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A look at Rankin-Bass’ Santa Claus Trilogy

Posted in Christmas, holiday, nostalgia, Rankin/Bass, Santa Claus, TV shows with tags Christmas, pop culture, Rankin-Bass, TV shows on December 13, 2012 by Paxton

It’s Christmas time. Time to start watching all of my favorite Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, Elf, White Christmas) and Christmas specials (Rankin-Bass, Mickey’s Christmas Carol). Probably my most favorite things to watch this time of year are the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials from the ’70s. More specifically, I love to watch the specials informally called (mostly by me) the Santa Claus Trilogy. This trilogy tells the origins of Santa Claus and his adventures in delivering toys. The main character is Santa and he’s voiced by Mickey Rooney in all three specials.

The three specials that make up this loose “Santa Claus Trilogy” are:

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970) – Narrator SD “Special Delivery” Kluger answers questions about the early adventures of Santa Claus. We see a young Kris Kringle clash with Burgermeister Meisterburger, win over the evil Winter Warlock and start delivering toys to good little boys and girls. This special is great because we actually get to see the origins of Santa Claus and how he came to be, including many of the traditions of Christmas like hanging stockings and Santa coming down the chimney. It’s very well done and the music is awesome. Some of the great characters include Kris Kringle/Santa, the Winter Warlock who I feel should have been used more, especially in the followup specials, and, of course, the awesomely bad Burgermeister Meisterburger. You just can’t do it much better than Rankin-Bass did it in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. But you can do it worse. Check out this stop motion music video of Justin Bieber singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town featuring characters from the special. Awful. Just, awful.

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) – Santa has been doing his job for a long time. He wakes up with a cold and starts to complain that no one has the Christmas spirit anymore. So, Santa just decides to quit. It’s up to elves Jingle and Jangle and the reindeer Vixen to find people that still care about Christmas, all while trying to avoid the quarreling Miser Brothers. Here we get even more great songs and characters, most especially we are introduced to Heat and Snow, the infamous Miser Brothers. Their quarreling and antics are the highlight of the special. I’m still not sure why Winter Warlock did not make an appearance in this special. Even a cameo would have been sufficient. He was one of my favorites from the previous special and they didn’t even use him. Unfortunately, in 2006, there was a live-action remake of this starring John Goodman and Delta Burke with Harvey Firestein and Michael McKean as the Miser Brothers. It nearly destroyed all the goodwill I had for the movie. It still airs from time to time on ABC’s 25 Days of Christmas.

A Miser Brothers’ Christmas (2008) – The North Wind sabotages Santa’s sleigh causing him to hurt his back and requiring someone to take over the job on Christmas. Since apparently Mother Nature is in charge of Santa’s job, she assigns the Miser Brothers to take over Christmas, much to the chagrin of The North Wind. However, the North Wind continues to manipulate the Miser Brothers so they will fail and Mother Nature will put him in charge. For this special Mickey Rooney returned to voice Santa and George S Irving returned to voice Heat Miser. Both actors were over 84 years old at the time of recording. Dick Shawn (Snow Miser) and Shirley Booth (Mrs Claus) didn’t return because they had died before the show went into production.

The first two specials have been favorites of mine since I was a child. I loved those stories and the characters within. Many people prefer the iconic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which I love dearly, but the first two specials above are my absolute favorites. While many deride the third special, it actually wasn’t that bad. The music was good and I, for one, enjoyed seeing the Miser Brothers back on TV. Was it the same? No, but it had enough of a nostalgia factor that I enjoyed it.

Miser Brothers

If you check out the schedule at ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas, you can see when these specials are playing. As of now the first two specials will run this Friday night. However, they will inexplicably run out of order. The Year Without Santa Claus will air first at 7pm EST and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town will air at 8pm EST. Not sure why they did that.

The third special, A Miser Brothers’ Christmas, will air on Saturday at 10:30am EST. However, all three specials are airing multiple times so if you miss this weekend’s showing you have multiple opportunities to see them before Christmas day.

So that’s the Rankin-Bass Santa Claus Trilogy. I thought this would be a good time to talk about these specials because I have several other things coming up in the next week pertaining to them. So this is sort of a primer for you to get out there and watch them. Starting on Tuesday’s episode of Nerd Lunch we will actually create our own Christmas special using characters from not only the Rankin-Bass specials, but ALL Christmas specials. EVER. And it actually turns out pretty good. Check back on Tuesday to hear that episode with special guest Digio from The Atomic Geeks.

After that, I’m going to pitch to you my idea for a fourth special in this franchise. So stay tuned.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: It’s HALLOWEEN, baby!

Posted in Halloween with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, Halloween, holiday on October 31, 2012 by Paxton

It is time. What I and everyone at Countdown to Halloween have been building up to all month.

Today is Halloween.

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has had a fun month. I’ve enjoyed following the blogs on the countdown and reading along with everyone else. It’s been another blast this year. In fact, I’m already in the planning stages for AWESOME-tober-fest 2013. Hope you’ve had a great holiday. And remember to check out the Countdown to Halloween blog for the final day of Halloween!

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: Finishing up The Astounding Wolf-Man

Posted in comic books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, werewolf, werewolves, Wolf Man with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, Halloween, holiday, werewolf, werewolves, Wolf Man on October 30, 2012 by Paxton

Since this final week of AWESOME-tober-fest is a short week, I’m straying from the movie maniac theme and doing updates to previous Halloween reviews. Yesterday I reviewed the final book in The Strain trilogy which I had previously reviewed the first two books last year. Today, I’m going to talk about the comic series The Astounding Wolf-Man.

Two years ago for AWESOME-tober-fest 2010, I reviewed the first 18 issues of the comic that were collected in Volumes 1-3 of the trade paperbacks. The final fourth volume collecting issues 19-25 had yet to be released. However, I acquired the final collection earlier this year and read the concluding story.

The last and concluding story arc was called Legacy. It’s a five-parter that takes place in issues #21-25. So much happens in this concluding story. Seriously, it’s packed with a lot of action. We see the main character reunited with his daughter, we see the end game of the Elder Wolf’s plans and we see the final confrontation between Wolf-Man and Zachariah (which is awesome, btw).

astoundingwolf-man21 astoundingwolf-man22 astoundingwolf-man23

In short, I loved this series. So many great characters written so well. Kirkman really does a great job with so many characters to juggle. It was actually this series that led me to Kirkman and had me checking out his other work like Invincible, The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies. But that’s only half of the whole. Jason Howard’s amazingly dynamic art really sells it. I love the dynamics of Howard’s action and how he designs the look and feel of the universe. Plus, his 2 page action spreads are breathtaking. It really adds a lot of character to the story.

Speaking of characters, several of them are standouts. Gary Hampton/Astounding Wolf-Man is great. Zecariah the vampire is also a great villain. The Elder Wolf is BAD ASS. And in this final run of issues, we really see some good character work with Mecha-Maid. I really enjoyed her character and I want to see more of her. You can see her in the second comic cover above. Btw, that scene on the cover never happens. But it’s a great cover, nonetheless.

Anyway, like I said, I want to see more of these Astounding Wolf-Man characters. I think he and Mecha Maid may pop up from time to time in Kirkman’s Invincible, but I want to see more. This series was just too much fun not to continue. However, like I said, as of today, issue #25 was the final issue.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: Review of the final book in Guillermo Del Toro’s Strain Trilogy

Posted in Halloween, holiday with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, Book Report, books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, reviews, vampires on October 29, 2012 by Paxton

This is the final week of AWESOME-tober-fest 2012. And it’s a half week, as Halloween is on Wednesday. I’m sad to see it all end. So, since we are on a short week this week, I’m going to stray from the movie maniac theme today and tomorrow and do a couple of updates to previous AWESOME-tober-fest entries.

Last year for AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, I reviewed the first two books in The Strain trilogy by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I said they were very good vampire novels which made the concept of the vampire scary again. As of that writing, the third book wasn’t released yet. I was going to wait until paperback, but earlier this year I was able to find the third book in hardback at a used library sale for less than $2, so I picked it up. And as of now, I have read the final book in the Strain trilogy, The Night Eternal.

So, the story picks up a few months after the second book. The Master has destroyed the other Ancients and the world has been overtaken by his vampire horde. It’s pretty dark stuff. Society is in shambles. Abraham is dead. The world is covered in a thick cloud cover that only allows about an hour or two of sunlight each day. There’s constant acid rain. Blood farms are setup to harvest blood for the ruling vampires. As long as you are obedient, you aren’t sent to these farms. Vampires are also breeding people on these farms in order to create more people. It’s pretty horrific post-apocalyptic stuff.

So our group of heroes must regroup after The Master’s destruction of the Ancients and the vampire usurping of society, with the help of a vampire that was created by the Master many centuries ago, and take down the ruling vampires and restore humans as the dominant life form.

I thought the second book was dark, but this book is darker. We learn more of the Master’s plans, and it’s very interesting to see how society has adapted to the new vampire rule. It’s also interesting to see our heroes coming back together after a few dismal months of vampire rule and, essentially, a losing battle. The action is good and Chuck Hogan’s writing style is dark and brutal. The finishing arc for our heroes is great and really feels like they aren’t going to make it at times. Plus, we learn some very interesting information about the formation of the Ancients as well as The Master himself. Honestly, I didn’t see it coming, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trilogy. It’s was dark and hard to read in spots mainly due to the situations presented. But the journey was worth it and I really felt like the authors earned their ending.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: A review of the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot

Posted in Halloween, holiday, Leatherface, movies, pop culture, Texas Chainsaw Massacre with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, Halloween, holiday, Leatherface, movies, pop culture, reviews, Texas Chainsaw Massacre on October 26, 2012 by Paxton

In 2003, Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes released a “reboot” of the 70s classic horror movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The movie was co-produced by Tobe Hooper, the director of the original movie. It was directed by Marcus Nispel and starred Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour and Erica Leerhsen.

I’ve heard mostly good things about this reboot. However Rotten Tomatoes gives it less than 40%. I re-watched it recently for this review and I still say I enjoy it. I thought the set design and the tone of the film were perfect. Everything seemed grungy and dirty. The Chainsaw family were fairly creepy and scary. The house they lived in was horrifying. I just loved the “look and feel” of this movie.

As for the cast, they were okay. Easily the standouts were Jessica Biel as Erin and R Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt. But Mike Vogel as Morgan was good as well. Not only did Biel look pretty hot in her midriff showing top, but she actually believably played her character. And Ermey was wickedly dark and funny as the sheriff. The scene in which he wraps up a dead body’s head in cellophane in the back of the van is amazing. As is his interrogation of the character Morgan in the van about said dead girl. It’s intense as hell and totally envelops you in the scene. Really well done.

Leatherface

Other things I liked about this movie, they got John Larroquette to return to do the bookend voice overs. I thought that was a nice touch. He delivered the prologue and epilogue very nicely. I enjoyed Leatherface. He was only a small part of the movie, but he was pretty good. Not the star of the show, but he wasn’t really the star of the original either. I like that you see some of the underbelly of the house. You can see where they store some of the “meat” as well as you can watch Leatherface prep a victim for skinning.

One thing I didn’t like? In one scene you get a glimpse of Harry Knowles’ head on Leatherface’s workbench. Not a big deal if you don’t know who he is, but if you do, it sticks out like a sore thumb and completely brings you out of the movie. Terrible choice by the filmakers. TERRIBLE.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this remake. I thought they modernized parts of the movie while still keeping a nice look and feel. It’s definitely a modern version of the 70s “look and feel”, but I enjoyed it. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the original 70s Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, so it’s probably no surprise that I was willing to accept this movie as it is.

Give it a shot, if you are open minded about it, I think you’ll like it.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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