The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: movie buff on December 03, 2011, 11:35:47 AM
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Hi, welcome back! Sorry for missing one yesterday, I was so busy!
Today, to wrap up looking at Rankin- Bass’s stuff (I know they’ve done a lot more, but I’m just focusing on those two), I’ll be looking at ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus.’
It concerns Santa Claus (Voiced here by Mickey Rooney) thinking about cancelling Christmas, due to both feeling sick from a cold, and from feeling like people don’t care about him, or about Christmas in general, anymore. So, Mrs. Claus (Voice of Shirley Booth) decides to send two elves, Jingle and Jangle, down to see if he can find any children that do still care about Christmas and believe in Santa. Along the way, the elves are literally caught in the crossfire of a battle between Snow Miser and Heat Miser, two feuding brothers who control all the cold and hot weather in the world respectively, and have to crash land in a city called Southtown. Through a long chain of events, the elves and Mrs. Claus realize that if they can get it to snow in Southtown, it’ll help everyone there care about Christmas again. So, they get the Miser brothers to compromise and make it snow there, and children all over the world help get Santa’s spirits back up by sending gifts to him. So, Santa makes a miraculous recovery, and Christmas is saved.
I can really only think of one thing wrong with ‘Year Without a Santa Claus’: A couple of the songs in it seemed a bit unnecessary. In particular, one in which the Mayor of Southtown sings about what it’ll be like to have snow there, and one in which a sad girl sings ‘Blue Christmas’ both seem like just filler.
Other than that, though, I’ve always loved ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus,’ for many reasons. First, the animation/ designs for the characters are much better than they were for ‘Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer.’ Second, it’s a bit refreshing to see Mrs. Claus, who’s generally nothing more than a background character in Christmas specials, being more of a major character in this, she’s the one who really helps save Christmas.
Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Miser Brothers. The two of them really do steal the show, they are so funny and their respective musical numbers are highlights of the special. Their personalities fit quite well, too: Heat Miser is literally and figuratively a hothead, while Snow Miser is cool and calm. They should have been given bigger parts in this.
That’s why ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus’ has always been one of my Christmas favorites.
However, this review doesn’t quite end there, as there’s been more done that’s associated with this special in recent years. In 2006, there was a feature- length, live- action, made-for- TV movie of ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus.’ It starred John Goodman as Santa (Why it’s taken this long to get Goodman to play Santa is anyone’s guess), Delta Burke as Mrs. Claus, Michael McKean as Snow Miser, and Harvey Fierstein as Heat Miser.
I don’t remember this one quite as well, as it was only broadcast once to the best of my knowledge. This version sort of adds to how jaded Santa is feeling about Christmas, because it shows he doesn’t like how materialistic Christmas has become. It also amps up the Miser Brothers’ roles a bit. Harvey Fierstein is rather miscast as Heat Miser, but Michael McKean is great as Snow Miser.
It wasn’t very well- liked among fans when it was first shown, so I don’t think it’s ever been shown again, and the DVD of it is rather hard to find. Personally, I thought it was at least watchable.
Then, just a couple years ago, an animated sequel/ spinoff was made for ABC Family, called ‘A Miser Brothers’ Christmas.’ As the title indicates, it centers more around Snow Miser and Heat Miser. It’s stopmotion, yet looks a good deal different from the Rankin- Bass style, and Mickey Rooney and George S. Irving reprise their roles as Santa and Heat Miser. Dick Shawn, the actor who played Snow Miser in the original, sadly passed away several years ago, and is replaced here by Juan Chioran, and as Shirley Booth also sadly passed on some time ago, Mrs. Claus is here played by Catherine Disher.
Snow Miser and Heat Miser land in a good deal of trouble, as their feud apparently causes Santa to badly injure his back while test- driving a new sleigh. However, it turns out that his injury was really caused by the Misers’ other brother, the North Wind (The villain of this special, who bears a bit of a resemblance to Jay Leno), who wants to get rid of him and take over as the new Santa Claus. The Misers obviously are unaware of this, so out of guilt they decide to help fill in for Santa until he recovers, though even then they continue fighting and causing trouble. Eventually, though, they form a reluctant alliance as they learn to work together, the North Wind gets what’s coming to him, and the brothers save Christmas.
‘A Miser Brothers’ Christmas’ does have some stumbling points. One is the stopmotion animation used clashes a bit with the style used for the original, but I suppose that’s to be expected considering it’s been several decades since the original was made. Also, the opening song performed by the elves can be a bit grating.
However, it still definitely has good points, too. The Miser Brothers are as funny as ever, especially their constant fighting. Juan Chioran makes for a decent replacement as the voice of Snow Miser, and George S. Irving’s as good as ever reprising his role as the voice of Heat Miser. The North Wind makes for a good villain, a pompous windbag (As with the Miser brothers, his personality matches his element) with a distinctly menacing edge. There’s also a rather amusing scene about halfway into it when you learn how the Miser Brothers’ feuding started in the first place.
‘A Miser Brothers’ Christmas’ is by no means as much of a classic as the original, but it still makes for a fun little Christmas special.
So, that’s all for this review. I hope that some day, there could be an “Ultimate Edition†DVD put out of ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus,’ that could include the original, the live- action version, and ‘A Miser Brothers’ Christmas.’