Alien Quadrilogy
Drool, drool, drool. The Alien Quadrilogy tops my Christmas wish list this year. The boxed set includes 9 discs, including the original Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien: Resurrection (1997), along with loads of extra features.

Barry Manilow’s The Greatest Songs of the Eighties
Since I have a blog on seventies and eighties pop culture, I have determined that it is my duty to own this album. I am especially keen to hear Barry’s version of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

Darth Vader Bobblehead
I think I could use one of these bad boys on my desk at work.  You know, to remind myself of the badass that I really am.  There are a lot of other fun Star Wars-themed chotchkies out there, including a Darth Vader Toaster, a Yoda Luggage Tag, and for you real Star Wars geeks there is the all-new three-volume Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

A-Team Lunchbox
I don’t know what I would ever do with this vintage 1983 A-Team lunch box since I don’t pack a lunch any more. Maybe I could start carrying it around at work like a pseudo-brief case. Except I’m pretty sure my laptop won’t fit in there. Hmm… I’m sure I’ll think of some use for this lunch box to justify my unholy desire to own one.

A Christmas Story Ultimate Collector’s Edition
A Christmas Story (1983) has been a holiday favorite at our house for as long as I can remember. Who can’t love a movie that includes a kid shooting his eye out with a BB gun, a kid who is triple-dog-dared to stick his tongue to a light pole, a pink bunny suit, and a leg lamp? The Ultimate Collector’s Edition comes with a 2-disc DVD set of the movie (including one disc of extra features), a collectible cookie tin with cookie cutters, a red apron, and a cookbook with recipes inspired from the movie.

The Year Without A Santa Claus Deluxe Edition
And speaking of holiday specials, my DVD collection wouldn’t be complete without The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), my favorite Rankin-Bass movie.   Who doesn’t love the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser?  We have this on VHS but I seriously don’t remember how to hook up the VCR any more so it is high time we owned this on DVD.

I just can’t get enough of The Year Without A Santa Claus this year. So I decided to take my obsession to the next level and get a little Miser Brothers bling to brighten up the home. Here they are in all of their glory - Heat Miser and Snow Miser ornaments, proudly displayed on our Christmas Tree.

If I could just only keep my naughty cat Flossy away from the tree. I’ve learned the hard way not to hang my favorite ornaments on the bottom branches so the Miser Brothers are safely tucked away at the top of the tree. I caught Flossy in the act of terrorizing an ornament that I left on a lower branch this morning…

This Christmas promises to be a very good one. It can only get better from here…

Star Wars Holiday Special, here I come!

Tags Rankin/Bass . The Year Without A Santa Claus . Heat Miser . Snow Miser

As we enter the holiday season, nothing puts me in that Christmas spirit more than gathering the family together to watch the classic Rankin/Bass holiday television specials from the sixties and the seventies. There’s the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) - with the island of misfit toys, Hermey the misfit elf who wants to be a dentist, and Bumble (the Abominable Snow Monster). Frosty the Snowman (1969) is another favorite - with the magical top hat, the evil magician Professor Hinkle, and the magician’s friendly rabbit Hocus Pocus. In Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970), Kris Kringle brings toys and happiness to Sombertown, ruled by the grumpy Burgermeister Meisterburger, while trying to avoid the evil wizardry of the Winter Warlock.

But my favorite Rankin/Bass television special of all time has to be The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), featuring the famous feuding brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser. In this Christmas classic, Santa comes down with a cold and decides to cancel Christmas. Mrs. Claus sends two precocious elves, Jingle and Jangle, out into the world to find some holiday spirit so that Santa will cheer up and resume his annual Christmas preparations. Jingle and Jangle end up at Southtown U.S.A., which unfortunately is especially low on Christmas cheer. And to make things worse, their reindeer (which has been disguised to look like a dog) comes down with a cold and is captured by the dog catcher. The elves take their case to the mayor, who refuses to believe their story. Christmas elves? Reindeer? Why, their far-fetched story is just about as likely as a snowball’s chance in Southtown, he says.

So Jingle and Jangle embark on a quest to bring snow to Southtown on Christmas Day. With the help of Mrs. Claus, the elves pay a visit to Snow Miser and Heat Miser - the feuding brothers who control the weather all over the globe. The brothers each sing a little song (the highlight of the entire television special, I must say). Then they throw insults at each other, get into a fight, and promptly refuse to come to a compromise. But after a visit to the boys’ mother, Mother Nature, snow falls in Southtown and all of the mayors across the United States proclaim a national holiday in honor of Santa Claus. Overwhelmed with holiday cheer, Santa comes to his senses and Christmas is saved!They’re too much! Gotta love the Miser brothers.

More Rankin/Bass Goodness
The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass - Rankin/Bass Web Site
Rankin/Bass-Historian - blog by Rick Goldschmidt, the Historian/Biographer for the RANKIN/BASS Studios
Rudolph: Behind the Scenes - Article by Rick Goldschmidt on TV Party
Movie Review: In Praise of the Pagan, Feminist, Anti-Musical Holiday Classic, The Year Without a Santa Claus - Article by Jayson Harsin on Blogcritics
Heat Miser’s Hot Spot
Snow Miser’s Cooler
Thus Spake Drake - blog ranking the music of Rankin/Bass
The Year Without a Santa Claus Toys - from TimeandSpaceToys.com

Tags Rankin/Bass . The Year Without A Santa Claus . Heat Miser . Snow Miser

Tolkien fans have been abuzz with news that a movie adaptation of The Hobbit may not be far off on the horizon. Some of us, however, recall that a movie adaptation of The Hobbit already exists - an animated made for TV movie produced in 1977 by Rankin/Bass. I have fond but rather vague memories of watching this movie when I was little so I spent some time recently reacquainting myself with the film.

The 1977 version of The Hobbit is fun and entertaining, and does a pretty good job of following the story line from the book. Songs kept cropping up throughout the movie, though, which I tend to find annoying. It is a children’s movie, however, and Rankin/Bass are known for their memorable songs (Heat Miser, anyone?) so I tried to have patience with numerous musical interludes. But the music from The Hobbit proved to be too much for me. We couldn’t stop laughing at the music, particularly the song “The Greatest Adventure” which plays during the opening of The Hobbit and repeats throughout the film. Performed by Glenn Yarbrough in a shaky vibrato, “The Greatest Adventure” sounds like a cross between a seventies folk song and yodeling. Funny stuff.

Speaking of songs about Hobbits, check out The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins performed by none other than Leonard Nimoy. This one is from the late sixties, not the seventies, but it is so corny that it definitely falls into the “so bad it’s good” category.

Poor Bilbo. Will he ever get a song written about him that’s not not corny or campy?

Tags 1977 . The Hobbit . The Greatest Adventure . Rankin/Bass . The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins . Leonard Nimoy