# Bad physics in Christmas movies and specials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710 "2008-12-11T14:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/41 "2008-12-12T06:33:51Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Obviously a wizard did it. I mean, there’s a freaking wizard in the story. > > Even as wee lad, I wondered how Herbie managed to pull all the Bumble’s teeth without there being any bleeding. And how Frosty was supposed to ride a train all the way to the North Pole. First of all you have to remember this happened A LONG TIME AGO. That is when the TV specials were filmed. So like at one time there was a “Land bridge” across Alaska/Siberia there isn’t one now. The kids put Frosty on a train to the North Pole, but that doesn’t mean the train WENT to the North Pole. For example if you want to go to Danville Illinois, you take the train to Champaign and either take a bus or walk the rest of the way. You can pull teeth w/o bleeding if they are rotted out enough. Finally it’s DonDER not DonNER ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/42 "2008-12-12T06:51:57Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > I know for a fact that Santa goes to Mexico and it is not very “white Christmas-y”. No, Lupita!!! ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/43 "2008-12-12T15:20:16Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Finally it’s DonDER not DonNER What? All my life I’ve heard it as Donner. Donder sounds like you have a cold. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/44 "2008-12-12T15:50:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > What? All my life I’ve heard it as Donner. Donder sounds like you have a cold. Donder and Blitzen= German/Dutch for Thunder and Lightning. “Donner” is most notoriously the name of an ill-fated group of pioneers in the 19th century American west. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/45 "2008-12-12T16:22:20Z")
It’s not bad physics, it’s a Christmas miracle! Why is this so hard? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/46 "2008-12-12T17:07:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Donder and Blitzen= German/Dutch for Thunder and Lightning. “Donner” is most notoriously the name of an ill-fated group of pioneers in the 19th century American west. Donner is actually the modern German spelling for “thunder.” Donder is an older spelling. But wrongness multiplies here: the original, earliest spelling of the reindeer is “Dunder.” [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_the_Reindeer). Anyway, spellings change. It’s spelled “Donner” nowadays, both the reindeer and German for “thunder.” Not to mention, a character in Richard Wagner’s _Der Ring des Nibelungen_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/47 "2008-12-12T17:10:18Z")
_Donner_, of course, being the being that the Germans’ more northerly cousins and modern comic book authors call “Thor”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/48 "2008-12-12T17:23:31Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Donner is actually the modern German spelling for “thunder.” > > Donder is an older spelling. > > But wrongness multiplies here: the original, earliest spelling of the reindeer is “Dunder.” > > [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_the_Reindeer). [Here’s the original poem as it appeard in the _Sentinel_.](http://www.merrycoz.org/moore/TROY1823.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/49 "2008-12-12T18:24:43Z")
The Wikipedia article **Knorf** says > [@Wikipedia](#): > > The commonly cited names of the reindeer are based on those used in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, arguably the basis of reindeer’s popularity as Christmas symbols, where they are called Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Dunder and Blixem. Dunder was later changed to Donder and — in other works — Donner, and Blixem was later changed to Blitzen. It gives [this page](http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/reindeer.shtml) as a reference for both the original names and the name changes, but that link doesn’t mention it at all. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/50 "2008-12-12T18:50:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Y’know, that makes a scary amount of sense. If you follow the Straight Road west, you get to Valinor. If you follow it north, you get to Santa’s workshop. > > Now I’ve got to find a copy of _The Father Christmas Letters_ again and confirm. Santa Is Gandalf in Disguise! > **[Santa Claus is Gandalf in disguise!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=348644)** > > The Facts: Santa and Gandalf both have long white beards and wear pointy hats. Santa works with elves, Gandalf works with elves. Hi Opal! Santa loves giving out toys, Gandalf loves giving out toys. It’s a little known fact that the next level after... ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/51 "2008-12-12T19:15:37Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [Art Carney’s version of Santa](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087797/) posited a villiage not at the North Pole proper but rather an extremely remote area of either Alaska or Canada and ringed by glaciers. That’s always been my favorite Christmas movie. It just about sums me up as a person: I want rational explanations and magical wonder both. Is that too much to ask? > [@Tahssa](#): > > I know for a fact that Santa goes to Mexico and it is not very “white Christmas-y”. This is one thing that has always bugged me - does Santa wear that big heavy red suit with fur trim in tropical climes? 'Cause that would suck. Heck, I feel sorry for him at Midwestern malls! But Santa without the red suit just seems _wrong_. > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Olive. Are Rudolph and Olive canon yet? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710/52 "2008-12-12T19:39:34Z")
> [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](#): > > Santa Claus is coming to town also I think has an unrealistic depiction of the North Pole. And how did they get the huge blocks of granite to build their castle all the way up there? The same way he gets tons of presents to kids. The cargo compartment of that sleigh clearly uses the same technology as the Tardis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-physics-in-christmas-movies-and-specials/476710.md?page=2)