Here it is: Ralph Bakshi's Christmas special for Nickelodeon, "Christmas Comes to Tattertown". Let me repeat that, because the full implications didn't hit me until a while later either: Ralph BAKSHI (long pause) CHRISTMAS special (another long pause) for NICKELODEON.
It turns out that it is way weirder than I remembered. It's a little obvious at times that this is a one-off special cribbed from a rejected series, but it's still a lot of fun. Look for all the references to 1930's cartoons (was that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Flip the Frog?)
Compared to that, "The Glow Friends Save Christmas" is going to seem a little... conventional. I don't have much to add to this except that Bashful Bug is even more useless here than she is in the Glow Friends cartoon, that whoever animated this has never even seen a deer, and that I only saw this once and kept confusing it with the more (in)famous "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land" in my foggy 80's kid memory.
Hey, speaking of "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land"! Here it is, with thanks to The Retroist blog. This can't be the first time you've ever seen this can it?
Here's another "I Saw It Once and Keep Confusing it in My Memory with a Different Thing I Saw Once" Christmas Special. This is "The Christmas Raccoons". I love how every Christmas special from Canada I see tries to be more crazy than the last one I saw. I still have no idea what the hell Cyril Sneer is, and I kept confusing this with "The Raccoons and the Lost Star".
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Festive Thing of the Day!
Yeah, technically both of the two most recent posts should count, but if this isn't enough crazy Christmas specials for you, Comics Alliance has reviews of three "Most Awesomely Bizarre" holiday specials and Platypus Comix has the Island of Misfit Christmas Specials. That we live in a world where they made a Pac-Man Christmas Special makes me happy every day.
And if that STILL isn't enough, the great Everything is Terrible has a lovely collection of weird direct-to-video holiday joy for all ages.
And if that somehow STILL isn't enough, Topless Robot has a list of Unconventional Christmas Movies. For those of you who like their strange Christmas stories in print form, here is a list of Unconventional Christmas Comic Books, care of Comics Alliance. Finally, I have the Last-Minute Gift Guide up at the Realm of Mad-Ness.
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Sketch of the Day! My cousin and his family held this year's family Christmas party. It was also the first time their dogs had seen more than ten people in the house...
