Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Rankin/Bass have been responsible for some of my favourites. Of their specials my favourites are Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town. On the most part I did like Rudolph's Shiny New Year. Of course it is not as good as Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, but considering how timeless that is I wasn't expecting the same kind of quality. I do think that some parts did feel stretched out and Rudolph's Shiny New Year could have been told quite easily in half the running time. It does look great though, a lot of detail went into the visuals and stop-motion animation and it really shows, managing to be both enchanting and wonderfully twisted. The score is fitting and whimsical, and while the songs are not among the most inspired or memorable from the Rankin/Bass specials- I personally did find Raining Sun Shine instantly forgettable- there are some pleasantly upbeat ones, the best being Hap-Hap-Happy New Year. The writing has its charm and fun, if not as fresh, witty or touching as some of the best Rankin/Bass specials. The story is interesting, the scenes with Happy are very sweet and what initially seems mean-spirited(I'm talking about Happy having big ears) comes across as touching in the end(I can also see a lot of people relating to Happy for this). There are some strange moments that can lose you first time, but the more times you see it the quicker you feel that it's part of the charm. Of the characters, all of which are engaging with some endearingly quirky names, my favourites are Rudolph, Father Time and Big Ben, though it is difficult not to love adorable little Happy and Aeon is a decent enough villain(even if there are better Rankin/Bass villains around, namely Burgermeister). The voice acting is terrific, Red Skelton being the standout. Overall, not one of the best Rankin/Bass specials but has a lot of good things. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Happy the Baby New Year had runaway due to teasing about his big ears. The weather is frightful. After saving Christmas, Rudolph is the only one who can save New Year. He is joined by General Ticker. They cross the Sands of Time to find Father Time guided by The Great Quarter Past Five. Aeon The Terrible is after Baby New Year to stop time. Rudolph searches for Happy in the Archipelago of Last Years.

It was over a decade since the first Rudolph first aired. There is a nostalgic charm to the stop-motion animation. While it's great to have new characters, I don't understand why so many of them seem to drop off. Where did General Ticker go? Why introduce great side characters, only to drop them immediately? I also don't understand how the 3 bears fit into the Archipelago. They're not historical figures. There are some new songs but it's always the classic that is truly great. Despite a few questionable turns, it's still a fun journey.

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.

Just finished this, the sequel to Rankin/Bass' "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". With Red Skelton as narrator Father Time as well as the Baby Bear, Frank Gorshin as the knight Sir Ten-To-Three, Morey Amsterdam as the caveman-O.M. (One Million), Hal "Great Gildersleeve" Peary as the whale Big Ben, Paul Frees as various voices, Don Messick as Papa Bear, Iris Rainer as Mama Bear, and, returning as Rudolph, Billie Mae Richards. Written once again by Romeo Muller, "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" is a wonderful Tall Tale about how the reindeer with the shiny nose managed to make sure that it didn't become December 31st forever. Even as an adult, I was enthralled by the way Muller kept making things up as the story went along and didn't care a lick about logic or stuff like that as long as it was still believable. Although when Red said this story took place just after the events in the previous special, I did question why Rudolph's antlers had shrunk to when he was a kid. Other than that, I still highly enjoyed "Rudolph's Shiny New Year". P.S. I just found out Frees and Amsterdam were born in the same city as I, Chicago, Ill.

This is the one with the villainous Vulture, and where Rudolph gets trapped inside a big snowball. And the kid with the huge ears too...Well, it's not bad-Santa mixed with New Years and whatever-it doesn't quite hold up as well's 'Heat Mizer' or the first Frosty, but it's a fun watch for the family.

*** outta ****