Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976)

Rudolph must find Happy, the baby New Year, before midnight on New Year's Eve.

Directors:

Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writer:

Romeo Muller

Stars:

Red Skelton, Frank Gorshin, Morey Amsterdam

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Red Skelton	...	Father Time / Baby Bear (voice)
Frank Gorshin	...	Sir 1023 (voice)
Morey Amsterdam	...	One Million (O.M) (voice)
Harold Peary	...	Big Ben (voice)
Paul Frees	...	Santa Claus / Eon / General Ticker / Seventeen Seventy Six 'Sev' (voice)
Billie Mae Richards	...	Rudolph (voice) (as Billie Richards)
Don Messick	...	Papa Bear / Rumpelstiltskin / Prince Charming / The Seven Dwarfs (voice)

Storyline

Father Time sends Santa a message telling him that the baby new year, Happy, is missing! And without the baby new year, it'll remain the old year forever. But it's foggy and snowing, so Rudolph's the only reindeer for the job. Rudolph learns that Eon (ugly buzzard) is also searching for Happy, so that eon life will never end. With the help of 1 Million B.C. and Sir 1023, and 1776, Rudolph searches through the islands of the Archipelago of Last Year and races against eon to ensure a Happy New Year.

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Plot Keywords:

baby | snowing | time | archipelago | island | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 December 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ano Novo Brilhante de Rudolph

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rankin/Bass Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Red Skelton recreated his popular radio character "Junior" for the voice of the Baby Bear on Fairy Tale Island.

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Goofs

The narrator says that Happy leaves the 1 Million BC island on a conch shell. It was actually a scallop shell.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Father Time: [singing to the tune of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer] You know Rudolph who guided and pulled Santa's sleigh / and who saved Christmas by lighting the way. But there's more to tell / Rudolph saved the New Year as well.
[shifting to spoken dialog]
Father Time: And it all began that same foggy night.

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Connections

Follows The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

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Soundtracks

Fourth of July Parade Song
Performed by Chorus

User Reviews

One of the first things I saw as a little kid- and it can stick with you

Rudolph's Shiny New Year can be striking, and entertaining, if you're watching it when you're little - little enough that by the time you're my age you have no clear memory of the first time you watched it, just that you did over and over. As a kid you get introduced to claymation someway or another (even those of today who don't have Gumby get Wallace and Gromit), and this plays for a fine hour for the little ones, but can perhaps be of worth for the parents here and there. The story of Rudolph saving the "baby new-year" from the clutches of Eon, a vulture looking to keep December 31st on a loop, is pretty simple, with conflicts and characters that are typical and funny enough to take. But what can be memorable for a child is how some of this special is dark (with Eon) when it's not cute (most scenes with the baby). It's also interesting as a kind of sequel-cum-remake of the original Rudolph story, as the baby has to contend with having big ears- something that a child might find more relatable than a shiny nose. The songs are also a bit of a treat, if dated, and Red Skeleton does a fine double-job with the voicing of Father time and the little Bear on the island. Basically, it's the kind of special that is worth checking out with the kids for a few minutes, and if they get into it, it may prove a treat, and if not, there's still Nickelodeon.