Some Rankin-Bass Christmas Presents, with Spoilers
Aaron was a little drummer boy in the province of Judea in
the Roman Empire some 2,000 years ago. After his parents were killed by
bandits, a series of adventures saw him meet three kings traveling to Bethlehem
(1) and become an acolyte of a baby (born in a stable) that the kings believed
to be a future holy king of the world. He tried to spread the word about the
infant with the help of one of the kings. (2)
The little baby’s parents had traveled from some distance to
pay taxes in a census mandated by the Empire. For the price of a single silver
coin, they bought a venerable donkey (named Small One by his young owner) so that
the heavily pregnant mother of the babe-to-be could ride him instead of
walking. (3) Unfortunately, Small One was pretty old, and only made it part of
the way, before passing away. However, the husband of the wife found another donkey with incredibly long
ears. The donkey, named Nestor, had traveled from Northern Europe after his
mother had died on the Winter Solstice after previously being owned by a farmer
named Olaf. (4) Nestor carried the mother to the stable, and eventually
returned home to Olaf’s farm. Nestor had descendants, one of whom, Spieltoe,
worked for Santa at the North Pole some 2,000 years later. (4)
By the time Spieltoe had come to work for him, Santa Claus
was one of the most famous people in the entire world. While not everyone
believes in Santa, he is known officially to the governments of the world. His
word is taken seriously. Once, he nearly had to cancel his annual flight due to
an incredibly bad storm (and was about to announce it to the world), but
luckily, he found that one of his reindeer had a glowing nose, enabling him to
make the trip. (5) Several years after the big storm, he had come down with a
very bad illness, and had planned to cancel that Christmas excursion as well.
An adventure in the Southern United States saw him rescue a young member of his
reindeer team, Vixen, who was named for an earlier member of his team. (6) He
was in the habit of naming new members of his sleigh team after earlier members
who had passed away (unfortunately, their lifespans were a lot shorter than
his). (More research is necessary to determine the members of his sleigh team
over the years.) Official recognition of his importance, and that of his
friends, led the United States to issue a series of stamps honoring Santa,
Rudolph, and their friend Hermey the Dentist (an elf, who became the first dentist in the North Pole community), prospector Yukon
Cornelius, and the Abominable Snow Monster of the North. (7)
During the reign of Catherine the Great of Russia during the
18th century, there was an evil Cossack warlord named Kubla Kraus.
He attempted to create an army of clockwork knights and overthrow Catherine.
His attempt failed in part because of a tailor named Jack Snip and a good
knight named Sir Ravenal. (8) Jack was actually Jack Frost, a demihuman child
of Father Winter with icy powers and the gifts of invisibility and flight, then
a member of the Council of Legendary Figures. (Later in the 20th and
21st centuries, Scott Calvin, the then-current Santa Clause, served
on this Council. (9))
Jack later married and had a son, Jack Frost, Jr. Jack
Junior grew up, developing the same icy powers and gifts as his father and
developed a strong sense of mischief. After some unpleasant events with the
famous living snowman and snowwoman Frosty and Crystal, he became good friends
with them. (10) Jack Junior was married more than once. In an earlier marriage,
he had a son named Snowy (who also had the icy powers, but not the other
gifts). Later, he was married to Mother Nature. She had many children before
marrying Jack Junior, but Snowy had particular enmity for his stepbrother Heat
(based on an unfortunate misunderstanding when they were small children). (11) As
adults, both fought each other for many years and became known as Heat Miser
and Snow Miser. (6) They finally overcame their difficulties and improved their
relationship. (11) More research on Mother Nature’s other marriages and
children is needed.
Frosty and Rudolph became best friends, and the children of
Frosty and Crystal, Chilly and Milly, looked upon Rudolph as an uncle figure.
An adventure of theirs in the Southern United States saw them in opposition to
the evil wizard Winterbolt, a former ruler of the North Pole until his defeat
by Lady Boreal (who in reality was the Northern Lights that took human form to
fight Winterbolt and gave Rudolph his fabulous nose). (12) Winterbolt very
nearly ruined Rudolph’s reputation and killed the Frosty family. Among his
allies, Winterbolt had an evil genie that lived in his Ice Scepter, four giant
flying intelligent rain snakes, and two large, powerful, evil Snow Dragons,
which could create terrible storms, including tornadoes. Many centuries
earlier, an evil dragon was among the forces of evil monsters fighting the
allies (the Council of Immortals, later to become the Council of Legendary Figures)
of the very first Santa Claus (a great toymaker who was named Claus at birth).
(13) They were all defeated after a ferocious battle, though other evil
monsters survived in the world (such as the banshee faced by Dinty Doyle who
was after the gold of the leprechauns of the Killakarney clan (14)).
Research has shown that Jack Frost (Senior) is an uncle to
Elsa, one-time Queen of Arendelle who also had icy powers. (15) His powerful
parent, Father Winter, is actually the being known as Loki, acknowledged as the
mischievous Norse Deity. Loki eventually matured somewhat and settled down,
having numerous children.
Another child of Loki with special abilities was Malvina,
who grew up to become the Lady Azura (sometimes called The Blue Fairy, The
Fairy with Turquoise Hair, The Good Fairy, The Oak Fairy, and just Fairy). She
helped to bring the wooden puppet Pinocchio to life (as a living marionette)
and then later changed him to human (16), and brought another wooden marionette
to life as a fully human girl, named Julietta. (17) Among Pinocchio’s other
adventures, he encountered an evil giant whale named Monstro, that he barely
escaped from. The whale eventually was attacked and mortally wounded by whalers
in the waters of the Archipelago of Last Years. He was rescued by Father Time
and had a giant clock installed in his tail. Renamed Big Ben and changing his
personality into a good being, he served Father Time and had the opportunity to
befriend Rudolph and save Happy, a Baby appointed to be a New Year Baby. (18)
Ben would later assist Rudolph bring the Frosty family back to life with the
aid of Jack Frost Junior after it appeared that Winterbolt had destroyed them.
(12)
1.
The Little Drummer Boy, television special,
1968.
2.
The Little Drummer Boy, Book II, television
special, 1976.
3.
The Small One, Disney animated theatrical
featurette, 1978.
4.
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey,
television special, 1977.
5.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, television
special, 1964.
6.
The Year Without a Santa Claus, television
special, 1974.
7.
United States Post Office Contemporary Christmas
Forever postage stamps, 2014.
8.
Jack Frost, television special, 1979.
9.
The Santa Clause 2, film, 2002.
10.
Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, television special,
1976.
11.
A Miser Brothers’ Christmas, television special,
2008.
12.
Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July,
television special with limited theatrical release, 1979.
13.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,
television special, 1985.
14.
The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold, television
special, 1981.
15.
Frozen, Disney animated film, 2013.
16.
Pinocchio, Disney animated film, 1940.
17.
Pinocchio’s Christmas, television special, 1980.
18.
Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, television special,
1976.
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