My annual Christmas viewings will be in italicized.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1978) “Walter Matthau” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. Universal DVD.
The Berenstein Bears’ Christmas Tree (1979) The first animated adaptation of the Bear Family by Jan and Stan Berenstein, this Animated TV special (with songs by Elliott Lawrence) would lead to several other Holiday specials about Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Baseball. A perennial since 2001, this viewing is via a Kids Klassics VHS.
Torappu Ikka Monogatari- The Trapp Family Story (1991). “Wish for an Angel/Christmas Carol” Governess Maria and the Trapp children celebrate Christmas much to the delight of Captain Von Trapp and much to the disdain of their stern and class-conscious housekeeper Matilda who is trying to engineer a marriage between the Captain and a rich lady. Her plans become threatened when the children makes a Christmas wish for Maria to stay and the Captain cancels an invitation with the lady to spend the holiday with the children. Meanwhile, an attraction grows between the Captain and Maria, as the latter talks about her abused childhood. This serial is part of the World Masterpiece Theater series, where each season is an adaptation of a Western Literature novel or story. This entry is based on Maria Von Trapp’s memoir
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, best known to everyone as the source for the musical
The Sound of Music. Aside from an opening sequence that used a Japanese “Do Re Mi” (removed in later broadcasts and video), the series is more faithful to the real accounts despite the usual adaptation approach. This two-parter also features Maria and the children singing several Christmas songs, foreshadowing their future occupation. Saw this one on a Chinese import DVD with flawed subtitles.
The Nutcracker (1987) A recording of the 1987 performance by the Bolshoi Ballet (the stage curtains are marked with USSR symbols) by Yuri Grigorovich and starring Yekaterina Maksimova and Vladmir Vasilev. Some sites would misinterpret this production for an earlier 1978 production with the same couple, broadcast to the US with Betty Ford as host. Kultur DVD
A Muppets Family Christmas (1987) Kermit and The Muppet Show gang spend Christmas at Fozzie’s mother’s house (much to the chagrin of housesitter Doc and Sprocket). It’s a holiday get together that unites the Muppets with the casts of
Sesame Street and
Fraggle Rock (plus a home-movie appearance by the Muppet Babies). From a 1988 ABC broadcast videotaped 30 years ago that shows the special in its uncut form with all the songs included. Commercials include promos for
Who’s the Boss, Roseanne, Mr. Belvedere, Just the Ten of Us, and the short-lived
Murphy’s Law, as well as a Ritz Crackers advertisement with a young Jerry O’Connell.
SUPERMAN (1988) “Night of the Living Shadows/Graduation” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. The penultimate episode of this series, as well as Lex Luthor’s last episode.
Tenchi Muyo: Manatsu No Eve- Midsummer’s Eve (1997). The second movie based on the Tenchi Muyo anime series, this production is a gestalt of the original OVA continuity while including Kiyone of the TV series continuity. An adolescent claims to be Tenchi’s daughter, causing much havoc (comedic and dramatic) to his space-girl harem. This is all part of a plan of a demon seeking to settle a score with Tenchi’s family. Christmas is celebrated at the beginning and end, as well as being a plot point for character motivation. This story shares similarities with the franchise’s second (notoriously infamous) TV series
Shin Tenchi Muyo! (Known in America as Tenchi in Tokyo) which also has its own rebooted continuity! Although the ending portrays a happy addition to the Tenchi gang, the story had been ignored by future stories. Pioneer DVD.
A Christmas Carol (1951) 175TH CHRISTMAS CAROL ANNIVERSARY. Much has been written about this classic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel starring Alistair Sims and Michael Hordern. A perennial since 1997 (although I have watched colorized versions since 1990), I am watching this from the VID Entertainment 60th anniversary DVD edition; the print uses its alternative title Scrooge.
JANE EYRE (1983) “Episode Nine” 35TH ANNIVERSARY. Penniless and stranded, runaway Jane finds sanctuary with a pastor and his sisters. One of those sisters is played by 40-something Morag Hood (ten years earlier she was already a bit long in the tooth when she played teenager Natasha in WAR AND PEACE). Warner/BBC Video DVD.
EDWARD AND MRS. SIMPSON (1978) “The Decision” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. The throne or Wallis? A & E Video DVD.
ER “A Miracle Happens Here” (1995) Dr. Greene deals with problems of the past and present (his future as a doctor is jeopardized by his role in a delivery gone horribly wrong, and his marriage is now over), but regains optimism in helping a Holocaust survivor find her missing granddaughter. Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Benton involves himself in new surgical procedures and Carol Hathaway tries to get her ‘new’ house (in the context of having recently bought the ruin) ready for the holidays. Look closely for a young pre-NCIS Sean Murray (although much of his appearance ended up on the cutting room floor). Watched on the ER Season Two DVD by Warner.
Nutcracker the Motion Picture (1986) I tend to watch several versions of Tchiakovsky’s Ballet. First for this Christmas is a full-length film treatment by Carroll Ballard, from Kent Stowell-Maurice Sendak’s stage production by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. This version deals with a WIZARD OF OZ- Freudian tones as Clara- between child and woman- deals with her unusual relationship with her godfather Drosselmeyer, who gives her a dream where she sees fantasy characters impersonated by people she knows (The Nutcracker Cavalier is personified by her father; fortunately Clara morphs into an adult woman for the romantic duet). A perennial since 2000 (although I had watched it before, usually in broadcast that includes segments by Tony Randall), this viewing is from an MGM on Demand DVD (replacing the Paramount Home Video VHS).
DARK SHADOWS (1968) “Episodes 439-440” 50TH ANNIVERSARY Now begins another anniversarial marathon viewing for this supernatural Soap Opera! In this case, the two-part Quentin Collins Saga. Part One is the Haunting, which begins here as David Collins and newbie Amy Jennings find an old telephone that can talk to them. This also begins the departure of series intro Victoria Winters, with Betsy Duskin replacing Alexandra Moltke (she left over disillusionment over her character’s idiocy over the truth of Barnabas’ former nocturnal life- remember he’s been cured of vampirism at this point of the story- as well as getting pregnant). MPI Video DVD.
INSPECTOR GADGET (1983) “So It is Written”, “Fang the Wonder Dog”, ”School for Pickpockets,” and “Quizmaster.” 35TH ANNIVERSARY. And so ends my anniversary marathon viewing of the first season of INSPECTOR GADGET, with Cree Summer and John Hennessey voicing their series finale roles as Penny and Chief Quimby.
Saturday Night Live (1975) “Candice Bergen/Stylistics.” The series’ first Christmas-themed episode, hosted by Candice Bergen (who compared the experience of working with the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players as the Symbionese Liberation Party) with music by the Stylistics and Martha Reeves. In its first season, the series began with certain segments that would later go by next season: the ill-fated Muppets Land of Gorch, Bridging pieces (Who’s Tommy playing Pong), home movies (A montage of airport family reunions set to the music of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound”). There is also a serious piece where Bergen promotes the Gray Panthers, an anti-Ageism group (where Bergen confesses her fear about aging), as well as a piece about Gilda talking about avoiding overeating (…). Universal DVD.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) What can be said about this classic TV Christmas special that has not already been written? I viewed this on a Video Treasures/Hi-Tops Video VHS of an older TV edit that doesn’t include the restored-post-1990s scene of Linus sling-shooting a snowball with his blanket. This video print also freeze-frames the “A Charlie Brown Christmas- The End” credit scene.
Scrooge (1970) 175TH CHRISTMAS CAROL ANNIVERSARY. Albert Finney (who, if his recollections of playing Poirot are true, evidently liked playing a role that was an escape from his pretty boy image) heads a cast of British stage and TV actors in this Leslie Briscusse musical. Despite its trappings as a wholesome musical, my early recollections of it were anything but. 1980s TV broadcasts would add these commercial eyecatchers with an eerie music tone. Already being discomforted by the 1984 NBC Broadcast of Mickey’s Christmas Carol and its ‘grave from Hell’ sequence, and this film’s decision to add a skull-face to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, this version left me wary to other adaptations with a ‘will they, won’t they’ anxiety of showing the Ghost’s face behind the hood. But I’ve grown to be more comforted by this version. I like the musical score, and although much has been written against it, this adaptation has led to a stage show, and the ‘Sing a Christmas Carol’ intro is part of Disney World’s Christmas Parade score. A perennial for 21 years, this film is viewed from the Paramount/CBS-Fox Video DVD.
The Box of Delights (1984) Episode 2 “Where Shall the ‘nighted Snowman go?” The serial continues as Kay Harker is temporarily transported to a Saxon camp. Before he is returned to his time, Harker is given the magical Box by Cole Hawling to protect it from the ‘wolves.’ When Hawling is scrobbled (kidnapped) by Abner Brown and his priest con artists, Kay learns more about this war of good and evil in an animated sequence.
The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014). Japan often treats its Christmas as a romantic holiday, so many Anime shows set around December stress romance. As the Leaf vIllage Konoha celebrates the Christmassy Rinne festival, they, as well as the Earth itself, are being threatened by collision from the Moon itself. The act is orchestrated by an empowered lord who intends to wipe-out civilization to save it. Famed ninja Naruto Uzumaki is sent to stop this catastrophe, little knowing this mission will change his life forever. The tenth film based on the popular Japanese manga series by Mihashi Kishimoto, The Last is a controversial film. Unlike its previous entries, disconnected from canon and continuity, this film is a canonical chapter dealing with the main character entering a romance (which will produce a character for a spinoff series). A relationship that has divided the series’ fanbase: those very happy with the fulfillment of their ship, and those very unhappy that their desired ship did not happen. Viz Media DVD
Uresei Yatsura – Those Bothersome Aliens (1979) “Pitter Patter Christmas Eve” Based on Rumiko Takahashi’s manga series. Adolescent lecher Ataru Moroboshi is ‘married’ to a beautiful space alien Lum. As Christmas arrives, friends of Ataru, unhappy at his indifference to Lum (or more accurately, wanting the girl for themselves) stage a plan to separate the two by humiliating the guy. Lum learns about it, and intends for her ‘darling’ to learn a lesson…assuming she wants to see him go through with it. AnimeEigo DVD
DRAGON BALL (1988) “Son Goku’s Marriage!” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. It appears I always end up watching key episodes of this series whenever I go down to Pittsburgh. So far, in that area, I celebrated the 30th Anniversaries of the Anime debut of Piccolo and Goku’s defeat of him. This time, I watch the Fight, Courtship, and Engagement of Son Goku and Chichi!
A Christmas Carol (1984) 175TH CHRISTMAS CAROL ANNIVERSARY. Much has been written about this classic TV production starring George C. Scott that I feel it unnecessary to write any more. FoxVideo DVD (My first DVD viewing of the film after 19 years watching the VHS).
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1998) “The Wish” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Cordelia makes a wish that changes Sunnydale, already signified by the debut of Vengeance Demon Anyanka (Emma Caufield). Fox Video DVD.
Big O (1999) “Daemonseed” As Paradigm City celebrates Heaven’s Day, Roger the Negotiator deals with an eco-terrorist dressed up like Santa Claus while deciding to get a gift to his android maid Dorothy. Watched on Vol. 4 DVD by Bandai.
Saturday Night Live (1976) “Candice Bergen/Frank Zappa.” Candice reprises her role as host of the Christmas-themed episode, with Frank Zappa performing a rather elaborate (for SNL) music number. Aired on December 11, 1976, sketches include Consumers report (Candice Bergen interviews shady toymaker Dan Akroyd and his dangerous toys like Johnny Switchblade and Bag of Glass), ending with a scene of the cast and crew ice-skating at Rockefellers square. Universal DVD.
A DIFFERENT WORLD (1988) “Life With Father.” 30TH ANNIVERSARY Dwayne ends up dating his teacher’s daughter. I remember watching this on its actual broadcast on NBC. TV One Broadcast on VHS.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970) After handling Rudolph and Frosty, Rankin-Bass covers their first version of the story of Santa Claus. Romeo Muller gives a 1960s vibe in portraying Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney in his first Santa for the studio) as a rebel against the establishment by Burgomeiester Meisterburger (Paul Frees, who would play Santa in several R-B specials). Viewed this special on Freeform, in its third edited incarnation from that channel (The first edit, broadcast on ABC Family in the turn of the century, removed several songs. The second edited form, broadcast in the mid-00s, restored all the songs but deleted a part out of each one, including the credits song. This new one, broadcast since 2009, has all the songs intact but snips out several scenes, such as Meisterburger torching a pile of toys before bereaved children).
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) The Arthur Rankin Jr. –Jules Bass ‘Animagic’ (their term for stop-motion) television special that started its series of successful Holiday programming. I viewed this on CBS. which replaces Rudolph and Hermie’s “Fame and Fortune” duet with “A Couple of Misfits.”
BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATION (2017) “The Ghost Incident: The Investigation Begins!” Cartoon Network viewing.
DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Staring Down the Wall that Must be Overcome! Goku VS Gohan!” English Premiere on Cartoon Network.
I also watched the first hour of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946- up to the Martinis Homecoming) on USA Network. I also viewed parts of A CHRISTMAS CAROL THE MOVIE (2003) and SANTA CLAUS THE MOVIE (1985).