Tuesday, December 19, 2017

'Toon Reviews 10: Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials Part 18: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus


The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus


Original Airdate: December 17, 1985
Airs annually on AMC's Best Christmas Ever
Available on an internet-exclusive DVD set
We’re nearing the end of our look at Rankin/Bass’ Christmas specials, with this particular one being their final stop-motion work.  For this event, they’ve opted to do another interpretation of the origins of Santa Claus, this time based on a book by The Wizard of Oz author, L. Frank Baum.  While not as memorable or immersive as their first Santa origin story, its creative set-up and thought-provoking moments make it a pretty dang good way to mark the end of an era.
The main premise of this special touches upon an element of Santa Claus that is rarely talked about.  I’m sure all people who celebrate Christmas have been told about him in their early years in life, but all those people come from very different generations, centuries even.  The point is that the presentation of the Santa Claus legend makes it seem like he’s able to live as long as the Earth itself. That's hard to believe because he’s portrayed as a human.  The story touches upon this idea by having it told in flashback form. There's a framing device of immortals from the Forest of Burzee discussing with the Great Ak on whether or not Santa Claus should be given immortality.  The time is what’s said to be his final Christmas Eve sleigh ride.  Through the Great Ak explaining why Santa deserves this rare gift, the creative aspects of his upbringings unfold significantly.  Named Claus, he grows up in Burzee amongst many creatively designed nymphs, gods, and other immortal beings with a lioness named Shiegra as his animal guide. This is an interesting background for the famous holiday figure, and one most people wouldn’t expect.  Many of the inhabitants of Burzee leave their own memorable impressions. The most noteworthy ones are the Great Ak as a good, wise leader, Necile, the motherly nymph, and Tingler, who provides a lot of comedy through his versatile use of language.  Also, their care for Claus leads to something bigger later.  When he’s old enough, the Great Ak takes him around the world to show that the mortal world is crueler than where Claus was brought up.  It’s a little too pessimistic since, while the cruel things Claus sees exist in real life, there can be good parts to the mortal world too. This is something the special never addresses.  That said, since the bad parts Claus sees are believable, his goals later in life have all the substance they need to exist.  As interesting as this interpretation of Claus’ early life is, it can be difficult to take this seriously as an origin story for Santa.  A lush, green enchanted forest with fantasy creatures like nymphs and fairies just doesn’t fit into what many would think of the famous holiday icon.  It would be a better fit for an origin story on an original character, but not really for Santa Claus, at least at first. 
Fortunately, when Claus leaves Burzee and goes out into the mortal world with Tingler and Shiegra, the goals he forms are more suitable for what we associate with Santa Claus today.  When living amongst mortals, Claus does what he can to bring happiness to them. Eventually he discovers they get the most happiness when he makes toys and leaves them for children as a morning surprise.  This is an interesting way to develop the meaning behind the trade he’s now known for.  It takes its time to come together and show the happiness the children feel when receiving his first toy via an upbeat musical number.  The rest of the special shows Claus expanding on his new toy-making goals, even continually inventing new ones, and stopping at nothing to get them to children everywhere.  The latter point to his actions is especially apparent when he’s constantly thwarted by Awgwas, creatures who influence children to do bad things.  Even when they keep stealing Claus’ toys to keep children from being good, Claus just keeps going out to share his happiness in spite of the Awgwas’ threats. However, they keep winning in the encounters and steal more toys.  What’s more, it’s the Great Ak and the immortals of Burzee that ultimately defeat the Awgwas in a war.  The sequence features some exciting and well-crafted scenes of the immortals taking out each of the Awgwas. At the same time, it makes the antagonists look dumb for waging war against immortals, i.e. beings who can never be destroyed.  Plus, it’s disappointing that Claus himself is ultimately proven too weak to stop the Awgwas since he has to rely on others to take care of them. I suppose it does show how weak he is as a mortal man compared to other immortals, making us want him to get immortality in the present.  Anyway, following the Awgwas’ defeat, we get a sequence of Claus setting up more of his customs of his traditional rides with the help of the immortals. They include using reindeer to help (which leap really high instead of fly), going down chimneys, putting gifts in stockings, and only going out on Christmas Eve.  It’s disappointing that these customs feel tacked on to shape Claus as we know him, unlike how they were woven into the narrative creatively in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Thankfully, it is nice that they’re followed up on with the world declaring Claus a saint, granting him the title of Santa Claus.  Even nicer, beautiful even, is that by the end of the story, as Claus starts decorating a tree as a memorial of himself, all immortals agree that he does deserve immortality.  They preserve Santa Claus and his push for goodness in the world for all time.  Basically, everything we saw of Santa’s origins makes the final scene truly impactful.
It may be hard to view this as a genuine Santa Claus-related story and some parts could’ve been done better. In the end, this special’s strengths are incredibly strong with its themes of the importance of spreading happiness. There's also a believable build-up to Santa Claus’ goals and identity, and creativity with the immortals’ designs and powers.  It overall leaves a commendable impression as Rankin/Bass’ final stop-motion special.
Highly Recommended

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. Jack Frost
  7. The Stingiest Man in Town
  8. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
  9. Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
  10. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
  11. Pinocchio’s Christmas
  12. The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
  13. Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July
  14.  ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
  15. Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
  16. The Little Drummer Boy Book II
  17. Cricket on the Hearth
  18. The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold
This may be Rankin/Bass' last stop-motion special, but stay tuned for the review on their last Christmas special in general, as well as their most unknown work, Santa, Baby!
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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