Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

[Edvarius]

Huh, when he'd said to watch for a surprise this week I thought it was gonna be another pony compilation with some New Year's related pun title. Oh well, hardly complaining about this.

The Kringles continuing to make toys despite not having anyplace to deliver them to kinda makes sense, in that they'd probably want to stay in practice. That and they probably didn't have much to do. Making toys is something at least.

[BlackoutCreature2]

I had pretty much forgotten about this special until stumbling across it online last year as I was looking up Christmas specials to show my niece. I remember being surprised how well it held up over the decades, honestly better then its more famous contemporaries like Rudolph and Frosty. She still liked The Smurfs Christmas better.

[Archanubis]

The only story problem for me was having the penguin at the wrong pole. Sorry, some things just push into being unrealistic.

That's something that sets me off Every. Single. Year.

You do realize the story does address this, right?

[G-Man]

I remember I was scared of these specials as a kid, because I saw Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July and was spooked by the scene where Winterbolt got turned into a tree.

By the way, how many of you knew that this was done by the same guys that made Thundercats and Silverhawks?

[Darth Wedgius]

The only story problem for me was having the penguin at the wrong pole. Sorry, some things just push into being unrealistic.

That's something that sets me off Every. Single. Year.

You do realize the story does address this, right?

It does? Sorry, it's been too long since I've seen it. This is why SFDebris does the reviews and I don't.

[Archanubis]

The only story problem for me was having the penguin at the wrong pole. Sorry, some things just push into being unrealistic.

That's something that sets me off Every. Single. Year.

You do realize the story does address this, right?

It does? Sorry, it's been too long since I've seen it. This is why SFDebris does the reviews and I don't.

Yeah, Kris puts one hell of a lampshade on the situation when he first runs into (literally, I might add) Topper.

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

Strangely, this is probably the only one of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials I've seen. Somehow I've never watched Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Me personally, I liked the origin of Santa in the 85 movie with Dudley Moore and John Lithgow more, as it felt more true to the lore of Santa.

Still, there's a reason why specials like this became classics and standards to be aired every year.

And holy crap, Burt Ives does look like Grandpa from Troll 2.

[Linkara]

As I said on twitter, this was my favorite origin of Santa story until my wife showed me the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. While that one has more weirdness to it (owing to being written by Frank L. Baum, the same guy behind the Wizard of Oz) it has a stronger ending plus a friggin' battle between demonic trolls and woodland immortals (and a LASER AXE). The problem with this one is that the story just kind of peters out, with them just saying "Oh, and then the Burgermeister died and everything was okay," almost like they ran out of budget or couldn't think of a way to convincingly have him turn around after such a long campaign against Santa.

[MightyDavidson]

As I said on twitter, this was my favorite origin of Santa story until my wife showed me the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. While that one has more weirdness to it (owing to being written by Frank L. Baum, the same guy behind the Wizard of Oz) it has a stronger ending plus a friggin' battle between demonic trolls and woodland immortals (and a LASER AXE). The problem with this one is that the story just kind of peters out, with them just saying "Oh, and then the Burgermeister died and everything was okay," almost like they ran out of budget or couldn't think of a way to convincingly have him turn around after such a long campaign against Santa.

I always figured the story should've ended with the King showing up quite annoyed that Burgermeister Meisterburger had the hubris to declare the Kringles outlaws, given that they were toymakers to the King after all.

BMMB: "There shall be no toymakers to the king!"

The King: "I BEG TO DIFFER!!"

[Sir Will]

I had pretty much forgotten about this special until stumbling across it online last year as I was looking up Christmas specials to show my niece. I remember being surprised how well it held up over the decades, honestly better then its more famous contemporaries like Rudolph and Frosty. She still liked The Smurfs Christmas better.

I quite like Frosty. Rudolph is... problematic. I still have nostalgia for it, and some cool aspects, but also some elements that have bugged me for years. Ah well.

I've seen this one much less often, only a couple of times I think, but did enjoy it.