For those who love Animation. For those who love Christmas. For those who love the Thundercats. And for those rarer few who love the Thunderhawks and Silvercats.
@@tagreene06 "we're gonna march all day, all day all daaayyy, where there's a whip there's a way! left, right, left, right, left, right...." anytime i go on a walk i sing that to make me walk, does wonders.
I loved the Hobbit and Return of the King as a kid! It confused me so much that Bilbo and Frodo had the same voice actors, but that didn't stop me from watching them millions of times.
That was my intro to The Hobbit as a kid. Someone then got me an illustrated version of the book which used stills from the movie. Then in school we had to make a puppet show out of books we read. Everyone did short kids books. I tortured my classmates with a very long retelling of The Hobbit with a billion "puppets" (paper cut outs on sticks) I'm still sorry I did that to them 😂😂😂
@UCmRQf043KCCLFoyh8dPStZQ they're both Rankin/Bass Productions though. Both meticulously crafted. Both outsourced to Japanese animation houses. Why is it an absurd comparison?
I loved “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” as a kid. I watched it again as an adult, after years of searching, and I realized it informed a lot of my tastes in entertainment even today. Everything from my love of high fantasy to heavy metal music (while not actually played in the movie, the imagery of the Great Ak, King Awgwa and the other Immortals and monsters was metal AF!) can be traced back to this movie. I was also a Thundercats kid too.
I was surprised that the Rakin Bass stop motion animation style originated in Japan! I loved those specials growing up and still listen to the music every Christmas season.
I'm becoming less and less surprised by it every time I see one of these. I mean the point is usually to make a product as cheaply as possible and what's cheaper than farming it out overseas. (As we now know it as the norm here in the future) I mean I do think they also got lucky and found someone who truly knew their craft and made things that were always going to be looked back at fondly. But knowing that the other animation as well was done overseas is not surprising at all.
I'm surprised that Rakin Bass stop motion animation originated in Japan too. I guess now we know that Japan is famous for their kind of stop motion animation as well as anime and manga.
It is kind of surprising and yet it's something that became so well known going into the 60s 70s and 80s. ( as well as the 90s and 2000s right up till today) Honestly it explains so much about why I feel intrinsically drawn to Japanese animation to this very day.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Even when the style doesn't look obviously anime, it still looks so polished and detailed due to the talented Japanese animators. Case in point (and befitting the present holiday), The Stingiest Man in Town (1978) - arguably my favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol. First saw it as a little kid.
@@saiberunato The talent and craftsmanship is definitely on display. And it totally explains why something was such a non-existent budget could have such an iconic look.
I loved the detailed animation from Topcraft, thanks to Rankin Bass and was blown away those talented animators were involved with Studio Ghibli. Just made me appreciate them even more!
I definitely love Rudolph! I remember being a little girl and thinking that I had missed the airing only to cry for five minutes before my mom assured me that Rudolph had not come on TV yet. 💖🦌📺🧸🎄🎁
I’m all about Rudolph, that’s the one I make a point of watching every Christmas season. I even dressed as Yukon Cornelius for Halloween one year, which was actually more trouble than it was worth because I spent six months letting my beard grow wild just so I could bleach it and dye it red for one night, then shave it all off the next day.
My favorites are The Hobbit, The Year Without a Santa Claus and The Last Unicorn. I think they also did Flight of Dragons too which is another favorite. It was such a unique art style that those films had that nothing has ever really replicated
I have Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix and probably a few other streamers, but I only ever watch Secret Galaxy videos on RU-vid. This one's an instant classic.
Rankin Bass is still my favorite company for animation! The beauty and artistry with The Hobbit/ Return of the King... Flight of Dragons/Last Unicorn to Every Classic Christmas Holiday Special that Disney couldn't touch! This company wowed me with its animation and ability to share wonderful storytelling- both dark and whimsical!
I seriously had no idea there was a toy line for these animated specials, Rudolph and the island of misfit toys and Frosty the Snowman are REQUIRED watching on the holidays at least once if not several times, so many childhood memories of those two shows (not to mention the Tales of the Wizard of Oz watching on a B&W TV!)
The toys were awesome. I got as many as I could find back then at my local Toys R Us. I wish I could have gotten them all. They look EXACTLY like the tv show and Rudolph's nose lights up when you press his tail.
absolutely, i had them on VHS and i watched them to DEATH. the 2000's live action versions are incredible, but the animated ones will always be close to my heart.
This is an excellent Holiday Special! Rankin Bass was a huge part of my family's TV time during Christmas. Thanks for this sweet little treat to put in a time capsule.
There are two Rankin Bass productions that I hold close to my heart. The Last Unicorn is a classic that was introduced to me one Chistmas by a special girl in my life and I really enjoyed it. My clear favourite though has to be Flight Of Dragons. I first watched it years ago when I was still a young boy but have watched it many more times since then. I would highly recommend Flight Of Dragons to anyone with even a vague interest in watching it, it's still one of my favourite animated features.
There are very few things I actually enjoy about the holiday season. Rankin Bass' Rudolph is one of the few exceptions. I always make time to watch it. I will be doing so tomorrow.
“The Year Without A Santa Claus” is my favorite of the Christmas specials. Heat Miser and Snow Miser are the best! My family even had ornaments for them.
My favorite is Santa Claus is Comin' to town. It was like seeing Robin Hood outsmarting Hitler in a funny and fantasy Christmas way. And the music and songs were good too. I also liked the Leprechaun's Christmas Gold, but I wish it was more of a Saint Patrick's Day special, then it could've gotten a lot more love and respect.
I know that you watch this channel Mr. Welch... but it is still odd to see to comment here. I hope that your family and you have a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year! Patiently waiting for the next entry in the Mad Musings playlist.... whatever it will be, I do not know, but I'm sure it will be interesting
Of the Christmas specials, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is my favorite; out of all of them, The Hobbit has always been my favorite! The music, the voices, and the way they told the story always had my full attention! We now own two DVD sets with a lot of the Christmas specials on it. Rankin and Bass is my childhood!
I was born in the 80's and I did not know Rankin Bass was connected to Japan either, I guess now we know that there are different types of animation in Japan besides anime.
I still remember when I got in my teens realizing that the same people that brought us Frosty and Rudolph also brought us the ThunderCats It's sad that Rankin Bass didn't remain their own thing as one could only Wonder what else they could have done.
I love the legacy of the Thundercats, who knew they got their start from a studio that did Rudolph and Frosty? Thanks for sharing, have a Merry Christmas and of course "THUNDERCATS HO!"
Silverhawks, Hobbit/RotK were awesome. I still watch those every couple of years. Very cool stuff- thanks Dan. Also, I very much appreciated the background cameo. :) Merry Xmas all!
I was very aware of the Hobbit and the more regular holiday specials early on. I caught a lot of their more fringy holiday stuff and Return of the King later in reruns and tape rentals. I really appreciated how the independent LoTR movie lined up with their middle earth stuff once I became aware of it in my teens. I'm just now learning the rotoscope one wasn't part of the same initiative.
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - an absolutely perfect Santa Claus origination story. Excellent songs! And the snowmobile that Fred Astaire gets to drive around is just soooo cool. With Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus, Keenan Wynn as the Winter Warlock, and the amazing Paul Frees as just about everyone else. Rankin and Bass were at the top of their game!
Rudolph and Frosty where the shows that capped off my childhood visits to my grandparents up in Michigan. We would go up a few days before Thanksgiving and stay until into parts of December, and those two would always pop up a few days before we left. Even when I was growing older and a year or two before my grandmother passed, I would still sit and watch it in her living room.
I grew up watching all of them with my great grandpa. Those are some great memories eating candy bars or chocolate. I didn't see The Year Without Santa Claus. My stepmom showed it to me when I was 16 and I was hooked. I watch it every year with my husband. Can't wait to have kids and continue the tradition. As a teacher I'm so thankful that the kids are in awe of these because they haven't seen them. Or until I explain how they are made then it makes them watch them closely. Great video as always. Happy holidays all!!
I remember every last one of these when they came on! I most especially loved the last unicorn. I have the book, and the cast is one of a kind! Plus the band America did the soundtrack!
Crazy as this sounds, "The Jackson 5" cartoon from 1971-72 actually introduced me to the world of Rankin/Bass. As a 9 year old kid, and a huge Jackson 5 fan at the time, I would see the Rankin/Bass name on the intro of every Jackson 5 cartoon shown on Saturday mornings. With that name now stuck in my head, I would later recognize the Rankin/Bass name on various Christmas specials.
A nice homage was paid towards Rankin Bass in the 2011(?)Thundercats cartoon: Wilykit and Wilykat got a magic bag that could transport practically anything they wanted out of it by saying the magic word, *RANKINBAS*!
This is really interesting. No idea that Santa origin was adapted from Baum; I'll look that film up again! Would you ever consider a "Great Space Coaster" episode? Thanks always!🙏
Bass passed away today! So sorry to hear that an American icon in entertainment that made the way for so many Christmas specials has left this veil of tears.
my favorite Rankin/Bass projects are The Hobbit and Return of the King, introduced me to Fantasy and Tolkien in a big way, which started me on the path to being a huge fantasy nerd.
Today's market is over saturated with Christmas theme shows starting as early as November I remember the days when shows like this come just a few days before Christmas from my childhood it truly was a magical event I was looking forward to every year .
Thundercats and Silver Hawks definitely. Didn't realize the entire range of stuff they were responsible for. Best part of the episode is the wall break into, "My wife doesn't watch this show." I can literally see your soul dying at that moment and totally get it.
Happy Holidays to everyone who puts in the work to make these videos happen! Always loved your style of video (MASK got me hooked) and it keeps getting better as it evolves.
What's really amazing is, their version of "Misty Mountains" can be overlaid with the Peter Jackson version, and it makes a BREATHTAKING offset harmony!
I seriously prefer RB’s Hobbit to the bloated Jackson trilogy (though Jackson has the edge with LOTR itself). Simple charm, nice design, no characters that shouldn’t be there (looking at YOU, Legolas).
@@Sailormac2 Absolutely! Jackson attempted to simultaneously milk his cash cow with a grotesquely bloated trilogy and pander to the lowest common denominator with cringey dialogue; a contrived, completely unbelievable romance; and a CGI dwarf riding a pig? Yeah, hard pass on the Peter Jackson Hobomination (I made that word up right now, BTW). 😁
Thundercats, The Hobit, and The Lord of the Rings have always been favorites of mine... but no holiday is ever complete without viewing Rudolf. The animation may be a little jerky by today's standards, but it is still amazing... it paved the way for The Nightmare Before Christmas... Love the video!
No doubt; the best of the RB Bunch was "The Last Unicorn". The art was great, the writing based on the novel by Peter Beagle was top class, and the voices included Christopher Lee as King Haggard and Alan Arkin as Shmendrick the Magician--one of the best names in the genre. This really helped establish anime in the US!
My favorite is a tie between “Year Without A Santa Claus” and “Jack Frost”. I just love the duos of Snow Miser & Heat Miser, and Kubla Krause & Dommie.
Of they're Christmas Specials, my favorite is Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. But overall, the TV show Festival of Family Classics. With Thundercats, The Hobbit and Return of the King rounding out my top five
Much as I love Rudolph (Yukon Cornelius is the MAN), my vote has to go to The Year Without a Santa Claus, for one reason: THE MISER BROTHERS. They are ICONIC and their songs flat-out slap.
To be fair, December might be one of the absolute worst times of the year to venture up to Duluth. ESPECIALLY the week of a major blizzard right before christmas.
I didn't know until recently rankin-bass actually worked with the Japanese on the likes of the christmas classics like rudolph! the part about the rights going to different companies is exactly why I bought all the christmas specials on DVD! I guess it's cheaper than trying to find the rankin-bass collection, seems its already sold out at the moment on amazon. my favorite though is probably silverhawks! loved the metallic figures for sure.
I managed to put together a complete set of the Festival of Family Classics, although some are digital copies. The series was never released as a series but episodes came out on VHS under various titles as children's animation. About half came out on DVD.
I've been collecting the playing mantis figures since they came out when I was in high school. Almost to a full set, the secondhand market is steep so I only can add about a figure a year. Hopefully 2023 brings home the santa sleigh playset. They are my favorite holiday decor
Rankin Bass with Topcraft animation, gave me the best Gollum, an epic battle of Science and Logic, and a beautiful woman turned back into a Unicorn! Their works would be furthered into Thunder,Silver, and Tiger Sharks that made me Love them forever!
I have been a big fan of Rudolph ever since I first saw it as a kid! Love it so much! I have seen several other Christmas specials from them but definitely I love Thundercats out of everything else! So many fun adventures and great characters! Truly a wonderful legacy! Excellent work on this video! Merry belated Christmas for last year and Merry early Christmas for this year! One of your best videos ever! There are definitely some projects from Rankin and Bass I still need to look up, including Last Unicorn! I have heard that it’s really good!
At 8:45 you mention Gumby, Davey and Goliath were "Claymation" - which is (or was) the trademark of Will Vinton, who made the feature film "The Adventures Of Mark Twain" back in the mid 1980's.
"Mad Monster Party?" definitely deserves more love and recognition; nostalgia aside, it's a genuinely funny movie with an ever-so-slightly more adult vibe thanks to MAD alumni Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis. I'm positive it must have had an influence on "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Hotel Transylvania", and here's hoping it gets discovered by even more people (besides us monster-kid weirdos)!
The Hobbit is my favorite, as it introduced me to Tolkien (my favorite writer) and it's truer to the book than the live action movies. Rudolph is a close second, as I watch it every Christmas. Big fan of The Flight of Dragons and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town as well.
