CHRISTMAS TV SPECIALS - Your favorite Rankin/Bass stop-animation Christmas production

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

And you MUST post a lyric or two from your favorite song. (Bonus points if you can post a link to an MP3 file.)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Burl Ives)
The Little Drummer Boy (1968, Greer Garson)
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (1970, Fred Astaire)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, Shirley Booth)
The First Christmas (1975, Angela Lansbury)
Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976, Red Skelton)
The Little Drummer Boy, Book II (1976, Greer Garson)
Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977, Roger Miller)
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979, Mickey Rooney)
Jack Frost (TV special) (1979, Buddy Hackett)
The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold (1981, Art Carney)
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)

(Wait for the poll to generate!)

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 24, 2008

I only own Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I hate all the others. Makes me think that Rudolph was just a one of a kind fluke of some sort by Rankin-Bass.

maxmordon · Nov 24, 2008

I've never even heard of any of them. Just know that you people sometimes watch stop-animation specials on Christmas (I thought it was only a film, though)

Kitty Pryde · Nov 24, 2008

Oh! Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July! My ex turned me on to this brilliantly cracked cinematic masterpiece. The villians are hanging from the rafters in this one! The evil wizard Winterbolt, Scratcher the evil reindeer, dangerous melty heat, frost dragons. Frost dragons, people! I don't even celebrate Christmas but this is one amazing movie. Bonus money-saving tip: no need to stock up on festive holiday booze because this movie is so weird you'll think you're drunk when you watch it.

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

My favorite as far as plain old Christmas goes is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." That one comes very close to being an unintentional and hilarious duplication of a very special sub-genre of superhero films known as the "origins story" where we learn where the hero came from and how he got all his superpowers, etc. Origins stories are always the best. And the music in that one was just spectacular. And the icing on the cake is that it had a mushy sweet ending to it.

But my OTHER favorite because of how goofy it is is "The Year Without A Santa Claus" because of Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Those guys are classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mw-1ehsuJM

"I'm Mister
White Christmas!
I'm Mr. Snow!
I'm Mister
Icicle!
I'm Mister Ten Below!
Friends call me Show Miser.
Whatever I touch.
Turns to snow in my clutch.
I'm too much!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqMrKuTZtNg

"I'm Mister
Green Christmas!
I'm Mr. Sun!
I'm Mister
Heat Blister!
I'm Mister Hundred-And-One!
Friends call me Heat Miser.
Whatever I touch.
Starts to melt in my clutch.
I'm too much!"

III · Nov 24, 2008

Which one had the Heat Miser and Cold Miser? Those guys scared the tar out of me when I was little. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, not a time of Santa running some demonic gauntlet.

katiemac · Nov 24, 2008

III said:
Which one had the Heat Miser and Cold Miser? Those guys scared the tar out of me when I was little. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, not a time of Santa running some demonic gauntlet.

The Heat and Snow Misers are the only part of those stop-animations I like, even though they are incredibly creepy. I used to watch the Rudolph one when I was younger.

It's not the season until I see How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

III · Nov 24, 2008

katiemac said:
The Heat and Snow Misers are the only part of those stop-animations I like, even though they are incredibly creepy.

I can watch any horror movie from the past 20 years and not be scared, but if you put me in a dark room with one TV showing Heat Miser and one TV showing Sleestacks I would probably still go catatonic with fear.

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

OMG! I just discovered a huge treasure trove on YouTube of DOZENS of parodies of Heat Miser and Snow Miser! Those two guys were only minor characters in the silly made-for-TV special, and yet they have grown to become an entire franchise unto themselves!!!

Here's a 3-minute clip from a live-action remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus (I guess it was a direct-to-video releae) where they comepletely re-enacted the entire Heat Miser and Snow Miser thing with the exact same song. (But instead of little guys dancing around, they had beautiful women). They made almost no changes to the song in this remake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGhT_ylXN8s&NR=1

Here's a Japanese anime where a fan took the anime and redubbed it with the Rankin/Bass song. (A little bit of that Wizard of Oz/Pink Floyd the Wall thing going on there.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcx8C0F2KUw&feature=related

Here's The Columbus Gay Men's Choir doing a Christmas concert last year and they do a live performance in a symphonic concert hall of a COMPLETE and very faithful rendering of the song from the TV special.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD-2ZprmYzE&feature=related

Then there's some guy being goofy with a home-made remake of the whole thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QEwfzitmvU&feature=related

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

OMG! This is the best one yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPZNc_7uqyM&feature=related

It's Heat Miser and Snow Miser doing "Wassup!"

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

Okay. Here's somebody's live stage production of the movie. (And if you ask me, this interpretation of Snow Miser is a little too light in the loafers. Not even the Columbus Gay Men's Choir went THAT far. Just my opinion.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMA6_cObbY&NR=1

nevada · Nov 24, 2008

Ah yes, Rudolph. Wherein children learn it's perfectly okay to laugh at people who are different than you are and to mock them and to shun them. After all, Santa does it. Santa!!! laughing at some poor child raindeer. Rudolph was just a little kid and bloody Santa laughs at him and shuns him. And why do they come around? Because they have a change of heart? Because they realize that Rudolph is a "person"/raindeer too and has feelings and that they've been extremely cruel to him? No, because they can use him. So they use him and no doubt, when Christmas is over and they no longer need him, they'll dump him as fast as they rounded him up that foggy night.

I'm sorry but these films never exemplified the spirit of Christmas to me. I found them to be meanspirited, and full of crappy music, and selfish people, and frankly, Frosty is creepy.

Bah Humbug.

nahalwi · Nov 24, 2008

but...but the island of misfit toys!!

It showed that even they could make friends! Even if little children can be cruel and not want them...they can still make friends with other misfits...

I always loved Rudolph, with Santa Claus is Coming to Town as a close second. I miss that sort of animation for specials like this!

DeleyanLee · Nov 24, 2008

Have a holly, jolly Christmas!
It's the best time of the year.
I don't know, if there'll be snow,
But have a cup of cheer.

Hard to be Burl Ives.

TBH, though, I've never heard of most of those specials. Guess that tells people how old I am, eh? LOL!

JoNightshade · Nov 24, 2008

I find all of them pretty much creepy and disturbing. ::Shudder::

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Nov 24, 2008

Red Skelton!

Serenity · Nov 24, 2008

I had a period of a few years where my mom refused to let me watch Rudolph because it upset me so much I would cry for hours. Seriously. So, I guess even as a child, I did understand what you are talking about nevada on some level. Because it was at the 'reindeer games' part where the tears would start to roll.

Shady Lane · Nov 24, 2008

I love so many of them, but Year Without a Santa Claus is my favorite. Jack Frost and Rudolph are high up there, too.

But my real favorite will always be Charlie Brown Christmas

Soccer Mom · Nov 24, 2008

Yukon Cornelias! Love me some Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys!

childeroland · Nov 24, 2008

Hard to choose between several of these (especially Little Drummer Boy and Year Without Santa Claus) but Burl Ives wins it by a nose.

nevada · Nov 24, 2008

nahalwi said:
but...but the island of misfit toys!!

It showed that even they could make friends! Even if little children can be cruel and not want them...they can still make friends with other misfits...

That's right, segretation is alive and well. let the retards and cripples stick to an island by themselves and not bother the normal children.

Perhaps I exagerate, but seriously, what kind of message is that to send to your children? I guess I just never liked Christmas specials in any shape. THe only one that is worth watching, that actually sends a message of what Christmas is really about, is the Grinch that stole christmas. or let me say, what people would have you believe christmas is really about.

nahalwi · Nov 24, 2008

I think someone is being a little too bitter and reading far too much in that story.

The fact is, there are many people out there who are cruel and mean, and sometimes they mean it, sometimes they just don't know any better. To me, this was a wonderful story showing that despite all of that, you can overcome it.

To those 'bullies', they realized that they were wrong. Something they ignorantly despised for being different did in fact have a use, but it goes beyond that...Rudolph overcame their persecution, saved the day, and showed that he had a heart that would do the right thing without holding onto the past with bitterness.

And in the end, it is a story for children. You can pick it apart just like fairy tales: Cinderella, Snow White, etc..but in the end, they are loved by children and live through the ages, and I'm sorry you can't enjoy the happiness they bring.

Wavy_Blue · Nov 24, 2008

To be perfectly honest, these specials always have kind of given me the spooks. True, I've never exactly watched one, but those troll guys with the bright red and orange hair are pretty scary.

Plot Device · Nov 24, 2008

C'mon, guys! They have SUCH a distinctive look to them! They're part of the culture now. They have become SOOOOOO iconic that the Mac & PC commercial dudes did a parody of them. How affirming is THAT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxSOBXXZzGg

Or, for non-YouTubers:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=mac and pc christmas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Once you have been parodied, you have arrived!

katiemac · Nov 24, 2008

That's why I liked ELF so much. They did the stop-motion animation look with their "arctic puppets." Very clever.

CHRISTMAS TV SPECIALS - Your favorite Rankin/Bass stop-animation Christmas production

What's your favorite Rankin/Bass stop-animation Christmas Special?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Burl Ives)

The Little Drummer Boy (1968, Greer Garson)

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (1970, Fred Astaire)

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, Shirley Booth)

The First Christmas (1975, Angela Lansbury)

Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976, Red Skelton)

The Little Drummer Boy, Book II (1976, Greer Garson)

Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977, Roger Miller)

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979, Mickey Rooney)

Jack Frost (TV special) (1979, Buddy Hackett)

The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold (1981, Art Carney)

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)

I don't like any of them.

I've never even heard of any of them.

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