For all of you who expressed outrage at Santa’s treatment of Rudolph, Rudolph’s family, the elves, et. al., don’t worry. The old bastard got his comeuppance.
Actually, Year w/o a SC also has the Mickster as Mr. “Klause”. And beyond the terrific Miser brothers, there are also some other terrific songs, including the very touching “I Believe in Santa Claus” :sniff:
Perhaps this serves as an explanation for the cynical and exploitive attitude of Santa and other characters – they should be understood as creatures of their times, who failed to rise above their twelfth-century upbringing.
And another thing, wasn’t that Herbie the Elf that got killed at Helm’s Deep?
Merry Kwanzamasnnaka!
Who did Santa shoot? When he left Elf Practice, he was pretty perturbed. He walked off camera, and you hear a gunshot (or a slamming door.) I know it wasn’t the Mel Cooley elf, nor Hermie, but who was it?
And has anyone else counted the reindeer pulling the sled? Seven, counting Rudolph. C’mon, one of the easiest things to get right, and they screwed it up.
Does anybody else see the resemblance between The elf who wanted to be a dentist and Ken Jennings?
I remember seeing film evidence of his accomplice, SANTA HIMSELF! escaping the scene of the crime on a huge Norelco Razor.
We are through the looking glass.
What!?!?!?
I was just singing this song to Mr. singular a few weeks and he was really sorry he didn’t know it. You mean if I watch it now, I won’t hear
“Why am I such a Misfit?
I am not such a nitwit.
You can’t fire me, I quit!” ?
Man, it’s been a long time since I saw this thing, but I still remember that song. Have they reinstated it?
I believe that it’s still in there, but the reprise was removed. Or my memories are also conflated.
I did not watch it last night but I can hear it now!
It was in last night’s showing. Hermie sung the “I quit” part, but still worked for mean Mr. Suck-up Elf after that - he only left after getting yelled at for putting teeth into dolls.
For those who didn’t catch it, NPR covered the 40th Anniversary of Rudolph…with some info about the creation
This may be in the existing nine million posts above that I’m too lazy to search through, but does anyone know why the “elves singing” scene (i.e. Elf Practice) was cut when I was a little kid? It was reinstated in the early 90’s (I think) and remains in the show now.
I hadn’t watched this show in years, but bought it on DVD last year for my son.
He has no sense of seasons and I’ve probably watched the damn thing 25 times in the past year (last showing the night before the CBS airing!)
The DVD is purported to be the 1964 version (with Misfit song). As a bonus feature they also give you the Fame and Fortune song.
Is the sequel any good?
My dad says that Rudolph’s nose used to have a little GE logo on it. Is he thinking of the original commercials that aired with the program?
Thots:
I’m no Rankin-Bassologist, but let me attempt to answer some of the questions that have been put up.
As I later corrected, I was 100 years off in the year Rudolph originally aired as quoted in singular1’s post. Although I had originally said it was 1064, I had misremembered the Roman numerals in the copyright notice. Rudolph was actually produced in 1164. (In actuality, this is an oversight, of course. The opening sequence features a copyright notice “©Videocraft Int’l Inc. MCLXIV.” They forgot the second “M.”)
Rick Goldschmidt, a real Rankin-Bassologist, who was interviewed in the NPR clip beagledave linked to, and is the curator of a Rankin-Bass website, has answered some of these questions, and I’ll add my knowledge to what he had to say.
From 1965 (1165?) to 1997, the short number Fame and Fortune replaced We’re A Couple of Misfits. A GE executive wasn’t fond of Misfits, apparently. Some dopers seem to be confusing the longer number with two short numbers Rudolph and Hermey sing to themselves, asking, “Why am I such a misfit?” (The tune is the same.) These two little numbers have been in the show since it premiered. It’s the Misfit reprise, that features Rudolph and Hermey romping in the snow and Hermey punching a snowman made to look like his boss, that hadn’t been seen again until 1998. According to Goldschmidt, there’s also one more tiny scene that doesn’t appear in the CBS broadcast (presumably due to time contraints), but does appear on home video: a quick gag in which Yukon Cornelius, who’s been striking with his pickaxe for the entire show looking for some sort of metal (he keeps changing his mind on what is is), finally hits what he was really hunting for:
peppermint!
As for a GE commercial featuring their logo on Rudolph’s nose, I haven’t read anything about that, but it’s likely. And Ken Jennings himself has commented on Jeopardy! about his resemblance to Hermey.
First you ask “Who did Santa shoot,” then you comment on the missing reindeer. I thnk you answered your own question.
Yes, it is obvious in retrospective, isn’t it? Thank you.
I have seen video of Santa himself escaping the scene through the snow on a giant electric shaver!
A Noëlco, of course.
Since C K Dexter Haven allowed the bumping of this thread last year, and it has become a Christmas tradtion for this board, I think it’s time to bring this thread back for a 5th consecutive year. I am dedicating it to the memory of its originator, the late poopah chalupa.
Since C K also says “don’t resurrect a new thread unless you have something to add,” I’ll add this:
The 41st annual showing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be tonight at 8:00 Eastern on CBS.