The Rankin-Bass Christmas Specials - General Discussion

[Qoass]

I saw cartoon Grinch Thanksgiving weekend.  I think it was on TBS and/or TNT.  And in past years, Cartoon Network had it too.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Qoass

[ennui]

In case it hasn't been mentioned: Nestor will be shown on ABCFamily at 8 a.m. Christmas day.

I see it listed on ABC Family for Sunday afternoon, 12/21, too.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I missed Grinch yesterday, but hooboy! Little Drummer Boy, Nestor, and Rudolph's Shiny New Year, along with Grinch are reairing on Christmas Day.

 

Good thing I watch these live, because I dvr'd Santa Claus is Coming to Town and realized that ABCFamily cuts it off a minute early, and I miss the last 45 seconds to a minute. So those that plan to dvr and watch, make sure you tell your dvrs to stop recording 1 minute later, instead of on time.

[ennui]

Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't he be a redhead? Red is the hair color that goes white soonest (blonds and brunettes tend to stay more grey).

 

Year Without a Santa Claus will be on in primetime on Monday for anyone who couldn't make it home from work in time to catch it already. I sent my sister an Outlook calendar appointment (with location listed as "your couch") so she would make sure she tuned in.

Besides, red hair goes with the red suit.

 

Favorite line: "I've been disenchanted."  Me, too, Warlock.

[Spartan Girl]

I watched Nestor yesterday, and even though I was already warned how sad it was, I still was not prepared.  Poor Nestor.  I think long ears are adorable on any animal, thank you very much!

[GHScorpiosRule]

And I finally got around to watching "Little Drummer Boy" and was bored out of my mind.

[kassa]

For me, these shows just aren't complete without the commercial breaks of Santa riding down snowy hills on a Norelco shaver sled. (Noelco!)

 

 

I remember the Dolly Madison ads.  We didn't have Dolly Madison products in New England (that I was aware of, anyway), so it was the only time of the year we saw the ads.  I remember being shocked to find out about the historical Dolly Madison because I just figured it was a cupcake company.

[Megan]

It's November 1st so my Christmas viewing has begun. I just added all my Christmas music back onto my ipod. I bought peppermint ice cream at the store.

 

I just watched Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the part that cracks me up is after "Even A Miracle Needs a Hand" number, they... just go to bed. Why was he gathering all the clock supplies? He didn't know about Albert ruining the clock and attempting to fix it at that point. Also, why does Father Mouse know absolutely nothing about clocks? He's Joshua Trundle's assistant.

 

The story not making sense is part of it's charm.

[BatmanBeatles]

I think Santa was a drama queen to believe an entire town, including sick children, would insult him.

[Megan]

Santa is always super pissy about everything in the Rankin and Bass world.

[WendyCR72]

Santa is always super pissy about everything in the Rankin and Bass world.

 

He really is a bastard in Rudolph. Unappreciative of the elf song, making fun of Rudolph's nose and then all for it when it benefits him. LOL!

[bosawks]

He really is a bastard in Rudolph. Unappreciative of the elf song, making fun of Rudolph's nose and then all for it when it benefits him. LOL!

Well, he is upper management.....

[Qoass]

I feel it's still too early for anything Christmas but I passed a sign for a lunch spot today that says "Nobody likes a skinny Santa".

 

(Eat, papa, eat!)

[Frost]

I just watched Frosty the Snowman for the umpteenth time in my life and this is the very first time I ever noticed the girl in the pink summer frock! She is wearing a dress with short sleeves and is wearing regular shoes! No coat, no scarf, no mittens, no boots. I know Karen is wearing a dress but she is dressed appropriately for playing the snow!

That is one of my favorite Christmas specials. I think it really holds up. The animation is rather static, but the characters have personality.

[merylinkid]

It definitely holds up better than Frosty Returns.   I like John Goodman, but the sad story of a town that has a winter carnival but hates snows and everyone wants to be popular.   Just doesn't cut it for me.

 

Saw one I have never seen before and I thought I knew them all (it might not be Rankin:Bass but it had that feel) the Life of Santa Claus.   Not the weird acid trip L. Frank Baum one, but a different origin story.   A poor toymaker gets a wish granted by elves.   It's all about believing in the impossible and believing in yourself and others.   I liked it. Now I want a copy of it.

[WendyCR72]

It definitely holds up better than Frosty Returns.

 

Hate that one. Different animation (well it is non R-B here), unmemorable (to me) songs and story. No. There is a real sequel with R-B Frosty where he married a snow woman named Crystal. LOL!

 

And here it is, Frosty's Winter Wonderland. I heart YT sometimes.

[merylinkid]

I like when he marries Crystal.    She finally comes alive when he gives her flowers.   And the snow preacher.   hahahahahahahaha.

[Spartan Girl]

Frosty Returns was stupid, but you have to admit "Let There Be Sbow" was pretty catchy.

[ajsnaves]

I just watched Frosty the Snowman for the umpteenth time in my life and this is the very first time I ever noticed the girl in the pink summer frock! She is wearing a dress with short sleeves and is wearing regular shoes! No coat, no scarf, no mittens, no boots. I know Karen is wearing a dress but she is dressed appropriately for playing the snow!

That is one of my favorite Christmas specials. I think it really holds up. The animation is rather static, but the characters have personality.

I had never noticed that until I watched it today. My favorite is the random excited ramblings of the kids as they play snow. "I like snow." "Yay Snow"  That and the fact that Santa leaves a child on a snow covered roof.  You know, as you do.

[WendyCR72]

That and the fact that Santa leaves a child on a snow covered roof.  You know, as you do.

 

Ha! I noticed that with Karen on the roof at the end some years ago, and I always marveled that, with it covered in snow, how she never fell off. How the hell did she get inside? And the moon was up. I wonder if her frantic parents didn't have police on standby and she got a good reaming out by them for their worry?

 

I know, I clearly think way too much about this. LOL!

[BatmanBeatles]

 

That and the fact that Santa leaves a child on a snow covered roof.  You know, as you do.

Like others have said: Rankin Bass' Santa is a jerk.

[Constantinople]

You have the jelly confused with the squirt gun that shoots jelly rather than water!  :-)  As for that damned doll, we also had quite the debate in college (yes, we did have too much time on our hands on occasion!) about just what her deal was. No consensus ever came of it.  :-)

 

 

I always thought the water pistol was easily fixable.

I watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this week for the first time in an age. Back in the day, I didn't spend much time thinking about the misfit toys, but now I wonder.

Why can't Charlie-in-the-Box just change his name to Jack?

Why is the toy plane a misfit? It's not as if as "normal" toy plane would fly.

Why are the elves so terrible at making toys that there's an entire island of misfit toys?

If the elves didn't make the misfit toys, who did?

 

Santa is always super pissy about everything in the Rankin and Bass world.

 

He really is a bastard in Rudolph. Unappreciative of the elf song, making fun of Rudolph's nose and then all for it when it benefits him. LOL!

Perhaps if his wife stopped body shaming him, Santa could relax.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Constantinople

[merylinkid]

Santa is pretty cool in Santa Claus is Coming to Town.   Okay there is the one pervy scene with giving kids toys to sit on his lap, but other than that, he was cool.  I guess later making toys for more than one little town got to be too much and he got cranky and whiny.   Oh I've got a cold, I'm skipping Christmas because it's all about me.   And where the hell did they get a doctor up at the North Pole.   If Hermy couldn't be a dentist they sure as hell weren't sending on to medical school.

 

Tomorrow morning is the First Christmas Snow.   If you don't cry at this one, you have no soul.

[WendyCR72]

Just a note for anyone with a Blu-Ray player who is not ashamed of owning these specials. LOL! Seems that "A Year Without A Santa Claus" is now out on Blu-Ray. And what it doesn't say on its cover is that it also contains "Rudolph's Shiny New Year", and "Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" (the latter two listed under "Features" on the disc).

[Spartan Girl]

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July....where do I begin? First of all, NOBODY likes having Christmas in July. And second, contributing to the "everyone is a jerk in Rankin-Bass" theme, I hate how almost everybody automatically shuns Rudolph for supposedly giving away the money without really questioning how uncharacteristic it was of him, let alone the fact that he was obviously covering up all the details. Come to think of it, the characters were all kind of morons in this one.

[magicdog]

If the elves didn't make the misfit toys, who did?

 

I always thought they were toys that came from corporations and turned up at Toys R Us. 

[Frost]

What happened to "The Little Drummer Boy"?  I don't think I've seen that on TV for over a decade.  Did it not age well or something?  From my childhood, I remember thinking it was cool having a Christmas special actually set in Jesus' birth place.

[WendyCR72]

Probably the same thing that happened to <------ Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey: Put on a shelf BECAUSE OF the religious overtones. That's my theory, anyway.

[lb60]

Nestor and The Little Drummer Boy have both been on ABC Family this year.  Probably edited, but they have been on.

[bmoore4026]

I was always impressed with Clarice from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer's voice.  Gentle but assertive and very lovely at singing.  Who did her voice?

[ZootSuitWyatt]

Her name is Janet Orenstein.

[merylinkid]

Little Drummer Boy is on tomorrow (12/15) at 10:30 p.m.   It is on again Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.  Nestor is then on at 10:30 p.m. that same day.  

 

 

Ears Nestor.  Sniff, sniff.    At least in the Little Drummer Boy

the sheep gets better.

[Frost]

I saw The Little Drummer Boy last night.  That was one of my favorites as a kid.  As an adult?  Not so much.  I couldn't get past how bad the animation was.  This must have been one of the earlier Rankin-Bass specials.  It was ambitious.  The crowd scenes in Jerusalem for example are very complicated.  But they couldn't pull it off.  And the actor doing Aaron's voice was just bad.  I guess not everything holds up as well as Charlie Brown Christmas.  I do give them props for taking on such a complex story.  I can't imagine a Christmas special now a days that would be that violent!

 

I don't believe I've ever seen Nester.  I'll try to catch that tonight.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So I watched Rudolph and The Year Without Santa Claus last night.

 

I don't know what it is, the music? The lyrics? But whenever and each time I watch, the sone "I Believe in Santa Claus" and "Blue Christmas" I end up bawling. The first also gives me goose bumps. I don't know why.

 

And since I watched them on DVD, I just discovered that Nestor and Santa Claus is Coming to Town is on the same dvd as Year Without Santa Claus!!

[Frost]

I finally saw Nester last night on ABC Family.  Hey!  Did you guys know it's going to have a new name soon?  If it hadn't been announced fifty thousand times I wouldn't!   Of course, the new name is so stupid I can't be bothered to move it into long term memory.  Life Force?   Anyway, I don't know why I never even knew this special existed.  I thought I'd seen every Rankin-Bass special dozens of times.  It was good.  The story, the animation, and the acting were all first rate.  I don't know if the actor who played Nester was a child or not, but he did a good job with it.  Very emotional.  Poor mama donkey!  At least all we saw was a snowy hump, not her frozen body.  <sniff>   I don't know why Nester would go running back to his original stable though.  I wanted him to stay with the Holy Family.  After all, they had to flee to Egypt shortly thereafter.  And why would the mean old stable keeper welcome him back?  I guess because Nester's assistance to the divine made him blessed as well?  The ending didn't make a lot of sense to me.   But overall, I really enjoyed it.

[merylinkid]

It's Rankin:Bass.   Once the misfit proves he is useful after all, well, everyone loves him and wants him around.   What message this sends is best left unsaid.

[WendyCR72]

I finally saw Nester last night on ABC Family.  Hey!  Did you guys know it's going to have a new name soon?  If it hadn't been announced fifty thousand times I wouldn't!   Of course, the new name is so stupid I can't be bothered to move it into long term memory.  Life Force?   Anyway, I don't know why I never even knew this special existed.  I thought I'd seen every Rankin-Bass special dozens of times.  It was good.  The story, the animation, and the acting were all first rate.  I don't know if the actor who played Nester was a child or not, but he did a good job with it.  Very emotional.  Poor mama donkey!  At least all we saw was a snowy hump, not her frozen body.  <sniff>   I don't know why Nester would go running back to his original stable though.  I wanted him to stay with the Holy Family.  After all, they had to flee to Egypt shortly thereafter.  And why would the mean old stable keeper welcome him back?  I guess because Nester's assistance to the divine made him blessed as well?  The ending didn't make a lot of sense to me.   But overall, I really enjoyed it.

 

And now you can understand why some of us cry over this one every year.  :-)

[merylinkid]

In Office Depot today I saw they had Rudolph talking figurines.    I am not pressing Yukon Cornelius or Hermie's belt buckle to hear them talk.    Geez.   They couldn't find ANYWHERE else to put the button?    At least Santa is "press the shirt button."

[iMonrey]

 

So did they ever explain why the talking doll was a misfit?  All I can figure is that nobody wants a whiner (I know this from personal experience).

 

Thought I'd chime in on this one, because despite their declaration of "We're all misfits!" not every toy on the Island of Misfit Toys has something wrong with them. Charlie says King Moonraker searches all over the world and whenever he finds a toy no little girl or boy wants he brings it to the island. So there isn't necessarily anything "wrong" with the rag doll, it's just that nobody wanted her. King Moonraker could have found her in an alley somewhere, or in a dumpster, after a child threw her away and nobody else wanted her. We see other toys on the island that are apparently functioning the way they were intended - the nesting dolls and the wind-up mouse, for example.

[WendyCR72]

Coming from an adult perspective now, besides the rag doll, Charlie In The Box always annoyed me, crying about how no one wanted a Charlie In The Box.

 

Then call yourself Jack! Boom! Done! So easy. LOL!

 

I clearly think far too much about this.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So.  When do these start airing anyway? After all we've gone from ? ??to ? ? so we should start seeing these, right? Riiight????

[chitowngirl]

This Friday, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty/Frosty Returns, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas are on opposite each other at 8:00.

Edited November 22, 2016 by chitowngirl

[merylinkid]

Noooooo.   Finally, the original How the Grinch Stole CHristmas, fully restored and it is opposite my all time favorite -- Santa Claus is coming to Town.   I need to put one foot in front of the other and kick some network Exec's ass.   Peace on Earth, bah humbug.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 11/21/2016 at 7:34 PM, chitowngirl said:

This Friday, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty/Frosty Returns, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas are on opposite each other at 8:00.

 

1 minute ago, merylinkid said:

Noooooo.   Finally, the original How the Grinch Stole CHristmas, fully restored and it is opposite my all time favorite -- Santa Claus is coming to Town.   I need to put one foot in front of the other and kick some network Exec's ass.   Peace on Earth, bah humbug.

I'm going to have to do a coin toss to see which one I'll be watching live.???

[Spartan Girl]

So Honest Trailers took on Rudolph:

"Lord of the Rings for kids on acid." Yup.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, Spartan Girl said:

So Honest Trailers took on Rudolph:

 

"Lord of the Rings for kids on acid." Yup.

I don't know if I should watch this since I love this movie, even if Donner and Santa are jerks.

[Spartan Girl]

Go for it. It's hilarious.

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Go for it. It's hilarious.

I did and you were right!!! ???

[merylinkid]

YES.   I've said for years that is the moral of the story.    We make kids watch this every year?

[GHScorpiosRule]

Also the song from the honest trailer reminds me of those songs from Twisted Christmas!