When you’re done eating, how would you feel about one more year of Christmas specials for dessert?

Thanks to Andrew for the toon-tastic image. It’s by Disney artist Charles Boyer and was very authentically inspired by this iconic piece by Norman Rockwell.

Pretty cool, no? So yeah… Christmas Specials anyone?!

I’ve made no secret concerning my love for Disney’s Epic Mickey. I mean, if for no better reason than it’s a sweet, sweet serenade to Disney fans of all ages. See the now unintelligible trailer below…

As far as I can tell, it was a “success” in the states, selling over a million copies following its release last December (yet the Junction Point development team was met with pink slips anyway?)

One of my favorite levels features a Matterhorn made of discarded Mickey merch, including nods to his old games!

Admittedly, it Epic Mickey was a tough sell. Taking into account the sub-PS360 visuals, as well as the waning interest in traditional games on the Wii and motion controls in general, I’m surprised it sold as well as it did.

Meet Pete Pan!

Since then Nintendo’s announced a new console, so I’d imagined Epic Mickey’s day was all but done… But I’m happy to report that Nintendo itself has enough faith in the title, it’s picking up publishing duties in Japan! This is kind of a rare thing for a game developed by a Western third-party, but it speaks to the quality of the title. Plus, judging by the success of Kingdom Hearts, Disneyana is far more ingrained into the culture of the Japanese, so it should be met with open arms.

If you haven’t tried it yet, DO IT, especially since you can get Epic Mickey on the cheap right now. I can’t recommend the game enough, especially the Collector’s Edition, which in addition to a kickass Mickey figure, contains the only DVD currently in print with classic, uncut Mickey Mouse cartoons on it.

Oh, Disney… Hopefully the Japanese are forgiving (of this screen from “Commando Duck“)

Highlights include Tron: Evolution, Toy Story 3, and quite possibly my favorite game of 2010, EPIC MICKEY!
For those who don’t already know, writing crap about games is what pays my bills. With that in mind, as a slobbering fan of all things Disney, it was unbelievably amazing to watch the company take a serious stab at the interactive medium. Disney games have long been somewhat of a joke, often (rightfully) written off as kiddie fare or shameless license cash-ins. However, I can attest that the company made a valiant effort last year towards making the Disney name mean as much to gaming as it does to film, TV and animation.

Yes: This IS a Disney game. And a damned good one

That said, 2010 was a tough year for Disney’s gaming division, and it rang in 2011 with a wave of firings and layoffs. The company behind Tron: Evolution, Propaganda Studios, was closed almost immediately after the game released. Probably because it wasn’t very good, even though there were a lot of great ideas in the game, as well as some gorgeous set pieces in this playable prequel to Tron: Legacy. Unfortunately it skews towards the boring side and definitely could’ve benefited from more development time in order to appeal to anyone other than diehard Tron fans.  Whatever, I love Light Cycles!

In the game, you get to see how Clu came to power

Toy Story 3 was also way better than it should’ve been. Gamers don’t expect much from titles based on new movies, largely because they suck, they’re short, and sacrifice fine tuning to coincide with the release of the film they’re piggy-backing on in a timely manner. More importantly, most movie-based games take crescendo moments from the film and turn them into prolonged and uninspired levels. Toy Story 3 does it as well, and it too blows ass.

No shit, this in ridiculously fun

However, the majority of the gameplay in Toy Story 3 reside in the free form “Toy Box Mode” where players essentially create their own world, at their own pace, using Pixar’s lovable characters as building blocks. It’s awesome, works amazingly with multiple players, and features characters and pieces from ALL the Pixar movies as unlockable rewards! Not that there’s a lot of quality to compare it to, but Toy Story 3 is unquestionably the greatest Pixar game ever made.

A level inspired by Disneyland’s Matterhorn is made out of several decades worth of actual Mickey Mouse merchandise

And then there’s Epic Mickey… a game I can’t say enough nice things about. It’s the game to own for Disney fans (I wrote an article on 50 Amazing Disney References that appear within the just the first couple of levels) and undeniable proof that the company was tackling the medium of games with balls and gusto. It’s a classic 3D platformer with an RPG mentality, restore life or take it away via Mickey’s paintbrush and the world of misfit Disneyana will in turn react differently to player-specific behavior. I believe they said you have to play the game three times to experience absolutely everything.

Two of my favorite cameos in Epic Mickey among many, many others

Of course all that made Epic Mickey a bit of a tough sell. It’s a looked a tad underpowered to the modern hardcore audience, yet was arguably more demanding than the average kiddie game a lot of people (incorrectly!) assumed it was. In spite of all that, the game’s perfect for Disney fanatics like myself. So if you want to pick up the amazing Collector’s Edition, featuring a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes features, more classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, and a kickass Mickey figure, as well as several other reduced price Disney titles YOU HAVE UNTIL 12AM PACIFIC TIME!

Thanks to PanzerDSS for the link

Look, I’ve tried taking pictures of my stupid dolls and action figures before, but admittedly, I’m a shitty photographer. Lucky for me, I swiped this here Canon Rebel T2i or something from work, and Lickety-BOOM: Instant Artist!

Yeah, this is a pretty pointless, self indulgent post. So if your time’s too precious to look at a bunch of licensed cartoon crap, there’s plenty of stuff floating around the site that almost redeem this frivolous excuse for dicking around with a fancy-pants camera.

Classic Mickey Mouse phone, circa the 1970s. Purchased as a gift by the writer of X-Men Xmas Special – IN BOX! – with hysterical of-the-era FCC instruction manual! Thanks Brett

Hard though it may be to believe, I actually have a considerably larger collection of animated swag at my office, the place where most of your nostalgic junk will eventually gets banished to once you make the decision to cohabitate with a female creature concerned with issues of aesthetics and taste, young man!

You are Lisa Simpson! Whom we discussed previously in Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire

For nerdy clarification, you’re technically looking at a bunch of my recently procured stuff, thank you very much. And although I’ve tried before in the past, I’ve never been able to snap close-up shots of this crap with this kind of quality and/or clarity. Oh, wanna SEE why I stopped collecting Disney Vinylmations?!

Dodger, from Oliver and Company! Technically, my only Billy Joel action figure

You buy these things blind, not unlike a pack of baseball cards, hoping and praying you get the one you want for around $10 a pop. The Animation 1 Series seemed like a great “risk” – plenty of characters I’d love to own, only a few I didn’t care for. One of which was…

Phil from Hercules (With a redeemably awesome Prince John from Villains Series)

Nothing against the Danny Devito character, but all I really wanted was Dodger, and here’s my Vinylmation chronology (which encompassed lost of wasted money and numerous trips to the Disney Store – it is a sad tale!) Phil (aww), Dodger (yay!) Then Dodger again? Then Phil again?! Over $50 later, my Vinylmation obsession was over almost before it started.

Louis from The Princess and the Frog and Merlin from The Sword and the Stone, which we wrote about briefly in the poorly aged, animated jukebox, A Disney Christmas Gift

Obviously, I’m linking around willy-nilly to stuff we’ve written about previously and where you can purchase things on Amazon. So I should probably showcase some semi-hard to find items you can only purchase in parks, right?

Yosemite Sam in front of a Who Framed Roger Rabbit Home Video standee. Roger Rabbit may as well be a reoccurring theme here.

Picked up Yosemite Sam at the Vallejo, California’s Six Flags Discovery. Those parks are probably the only places left in America where you’ll still see the Looney Tunes characters treated with any kind of reverence.

Brer Rabbit and a little Ms. Piggy

Again, I take zero credit for the quality of these photos, which I think look ridiculously nice given my documented lack of visual panache. Recently I went to Disneyland with a mission: Find merchandise related to Disney’s Song of the South, which younger folks only know as one of the park’s greatest rides, Splash Mountain, featuring a bunch of characters they’ve never been allowed to see. You’re looking at the sole piece of Brer Anything merchandise available in the entire park, beyond that of a souvenir Splash Mountain picture frame. It’s disconcerting how well Disney has swept that gang of characters under the rug, especially considering the presence they hold over a large portion of their parks. Hell, Brer Rabbit has his own store there, yet doesn’t get to appear on anything other than a ceremonial Disney pin.

Figment, with a little Elliot for good dragon company

Brer Rabbit came as part of a Disney Parks-related set of figures, and visitors of EPCOT will no doubt recognize Figment, the park’s on-again-off-again mascot. You gotta love how iconic Figment remains in the eyes of people in spite of almost never appearing anywhere but the Orlando resort. But hey, I’m a sucker for dragons! Speaking of which, let’s look closer…

Elliot from Pete’s Dragon!

Yes, ELLIOT, not “Pete.” Elliot is Pete‘s dragon, and calling him otherwise is tantamount to calling a certain doctor’s Prometheus “Frankenstein,” and that’s faux pas that’ll get you tossed out of polite geeky conversation, my friend. The very small figure you see above is from Disneyland/Disney World’s Collector Packs series, which I love somethin’ fierce!

How often to you get to say “Daisy Duck” and “Death Star” in the same sentence?!

I fucking love these packs so goddamned hard, it makes me want to squeal! Because… I’m an adult, you see. I like to collect inaction figures. I don’t need shit that shoots stuff, changes color, or poses at a billion points of articulation. Just sit there an look awesome. The less you aesthetically bother my girlfriend, the better.

Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers and Scrooge McDuck, star of Mickey’s Christmas Carol in front of my ultra rad Bionic Commando lunch box!

These little 1 inchers come in packs of three, but just like the Vinylmations above, what you get is totally random yet, I prefer the Disney Collectors Packs for numerous reasons you probably don’t care about: They’re half the price of the Vinylmations, the series are more varied, random shit is still fun, giving doubles to friends feels better when it only costs you a buck and change, your chances of getting what you want are better, and perhaps best of all, they come in cellophane bags! Dorky sleuths can use their fingers to feel out the characters they desire, and I literally massaged through a rack of Collector Packs like a blind person trying to memorize someone’s face until I found one I was certain was Elliot. (I was right!)

Beast and The Beauty, with a rather unfortunate appearance byAssy McGee

Again, I take almost no credit for the quality of these images! The credit goes almost solely to the Canon Rebel T2i. I’ve gone on record as a shit-horrible photographer, and this is honestly just me dicking around with manual focus for the first time in like 15 years!

Jessica Rabbit standing on a tin of Nintendo Power mints in front of a Roger Rabbit #1 Marvel comic

I don’t know spit about “Foto-Graphy.” But I do know I’ve never been able to get this close to these tiny figures, and yes, I mean with numerous, humiliating amounts of effort and trail.

Remember, this fucker’s only a single inch tall!

I was having so much fun, I tried to go back and redeem myself for that slovenly shot I set up last December of a NEW AND IMPROVED NAIVETY SCENE! Gobo alone deserves so much better.

Fraggle Rock‘s Gobo, Fozzie Bear, a blurry Daisy dressed as Malificent, and I believe a Donald Duck Darth Maul off to the side!

Phew… I sincerely hope this post hasn’t come off as narcissistic, or anything, because I doubt it’ll be the last time I try my photographic hand. And let’s be honest, if I didn’t love looking at these toys, why would I keep ‘em around? I’m kind of 30…

A brilliant, feasible idea from deviantartist C-Clancy! See the whole mock up bigger than life below…

If you couldn’t tell by a previous post from earlier this week, my love’s comin’ at Marvel vs. Capcom 3 pretty crazy right now. Its a crossover of such fan-fellating magnitude, it still bowls me the fuck over as something I never thought I’d get to see (again.) Speaking of things I never thought I’d see, but have always desperately wanted to: BAM!

Click to enlarge, or see the original here

Here’s the roster listed by C-Clancy, in case you can’t recognize them all. Some nice choices, IMO!

Disney side:
Goofy, Mulan, Beast, Julious (Runaway Brain), Mickey, Kerchak, Rafiki, Malificent, Mrs Incredible

Capcom side:
Talbain, Bishamon, Ryu, Sagat, M.Bison, Cammy, Megaman, Viewtiful Joe, Zangief

But is a Disney vs Capcom game so impossible? Looking at the MvC3 title screen, I was reminded by two curious letter in the copyright gobbledygook: BV… hmmm, Bee Vee… Ah ha, Buena Vista, the name of the distribution outlet Walt Disney created in 1953, and has become pretty much synonymous with Disney in general. Oh yeah – DISNEY OWNS MARVEL. Technically, MvC3 is already a Disney game! So when it comes to the above cream dream, outside of the Hoggle looking Mickey Mouse, it’s not an entirely unfathomable match up.

Thanks to Kim F. for the link

Did over thirty-five years of Valentine’s Day rejection turn Charlie Brown into a nicotine-addicted arsonist?! Either that, or Banksy’s back in town…

I’ll never know how exactly people in the press are so quick to attribute art to a guy who struggles fiercely to retain his anonymity while producing work in secret. But the reports are in: Banksy’s is in LA! And he’s got a good publicist who’s letting the world know he’s turned several of our cherished animated characters into of awe-inspiring acts of vandalism!

Mickey and Minnie, in a full on drunken grope-fest

If there’s anything I love more than unwanted “Street Art” that ruffles local feathers, it’s the stuff that actually looks good. (Seriously, your signature is interesting to nobody but you, kid.)

Napalm: A previous Banksy, featuring Mickey, Ronald McD, and the fleeing, naked girl made famous in an iconic Vietnam War photo

I won’t pretend to know much about Banksy. At least not any more than anybody else who’s seen his hilarious documentary / pretentious prank film, Exit Through the Gift Shop – which I thoroughly recommend and would absolutely lose my shit should it pick up that Oscar for Best Documentary!

In the film, Banksy and pals pull a hilariously disturbing guerrilla art installation right outside Disneyland’s Thunder Mountain to celebrate the magic of Guantanamo Bay’s detainment center

I don’t know from art, unfortunately… However, I do know this: This isn’t the first time Banksy’s employed classic cartoon characters to make, what I assume, “A Statement!” (Don’t mean to trivialize, but I’m not ashamed to say I enjoy these on a profoundly juvenile level.)

Whatever’s doing this to Tweety, I propose it stop immediately!

Above you can see an animatronic Tweety Bird molting morosely at a New York art installation.

Guess their attempt to become legitimate business men failed

An original acrylic painting of Baloo and the Jungle Book gang bound for execution, apparently commissioned by Greenpeace to condemn deforestation, yet went unused due to complaints from Disney and was recently put up for auction.

“Oh bother. I’ve become shackled to the pursuit of materialistic gain.”

The guy’s also notorious for this stencil art piece involving a pre-Disney Winnie the Pooh caught in a bear strap, seemingly after a losing battle with The Man brand Hunny. But my favorite animated stab by this mysterious artist is actually just that: Animated!

Evidently, the folks behind The Simpsons found Exit Through the Gift Shop as compelling and hysterical as I did, and commissioned Banksy to produce a “Couch Gag” for the 2010 season. What bothered me about it was the Internet’s knee jerk response of “Dude, Banksy really pulled one over on The Simpsons. lol!” Uh, dude, apparently the guy’s not easy to find… so assuming the producers went to all that trouble, and Bansky didn’t animate the thing himself, I’m fairly certain several dozen people saw the thing before it aired.

An enslaved unicorn using his horn to punch holes in Simpsons DVDs? Classic!

It was unarguably hilarious, albeit a bit harsh, I’ll admit. However, I’d argue that it was actually far closer to a “classic” Simpsons gag than anything I’ve seen air on this once controversial program in the last ten years. A perfect fit, IMO.

MICKEY’S GOOD DEED
Original Premiere:December 17, 1932

A lovely black and white Mickey short becomes the jumping off point for our angriest article ever. Apologies in advance….

BACKSTORY:

Strange how “Steamboat Willie” is generally celebrated an Mickey’s inaugural appearance, even though he actually debuted six months earlier in “Plane Crazy.” And thus begins a Disney’s lifetime of selective legacy…

Mickey practically committing date rape in “Plane Crazy” and acts of animal cruelty in “Jungle Rhythm“

“Steamboat Willie” deserves all the credit in the world for being the first cartoon where Mickey, or any cartoon character for that matter, actually spoke, but it does seems to me that Disney would rather forget almost every cartoon that precedes Mickey putting a shirt on.

Guns and smokes, also forgotten tools of the cartoon trade

It’s not hard to see why. Today Mickey stands as a neutered corporate spokesman, and his time onscreen is used for little more than to teach toddlers the ABCs. But it wasn’t always that way. And taking a trip back to Mickey’s monochrome roots reveals a far more kinetic, mischievous creature, not to mention sheds some light on how he became beloved the world over in the first place.

BREAKDOWN:

Man, how I’ve wanted to infiltrate this garishly colorful blog with some black & white class. And there’s no better Christmas-themed short than Mickey’s Good Deed.

Mickey is a street performer playing for change

However, I must warn you that this cartoon does contain some imagery that could send morons who lack historical context and are looking for a politically correct platform on which to push an agenda out into the streets to do rage cartwheels of unnecessary protest.

Getting a bite to eat after a hard day’s work

Or not…

All of these images were taken from my Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume Two DVD, and this cartoon appears only in the “From the Vault” section. Collectors of the Walt Disney Treasures sets know that this is where Leonard Maltin has to come out and calm me down, soothing all of us with a brief history of minstrel shows and all the finer points of Al Jolson.

“Contrary to popular opinion, Walt actually did not strangle an overwhelming majority of the colored people he came in contact with.”

Basically, he’s gotta reassure me Walt wasn’t a racist, and the studio is deeply ashamed at the joke it made to appeal to the broadest possible audience of the day.

An aristocratic pig tries to calm his spoiled son

Well, given that I’ve been watching cartoons since before the PC police decided I couldn’t handle unflattering depictions of what used to be socially acceptable, and yeah I find it a little patronizing.

They attempt to buy Pluto to silence the crying hog

Disney was always pretty good about sweeping its racially insensitive past underneath The Rug of Time. However, Looney Tunes, Popeye, and hell – The Little Rascals didn’t seem to give a shit about sensitivity until at least the turn of the nineties, so I saw more than my fair share of regrettable studio material.

Mickey comes upon someone worse off than him

But yeah, then the guns, knives, booze, smoking and suicide gags started to disappear, and this hopelessly Toon-addicted young boy began to realize something was up. Of course, I also witnessed plenty of slapstick violence, so I considered going to school in blackface about as much as I wanted to show up in a dress to trick a bully or play a lion’s whiskers like a harp. That is to say – NOT AT ALL.

A broke mother with a jailed husband…

Two assumptions I hate about animation:
1. All cartoons are for kids
2. All kids are idiots

Husband slash FATHER!

Assume the worst of people, and you’ll get the worst people have to offer. Every kid in my obscenely middle class, multicultural neighborhood grew up watching these cartoons and not one of us – Black, White, Brown, or Asian – had any idea our minds were being poisoned until some busybody crusader, with nothing better to do, told our parents that was probably what was happening.

Mickey nobly reconsiders selling Pluto

What really pisses me off now, is that I’m an adult. And one who’s willing to spend the money on animation, that, let’s be honest, kids are no longer interested in. I realize Mr. Maltin’s introduction are just part of Disney covering their ass, but do I really need that whitewashy level of context when putting on a cartoon meant for everyone in the 1930s?

While Mickey shops, things don’t go well to Pluto

I’m watching this precisely because I want to see comedic depictions of a bygone era. I want to see a piece of history untampered with. I desire to see what people were laughing at when my grandparents were teenagers. And yeah, sometimes I just want to see something a bit naughty.

So… what was all the fuss about?

A fucking pickaninny balloon almost no one would’ve noticed

OH YES! STARE INTO THE INFLATED EYES OF EVIL!

The historically contextual Horror!

Mickey’s very good deed, overshadowed by his choice of charitable merchandise. Or was it this perhaps:

One look at this picture and you will hit a child

Or maybe it was the hidden dick in Jimmy Durante‘s nose?

Jesus! Joe Camel was more subtle

Oh, well it’s an otherwise fun cartoon with a fantastically happy ending

This image should also remind you to spay and neuter your pets

Let’s just all watch the whole thing on YouTube, because apparently the internet doesn’t need context. For some reason, when some idiot goes off on a kneejerk reaction without all the facts, the internet treats them like an idiot.

Predates Disney’s Snow Dogs by 70 years

None, dammit! I’m beginning to question why I even put this scale here…

Other than in the minds of babes (kittens), we’ve got only one:

An absolutely wonderful Christmas short, and I truly apologize for going off on such an unrelated rant about cartoon censorship. But as a testament to Mickey’s Good Deed, I was set off by something so heartwarming, so phenomenally Christmasy, getting relegated to black sheep status over something so insignificant you’d probably have to point it out to people in order for them to get upset over it. Whatever, ten bucks says I’ll be watching this at least one more time before the 25th.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Shop Amazon through us – it helps!)

Count your blessing cartoon fans, because Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two is miraculously still available on DVD for an incredibly reasonable price! (The same cannot be said for Volume One.) If you have any interest, do NOT hesitate – BUT IT NOW! As of right now it’s the ONLY way you can own Mickey’s Good Deed, as well as several dozen other shorts, and these Walt Disney Treasure sets fetch an enormous price on places like eBay because they’re manufactured in a limited run and go out of print fast. (If it helps, the version I purchased over a year ago is numbered 146, 271 out of 175, 000.) If you need more evidence on the need for haste, Mickey’s Good Deed used to be available Classic Cartoon Favorites, Vol. 8 – Holiday Celebration With Mickey & Pals, but now commands upwards of $40 for just a handful of cartoons. For right now, the only thing Disney offers commercially to scratch your classic Christmas itch is Disney Animation Collection: Volume 7, which contains Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and more.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
BATMAN: CHRISTMAS WITH THE JOKER

2009′s Dec. 9th Christmas Special
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER

An animated gift for almost any smartphone

If there’s anything I have too much of on my hard drive, it’s used and unused cartoon Christmas art. Next to optimizing it for the web, I’d say I spent a ridiculous amount of time last year scaling and tinkering the shots I pulled into the perfect iPhone Wallpaper. So, this year I’m turning that frustration into my gift to you guys! Simply, tap and hold any image below on your iPhone/iPod Touch, save, head to the Photos app and assign them using the “Set as Wallpaper” function on the left. The rest of the work has been done for you.

From How the Grinch Stole Christmas

From Pluto’s Christmas Tree

From Bug’s Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales

From Frosty the Snowman

From Invader Zim’s The Most Horrible Xmas Ever

From A Wish for Wings that Work

From The Christmas Toy

From It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown

From A Claymation Christmas Celebration

From The Christmas Toy

From Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales

From How the Grinch Stole Christmas

From Invader Zim’s The Most Horrible Xmas Ever

From It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown

From Mickey’s Christmas Carol

From A Fat Albert Christmas

From Fraggle Rock’s The Bells of Fraggle Rock

From How the Grinch Stole Christmas

From Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol

From Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

From Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

From A Muppet Family Christmas

From The Snowman

From Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

From Mystery Science Theater 3000′s Santa Claus

From Mickey’s Christmas Carol

From Ren & Stimpy’s “Stimpy’s First Fart”

From Toy Tinkers

And for a taste of what’s to come on A Cartoon Christmas 2010…

Hope that makes it a little easier to decorate your smartphones this Holiday season. Stay tuned, A Cartoon Christmas is just getting warmed up!

A DISNEY CHRISTMAS GIFT
Original Air Date: December 4, 1982

The festive folks at Disney hastily assemble an archival Holiday present that was 20 years shy of “new” the day it hit TV.

BACKSTORY:
According to legend, A Disney Christmas Gift exists only because of the hard times the studio underwent during the early 80’s. In those turbulent times between The Fox and the Hound and the developmentally challenged The Black Cauldron, Disney had decided it was high time Mickey returned to the medium he was born: Short-form Theatrical animation. The studio had long since abandoned the theatrical short, yet it had found success with the occasional 10+ minute short, generally adjoined with its theatrical rereleases of classic animated films, Winnie the Pooh being a notable example.

The special was heavily rerun on The Disney Channel up into the 90’s and eventually found its way to VHS and Laserdisc

But Mickey… hell, Mickey hadn’t been seen on the big screen in three decades. Obviously, shit had to be done right. Unfortunately, the same animation strike and internal strife that plagued production on The Black Cauldron caused unforeseeable delays in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, and it would fail to premiere in the Winter of 1982.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it, folks”

More interestingly, Disney had already inked a deal to premiere the thing on CBS, and they’d apparently gone so far as to send out promotional materials heralding something wouldn’t be finished until a year later. What’s a Disney to do? Why, pillage the archives of course! And hastily cobble together cartoons dating back as far as 1933.

BREAKDOWN:
Children raised on VCRs no doubt recognize what’s about to go down

A Disney Christmas Gift has held a special place in my heart for decades, because it certainly got played in heavy rotation in our household. I can still vividly remember the title – scrawled in my own handwriting! – on a yellow Kodak VHS spine, which, in spite of a consistent shortage of blank tapes, somehow made it through the entire VCR era without getting recorded over. I can’t tell you how overjoyed I was to unearth a version of it after all these years… and I can’t tell you how underwhelming I find it now.

The dogs of Christmas

Maybe in the days predating Youtube and chapter-skipping DVDs, Disney could get away heading into The Vault and cutting together sizzle reels together to be released wherever it wanted. I know I enjoyed the hell out of them – Disney’s Sing-A-Long Songs come to mind. But at least many of those variety sets adhered to some sort of overarching theme, and you’d think jukeboxing the archives into a coherent Holiday shell would’ve been no problem for A Disney Christmas Gift. No so, apparently…

Apologies for the screen quality, these are all ripped from a VHS

I know those pictures of the live-action opening might go a long way towards tricking you into thinking you’re getting a full-blown Disney Christmas Extravaganza… But it’s little more than Yuletide B-roll accompanied by original Christmas music so goddamned clichéd it’s approaching cynicism, then used to bridge a rather careless grab bag of largely unrelated animation.

Pretty, pretty winter

Which really sucks… especially  because it kicks things off on a Holiday high note, beginning with the relatively obscure “Once Upon a Wintertime” short, originally featured as part of Disney’s theatrically-released Melody Time in 1948. Technically, it’s not even about Christmas, yet with its sleighbells, snow, and songs by Frances Langford scoring the comical courtship, it’s unarguably suited perfectly for it.

Leaving his mark of love on nature itself

Add to that, it’s got damn near everything that’s helped theatrical Disney animation continuously stand the test of time. To put it simply, “Once Upon a Wintertime” has simply everything you’d want to see in a Holiday cartoon. You’ve got romance, physical comedy, adorable animals and an utterly fantastic musical flourish from beginning to end. And then the creepiness of A Disney Christmas Gift sinks its teeth in…

“This is where you nightmares live”

A creepy chorus of overlayed narrators jarringly shatters the magic of the first abridged cartoon to bring you into the next. It’s not just cornball – lazy editing and cheesy wipes were just part of the eighties – it’s that it incredibly unnecessary unless they assumed their audience would’ve been 90% blind. Click here to hear it for yourself.

Better shots taken for a separate article

“Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale! Christmas morning will never be the same!” That seems innocuous in text, but imagine it murmured to you by an overlayed horde of trickster demons hellbent on coaxing you away from your immortal soul! Sorry, that’s how it feels to me anyway. Yet before you can run screaming from the room, BAM: You’re in the middle of “Pluto’s Christmas Tree” one of my all time favorite Christmas cartoons! I’ve written about that short in depth, so forgive me I jump to the next clip.

I really should be capturing pics from my Bambi DVD

Que the satanic narrators: “Christmas mo-ooooorning, and it’s Bambi’s first Christ-mas Day!” Wait, what? And here’s where things get weird… The next clip is from Bambi, specifically that splendid sequence where Thumper teaches him to navigate the ice. So, perhaps I’m entering into nerd rage mode but… why you gotta rewrite history, man? We can see the snow – Bambi’s first, actually – so I’m fairly sure the audience can accept that it’s somewhere close to Holidays.

Thumper does his impression of me viewing A Disney Christmas Gift

Must you needlessly fabricate that these two friends are celebrating Christmas just to fit the needs of this slapdash special? By that criteria, are we to assume the forest creatures consider a cruel blanket of snow and ice, and the freezing over of their water supply… a gift?! Tell that to the decomposing carcasses of the animals that don’t make it through the harsh winter, mister! And we’re on to the next clip…

Surprise?!

“Faaaaantaaasyy. In Never-Never laaaand. Oh what would Chriiiiistmas be, without Peter Pan?” Just because you sing it doesn’t make it true! And what the hell does Peter Pan have to do with Christmas, anyway?! Either way, here’s where we get to enjoy the otherwise wonderful, yet totally unrelated to Christmas, sequence from Peter Pan where the children take flight from the nursery.

The only justification I can see for the Xmas inclusion is their pajamas are a bit Dickensian

As one of my favorite scenes from any movie, period, this one’s hard to knock in just about any context, except that it makes me want to watch the rest of the movie immediately. Perhaps the producers assumed that the ambiguity of night left them plausible deniability. “You don’t know it’s not Christmas in London.” That shit may’ve flown in Hook, but… fuck I don’t want to talk about Hook.

In any other place, at any other time this cartoon rocks

And we’re off to the next clip… Cool, a Donald Duck cartoon! Okay… but why this one exactly?! “The Clock Watcher” is certainly a fine short, involving Donald’s frustrations with his job as a department store gift wrapper. However, it’s more about the shenanigans of workaday drudgery, and I know for a fact Don’s got better Christmas cartoons than this one. Oh well, on to… Sword and the Stone?! Goddammit!

Nothing says “Christmas” live divine absolutism

“Christmas in Merry Old England…” No it isn’t, satanic storytellers! It’s just snowing, plus your lead has an American accent! Whatever, they spoil the climax of that movie and briefly show Wart transform into King Arthur with an incredibly abrupt fade right when the sword is yanked free. And if you thought that segment was a little tacked on….

Star Wipe!

“Bibbidy Bobbety boo?!” I’m a fairly amateur Disney archivist, but I believe I owned – at the time – a billion other Disney shorts better suited for Christmas than Cinderella’s Ball transformation. A fucking pumpkin is the only thing you’ve got to even remotely signify the latter quarter of the year, and even then… oh, wait a minute. Look what’s next…

Oh yeah, it’s Christmas. Not a company highlight reel

Before I could even fly off the handle at the throwaway Cinderella inclusion, A Disney Christmas Gift caps off the whole shebang with “The Night Before Christmas,” almost redeeming itself for all prior sins. This melodic Silly Symphony from 1933 could very well be one of the most classic pieces of Christmas animation since the Holiday retired Jesus and learned how to draw.

Toy Parade! With a cameo!

It’s just a joyous vision of the Holiday’s, depicting Santa as a magical creature, who not only represents Christmas, he uses it as a superpower! BANG: Tree Decorations! ZAP: care-hung stockings! BOOM: toys come to life! Good God, I can’t wait to focus an entire days entry on this short someday.

Santa brings the toys to life to do his decorative bidding

The special caps itself off with a pretty great sequence actually, involving antique Disney Toys long unseen at the time A Disney Christmas Gift originally aired, just clanking about the Christmas tree as if magically brought to life by the absence of humans.

An Earlier Toy Story

Come to think, I wouldn’t mind if the imagery in the finale played in my head all December long, and the same can be said about most of the special, provided you remove the ungodly narrators and horrifyingly dated bridge sequences.

Hardly a horrible finale

Even if Mickey’s your closest messianic approximation, he gets surprisingly little animated screentime.

Not a whole helluva lot, but the attention he gets during “The Night Before Christmas” more than makes up for it.

I’m aware that Disney had already recycled much of its Christmas-related footage into earlier specials, but the bizarre choices made here just to pad the hour irk me to no end. Disregarding the of-the-era production values, A Disney Christmas Gift still comes off as remarkably shameless and halfassed. Believe me, as a special I used to hold dear, I was overwhelmed with joy to obtain it once again… However, I can guarantee it won’t be receiving another airing in my house around the Holidays anytime soon.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Shop Amazon through us – it helps!)

A Disney Christmas Gift has never been available on DVD, but can found on VHS, used, for next to nothing. However, all of its recycled components can be found separately and of a superior quality, which is how I’d recommend you pick them up anyway.

A far better purchase for those hankering for short-form Disney Christmases should pick up the reasonably priced, Disney Animation Collection 7. This includes the vastly superior work that A Disney Christmas Gift served as the placeholder for, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, as well as Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and other Yuletide Toons. Both of the aformentioned cartoons are also miraculously still available from Amazon sellers at great prices in the Walt Disney Treasure set, Mickey Mouse: In Living Color, Volume Two which I thoroughly recommend for collectors who desire complete, uncut animation sets.

If you’re like me and would prefer to own the movies features in A Disney Christmas Gift in their entirety, Bambi is soon to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray Platinum Edition sets this March 1st. Peter Pan and Cinderella have been returned to The Vault, yet can still be purchased through Amazon sellers, but The Sword in the Stone is still available on DVD. Unfortunately you’re pretty SOL on “Night Before Christmas” until Disney rereleases its Silly Symphonies again (although I believe it’s featured as a special feature on certain versions of The Santa Clause.)

Previous Christmas Special
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

2009′s Dec. 1st  Christmas Special
MR. MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

Don’t pretend you ain’t jealous! Above you’ll see one of my favorite random thingys in the game: A decaying copy of Capcom’s 1988 abomination, Mickey Mousecapade lining the ground of the Mickey Junk Mountain level, along with several billion other discarded pieces of Mouse-related merch.

Look closely, and you can also make out Mickey’s Magical Quest, also in an officially licensed Nintendo cartridge. It’s one of several thousand “hidden” Disney delights in Epic Mickey, which I gave a 9 out of 10, by the way. Click here to read the whole review and make sure to peep the video I put together using footage from a tour of Disneyland taken with Epic Mickey mastermind, Warren Spector.