"Rudolph" T.V. Special

All true, but why can’t we judge those mid-twentieth century toys by contemporaneous standards?

An image search of toys manufactured in 1960, for instance, shows an almost endless variety of high quality products manufactured of modern materials to exacting specifications, as would be expected in the Age of Keynes. Brightly enameled toys sturdily constructed of metal and plastic were the expected bounty for all but the poorest of poor children, with nary a shoddily-fabricated wooden choo-choo to be seen.

It might be instructive to reflect on the third-world standard of toymaking exhibited at the North Pole, and wonder what socioeconomic conditions were then prevailing. Was the North Pole run as an absolute monarchy by a despotic Santa? Or was the apparent vast wealth inequality simply the inevitable result of a predominantly laissez-faire economic system? Why does GDP seem to be lagging behind the rest of the industrialized world?

Historians, it seems, have yet to weigh in.

As a child in the 60s I would have been severely disappointment if I had received those toys for Christmas. The 60s were the era of Parker Brothers, Mattel, Marx, and Wham-O.

And Major Matt Mason® !

We only see the gifts in production, not the final toy. Perhaps the end results are every bit as good as Mattel and Wham-O --which both sound like elf names anyway.

I don’t think so. I didn’t see any plastic being molded or metal being bent or circuits being soldered.

That was all done in a massive underground factory. You can see it in the deleted scenes on the Rudolph DVD, as well as a zany surprise inspection by OSHA.

I think we probably just saw a woodworking day for the elves. Not all the toys were wooden. The North Pole in the Rudolph special consisted of barren snow-covered landscapes save for a few Christmas trees growing in widely separated spots near the castle. How could the elves get enough wood for a massive line of wooden playthings?

We know there were dolls that “cry, walk, talk, blink, and run a temperature.” For that you need more than wood.

“I-pod” also sounds like an elf name.

The Toy Mill, where naughty children kidnapped by Krampus are enslaved to make toys for the Nice children. Kind of like China.

Shall we merge the eternal Rudolph thread with the thousand-page “If LOTR had been written by somebody else” thread into something new and wonderful? :slight_smile:

BLASPHEMER! :eek:

It’s on right now and the date on the newspaper was December 12, 1964 from what I could tell.

But Sam says everything is going well “this year,” which was 1964 when broadcast. The snowman actually does casually remark “a couple of years ago” when referring to the big snowstorm, so that puts the storm in 1962 and Rudolph’s birth in 1958. The newspaper date is wrong.

Oh, we see the final toys all right. At least some of them. Where do you think the Island of Misfit Toys residents all came from originally?

The train with square wheels? The boat that can’t stay afloat? The spotted elephant? All made by distracted elves, no doubt.

…Which makes me wonder, maybe Hermey himself screwed up making some of those toys, and maybe karma brought him to the island so he could make things right? Dun-dun-DUNNN! :eek:

Or maybe the scenes with Sam narrating took place in the future?

On The Middle last night, the son - Axel and his friend were debating whether King Moonracer was a toy or not. Axel was the opinion that King Moonracer was just a really awesome lion with wings and his friend insisted he was a toy because if a real lion had wings he’s been flying over Africa and scooping up gazelles. It was rather amusing and reminded me of this thread.

But I’m with Axel, King Moonracer is not a toy.

There’s nothing in the narrative that precludes this. He flies around the world every night. He probably stops for a bite to eat.

In fact, the whole thing takes place 1,964 years into a post-apocalyptic future. It’s like B.C.

Those are actually for the elves to relieve themselves. Don’t leave your workbench for long-grab a vase, make your bladder gladder and get back to work!

*This is why they should unionize

Santa and the AFL-CIO haven’t seen eye to eye in years.

Sam is narrating in winter. He says things are going well this year, which means there isn’t a problem and christmas looks like it will go off without a hitch. It is not Christmas yet, but December leading up to christmas, which is what the newspaper confirms. The newspaper date is right.

It’s arguable whether “a couple of years ago” means strictly two years or some small indefinite number of years (at least 2, less than ~10).

As I get older, a “couple of years ago” can sometimes be a decade. Memory being fuzzy and all that.