Comments on: Santa's Death Panel

Santa's Death Panel

Navelgazer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:12:02 -0800

Abandoned in a hat in the middle of a snowdrift as a newborn, rescued by a woodsman and guarded by a lioness, stolen and raised by a wood nymph, instructed in the ways of all the languages of the animals as a child, on the threshold of manhood he visited medieval Europe, feudal Japan, and Arabian markets to learn the inherent evil of humanity. For his insistence on toymaking, he was terrorized and repeatedly captured by a race determined to corrupt young minds, until his immortal protector came out to defend him with a laser-shooting axe which eradicated the malevolent culture. But can that same protector defend his ward's life to the likes of the Commander of the Wind Demons? The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause, a Rankin/Bass production, Part [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:17:21 -0800

THIS WAS ALWAYS MY FAVORITE! Thankyou. I've always fondly remembered this horrendously heathen Christmas special. You've made my december, navelgazer!

By: Iridic

Iridic — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:20:05 -0800

I have extremely fond memories of the original L. Frank Baum novel, so it was something of a gift to discover that an adaptation exists.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:21:05 -0800

[SPELLING ALERT!] It's Santa Claus, not Santa Clause. Gosh darn that awful Tim Allen movie with the bad pun in the title! Gosh darn it straight to heck!

By: mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey

mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:22:19 -0800

"It's Santa Claus, not Santa Clause." This, yes, a thousand times.

By: Mizu

Mizu — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:27:49 -0800

Oh my god, this is a real thing? I had pretty much convinced myself that I'd made it up! My brain is vindicated.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:36:34 -0800

"It's Santa Claus, not Santa Clause." Forgive me. If I could chop off that extraneous "e" without having to call upon my silver axe, I would surely do so.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:37:50 -0800

Wow, this contradicts the other Rankin Bass version, with Fred Astaire and the Burgermeister, doesn't it? I DEMAND A RETCON TO ADDRESS THIS DISCONTINUITY.

By: vronsky

vronsky — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:39:44 -0800

I don't think I ever saw this one. Cool find!

By: regicide is good for you

regicide is good for you — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:41:26 -0800

I, too, thought this was just an amalgam of many different weird childhood memories. Pleased to find that it's a single unified weird childhood memory.

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:42:53 -0800

I too always loved this one most of all, though the one with Heatmeister and Coldmeister, or whatever their names were, is a close second. Rudolph had nothing on those.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:44:39 -0800

I should also mention that everyone needs to watch part five, from 4:00 to 4:05, out of context.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:45:39 -0800

"It's Santa Claus, not Santa Clause." You can't-a fool a me! There ain't no Sanity Claus.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:49:53 -0800

Navelgazer: Forgive me. All is forgiven. Wait, you're not Tim Allen, are you? YOU ARE NOT FORGIVEN, TIM ALLEN.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:51:21 -0800

Oh my lord, this is fantastic.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:52:08 -0800

Wow, I thought I'd seen all the Rankin/Bass stuff. I guess not. Cool!

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:52:54 -0800

I should also mention that everyone needs to watch part five, from 4:00 to 4:05, out of context. Santa talks to himself before whacking.

By: HopperFan

HopperFan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:11:43 -0800

Heat Miser! Cold Miser!

By: nonspecialist

nonspecialist — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:16:51 -0800

Metafilter: not so happy tonight. Unless ...

By: Kikkoman

Kikkoman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:22:37 -0800

"A saint like Claus has no need to unlock doors if it pleases him to enter our home..." You guys cover the floor with Jello. I'll set the sofa on fire.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:29:31 -0800

You guys cover the floor with Jello. I'll set the sofa on fire. Heh, Chicken Heart... first reference I've ever seen to that on mefi.

By: robotot

robotot — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:30:36 -0800

"My name is Heatmiser whatever I touch starts to melt in my clutch" ...or something to that effect. Rankin-frickin'-Bass!

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:32:30 -0800

No way would this kind of trippy stuff EVER get within a mile of network television today. Can you imagine the letters?

By: empath

empath — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:42:20 -0800

You guys cover the floor with Jello. I'll set the sofa on fire. Man, now I really want to do an old school Cosby fpp, but I can't think of what to do with it besides posting youtube links. (Chicken Heart)

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:48:53 -0800

I would like to add that in this cast, there is both an Earl and an Earle.

By: Huck500

Huck500 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:12:09 -0800

Amazon will burn you a copy of this on DVD for $15.00 or so. Includes Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey, another classic.

By: chaff

chaff — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:29:14 -0800

Is this the one with Burgermeister Meisterburger?

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:35:12 -0800

The 'Misers sing the hits.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:46:42 -0800

I should also mention that everyone needs to watch part five, from 4:00 to 4:05, out of context. Navelgazer, you dark, beautiful bastard.

By: Evilspork

Evilspork — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:47:14 -0800

Just before the first snow of winter falls, they begin their work...

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:03:25 -0800

The non-bowdlerised version is a bit more raw and shocking. But I think children need to see it.

By: Bromius

Bromius — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:05:22 -0800

Michael McKean and Harvey Fierstein take up the mantle

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:39:27 -0800

That is bizarre. Anyone else notice the wierd continuity problem right in the first five minutes? First he's talking to the leaders of the immortals, then he's talking to some little faeries, but telling the same story.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:42:34 -0800

Here's a direct link to the five seconds Navelgazer was talking about.

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:55:34 -0800

Is this the one with Burgermeister Meisterburger? No. Better.

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:03:57 -0800

We need JJ Abrams to reimagine this. Not just because I can't wait to see him cast a young starlet to play the wood nymph mom, but also because I'd love to see the talking heads on Fox freak out over how this is treating Christmas like a pagan holiday when CHRIST belongs in CHRIST-mas. Granted, these day I'd expect they'd go for the jugular unless you explicitly made it the nativity story. Which is all well and good, especially if you want to teach your kids a Christian story, but it's a kind of boring story to tell little kids over and over, especially when they're so young they don't even entirely know where babies come from. Hearing that God's the father and not Joseph is downright confusing for them, so the miraculous part flies over their heads. To them, it's just a story of a pregnant woman going on a trip, wanting to go to a hotel, getting turned down, so she instead gives birth in a barn. Besides, Santa's fun to learn about. He's one of our great cultural myths. Japan has yokai. Germany has alps. If it weren't for Santa and the Easter Bunny, we'd be teaching our kids about the alien grays (or maybe Star Wars, but that's another story). And what kid wants to hear that aliens traveled lightyears just to molest them in their sleep? Stranger danger is played up way too much at school.

By: pearlybob

pearlybob — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:14:50 -0800

Nestor, the Long-Eared Donkey had a profound impact on my childhood. Probably more than any other tv show I can remember from my youth. His Mom's death just flattened me, it still does every year. Christmas Joy and all that. Bah.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:18:55 -0800

A big surprise with yellow-green eyes?

By: oddman

oddman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:27:08 -0800

Many of you think that Rudolph's movie compares poorly, but I dare you to defy the awesomeness of King Moonracer.

By: stormpooper

stormpooper — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:01:50 -0800

Shit! Who knew Santa did all of that in a lifetime? Man, he sure blows this guy out of the water. Most interesting man, my ass. SANTA FRIGGEN RULES (and doesn't drink crappy beer)!

By: tinatiga

tinatiga — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:23:28 -0800

This is my absolute favorite Christmas movie. My parents still have a VHS copy we recorded off of TV and I watch it with my whole family every year when I go home for the holidays. My dad and I like to make nonsense noises at each other just like the one elf dude who speaks all of the human, animal and immortal languages.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:52:47 -0800

My girlfriend and I are both huge, huge animation geeks. So when I clicked the first link and watched the intro we both stared and stared. "It sounds like Rankin & Bass..." "But the animation is so fluid, and the character designs are so clean." "It can't be Rankin & Bass." "But it is." Neither one of us had even heard of The Life & Adventures until now. I wonder why it never got the same airplay that the other R&B specials had. Wikipedia offers no clues.

By: sweetmarie

sweetmarie — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:25:49 -0800

This was always my favorite and last year for Christmas, out of the blue, my mom bought me a vhs copy. Which I just watched over Thanksgiving weekend again...

By: _paegan_

_paegan_ — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:00:26 -0800

This one and The Year Without a Santa Claus can be directly attributed to my later pagan ways! And my parents wondered where I got so many heathen notions?

By: Kikkoman

Kikkoman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:30:26 -0800

No way would this kind of trippy stuff EVER get within a mile of network television today. "Santa's up there surrounded with renegade elves who think he's a god... We want you to go up there, retrieve his bag of toys, and terminate Santa's command."

By: epsilon

epsilon — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:51:04 -0800

We need to bring back the story of Krampus. That would be much more exciting a punishment than a lump of coal.