What classics did you see last week ? (9 Dec - 15 Dec 2018)
Dec 16, 2018 12:54:55 GMT
teleadm, petrolino, and 3 more like this
Post by claudius on Dec 16, 2018 12:54:55 GMT
If there is a Zetes, my apologies for years before.
A Christmas Story (1983) 35TH ANNIVERSARY this year. There has been much written about Bob Clark’s adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s nostalgia stories that I see it unnecessary to give any further information. I watched this on an MGM/UA VHS, which allows me to view the ending credits playing Carl Zitter-Paul Zaza’s lovely instrumental for “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” a scene not included in the TBS/TNT annual Christmas Day 24-hour marathon.
DARK SHADOWS (1968) Episodes 641-645 50TH ANNIVERSARY David and Amy meet the (at present unseen) Ghost of Quentin Collins (his theme makes its intro in this series, already been introduced in Curtis' THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE). MPI Video DVD.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1978) “Eric Idle/Kate Bush” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. Sketches include the bloodbath known as The French Chef (Dan Akroyd as Julia Child cutting herself) and Idle as Prince Charles living with ‘The Woman He Loved.” Universal DVD.
Rocko’s Modern Christmas or You Can’t Squeeze Cheer Out of a Cheeze Yulelog (1994) Rocko the wallaby tries to enjoy Christmas despite the lack of snow (the cloud seem to have some…problems) and the machinations of Mr. Bighead (one of Charles Adler’s many roles in this series). Shout Factory DVD.
Upstairs Downstairs (1973) “Goodwill to All Men” This is the Centennial of the first Christmas after WW1, and this Third Season episode is about the last Christmas before it happened. It is Christmas 1913, and Richard Bellamy and his servants are visited by Georgina Worsley, stepdaughter of the family’s late Southwold lord (he and his sister, Richard’s wife Marjorie, died in the Titanic disaster). The girl befriends the new maid Daisy; together the two decide to visit the latter’s impoverished family with food ‘borrowed’ from the house’s Christmas desserts: reality hits their adventure hard in this last holiday of relatively World Peace. This episode introduced Georgina (Lesley Anne Down) replacing last season’s star Nicola Paget (as the Bellamy daughter Elizabeth). She will be a regular for the remainder of the series’ run. Acorn Media DVD.
The Life and Times of Jesus (1993) “The First Christmas” 25TH ANNIVERSARY this year. The first episode of Cine-Mundo Inc./USA News’ Three part documentary on Jesus. Scholars and historians examine the origins and accuracy of the Infancy Narratives of Luke and Matthew. Was Jesus really born in Nazareth and not in Bethelehem? Is the Virgin Birth based on a mistranslation of Isaiah? Was the star a conjunction of planets? Narrated by Armand Assante with Betty Buckley quoting the Bible, with paintings, sculptures, and location footage giving the visual aspect. A perennial for 22 years, this viewing comes from a recorded VHS broadcast in December 1996 on The Learning Channel (before it became a Reality-TV channel).
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966) I watched the Chuck Jones/Boris Karloff Animated Classic on a 1987 VHS recording (which edits part of the ‘You’re a Mean One’ song) of what must have been one of its final broadcasts on CBS (before Turner took the rights for its TNT and TBS broadcasts). Commercials include an announcement by make-up-free Michael Dorn (right at the beginning of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION).
SUPERMAN (1988) “The Last Time I Saw Earth/It’s Superman!” The series finale of this one-season work (the next Animated version won’t be until THE ANIMATED SERIES in 1996). The B Story features Superman’s first appearance. Warner DVD.
FRIENDS (1998) "The One With Ross' Sandwich" 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Netflix.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1993) “Santa Claus” 25TH ANNIVERSARY this Month. Mike Nelson and the robots Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo are forced to watch a 1959 Mexican production of the Yuletide toymaker and his battle with Lucifer, emphasized by his minion Pitch. If you think that’s weird enough, include mechanized reindeers, a toy shop composed of children from stereotype-portrayed nationalities and a heavy religious slant. I never really warmed over to Mike Nelson when he replaced Joel Hodgson; I felt a decline in quality in the episodes under his era. But this entry is one of the few I liked. Bootleg DVD.
The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold (1981) On Christmas Eve, a cabin boy comes to an island to pick up an Evergreen for his ship’s Christmas celebration; his endeavor finds him Gold, Leprechauns, and a Banshee. Leprechaun was the penultimate Rankin-Bass Animagic special (concluding with Life Adventures of Santa Claus in 1985). It is the production’s swansong to regular writer Romeo Muller and songwriters Laws and Bass (although this production uses the song “Christmas in Kilarney”). Warner VHS.
A Christmas Carol (1971) 175TH CHRISTMAS CAROL ANNIVERSARY. Produced by Chuck Jones but created by Richard Williams, some would call this animated short subject the definitive animated version of the Dickens’ tale. Narrated by Michael Redgrave, with Alistair Sims and Michael Hordern vocally reprising their roles from the 1951 version. Viewed on GEM DVD.
JANE EYRE (1983) “Episode Ten.” 35TH ANNIVERSARY Warner/BBC Video DVD.
EDWARD AND MRS. SIMPSON (1978) “Proposals” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. David tries everything to keep the throne and Wallis. A & E Video DVD.
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978) 40TH ANNIVERSARY. I attempted to watch the original version on DVD, but the disc kept sticking. So I watched a VHS recording of what must have been its Widescreen Format TV premiere on American Movie Classics (which I recorded overnight) in 2000, one of Bob Dorian’s final intro/outro. I also viewed the Television Extended cut on BluRay.
Saturday Night Live (1977) “Miskel Spilman/Elvis Costello” 80-year-old grandmother Miskel Spilman wins a contest to be host of SNL. Elvis Costello makes his infamous change of song. Universal DVD.
The Nutcracker (1977) Mikhail Baryshnikov’s television production of the Tchiakovsky ballet with then-girlfriend Gelsey Kirkland as Clara. The shortest of the three Nutcrackers ballets in my viewing (several pieces were shortened, and the “Arabian Dance” omitted), it is probably the most popular of the three. A Christmas perennial for 28 years. Kultur DVD.
The Box of Delights (1984) Episode 3 “In Darkest Cellars Underneath” Kay Harker learns more about Abner’s plans to get the Box of Delights with the help of his Sylvia Pouncer (played by Robert Stephen’s wife Patricia Quinn, the character is mentioned as Kay’s former governess, according to John Masefield’s The Midnight Folk). As the day goes by, people start missing from Kay’s governess to his guest the feisty, air-gun-totting Mariah Jones. Kay has to use the Box’s magic to avoid going missing too. BBC PAL DVD.
Simple Gifts: Six Tales of Christmas (1978). Broadcast on PBS (the video includes a 1970s caption of the station), Simple Gifts deals with six (actually seven) differently-animated tales involving the season, all involving- as host Colleen Dewhurst attests- gifts given, received, or unfulfilled (with the narrations of Jose Ferrer, Hermoine Gingold, and David Jones). The Maurice Sendak intro presents an impoverished and freezing child who transforms into a Christmas Tree to help fellow children in similar problems. The first tale is “A Memory of Christmas” based on Moss Hart’s autobiography Act One (itself a film starring George Hamilton). Portrayed as a series of photograph stills animated by dissolves, it tells the story of a father and son exploring the Christmas gift carts on the marketplace, unable to buy anything and even more unable to recognize the more important gift they could give to each other. The second tale is “Lost and Found” based on Fontaine Fox’s early-20th century comic strip Toonerville Trolley, dealing with a henpecked husband and father (voiced by Paul Dooley) and his role in Christmas. The third tale is the Seymour Chwast-drawn “The Great Frost” from Virgina Woolf’s Orlando, where the title character has a bittersweet romance with a feisty Russian visitor. Tale Four is the brief “My Christmas;” Charles B. Stackman illustrates the diary entry of 11-year-old Theodore Roosevelt’s Yuletide recollections in Rome, Italy. The fifth tale is James McMullan-illustrated “December 25, 1914: A Letter from the Western front by Captain Sir Edward Hulce” relating his experience of the Christmas Truce (with a bittersweet disclaimer). The sixth and final tale Is R.O. Beechman’s “No Room in the Inn,” about the Holy Family being shunned, accepted, patronized, and then shunned again by the Bethlehem residents. A perennial since 2009 (I first saw parts of this on PBS in December 1995), this viewing comes from a PBS Home Video VHS.
Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan- Daddy Long Legs (1990) “Our Christmas.” Judy (an orphan supported by a mysterious benefactor she has nicknamed “Daddy Long Legs”) and her school roommate Sally plan to celebrate Christmas with the latter’s brother Robbie. Hearing this, their spoiled roommate Julia invites herself to the proceedings (despite the objections of her mother, who wishes her to spend Christmas in New York as a Debutante). All three spend their free time knitting scarfs to give to Robbie, with the usually catered Julia struggling to make one. Although she is successful, her plans turn to disappointment. Based on Jean Webster’s book, this Japanese Animated series is part of the World Masterpiece Theater, a series that broadcasts serial adaptations of a Western Literature novel or story. Although this adaptation takes some liberties, setting it to the 1920s and de-aging the characters (including Jarvis Pendelton), unlike the 1955 Fred Astaire-Leslie Caron adaptation, it keeps the identity of the titled character secret until the end (although this episode reveals a clue to the truth). Saw this on a Chinese import DVD with flawed subtitles.
Tattertown (1989) 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Molly and her doll Miss Muffet end up in Tattertown, “the elephant graveyard of unwanted toys” where said toys come to life. The wistful Molly tries to teach the town the holiday of Christmas, but her old doll Moppet- now a volatile tyrant- wants to put a stop to it with her dangerous toys. A failed pilot by Ralph Bakshi, Tattertown is a weird surreal production done in the style of a Max Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon (a secret society member from Bimbo’s Initiation (1931) can be spotted, as well as a waiter from Dizzy Dishes (1930)). I remember one promo say it was from the creators of Mighty Mouse (the controversial 1987 cartoon series), and then a few years later, a new promo ordained it from the makers of Ren and Stimpy. This comes from a gestalt recording (due to an accident in recording Act 2) of a 1992 Nick at Nite (titled “Christmas at Tattertown”) recording and a 1995 ABC recording (retitled “A Tattertown Christmas”).
Saturday Night Live (1982) “Eddie Murphy.” This eight season Christmas episode (hosted by Eddie Murphy replacing Nick Nolte, much to the chagrin of several castmates) consists of “Merry Christmas Dammit!” (a Gumby Christmas special with Joe Piscopo’s Frank Sinatra and Gary Kroeger & Julia Louise Dreyfuss’ Donnie & Marie singing “Blue Christmas” before making out) and “A Christmas Message” (Julia Louise-Dreyfuss’ April May June tells the story of the Nativity before turning it into a rant about crying babies and deadbeat husbands). This comes from the Starmaker’s The Best of Saturday Night Live Hosted by Eddie Murphy VHS, which deletes Lionel Richie’s appearances as well as several sketches.
DRAGON BALL (1988) “Mysterious Man, Shen!” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Funimation DVD.
SCTV (1982) “Christmas Staff Party” The title says it all with John Candy as Johnny LaRue (nearly freezing to death on Street Beef), Doctor Tongue, Divine, and Orson Welles. Eugene Levy as Judd Hirsch. Rick Moranis as Bob McKenzie, Richard Dreyfuss, and Elton John. Dave Thomas as Doug McKenzie, Tex Boil, Liberace, and Michael Caine. Joe Flaherty as Guy Caballero, Alan Alda, and Sammy Maudlin. Andrea Martin as Edith Prickley, Ethel Merman, Edna Boil, and Marsha Mason. Catherine O’Hara as Lola Heatherton, Dusty Towne, and Maggie Smith. Shout Factory DVD.
The Life Adventures of Santa Claus (1985) The final Rankin-Bass Animagic special. Based on L. Frank Baum’s book, this version of the story of Santa Claus takes on darker tones than R-B’s previous work. Here Claus witnesses war, slavery, and poverty, and desires to make something better for the innocents. Viewed on Warner VHS
DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Staring Down the Wall That Must Be Passed! Goku VS Gohan!” VHS Recording.
Frosty the Snowman (1969) The Rankin-Bass classic with Jimmy Durante and Jackie Vernon. Viewed on a VHS of a 1992 CBS broadcast with a promo for the ‘new’ series Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman.
The Avengers (1966) “Too Many Christmas Trees” Something is bothering the usually unflappable John Steed; dealing with a recent leakage of governmental secrets, he is suffering from nightmares involving a creepy Father Christmas and premonitions of things to come (such as the sudden death of a colleague acknowledged of those secrets- from neurological causes). Is it his past catching up with him (“I wouldn’t mind that. That would be fun!”) or is it psychological trauma originating from the revelation that there is actually no Father Christmas? (“Oh no, isn’t there really?”). Emma Peel decides to help his friend by taking him to a Christmas celebration in the country held by a Dickens collector (Melvyn Johns), culminating with a costume party of Dickens characters (Emma is Oliver Twist). What also culminates at the manor is the cause of Steed’s mental problems. Directed by Roy Ward Baker, this episode in the black-and-white Peel season also has an in-joke involving Steed’s previous lady Cathy Gale (“What is she doing in Fort Knox?”). PAL DVD.
DRAGON BALL KAI- THE FINAL CHAPTERS (2014) Video Commentary of “Videl is Worn, Ragged, Gohan’s Anger Reaches Its Limit!” This is a Video Commentary of Kyle Hebert (Gohan), Kara Edwards (Videl), Andrew Chandler (Spopovitch), and writer J. Michael Tatum watching the episode. Funimation BluRay.
The Box of Delights (1984) Episode 4 “The Spider in the Web” Using the box, Kay Harker is able to evade getting scrobbled by Abner Brown’s men. Mariah is returned safe and sound, but other people like Peter Jones and the Bishop of Tarchester cathedral get scrobbled. Kay journeys to the Chester Seminary and learns that Cole Hawling is not as old as he thought he was (or more accurately, not as young as he is supposed to be). PAL DVD.
A Disney Christmas Gift (1982) Disney cobbled this special together with scenes of 1983 Disneyland and shorts and film clips. “Once Upon a Wintertime” (from Melody Time), Peter Pan’s “You Can Fly” number, the Merlin departure/Tournament/Sword drawing scene from The Sword and the Stone (with Wart’s dialogue in the major scene silenced), Donald Duck’s The Clock Watcher, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, the ice scene from Bambi, the “Bibbidi, Babidi, Boo” number from Cinderella (with June Foray adding her own voice to Verna Felton’s), and an edited version of The Night Before Christmas (removing Junior’s Blackface moment and adding footage from Santa’s Workshop). Disney VHS.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998) “Amends” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Something is troubling Angel (more than usual for our tortured vampire with a soul); he is seeing ghosts of his victims, including Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMotte in a role she regretted reprising). Despite reservations, Buffy decides to the get to the bottom of it before Angel either dies or becomes evil again. Beautiful ending. FoxVideo DVD
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2010) “Revenge of the Shadow Clones” Broadcast on Cartoon Network
NARUTO: BORUTO NEXT GENERATION (2017) “The Shadow of the Mastermind.” Broadcast on Cartoon Network
DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Which Universe Will Survive?! The Strongest Universe Warriors Are Coming Together!” English premiere on Cartoon Network
I also viewed parts of MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (1934 Goodtimes Colorized VHS), A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MOVIE (2003 MGM/UA DVD), SANTA CLAUS THE MOVIE (1985 Anchors Bay DVD), the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ from FANTASIA (1941 Disney 1991 VHS), and THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994 Freeform Broadcast).
A Christmas Story (1983) 35TH ANNIVERSARY this year. There has been much written about Bob Clark’s adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s nostalgia stories that I see it unnecessary to give any further information. I watched this on an MGM/UA VHS, which allows me to view the ending credits playing Carl Zitter-Paul Zaza’s lovely instrumental for “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” a scene not included in the TBS/TNT annual Christmas Day 24-hour marathon.
DARK SHADOWS (1968) Episodes 641-645 50TH ANNIVERSARY David and Amy meet the (at present unseen) Ghost of Quentin Collins (his theme makes its intro in this series, already been introduced in Curtis' THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE). MPI Video DVD.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1978) “Eric Idle/Kate Bush” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. Sketches include the bloodbath known as The French Chef (Dan Akroyd as Julia Child cutting herself) and Idle as Prince Charles living with ‘The Woman He Loved.” Universal DVD.
Rocko’s Modern Christmas or You Can’t Squeeze Cheer Out of a Cheeze Yulelog (1994) Rocko the wallaby tries to enjoy Christmas despite the lack of snow (the cloud seem to have some…problems) and the machinations of Mr. Bighead (one of Charles Adler’s many roles in this series). Shout Factory DVD.
Upstairs Downstairs (1973) “Goodwill to All Men” This is the Centennial of the first Christmas after WW1, and this Third Season episode is about the last Christmas before it happened. It is Christmas 1913, and Richard Bellamy and his servants are visited by Georgina Worsley, stepdaughter of the family’s late Southwold lord (he and his sister, Richard’s wife Marjorie, died in the Titanic disaster). The girl befriends the new maid Daisy; together the two decide to visit the latter’s impoverished family with food ‘borrowed’ from the house’s Christmas desserts: reality hits their adventure hard in this last holiday of relatively World Peace. This episode introduced Georgina (Lesley Anne Down) replacing last season’s star Nicola Paget (as the Bellamy daughter Elizabeth). She will be a regular for the remainder of the series’ run. Acorn Media DVD.
The Life and Times of Jesus (1993) “The First Christmas” 25TH ANNIVERSARY this year. The first episode of Cine-Mundo Inc./USA News’ Three part documentary on Jesus. Scholars and historians examine the origins and accuracy of the Infancy Narratives of Luke and Matthew. Was Jesus really born in Nazareth and not in Bethelehem? Is the Virgin Birth based on a mistranslation of Isaiah? Was the star a conjunction of planets? Narrated by Armand Assante with Betty Buckley quoting the Bible, with paintings, sculptures, and location footage giving the visual aspect. A perennial for 22 years, this viewing comes from a recorded VHS broadcast in December 1996 on The Learning Channel (before it became a Reality-TV channel).
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966) I watched the Chuck Jones/Boris Karloff Animated Classic on a 1987 VHS recording (which edits part of the ‘You’re a Mean One’ song) of what must have been one of its final broadcasts on CBS (before Turner took the rights for its TNT and TBS broadcasts). Commercials include an announcement by make-up-free Michael Dorn (right at the beginning of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION).
SUPERMAN (1988) “The Last Time I Saw Earth/It’s Superman!” The series finale of this one-season work (the next Animated version won’t be until THE ANIMATED SERIES in 1996). The B Story features Superman’s first appearance. Warner DVD.
FRIENDS (1998) "The One With Ross' Sandwich" 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Netflix.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1993) “Santa Claus” 25TH ANNIVERSARY this Month. Mike Nelson and the robots Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo are forced to watch a 1959 Mexican production of the Yuletide toymaker and his battle with Lucifer, emphasized by his minion Pitch. If you think that’s weird enough, include mechanized reindeers, a toy shop composed of children from stereotype-portrayed nationalities and a heavy religious slant. I never really warmed over to Mike Nelson when he replaced Joel Hodgson; I felt a decline in quality in the episodes under his era. But this entry is one of the few I liked. Bootleg DVD.
The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold (1981) On Christmas Eve, a cabin boy comes to an island to pick up an Evergreen for his ship’s Christmas celebration; his endeavor finds him Gold, Leprechauns, and a Banshee. Leprechaun was the penultimate Rankin-Bass Animagic special (concluding with Life Adventures of Santa Claus in 1985). It is the production’s swansong to regular writer Romeo Muller and songwriters Laws and Bass (although this production uses the song “Christmas in Kilarney”). Warner VHS.
A Christmas Carol (1971) 175TH CHRISTMAS CAROL ANNIVERSARY. Produced by Chuck Jones but created by Richard Williams, some would call this animated short subject the definitive animated version of the Dickens’ tale. Narrated by Michael Redgrave, with Alistair Sims and Michael Hordern vocally reprising their roles from the 1951 version. Viewed on GEM DVD.
JANE EYRE (1983) “Episode Ten.” 35TH ANNIVERSARY Warner/BBC Video DVD.
EDWARD AND MRS. SIMPSON (1978) “Proposals” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. David tries everything to keep the throne and Wallis. A & E Video DVD.
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978) 40TH ANNIVERSARY. I attempted to watch the original version on DVD, but the disc kept sticking. So I watched a VHS recording of what must have been its Widescreen Format TV premiere on American Movie Classics (which I recorded overnight) in 2000, one of Bob Dorian’s final intro/outro. I also viewed the Television Extended cut on BluRay.
Saturday Night Live (1977) “Miskel Spilman/Elvis Costello” 80-year-old grandmother Miskel Spilman wins a contest to be host of SNL. Elvis Costello makes his infamous change of song. Universal DVD.
The Nutcracker (1977) Mikhail Baryshnikov’s television production of the Tchiakovsky ballet with then-girlfriend Gelsey Kirkland as Clara. The shortest of the three Nutcrackers ballets in my viewing (several pieces were shortened, and the “Arabian Dance” omitted), it is probably the most popular of the three. A Christmas perennial for 28 years. Kultur DVD.
The Box of Delights (1984) Episode 3 “In Darkest Cellars Underneath” Kay Harker learns more about Abner’s plans to get the Box of Delights with the help of his Sylvia Pouncer (played by Robert Stephen’s wife Patricia Quinn, the character is mentioned as Kay’s former governess, according to John Masefield’s The Midnight Folk). As the day goes by, people start missing from Kay’s governess to his guest the feisty, air-gun-totting Mariah Jones. Kay has to use the Box’s magic to avoid going missing too. BBC PAL DVD.
Simple Gifts: Six Tales of Christmas (1978). Broadcast on PBS (the video includes a 1970s caption of the station), Simple Gifts deals with six (actually seven) differently-animated tales involving the season, all involving- as host Colleen Dewhurst attests- gifts given, received, or unfulfilled (with the narrations of Jose Ferrer, Hermoine Gingold, and David Jones). The Maurice Sendak intro presents an impoverished and freezing child who transforms into a Christmas Tree to help fellow children in similar problems. The first tale is “A Memory of Christmas” based on Moss Hart’s autobiography Act One (itself a film starring George Hamilton). Portrayed as a series of photograph stills animated by dissolves, it tells the story of a father and son exploring the Christmas gift carts on the marketplace, unable to buy anything and even more unable to recognize the more important gift they could give to each other. The second tale is “Lost and Found” based on Fontaine Fox’s early-20th century comic strip Toonerville Trolley, dealing with a henpecked husband and father (voiced by Paul Dooley) and his role in Christmas. The third tale is the Seymour Chwast-drawn “The Great Frost” from Virgina Woolf’s Orlando, where the title character has a bittersweet romance with a feisty Russian visitor. Tale Four is the brief “My Christmas;” Charles B. Stackman illustrates the diary entry of 11-year-old Theodore Roosevelt’s Yuletide recollections in Rome, Italy. The fifth tale is James McMullan-illustrated “December 25, 1914: A Letter from the Western front by Captain Sir Edward Hulce” relating his experience of the Christmas Truce (with a bittersweet disclaimer). The sixth and final tale Is R.O. Beechman’s “No Room in the Inn,” about the Holy Family being shunned, accepted, patronized, and then shunned again by the Bethlehem residents. A perennial since 2009 (I first saw parts of this on PBS in December 1995), this viewing comes from a PBS Home Video VHS.
Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan- Daddy Long Legs (1990) “Our Christmas.” Judy (an orphan supported by a mysterious benefactor she has nicknamed “Daddy Long Legs”) and her school roommate Sally plan to celebrate Christmas with the latter’s brother Robbie. Hearing this, their spoiled roommate Julia invites herself to the proceedings (despite the objections of her mother, who wishes her to spend Christmas in New York as a Debutante). All three spend their free time knitting scarfs to give to Robbie, with the usually catered Julia struggling to make one. Although she is successful, her plans turn to disappointment. Based on Jean Webster’s book, this Japanese Animated series is part of the World Masterpiece Theater, a series that broadcasts serial adaptations of a Western Literature novel or story. Although this adaptation takes some liberties, setting it to the 1920s and de-aging the characters (including Jarvis Pendelton), unlike the 1955 Fred Astaire-Leslie Caron adaptation, it keeps the identity of the titled character secret until the end (although this episode reveals a clue to the truth). Saw this on a Chinese import DVD with flawed subtitles.
Tattertown (1989) 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Molly and her doll Miss Muffet end up in Tattertown, “the elephant graveyard of unwanted toys” where said toys come to life. The wistful Molly tries to teach the town the holiday of Christmas, but her old doll Moppet- now a volatile tyrant- wants to put a stop to it with her dangerous toys. A failed pilot by Ralph Bakshi, Tattertown is a weird surreal production done in the style of a Max Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon (a secret society member from Bimbo’s Initiation (1931) can be spotted, as well as a waiter from Dizzy Dishes (1930)). I remember one promo say it was from the creators of Mighty Mouse (the controversial 1987 cartoon series), and then a few years later, a new promo ordained it from the makers of Ren and Stimpy. This comes from a gestalt recording (due to an accident in recording Act 2) of a 1992 Nick at Nite (titled “Christmas at Tattertown”) recording and a 1995 ABC recording (retitled “A Tattertown Christmas”).
Saturday Night Live (1982) “Eddie Murphy.” This eight season Christmas episode (hosted by Eddie Murphy replacing Nick Nolte, much to the chagrin of several castmates) consists of “Merry Christmas Dammit!” (a Gumby Christmas special with Joe Piscopo’s Frank Sinatra and Gary Kroeger & Julia Louise Dreyfuss’ Donnie & Marie singing “Blue Christmas” before making out) and “A Christmas Message” (Julia Louise-Dreyfuss’ April May June tells the story of the Nativity before turning it into a rant about crying babies and deadbeat husbands). This comes from the Starmaker’s The Best of Saturday Night Live Hosted by Eddie Murphy VHS, which deletes Lionel Richie’s appearances as well as several sketches.
DRAGON BALL (1988) “Mysterious Man, Shen!” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Funimation DVD.
SCTV (1982) “Christmas Staff Party” The title says it all with John Candy as Johnny LaRue (nearly freezing to death on Street Beef), Doctor Tongue, Divine, and Orson Welles. Eugene Levy as Judd Hirsch. Rick Moranis as Bob McKenzie, Richard Dreyfuss, and Elton John. Dave Thomas as Doug McKenzie, Tex Boil, Liberace, and Michael Caine. Joe Flaherty as Guy Caballero, Alan Alda, and Sammy Maudlin. Andrea Martin as Edith Prickley, Ethel Merman, Edna Boil, and Marsha Mason. Catherine O’Hara as Lola Heatherton, Dusty Towne, and Maggie Smith. Shout Factory DVD.
The Life Adventures of Santa Claus (1985) The final Rankin-Bass Animagic special. Based on L. Frank Baum’s book, this version of the story of Santa Claus takes on darker tones than R-B’s previous work. Here Claus witnesses war, slavery, and poverty, and desires to make something better for the innocents. Viewed on Warner VHS
DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Staring Down the Wall That Must Be Passed! Goku VS Gohan!” VHS Recording.
Frosty the Snowman (1969) The Rankin-Bass classic with Jimmy Durante and Jackie Vernon. Viewed on a VHS of a 1992 CBS broadcast with a promo for the ‘new’ series Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman.
The Avengers (1966) “Too Many Christmas Trees” Something is bothering the usually unflappable John Steed; dealing with a recent leakage of governmental secrets, he is suffering from nightmares involving a creepy Father Christmas and premonitions of things to come (such as the sudden death of a colleague acknowledged of those secrets- from neurological causes). Is it his past catching up with him (“I wouldn’t mind that. That would be fun!”) or is it psychological trauma originating from the revelation that there is actually no Father Christmas? (“Oh no, isn’t there really?”). Emma Peel decides to help his friend by taking him to a Christmas celebration in the country held by a Dickens collector (Melvyn Johns), culminating with a costume party of Dickens characters (Emma is Oliver Twist). What also culminates at the manor is the cause of Steed’s mental problems. Directed by Roy Ward Baker, this episode in the black-and-white Peel season also has an in-joke involving Steed’s previous lady Cathy Gale (“What is she doing in Fort Knox?”). PAL DVD.
DRAGON BALL KAI- THE FINAL CHAPTERS (2014) Video Commentary of “Videl is Worn, Ragged, Gohan’s Anger Reaches Its Limit!” This is a Video Commentary of Kyle Hebert (Gohan), Kara Edwards (Videl), Andrew Chandler (Spopovitch), and writer J. Michael Tatum watching the episode. Funimation BluRay.
The Box of Delights (1984) Episode 4 “The Spider in the Web” Using the box, Kay Harker is able to evade getting scrobbled by Abner Brown’s men. Mariah is returned safe and sound, but other people like Peter Jones and the Bishop of Tarchester cathedral get scrobbled. Kay journeys to the Chester Seminary and learns that Cole Hawling is not as old as he thought he was (or more accurately, not as young as he is supposed to be). PAL DVD.
A Disney Christmas Gift (1982) Disney cobbled this special together with scenes of 1983 Disneyland and shorts and film clips. “Once Upon a Wintertime” (from Melody Time), Peter Pan’s “You Can Fly” number, the Merlin departure/Tournament/Sword drawing scene from The Sword and the Stone (with Wart’s dialogue in the major scene silenced), Donald Duck’s The Clock Watcher, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, the ice scene from Bambi, the “Bibbidi, Babidi, Boo” number from Cinderella (with June Foray adding her own voice to Verna Felton’s), and an edited version of The Night Before Christmas (removing Junior’s Blackface moment and adding footage from Santa’s Workshop). Disney VHS.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998) “Amends” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Something is troubling Angel (more than usual for our tortured vampire with a soul); he is seeing ghosts of his victims, including Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMotte in a role she regretted reprising). Despite reservations, Buffy decides to the get to the bottom of it before Angel either dies or becomes evil again. Beautiful ending. FoxVideo DVD
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2010) “Revenge of the Shadow Clones” Broadcast on Cartoon Network
NARUTO: BORUTO NEXT GENERATION (2017) “The Shadow of the Mastermind.” Broadcast on Cartoon Network
DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Which Universe Will Survive?! The Strongest Universe Warriors Are Coming Together!” English premiere on Cartoon Network
I also viewed parts of MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (1934 Goodtimes Colorized VHS), A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MOVIE (2003 MGM/UA DVD), SANTA CLAUS THE MOVIE (1985 Anchors Bay DVD), the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ from FANTASIA (1941 Disney 1991 VHS), and THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994 Freeform Broadcast).