I thought he was being a suck up, too…never occurred to me his talking differently was a mistake or a different character. Wow, if that was their attempt at a different character…::shakes head:: 
ETA: Anybody know when it’s coming on this year?
Whee! Forget when the stores decorate. Forget when the radio starts playing Christmas music all day. Forget Thanksgiving. Seeing this thread pop up marks the real start of the Christmas season. 
As BMalion told us, the 43rd annual showing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be on Tuesday, December 4 at 8pm.
Rudolph and the gang are starring in a clever spot for Aflac insurance animated in the style of the original special.
:smack: D’oh! I should’ve scrolled up further.
Thanks, I can’t wait.
“Ready, Santa!”
Let me be the first of the season to point out the…less savory…aspects of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. As a child, I was always very touched by the scene where Rudolph and Hermie head off into the snow, running away from Christmastown and the only lives they had ever known. Without so much as backpacks or a can of lighter fluid! THAT is bravery! The Burl Ives voiceover says “Nobody knows how Hermie and Rudolph made it through that first night…”
But as has been mentioned…that blond reindeer, Fireball, was never seen again. The conclusion is simple. Hermie and Rudolph needed food for their Arctic adventure. We already know that the other reindeer- and Santa himself!- were wildly bigoted against those of different appearance. Since they were unable to access supplies from Santa’s larder- witness the lack of luggage- they took something that wouldn’t be missed…
The other mutant reindeer.
Christmasville never organized a search party for RUDOLPH. And HE was from a prominent family! Noone would ever complain about the fact that some reindeer prole never showed up for work the next day. Noone who mattered…
Poor Fireball. 
I always did like him.
Did anyone find anything…a lil dirty about Comet telling the kids he wants to be their “pal”? No, okay, maybe not. But in our day and age of “To Catch a Predator,” it does come off as rather hilarious.
Also…RUDOLPH! It’s on! Right now!
GAH! Cut off before the murder/suicide scene again. Darn DVR. Maybe I’ll just buy the silly movie.
Was asked a question today at school… One of the other teachers has an LP about Rudolph’s first Christmas. In it, Santa is flying around on the foggy Christmas Eve trying to see in each window if it is a boy or a girl, when he sees one window lit up from the glowing nose of a sleeping reindeer. And that’s how he found Rudolph. (Okay, that’s sort of what she said, I can’t remember exactly.) Has anyone else ever heard a version like this? She was always confused as a child by the show because of the differences.
I’ve always wanted to contribute to this thread! 
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/04/real.rudolph.ap/index.html
A link to a story about the surviving Santa & Rudolph figures & their restoration.
VCNJ~
I remember seeing those figurines (or their replicas) on display at NBC studios in New York when my family visited in 1968.
Something I never noticed in my previous 40 viewings…maybe somebody else did, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to read through 5 pages to find out…
When Cornelius & the Bumble go over the cliff, Burl Ives intones “they were all saddened at the loss of their friend”, and all the reindeers bow their heads.
Except Clarice. Apparently she wasn’t sad at all. Bitch.
Whole frigging Rudolph thing dusgusts me. Ain’t no Rudolph, and if there was, I suspect that he would have lucked out getting some tail like Clarice, because she must have other things in mind for that glowing/humming honker that dufus Rudolph has.
No, that had not been mentioned.
Good call!
Since everything has been the election and the economy, I thought we would use a break. In the BEST SDMB Thread Bumping tradition, here’s Rudolph.
There’s a Rudolph sighting already? What day and what time?
Too soon… too soon!
Can’t I still enjoy the Halloween afterglow!!! Don’t rush Christmas!!!
You just bumped it! You can’t UN-bump it!
This is pushing the season too much. Rudolph shouldn’t reappear until Thanksgiving.
Several of the Rudolph sequels are already scheduled on the ABC Family channel, but no sighting yet of the original Rankin-Bass special from 1964, which usually plays on ABC itself.
Too early.
But…we need a little Christmas, right this very minute…