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Can it be Day Six?
Dec. 6th, 2024 11:53 pmSo NBC is airing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Apparently it’s news because it’s not only the 60th anniversary of this Rankin/Bass classic about the “most famous reindeer of all,” but it also hasn’t been aired on NBC since it’s debut. Also allegedly this will be the version that includes the material that’s usually taken out from the broadcasts – usually to make room for commercials.
Oh right…this is the one with the Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen Santa.
Fun fact: Paul Frees, the Rankin/Bass 6th Ranger, voices the Captain Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen version of Santa Claus.
So as you imagine, this is Rudolph’s Origin Story. Where we see poor Rudolph closeted by his parents because Santa upon seeing the young fawn’s red nose reminded us that apparently he believes in judging a book by the impossible standards I set. Quite the contrary to the Red headed young man who delivered toys to Sombertown and fought against the Burgermeister MeisterBurgher from “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”
I get it, Santa. Listening to “We Are Santa’s Elves” over and over again is not everyone’s cup of tea but could you be less encouraging?
We also meet Hermie who wants to be a dentist. His problem is of course that he is an elf and apparently in the elf culture, elves make toys. (Don’t tell the Go-Back or Wolfrider elves that…)
As you might have guessed, we are being set up for a tale about accepting differences and how people with different gifts can contribute. And that’s fine. Part of TMOC (True Meaning Of Christmas) is about accepting and respecting differences. Or at least it should be.
Award for the worst parent of the year of course goes to Donner. He never stands up for his son. Trust me, I don’t care if my boss said what he did about Rudolph. That’s MY child. You’re not going to talk about him like that. I’ll just be collecting unemployment. He botches the search mission for Rudolph and insisted that Rudolph hides his nose-worrying more about others’ thoughts than his own son’s well-being.
Our narrator/balladeer snowman is played by Burl Ives, whom many people remember as being something like this character. Only a few times in his long career, did he play mean bastards. One of them did reform a bit with the help of his son Brick. (“Cat On A Hot Tin Roof”). I’ve always appreciated his calm but spirited turn as Sam.
Like Frosty, whom he’ll meet in the superhero teamup of “Frosty and Rudolph’s Christmas in July,” Rudolph also goes on an odyssey that even Natty Gann would find too action-packed and dangerous. Joined by Hermie and Yukon Cornelius who, trust me, has NO chill or anything close to an inside voice, he escapes from the Quasi-Bid Bad and the Abominable Snowmonster, they lad on the Island of Misfit Toys, which seems more like an orphanage or toy foster care than anything else. After another run in with the the Snowmonster, Rudolph and the gang return to Santa’s realm where he and the others learn lessons about diversity, inclusion and acceptance.
“No worries. Rudolph will forgive everyone for essentially SHUNNING him Amish style.”
Or so we’d like to think. It IS 1964. When Rudolph returns, the other reindeer who had picked on him before because of his nose didn’t miss a beat and started in again upon seeing him. Rudolph runs into Santa, who seems to imply that his parents going to find him was Rudolph’s fault and the fact that Santa needed Donner in two days to pull the sleigh and he wasn’t there was Rudolph’s fault.
Yeah…Rudolph’s fault. *eyeroll*
Did I mention that apparently while all this was going on, the worst blizzard in history was taking place all over the globe? Or so we’re told…a lot.
Everyone who’s heard the song, knows that our Captain Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen version of Santa Claus asks Rudolph to guide his sleigh using the very thing that he allowed others to torment Rudolph about. It makes you feel like this special is one long Santa doesn’t care about you unless you have something he wants.
When we watch a special like this, we see all sorts of things that we do end up handwaving, like the fact that at the end, one of the elves inadvertently drops the toy bird that swims but does not fly to his doom because he didn’t give him an umbrella when he pushed him out of Santa’s sleigh like the others. Or that the Head Elf violated all kinds of workplace laws in his treatment of Hermie.
Then there’s all of the coding. I’ve seen on the artist formerly known as Twitter about how a lot of this special is loaded with Ho Yay and Foe Yay and lots of other Yay. The Head Elf behaves like Hermie decided to choose to perform storytime in drag. Rudolph’s father acts like his son is trans and they were found out trying to hide it and abandoned his son when he needed him the most.
Fun Fact: Rudolph was voiced by a woman named Billie Mae Richards. She voiced Rudolph in everyone of his 20th century iterations. She did other characters voices as well, but she goes “down in history” for being our favorite reindeer.
Another Fun Fact: The character was created by an employee of the May Department Store corporation. Singing cowboy actor Gene Autry wrote and sang the extremely familiar song. In fact, in the opening credits, you can see that they credited him for this song.
I often joke that clearly actor Victor French modeled his portrayal of Mr. Isaiah Edwards in the tv series “Little House On The Prairie” on Yukon Cornelius. I’ve also said that I’d have been interested in a side story that was just about the adventures that Hermie the Dentist Elf and Yukon Cornelius had while they were separated from Rudolph. Hey, if they could do one for the Miser Brothers, which was okay, they could do one for Hermie and Yukon.
The broadcast included a scene that was often cut for time on CBS, where Yukon finally finds his “peppermint” strike and where Donner states he’s proud of his son, who is flying into the dangerous blizzard to provide visibility for Santa to navigate through the night.
In one of those other moments that you handwave, you wonder why Donner isn’t pulling the sleigh along with Rudolph. I mean, clearly Santa left with 9 reindeer pulling his sleigh (8 + Rudolph). So who’s the one that’s filling in for Donner if he’s on the ground?
Fun fact: For many years, many people (especially in America it seems) get the name of the 7th reindeer wrong. We keep calling him “Donner” as if he had been a member of the ill-fated wagon train party that got stranded in Truckee during a biblical storm and where infamously some cannibalism took place. No doubt, that Donner would not have survived that party. The named of the 7th reindeer is in fact “Donder”/”Dunder”. Literally it means “thunder.” In fact “Donder and Blitzen” actually mean “Thunder and Lightning,” which are badass cool names to have for a pair of flying reindeer.
“Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” was the Rankin/Bass special that set the tone for all of Rankin/Bass holiday specials to come. It’s blend of humour, heart, fantasy, stop motion marionette magic, and memorable songs charmed audiences for 60 years now. I think it will continue to do so in our 21st century dark, bitter AI fueled future.
Oh right…this is the one with the Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen Santa.
Fun fact: Paul Frees, the Rankin/Bass 6th Ranger, voices the Captain Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen version of Santa Claus.
So as you imagine, this is Rudolph’s Origin Story. Where we see poor Rudolph closeted by his parents because Santa upon seeing the young fawn’s red nose reminded us that apparently he believes in judging a book by the impossible standards I set. Quite the contrary to the Red headed young man who delivered toys to Sombertown and fought against the Burgermeister MeisterBurgher from “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”
I get it, Santa. Listening to “We Are Santa’s Elves” over and over again is not everyone’s cup of tea but could you be less encouraging?
We also meet Hermie who wants to be a dentist. His problem is of course that he is an elf and apparently in the elf culture, elves make toys. (Don’t tell the Go-Back or Wolfrider elves that…)
As you might have guessed, we are being set up for a tale about accepting differences and how people with different gifts can contribute. And that’s fine. Part of TMOC (True Meaning Of Christmas) is about accepting and respecting differences. Or at least it should be.
Award for the worst parent of the year of course goes to Donner. He never stands up for his son. Trust me, I don’t care if my boss said what he did about Rudolph. That’s MY child. You’re not going to talk about him like that. I’ll just be collecting unemployment. He botches the search mission for Rudolph and insisted that Rudolph hides his nose-worrying more about others’ thoughts than his own son’s well-being.
Our narrator/balladeer snowman is played by Burl Ives, whom many people remember as being something like this character. Only a few times in his long career, did he play mean bastards. One of them did reform a bit with the help of his son Brick. (“Cat On A Hot Tin Roof”). I’ve always appreciated his calm but spirited turn as Sam.
Like Frosty, whom he’ll meet in the superhero teamup of “Frosty and Rudolph’s Christmas in July,” Rudolph also goes on an odyssey that even Natty Gann would find too action-packed and dangerous. Joined by Hermie and Yukon Cornelius who, trust me, has NO chill or anything close to an inside voice, he escapes from the Quasi-Bid Bad and the Abominable Snowmonster, they lad on the Island of Misfit Toys, which seems more like an orphanage or toy foster care than anything else. After another run in with the the Snowmonster, Rudolph and the gang return to Santa’s realm where he and the others learn lessons about diversity, inclusion and acceptance.
“No worries. Rudolph will forgive everyone for essentially SHUNNING him Amish style.”
Or so we’d like to think. It IS 1964. When Rudolph returns, the other reindeer who had picked on him before because of his nose didn’t miss a beat and started in again upon seeing him. Rudolph runs into Santa, who seems to imply that his parents going to find him was Rudolph’s fault and the fact that Santa needed Donner in two days to pull the sleigh and he wasn’t there was Rudolph’s fault.
Yeah…Rudolph’s fault. *eyeroll*
Did I mention that apparently while all this was going on, the worst blizzard in history was taking place all over the globe? Or so we’re told…a lot.
Everyone who’s heard the song, knows that our Captain Jerkass, Tactless and Emotionally Frozen version of Santa Claus asks Rudolph to guide his sleigh using the very thing that he allowed others to torment Rudolph about. It makes you feel like this special is one long Santa doesn’t care about you unless you have something he wants.
When we watch a special like this, we see all sorts of things that we do end up handwaving, like the fact that at the end, one of the elves inadvertently drops the toy bird that swims but does not fly to his doom because he didn’t give him an umbrella when he pushed him out of Santa’s sleigh like the others. Or that the Head Elf violated all kinds of workplace laws in his treatment of Hermie.
Then there’s all of the coding. I’ve seen on the artist formerly known as Twitter about how a lot of this special is loaded with Ho Yay and Foe Yay and lots of other Yay. The Head Elf behaves like Hermie decided to choose to perform storytime in drag. Rudolph’s father acts like his son is trans and they were found out trying to hide it and abandoned his son when he needed him the most.
Fun Fact: Rudolph was voiced by a woman named Billie Mae Richards. She voiced Rudolph in everyone of his 20th century iterations. She did other characters voices as well, but she goes “down in history” for being our favorite reindeer.
Another Fun Fact: The character was created by an employee of the May Department Store corporation. Singing cowboy actor Gene Autry wrote and sang the extremely familiar song. In fact, in the opening credits, you can see that they credited him for this song.
I often joke that clearly actor Victor French modeled his portrayal of Mr. Isaiah Edwards in the tv series “Little House On The Prairie” on Yukon Cornelius. I’ve also said that I’d have been interested in a side story that was just about the adventures that Hermie the Dentist Elf and Yukon Cornelius had while they were separated from Rudolph. Hey, if they could do one for the Miser Brothers, which was okay, they could do one for Hermie and Yukon.
The broadcast included a scene that was often cut for time on CBS, where Yukon finally finds his “peppermint” strike and where Donner states he’s proud of his son, who is flying into the dangerous blizzard to provide visibility for Santa to navigate through the night.
In one of those other moments that you handwave, you wonder why Donner isn’t pulling the sleigh along with Rudolph. I mean, clearly Santa left with 9 reindeer pulling his sleigh (8 + Rudolph). So who’s the one that’s filling in for Donner if he’s on the ground?
Fun fact: For many years, many people (especially in America it seems) get the name of the 7th reindeer wrong. We keep calling him “Donner” as if he had been a member of the ill-fated wagon train party that got stranded in Truckee during a biblical storm and where infamously some cannibalism took place. No doubt, that Donner would not have survived that party. The named of the 7th reindeer is in fact “Donder”/”Dunder”. Literally it means “thunder.” In fact “Donder and Blitzen” actually mean “Thunder and Lightning,” which are badass cool names to have for a pair of flying reindeer.
“Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” was the Rankin/Bass special that set the tone for all of Rankin/Bass holiday specials to come. It’s blend of humour, heart, fantasy, stop motion marionette magic, and memorable songs charmed audiences for 60 years now. I think it will continue to do so in our 21st century dark, bitter AI fueled future.
