Movies: They're Pretty Good!
Movies: They're Pretty Good!
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
Picture a Christmas where jingle bells don't ring and Santa's sleigh remains parked in the North Pole. That's the curious premise of the 1974 classic, "The Year Without a Santa Claus," which my brother Tyler and I explore in our latest podcast episode. Join us as we stroll down memory lane, revisiting the whimsical world of Rankin/Bass animations where Mrs. Claus takes center stage and the Miser Brothers' sibling rivalry heats up the holidays. We'll share how voice actors from yesteryears lent their unique flair to these enduring characters, and you'll discover the surprising ways these festive figures have mirrored their real-life counterparts.
As the sleigh bells continue to echo, we unwrap the tale of Iggy's quest and the heart-tugging tune "I Believe in Santa Claus" that reminds us of the magic nested in belief. We also chuckle over the less-than-sanitary barbershop antics and marvel at how a cameo by Charlie Chaplin sneaks into this holiday tapestry. The Miser Brothers steal the show with their iconic songs, adding a dash of mischief to the Christmas cheer. And if you ever wondered how Batman ties into all this, we've got a story that'll sprinkle a little extra joy into your listening experience.
Our festive journey culminates with musings on how a single heartfelt letter can rekindle the Christmas spirit across the globe. We chat about how the Rankin/Bass specials have shaped our own holiday traditions and speculate on the mysteries of Santa's many on-screen personas. So, pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa and cozy up for a holiday podcast episode that's more stuffed with joy and nostalgia than a Christmas stocking. Tyler and I can't wait to share our family's holiday favorites and the timeless impact of "The Year Without a Santa Claus" on us all.
If you'd like to own your own copy for when this film isn't streaming, look no further!
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin. They're pretty good. I'm your host, travis Dutting, and I'm once again joined by Movies. They're Pretty Good, all Star my brother, tyler Dutting.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody. So everyone knows about these specials and you've heard one episode last year and it's the one that started out in 1964, but this time we're jumping ahead ten years.
Speaker 1:That's right. This time we're talking about the 1974 Rankin' Bass Christmas Special the Year Without a Santa Clause my personal favorite.
Speaker 2:And it's basically considered to be one of the greatest because of two characters that are in this movie Yep and we'll get to that later, but, all right, should we get right into it?
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, let's do it. So, starting out, we're open on the North Pole. We get a little cold open because this is a made for TV special. So before the credits even start or before you get any music, we just get an opening shot on the North Pole and we get Mrs Claus voiced by Shirley Booth, correct? Yes, yeah, voiced by Shirley Booth, and she's getting us a little narration telling us about the North Pole, right? And then we see that she's kind of just like introducing the story, correct?
Speaker 2:Correct and, oddly enough, this is the last acting that they and Shirley Booth did before she retired. Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:Yep. So there you go, and then. So, yeah, then we find out that Santa Claus is feeling under the weather. We get to see his doctor visit. He is voiced by Mickey Rooney, luckily not doing his accent from Breakfast at Tiffany's, but yeah, legendary Ricky Mooney, Mickey Rooney.
Speaker 2:Yeah, aka, yeah yeah. Also known, as he was in the Care Bears movie as Mr Cherrywood, the grown up of Rick and Virgin of Nicholas, the victim of the evil spirit and the villain of that movie. And this little anime movie that this anime guy by the name of Hayao Miyazaki works on told Little Nemo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's not Studio Ghibli, right? That's before that. No, that's Tokyo movie Shinsha yeah okay, but Hayao Miyazaki legend, yeah, yeah, yeah, mickey Rooney's been in a lot of stuff Like he's, he's, he's, he's, he's. He was a big character actor. He started out as a child actor, like forced into a, like a fake four camera relationship with Judy Garland and everything like that. Yeah, just crazy stuff. But yeah, this is one of three times he voiced Santa for a rank and best special, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of three. The first was Santa Claus' time in the town and the third one was Rudolf of Frosty's Christmas in July. Yeah, and that one is a legit movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's like a full 90 minutes correct.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And probably with commercials. It was about two hours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and only enough it. It did come out in theaters in 1979. Really yeah, in select countries oh okay, yeah, I had no idea. But it didn't do well, but it did end up on television and that one, this, this special and some of the, I think this special, oh wait, wait, a minute. I just realized something what this special came out days after the, a previous special in the same year, mm hmm, twice the night before Christmas and that was 2D.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's traditional hand drawn 2D animation, but also produced by Rankin Bass, correct? And this was is the only 2D animation, one that they did. No cause, frosty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, frosty the snowman, correct on the hearth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:And Frosty's Wonder Wonderland and Stingiest man in town. Okay, with a twice the night before Christmas and Frosty the snowman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now you're reading off of the, you want to show the camera? Yeah, so that's the complete collection of all the Rankin Bass specials. You got the DVD one. They just released the the Blu-ray one, but neither of us have got that yet.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, that's how many specials? 18. But there is one special that was released in 2001, which was hand drawn, called Santa Baby.
Speaker 1:Mm, but do you know anything about that other than that?
Speaker 2:Uh well, eartha Kitt is in Santa.
Speaker 1:Baby, yeah, cause she's the original singer of that song. Yeah, and this is probably coming off of her. Uh, little little bit coming off the hype of uh Emperor's New Groove, probably correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh. Believe it or not, I know everyone will agree on this. That movie is amazing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a great one right there. Um so, uh, like I said, uh, santa's sick. Um, doc Dr Elf comes in, uh, checks up on him and he's totally, totally cynical about Christmas and everything like that, which I mean like, if you know, feel like he'd be out of a job if Christmas ended. So I don't know what he's so worked up about, but he's just like a total jerk. He's saying, like nobody cares about Christmas anymore. I'd be surprised if anyone even believes in you anymore. And this is just like discouraging Santa. He's like, okay, like I'm sick, like I don't want to do this, and if no one believes in me, then I just don't have the the heart to do this anymore. And uh makes the decision that they're going to cancel Christmas, basically, and uh, just for this year, cause he's sick. Basically, right, yeah, not all together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not all together because, well, uh, I think uh, twice a night before Christmas has the same kind of thing, but that was in the form of a newspaper article in the adjunction bill inquirer in the previous special. It was sort of the whole uh, whether or not believing in, uh, the existence of Santa, and there was this, uh, the uh, the mouse family and this, the, the oldest son, the brain one is the one that uh doesn't believe. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it was. They definitely had like a theme going on for this year, uh, multiple things about not believing in Santa, and they you know, it's just I, they probably just had the idea, and then they had two different ways to tell it, and you know, so they just made two different specials, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also coming off of the, uh, I think, uh, it's nearing the anniversary of a miracle on 34th street.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm, Okay, Um, so, uh. After we find out that Christmas is getting canceled, we get the title song uh, sung by. Well, initially by Mrs Claus and then just a chorus of children.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the uh the. Let me pull up on it. I'm in DB pretty, really quick. Okay, it is the uh the. We winter singers.
Speaker 1:Oh, got it, Got it. Um, so it's an established children's choir, obviously, but this is just kind of the titular song saying like it'll be a year without a Santa Claus, Christmas will be so sad and everything like that. Um kind of just establishing the story. Um, just a clever way to get the opening credits in there, tell you what's going on, uh, establish the premise and get us rolling right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also the uh, how they establish the actors and what characters they play, which is foreshadowing. You see, ditch Sean's name and it's covered in snow, and then you see the sun and then the credit for George S Irving appears yes, and what's significant about that? It's because it symbolizes their respective characters that were going to be later.
Speaker 1:Yes, so and we'll get to them in a little bit. But those are the Basically the main reason that this is my favorite. The Miser Brothers. You got the Snow Miser that is in control of the Northern Heavisphere pretty much. But that kind of gets a little muddied because technically the entire United States is in the Northern Hemisphere but South Town, usa, is controlled by Heatmiser. Yes, so it's not really a direct. I don't know, maybe they only control the United States.
Speaker 2:But we do. But it is a nice introduction to the nature realm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so after the opening song we get the clever storytelling technique of showing us newspapers that are announcing that Santa's sick and that Christmas is canceled. Let me just move this blanket out of the way. And then we see Santa putting out a PA to all of the elves and everyone that Christmas is canceled. Go ahead and take the time off because there's no point. And then this is where we get introduced to kind of more of the main characters, jingle and Jingle, two elves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Jingle is voiced by Bonman Finn, who is somewhat of a regular of Rankin Bass.
Speaker 1:What other roles has he done?
Speaker 2:Oh, he was in. He was snarf and thunder cats.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:He was in. He was Tindler in the Laugh and the Ventures of Santa Claus, the last stop-motion one. Yeah, he was the Lord of the Leprechauns in Leprechauns Christmas Gold. He was the Tricket in Pinocchio's Christmas. And he was Brutus, the Roman Tash to Letters' lackey playtoe in the Little Drummer Boy Book. Ii Got it.
Speaker 1:So Jingle and Jingle. It's, you know classic pairing of two disparate personalities, one's kind of the goofy one and one's the serious one. They, oh yeah. After they're introduced, mrs Claus is saying like, oh, like, well, if anyone could be Santa, like why can't I be Santa? And then we get the next song, if anyone could be Santa. And she's just basically talking about like hey, like I can disguise myself as Santa, you know, and we can still have Christmas, correct?
Speaker 2:Correct, and I like the little gag at the end where it's just the tiny sleigh. And then we pointed that out when we were younger, when we first got it on VHS. The that had the mid-90s, no, the early 90s a Warner Bros Home video intro. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at the end of the song we get a shot of her like imagining this, and she's in a sleigh that's like half her size and there's no reindeer and she's just like floating through the sky on this tiny sleigh and it just looks insane. So, oh, yes. So then the elves go to see Mrs Claus and they see her dressed up as Santa and they're like, oh my gosh, like what's going on, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they first they.
Speaker 1:I feel like there's a gag that I'm forgetting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they think it's, they think it's Santa, but then she turns around and then they're all like and they're all surprised, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Mrs C, that's right, because she doesn't have, like, the beard or anything. So they just see her from behind and think it's Santa. And then she turns around. Yeah, so because of Santa's like being disheartened about Christmas and everything, mrs Claus is like hey, why don't you guys go down to you know the real world and see, you know, does anyone believe in Santa? Just kind of test the waters, find out what's going on, like you know, do some boots on ground, reconnaissance basically and so they take Vixen, the smallest reindeer, and you know, they climb on Vixen, they're going, and then, after they're gone, santa wakes up from his nap and is like, hey, like how do they even get on the subject? Does she just say like hey, I did this.
Speaker 2:Or I think, I'm not sure probably basically she doesn't see through it. But then until she, she tells them no, it's not your concern. And then she looks down and says, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, she just like looks out the window and out loud like poor jingle, poor jingle, like just think that, unless you, or just tell them one one or the other. And then he's like, all right, what's going on, what did you do? And she's like, okay, like I sent jingle and jingle out with Vixen and they're going to go find out if anyone believes in you still. And then he's like, oh, like I hope they're careful, especially with the Miser brothers. And then, Mrs Claus, like oh, no, I forgot about them. And this is where we get our first introduction of them and we see them like on clouds, like just shooting elements at each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess, oh and uh. Oddly enough, according to IMDB, the appearances of Snow Miser and Heat Miser were based on those of their voice actors. So the Snow Miser was based off of Ditch Sean and Heat Miser was based on Georgia Serving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they made them look like and that's like a common thing that happens to this day with animation.
Speaker 2:I feel like yeah, they did it with, uh, with, the Yago and Aladdin made them look like Gilbert Gottfried. Yeah, and the Genie in the same movie, definitely with Robin Williams in mind, and you did tell us the way Zazu acts. That's Rowan Actonson, yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, a little harder to tell what the animal characters, in my opinion, but I know what you're talking about. But for sure, like uh, you can definitely see uh the actors in and some of those uh like in their faces and everything. And sometimes that doesn't go well, especially with uh, when you have to practically create a lookalike, case in point being Jack Frost, where they built the snowman to look like George Clooney, who pulled out and it was Michael Keaton. So it's just this George Clooney snowman voiced by Michael Keaton.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's insane.
Speaker 1:Yep. So yeah, mizer Brothers, there's Snow Mizer and Heat Mizer. Snow Mizer obviously Big fan of snow, heat Mizer Big fan of heat. Um, they're just like having this eternal war, pretty much about temperature. And uh, yeah, then Jingle, jingle and Vixen are just flying right in the middle of their battle. They get like spotlighted out of the sky, like shot with, like light by Heat Mizer, and then fall. Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is coming from, uh, people who, the two who watched this since the early days of Fox Family, before Freeform, and that was back in the infancy of the 25 days of Christmas, when oh, we were watching this before.
Speaker 1:It was even Fox Family, when it was just regular family channel.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that far back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, um, so yeah, he miser controls the south, snow miser controls the north. They get shot down, they get ticketed for some reason while they're in this town, they're in South Town, usa Cop comes up, gives them a ticket for riding a Vixen the wrong way down the one way street, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you look at the fashion and architecture it's supposed to be in between 1890 and 1915. So basically, turn of the century.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is turn of the century. Which is weird that they sing blue Christmas, which is a 50s office song later on. But don't worry about that, don't think too much about it. Also, then the the miser brothers technology, their FaceTime technology that they use later, is pretty impressive for for back then. But all right, moving on. So, yeah, they get ticketed and then they decide like, okay, like you know, it's not normal to have a reindeer down here. Let's disguise Vixen as a dog, so they put some brown socks on her. Honor little antlers, to make it look like droopy dog years. But with the hot weather that is affecting all of them because they're from the North Pole, and especially Vixen, who is an animal that's not meant to be in like hot in the South, basically humidity, heat, all that stuff which in a way is a contradiction in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, that Rudolph is perfectly fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, he's Rudolph. He's special. His red nose gives some special powers, I guess.
Speaker 2:And also the fact that in that the that Jingle Jingle's Decise on Vixen later gets recycled in National the Lawn, your Christmas donkey yeah.
Speaker 1:And then also just there's a lot of contradictions within. Like I think you would hurt your brain trying to make a rank and best cinematic universe where they're all connected, don't know. Because there's so many contradictions. There's literally like at least two different, completely different Santa origin stories. Because you got Santa Claus is coming to town and life and adventures to Santa Claus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't try to wrap your brain around it, because if you it's, it's like watching the Wienerville Hanukkah story as your first episode of Wienerville.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what that is.
Speaker 2:It's a Nickelodeon show that aired in the 90s and their Hanukkah special is insane. I saw a review of it on YouTube and by the clips from that, it's really wild.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I've, I've not seen that, and I was a big Nickelodeon head back in the day Then that one just completely missed me because it got overshadowed by the more popular shows at that time. Yeah, I mean, I know all about the, the Rugrats, hanukkah special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was their first foray into making new episodes after the original writers left. Okay, because one of the guys who made Rugrats, paul Jermaine, left to do to be the creator of Recess, got it.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. So the hot weather, none of them are doing good. But then they see this group of kids and they decided to go talk to them. They ask them like hey, like what are you guys doing? Like you guys look like a bunch of Christmas elves. Like, don't you know, christmas is canceled. By the way, we're kids and but believing in Santa is for kids and even though we are kids, we don't want to do that.
Speaker 2:No, it's the whole. That's kids stuff. I think it's believing in the Santa Claus is for little kids.
Speaker 1:But don't. But they say that's kids stuff. Yeah, yeah, that. But that's also common with kids. It's like well, yeah, you are kids like, but I remember being a kid thinking like well, I'm too big for this. Like you know, I'm a big kid now. Is that pull ups?
Speaker 2:Nothing pampers Okay.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so the main kid is Ignatius thistle white Iggy for short and he's talking to them, but then he's like hey, you know. By the way, like you know, I was looking up who did the voice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is a voice by Colin Duffy.
Speaker 1:Any significant other roles.
Speaker 2:Oh, he was in the only I think that's the only well known one. He you know that he did.
Speaker 1:Because I see that other one doesn't even have a poster. So, yeah, this is definitely the only well known thing he did. Oh yeah, so while they're talking to these, this group of kids, he's like hey, like you might want to turn around because the dog catcher is taking your pooch and Vixen's being taken away by the dog catcher. They run after him, but to no avail. He gets gets away because he's in a car. Then, oh yeah, they leave chasing after Iggy goes home. And who's waiting for him? Oh yeah, I guess we must depart where Santa, like, after he finds out that they went to go down to South Town USA, decides that he's going to go down and save them. You know, basically, like, all right, before they get in any trouble, let me just go intervene and bring them back. What train did he take? He takes Dasher. Okay, so he takes Dasher. He flies down there. He's just hanging out in front of Iggy's house like being just hanging out behind a tree. He's like a kid. See any elves? What does he?
Speaker 2:ask him If you've seen, I wonder for tiny little fellas in red suits.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And he's like, oh, yeah, they, they. The dog catcher took their dogs so they ran away. And he's like, oh, no, like okay. But then he starts sneezing or coffin, yes, sneezing, yeah, he's sneezing. Iggy's mom pokes her head out the window and it's like hey, who's this very old man that's hanging out with you? Do you want to invite him in so I could give him some medicine for his cold? And he comes in. Iggy's parents are there. They sit around the table. What is it they? And how do they get on?
Speaker 1:the subject of Santa, oh yeah because he's like, oh yeah, what were they? What did they talk to you about? Oh, they wanted to know if we believe in Santa, and we all would you tell them. They said, oh, that's kid stuff. And he's like Well, do you believe in Santa, dad? And he's like, Well, yeah, I do Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then, and then. You heard before that you heard Santa Just as I feared in his thoughts.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, because he's just like confirmation bias, like he already thinks that no one believes in him. So all that takes is one kid to say, well, I don't believe. And he's like oh, that's it, I'm done.
Speaker 2:But then we get the song.
Speaker 1:I believe in Santa Claus, yes because he, after he asks his dad, he asks Santa or Mr Claus, is what he's saying? That his name is right, yeah. And then we get the song I believe in Santa Claus and it's like we get flashbacks to Iggy's dad when he's a kid and stuff like that. It ends with you know, iggy like has a tear in his eye and everything right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically realizes you can't be too old to believe. And then he just remembered that they were chasing, chasing after the dog catcher's truck, and then Santa decides to go to the dog pound on Dasher and Dasher flies off with Santa in tow to the dog pound and then he realized that he and his dad then realize, mr Claus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're like, yeah, they put two and two together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they jump over that very tiny leap to bridge the gap and realize like, oh, okay, like Claus, claus, claus. And then, oh, I bet those guys were Christmas elves and I bet their dog was a reindeer and that's why I was like sick or whatever. So like, then what's funny is like, oh, like we need to help them and it's like, well, if you want something done, you got to go talk, go to the top, like go to the mare, and Iggy goes to the mare, but that's, you know, he finds jingle and jingle because they're there with him and you don't see them. Like, meet back up, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they go to talk to the mare and he's just like laughing in their face like there's no, you know, let me get this straight. You guys are a bunch of elves and you brought a reindeer down here and all this stuff and like what is it? Like you got a snowball's chance in Southtown of me believing you. Is that what it is? Yeah, Is that like basically the whole deal that they're about to make? That?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if they can make it snow, then he'll believe them.
Speaker 1:But what's the point of them him believing? But I guess it does make sense because that's kind of the whole point of their mission is to get people to believe in Santa. So yeah, I guess getting the mayor it's a big deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we did our next song.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that's, is it snow? And Dixie, what's it called? Let me look, it goes, it's gonna snow.
Speaker 2:Right here in Dixie. Yeah, I think that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah, it's just the mayor Dancing around singing. He goes into a barbershop and unsanitarily takes the shaving brush and brushes it on the window.
Speaker 2:I think it's supposed to simulate a frost?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it is. But it's just kind of funny to like think practically about it, like with within, like reality, if some, if, if you're getting shaved at the barbershop and someone came and took the shave brush and just like wiped it all over the window, you'd be like OK, like I was kind of in the middle of something.
Speaker 2:Oh, and we did a surprise cameo appearance, since this is supposed to be turned to the century like the dawn of cinema, like the silent era. You see Charlie Chaplin.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's super random and I never noticed that until you pointed it out when we were watching it. Yeah, there's just. Charlie Chaplin is just in on the street during this, during this musical sequence. It's just there, doesn't do anything, doesn't do any like signature moves, he's just standing there.
Speaker 2:Then we see a Santa pick up Vixen and removes the sauce, and then the dog catcher is surprised that it's a reindeer. Mm, hmm, mm hmm.
Speaker 1:A real life reindeer, and this guy's mustache is so big that you don't even see his mouth. It's just kind of his mustache kind of wiggles when he talks. Yeah right, the character design on him. So yeah then. So Santa gets Vixen. He flies back just completely, leaves a jingle and jingle. So Mrs Claus comes and gets them.
Speaker 2:And we get wish leads to arguably the best chunk of the special.
Speaker 1:Which is.
Speaker 2:Meaning the Miser Brothers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they're. So the deal that they make with the mayor is like if if you get it to snow in in the South Town, then I'll believe your story. How do we get it to snow in the South? We got to go talk to Snowmizer, correct? Yeah, so Mrs Claus picks them up with Blitzen. With Blitzen, they fly to Snowmizer's lair. We get the best two songs in the whole thing are the Miser Brothers song you know their personal songs and we get Snowmizer first. He's singing like I'm Mr White Christmas, I'm Mr Snow.
Speaker 2:Oh, and the Snowmizer song ended up in the Joel Schumacher movie Batman and Robin.
Speaker 1:Yes, with Mr, the one, with Mr Freeze.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's that clip, or I think it's supposed to be like a single on version of it. Uh-huh On the TV screen and the borders of the screen are surrounded by ice and his henchmen are supposed to be singing it, got it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but speaking of henchmen, uh, each Miser Brother has their own henchmen that are just tiny versions of them and they're already so tall but like so all the average sized people are just somewhere in the middle and you got these like little versions of them dancing around, singing and and everything, and then he's like twice as tall as Mrs Claus, who's probably about average height, right, yeah, yeah, it's, and he's voiced by Dick Sean, who was in. We didn't do an up, I didn't do an episode on it, but in the Mel Brooks episode that we talked about, he was in the producers. Oh, that's right, yeah, he's the, uh, the director that they hire. No, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's not the director, he's the actor To play Hitler, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:And but because he's like uh, uh, is like always on drugs or something like that, then he like ended up making it funny and that's what made the play a hit. Yeah, yes. Um, so yeah get great song, uh, once he's done and they just stand there watching them the whole time, then they're like oh okay, like, what can I do for you? Um, like, how's your husband? He's the best uh advertisement that in snow beds ever had, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then uh oh, when he says little chili humor there. I always remember it was around the 2000, 2003, uh, season version of 25 days of Christmas when it was in its ABC family form, and then back when they had the rank and bass specials with little drummer boy and San Thomas is time in the town with all the post 1974 specials, since snowmizer says little chili humor in there. And then it just shows an image of him cropped from the movie and then a caption appears and it says party icebreaker.
Speaker 1:Hmm, so they did like a weird pop up video thing. Yeah, 10 years too late.
Speaker 2:And it was uh promoting the marathon of these specials, yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause they would usually do like one day out of the 25 days of Christmas would be a marathon of most of them, and I think the more competitive studios got with rights and stuff like that. Then that kind of went away, unfortunately, and now this is the the stuff we're dealing with in the streaming era is, you know, studios pulling their stuff from platforms and everything like that, and then now you gotta you have to subscribe to everything to see see what you want, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:And sometimes uh visible media. Does uh be digital media in a way?
Speaker 1:It does because we're now finding out the truth behind owning digital copies, that they can just pull it from you, you know, for rights issues. I think an email got sent out to uh um PlayStation store users that their discovery media stuff was getting pulled, Even if they bought it. Well, unless you have a physical copy, you don't know anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is why a physical copy wins yeah, copy wins, and also the bonus features.
Speaker 1:And I've known that because I had bought iTunes stuff way back. That is just gone, you know. So it just it sucks, but you know that's we'll learn at some point, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh and uh. Speaking of, uh, these specials, again, there's the rule of uh, if Santa's the main character, it's Mickey Rooney. If Santa is Deus Ex Machina, paul freeze, which ones is he Deus Ex Machina?
Speaker 1:Rise of the Snowman.
Speaker 2:And Rudolph shiny new year and Pinocchio's Christmas. Okay, yeah, I never put that together. Who voices him?
Speaker 1:and Rudolph, oh, let me look it up, you don't have to look it up.
Speaker 2:I think it's, oh, the voice of, uh, it's a Stan Francis. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:He didn't get invited back because he made Santa mean and unlockable in that one. Yeah, they but uh.
Speaker 2:so basically, uh, they tried uh so basically, okay, back to the back to the main story. So they, uh, mrs Slan's suggested South Town, USA, but Snowmizer went. Hold it All right. So you may have a question. Hold that All right.
Speaker 1:So you missed a, missed a part. He says, um like, hey, like what, like, why'd you come here? Like what, what, what can I do for you? Oh, we just need you to make it snow. And he's like, oh easy, like I'm Snowmizer, obviously you could do that. Where do you want me to make it snow? And then she says South Town, usa, and then he's like, hold it, hold it, hold it, no can do, mrs See and basically tells them that the South is under the control of heat.
Speaker 2:Miser his step brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and which I'm confused how that works, because both of them call mother nature mother so then again, it's the nature realm. Yeah, maybe step half and all those siblings work differently there. I feel like that, that they're supposed to be half brothers. You know, same mom, different dads or something like that, but I don't know. It just seems weird that it's step brother but then they share the same mom, unless one of them's adopted, right, okay, don't worry about it, that's. That's for the year without a.
Speaker 2:That's for my brother's Christmas.
Speaker 1:My brother's custody battle Christmas.
Speaker 2:No, no, there's a special called my brother's Christmas, which is a sequel to this, and it's the last time Mickey Rooney voiced Santa.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:When was that one? 2008?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember seeing that and not enjoying it.
Speaker 2:It's. It's okay your, but the worst thing about it is the worst thing relates to Eurobile, san Floss, the live action remake, yeah.
Speaker 1:You have more in frame here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So they, he's like, all right, like if you want, if you want that you got to go talk to my brother, my stepbrother, he miser, he controls the south. Go talk to him. So they get in there, they head over to the volcano that he lives in and we get the the heat miser song. The heat miser song, which is a slightly slower tempo, a little more like drawn out, but that's kind of like, if you think about it, like the heat will make you slow down a little bit, you know. So we get his song same type of thing.
Speaker 1:I'm Mr Green Christmas, you know, because there's no snow, it's all you know. Foliage and stuff. All his little minions are wearing these like pork pie hats, which is pretty funny, and they just look like little cherubs for some reason, like I mean. But so because he's like he's a thick fella and so so are they. So they just look like little baby, little chubby babies with pork pie hats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the fact that they all don't like Georgia serving yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, obviously. So then they get to him and he's like all right, like what? Like, like what are you doing here? Like what's your husband up to out making another commercial for my brother, you know? So he's he's like a little more antagonistic towards them because Santa has a very well in the Northern Hemisphere, very winter, like heavy, you know, very pro winter. Yeah, this is another flaw because you know, during, because Christmas in Australia is summer, santa, Ah no, but so they're like all right, like we just need to make it snow in the south. Then he's like what snow in the south ever?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, it was, but it was just for one day. And then then he might realize is, unless you try to give me a chance to make a sunny somewhere. Then he suggested the North Pole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the compromise is that if snow miser can make it snow in Southtown USA, then the heat miser gets a summer day in the North Pole, and so they're like all right, well, we got to go, we got to talk to him now again. And so this they decide to call upon the hotline you know. So yeah, nice pun there, and it's like an old timey telephone. But then they pick it up and call and he appears on a screen. So it's like it's very magic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, turn of the century, FaceTime, magic based FaceTime. And they talk to snow miser like all right he agreed to. He agreed to let it snow in the south if you give him one one day to make it sunny, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he's like, oh, what are the little hotheads say, like the North Pole? And they're like, well, yeah. He's like, oh, nope, not doing it. And so they like argue over the the phone. Our Mrs Claus is like, well, if you guys can't settle down and come to an agreement, then I'm going to have to go over your head and go talk to your mother. And then I like, oh, no, like don't do that. And I'm like, well, you leave me no choice. And then their mother is mother nature.
Speaker 1:Hence the, the introduction of the nature realm is the nature realm in any other one it does dimension in one of the Easter ones, in a sequel called a.
Speaker 2:Here comes Peter Continental, the movie which is the sequel to the 1971 Easter special. Here comes Peter Continental.
Speaker 1:Okay, I haven't seen any of the other non Christmas rank and bass things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's three Easter ones and then mad monster party. Right yeah, that's their only Halloween one, yep. And there's a 2d one for Thanksgiving called the mouse on the Mayflower.
Speaker 1:Okay, so they go talk to mother nature. She finally gets them to compromise and everything like that. She just lives on like a floating island in the middle of the sky, right, yeah. And so once they get, get them to compromise, we see Santa getting back to the North Pole after getting Vixen out of the pound and everything. So all the reindeer well, except for the one that's with Mrs Claus not that that one's in danger, but the other two are safe back in the North Pole. He's just kind of like wandering around, goes into the bedroom, sees a note from Mrs Claus and like hey, I went to go, go rescue Jingle and Jingle. And he's like, oh, okay, that's good, that's good, like she'll be fine, everyone's going to be fine. Now I can rest, right. Then he just goes to sleep, yeah, yep. And then so we now we see the sequence where it is snowing in the South, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's snowing, the mayor gets a phone call from his wife saying like don't forget to wear your glosses. And then he looks out. He's like what, what are you talking about? He looks outside, he sees it snowing and like oh my gosh, it's like actually happening.
Speaker 2:Then, um, what happens after that? Okay, mrs Claus and Jingle and Jingle return to the North Pole with newspapers saying that they're giving the Santa the day off.
Speaker 1:That's right, so uh, because this, uh, you know, miracle happened. The mayor is like, okay, I believe now. And he calls in all his connections and then, yeah, but the whole world gives Santa a day off. And then we get this like small world sequence of these kids like from all over the world running around, uh, like holding hands together and they're making and sending off presents to Santa for Christmas. So they're everyone like is in agreement, like, hey, like Santa's done so much for us, let's give him the day off, and this time we're going to give him presents, you know. And then, um, but then he gets the one note right and it's a letter from a little girl saying that she's going to have a blue Christmas without him. And very selfish of her, by the way, everyone else is on board, but she's like, well, if I'm not getting presents, then I'm going to guilt trip Santa and not taking the day off.
Speaker 2:And it's. But the song itself is pretty nice, but not as good as the more famous version somebody, Elvis Presley, the king of rock. Oh yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a decent version.
Speaker 1:I've heard some pretty bad versions of blue Christmas, but the one by this little girl is not too bad. But you can't like top the Elvis, just just the opening line.
Speaker 2:Yeah that you can't talk about the blues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um. So yeah, uh, santa gets this letter. Uh, blue Christmas. Musical sequence ensues. He's like oh okay, I made a big mistake, and decides to uncancel Christmas.
Speaker 1:Right yeah so um, yeah, uncancels Christmas. And then we get uh, the sequence like he tells everybody like all right, you know, get back to work. I'm not taking the day off, that was like I should. That was a big mistake. We're doing Christmas, get my slay ready, Get the toys ready, Get the reindeer ready, like let's do it. And now we get the here come Santa Claus sequence.
Speaker 1:And this is the clip that we always saw on TV when we caught it, before watching the full thing, yeah, and I also think that this is where they kind of have uh ran out of steam, uh doing stop motion animation, because there is a lot of no movement, like it's just a still uh, santa and sleigh, like going down the street and he's like not moving at all and then all of a sudden all the reindeer will like feet out, feet in, feet out, but it's a very delayed and there's like, and even like the town people aren't like really moving, it's just like the slag going like this. So I think that I personally think that they were kind of running out of budget on that one, but yeah, they're doing. Here come Santa Claus. We see him like delivering presents to South town the only town that matters in this special, apparently and then at the very end it ends with a reprise of the title song. And there will be no year without a Santa Claus Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's year without a Santa Claus, arguably one of the greats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, it's my personal favorite of these rank and best specials, like and that's just including those specials like once you throw in Charlie Brown Christmas, then it's a little harder to pick a favorite, but but I do love these. I love the aesthetic of the stop motion animation. I love how like rigid it is sometimes and it's just you know, I think I've talked about this how it was a big influence on the style of Fantastic, mr Fox and other things like that, and it's just very charming and that yeah, that's that's the word for it Very charming. That like I wouldn't say this is an emotional one. I know, like the Nestor, the Long Year Christmas, donkey and the first Christmas snow, those, those get a little tear jercury, but it was a little drummer boy, yeah, even a little drummer boy, but this one's just like so fun and always been my favorite.
Speaker 1:Just, I never not enjoy watching this one.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you have any final thoughts on it or memories of watching it, or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is basically a I remember taping this one off of a of the Fox family airing from 98 and 99.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And that was back when Fox family was actually good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so that that was our copy of it until the DVD came out and this is the. Then we got the. But these are the DVDs that were in the cardboard where there's like the little plastic clip and it would unfold. Yeah, the old style DVD cases.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even before that, not only did we have the taped version from a from the Fox family airing, we even had an official VHS version.
Speaker 1:Now that I don't remember really, but I believe you, I think you would remember better than me, but I don't remember having the VHS of it.
Speaker 2:I do because it had the.
Speaker 1:Oh, I remember our VHS is the core, for which are.
Speaker 2:I think our Nana had it oh maybe but, rudolph, you got the family home entertainment silver copy. Bought silver sleeve copies, yeah, yeah, those were. Yet it was a Broadway video that somehow did the before 1974 specials, but the ones after 1974 were the Warner Bros ones. Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, any any other final thoughts or? Yeah you good.
Speaker 2:Okay, give this one a watch. Give my brothers Christmas once a watch, and don't watch the live action remake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gotta agree with that, all right. So, thank you guys for listening. Remember to like and subscribe if you liked it. Like, just don't dislike it, okay, but that's a free country, free world, whatever it is. But, yeah, do whatever you want, but please subscribe. I do appreciate it. Please continue to stay tuned. Hopefully guys are. Oh, my gosh, I need to figure out how to just disarm that on the Mac, the thumbs up thing, because apparently I do it too much. Thank you guys for watching If you're on the YouTube. Thank you for listening If you're just listening to the podcast. Either way, I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys. I hope everyone's had a Merry Christmas. I hope you, if you're watching this or watching or listening the day it comes out and you're from Canada, happy Boxing Day and stick around for next week and hopefully you got some big things coming up this year. I just want to do nothing but improve this. So thank you guys for sticking around since the beginning when it wasn't so good, and stick around till it does get good. Thanks, bye.
Speaker 2:See ya.
