With nearly the entire internet devoid of Emmet Otter music and video, we present a legally irresponsible solution! Finally: Listen and Download all the timeless songs you love from Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas…

[I'm republishing this piece from January since not a lot of people saw it, and more importantly, Emmet Otter and The Christmas Toy are now on Netflix Watch Now. WATCH NOW!]

Last years’ Emmet Otter Jug-Band Christmas article was, by far, the most difficult one for me to write. Although the truncated piece finally debuted on December 15th, it was actually the first special I’d watched in preparation to write up weeks before hand. I fell so batshit in love with the Jim Henson classic, forming coherent thoughts about singing puppets became my own personal Amadeus.

Emmet Otter – Intro (right click/save)

Obviously, part of that struggle came from the ridiculously amazing songs by Paul Williams. Even those with the vaguest familiarity with Christmas Special tend to remember at least a lyric or two, right? Remember that hole-less Washtub?

Emmet Otter – The One Bathing Suit (right click/save)

Now, I’m no music critic… and sure, I almost definitely lack the vocabulary to do the songs justice in prose. But most importantly, I also find most writings of that nature tedious and boring, with too much of the author’s personal baggage projected onto a medium most people enjoy on a indescribable, subjective level.

Emmet Otter – Ain’t no Hole in the Washtub (right click/save)

Instead, I really wanted to let you guys HEAR the music of Emmet Otter, for no better reason than they’re unforgettably awesome. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to exist ANYWHERE!

Emmet Otter – When the River Meets the Sea (right click/save)

Through all my research, I found no evidence of any official soundtrack ever, let alone MP3s available for purchase. Plus, YouTube/Henson/Lionsgate/Whomever holds the current rights continuously blocked my attempts to share them with you, which led to further delays.

Emmet Otter – Barbeque (right click/save)

(Oh, I also did my damnedest to find the special’s original air date, which included looking through archived print TV schedules from 1977 with no success. If anybody knows, please pass that info along!)

Emmet Otter – Our World (right click/save)

The stage play and the DVD are virtually the only mediums keeping Emmet Otter’s music alive. And although they both do a great job in preserving the magic, I wanted to make a few of my favorite cuts available for folks who don’t listen to music exclusively through their DVD player or by visiting seasonal theatrical production solely showing in a remote part of the United States (This ain’t 1970, dammit!)

Emmet Otter – Brothers (right click/save)

I don’t maintain any ownership over these tracks, and post them in lieu of NO OTHER OPTION. Should there ever be an official soundtrack release, I’ll remove these tracks post haste.

Emmet Otter – Riverbottom Nightmare Band (right click/save)

And if any of Emmet Otter’s owners/rights holders take issue, let’s try and avoid the lawyers and Internet Police and just please contact me here and I’ll remove do so immediately.

Emmet Otter – Brothers in Our World (right click/save)

Incidentally, that header image at the top is from the original VHS release of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (With Kermit! You can see it in the article.) But I’ve also taken the liberty of adding that as the album art for all of the MP3s on this page. Thought it be a nice treat to see on your iPods and such… you don’t have to thank me.

Emmet Otter – When the River Meets the Sea (credits) (right click/save)

UPDATE: According to my research, only the song “When the River Meets the Sea” has ever been made commercially available, on Volume 2 of the Favorite Songs From Jim Henson’s Muppets record released in 1986. Glad I looked into it – this may very well be the greatest album covers of all time:

Four Muppet factions featured together in a single product… remind anyone else of A Muppet Family Christmas?

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

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas is available on DVD, albeit with the Kermit footage completely removed. However, the special contains several short sequences that haven’t appeared on other home video releases, and any scene missing is available to watch in the ample bonus features which include a behind-the-scenes documentary and the Outakes video embedded above. Assuming you’re willing to take a chance on Otter, I strongly encourage – no… I beg you, to pick up the version bundled with Jim Henson’s equally stellar Holiday special, The Christmas Toy for just a few pennies more. Oh, and before you go and call Disney mean names for not allowing Kermit to appear in Emmet Otter, I invite you to see what the previous, out-of-print versions featuring the famous Frog are going for on the Amazon Marketplace. You’ll get an idea of what he’s worth.

This might be old news for some of you, but NPR managed to post the world’s first preview of the all new Muppet album, featuring loving covers by popular artists.

Just beautiful… Some of my favorite Muppet songs of all time have been given the warmest possible treatment from some of the most popular music acts of the day (I’m only guessing – I’ve never heard of half these people) in order to prepare the world for the upcoming release of the new Muppets movie. Here’s the tracklist

“Muppet Show Theme Song” – OK GO
“Rainbow Connection” – Weezer feat. Hayley Williams
“Mahna Mahna” – The Fray
“Movin’ Right Along” – Alkaline Trio
“Our World” – My Morning Jacket
“Halfway Down The Stairs” – Amy Lee
“Mr. Bassman” – Sondre Lerche
“Wishing Song” – The Airborne Toxic Event
“Night Life” – Brandon Saller
“Bein’ Green” – Andrew Bird
“I Hope That Something Better Comes Along” – Matt Nathanson
“I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” – Rachael Yamagata

Standouts include Weezer’s Rainbow Connection (obviously) and Alkaline Trio, an old punk fav of mine performing one of the finest up tempo tunes in Muppet history. However, I gotta give it up to OK GO, a band I like far more for their videos than their music, for their wonderfully weird interpretation of the “Muppet Show Theme Song“.

Better still, My Morning Jacket went the obscure route and dared to cover a song from Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas! Makes me wonder… who currently owns the rights to the Muppets’ music catalog? The album is being released by Walt Disney Records, but Disney doesn’t own Emmet Otter, and its music has NEVER been released in any official capacity. Which is why I personally ripped the whole damn thing in a fit of internet anger last year. Your welcome?

Emmet Otter – Brothers in Our World (right click/save)

You can purchase the album from my provided Amazon links – which helps me out FYI – but if you’re like me, you’re really gonna want the premium package Threadless put together, which comes with a kickass t-shirt and poster.

BUY THIS!

I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but the images and video below offer some pretty damning evidence…

Do people still know what Wizard of Id is? I haven’t seen a newspaper comicstrip for the better part of the last five years, but certainly I used to read the funnies consistently, although I never once heard anyone utter the name of Johnny Hart and Brant Parker’s “Wizard of Id” out loud in conversation… Yes, it’s the crudely drawn comic starring the midget king and wizard you always skip over, yet seems to have miraculously thrived in syndication for decades anyway. (However, despite its medieval setting, Id‘s ironically less religiously intolerant than Johnny Hart’s other bafflingly long-running strip B.C.?)

Well, thank God this never saw the light of day. Apparently, Jim Henson met with Hart in 1968 and cobbled a Wizard of Id pilot together in March of 1969, almost 42 years ago to the day! The Jim Henson blog says it was supposed to combine puppetry with traditional animation, which I suppose explains the blue background.

See more pics at Jim Henson’s Red Book

This is the first I’ve heard of it, so I applaud the official Henson blog for posting video and pics along with this historical footnote, because I would’ve probably spent the rest of my life looking for the evidence and/or attempting to disprove it. But Henson’s involvement cannot be denied – just listen to that wizard.

According to the post, Henson was all about the project but in the year between filming the pilot and getting the networks interested, he moved on to other things. And by “other things” I mean getting Sesame Street off the ground and appearing on variety shows with The Goddamned Muppets! Phew… that was a close one.

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…

So the House of Representatives wants to gut funding for public television and radio, huh? Well, 41 years ago the Senate tried to pull the same shit on PBS, but fortunately for you and me, Fred Rogers showed up and bitch slapped the Nixon-era Senate with a testimony of brutal compassion. Fred’s no longer with us… maybe it’s time you followed in his footsteps.

I’ve made the video above autoplay to the part that almost moves me to tears, but I urge you to watch the whole thing if you have the time. You can see how the Senators brush Mr. Rogers off initially, only to have their souls ripped out and stroked by the master of understanding and introspection. Here’s a better quality vid from PBS which, oddly enough, features unskippable commercials?

Watch the full episode. See more Mister Rogers.

Hate to get political. I can’t believe I live in a country where the people looking out for us would even discuss pulling the plug on educational, entertaining and culturally important programming, provided to all its citizens free of charge… but here we are.(Oh, and I really like Sesame Street.)

Glad I got to live through this. Hope your kids do too.

EMMET OTTER’S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS
Original Air Date: 1977

A poor otter family struggles to make their musical Christmas wishes come true

[UPDATE: I've posted the entire Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas soundtrack here for your listening/downloading pleasure. Get it while ya can!]

BACKSTORY:

Many are unaware that Emmet Otter’s Jung-Band Christmas is based off a book by Russell Hoban, published in 1971.

A picture from the book, but it may as well be a storyboard

Perhaps that’s because the Christmas special directed by Jim Henson mirrors both the story and look so well, it might’ve all but replaced the source material within the public consciousness. Even the memorable certain songs written by Paul Williams come from fully fleshed out references and titles from the book.

On right, Henson and Frank Oz, who puppeteered  Ma Otter

This one-hour special was produced for HBO during a break between The Muppet Show’s first and second season. Since then it has aired on ABC and Nickelodeon. Unfortunately, not only is the special shown less frequently these days, in every subsequent airing and home video release it has also suffered various edits, additions and omissions to its original runtime.

A Home Video release and the musical stage production

However, The Jim Henson Company and Godspeed Opera House recently revived the special in the form of a live stage musical in 2008, featuring people in costumes and many recognizable versions of the original puppets.

BREAKDOWN

Without a doubt one of the greatest Christmas Specials of all time, and a heartwarming showcase of everything that makes the Jim Henson company special. It’s down to earth, tragic, musical, then soulfully uplifting by the end. That said… it sucks to kick this article on a sour note, but here ya go:

What you won’t be seeing anymore

Kermit the Frog. More than likely, that’s how most of you remember seeing it. Tragically, due to The Muppets acquisition by Disney, you’ll probably never see it that way again. Kermit’s intros, outros, and narration have been removed from the all recent and currently available versions of Emmet Otter on DVD.

“There Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub“

Although, to be fair, the special has rarely appeared as it originally aired on HBO, so we’ll look at some of the edits as we go. Plus, it’d be a shame if harping on a couple of negatives got in the way of celebrating, not only one of the finest thing Jim Henson has ever produced, but one of the more beautiful Christmas productions ever cobbled by puppet-engulfed hands.

Even the animal kingdom has no-goodniks

And I do not say that lightly. Emmet Otter took a few years to take hold. As a child, I didn’t find the look of all too enticing and had little patience for musical numbers. But it eventually grew on me, to the point where I found my last viewing over far too quickly. Understand this: When I call Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas absolutely phenomenal, I’m saying that from the perspective of someone who did not watch it repeatedly as a kid, but as an adult who hadn’t seen it in many years.

These Muppets have legs

Of course, being a little older helps one fully appreciate the technical scale on which the whole production was pulled off. Song composer, Paul Williams has stated that Emmet Otter was produced almost as preparation for the impending Muppet Movie, and it really, really shows. Whereas The Muppet Show used static sets (apropos of a production themed as a variety show) the camera in Emmet is constantly moving, framing seemingly impossible shots that’ll still leave the viewer asking the question, “How the hell did they do that?!”

This is how they did that

You’re looking at a far more elaborate production here, and it’s not only perhaps the first time Henson employed remote control puppeteering, it’s one of the only times marionettes were used in a Muppet production! Right from the start, the special wows you with scenes of Emmet and his mother Alice rowing a boat down a river, and the technical feats like these remain as astonishing as ever, IMO.

Remote animatronics were used for the mouths and heads, but the boat is actually rowing Emmet

But let’s not ignore the story! The scenes in the boat are also the heart of the interaction between two characters coping with the loss of a father and a husband. They laugh, sing, and make jokes. But the harsh reality is that they’re barely scrapping by, doing odd jobs around Frogtown Hollow due to the death of Emmet’s dad.

Foxy lady

We see the mayor’s wife screw Emmet’s mom out of a laundry bill in one of the very first scenes. This is also one of the first bizarre edits done to the production over the years. As Gretchen Fox walks away after denying payment, Alice had originally told her to go “jump in a lake!” The edit wouldn’t be a huge deal, except that it rather abruptly cuts to Will Possum saying “That’s tellin’ her, Alice.”

Gorgeous

Without the lake comment, it looks like he’s saying “Way to go, you spineless coward.” instead of the “That sucks, but you still showed her,” aside it was intended to be. Emmet and Alice move past the shady transaction, singing that no matter how bad it all gets, at least there “Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub,” kicking off one of the many unforgettable songs in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, as well as foreshadowing events to come.

With pearl inlay!

As it turns out, the Otter family is pretty screwed out of a decent Christmas this year. After stopping by a music store, both get the idea of giving each other musical instruments they could never afford. Emmet wants to put a down payment on a piano for Ma, and she desperately wants to purchase him a used guitar. Oh, yeah and it’s here we first meet the River Bottom Gang.

Here comes trouble

Both shrug off the items as hopeless luxuries they could never possibly afford, that is, until opportunity presents itself. There’s a talent show coming up featuring and prize money to the tune of $50! Which is a practical fortune down in Frogtown Hollow.

A Washtub band? Genius!

They entertain the prospect of participating, and we’ve seen that the Otters clearly have the musical chops to place in the competition. But once again, their financial situation denies them dreams of entering the low rent puppet version of American idol.

They weren’t lyin’ about the lack of holes

Ma seems to think she wouldn’t be able to present herself at the talent show without a new dress, yet the only way she can get the money needed for one on such short notice is to hock Pa’s old tools, which Emmet still uses to perform odd jobs for extra cash.

“But what if there was a hole in the washtub?”

Emmet’s dilemma is far more prickly one indeed. He’s approached to join -surprise! – a jug band, yet gets assigned to the worst possible instrument: The Washtub Bass. To do that, he’d have to… well, they just spent five minutes thanking the dear lord Jesus that “there ain’t no hole in the washtub!”

Doesn’t Emmet look weird without his hat on?

Obviously, that song was a bit of a metaphor pertaining to being thankful for the things they do have. Or maybe that’s just the way Emmet interprets it, because he goes and destroys the one thing his family has left shamble-free, all in the name of music most fine.

Don’t feel bad, Ma lightly screws over Emmet too

Of course, both eventually find each other backstage at the talent show, but not a word is spoken about the things they’ve sold or broken to get there.

Barbeque!

Don’t try and tell yourself each other’s deeds didn’t occur to them. As a family who has so very little, I’m pretty sure they would’ve noticed fairly quickly what one another had done once it came time to fix or wash something.

Fuck foxes, there I said it

Yet instead of bitching or making accusations, they both root for one another and provide the much-needed support to perform at the talent show. And, oh yeah, Ma gets up there and really belts it out.

Only a frumpy fashionista could tell that’s a new dress

But let’s be honest, and maybe I’m just speaking for the guys my age with no children, but c’mon: We’re pulling for Emmet! Let’s see what he’s up against:

Spastically dancing squirrels? Shouldn’t be too tough to beat

Not sure why, but these dancing bunnies have been cut out of more than one version of Emmet Otter. Odd, because I’ve had the cornball vaudeville tune stuck in my head ever since

Wait? Who’s this guy?!

Oh crap! That dickheaded possum is singing the very same BBQ song Emmet and his buddies had been practicing to perform. Rather than give up, they tear the roof off the fucker, to thunderous applause.

Fucking love this song, but YouTube wouldn’t let me post it! (UPDATE: I’ve gone ahead and posted the entire Emmet Otter soundtrack because I’m a goddamned renegade! Listen/Download here)

Given crowd response to the other acts, you’d assume either Emmet or Alice Ma are a shoe in to take home the prize. But trouble has another name: The River Bottom Nightmare Band.

RIVER BOTTOM NIGHTMARE BAND

In any other situation Muppets performing prog-rock would be the greatest thing in the world. But it just so happens these plushie thugs, who have spent the majority of their screen time treating Frogtown Hollow like a toilet, steal the prize right out from under the Otters.

They should get an award just for teaching a snake to play bass

Fucking SIGH! Ma and the Frogtown Jubilee Jug-Band sulk home, penniless, presentless, prideless.

This should never have happened

Okay, that last “less” isn’t all that true, because if there’s one thing the Otter family knows how to do well, it’s make the best of an utterly depressing situation.

Two songs are better than one

While wondering what they could’ve done differently back at the talent show, the get an epiphany: Combine both their songs together a into one enormous, skullcrushing Supersong!

“Damn! Why didn’t you do that an hour ago?”

The ditty captures the attention of the people in the city, and better still, Doc Bullfrog has a change of heart. He can’t take the talent show prize money back and I don’t blame him. Would you risk your life and limb demanding a refund from a band of aggressive animals with nothing to lose? Didn’t think so!

The next best thing to a record deal

But he does score the newly formed supergroup a gig performing at his restaurant on a regular basis. It’s better than a prize or a handout; it’s a steady paycheck for the first time since Pa passed.

Sadly, the DVDs also cuts Kermit’s appearance in the restaurant

No more laundry jobs gone bad, and I’m pretty sure a “professional musician” can afford all the used guitars they’d ever want. Yes, even with pearl inlay!

I’ve always considered Henson stuff to be pretty nonreligious, The Bells of Fraggle Rock being ample proof of that, but not even the original songs contain any reference to the savior or even Christmas.

Nope… I wish I had a joke here, but I find the fact that Santa doesn’t visit rural otters desperately in need of Christmas cheer too depressing.

I can’t say enough nice things about Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Trust me, plenty of time had passed between my last viewing and now, so I went in with glasses 100% free of rose tint. Jug-Band Christmas still won me over on every conceivable level. The whole production remains a marvelous technical feat, and I can’t think of any other special chock this full of charm, hope and lessons on the strength you can find through depending on others. Honestly, I just wish I could hug everyone involved in the project. If you take nothing else away from the childish text I’ve vomited on rest of this page, remember this: You should really watch Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas.

Oh yeah, and this blooper reel might be The Greatest Thing on the Internet!

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

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas is available on DVD, albeit with the Kermit footage completely removed. However, the special contains several short sequences that haven’t appeared on other home video releases, and any scene missing is available to watch in the ample bonus features which include a behind-the-scenes documentary and the Outakes video embedded above. Assuming you’re willing to take a chance on Otter, I strongly encourage – no… I beg you, to pick up the version bundled with Jim Henson’s equally stellar Holiday special, The Christmas Toy for just a few pennies more. Oh, and before you go and call Disney mean names for not allowing Kermit to appear in Emmet Otter, I invite you to see what the previous, out-of-print versions featuring the famous Frog are going for on the Amazon Marketplace. You’ll get an idea of what he’s worth.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
A VERY VENTURE CHRISTMAS

2009′s Dec. 15th Christmas Special
SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN

A MUPPET FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Original Air Date: December 16, 1987

SYNOPSIS:
Nearly every Muppet ever created comes together under one roof for a very cliched Christmas.

BACKSTORY:
In case you didn’t already know, the word “Muppet” is a hybrid of the words “marionette” and “puppet,” and should instantly conjure images a man named Jim Henson, and the brightly-colored cloth creations he gave to the world.

Early versions of Rowlf, Kermit, and Jim Henson

It’s hard to nail down when exactly what we now know as “The Muppets” first started. A barely-recognizable version of Kermit was seen on a Washington D.C. NBC affiliate as far back as 1955, on Henson’s first show Sam and Friends. However, Rowlf the piano-playing dog was the first to gain stardom, thanks to his popular appearances in Purina dog food commercials and on The Jimmy Dean Show in 1963. Sesame Street began airing in 1969, although without any of the characters, aside from Kermit, that we associate with The Muppet Show, which came seven years later.

See Gobo back there?

None of that’s important, anyway. The fact remains that A Muppet Family Christmas is the culmination of Henson’s unprecedented success. With at least four separate Muppeted shows airing on television simultaneously, this Christmas special is the one and only occasion when the stars of all of them came together in a single production.

Unfortunately, no official uncut version of the program is available for sale, and likely never will be. Several songs licensed only for television are presented, and The Jim Henson Company currently retains rights to only the Fraggles, with Sesame Street owned by The Children’s Television Workshop and The Muppets now being the property of Disney. Television is the only place you can hope to see the special in its entirety, yet the broadcast version, too, has seen many cuts over the years – due to remastering, added footage and extended commercial breaks.

BREAKDOWN:
You know those Christmas special parodies where celebrities find an excuse to stop by a snowed in cabin just to sing songs? I’m too young to be entirely sure of what exactly they’re sending up, aside from some vague notion of Dean Martin or Andy Williams doing something to that effect years before I was born.

Fozzie, quite rudely, brings the entire cast of The Muppet Show over for Christmas at his mother’s without so much as calling ahead

Stephen Colbert did one last year. Shit, I just made one too, which is a pretty good indication that spoofing that Old-Timey Christmas special is no longer even remotely clever. If that’s the case, Jim Henson studios didn’t get the memo.

Fraggle Rock’s Doc and Sprocket have rented a room in the hopes of finding some holiday peace and quiet

I know I’ve said the same about adapting A Christmas Carol, but as far as Christmas specials go, the singing-cameo formula is definitely the bare minimum you can do creatively. Especially when it’s done straight-faced, without a hint of irony. So keeping in mind that this came from the people responsible for some of the greatest Holiday specials ever made, yes, A Muppet Family Christmas is a bit of a letdown.

Miss Piggy is held up by a photo shoot

It wouldn’t say it flat-out sucks, mind you. But while I certainly remember looking forward to each and every airing as a kid, I also remember boredom setting in within minutes.

Gonzo tips a turkey off about Swedish Chef’s plans to cook him

Of course, I have a slightly different appreciation for it now. I’d grown up with these colorful characters. Even my parents liked the Muppets, or at least had some history with them and found them more tolerable than the majority of the 80’s children’s entertainment cesspool.

Fraggle Rock is located under Mama Fozzie’s house apparently…who knew?

That kind of universal appeal is a remarkable feat in and of itself, but the sheer number of shows Henson had concurrently running on television is nothing short of astounding.

One of many momentous meetings

Sesame Street was still a revered standard. Fraggle Rock was popular enough in 1987 to receive a (horrible) animated spin-off series. Muppets Take Manhattan had been well received in theaters, and Ted Turner was about to launch TNT on a sturdy backbone of Muppet Show reruns. And Muppet Babies was in the middle of an outrageously popular six-year streak, having just been extended to 90 minutes on CBS Saturday mornings.

The gang watches a home movie starring the live-action Muppet Babies from Muppets Take Manhattan, on which the cartoon series was based

And A Muppet Family Christmas was to be the instance where they’d all appear in the same place, at the same time, for the first time ever!!! “HOLY SHIT!” exclaimed my prepubescent brain, “Oh, man… I wonder what they’ll say to one another… what kind of adventures they’ll have?!”

Electric Mayhem’s performance of “Jingle Bell Rock” is a triple-edged sword

Well… they’ll just be singing songs, apparently.

Even more bad comedy would’ve been nice

Not that there’s anything wrong with a Holiday song showcase, even if it’s not my cup of tea. But when you look at the Christmas specials that have become Holiday standards, none of them revolve around the sole act of singing classic Christmas songs (fortunately).

Gonzo and the Jive Turkey square off for the affections of Camilla

For example, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was based off of that titular Johnny Marks song, and Marks still wrote new songs for that special that would go on to become cherished standards. Even Henson’s other Christmas specials featured numerous original tunes, one of which is reprised here!

The Sesame Street gang shows up a’Carolin’

It’s undeniable that by Emmet Otter and Christmas Toy standards, and so A Muppet Family Christmas is pretty damned dull and uninspired by comparison. It’s not that the songs are bad… they’re just way too abundant. There’s very little dialogue, almost no attempt at comedy, and as you can see, the whole shebang is easily summed up in screen shots alone.

Doc is informed that his name starts with the letter ‘D’

I don’t mean to downplay the feat of assembling all the Muppets in a single room. That’s why I’m showcasing the special in the first place: I recognize that this gathering of epic proportions is truly a resplendent spectacle to behold.

The Turkey convinces Chef to cook a bigger bird…

The internets thought this joke was hilarious, even though Henson did it twenty years ago

I’m a giant Muppet dork and I can name at least a hundred characters who appear here just off the top of my head. So, I can only imagine a substantial part of the budget went into the feat of puppeteering all of these beloved creatures at once…

Kings of refuse

Because it certainly didn’t go into the writing. That’s part of what pisses me off about the special to begin with…

Snowed-in guests from Sesame Street perform “Twas the Night Before Christmas” as payment for their stay

Many notable characters never do, or say, anything. Granted, Elmo wasn’t yet the shining star of Sesame Street, but he’s completely silent in the two versions I’ve watched.

TRIVIA! The Elmo puppet has been around since the early 70′s, although he was referred to as “Baby Monster” until 1980. Four years later, Elmo was given his distinctive voice by Kevin Clash, and he’s gone on to become one of the most prolific Muppets of all time. In A Muppet Family Christmas, he never says a word.

Multiple versions, you say? Oh yeah… I won’t fault Henson for the lack of foresight into licensing music rights for home video, but it infuriates me that the very element that brought down the entire special, is also what made a definitive version unattainable.

Last Muppets Standing

Reportedly, no version of Muppet Family Christmas ever available for sale has been presented uncut.  Renewing the rights to many of the songs proved too expensive beyond television – the only place where the special can be shown in its entirety and still isn’t due to longer commercial breaks! – so there were almost literally dozens of truncated Muppet Family Christmas DVDs available in numerous territories with distinctly different edits.

Almost the entire Muppet Babies sequence is cut from the DVD due to music rights

Not that this matters anymore anyway… A Muppet Family Christmas has been discontinued on DVD and will most likely never be available to own again in any capacity. So, while I actually do believe Sesame Street and The Muppets are in good hands with their respective new owners, I sense something a little shadier in afoot here…

Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em

Given the time frame, Jim Henson was certainly in negotiations with Disney to acquire the Muppets at the time that A Muppet Family Christmas was created… And the special certainly reeks of something hastily assembled. So I’d speculate that it may have been made because many of the characters had a price tag on their heads and Henson knew this was probably his last chance to cash in on an epic crossover to end all crossovers.

Creepy: Kermit and Disney CEO Michael Eisner introduced A Muppet Family Christmas‘s rebroadcast on The Magical World of Disney in 1989

But with The Muppets’ recent YouTube resurgence, I can’t imagine A Muppet Family Christmas is something a fan would ever want to be without. And as I sat through the final third of the special – almost 15 minutes of uninterrupted singing – I couldn’t help but get a little irritated. The fact that it ends with a roomful of the greatest characters ever created wishing me a “Merry Christmas” for the fiftieth time was little consolation.

Christ, we get it! Stop singing already!

Cheating! But there’s one appearance by a life-giving bearded man whom I absolutely worship… and his final words are immensely touching.

“They certainly look like they’re having a good time out there… I like it when they have a good time.” – H.

Doc enters the house dressed as Santa briefly at the end (even though he was seen inside a second ago, during the previous scene, wearing plain clothes). Maybe my memory’s a little fuzzy, but now that I think of it, I can’t remember any Muppet Christmas specials featuring an appearance by the actual Santa Claus. Can you? Comment below!

“Santa cares not for your earthly continuity!”

How could I rate it any lower? There’s a shitload of Muppets here! That alone has to be worth something, if for no other reason than it’ll undoubtedly never happen again. While it can’t be denied that A Muppet Family Christmas is representative of a” warm seasonal feeling” under the strictest sense of the definition, this was never the program I wanted to see. Coming from a studio that brought us some of the the funniest, most heartwarming and most enduring Christmas specials known to man, the fact that such a monumental assemblage of its entire legacy failed to live up to its own standards is a sad one indeed.

It’s still worth checking out, though, and if you’re really in to Christmas songs, it could earn some repeated play on your television. Oh, wait! No it can’t, since you’re practically required to watch it in stolen internet bootlegs for the foreseeable future… *sigh*

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

A Muppet Family Christmas has been discontinued on DVD the world over, due mostly to Disney’s acquisition of the majority of the characters.  However, you can find a used/new copy on Amazon for a substantial mark up, and I believe there’s a Google ad on the right side of this very page that links to a legitimate retailer selling off the old stock. Needless to say, if you see a copy out in the wild, snatch it up immediately: It will be worth hella money!

As far as Muppety Christmases go, you could do a helluva a lot worse than A Muppet Christmas Carol, which features all of the characters you know and love in a much better production, as well as a feature-length commentary from Jim Henson’s son, Brian. I haven’t seen the newer made-for-TV Muppet specials, so I’m just going to make a personal recommendation instead. I’d have to go with The Christmas Toy (which was incidentally included on the UK version of the  Muppet Family Christmas DVD as a bonus feature!) just slightly over Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, but you could also save yourself a chunk of change and just buy both in a cheap-ass bundle!

Yesterday’s Christmas Special:
MICKEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

FRAGGLE ROCK: THE BELLS OF FRAGGLE ROCK
Original Air Date: December 24, 1984

SYNOPSIS:
Gobo is having trouble believing in the Fraggles’ Holiday traditions. Is he willing to risk their lives for his curiosity?

BACKSTORY:
Fraggle Rock premiered on January 10, 1983, as a joint venture among many channels and many nations. Following the worldwide success of Jim Henson’s Sesame Street, but also the difficulty translating the show to all the nationalities who wanted a piece, Fraggle Rock was designed to be a show easily understandable to all audiences.

The Fraggles dealt with universal themes like fear, jealously, sharing, and other issues easily relatable to viewers regardless of language or cultural background. So while US audiences tuning in on HBO saw sequences starring Doc, Sprocket and Uncle Traveling Matt, these brief scenes were re-shot to be made specific to the country it was airing in.

Fraggle Rock aired for only five seasons, yet has shown remarkable longevity on cable and abroad. Though the Henson Company has sold the rights to both The Muppets and Sesame Street, it retains ownership of The Fraggles, and is even readying a movie for them in 2010.

BREAKDOWN:
Oh, how I love Fraggle Rock! Each of the five characters is instantly lovable, and relatable to any human with a brain capable of watching. I was too poor to have watched these episodes when they originally aired in the states on HBO, yet I wasn’t ready to fully appreciate it during the subsequent airing on TNT I was eventually exposed to.

Wembley is very committed to that tropical shirt

My preteen brain was unable to grasp how well written the show and its above-and-beyond music were, and only as an adult can I truly exalt the wonderful way in which the marvelous universe of Fraggles, Dozers, and Gorgs presented some incredibly deep and heartfelt lessons.

Doc explains to Sprocket the various cultural traditions people celebrate during the Winter Solstice

I dare say I could’ve used a viewing of The Bells of Fraggle Rock as a teenager, when I was so fucking busy screaming about the stupidity of religion and the inherent benefits of atheism. Seriously, this is a Christmas episode with a message so powerfully unique that I’m embarrassed about the way I conducted myself into near-adulthood.

FYI, The Fraggles never even mention Christmas

In this episode, Gobo, the adventurous young explorer, is beginning to question the cultural traditions of his fellow Fraggles. Every year, the Fraggles celebrate The Festival of the Rock. They dress up, sing songs and ring bells in order to trigger the chiming of the Great Bell and keep The Rock (their home, not the wrestler) from stopping at the apex of its orbit and making life uninhabitably cold.

Not feeling the group costume

Problem is, Gobo is finding it increasingly difficult to slap on a smile and perform the rituals his people have been merrily but blindly conducting for years in the name of fun and survival.

If a sad sack like Boober can get behind the Holiday, surely Gobo can?!

What is it all for, and how is anything they do making a bit of difference in the scheme of things? All of Wembley’s, Mokey’s, Boober’s, and Red’s promises of fun and costumes are doing little to persuade him to leave it be and just enjoy himself.

Bah Humbug

Even the phenomenal song “There’s a Promise” (which I’m convinced should be allowed into our pantheon of Holiday music, if only for being absolutely beautiful and nondenominational!), lead by spiritual guru Cantus (who just so happens to be voiced by Jim Henson himself), does little to dissuade him.

Note the one guy not singing

It seems Gobo will only be satisfied with a literal interpretation of the Fraggles’ holiday.

Gobo finds a map in a box marked “Really Old Stuff”

He must see the mythical Great Bell in the center of the rock for himself, or bring back word to the others that it was all a sham.

Cantus maintains he does not sound like Rowlf the Dog

Cantus counsels Gobo that he need not go on such a dangerous journey, since the answer he’s really looking for is much closer. But Gobo makes a huge scene and embarks on the mission anyway.

Oh, and meanwhile Matt expounds on the strangeness of “Silly Creature” culture

Cantus quietly accompanies Gobo at a distance, and allows him to see whatever it is he needs to see.

I don’t want to ruin it

Through a series of literal, as well as spiritual, interpretations, Gobo eventually does find the answer, even though it wasn’t necessarily the one he was looking for.

Meanwhile, the gang freezes their asses off waiting for Gobo to return

But once he narrowly makes it back to Fraggle Rock, he finds that all of his friends have frozen. Whether this was due to the absence of Cantus or the lack of the ceremony is unimportant. The Festival of the Bells has not taken place, and Gobo has interfered with the natural order of things set in place by people far older and wiser than himself.

The horror!

Personally, I don’t see it as a message of conformity, but rather one of cultural acceptance. The Fraggles’ traditions are equal parts biological and religious; a fun way of acknowledging a balance within their universe.

Lesson hopefully learned

After unfreezing his friends, Gobo realizes that cultural traditions can have more importance than their face value. At no time is he asked not to question these beliefs, but he definitely learns that satisfying his own curiosity shouldn’t have to come at the expense of the beliefs and behavior enjoyed by others.

Gobo joins in the reprise of this fantastic song

I’m not a religious guy by any means, but it’s hard to interpret this any other way. Though neither Jesus nor Christianity are ever mentioned specifically, there’s a profound message of cultural acceptance here and I believe faith is a big part of that.

The only Santa to be seen is the small toy that Sprocket plays with.

I genuinely feel that there’s an unbelievably beautiful moral to The Bells of Fraggle Rock, one that encompasses all cultural holidays and truly embodies the spirit of the Christmas season better than just about any special I’ve ever seen. Doc does a good job of explaining to Sprocket why people celebrate winter holidays, and Traveling Matt’s outsider perspective on the Human’s Christmas really helps drive the point home. No Shit: If there’s one Christmas special on this entire stupid blog I believe every parent should show their kids, it’s this one.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

The Bells of Fraggle Rock appears on the one-disc Merry Fraggle Holiday, as well as on the boxed set, Fraggle Rock: The Complete Third Season. Of course, it’s also contained in Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection, but that should go without saying. I wholeheartedly recommend picking up any of these wonderful sets.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special:
INVADER ZIM: THE MOST HORRIBLE X-MAS EVER

THE CHRISTMAS TOY
Original Airdate: December 6, 1986

SYNOPSIS:
An extremely unique tale from Jim Henson starring a playroom full of Muppety toys come to life! A young girl’s favorite toy from last Christmas, Rugby Tiger, doesn’t understand that the holiday means that his status as alpha plaything can change on an annual basis. He leaves the playroom, and it’s up to the rest of the toys to stop him before he’s spotted out-of-place by unsuspecting humans. Because - unlike in other toy stories - for the toys of The Christmas Toy, that spells DEATH!

BACKSTORY:
Not only my favorite Muppet Christmas Special (and there are many), but one of my favorite Christmas Specials of all time!

The Christmas Toy never got the repeated airplay that Emmet Otter Jug-Band Christmas or A Muppet Family Christmas received, but I recall that it was shown pretty consistently on The Disney Channel back when that was still a premium channel, although it originally aired on ABC.  No surprise, though, given that I now learned that Disney spun it off into a short-lived series called The Secret Life of Toys eight years later.

The 1994 Disney Channel show that lasted a single season

Of course, The Henson Company’s various dealings with Disney are one of the things that has came back to bite The Christmas Toy in the ass. Historically, Jim Henson regularly brought Kermit the Frog out to introduce new characters during specials, but under their new ownership, Kermit’s narration has been cut from both Emmet Otter’s and A Christmas Story’s DVDs due to rights issues.

The fact that there are two title screens almost leads me to believe they knew Kermit would get cut out eventually

…Much to fans chagrin, I might add, according to the last time I check the Amazon ratings. Luckily, Kermit’s omission didn’t altogether ruin my enjoyment of the DVD, but his original inclusion during the finale reprise of the song “We’ll Be Together at Christmas (Old Friends)” is sorely missed.

A Scandinavian YouTube vid is all we have to know that Kermit ever appeared in The Christmas Toy

BREAKDOWN:

God, I wish I could buy one of these guys

Not only do I feel like The Christmas Toy doesn’t get the respect it’s due – namely, by never being included in the pantheon of alleged “classics” we see trotted out on TV each year - but I also never hear anyone call out its glaringly obvious similarities to Pixar’s Toy Story. Now, I love the Toy Storys and I’m not saying they ripped off Jim Henson, since the plot isn’t all that similar. But once you compare the premise and scenario, you’ll find a shitload of overlap:

Rugby vs. Woody – The star toy uncomfortable sharing the spotlight

Meteora vs. Buzz Lightyear – The new space-themed toy soon to become the new favorite

Mew vs. Slinky Dog – The favorite toy’s loyal companion willing to risk life and limb

Apple vs. Jesse – The once loved, now forgotten toy

“Barbie” vs. Barbie© – C’mon, look at ‘em!

But there’s one thing The Christmas Toy takes a step further. Whereas Woody and Co. simply hide from people, The Christmas Toy explains why toys need to hide, and what the consequences are.

See Ditz in the middle? Don’t get too attached to him

Rugby Tiger, almost an antihero in the beginning, is oblivious to the fact that Christmas brings new toys anually, since he’d just been unwrapped last December 25th. So once the lovable egomaniac learns that it’s Christmas Eve, he sneaks out of the playroom to take what he believes to be his rightful place every year: inside a wrapped box, under the tree.

Mew, the adorable cat toy widely despised by the rest of the group for smelling like catnip, warns everyone about Rugby’s plans during the Holiday preparations, and the entire playroom begins to run around like one of Gonzo’s girlfriends with her head cut off.

There are a lot of moving Muppet legs in this

Amid the chaos, Ditz, the moronic clown toy, idiotically figures that the simplest thing to do is run outside and get Rugby back. Unfortunately, the humans are still awake and…things don’t go well:

And that’s why you never leave the playroom.

Toys found in motion by people are “frozen forever,” or, to remove the sugarcoating: DEAD! This is part of the reason I’m not entirely upset about Kermit being cut out of the DVD.

A Very Merry Funeral Procession

The story stands pretty firmly on its own, plus it always seemed to me that whenever Henson was freed up from the legacy of Kermit and Big Bird, we got a more unique, touching, and compelling story. And yes, often times a little darker one than we were anticipating. (Look at The Dark Crystal, The Storyteller, Labyrinth, and Fraggle Rock, and I think you’ll agree with me.)

A pile of dead toys

I’d agree that it’s a little scary, but I think that taking that kind of risk is what makes the stories feel more personal. Putting something as dire as death on the line is admirable, plus I also love that the closest thing The Christmas Toy has to a villain is People! An absurdly normal family of five going about their Christmas Eve are portrayed like fearsome giants, ghoulish guards capable of ending the life of any toy they spot.

Anyway, Mew finally earns a little respect for himself by aiding Rugby in avoiding the parents and their Medusa-like gaze, and they make their way down to the Christmas Tree.

Love the scale here

But once Rugby opens the box to take his ill-perceived throne, an all-new terror is unleashed:

Meteora!

Again, like a certain other space ranger, Meteora takes herself very seriously. Completely unaware that she too is in fact a toy, she shouts battle cries at Rugby, Mew and the other toys who have come along for the rescue mission…which would be amusing if it didn’t WAKE THE HUMANS!

Ever the badass, Mew belts out an impromptu kitty cat impression

Thank Christ a quick-thinking Mew keeps the crew unseen. Getting close to the brink of death teaches Rugby a lesson of humility, and he and the lovable Mew coax Meteora back into her Christmas packaging with a song that’s too fucking adorable for words.

The outlook is good as the gang makes one last mad dash for the sancterrific confines of the playroom with the aid of some motorized toys, but poor, poor Mew loses hold and is left in the hallway. Please… don’t… open… the door!

SHIT!

Seriously?! Mew – my candidate for greatest character of all time – DEAD?! Once again, here’s the heartbreaking loss and sadness that the Henson group sneaks upon families so well.

Gets me every time

And not to harp on the Toy Story connection, but remember that Sarah McLachlan montage about Jesse and her obsolescence in the second film? Rugby is grounded by a tear-jerking tune sung by the admittedly creepy Apple, who provides an alternate perspective to the egocentric version the precious had Tiger belted out.

Flashback Version 2.0

She’s the toy that’s been outgrown, she’s the toy that’s been replaced…by Rugby in fact. And if I haven’t praised the music enough, let me say that it rules, skipping from the relative tragedies found in the climax to the comparatively un-Henson opening rock-out that explains why toys come to life in the first place: They’re built to play, and the need to do so doesn’t go away just because humans aren’t around.

So yeah, songs… Rugby visits Mew for a final time in his open-casket kitty resting place to sing Mew a touching little tune about how much his friendship of this little mouse-that-nobody-liked meant to him. And yeah, Mew comes back to life:

I know, I complain about miraculous endings that appear to serve no purpose other than to end happily…but to me what separates and redeems the situation in The Christmas Toy is that Mew actually talks about the experience of dying and being dead in way that still gives me goosebumps.

Rise of the fallen

And I’m cool with the rest of the toys getting sung back to life, too, because the last thing in the world I want to think about is characters who sound just like Gonzo and Wembley Fraggle dying forever. I can’t be walking around crying over departed Muppets – I’m a man approaching my thirties, dammit!

The Christmas Toy closes out with everybody back together and loved, and if that ain’t Christmas-y enough for you then maybe you’d be happier celebrating Chaunakkah, mister!

Sadly, the DVD released by HIT Entertainment cuts out Kermit’s reprisal of “We’ll Be Together at Christmas, (Old Friends, New Friends)” but the song would later find its way into other Muppet projects, including the epically ensemble A Muppet Family Christmas released a year later. Oh, you’d better believe I’ll be writing that one up…

Given that it was created by Jim Henson and his company full of filthy, long-haired liberals: None. Although The Christmas Story does contain more resurrections than The Old Testament.

Once again, a certain frog was acting as Claus for this one, so in terms of the DVD, Disney owns the right to this Santa and isn’t letting go.

Five out of five Balls! Can’t help it, this might be my favorite Christmas Special of all time, so I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Fat Albert or Fred Flinstone walk away with more Flaming Balls of  Spirit!

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the site!)

The Christmas Toy is available alone on DVD and bundled together with Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas at a great value. Neither version contains the Kermit the Frog introduction, unfortunately. A Muppet Family Christmas is out-of-print, and will likely remain that way. I link to it since it contains a fantastic Holiday tune that originated in The Christmas Toy and you may still pick it up inexpensively used.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
A WISH FOR WINGS THAT WORK

Dude… Christmas rules amirite?! But as we “The Children of the 80’s,” grow older, crap like work deadlines, the price of airfare, and gift-giving budgetary restraints do their damndest to damper our Holiday Spirit year in and year out. Let ‘em try! I’ve got a backlog of DVDs with enough Xmas Mojo to keep even the most terminal case of Yule Tide Blues at bay.

I too was once frustrated and bored by the Holiday season, increasingly cynical of the “commercialism of it all” and all that jazz. But the reason Christmas is marketed in such a way is because, quite simply, it works! No other cultural event conjures such a specific mood, music, and feeling anywhere close to that of the majority of December, regardless of how much Hallmark and Best Buy would like to manufacture one. Just because I can’t get behind the current Target Superstore, Hanna Montana version of “The Christmas Spirit” doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have one at all, right? Hell, I’m entitled to one… we all are.

Home Video to the rescue! I’ve managed to find tremendous solace within Christmas Specials I grew up with as a kid. Charlie Brown, Mickey Mouse, and Kermit the Frog still have the power to rip me out of my day to day drudgery and place me smack dab into a place and time where I truly felt the Christmas season was magical and meant something. Clichéd though it may sound, once I throw on one of these Christmas Specials, my brain is whipped to a place and time where I smell firewood, enjoy bad music, and experience a childlike anticipation for gifts I know I’ll never receive.

Unfortunately, most of the specials near and dear to me no longer air on television with the frequency they used to, if at all. Sad, but who knows? Maybe that’s why I like ‘em. Either way, I figured there’d also be a sizable chunk of people out there in Internet land that would, too.

As an animation nerd, nothing warms my guts more than a traditional Holiday favorite. However, I also derive sensational amount of pleasure from getting re-exposed to the good ones I forgot existed, and yes, the bad ones we all wish didn’t. I’ve done my damnedest to track down personal favorites, and personal punching bags, through the various means provided to me by 21st century existence, and I’m trying to lay out one a day for public recollection from now until Christmas Day.

An Animated Advent Calendar for all to enjoy!

Wish me luck,
C.Ant

PS: I encourage anybody to suggest any particular Christmas specials you’d care to see covered here. I’ve also provided Amazon.com links to any specials available on DVD. PLEASE CLICK! Buying through us won’t cost you a dime, but will contribute a small portion of your purchase to the site in order to keep it going!