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inkista t1_itsgphc wrote

Reply to comment by brb1006 in Jules Bass, Producer Behind the ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman’ TV Specials, Dies at 87 by Melanismdotcom

Just me, though, Rudolph's Shiny New Year looks like a dramatic masterpiece compared to the mess that is Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July, even with Ethel Merman's singing. ;)

The really hard to find Rankin-Bass holiday specials are The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold and Pinocchio's Christmas (which I believe do end up on Freeform/AMC some years), and the non-Christmas ones, Mad Monster Party and The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town (where Fred Astaire reprises his mailman role).

And the two more obscure Rankin-Bass specials I will defend to the death are probably The Story of the First Christmas Snow (Angela Lansbury!), and Nestor, The Long-Eared Donkey. :)

But aside from the Japanese stop-motion holiday specials like Rudolph, Rankin-Bass's Japanese 2D drawn animation movies of The Last Unicorn and The Hobbit were what grabbed me the hardest.

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brb1006 t1_itsppd1 wrote

You're almost correct, "The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold", "Pinocchio's Christmas", "The Story of the First Christmas Snow", and "Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" all air on AMC during the Christmas (since all post-1974 Rankin/Bass specials are owned by Warner Bros) alongside Rudolph's Shiny New Year and "A Year Without A Santa Claus". Glad to know the lesser-known Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials still air on television.

I also loved "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" because of how perfectly executed they handled talking animals set during The Nativity. To this day, I can't think of any other fictional donkey that looked as adorable as Nestor. Fun Fact, the special is actually the voice acting debut of Brenda Vaccaro who voiced Tilly (best-known as Bunnie Bravo from Johnny Bravo and Scruple from the Smurfs).

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Bobby_Marks2 t1_ittbp54 wrote

They did one way back called Cricket on the Hearth, which is both not a great film but also the greatest messed up kids movie ever. I love it for two reasons:

  • The cricket is kidnapped by a bunch of animal thugs, who crate him up and put him on a boat to China. They ask the boat captain for payment, and he blows them all away. In a kids' movie.
  • It presents toys as living creatures, which hide and stay still when humans are around and then go on adventures otherwise. Roughly 20-25 years before Toy Story.
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brb1006 t1_ittgen3 wrote

They also made an animated series starring Smokey Bear.

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