Rankin Bass Santa Claus inconsistancies

[mitchedwards]

Just a few more thoughts about the Rankin Bass Christmas shows. I loved them as a kid, and I love watching them with my family now.

However, I have always been bugged by the different versions of Santa they portray in each show. As a kid it bugged me that Santa changed and was portrayed differently in each show. Has anyone else thought about this?

For example:

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

The Elves were tiny and wore blue
Santa was grumpy and mostly skinny
Mrs Clause worried Santa did not eat, and had black hair, she was skinny too
The Reindeer lived in caves and could talk.

The Year without a Santa Clause

Santa was fat all year long, he was still a bit grumpy
Mrs Clause was plump and had gray hair.
The elves were taller, and wore red. It also appeared to be fewer elves.
The reindeer lived in a stable and did not talk

Santa Clause is coming to town.

The elves were a family and they all looked like miniature santas.
Mrs Clause/Jessica is different.
Again the reindeer could not talk
What happened to Tanta Kringle?
What happened to Winder Warlock?



.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

The part that bugged me the most about the Rankin Bass Santa character was that they always made him appear to be such a jerk LOL Only in "Santa Clause Is Comin' To Town" does he truly come off as warm and considerate and giving. Especially in "Rudolph...", man he's a judgemental selfish jerk! I'm able to understand their motives more now that I'm older but as a kid I was rather put off by Santa's behavior towards Rudolph and the elves, or how he was so pessimistic and selfish in "Year Without Santa", etc. It just kinda makes me laugh now when I see 'em.

[Vortigern99]

What an entertaining read! Yes, as a kid I remember noticing the differences, especially (for some reason) the different Mrs. Clauses and the lack of talking reindeer in any show except Rudolph. But, you know, even as a child I undertsood there were different versions of things, like Bela Lugosi Dracula vs. Christopher Lee Dracula, or Adam West Batman vs. Superfriends Batman vs. comic book Batman, and don't even get me started on Tarzan!

[The Toyroom]

For the most part, the Rankin-Bass Santa(s) all followed the Mickey Rooney design from "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". In order to create some sort of logical continuity for the various specials, I think you almost have to throw out the earlier skinny appearance from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

In "SCICTT" Kris Kringle meets his future wife, Jessica the school teacher. By episode's end-set in the present, she is the plump version of Mrs. Claus. Her appearance changes slightly in "Year Without A Santa Claus", obviously to resemble Shirley Booth, but for the most part her appearance is the same. Mrs. C later pops up in "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July" and I believe Santa makes reference to her name being Jessica and how he gave her a china doll when they first met, tieing it all in with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

The elves...as much as I like Hermie from "Rudolph" and his other buddies, like the skinny Santa and black-haired Mrs. Claus, I think you have to throw them out of continuity. In fact, Rudolph himself is probably the only character you can keep in tact throughout the various specials, although I do believe they de-aged him later on. The elves (in red) from "YWASC" are similar in appearance to the Kringle elves of "SCICTT" so there's probably some lineage there. And Jingle and Jangle make cameos in "Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" so that ties in that chronology as well.

As a side note, Nestor's story about the birth of Jesus doesn't mirror that of "The Little Drummer Boy", so "TLDB" is left out on it's own, apparently.

In most of the specials after "SCICTT", Santa is voiced by Mickey Rooney except for "R&FCIJ", where I believe he's voiced by Paul Frees, who also voiced him in "Frosty the Snowman".

The Mickey Rooney version of Santa also shows up in "Pinocchio's Christmas" I think so that can be added to the continuity also.

Frosty the Snowman appears in his original special, followed by the sequel, where he marries Crystal ("Frosty's Winter Wonderland"). The both appear next (no longer animated in the traditional sense but as stop-motion Ani-Magic puppets) in "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July", where they are shown to have 2 kids. In "FWW", Frosty's nemesis is Jack Frost (who turns good at the end). In "R&FCIJ", Jack Frost makes a cameo appearance at the end. His voice is the same as that in "FWW" but his appearance is now that of the hero Jack Frost (stand-alone continuity) from the special of the same name. In addition, Big Ben (the whale with the clock on his tail) from "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" makes a cameo too in "R&FCIJ".

Did I help or confuse matters even more?

[The Toyroom]

In addition, I thought that Winterbolt from "R&FCIJ" was too much a rip-off of The Winter Warlock from "SCICTT".

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

"Crisis of Infinite Santas!" It'll be a MEGA-HIT!!!!

Don C.

[mitchedwards]

Hmmmm....

"Crisis of Infinite Santas!" It'll be a MEGA-HIT!!!!

Don C.

Yep time to reboot the Rankin Bass Universe.

[megomonkey]

...and how about using all the same (Canadian, I believe) voice actors as Spiderman '67!!!!!

Coach Donner played by J. Jonah himself!!!

[David Lee]

For the most part, the Rankin-Bass Santa(s) all followed the Mickey Rooney design from "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". In order to create some sort of logical continuity for the various specials, I think you almost have to throw out the earlier skinny appearance from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

In "SCICTT" Kris Kringle meets his future wife, Jessica the school teacher. By episode's end-set in the present, she is the plump version of Mrs. Claus. Her appearance changes slightly in "Year Without A Santa Claus", obviously to resemble Shirley Booth, but for the most part her appearance is the same. Mrs. C later pops up in "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July" and I believe Santa makes reference to her name being Jessica and how he gave her a china doll when they first met, tieing it all in with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

The elves...as much as I like Hermie from "Rudolph" and his other buddies, like the skinny Santa and black-haired Mrs. Claus, I think you have to throw them out of continuity. In fact, Rudolph himself is probably the only character you can keep in tact throughout the various specials, although I do believe they de-aged him later on. The elves (in red) from "YWASC" are similar in appearance to the Kringle elves of "SCICTT" so there's probably some lineage there. And Jingle and Jangle make cameos in "Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" so that ties in that chronology as well.

As a side note, Nestor's story about the birth of Jesus doesn't mirror that of "The Little Drummer Boy", so "TLDB" is left out on it's own, apparently.

In most of the specials after "SCICTT", Santa is voiced by Mickey Rooney except for "R&FCIJ", where I believe he's voiced by Paul Frees, who also voiced him in "Frosty the Snowman".

The Mickey Rooney version of Santa also shows up in "Pinocchio's Christmas" I think so that can be added to the continuity also.

Frosty the Snowman appears in his original special, followed by the sequel, where he marries Crystal ("Frosty's Winter Wonderland"). The both appear next (no longer animated in the traditional sense but as stop-motion Ani-Magic puppets) in "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July", where they are shown to have 2 kids. In "FWW", Frosty's nemesis is Jack Frost (who turns good at the end). In "R&FCIJ", Jack Frost makes a cameo appearance at the end. His voice is the same as that in "FWW" but his appearance is now that of the hero Jack Frost (stand-alone continuity) from the special of the same name. In addition, Big Ben (the whale with the clock on his tail) from "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" makes a cameo too in "R&FCIJ".

Did I help or confuse matters even more?

Whoa!

-Dave

[Mikey]

I could not get over the fact the tall-skinny Stan Laurel elf on The Year without a Santa Clause had Tennessee Tuxedo's CHUMLEY's voice.

Also, the dentist elf on Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer always reminds me of David Spade

Also,
I think the Isle of Misfit Toys king should have told Santa to go F himself.
They should have distributed the toys themselves--- and not been associated with the fat bas...

m

[mitchedwards]

I could not get over the fact the tall-skinny Stan Laurel elf on The Year without a Santa Clause had Tennessee Tuxedo's CHUMLEY's voice.

Also, the dentist elf on Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer always reminds me of David Spade

Also,
I think the Isle of Misfit Toys king should have told Santa to go F himself.
They should have distributed the toys themselves--- and not been associated with the fat bas...

m

King MoonRaker was on Santas Payroll. He covered up for Santas shoddy work. If a kid had a bad toy King MoonRaker would take it to cover up the evidence.

Rudolph Hermey and Youkon were the ones that blew the whistle on the whole deal.

[Mikey]

Speaking of the Misfit Toys.........

Ok, WHY would they put square wheels on a train ?
I mean, WHERE did they even get "square wheels" ?
It don't make sense.......
There are no square wheel factorys because they dont exist .........

Second......
Why didn't CHARLIE in the box just change his name to Jack ?
It's not like it's written on his box.
This guy just didn't wanna be vended.

The elephants with the polka-dot bellies.....
Did anyone realize these were a rare variation ?

The KING himself......
What was his problem ?
He was just a stuffed lion doll.

The rag doll ......
She looked ok to me......
What the hell was she even doing there ?
Maybe I dont want to know.

[Wee67]

The rag doll ......
She looked ok to me......
What the hell was she even doing there ?

herpes.

[mitchedwards]

Speaking of the Misfit Toys.........


The rag doll ......
She looked ok to me......
What the hell was she even doing there ?
Maybe I dont want to know.

Either Rankin or Bass, once stated she had a mental issue after her owner quit playing with her.

[Adam West]

Either Rankin or Bass, once stated she had a mental issue after her owner quit playing with her.

I'd have to go back and watch it again, but didn't she cry a lot considering she was a rag doll?