this arc from seeing the light of day.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Scrat and Baby Scrat fight each other for the acorn, but they still love each other like a family.
- Company Cross References: Since Disney owns the rights to Ice Age, the official poster depicts Scrat performing a "Lion King" Lift on his acorn with Baby Scrat clinging to it.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After going through hell just to get his acorn, Scrat finally gets it at the end.
- Gainax Ending: "Nut the End" ends with Scrat discovering his son hided the Acorn to eated after he died and coming back to life as a zombie to chase him.
- Like Father, Like Son: Scrat and Baby Scrat share the same obsession of getting the acorn.
- "Lion King" Lift: Scrat does this with the acorn and Baby Scrat on the poster. Then again, Disney does own the rights to Ice Age.
- Mythology Gag: The plot of the series revolves around the trouble an animal gets into while taking care of a baby, just like the first Ice Age. Scrat even plays his own variant of "Where's the Baby" with Baby Scrat, just like Diego did with Roshan.
- Papa Wolf: Scrat, well, sort of. He still cares about the acorn, but there are moments where you can tell he still loves and cares for Baby Scrat. The episode "Nutty Reflections" shows this as an example.
- Parental Substitute: Since Baby Scrat's real parents are nowhere found in the show, Scrat raises Baby Scrat like his own son.
- Series Continuity Error: A young Dodo appears in the series despite the fact all female dodos died out in the events of the first film, meaning the Dodo race would've been unable to reproduce more younglings.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Let’s see. We have a red-orange colored saber-tooth squirrel that rivals with Scrat over the acorn, as well as being voiced by a woman. Wait, what do you mean that it’s not Scratte?
- Throw the Dog a Bone: In a final mini-short stealthily released the day of the series premiere (and made as a surprise for the final screening from the studio prior to closure)...Scrat finally gets his acorn.
