Tuesday, December 12, 2017

'Toon Reviews 10: Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials Part 11: The Little Drummer Boy Book II


The Little Drummer Boy Book II


Told by Greer Garson
Original Airdate: December 13, 1976

Airs annually on AMC's Best Christmas Ever


Available on an internet-exclusive DVD set





Of all the specials Rankin/Bass decided to make sequels to, it’s hard to believe that The Little Drummer Boy would be one of them. The first special pretty much ended perfectly.  Jesus is born, Aaron is over his hatred of humanity, and there’s peace and goodwill on Earth.  This sequel still makes a good attempt to continue where the first special left off, quite literally, and it brings about something fine, but overall unspectacular. 
It’s basically a standard adventure tying into Jesus’ birth. Aaron joins one of the wise men, Melchior, to inform a man named Simeon of the newborn king, so he can use special silver bells to spread the word.  However, the bells are stolen by Roman tax collectors led by a man named Brutus, and now they all have to rescue them.  It’s a basic story idea in concept, and in execution, it’s mostly uneventful.  A big reason for this is how uninteresting the characters we follow are.  Melchior is just a wise character who follows along on the plan, though to be fair he does a lot more here than in the first special. Simeon has a somewhat engaging motive to use the bells to confirm his ridiculed prophesy of Jesus’ birth, but he’s just as uninteresting throughout the actual plot.  Then there’s Aaron himself.  He had a lot of depth in the first special regarding his deep hatred of humans following a traumatic experience at a young age. Since this is whole story is right after he receives enlightenment from playing his drum for Jesus, what made him engaging is no longer present.  There’s little that can be done with Aaron’s character at this point. He’s a standard little boy going along with these older men on the bell rescue mission with no prominent character traits for the audience to latch onto.  Even the rescue of the bells doesn’t have much to it.  They go to the tax collectors’ camp. Aaron tries to distract them with a drum performance. His animal friends sneak the bells out when no one’s looking. They all hide the bells. The tax collectors leave. The bells are safe.  Everything plays out as one would expect for the whole runtime and nothing stands out, making the rescue of the bells far too easy and anticlimactic. 
That said, there are at least a few memorable moments.  Brutus is an entertaining antagonist as he stops at nothing to get money for the emperor in an entertainingly energetic manner.  At the same time, he pities the world for being turned greedy by the existence of money and how people can’t simply get what they want by trading anymore. It's all shown through one of the most show-stopping musical numbers in a Rankin/Bass special, “Money, Money, Money.”  Basically, Brutus is easily the most interesting character in this special for his complexities on money and an interesting foil to Ben Haramed, a common greedy knave, from the first special.  There’s also some drama during the rescue mission. Just before Aaron’s animal friends sneak out the bells, the tax collectors take his drum and burn it to make a fire meant to melt the bells.  It’s this point where it’s easy to feel for Aaron the most.  Not only does the drum have major value for him since he used it to play for Jesus, but it’s the only thing he has left of his deceased parents.  To see it flat out destroyed during the rescue mission is one thing hard to expect going into the special.  For what it stood for, of course Aaron is broken up by the loss.  Though the issue is solved a bit too easily when he accepts a new drum from Simeon at the end of the special.  At least it’s still something impactful to remember.  Plus, when the bells are finally set up, the scene of people being led to Bethlehem to the song, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is well constructed.  Many moments fit the lyrics perfectly and make for a strong finale.  The story is mostly unimpressive, but there are still enough good parts to it to make it worth watching.


Since the first special didn’t have much to continue, this sequel is among the weaker Rankin/Bass specials with an all-too basic cast and no interesting quirks to the story.  However, it’s made decent by an entertaining antagonist with an awesome song, and some good emotional and inspiring moments. If you’re a Little Drummer Boy fan, even if you most likely won’t like it as much as the first special, this is worth seeing out of interest.

Worth a Look




The Ranking
  1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
  2. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
  3. The Year Without a Santa Claus
  4. Frosty the Snowman
  5. The Little Drummer Boy
  6. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
  7. The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
  8. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
  9. Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
  10. The Little Drummer Boy Book II
  11. Cricket on the Hearth

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next special, which is another religious-based Christmas special, and an original one at that, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.


If you would like to check out other Rankin/Bass special reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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