With one exception (Santa Claus is Coming to Town) all the Santas in the Rankin Bass specials seem to be right bastards:
Rudolph - Just see the thread here for prime examples
'Twas the Night Before Christmas - One letter from one person and he up and ignores a whole town
The year Without Santa Claus - He gets a little under the weather and becomes a whiney bitch. He does however have a marvelous Pimp Suit.
What gives? Were Rankin and or Bass screwed over as kids? Were they bitter as hell? Why make specials about the big man if they hated him so much?
We can save the discussion of his skeevy tendencies in Santa Claus is coming to town for another thread.
“If you sit on my lap to-day,
A kiss a toy is the price you’ll pay…”
Oh, you said another thread.
I don’t have a whole lot to offer, other than the *Year Without A Santa Claus *Santa was, indeed, a whiny little bitch. One case of the sniffles, and he’s ready to shut down North Pole Industries and ruin Christmas for kids across the world.
It’s hard to believe I remember this, but didn’t the skeptic-mouse write the letter as if it were a message from the whole town? It was signed to that effect, IIRC. Of course, that doesn’t explain why Santa believes it’s really unanimous(e), but if he did, then he was acting under the impression that everyone in the town was a militant unbeliever.
And now I have the chorus of “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand” stuck in my head. While it’s the closest thing to a redeeming feature the show had, it’s going to get old really quick.
The mouse wrote an editorial piece and signed it “all of us” or something… BUT you have to believe Santa had letters from a lot of the kids in town so he chose one editorial over all the other contact he had gotten.
Also the kid who drew a pic of Santa - a shitty artist! And the best one in school! Even back then funding for the arts must have been crap.
After the letter from the mouse, all the other letters to Santa from that town were returned unopened. So Santa didn’t even give anyone else a chance to explain.
Wasn’t Frosty the Snowman Rankin-Bass? Santa ended up bringing Frosty back to life, didn’t he? (Okay, he cut the magician whose hat brought Frosty to life a new one at the end, but still…)
(Speaking of Frosty, did you ever hear the story of how CBS censored the last line one year? The last line of the TV show is Frosty saying, “I’ll be back on Christmas Day”; my guess is, CBS didn’t want kids thinking that the show would be repeated on 12/25 when it wouldn’t be.)
Also, Santa does have a mean side to him - otherwise, how does he enforce his “naughty list”?
Plus, 2 elves and a reindeer get stuck in Southtown, and Santa comes and rescues the reindeer and leaves the elves to rot, not even an “I’ll come get those two later”.
I’m no Santa apologist, but the reindeer was sick, maybe dying, from the warmth, while the elves were at worst mildly inconvenienced. Of course he saved her first.
Here’s a guy who out of the goodness of his heart sets up a free toy manufacturing and delivery system and instead of thanks gets a bunch of disbelievers and critics. Santa doesn’t charge a dime for his services. He lives in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth and puts together a thriving workplace for a group of what would otherwise certainly be unemployed Arctic elves. He manages deer. He must operate in terrible storms. He has the occasional minor elf rebellion (the whole dentist thing). There are snow monsters, immature weather brothers, needy toys, distracting elf songs… and yet somehow he is supposed to be all “ho-ho-ho” 24/7/365.
The character development of our Rankin/Bass Santa from the naive *Coming to Town *Kris Kringle to the burned out Santa from A Year Without is completely understandable. Imagine going to all that trouble and then reading a snotty letter to the editor from a friggin’ RODENT! If Santa decided to chuck it all I think he would have every right to do so. It is not as if he is required to do the job. He’s a volunteer.
Kringle in SCICTT at one point says that well, gosh, all the kids have been nice. But we all know from personal experience that this is not so. Brats abound. Santa finds this out too, over time. And yet our fearless Santa keeps doing it, bringing the toys, year after year after year. And we call him a “d-bag”. Unbelievable.
Let’s also remember that in AYWASC the poor guy has a cold. He’s sick. Who among us has never called out sick from work? Who among us has never groused about getting up and going to work? And just like most of us, Santa finally pulls himself up and goes to the job anyway. And for this we would condemn him.
Try putting yourself in Santa’s shoes for a change. Imagine having to produce all those toys with elf workers like Jingle and Jangle. Nice enough guys, I suppose, but it’s not as if the assembly line is going to miss them too much while they traipse all over Southtown. Benevolent Santa keeps them on anyway. He feeds and houses them. And then the poor guy finds out he is getting nasty hate editorials penned by vermin. I’d write off that town too. Keep your stinkin’ mail.
TTNBC is set in the town of Junctionville. Santa is at a junction too. Ultimately he takes the path towards continued good, towards forgiveness. But don’t judge him harshly for having to come to that junction with a pause. All of us wrestle with the decision about which road to follow in life. Why shouldn’t Santa have to struggle with moral issues as well.
I’m not too sure who produced the version I saw, but The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is bizarre, especially for something that’s supposed to be Christmas-themed.
