drawkcabi Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Every year we are treated to a variety of Christmas and Holiday specials that let us remember how much we enjoyed them as kids. They're sappy syrupy sweet to be sure, but what the hey? Sometimes it's ok to just let the feelgoods fall over us for a half hour or so and give cynicism a break. The only thing is every year it seems the same ones are offered up over and over and over: A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Simpsons' Christmas Special, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph Santa, Little Dummer Boy, Jack Frost, the Misers and the rest of the Rankin/Bass entries... all excellent all endearing but do we really want to watch the same exact ones every year? If yes, that's fine but if you're looking to go a little off the beaten track, to stroll down memory lane just for yourself or to share with your own kids, nieces, and nephews, etc....here are my recommendations for the best that just don't get as much love as they should: Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (This was from 1979 and it's not one of those old animation retreads with new animation bookends, the animation was created all new for the special. Not only that but Friz Freleng produced and directed the Bugs Bunny sequences AND Chuck Jones did an all new Road Runner and Coyote short for it.) Raggedy Ann & Andy in the Great Santa Claus Caper A Very Merry Cricket A Garfield Christmas Special Ziggy's Gift The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas A Wish For Wings That Work (Opus the Penguin) Casper's First Christmas (Remember the movie Yogi's First Christmas? This special kinda takes off from that, Yogi - I guess this is his second Christmas now - and the gang meet Casper the Friendly Ghost and its now Casper's turn to celebrate the holiday for the first time.) Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper (The Avengers have nothing on Hanna-Barbera when it comes to team ups! But the Avengers have time travel! Well something needs to explain how Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble made it into this special.) Pink Panther in "A Pink Christmas" A Family Circus Christmas The Smurfs' Christmas Special A Chipmunk Christmas Twas the Night Before Christmas The Tiny Tree Christmas Comes To Pacland The Star Wars Holiday Special Last but very far from least, you can't have Christmas without The Muppets...well you can, but you shouldn't...and they have done quite a few specials, the best ones are: A Muppet Family Christmas John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Always been curious, is ‘A Christmas Carol’ as widely played in the US as UK? Not the Muppet version, but the many, many, many filmed versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cas Stark Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 45 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said: Always been curious, is ‘A Christmas Carol’ as widely played in the US as UK? Not the Muppet version, but the many, many, many filmed versions. I don't know if it is 'as' widely played in the US and UK, but they have already been showing the Patrick Stewart and the 1953 classic version as well as the [not very good] Bill Murray version so I'd say yes, the various iterations do get a good amount of play during the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted December 7, 2019 Author Share Posted December 7, 2019 1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said: Always been curious, is ‘A Christmas Carol’ as widely played in the US as UK? Not the Muppet version, but the many, many, many filmed versions. I don't know how much it's played in the UK but every Christmas I see versions of it (Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott, Alastair Sim) popping up on TV a bunch. Maybe not as much as A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, and It's a Wonderful Life, but quite a bit nonetheless. Also, I suppose because the story is in the public domain everybody does a version of it, Mickey Mouse, Muppets, Mr. Magoo, etc. @Cas Stark I really like the Bill Murray Scrooged movie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 I really like the Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott, and Mickey Mouse versions of A Christmas Carol (not sure I'm familiar with the Alistair Sim version?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Located on Christmas Eve, one of my favorite television episodes from the old Granada 1984 - 1994 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series featuring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock (still hands down the best Sherlock ever), is the Christmas episode, "The Blue Carbuncle." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0506446/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 16 hours ago, Cas Stark said: I don't know if it is 'as' widely played in the US and UK, but they have already been showing the Patrick Stewart and the 1953 classic version as well as the [not very good] Bill Murray version so I'd say yes, the various iterations do get a good amount of play during the season. 15 hours ago, drawkcabi said: I don't know how much it's played in the UK but every Christmas I see versions of it (Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott, Alastair Sim) popping up on TV a bunch. Maybe not as much as A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, and It's a Wonderful Life, but quite a bit nonetheless. Also, I suppose because the story is in the public domain everybody does a version of it, Mickey Mouse, Muppets, Mr. Magoo, etc. @Cas Stark I really like the Bill Murray Scrooged movie! Ah, i see. Seems like we also get different versions taking the prime play slot. My favourite though has to be the Albert Finney version Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Caught the second half of Blackadder's Christmas Carol on telly last night. That's my favourite festive special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Here's one from Hallmark, the whole movies on Youtube. It's Dolly Partons Smoky Mountain Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Pesci Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Gotta put A Flintstone's Christmas Carol on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Christmas Specials don't do anything for me, but I do have a deep delight in regular television series or films that have the Christmas season as a backdrop, though the focus isn't on Christmas per se. Which may be why Love Actually remains such a holiday favorite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted December 9, 2019 Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 6 hours ago, Zorral said: Christmas Specials don't do anything for me, but I do have a deep delight in regular television series or films that have the Christmas season as a backdrop, though the focus isn't on Christmas per se. Which may be why Love Actually remains such a holiday favorite? A new series just dropped on Netflix, Happy Merry Whatever, starring Dennis Quaid. I watched the first episode and thought it was...cute. If you can get past that it's done as an old school sitcom, multi-camera, laugh track etc. It's basically Tim Allen's show Last Man Standing but the entire series is set during the holiday season. Quaid pulls off the kind of Tim Allen-type character more palatable though imo, mainly because he's not as insufferable as Tim Allen is in his show. He thinks he's always right, but the show gives even measures to him being right or wrong and it's more about the in-laws who have married or are marrying in the family sticking together like a support group kind of out of necessity against "the family" that when all together acts as a collective force. I plan on watching more of it. ...and I wrote more about that show than I thought I would... I love Love Actually. Great movie! Also, Scrooged, Hook, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Reindeer Games (don't judge), Home Alone, Gremlins, Better Off Dead, Christmas Vacation, Trading Places, Dutch, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (though the last two are set at Thanksgiving, still nice to watch any time during the season) and a bunch more I know I'm forgetting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valandil Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 A Christmassy Ted /thread closed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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