"It's Mime Time." - "Christmas at Walt Disney World" (1978)

I had to save something special for Christmas Eve, and oh, I think I found us a doozie.  Last Christmas, I shared Progress City's upload of "Kraft Salutes the 10'th Anniversary of Walt Disney World", and dubbed it the "Star Wars Holiday Special" of Disney.

I may have spoke too soon. Take a look at this barrel of madness:



Young people, this is why us kids who were born in the end of the '70's are the way we are.  Couple of things that stood out to me:

* - So, who would win in a fight? The Clinkers or Chewbacca's family?

* - That vulture is totally thinking, "I ought to be soaring majestically over the Balkans and here I am serving as window dressing for a bunch of soft-rock weenies."

* - Adult.  Babies. 😱
 
* - The Gepetto scene is actually kind of touching. Then it gets weird. And finally they cut to, yep, more mimes.

* - You know, to be fair, at least this special actually takes place inside the Magic Kingdom for the most part.

* - Villains singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Uh-huh.

* - The sing-along finale is nice but this is another one of those situations where I wonder what the real animals were thinking. (Aside from the obvious "Get me the eff out of here!")

* - OMG Shields can TALK!?!

-----

Festive Older Art of the Day! I can't speak for the people who made the special we just watched, but I promise I was high on nothing but Christmas spirit when I made this:



Merry Christmas to all! See you sometime in January when I'll post something about dinosaurs again maybe.

EVERYTHING Had a Cartoon in the '80's - "Deck the Halls With Wacky Walls"

So help me God and Dr. Fad, I never thought I'd ever see this thing again:



I don't even know what I could add to this. If I ever had to explain to my youngest relatives what it was like being a child in the early 80's, I suppose I could show them that Wacky Wall-Walkers had a Christmas special -- and it's actually pretty good! The story is cute and heartwarming, the animators had fun with the amorphous characters, and the voice actors are top-tier!  Hey, it's not "Charlie Brown" but it's better than it had any reason to be.

-----

Festive Older Art of the Day! Fanart of Fireball's reaction to Rudolph's nose, but I think it applies to this special too. Not to mention tomorrow's...

"The Laughter and the Surprise!" - "A Disney Christmas Gift"

Who doesn't love weirdly-edited bits of Disney animated films and shorts centered around a loose theme? "A Disney Christmas Gift" dates back to 1983, and Disney Channel kids may remember the opening number from it's reuse in "A Disney Channel Christmas".



Is it just me or is the "Sword in the Stone" segment weird as hell? Also, Santa's laugh is oddly sinister in that last cartoon.

-----

Festive Older Art of the Day! Speaking of oddly sinister Santa Clauses...

Trees are Terrific! "The Berenstain Bear's Christmas Tree"

There have been a number of animated adaptations of the Berenstain Bears, but "The Berenstain Bear's Christmas Tree" is still my favorite. It's the earliest animated adaptation of the long-running children's book series, if I'm not mistaken, and comes from a far funkier period in the Bears' history.

That's not to say it isn't heartwarming as heck. But I also love how they immediately cut through the treacle at the end by pointing out a rather troubling hypocrisy.



-----

Festive Older Art of the Day!

My youngest cousin when she was one year old, fixing Santa with a disapproving stare.

Being Santa Malkovich: "Santabear's High-Flying Adventure"

Welcome to my incredibly ill-advised Solstice Eve-Christmas Eve Christmas Special Marathon! For the next five nights, I'll be digging up strange Christmas specials from the past and hopefully finding funny things to say about them.

We start with something that's been sitting in my "watch later" YouTube queue for a while now, the innocuously titled "Santabear's High-Flying Adventure". It's cute, and has an entertainingly strange plot, but the highlight is this: John Malkovich Santa Claus. Holy mother of God. Best Santa.

(And it's funny how the sheer awesomeness of Santa Malkovich overshadows the fact that this upload contains all the awesome 1987 commercials AND that Bobby McFerrin voices the title character and his doppelganger villain.)



-----

Festive Older Art of the Day!

To make this a little easier/less insane for myself, I'll be posting older Christmas-themed drawings. Here's a Holly Jolly Jackalope: