Christmas in Tattertown Retrospective 

We look at a Christmas special from a legendary and controversial creator that was supposed to make history. One of the things that we probably should stop is acting all surprised that Bakshi wanted to do childrens cartoons. It should not be surprising that any creator doesn’t want to be tied down to one thing. Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky, C.H. Greenblatt, Seth MacFarlane, all have different stories they have told. Bakshi is no different. About the animation style of Tattertown and what Bakshi had in mind for the series. The idea is a good one. Different cartoons from different eras. Unfortunately, the way it was animated, everyone pretty much looked and moved the same. If there is one show that comes close to that idea, it is the Amazing World of Gumball. While Animaniacs is a nice throwback, it never utilized different animation styles. So again, I think Gumball is the closest to what Bakshi had in mind with Tattertown. We'll have back to back History of Fox Kids in two weeks.

You make a good point. Christmas specials should explain why characters celebrate Christmas 😅

Yeah, this does feel like a Cool World prototype in several ways. Muffet also feels like a Darla Dimple prototype of Cats Don't Dance.

I get this on a weird level so here goes: Debby is the representation of an overprivileged person in an underprivileged neighborhood. Think about it, she keeps trying to subjugate her toys cause that's how she sees them rather than living beings( as slaves if you will) while acting like she knows all about the Tattertown situation(classic hipster move: pretending to be part of something you are not or just found out about) only going one further cause she's got all the residents convinced that she's always been there. And so, through this entitlement that she has set herself up in and the toys have accepted, she is making an empty gesture of bringing Christmas to them-not to benefit them, mind you, but to make herself feel all Dorothy in Oz heroic. She wants to save creatures who may never have needed saving at all, to make herself feel better and thus to believe that there is a reason she wound up in Tattertown at all. It's pretty brilliant, actually...

Fun Fact: Ralph Bakshi would later work on the Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon episode, Fire Dogs 2.

Love this special saw it when I was 7 in 1991 on nick to me it's twisted but funny😊

That’s a cool idea

Awesome review! I agree that they could have developed the world of Tattertown and the characters a bit better. But, I still enjoyed the special!

Why would I get the only thing you