I know this is premature, but so is the whole Christmas season. UNDERSTAND... I was in Target today (09.25.07) and saw Christmas videos and some of the employees building a tree in the back room. Cripes. Still, this rant was featured on my other blog and it was so timely (and unread) that I wanted to feature it here...
Tis the season for Rankin/BassAnd so much more classic animation IF YOU CAN FIND IT ON TELEVISION. As child, it was easy to plan our special event watching as there was no videos/dvds in sight. You had to plan. You had to watch. Purusing the TV guide a week before was necessary to make certain you got the rigth date and time. There was the CBS special presentation symbol that sounded the alarm that something awesome was about to happen in every living room tuned in across the land. During the Peanuts specials, there were the Dolly Madison ringers commercials with a little bit more snoopy animation included. (Now you only see our favorite beagle in commercials for the insurance company "METLIFE".) Good Greif! Not that I am saying I dont own all these cartoons and special memories on dvd ~ or that I am not grateful for it. I guess just having it readily available takes away some of the specialness of it. Instant gratification can be a bad thing too. And there is something about seeing it on tv still, that warms the heart. It means everyone has a chance to share as not all have the luxuries we take for granted.Off the soapbox, it's time to peruse and find that "Animagic". Rankin/Bass put out some of the greatest holiday specials.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, A Year without a Santa Claus (with the fabulous Miser Brothers) and my favorite - Santa Claus is Coming to Town with Fred Astaire and the Burger Meister Meister Burger. ALL CLASSICS. ALL MUST HAVES. Let's not forget Nestor the Long eared donkey and the Little Drummer Boy. Narrated by Roger Miller and Greer Garson respectively. Then... one of the last great stories that came out and probably still fairly unknown was "Twas the Night Before Christmas." About a family of mice that somehow break the town clock and have to fix it so Santa can come. Paul Coker dazzled with his animation direction through all these specials. I wish they had a tribute site to him as to me he is Holiday Specials. Then... something happened. The stories...Got Worse! Oh boy... Rudolph's Shiny New Year... teeters at best. The villanous vulture named "Eon" is aptly named as the story seems to go on forever. Then, they went back to the Frosty well. And havent stopped since. Frosty's Winter Wonderland was the best of the worst. This is where he married "Crystal". Andy Griffith narrated and the annoying character of Jack Frost was introduced. Ugh. Then, the horrid Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. Yikes! Don't you know that Frosty HATES thermometers? - the only saving grace is the voice work still retaining the wonderful Jackie Vernon as Frosty's voice. In the past 10 years a slew of Frosty stories have come about... with John Goodman taking over for Vernon. And the animation factor taking a huge dump. Then last year... they made "The Legend of Frosty the Snowman"... narrated by Burt Reynolds and animation that looks like it came from Nicktoons. (I thought the original Frosty had pretty much sewed up the legend of Frosty with Karen and the kids rolling up a snowman and placing Professor Hinkles hat on his head.) Or was that just me?One more thing...in 2001, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & The Island of Misfit Toys came to dvd. The cover art looked promising...though computer animated. I guess it was the best they could do. Without going back to the animagic. The story was palpable, but not deserving of a second look. All my kids said was "That's not Rudolph". Which to me signified the end of the era that was Rankin/Bass. The Good News is you can relive the good old days at http://www.rankinbass.com/ and check out the amazing Rick Goldschmidts blog right here www.enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/ I am unworthy to even touch on the Rankin/Bass legacy. So please accept these offered opinions and read up with Rick who is the premier Historian. Congratulations go out to him and his exasperatingly vast love of all things Animagic. After all, It is a Difficult Responsibility...
