Watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer every year is the same as setting up the tree. Every year I would look forward to seeing this along with the others but what a fantastic durable show this has been. When I hear Burl Ives in anything…I think of him as the narrator Sam the Snowman of this program.
The characters are wonderful. Well except those other young reindeer who really come down on Rudolph when his nose lights up.
Hermey the elf who wants to be a dentist
Clarice – The reindeer who likes Rudolph just as he is red nose and all.
Yukon Cornelius the prospector who loves silver and gold and has a tongue that can find his silver and gold.
Abominable Snowman – The bad guy of the show who only needs a dentist to make him a good guy.
Head Elf – He leans on Hermey to get his elf self-act together and discourages him from being a dentist…I never liked him too much.
Throughout the special, Yukon Cornelius is seen throwing his pickaxe into the ground, taking it out and licking it. It turns out that he is checking for neither gold nor silver; Yukon was actually searching for an elusive peppermint mine. In a scene right at the end of the special’s original broadcast, deleted the next year to make room for the Misfit Toys’ new scene, Cornelius pulled his pick from the ground, licked it and said, “Peppermint! What I’ve been searching for all my life! I’ve struck it rich! I’ve got me a peppermint mine! Wahoo!” The scene was restored in 1998 and has been reinstated in all the subsequent home video release except for the 2004 DVD release. However, this scene is still cut from recent televised airings.
The Island of Misplaced Toys got to me when I was a kid. I really felt sorry for these lonely toys. King Moonracer was over the island and tried to convinced Rudolph to tell Santa about them so he could pick them up and find kids who would play with them.
The original 1964 airing did not include the closing scene where Santa picks up the misfit toys. That scene was added in 1965, in response to complaints that Santa was not shown fulfilling his promise to include them in his annual delivery.
The stop animation in this works really well.
The songs are really good. Silver and Gold, Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Jingle Jingle, We Are Santa’s Elves, There’s Always Tomorrow, We’re a Couple of Misfits and The Most Wonderful Day of the Year.
https://christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer_(Rankin/Bass)
Part of my childhood for sure, and one I still enjoy watching — seen it twice this December as it happens! I love that spotty elephant and the snowman (Leon redbone)… that’s a cool snowman!! Disney should have taken notes from him about how to make a good snowman before they created “Frozen”, LOL
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This is Christmas to me… the land of misfit toys… my favorite part…
Great show
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This is my very favorite animated Christmas program. It isn’t Christmas without it. I always related to the the land of misfit toys… having always felt like one myself at times. Great post! Thank you for sharing 🙂
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It’s not Christmas without it. Yes the island was my favorite of mine. Thanks for reading.
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Pulling all the snow monsters teeth always seemed pretty cruel to me, but these things must be done, I suppose.
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Yea it hurts my mouth when I watch the part where Hermey has the tooth puller.
“Pulling all the snow monsters teeth always seemed pretty cruel to me, but these things must be done”
That is another for Trefology… you need to write a book.
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Haha thanks. I suppose I could have used that after all.
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The best Christmas special ever. The Snowman is the only other one I can think of that comes close. I wrote this last year. You might like it. Let me know what you think: https://tao-talk.com/2017/12/20/the-ballad-of-yukon-cornelius/
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I like it and the Ringo character fit…good west name for that.
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is it ok if I link your post today to it also??
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That is fine anytime
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🙂 I just re-posted it, with a link to your post.
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Thank you!
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I just seen this last week on CBS. Most of the music in it was recorded at Columbia studios here in Nashville.
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I didn’t know that. it’s a great show
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