Mixels Wiki:Creative Corner/Mixels: Codename Special

Mixels: Codename Special is a fan name applied to a series of specials based on the Mixels franchise that ran on multiple American networks between 1988 and 2000.

In 1986, just after the newly-recreated Warner Bros. Animation acquired Bilsonessy Productions, new Warners employees John Fang and Doug Payne contacted Woodrow Olson and Garrett Bishop with the idea of producing an hour-long television special which would reintroduce the mainly-neglected Mixels characters to a new generation of people.

While Olson and Bishop have received several offers from Hollywood for a feature film or TV special adaption of the Mixels franchise, none of the offers had appealed to them. But they saw and enjoyed award-winning special programs Payne produced as an employee of television stations WAGA-TV, WJBK-TV and WJW-TV so they agreed to meet with Payne and Fang (who Payne was about to establish a partnership studio with).

It was also around this time that Warners was beginning to move into television animation production and had lured a number of employees away from Hanna-Barbera Productions. For Bishop, Fang, Olson and Payne, this was the golden opportunity to revive Mixels.

During late 1987 and early 1988, the four worked hard to create the first special of Codename Special, Florida, Here We Come! After initial pitfalls, Florida, Here We Come! aired on CBS in September 1988, becoming Warner Bros. Animation's first TV production (not counting the usual AutoWorld/House of Vanilla/Meadow Island commercials), predating Tiny Toon Adventures by almost two years.

Thus a whole series of specials was launched, first on CBS, then on Fox beginning in 1992 and finally on The WB beginning in 1995. Codename Special ended in 2000, with a mysterious crossover special shelved following the September 11, 2001 attacks due to strong similarities with the images seen that day.

Unaired specials
Two specials were planned, but were never carried far. The first was a New York City-set special in 1994, which was reworked into the 1997 film. The second was to be a crossover with Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Superman and Batman, but was shelved following the September 11, 2001 attacks.