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
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
- The Year Without a Santa Claus
- Frosty the Snowman
- The Little Drummer Boy
- Jack Frost
- The Stingiest Man in Town
- Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
- Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
- Pinocchio’s Christmas
- The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
- Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July
- ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
- Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
- The Little Drummer Boy Book II
- Cricket on the Hearth
- 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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