http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/arts/television/toy-story-and-robot-chicken-spawn-holiday-specials.html 2014-12-02 00:56:20 ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Robot Chicken’ Spawn Holiday Specials “Toy Story That Time Forgot” and “The Robot Chicken Lots of Holidays but Don’t Worry Christmas Is Still in There Too” are just two of the recent holiday television specials. === Welcome to “Overthinking the Animated Christmas Specials,” a new feature in which we consider the philosophical underpinnings of two radically different animated specials coming to your televisions. This year’s installment: We could easily spend our time discussing the fact that the tail end of the If you know Adult Swim, the gleefully raunchy nighttime programming block, you might assume that the “Robot Chicken” special would win easily. And there is much that’s unsettling in this 11-minute show, including a Baby New Year Resolution Enforcer, who has shockingly little tolerance for unkept promises. Most disquieting of all, though, is a bit in which Santa is led to the realization that his naughty-or-nice list is an oversimplification, and that moral clarity is rarely so cut and dried. Can this be? Is it really possible to be both naughty and nice, sometimes in the same action? Is there no such thing as certainty, only a never-ending collection of ambiguous choices? This is worldview-changing news indeed, and not just for little kids who happen to be up at 11:30 at night, when this show is on. Yet perhaps more disconcerting is the “Toy Story” special, even though it’s sweet, family-friendly fare. This is the second “Toy Story” holiday special — last year there was To survive, the “Toy Story” toys have to convince the dino-creatures that they are playthings, not independent beings. Think about that for a minute. Is it better to have a mind of your own, even if that mind is immersed in evil, or to be owned by someone else who determines the parameters of your existence? It’s enough to make you long for the simplicity of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which, by the way, ABC rebroadcasts right after the “Toy Story” special.