Never understood the appeal of those Christmas specials...

Post Reply New Topic

the Rankin Bass ones.

I just don't get it...like, at all.

What exactly is the appeal? Ok, they're claymation. Ok, they're Christmas-y....and?

I find them cutesy to the point of being nauseating, and corny to the extreme.

I understand the appeal--sort of--of the Peanuts Christmas Specials.

The Rankin Bass ones, flat-out, I don't, because unlike the Peanuts specials the Rankin Bass ones were never really grounded into our pop culture as thoroughly.

And the reason for Peanuts is cause it's grounded into our pop culture year-round.

I'll confess though...I never even found the Rankin Bass ones appealing as a kid, really.

The only one I kind of like is Year Without a Santa Claus, and only cause it's awesome watching the Heat Miser and Snow Miser going at it. I also prefer the Snow Miser....and everyone else somehow finds the Heat Miser more appealing.


Could someone please explain any of this to me?! !! !! !! !! !!

Grinch is epic,,,Snow Miser is...cool(had to text it) Rudolph sucked

I think it's just a matter of taste. It just wasn't Christmas until I saw Rhudolph.

I didnt like rhudolps message
if you have a difference that does not effect your perfomance you are shunned
, unless it is reviled that difference is useful

for me, it's Christmas when Santa ends the Thanksgiving Parade.

Oh, how much I identified with the island of misfit toys.

It summed up how I felt about the first day of school....every stinking year.

Me too. And the little Elf's "I am not just a misfit" song. I wonder if Hermie has AS?

I veiwed as sometimes the "weirdo" is the only one who can save the day. NT's would be lost without us. If it weren't for us, humanity would still be living in caves.

The only one my family ever watched was Rudolph, so I guess my parents didn't really like the other ones, LOL. I did watch some of them later and.. yeah, they're a bit weird. I really like Rudolph though. Because I like the reindeerses and the snow monster and I always thought it was funny the elf wanted to be a dentist. XD;

Why did they replace the Miser Brother's minions?

I just focus on the humor and music of the specials.

I like Rudolph, because it mirrors my own life in many ways. I was shunned by my peers, because of my accent from grades 2 to 10. That same person, myself has finished my tenth speech in Toastmasters, just last December. Everybody else in my club hasn't gotten past their fourth speech.

ROFL! hilarious!! !! Neanderthal Aspie takes something literal then gets wacked over the head with a club while NT cavemen are killing animals and socializing. LOL!

I've gotten real tired of Rudolph and Charlie Brown Christmas after seeing them on TV year after year.

I'm definitly in the minority as far as Grinch is concerned. I'm not a big fan of anything Dr. Seuss and dont understand the appeal. I actually thought the Grinch movie was pretty good and usually prefer that to the original cartoon special.

The Charlie Brown Christmas special unnerves me. He spends the whole special being very depressed around Christmas for no real reason whatsoever (except for maybe the commercialism which in itself is a silly reason for one to get depressed). The play rehearsal never really gets anywhere. And Linus quoting the bible...I get that that was what Christmas was truly meant to be about in the Peanuts world, but I dont get how they exactly changed things or brought about the resolution at the end where the kids decided to fix up the tree.

The Rankin Bass ones are very interesting to me. I think its the fact that it's mostly 1970s stop-motion animation. It's a style that few people today enjoy but I like the old school feel and many of the stories they tell do have heart.

I enjoy Christmas specials that rarely get aired anymore or you would have to find on youtube. Tons of cartoon specials from the late 80s and early 90s, I like.

I do get really tired of any adaptation of A Christmas Carol. I have yet to find an adaptation that I would call superb though there maybe one or two out there that are quite interesting and decent enough.

I fully agree with you on the Grinch; I actually prefer the Jim Carrey one, and have it on DVD.

the Charlie Brown Christmas special I have an issue with for two reasons:

1. I don't really like Peanuts

2. The whole special bashes commercialism left and right. Extremely hypocritical for the property...

If you want a good adaption of a Christmas Carol, check out the Real Ghostbusters episode "X-Mas Marks the Spot"; classic.

My problem with the Rankin Bass specials is that--aside from the musical numbers( I don't like musicals; ironically, I love Disney movies)--I find the majority of the characters to be extremely annoying.

I have made more than enough of my share of sexual preference jokes about Yukon Cornelius back in the day. The minute Hermes starts singing "I am not just a misfit", I just wanna smack him, cause his nasal voice is annoying to the point of making Steve Urkel sound like Casanova( and please do not bring that schmuck Stephan into this...). Rudolph joining him along makes it even more annoying.

Then to make things worse, all the other characters are douchebags to Hermes, Rudolph, and Yukon....which in my mind makes it virtually unbearable. You have douchebags bashing annoying characters. It's like an average episode of "Three Friends and Jerry"

I enjoy Year Without a Santa Claus for the sole reason of Heat Miser and Snow Miser trying to blow the sh*t out of each other. I think the Snow Miser is actually pretty cool; the Heat Miser seems to be the fan favorite; and just reminds me of Louie Anderson...and not in a flattering light, either....

I hated the so cauld sequal to dfrosty the snowman, not the real sequal when he gets married and all, but the one where one two gets rid of snow and its a disaster, and lame oversimplified environmental reasons to have snow