Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken taps into my nostalgic, nerdy core at a rather alarming rate given its 10 or so minute runtime. But this sketch I just had to share…

The internet’s a treasure trove of hit-and-miss videogame parodies, yet as a lifelong gamer, I still get ridiculously excited when the old school games get acknowledged by the “mainstream.” Or should I say TV? I mean, if only because it significantly kicks up the production quality, as is the case with Robot Chicken’s Contra parody from last Sunday:

Not only is it a reference to one of my favorite NES games (CONTRA!!!), it uses the Konami code as a catalyst for an existential statement on man’s struggle for immortality!

Oh, and it references Groundhog Day!

They even broke from their traditional use of stop-motion, opting instead for a more “hand drawn” approach just to retain a 2D, pixelated look, and quite frankly, that makes sets my goddamned soul on fire like a shot of Spread weapon straight through the heart! I’ve been strongly considering doing a write up on one of Robot Chicken’s many fine Christmas Specials for the last couple of years now (see those Holiday-themed thumbnails on the left? It’s sorta what we do here…)

Honestly, where else has Contra been referenced on TV anywhere in the last 20 years?!

Me thinks Xmas 2011 might be the time…

RELATED ARTICLES

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG stars in:
SONIC’S CHRISTMAS BLAST

MARIO AND FRIENDS star in:
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. SUPER SHOW: KOOPA KLAUS

PAC-MAN stars in:
CHRISTMAS COMES TO PACLAND

NESTOR, THE LONG-EARED CHRISTMAS DONKEY
Original Air Date: December 3, 1977

Then one day pre-Christmas, Yahweh came to say / “Nestor with your ears so long, won’t you guide my unborn son along!”

BACKSTORY:

In the early 1960s, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass formed a company originally known as Videocraft International. The Toronto-based studio began by focusing on a process then called “Animagic,” a stop-motion procedure usually farmed overseas to largely uncredited Japanese animators (who would later make a mass exodus to Studio Ghibli, of Spirited Away and Ponyo fame).

The Videocraft logo as it appears in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the Rankin/Bass logo that preceded Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

Videocraft’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was an enormous smash right out of the gate, and the company followed suit with several other long-running Christmas specials including Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Frosty the Snowman.

You know these guys

While the studio dabbled in specials – and even feature films – with non-Christmas themes, it became fairly clear by the mid-’70s that Holiday specials were going to be its bread and butter. So what’s a studio to do when it runs out of Christmas tunes and legends to turn into animated specials? Well, after spinning off Rudolph and Frosty sequels, they made up a tale of their own.

BREAKDOWN:
Man, I loved this special back in the day, but Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is fucking frightening! I mean, I’m pretty hard-pressed to come down on Rankin-Bass for almost any reason…but Jesus Christ, you guys?!

Shots in this sequence were reused from Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

I’m well aware the duo probably didn’t have all that many Christmas jingles to retrofit into an “X the Xmas Y” formula, but did they really have to concoct a tale so unrelentingly cruel and wrought with tragedy that it’s… well, actually pretty befitting of its biblical setting, come to think of it.

Sty, Sweet Sty

Seriously, all the crap Disney takes for its past comedic depictions of animal cruelty and murdering the parents of its heroes in plain sight can’t hold a Menorah candle to the bloodcurdling heartbreak Nestor has in store in just twenty-four minutes.

AHAHAHAHAH, FREAK!

I mention this not as a criticism, but as almost a warning to others who care to watch it.  I was completely convinced that I was settling in for nothing more than a lighthearted Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer rip-off.

“Yeah, I’m standin’ on your ear. Do somethin’ about it!”

Nestor starts off with yet another celebrity introducing our titular hero in song.

Roger Miller, serenading you into depression

Roger Miller, the singer songwriter behind twangy country hits like “King of the Road,” voices Speiltoe, and he does a helluva a good job convincing the audience they’re not about to see things that will be burned into whatever portion of your brain gets referenced every time your body decides it’s time for a nightmare.

Livin’ like an ass ain’t easy

Nestor is mocked mercilessly for his obvious condition, but since we’ve all been conditioned to anticipate that his deformity will save the day a mere twenty minutes from now, you’ll probably assume you can roll with his punches.

Ker-THUD

Thing is, the woodland creatures’ jabs are far more unrelenting than those in Rudolph. Plus, without a Clarice or Hermey to alleviate Nestor’s pain, his torment is absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

Dicks

And not just because you’ll see the first of many shots of Nestor crying his eyes out.

Nestor is trying to break your heart

The song, “Don’t Laugh and Make Somebody Cry,” digs deep into how much it sucks to be Nestor, and it’s accompanied with elongated montages of animals laughing loudly and being unbelievably cruel to the poor jackass.

Humans aren’t any nicer

His mother is his only sanctuary. Even Olaf the stable-hand refuses to feed Nestor on account of his ear-induced uselessness, and the poor kid would go hungry if it weren’t for his mammy.

A rare smile

Yet even after all that heartbreak and peer rejection, what depressed me even more was that the special makes a point of saying that the only time anybody was nice to Nestor was around the Winter Solstice.

As if his life before this moment never even happened

This hit me in a strange way, as it reminded me of instances in grade school where I can recall everyone being nice to a kid around Christmas or his birthday, only to treat him like a shit-based swastika the other 364 days of the year. It brought back this strange sense of pain and pity at the idea that a rotten lot in life has nothing to do with your behavior, just…. Depressing!

Roman Holiday

And in come the Romans! Ever the harbingers of bad news in biblical times, a soldier arrives to buy livestock for the Emperor’s service. Of course he ends up simply stealing them, but not before interrupting Nestor’s single day of sanctity by once again pointing out that his ears are, in fact, larger than regular-sized ears.

Abuse!

This is the last straw for Olaf, familiarly voiced by Paul Frees, who chucks Nestor out on his, erm, ass to die in the snow.

Perk to having long ears #1

Fortunately, his mother comes to his rescue, offering calm and warmth throughout that furiously cold winter night.

Ahhhh, everything’s cool now, right?

“As savagery often does, it left beauty in its wake,” says Speiltoe cheerfully, as if we’re about to catch up with Nestor and his mother cooking three-egg omelets over a cracklin’ morning fire…

Nope

Yeah…your Mom’s dead, dude.

RIP MOM

And it’s pretty much your fault. I don’t know why, but I didn’t remember this. Bear in mind I’m the closest thing to a “Professional Christmas Special Commentator” the internet’s got going… But I was so goddamned gutwrenchingly depressed by Nestor at this point, I damn near turned it off. An industry first!

Goddammit… SAD!

Nestor wanders the forest looking for a reason to live, only to find snow and more snow and ears that continue to trip him up every third step. Fortuntely, an angelic creature appears out of the blue to give him a mission.

GAH!

Did you know that whereas angels guide humans, cherubs guide animals? Me neither! But truly I appreciate the heavenly Tilly for finally making the distinction. And in another Christmas miracle, Tilly also ties back into yesterday’s special, as she’s voiced by Brenda Vaccaro, the voice behind Johnny Bravo’s mom!

Greener pastures

She playfully tugs Nestor’s ears as they sing-songedly make their way to Bethlehem, where some sort of surprise awaits him. This scene brought me right back into whimsy, as it’s a warm – and snowless – montage of Nestor acting happily for the first time since the special began.

Bears are jerks too

Sorry, I just gotta show you some more, because Lord knows I need the pick-me-up at this point in the special.

Astounding stop-motion work here

Big Ear perk #2!

Once in Bethlehem, Tilly books it back to heaven and Nestor wanders aimlessly, once again subjected to the mockery of his peers. Somehow he ends up on the auction block, where he continues to be undesired thanks to his unsightly ears.

You might recognize the camels from The Little Drummer Boy

That is until one day a poor carpenter shows up looking for something his pregnant wife can ride on – Shhhhh, don’t ruin it for everybody yet!

“Do you accept prayer?”

Some broke ass-couple going under the names of Joseph and Mary need a lift, and they’re not picky about the paint job.

Ridin’ out

Unfortunately, the trio gets caught in a sandstorm, and the narrator tells us that Nestor considers dumping the fat lady and heading into shelter. But then: a guiding light…

Screw the humans

“SIMBA…”

Both Tilly and Nestor’s mother appear to him, telling him to listen. Galdurnnit, big ears probably mean big listentin’!

I suppose you could call it a manger

Nestor guides the couple through the storm and into the city. With all the hotels full, he figures a stable is as good a place as any – why, they’ll be as happy and warm as he used to be, nestled next to his mother in the hay,

Home at last!

Nestor gets them where they need to go, but doesn’t even stick around. Three wise looking men show up, but all they want to do is adulate this new born baby instead of the little burro who rose above the odds and boldly got the couple to safety.

“Oh wait, I hate you guys!”

Having turned his perceived weakness into a fucking superpower, Nestor heads home with his head held high, right back into the welcoming arms of… his tormenters. Huh, I guess word gets around

Nestor is commemorated with his own piece in the Nativity scene

Big time… almost.

This is all you ever see of Jesus H. What a tease!

The Baby Jesus is never actually seen, but with the angels, shinging stars, and alleged virgin cargo, his presence is heavily implied.

He’s here, but you gotta remember, the events of this story predate Kringle by several hundred years

I’m still pretty baffled as to why Rudolph- I mean Nestor, headed back to the place where people hated him. That logic aside, it still makes for a pretty happy ending, especially once you consider it comes after what could be the most morose first act of any Christmas special in the history of both Christmas and television. That said, the songs are enjoyable, and even though the mouths of damn near everybody appear a little more low-rent than usual, you can certainly see the evolution in Rankin/Bass’ craft. They appear to have mastered the art of suspending objects in air, making for numerous feats of stop-motion awe, and the camera swoops and pans in ways I’d have to imagine blew pre-Matrix audiences away. It can be a bit depressing, but Nestor, the Long-Eared Donkey is the furthest thing from a waste of your time in December.

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

Nestor, the Long-Eared Donkey appears on a no-frills disc from the Warner Archives bundled with The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It also shows up alongside other bonus specials on discs that have fallen out-of-print, however, I suggest you move your butt and buy the miraculously still available Classic Christmas Favorites set. It contains TEN specials, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Frosty the Snowman, and a bunch of others well worth owning. You could try your luck with the out-of-print discs, but hey, I already gave you my two cents.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
A JOHNNY BRAVO CHRISTMAS

2009′s Dec. 13th Christmas Special
INVADER ZIM: THE MOST HORRIBLE XMAS EVER

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!

The Original Christmas Classics Set contains: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, The Little Drummer Boy, Cricket on the Heart, and a CD of classic Christmas music!

Wash away those Black Friday blues with some of the greatest Christmas specials known to man! I don’t care how bad your shopping experience was, and it doesn’t matter one bit how critically you got trampled by roving packs of soccer Moms – winning one of these sets couldn’t be easier.

We’ve got three sets to give away and we’re gonna toss out ONE HERE, and TWO ON TWITTER. Want to win one right here? Just leave a comment below saying so. Yep, that’s it! We’ll pick a winner at random. To win one on Twitter? Do this:

#acartoonchristmas

Simply use that tag and tweet your favorite Christmas special from the one’s we’ve covered so far (that side bar on the left, you’ve got 24 specials to choose from) with a link to the article. So sorta like this:

We’ll pick THREE random winners Wednesday night, December 1st – the day A Cartoon Christmas’s festivities begin! – and mail your DVDs to you ASAP, so you can watch ‘em well before Christmas Day. North American residents only.

(FYI: I’m just a regular dude with a blog, not a marketer or a spammer. I’ll probably lose your address immediately after shipping and I certainly won’t give your information to anyone or anything. Trust me, and hey, follow me on Twitter.)

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

WILL VINTON’S CLAYMATION CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
Original Air Date: December 21, 1987

SYNOPSIS:
The California Raisins and their Claymation brethren present the smartest, funniest, most creative and clayiest Christmas TRL you could ever ask for.

BACKSTORY:
Will Vinton didn’t invent claymation, but he does own the trademark.  No, really.  And he also lays claim to the creation of the California Raisins, which can come in handy if, say, you want to produce an animated Christmas special during the height of Raisinmania. (He also created The Noid, whom you should avoid, FYI.)

All that clay are belong to him

Not to imply that Vinton is some kind of proprietary asshole.  He’s done more than just about anyone to further the medium of clay animation (o.k., his words, not mine), including coining and trademarking the term “Claymation^TM,” which rolls off the tongue so much more easily than “clay animation,” don’t you think?

The famously canceled NES game developed by Capcom

Vinton created the California Raisins in 1987, as the stars of a commercial for the most boring-sounding agency on earth, the California Raisin Advisory Board (CALRAB).  And for those of you who weren’t around at the time (or were living under a rock), let me tell you: America went California-nuts for the California Raisins.

How, indeed…

We were a nation obsessed with those wrinkly little hunks of doo-wopping Model Magic.  We plastered them all over our pillowcases, Trapper Keepers, footie pajamas, cereal boxes, Hardees cinnamon raisin buns – basically anywhere you could put a raisin without getting slapped.

Love your raisin, hate yourself

On top of that, they had four studio albums, an animated TV series, and a couple of feature films, making them more successful than all the winners of American Idol combined.

So it should come as no surprise that when Vinton made A Claymation Christmas Celebration later that year, he decided to close it out with the marketing gold that was the California Raisins and their R&B rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Perhaps the faded popularity of the Raisins is part of the reason this feature has faded from the public eye.  It originally aired on CBS, but by the early 1990s had been relegated to cable and is now no longer shown anywhere.  Which is a shame, because it’s one my all-time favorite specials – funny, original, and wonderfully animated (sorry - claymated).

BREAKDOWN:
A Claymation Christmas Celebration is essentially a series of Christmas carol music videos hosted by the Mesozoic Odd Couple: straight-man Rex, an erudite, red Tyrannosaurus Jeff Goldblum; and foil Herb, a bulbous, lisping garbage disposal of a stegosaurus who proves that yes, Virginia, vegetarians can be fat.

Our prehistoric Felix and Oscar

As Rex dryly lays it out, “thematically speaking, we’ll be looking at Christmas carols as they relate to specific traditions.”  Snore.  It’s no wonder Herb feels a need to comfort eat…

First under the microscope is “We Three Kings,” but before Rex can finish his introductory discourse, along come a group of hound dogs singing “here we come a waffling,” and pushing a cart full of…WAFFLES!

Nums.

It’s a little something for everyone, as Herb gets to stuff his face with Belgian deliciousness…

“As usual, Herb, there you go letting history take a back seat to your stomach”

…and Rex gets to digress, interjecting, “pardon me, but you’re making a lyrical error in that fine old Christmas carol…”

But Rex is vexed – while he can successfully identify the true term as “wassailing,” no one, himself included, knows what it means.  Thus begins one of the special’s running gags, as a whole cast of characters parade in on the action with their own variations on “Here We Come A-Wassailing.”  But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Spoiler alert!

“We Three Kings” is preformed by clay versions of the Three Wise Men themselves – Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar – with an interjected chorus courtesy of some doo-wop camels whose vocal style bears more than a little resemblance to those yet-unseen dried fruits.

Close your eyes and picture…raisins!

The trios trade turns at the mic in a sound-off that leaves the wise guys eating camel dust.

“I hate you.”

“We love you!”

Luckily, they can all agree on one thing: their destination -  Jesus’ birthplace, illuminated by the Star of Bethlehem©.

My gift for Jesus: not-crack

Even more than twenty years later, the jazzy swing of the camels’ “star of wonder, star of night,” cheesy as it is, takes me straight back to the Christmases of my childhood – basking in the glow of the Christmas lights while I was sung to sleep by three pachyderms.

Jesus…better than GPS

Herb and Rex return to introduce my favorite clip: the Paris Bellharmonic performing “Carol of the Bells.”

“One of the ways to drive evil off was by making a great deal of noise…”

“This isn’t driving you off!”

Conductor Quasimodo has put together a fine ensemble of anthropomorphic bells, with the exception of one particularly unfocused member who gets distracted, plays some air guitar, hits himself in the face trying to swat a fly, and loses his mallet.

Someone I would probably date if I were a bell

The whole sketch is so clever that I don’t want to give away the punch line (you should really watch it yourself, HINT HINT), but I’ll just say that Quasi ultimately saves the day with a move that would leave Bart Simpson green with envy.

Don’t mess.

After being pulled briefly off track to deal with a flock of ducks come a-waddling, our prehistoric hosts present “Oh Christmas Tree,” which, while the claymating is stellar, is frankly not the most exciting tool in the shed.  So we’ll move on…

Yeah, it’s kinda like that

We’re next introduced to two physics-defying ice-skating walruses: the world-famous prima ballerina Margot Pontoon and her partner, Rudolf Nerves-on-Edge.

It’s a testament to the quality of the animation that Margot and Rudolf move exactly how you imagine a pair of ice-dancing walrus ballerinas would.

A majestic-y creature

They’re fluid (relatively speaking) and graceful(-ish), but they collide one too many times with the friendly neighborhood penguins…

Don’t get too attached…

Kapow!

…and when the walruses’ final salchow leaves them three feet underwater, the aggrieved penguins waste no time sealing up the hole.

Sorta like David and Goliath, except not at all

Too bad no one bothered to tell them that walruses are semi-aquatic animals.

Can’t nobody hold me down

We return to find Herb and Rex mired in reference books, trying to determine the true meaning of the term “wassailing,” when who should appear but a slew of swine come a-wallowing.  No, no, no, no, no! It’s all Rex can do to keep us, dear viewers, on the straight and narrow while trying to restrain Herb from joining the pig-out.

“Joy!”

Better distract us by cutting to the trippy African Pride Jesus-montage…

o.k., sure, a baby’s ass…why not?

The “Joy to the World” sequence is, in a word, weirdasballs.  I’m sure the animation is a marvel of modern plasticine, but this thing is like taking a baaaaaad trip soundtracked by Luther Vandross covering Manheim Steamroller.  Which I guess isn’t all bad, since synth-rock was my second-favorite childhood Christmas tradition, but still.

Here’s just a sampling of the crazy-ass shit that happens in the 2:30 that it takes to sing “Joy to the World.”  For the rest of the collection, please see my nightmares from the past twenty-two years.

So far, so…so.

I don’t remember anything like this in “Rudolph”…

Not okay.

Mommy?

Boobs!  All is forgiven, Vinton.

Finally we get to some damn Raisin action, introduced by ultimate CALRAB fan-boy Herb…

Sunglasses are how you knew something was cool in the ‘80s.

In a classic case of “slow food,” A.C., Bebop, Red, and Zoot spent so long shooting the shit that they missed the last bus home on Christmas Eve.  So what do they do?  Deliver the finest Motown “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to ever grace our ears, of course!

See?  Cool.

And at the same time, they learn a hard lesson in acceptance when it turns out that one of their own is also a shiner.

“Craisin!”

Not really – they spend the whole song making fun of his nose…

“There’s no possible way they can mock me if I’m hiding behind this snowman”

FAIL

…then rope him to the front of a ghetto-fabulous sleigh and make him pull them home.

A little holiday oppression to warm your cockles

Fruits can be so cruel.

The special ends with Rex, Herb (who’s put on a good 3 packs of Sculpey) and all of their waffling, waddling, and wallowing compadres enjoying a full mug of Christmas spirit, courtesy of some singing leprechauns who pull up a-drinking – no, wait – a-wassailing!

Leave it to the Irish to show up wasted at the end

They’re carting a frat’s-worth of “Cyril’s Cider” (Really?  Not wassail?  Whatevs.), and they’re not a moment too soon because Rex is about to pop a vein.

“Fuck all y’all!”

Luckily, everyone finally gets what they wanted for Christmas – Rex gets validation, Herb gets enough clay snacks to feed a herd of bulimic elephants, and all of the claytastic characters get to make one last appearance.

What really killed the dinosaurs

Or rather, almost all of them.  In a much-appreciated nod to what I, and probably everyone with eyes, wanted for Christmas, those creepy-ass “Joy to the World” fuckers are nowhere to be seen.

LET’S WASSAIL!

While I wouldn’t call this a religious special (thank God!), and there’s certainly no molded Jesus anywhere, A Claymation Christmas does seem to have a little more savior-presence than most of the specials we’ve seen so far.

For one thing, it’s based around a series of carols that, whether we’re wont to admit it or not, sing the praises of Jesus’ big day.  Then, of course, there are the aforementioned manger-moseying Wise Men, and while I didn’t really want to have to bring it up again, the “Joy to the World” segment has more than a few images that could probably garner a cool sum on eBay if they were to show up on a piece of toast.

The face of Mary in…a program about Christmas!

Old Saint Nick makes just one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, (understandably) dozing in his rocking chair during the soporific “Oh Christmas Tree.”  But Herb does don an ever-strained Santa suit during the entire special, so we’ll give ‘em kudos for that, too.

A Claymation Christmas certainly doesn’t have a heartwarming moral, (too much) religious iconography, or a tidy resolution, but the melding of classic carols with ambulatory clay, quirky humor, Christmas treats, and those quintessentially 80′s spokes-raisins perfectly encapsulates everything that I loved about the holidays when I was growing up.  So while this may be the last nail in the coffin of the Christmas-spirit scale’s validity, I’m giving it 5 balls.  Cuz I love it.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

Contrary to popular belief, Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration is available on DVD… and isn’t it time you upgraded from that VHS you recorded twenty years ago? (I know I probably should!) It contains the uncut special we all know and love, as well as Halloween and Easter specials you’ve likely never seen.

If you’re still in the mood for some vintage Vinton, I can easily recommend his full-length movie The Adventures of Mark Twain (which contains the notoriously frightening “Satan scene”), but if you’re simply hunting for something under the criteria of “stop-motion” and “Christmas,” you could do a helluva lot worse than the newly remastered The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special:
A FAT ALBERT CHRISTMAS

SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN
Original air date: December 14, 1970

SYNOPSIS
A stop-motion Fred Astaire & Co. answer every question you never knew you had about Santa’s life story.

BACKSTORY
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town was the fifth animated Christmas special produced by Rankin/Bass, and it marked a return to their characteristic stop-motion after the hand-drawn animation of Frosty the Snowman.  It features an animated Fred Astaire as our trusty narrator, as well as the voices of Mickey Rooney (as Kris Kringle), Keenan Wynn (as the Winter Warlock), and Rankin/Bass standby Paul Frees (as seemingly all of the remaining characters).

Santa Claus is loosely based on the 1934 song by Eddie Cantor, if by “based on” you mean “bearing the same name.” But it expands beyond the basic idea of the jolly old coot who sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake, painting Kris Kringle as a fascism-fighting outlaw in an effort to explain the origins of many aspects of the legend of Santa Claus.

The trademark Rankin/Bass style is in top form, creating a charming and lively winter wonderland, and featuring several classic songs  sung by Astaire and beautifully scored by Maury Laws and Jules Bass himself.

Still, at the risk of stomping all over the toes of anyone who watched and loved this special as a child (or the President of the Mickey Rooney fan club), I’m just going to come right out and say it: the voice acting isn’t exactly Oscar material and the plot devices are more in-your-face than Courtney Love at an open bar, making the feature hard to take seriously enough to truly enjoy it.

Sorry to be such a party-pooper

The rights are owned by ABC Family and to this day it airs frequently on that channel, as well as on ABC itself.  Several notable scenes are frequently cut from those broadcasts, though – possibly in the interest of time, but more likely for reasons that will soon become clear.

BREAKDOWN
After a brief WWII-style newsreel broadcasting news of Christmas preparations the world over, we’re introduced to Special Delivery “S.D.” Kringle, the friendly postman to the North Pole who’s a dead-ringer for Fred Astaire.

Does this narrator look familiar?

How bout now?

S.D.’s truck has just broken down, so he does exactly what you know all postmen do for kicks: starts reading people’s mail.  He pulls a sampling of letters from a bunch of selfless nitwits who, instead of demanding that Santa bring them entire aisles from Toys ‘R’ Us, simply want to know how and why he came to be who he is today.

A waste of a stamp

And since ol’ Twinkle Toes is stuck in the middle of a wintry nowhere with a broken mail truck, patiently awaiting the mercy of death by either freezing or starvation, he’s only too willing to paint the entire, unsolicited, rags-to-riches story in painstaking detail.

You see, the man we now know as Santa Claus actually began life rather unglamorously as a foundling infant abandoned on the front stoop of the fun-hating (but deliciously named) mayor of Sombertown, Burgermeister Meisterburger.

Oh good – a baby.

Burg knows a money pit when he sees one, so he wastes no time in sending the child away to the nearest orphanage.

Pretty shrewd, for a fatty

Fate, though, has other plans, whisking the wee Claus’ conveyance away in the whispering winds to the, uh, Mountain of the Whispering Winds – range of the grim and territorial Winter Warlock.  Fortunately, a group of woodland creatures hide our hero from the Warlock’s spindly grasp and deposit him on the other side of the mountain in the Rainbow River Valley, home of a multi-generational family of toy-making elves known as the Kringles.

My worst nightmare

Matriarch Tanta Kringle takes the babe in and raises him as one of her own, christening him “Kris” and thus answering the first question that no one cares about: why is Santa called Kris Kringle?

Note that the special never addresses the one question on everyone’s minds: Santa is a ginger?

The Kringle family has been building toys for generations, all the way back to when they were the number one toymakers to the King of Sombertown, but in recent years the wrath of the Winter Warlock has left them and their playthings trapped in the Rainbow River Valley, where the toys simply build up, unused, in a pile outside the window (much to the chagrin of the Kringles).

Not cool, guys.

An overachieving teen aged Kris promises that one day when he’s old enough, he’ll cross the Mountain of the Whispering Winds himself and deliver the lonely toys to Sombertown.

“Well, what is a penguin doing in this special?”  We never quite figure that one out.

But just as that day arrives, Mayor Meisterburger takes an unceremonious tumble on an aptly placed wooden duck and promptly outlaws all toys.

Comic gold

Yeah…that’ll work

When Kris arrives to deliver his first round of goodies to Sombertown’s appreciative young-‘uns, he finds that he’s just made himself enemy- number-one of the state.

“We don’t want any”

Wrong answer, lady!

Thus begins probably the creepiest scene of the whole special (and there are many), as a toy-pushing Kris lecherously grabs a couple of the town’s children and launches into a song promising them that, “if you sit on my lap today, a kiss, a toy is the price you’ll pay,” followed by, “when you sit on my left knee, don’t be stingy, be prepared to pay.”  You can’t make this shit up.

“Atta boy, Johnny, right there…”

Thank you, lord!

Which leads us to a blatantly transparent back-and-forth between Kris and Burgermeister that elucidates every detail of Santa’s mythos at a level even a four-year-old could understand.  But just in case there are any three-year-olds in the audience, each revelation is also paired with explanatory narration by a real child, à la “so that’s why Santa wears a red suit!”  Duh.

“I’m a man, and a man should dress like one”

Anyway, Kris starts to make his way back across the Mountain of the Whispering Winds, only to be intercepted by a pissed-off Winter Warlock.

Who has two thumbs and doesn’t like visitors?

This toothy fiend has been disturbed for the last time, and he’s not going to let Kris escape, EVER…unless, of course, he were to be won over by some material goods.  Kris quickly forks over – I mean, presents him with – a wooden choo-choo, and the warlock’s icy exterior melts away (literally) into a warm puddle of what-can-i-do-ya-for.

“Well sure, I’ll throw my values out the window for a free tchotchke!”

Before Kris can count his blessings, though, Sombertown’s schoolteacher, Ms. Jessica, tracks him down to deliver some letters from the local tykes asking for, wouldn’t you know it, more toys!  (Ostensibly to replace all the ones that the mayor wasted no time in destroying…I’m so sure.)

“It’s just the funniest thing – one of the kids requested, um, one of those Hitachi Magic Wands…”

Pedo-Kringle tells Jessica to let the children know that if they leave their doors unlocked that night (so that’s why Santa comes at night!), he’ll sneak into their homes and personally make good on his earlier promise.  You know, to bring them some toys – why, what were you thinking?

This is almost too easy

But when Burgermeister discovers the new shipment of playthings in the morning, he orders all of the town’s doors locked.  Fortunately, creeper Kris finds a workaround by climbing in through the chimney and leaving even more toys at the foot of the mantle.  (So that’s why Santa comes down the chimney!)

Where there’s a will – or William, or Billy – there’s a way!

Still, an unrelenting Burg tries a new tactic: he commands his crew of doll-nazis to search every house for traces of any and all toys (including those that Sombertown’s denizens might be hiding, say, in their attics, or under their floorboards, or behind false walls) and arrest anyone housing them.

Pssst, Meisterburger – esents-pray, three o’clock.

Luckily, our quick-thinking star manages to disguise his wares by stuffing them in the stockings pinned above each family’s fireplace.  So that’s why Santa leaves us presents in our stockings!

“I’m having a good time…”

Finally, the slow-on-the-uptake Herr does what any Grinch worth his salt would have done in the first place – sets a trap and jails the entire lawbreaking Kringle clan.

“If loving children is wrong, then lock me up!”

The special then takes a turn for a trippy as Jessica launches into an acid-tinged ballad so strange it’s not worth describing, except to say that she realizes she’s in love with a certain Kringle and should probably get off her ass and do something.

I am a beautiful lioness…hear me roar!

So she gets a hold of one of Warlock’s last bits of sorcery (see, he lost most of his powers in a card game…or at least that’s what he’d have Mrs. Warlock believe): some magic feed corn.

Did somebody say “magic feed corn??”

When Jessica gives the corn to, oh, about eight of the neighborhood reindeer, they magically gain the gift of flight, alight to the jailhouse, and bust Kris and the rest of his commie friends out.

No, not this one – that’s another story, silly!

So that’s why Santa’s reindeer can fly!  Anything else you wanted to know?

Oh yeah, an on-the-lam Kris grows an Amish beard and changes his name to “Claus” to avoid being spotted by Herr Meisterburger, word spreads far and wide about the North Pole cash cow who can’t not give toys away, and Kris Claus decides that – hey! – if he’s going to be CEO of his own worldwide corporation, he may as well deliver gifts just one day a year and take the other 364 off. Which also explains how he goes from looking like this…

…to looking like this:

And then Jessica and Kris have a weirdo wedding where they for some reason give each other presents, wrapped and placed under decorated evergreens.

This is totally gonna catch on, I just know it.

Well, when you put it that way, it all makes perfect sense.

The punctured one is never mentioned by name, and the only reference to the fact that there might be a reason for the season beyond Santa and his giant sack comes as a seeming afterthought at the end, when our hand-holding narrator explains that Santa chose Christmas Eve to be his single night of gift-giving because it’s the holiest night of the year.  Which I guess means that Jesus may, in fact, be the only one more insulted by this special than I was.

Uh…yeah.  See above.

For as much as I’ve made fun of it, this thing really does have a lot of heartwarming holiday gumption, which is probably why it appears to be a lifelong favorite of many, many less-discerning reviewers.  Still, it couldn’t break through this hipster’s hard shell of irony and cynicism, so I can’t in good conscience give it more than three balls.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is available on a single disc, standalone DVD but your best bet is to purchase it on The Original Christmas Classics boxed set, which also features Rankin/Bass classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman for just a few dollars more. Television broadcasts trim more and more from classics like this every year, so the DVD is your best method of preserving the version you remember. We’ve also included a link to Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town Christmas Ornaments, which should look classy hung upon even the dingiest Christmas Tree/Menora.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
THE BELLS OF FRAGGLE ROCK

ROBBIE THE REINDEER in HOOVES OF FIRE
Original air date: December 25, 1999

SYNOPSIS:
Rudolph’s well-intentioned but ill-applied offspring heads to the North Pole to fulfill his destiny as Santa’s chief navigator, only to find that he’s up against both a territorial Blitzen and the march of technology.  Will he step up his party-boy game in time, or have to return home a Prodigal Son?

BACKSTORY:
Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire premiered Christmas Day 1999 on the BBC.  The special was presented to benefit the charity organization Comic Relief, and it went on to win a prestigious BAFTA award in 2000, beating out such steep competition as Robot Wars and So Graham Norton.

Despite huge popularity in the U.K., it received a lukewarm reception in the U.S., where it was initially picked up by Fox Family and later sold to CBS.  Attributing its lack of appeal to the thick and varied British accents (and, let’s be honest, looking to score some star appeal), CBS re-dubbed it for American audiences in 2002, enlisting the voices of such Hollywood illuminati as Ben Stiller, Brad Garrett, Hugh Grant, and the famous voice actor Britney Spears.  Stripping the original characters of both their charm and comic timing, though, the U.S. version’s main value has proven to be as the clearest recorded example of voice-over work done through a mouthful of Cheetos.

The voice of Robbie the Reindeer: Father Ted’s Ardal O’Hanlon in the U.K., Ben Stiller in the U.S.

Robbie is the son of Rudolph, although that famous reindeer is never mentioned specifically by name. This allowed the production to play loose with the lore set in place by the 1964 Rudolph Christmas special. According to that legend, Donner should be Robbie’s grandfather, but instead she’s Robbie’s female teammate and eventual love interest.  Try not to think about it too much.

Grandpa?!?!

Although Hooves of Fire wasn’t technically made by Aardman Animations (the studio most famous for the Wallace and Gromit series), many Aardman staff – including director Richard Goleszowski – worked on the production, and their influence is readily apparent in its characteristic style.  Fans of the aforementioned limey and his inimitable pooch will find plenty to love in Robbie’s similarly detailed animation, vivid expressions, and twisted British sense of humor.

Two more Robbie specials were later created: Legend of The Lost Tribe in 2002 and Close Encounters of the Herd Kind in 2007.  And having never seen either of them, that’s all I have to say about that.

BREAKDOWN:
Our story begins with Robbie’s arrival in Coldchester, North Pole – home of none other than jolly old St. Nick.  Robbie is the son of a famous reindeer whose name we never quite learn (for copyright reasons, rumor has it – because asset protection is to Christmas as gluttony is to Thanksgiving), but if I had to guess, I’d wager that he probably had a very shiny nose.

I have no idea what this sign says, but I bet it’s full of dry British humour

Robbie’s immediately greeted by his new housemates and fellow sleigh-pullers: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome frat-boy Prancer; sulking sexpot Vixen; bubbly welcome wagon Donner; and malevolent alpha male Blitzen.  Blitzen can’t wait to welcome the famous Robbie to the gang, but something about his Jeremy Irons-esque drawl (as voiced by Steve Coogan) seems to presage evil.

Check out special-needs Beaker on the right there...

Apparently the product of some sort of genetic lottery gone awry, Robbie’s got a schnozz that’s part GPS and part seeing-eye dog, with a dash of ESP thrown in for good measure. And, like most celebrity offspring, he’s also overweight, lazy, entitled, and all too quick to embarrass himself on film.

What not to wear

Still, his heart’s in the right place – poor Robbie just wants to take his rightful place as the head of Santa’s sleigh team (and if he gets to bone Vixen in the meantime, well, so be it).  And with that Google-maps beak of his, he knows he’s got this one in the bag…

This hunk of red clay is smarter than Miss South Carolina.

Or does he?  In the absence of he-who-shall-not-be-named, Blitzen has been playing leader of the pack, and he’s not about to give up his throne without a fight.  Especially not to the son of some stinking red-nose who stole his thunder all those years ago.

Despite appearances, there is not actually a break-dancing sequence in this special.  Sorry, kids.

Robbie’s none too keen on the 364-day training regimen portion of the program as it is, so a scheming Blitzen pounces on his opportunity to encourage him to eat and sleep his way off the team.

Uh, Robbie? You’re doing it wrong.

But wait – who said anything about anyone leaving the team?…

Oh yeah – this guy.

The reindeer soon learn that a mid-life-crisis Santa’s gone and gotten himself a souped-up new ride, complete with a navigation system so advanced even Mrs. Claus could drive this thing.  And that means he’ll be needing one less steed to pull him to adulation, so it’s auf wiedersehen to the reindeer who is most unfit (criteria courtesy of local helping-hand Blitzen).

If you thought Santa’s calves were scary, wait ’til you meet this wigger

It’s a rude awakening for Robbie, who realizes he’s traded his legacy for a quarter-pounder.  So he does what any troubled celebu-spawn would: runs away from home and slums it with a blue-collar job in the local toy factory.

Octomonkey!

As the product of a life of luxury, though, Robbie is woefully unprepared for even the most banal factory work, and he undergoes a series of demotions that culminate in the humiliation of being used as a human (ah, reindeer) forklift.

And you thought antlers were just for giving your decor that special “Palin” vibe

Fortunately, Donner spots our familiar forklift one day during a factory visit, and she’s got good news for Robbie – she has a plan!  The way for Robbie to reclaim his place on the sleigh team is to win a medal in the upcoming Reindeer Games (sponsored by Hay^TM), thus redeeming himself in Santa’s eyes.

PSYCH!  It’s a dream sequence, suckahs…

But for that to happen they’re going to need a miracle, or at least a “wise old coach who can save the day.”  Enter Old Jingle, the local crazy-as-balls, older-than-dirt Mr. Miyagideer.

Homina, Homina, Homina

Jingle whips Robbie into shape with the workout montage to end all workout montages and, during a rare bout of lucidity, soothes his nerves with some sage old-man wisdom.

Aaaand Vangelis will be needing a clean pair of boxers

By the time the big day arrives, not only is Robbie a lean, mean steeple-chasing machine, but he’s also found new motivation in his spontaneously realized love for Donner (who’d been pining for him all along, but in that cryptic, passive-aggressive way that women do.  So, you know, he could be forgiven for giving her the brush-off.)

“I love everything about the person I’m going to change you into”

Still, it’s not going to be a trot in the park.  Turns out Blitzen’s ambitions are more A-Rod than Iditarod – he’s been juicing (apparently you can drink steroids now, which would have been nice to know before I had a forearm like a pimiento loaf…) to gain a hoof up on the competition.

Pop quiz: which one of these hairy beasts has bedded Madonna?

Fortunately, Blitzen’s ‘roid rage is no match for Rocky’s – er, Robbie’s – training (and general love-fueled mania).  Even after sprinting out of the park pre-race to rescue a prostrate Old Jingle from his poorly placed (read: on top of him) house, Robbie manages to return and chase Blitzen down to a photo finish.

And the winner is…Blitzen, by a nose!  BURN.

No matter – the Reindeer Games commission is onto Blitzen anyway, and Robbie could care less, what with the all-night romp-in-the-hay you know he’s in for (don’t think I don’t know that look, Donner…).

Yesssssss

So Santa apologizes in the best way men know how – by lending Robbie his wheels and never mentioning this again – and Robbie and Donner ride off into the moonset to the sounds of a Mark Knopfler song cheesy enough to plug you up from now ’til New Year’s.

You kids be careful, now, or it’s gonna be more than just your hooves on fire.

Awww, shucks.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

Hooves on Fire is available on DVD, packaged with Robbie’s 2002 follow-up, The Legend of The Lost Tribe. The disc contains both British and American voice tracks, but, in the biggest slap in the face since the Boston Tea Party, bills the original version as a bonus “alternate U.K. audio track.”

Hooves director Richard Goleszowski went on to work with Aardman studios on the Creature Comforts series, including this double-sized Christmas episode available on a stand alone DVD as well as the Wallace and Gromit spin-off Shaun the Sheep.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special:
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
Original Air Date: December 6, 1964

SYNOPSIS:
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it… you’d know how fucking awesome it is!

BACKSTORY:

The original book and an 1960′s advert featuring the characters from GE, the shows original sponsor

The story of Rudolph began life as a promotional book by Robert L. May commissioned by Montgomery Ward to give away during the Christmas of 1939. In 1949, Johnny Marks adapted May’s poem into the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer into the song we all know today.

The last cartoon by Popeye helmer, Max Fleischer was actually Rudolph’s first animated appearance in 1948

Following the success of TV’s first animated Christmas special, Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, networks were on the prowl for Christmas specials. You could say NBC really scored when they struck a deal with producers Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has run annually every year since 1964, making it TV’s longest running Christmas special!

Rankin/Bass produced many other successful stop motion, holiday-themed specials over the next three decades until that division folded in favor of traditionally animated entertainment, such as Thundercats and The Hobbit.

BREAKDOWN:
To any of you who were butt hurt over yesterday’s choice of special, this should more than make up for it. Without a doubt, one of the most iconic examples of, not only the Christmas special, but the medium of stop motion animation at large.

Still beautiful

I know what you’re thinking… Does it hold up? I hadn’t seen in a few years and didn’t expect it to either, but as of this writing I’m overcome with giddiness to report that it most certainly does!

I’d forgotten about the live action intro

The animation is far less rudimentary than all those parodies we’ve seen over the years eould have you remember. Each and every character is wonderfully articulated, the camera pans and adjust their focus for movement, and characters make detailed impressions in the snow with every movement. In other words: It’s still a beautiful sight to behold.

Burt Ives serves as our frosty narrator

One of the reasons I still love it so much is that the main cast is made up entirely of losers. Rudolph and Hermey are classic sad sacks, each of them representing the dregs of their judgmental and shortsighted castes.

Not too high

The beginning of the special is largely devoted to heaping shit on both Rudolph and Hermey. And would you look at that, even Ol Saint Nick gets in on the act?

“Damn , dawg! Turn that shit down!“

Rudolph is forced by his father – who I didn’t remember being Donner, one of Santa’s starting line-up – to wear a false rubber nose that restricts his breathing.

Societal Acceptance > Oxygen

Similarly, Hermey – and yes it’s Hermey, not Herbie! – has to hide his love of dentistry in front of the other elves for fear of being berated by hairless midgets.

No one likes getting chewed out by an elf

Rudolph’s façade eventfully comes a tumblin’ down in full view of all, and he is disbarred from any further participation within Reindeer Games. (There’s gotta be a better way to word that!)

Love the eye effects during this sequence

Clarice, the cloven hottie, follows in pursuit and nearly brings ‘Dolph out of his funk. But unfortunately her dickhead dad puts the kibosh on that.

D’Awwwww

Rudolph is at peak sulk right about now… but fortunately, he’s about to meet up with a kindred spirit.

Apparently, the song sung at this point was removed from Rudolph’s second airing in 1965, and that’s a shame. Now, it’s not that the song here is musically above and beyond, or even that it’s all that necessary. I’d only call it bad in comparison to the other ditty here, also written by Johnny Marks.

Sam the Snowman cranks out the superior tunes

But I love it when two unrelated, societal castoffs find a way to get together, and the song is essentially a safe-for-network television way for Rudoplh and Hermey to say, “Fuck ‘em all! We don’t need em!”

1960′s water effects courtesy of Cocaine

Either way the song, entitled “We’re a Couple of Misfits,” was restored into the special in 1998, and is present on the latest DVD edition I just purchased.

Peace!

Any hoo, the boys set off to begin their brand new life together. Anywhere but here, am I right boys?

Oh…

But they’re not on their own for very long, as the boys quickly meet up with outcast peppermint prospector Yukon Cornelius…

Action figures of Yukon Cornelius replaced his revolver with a nonviolent knife

Who’s quick thinking saves them from a fatal run in with the Abominable Snowman.

Not spark another Pixar conspiracy, but fans of Monsters Inc. will see the inspiration

Yukon chips severs an ice flow and the boys float off into God knows where

I’m on a float!

Okay, the next sequence is a favorite for me, and I can’t imagine I’m alone.

C’mon, who wouldn’t want one of these?!

The boys – hell, men – land on the Island of Misfit toys, a place where broken or slightly irregular toys go to commiserate.

Personally, I’ve got a soft spot for the spotted elephant

It shouldn’t surprise you that I have an affinity for toys come to life, therefore I not only love this scene because the unlovable toy models are so awesome, but over the last 40 years many a toy line has been based off of these misfit toys and proved quite popular.

The Original Lion King

Evidently, a noble flying lion has been scooping the refuse toys up from all over the globe, and he offers the flesh-based misfits sanctuary so long as they tell Santa about the existence of the Island so that he may eventually find a home for his flock of unloved playthings on some future Christmas.

The palatial royal quarters

Rudolph steals away in the night, so as night to endanger his pals any further, and ages into a full grown reindeer in the months of solitude.

All growed up

He returns to the North Pole to find out that his friends and family have been out looking for him the whole time, and it’s his term to go find them.

Gasp!

Luckily, Hermey and Cornelius show up and help Rudolph defeat the Abominable snow monster.

Oral Offense

Ouch, Hermey yanks the monster’s teeth out!

Kind of above and beyond cruelty, actually

And Corny shoves the, now powerless, oaf off a cliff.

Does Cornelius survive? Tune in next year…

We now find the North Pole beaten down by a record blizzard and Santa is threatening to cancel Christmas.

If weather conditions are that much of a factor, maybe setting up shop in the North Pole was a bad business decision

And Santa finally realizes what we’ve known all along: Rudolph’s luminescent schnoz can light the way.

Just like the song!

Christmas is saved, and everyone finds a new lot in life. Hermey gets permission to open up a dental practice, and Yukon Cornelius finds a peppermint pipeline. Even the Bombby finds a new place to fit in:

Probably my favorite image in the whole special

And thanks to a letter writing campaign the year following its debut, the next year Rankin/Bass animated a sequence where Santa returns to the Island of Misfit Toys and deploy them over the end credis.

I can’t believe this scene wasn’t in the original airing

Not much. Even back in the 60’s, networks weren’t all that crazy about presenting the Good Word on primetime television

Santa’s here a lot. And I love that even though he’s not a central character, he begins the story as kind of a prick, and eventually learns a thing or two about acceptance, too.

Classic

Easily half a century’s worth. I went back into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer fully expecting an experience only enjoyable through nostalgia goggles. Believe the hype, this one is truly timeless.

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the Site!)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer appears on an ultra affordable standalone DVD, but with no notable bonus features to speak of, I’d have to recommend The Original Christmas Classics Boxed set. The price is a steal, plus it contains six more classic Christmas specials, including other Rankin/Bass stop motion classics like The Little Drummer Boy and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. And I can’t recommend the Holiday Figurine set enough. Featuring almost all of Rudolph‘s primary cast, I propose that this become every atheist’s annual nativity scene.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special:
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus