New one-hour holiday special A PAW Patrol Christmas premieres Friday Nov. 28 at 8pm on CBS. Executive Producer Laura Clunie, who also serves as Senior VP of Development, Current Series & Feature Film at Spin Master, shares highlights of this new adventure, plus more holiday treats for PAW fans, and a preview of next summer’s theatrical Dino Movie. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: This special — the fact that it’s on CBS. I believe in network television. I love the holiday specials that go to network television, especially animation. How does it feel to have this air on CBS?

Laura Clunie: It feels amazing ’cause CBS is obviously a flagship network under the Paramount banner. So for us, it’s great exposure for this story that we’re so excited about and we love so much, and it’s our kind of first foray into a proper, big, holiday event.

JM: It’s almost like a mini movie because it’s 44 minutes long. It’s about half the length of one of these PAW Patrol feature films. So that must have been exciting for you and for the whole team putting this together to do a mini movie.

LC: Yeah we love the big stories in PAW. Obviously, as you know, on the core series, we’re always dealing with 11-minute stories, so it’s always a wonderful opportunity to tell a more robust story. The feature films are really theatrical… that’s a big deal… three-act structure, character… and so are our specials, but they’re still in the TV pipeline. A little bit simpler stories, but still this one is an opportunity to really celebrate Rubble as a character. He’s my personal favorite, and it just gives us an opportunity to shine the light on him as a character.

JM: He wants this laser drill… from Santa and it’s I think that kind of enthusiasm that all kids have when they see something on TV…

LC: Yeah, we always ask ourselves when we’re about to approach a story… how can we make this the most relatable experience for our audience, who are quite young? And the idea of really wanting something so badly, which is a very common experience, not only just at the holidays, but pretty much anytime, birthday or whatnot. But also this notion of… what is really important at holiday time? And I think really he learns is that it’s his community, his friends, which are his de facto family over anything, like a gift. And that’s what he learns, which we feel like is an important story for kids to witness, but equally not downplaying his desire to want something so badly because that’s. all about being a kid and that’s okay too.

JM: True. There’s a lot of great themes, great lessons in this. Of course, Humdinger is up to no good. He’s kind of the Scrooge and the Grinch of this Paw Patrol Christmas special, and yeah there’s some conflict there, but also some past with Humdinger as we find out a little bit over the course of the special. But he had to be a part of this in order to create some kind of conflict.

LC: That’s right. He is our favorite villain ever and we know our audience really looks forward to seeing what he’s going to do next. But we also felt like there was an opportunity here in seeing a little bit behind the veil of who Humdinger really is at his heart, which we don’t typically explore, and just this notion that, at this time of year, it’s about witnessing what makes everyone unique. That everyone’s special, that everyone’s loved, and we wanted to end the story that Humdinger also has something that might resonate with the audience, like a little story behind that is maybe the reason why he might be a little bit grumpy or he didn’t like Christmas. And we just thought that was a nice touch and something that was worthy of showcasing that there’s always a reason why people are the way they are. We should have the capacity to have some empathy for all.

JM: Very powerful. I love that there are songs in this, like the one of “Christmas, what took you so long?”, which kicks it off. Was that an automatic that you wanted to have songs being this special?

LC: Yes, very much so. We wanted this special to become a perennial favorite for families to sit around and watch during the holiday season. And music is very much a part of that. And just knowing how much kids love music and having a song that might really resonate with them. It’s a little bit tongue in cheek, that particular one. And just something that they could sing, over the holidays, listening to music in the kitchen or wherever they are with their families. We just really wanted to bring something fresh and new to the brand, in addition to a great story that kids will love. Also music that can accompany. Our intention as well is to have a holiday album that will contain these songs and some noted favorites from the holidays. So it’ll be a whole creative package for our audience and our fans.

JM: Oh, very good. The visuals of this look so good. There’s a lot you do with snow and lights. We visit a certain location and the way you all do that is great. And also seeing the headquarters and seeing the vehicles decked out for the holidays. What do you love most about the look of this?

LC: Honestly I love the pups in their little sweaters. Their little outfits are so cute. I almost died when I saw Rubble with his little antlers too. It’s the sweetest thing to see them. They’re very important characters to us. And so whenever we have the opportunity to redress ’em and do something thematic, it’s super fun. But this one in particular, because we have done holiday type stories embedded in our core episodes, but this is really the first time that we have a true holiday story that again becomes a perennial favorite. And so as much as we could do to highlight as much Christmas as we could across the vehicles and the outfits, we were ready to go.

JM: So how do you honestly feel when you look at the PAW Patrol brand as a whole, that it’s one of the cornerstones of what Spin Master stands for, one of the cornerstones of animation and family entertainment right now. It’s huge, but you’re on the inside of it all. What does it mean to you all at Spin Master, this impact?

LC: Oh my gosh. It means everything. It’s kind of the opportunity of a lifetime being a creative exec or a producer, an animator or writer, to have the opportunity to work on a brand that is so long going, so well-known, so popular. It really is a privilege for us to work on this, and we feel lucky every single day, as well as the aspect to not just work on it as a series, but to do these event high specials. To do work on the theatrical movies. There’s so much going on in the brand that we’re constantly also learning and growing as a team and as professionals. It is the most special experience. We do not take it for granted.

JM: The next movie is coming out next summer, “The Dino Movie”. What can you share? I’m sure there are lots of secrets that you have to keep for the time being. What can you share about working on this “Dino Movie”?

LC: This is my third one that I’ve worked on, and I just feel so lucky every movie to feel like this one’s better than the previous. What I love about “The Dino Movie” is that we are tapping into a totally new location, a kind of theme in dinosaurs that kids absolutely love, and I’m really excited with how we treated it because the dinosaurs… they feel very real, very robust, but they also have personalities. So we’ve done a little bit of a marriage of two things, which is having kind of the epicness of a real dinosaur with a personality. The pups really want to take care of them as a group. They care about the island. They want to make sure they’re okay. So I love that element of bringing out the dinosaurs. It’s a totally new adventure. The quality of the movie is just absolutely exceptional. I think audiences are gonna love it.

JM: Good. So what is on your wish list personally for the holidays, Laura, and do you think on kids’ wishlists… Are there any specific toys you would recommend that they put on their list for Santa?

LC: I would. Always, with a PAW Patrol theme, because very popular toys are the PAW Patrol toys during the holidays. So this year, in conjunction with our offering on the Christmas special, we have a holiday vehicle bundle, which includes some of our favorites, Chase, Marshall, and Sky. Each vehicle is decked out with the cheerful seasonal details that you see in the special. So I think that’s really, really nice and kids will love that. And also I am most excited about this because I love myself an Advent calendar so much. And having kids, I know they love them too. They never get tired. So we have this amazing PAW Patrol holiday Rescue Advent calendar, which has 24 surprises to discover. So there’s lots of fun figures and miniature vehicles, holiday theme stuff. It’s gonna be pretty special.