The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

The Great Ak calls the leaders of the Immortals to the Forest of Burzee for a council meeting. His request, bestowing immortality to the mortal known as Santa Claus. To convince the other Immortals, the Great Ak tells them the story of Santa Claus's life and adventures. An adaptation of the book by L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus was Rankin/Bass's final Christmas Special done with stop motion animation. Much like Pinocchio's Christmas and The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold, the animation in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is top notch. The character designs are pretty impressive too, especially the evil Awgwas. The plot of the special is complete nonsense, but I wouldn't have expected anything else from Rankin/Bass. 

Rating: Immortality%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Stingiest Man in Town

The Stingiest Man in Town is the Rankin/Bass version of A Christmas Carol. It's a fairly straightforward adaptation except for, much like in the case of Cricket on the Hearth, the inclusion of an insect narrator. A humbug, in fact. One B. A. H. Humbug, Esq., to be precise, voiced by Tom Bosley. Scrooge is played by Walter Matthau, who gives a fine performance. And the special is jam packed with music. Every few minutes there's another big 70s variety show style song. It's almost comical how many songs are in this special. There are a few flourishes here and there that set The Stingiest Man in Town apart from other adaptations of A Christmas Carol, but it's pretty plain overall.

Rating: A Tie%

(Image from IMDB)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Oftentimes in Rankin/Bass specials, Santa Claus is depicted as being somewhat temperamental. In 1974's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, a skeptical letter to the editor pisses Santa off to the point where he turns his back on the entire town of Junctionville. All of the town's letters to Santa get returned unopened and the townsfolk start freaking out. To get back into Santa's good graces, local clock maker Joshua Trundle convinces the town to build a giant singing clock that will play a special song for Santa at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. By Rankin/Bass standards, that's a fairly straightforward narrative. Did I mention that the clock maker has a mouse apprentice? And it was the mouse's son who wrote the letter that pissed Santa off?

Rating: A Clock%

(Image from IMDB)

The Little Drummer Boy, Book II

As far as Rankin/Bass specials go, the original Little Drummer Boy special was both straightforward and coherent. The sequel, not so much. The Little Drummer Boy, Book II picks up where the first special ended. Aaron, the titular drummer boy, joins Melchior on a quest to find Simeon, a bell maker. Simeon has crafted silver bells, meant to be rung to announce the birth of Christ. Before Aaron and Melchior reach Simeon, the bells are stolen by some greedy Roman tax collectors. Will Aaron and his friends be able to get the bells back in time to announce the birth of our Lord and savior? Isn't it weird that the little drummer boy is named Aaron? I mean, I know this is all based off of a song from the 1940s, but don't you think they could have come up with a more convincing name? The kid grew up in the desert for Pete's sake.

Rating: Silver Bells%

(Image from IMDB)

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July

I gave up trying to understand the logic of Rankin/Bass specials a long time ago. Now, when I watch them, I just let the madness wash over me. It's so much easier that way. That said, I still had a hard time with Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. It's a feature length special, which is way too long. Also, it takes two of the heaviest hitters from Rankin/Bass' roster of Christmas characters and puts them in a circus in the summertime. I did actually like that they retconned Rudolph's backstory. He now has a convoluted origin for his shiny nose. Unfortunately, turning Frosty into a stop motion animated character did nothing to elevate him in my opinion. He still sucks. They did a good job setting up the villain, the evil King Winterbolt. And there were snow dragons and a creepy ice genie and even a corrupt reindeer named Scratcher. So, I guess I'm saying, it wasn't very good but it had some good elements. Not recommended, unless you are a Rankin/Bass completist.

Rating: Toy Boat%

Cricket on the Hearth

I've never really been a fan of Charles Dickens. It's probably because I hated reading Great Expectations in high school. He comes up a lot at Christmas though. I actually have to go out of my way each year to avoid reviewing too many adaptations of A Christmas Carol. So it came as both a surprise and a disappointment when I learned that Dickens had actually written a number of books centered around Christmas. And one of them was the basis of the Rankin/Bass special Cricket on the Hearth. The special, which differs somewhat from the novella, is the dour tale of a widowed toymaker, his daughter and the cricket they invite into their home for some reason. When the daughter's fiancée is lost a sea, she goes blind and the family falls on hard times. They end up working for a heartless miser who wants to marry the blind daughter. There's also a bunch of talking animals in the special and some toys that come to life for a few minutes. It's weird. Not as weird as some of Rankin/Bass' other animated specials, but weird nonetheless.

Rating: Toy Elephant%

Pinocchio's Christmas

At first, I thought Pinocchio's Christmas was an alternate universe Pinocchio tale but, as we come to find out at the end of the special, it's more of a side story. At the start, Pinocchio is already a walking, talking marionette but he has yet to go through any of adventures we're familiar with. Instead, we get to witness the story of Pinocchio's first Christmas. And, for some reason, that involves a fox and cat teaching Pinocchio how to lie and steal before they try to sell him into slavery. But before you feel bad for the little wooden boy, it should be said that at this point in his development, he's a real shit heel. And I think Geppetto is partly to blame. He's no disciplinarian, let me tell you. He lets Pinocchio get away with a lot. Even after Pinocchio robs a guy and takes off into the Enchanted Forest, Geppetto's out walking the streets saying that he's already forgiven Pinocchio. Jeez, now I don't feel so bad about Geppetto almost becoming whale chow.

Rating: A Poem%

(Image from Cineplex)

Frosty's Winter Wonderland

It might be a bit of a stretch to call Frosty's Winter Wonderland a Christmas special. The holiday isn't even mentioned by name at any point. But, Wikipedia calls it a Christmas special and I would hate to think that I wasted 25 minutes watching this thing for no reason. Winter Wonderland is a sequel to the original Rankin/Bass Frosty the Snowman special. A few years after the events of that first special, Frosty decides to make good on his promise to come "back again some day." Only this time around, Frosty seems a little depressed. The children decide that Frosty needs a wife and so they go about building him one. All the while, a jealous Jack Frost is determined to steal Frosty's magic hat and become the object of everyone's wintery affection. The kids also make a parson out of snow, who comes to life after they put a Bible in its hands. So, you know, fun for the whole family.

Rating: A Bouquet of Frost Flowers%

The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold

Oh Rankin/Bass, God bless your nonsensical ways. There's a method to your madness that I will never understand and I'm perfectly alright with that. Everyone knows Rankin/Bass' perennial classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but few people have probably put in much time with the rest of their catalogue. Just beyond Rudolph and Frosty there's a whole pantheon of blind orphans, cossacks, psychedelic donkeys and (apparently) leprechauns. I would summarize the plot of The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold, but it would surely sound like the ravings of a syphilitic lunatic. I'll just say that it involves a shipwrecked cabin boy, some leprechauns and a gold hungry banshee. It's a whole heap of nonsense. It should be noted, though, that the stop motion animation in this special looks amazing, easily the best I've seen from Rankin/Bass so far.

Rating: Shoes%

(Image from MC 'Toon Reviews)

Jack Frost

I love old Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials and I will never hold an absence of logic against them. And yet, having just said that, I don't think Jack Frost makes a whole lot of sense. In the Special, which essentially attempts to explain Groundhog Day by way of an origin story for the Groundhog's shadow, Jack Frost is temporarily turned into a human so that he might attempt to woo a woman and gain her hand in marriage. The problem is, he takes his eye off the prize halfway through the Special and transforms back into a winter sprite so that he can keep a Cossack and his army of robots cooped up in a castle for six weeks. In his absence, the young woman falls in love with a Knight in Golden Armor and Jack resigns himself to being a winter sprite forever. It's kinda like a more Christmassy version of Beetlejuice.

Rating: Ice Money%

(Image from pinterest.ca)

12 More Days of Christmas Specials: Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

Bravo Rankin/Bass, bravo. I thought I had plumbed the depths of your Christmassy madness, but that was before I saw Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. The Nestor Special takes a few cues from Rankin/Bass's Rudolph Special, wherin our protagonist is an outcast because of his physical abnormalities. After being thrown out of the stable where he grew up and the death of his mother, Nestor meets up with a cherub named Tilly who tells him that he has a greater purpose, one that will bring him to Bethlehem. Along the way he hooks up with Mary and Joseph and uses his long ass ears to help guide them to Bethlehem through a sandstorm, much as Rudolph used his freaky nose to help Santa through all that Christmas fog. The Special is narrated by Roger Miller (who sounds an awful lot like Bruce Campbell) and is somewhat based on a song written by Gene Autry, which makes about as much sense as anything else in this Special.

Rating: 72%

(Image from texastailwind.wordpress.com)

12 More Days of Christmas Specials: The Little Drummer Boy

The Little Drummer Boy is pretty typical of Rankin/Bass's Christmas Specials, it takes a well known Christmas type figure and tells an origin story of sorts. The Little Drummer Boy is probably also one of the more straightforward Rankin/Bass Specials, since it doesn't feature warlocks, abominable snow men or anthropomorphic depictions of weather. The Special is kind of a sidequel to the Gift of the Magi, as the little drummer boy crosses paths with the three wise men and eventually follows them to Bethlehem. Aaron, the little drummer boy, spends most of the Special pissed off, he's sworn to hate all people after his parents were killed by desert bandits. By the end of the special Aaron makes it to Bethlehem, is reunited with his dancing animals and swears off hatred after playing his drum for the newborn Jesus.

Rating: 63%

(Image from christmas-specials.wikia.com)

12 More Days of Christmas Specials: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

Ah Rankin-Bass, you can always be counted on to bring me some yuletide absurdity. I probably hadn't sat through 1970's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is some 20+ years, so it was nice to essentially see it again for the first time. The Special (which includes voice work from Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire and Keenan Wynn) tells the story of how Kris Kringle came to be Santa Claus and how many Christmas traditions got their start. You see, Santa began as an abandoned orphan, raised by toy making elves, who really wanted to bring toys to the children of a vaguely Germanic village called Sombertown. The town was under the thumb of Burgermeister Meisterburger who outlawed toys and made Santa and his associates outlaws. Herr Meisterburger even went so far as to burn a pile of toys in the middle of the town square in front of the children as a warning. In the end, Santa and his friends (which include a warlock and a penguin) succeed, mostly by outliving the Burgermeister, and Christmas is saved.

Rating: 68%

(Image from theotherjournal.com)

Another 12 Days of Christmas Specials: The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

Of all the Christmas Specials I've watched and reviewed so far this year, The First Christmas was the only one that did not feature Santa Claus in any way. Most Christmas Specials toss in an obligatory nod to Jesus, but rarely get too religiousy. While The First Christmas wasn't about anything specifically religious, it was focused on a bunch of nuns and an orphan shepherd boy who had been blinded by a bolt of lightning (not kidding about that last part, this is a Rankin/Bass special aftterall). The main nun, voiced by Angela Lansbury, pines for a white Christmas like the ones she knew as a child. Lucas, the blind shepherd kid, wants nothing more than the kind nun to get her wish. You can imagine how it all turns out.

Rating: Murder, She Wrote DVD Set%

(Image from demonoid.me)

Another 12 Days of Christmas Specials: The Year Without a Santa Claus

I love stop motion animation, but what always attracts me to Rankin/Bass specials is the fact that they're usually quite weird. Rudolph has it's share odd characters and moments, but The Year Without a Santa Claus is a whole bundle of bizarre. Basically Santa decides he's tired and underappreciated, so he decides to cancel Christmas and take the year off. The rest of the special is Mrs. Claus and some elves trying to convince Santa that people still believe in him and that there's still goodwill out in the world. They go about this by trying to get two freaks called Heat Miser and Snow Miser to set aside their differences so that it can snow in a small Southern town on Christmas. Essentially, there is a wholesome Christmassy message in there, but it's wrapped up in classic Rankin/Bass weirdness.

Rating: Chia Pet%

(Image from ioffer.com)

12 Days of Christmas Specials - #7: Frosty the Snowman

I know a lot of children's entertainment is supposed to be kinda dumb, but Frosty the Snowman is seriously retarded. It's a shame too, Frosty was made by Rankin/Bass, the same folks who made the Rudolph special. Only this time around, the special was made with traditional cel animation instead of stop motion animation. It's not even particularly good cel animation either. The voice dubbing is terrible as well, I've seen Godzilla movies with better dubbing. And why the hell does Frosty say "Happy Birthday!" whenever someone puts the magic hat on his head?

Rating: 6 Geese-a-Laying%

(Image from wolfpacktrees.com)

12 Days of Christmas Specials - #1: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Instead of reviewing Christmas songs this year, I thought I'd review a few Christmas specials and I figured there'd be no better way to kick off the reviews than with Rankin/Bass' stop motion classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I realized, while watching the special last night, that it was probably the first time that I had sat through the whole thing since I was a little kid. Now I'm sure you probably all know the gist of the story, Rudolph is born with a shiny red nose which makes him an outcast in Christmas Town (heck, even Santa thinks Rudolph is a freak.) In order to spare his family from the shame of having a freak for a son, Rudolph decides to run away with an effeminate elf named Hermey. Along the way, they make a few friends and learn some valuable lessons about the importance of family (or something like that.) Overall, I enjoyed revisiting Rudolph, especially after I realized that the guy who did Donner's voice was the same guy who did the voice for J. Jonah Jameson on the old Spider-Man cartoon.

Rating: 12 Drummers Drumming%

(Image from store.livenation.com)