While Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass may have encouraged everyone to get along and not to play favorites, we don’t care. It’s time to pick the best and the worst of the timeless, beloved, December TV classics produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment. You know the ones — usually stop-motion productions with seasonal themes, famous voice actors, and some of the most internationally recognized characters ever created. Rudolph! Frosty! Santa! Most people probably never considered which of the specials is best, but we’re not most people. With the recent release of all 18 Christmas specials on one Blu-ray set, it’s time to sort through the ones that drive the sleigh and the ones that don’t get to play our reindeer games. Happy holidays.
18. The Cricket on the Hearth (1967)
Ugh. The second Rankin/Bass special is also easily the worst — a loose adaptation of the 1845 Charles Dickens novella that’s dated, sexist, and boring. Roddy McDowall voices the Cricket, while real-life father and daughter Danny and Marlo Thomas play Caleb and Bertha, respectively, with the fictional dad struggling to see his daughter growing into a woman. This is an incredibly unsettling tale in which she can only be defined by her relationship to a man — first her father and then her husband. Its references include “paying any attention to the words of a gushing female” and lines such as, “Look up, your little girl’s a lady.” It’s so creepy that even Rudolph and Frosty would hate it.
17. The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold (1981)
This is the weirdest Rankin/Bass special ever, one that’s been almost entirely forgotten by history. It’s about a leprechaun named Blarney Kilakilarney who guards a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Art Carney’s presence is always welcome, but this one has some pretty weak music and half-hearted holiday connections. The most memorable thing about this might be the trivia that Arthur Rankin Jr. wanted to bury prizes in random places around the country for children to find like they were searching for leprechaun’s gold, but the idea “was scrapped because of safety concerns.” Imagine if it wasn’t and kids were digging up properties all over the place for a Christmas special!
16. Pinocchio’s Christmas (1980)
When you’ve run out of Christmas characters, why not bring in some other classic ones? That seems to have been an operating principle in the later years of Rankin/Bass and what led the company to this adaptation of The Adventures of Pinocchio, a grafting of the tale of a puppet who wants to be a real boy to the holiday season. The story of Geppetto’s son learning some more lessons about trust and honesty feels very long even at 49 minutes. Some of the worst songs in the Rankin/Bass catalogue don’t help.
15. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976)
This came about during a pretty busy time for Rankin/Bass in the mid-’70s, and this special seems as though it cut corners in design and execution. The animation itself feels unrefined in a story that unfolds right after the original Rudolph movie, as everyone’s favorite outcast is asked to help find the Baby New Year before midnight or it could be December 31 forever. (It pulls double duty as both a Christmas and a New Year’s special.) Not a bad idea, sure, but the storytelling jumps all over the map — why are we watching a version of The Three Little Bears? It also just looks more dated than most of the Rankin/Bass specials.
14. Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979)
You know how so much entertainment nowadays is weaponized nostalgia, trying to remind people of something they loved once before? This is the Rankin/Bass version of that. It’s the Infinity War of Christmas specials, bringing back Billie Mae Richards as Rudolph, Jackie Vernon as Frosty, and Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus himself. At one hour and 37 minutes, it’s also as long as a full movie! It even played in theaters for a few weeks in 1979 before premiering on ABC later that year. It’s fine enough in some moments, but it’s also undeniably way too long, content to repeat things people saw and loved before — usually more than once.
13. The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975)
On the low end of these specials, the most common issues were the shoddy writing and weak character design. In The First Christmas, a kid named Lucas is blinded by lightning and taken to an abbey to be cared for by the sisters who live there. While Lucas can never see snow, he still sings about wishing for a white Christmas (in a tune that wouldn’t be written for a century after this special is set but don’t ask questions). The problem is that Lucas has that flat, dead-character stylings of an “It’s a Small World” animatronic, and the rest of the stop-motion here is similarly clunky. The legendary Angela Lansbury’s narration and singing as Sister Theresa is the only thing keeping it as high as it is on this list.
12. The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)
It’s actually kind of surprising that it took Rankin/Bass until the late ’70s to get to Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Their traditionally animated take on the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghostly visitors isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just incredibly familiar in its telling. (The Richard Williams–directed version, which debuted seven years earlier, is much better regarded.) We’ve seen this story told so many times and in so many ways that this straightforward adaptation feels forgettable. There’s some interesting trivia behind it, though. A Japanese company called Topcraft animated this special, and some of the animators there would spin off not long after and form a new company in 1985: Studio Ghibli.
11. Jack Frost (1979)
By the end of the ’70s, the Rankin/Bass masterminds were kind of running out of holidays. Why not Groundhog Day? It may not seem particularly logical to graft a story of a groundhog named Pardon-Me-Pete into a story called Jack Frost, and, well, it’s not, but there are some charming beats here, especially in the character designs of both Pete and the legendary title character. When Pete strikes a deal with Jack to extend winter for six more weeks, that’s just the beginning of a truly odd duck of a story about Jack giving up his immortal status to fall in love with a girl named Holly. It’s weird and inconsistent, but it does have Buddy Hackett playing a groundhog, and that’s something.
10. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)
This is a weird one but mostly in a good way. At basically the end of the run of Rankin/Bass (it’s the last one chronologically in the Blu-ray box set) the company dropped this 1985 adaptation of the 1902 children’s book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by the legendary L. Frank Baum, who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. By this time in the company’s legacy, they were often repeating themselves, bringing back beloved characters to hit most of the same chords that made them famous in the first place or reaching to retell familiar tales like Pinocchio. However, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus stands on its own as a very different Santa origin story, with no Rudolph or Frosty anywhere in sight. It’s kind of a forgotten Rankin/Bass title for that reason, and it’s certainly imperfect in places, but its originality in a time when the company was lacking in that department is commendable.
9. The Little Drummer Boy, Book II (1976)
Nineteen seventy-six was the year for Rankin/Bass, who released an Easter special early in the year (The First Easter Rabbit) and not just one but three Christmas specials — Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, and this direct sequel to The Little Drummer Boy that continued the story of Aaron and his animal friends. The villains this time are Roman soldiers who are trying to get the silver bells that are meant to announce the arrival of Jesus. Aaron teams with Melchior, one of the Magi, to save the day, in a special that’s darker, and a little clunkier, than the average Rankin/Bass entry but a welcome enough return of one of the company’s most likable protagonists.
8. Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (1976)
You kind of have to be a monster not to love Frosty the Snowman, even if this sequel to the beloved first cartoon isn’t quite as good as the original. Jimmy Durante was replaced by Andy Griffith as the narrator this time, bringing Jack Frost into Frosty’s world. The wintry villain is jealous of Frosty’s magic hat and tries to steal it from him, while Frosty longs for a snowwoman he can call his own. With that, Crystal (Shelley Winters), a.k.a. Mrs. Frosty, entered the Rankin/Bass character catalogue. This is a little slight but still sweet enough to rewatch during the holiday season.
7. ’Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)
In 1974, Rankin/Bass went much further back than their usual source material to a classic 1823 poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Joel Grey stars in the tale of Junctionville, New York, an ordinary place that becomes the center of controversy when Santa Claus returns the town’s letters unopened. It turns out that the big red guy was offended by an op-ed that ran in the local paper, written by a mouse named Albert, that refuted Santa’s existence. As a clockmaker named Joshua Trundle (Grey) tries to build a device that will tell Santa how much they believe in him, Albert tries to rectify his error and help save the day. “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand” is one of the best Rankin/Bass songs, even re-used in South Park’s “A Very Crappy Christmas” in 2000.
6. The Little Drummer Boy (1968)
The typically bright colors of Rankin/Bass are dulled a bit in this 1968 special, but there’s an emotional strength to this one that’s often lacking from a few others further up the list. The 1941 title song unfolds as another tale of an outsider, a boy named Aaron who faces tragedy when his parents are killed, leading him to hate all mankind. When he’s kidnapped by Ben Haramed and forced to perform in Jerusalem, he lashes out further at those around him. It’s only when he spots the Magi following the star to Bethlehem that he becomes a part of the birth of Jesus, giving his gift of music to the baby. It’s a bit unpolished and it undeniably plays into stereotypes of Arab Americans (a national organization even called for its removal in the early ’90s), but this is a Rankin/Bass special that takes its world, characters, and themes more seriously than some of the goofy stuff that would follow as the company struggled. One wishes they had worked in this serious register more often (minus the racism).
5. Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)
The concept here is blatantly obvious in a 1977 special that takes the Rudolph myth and transforms it into a tale of a long-eared donkey who happens to be there on the day Jesus was born. A bright red nose becomes long ears, driving a sleigh becomes guiding Joseph and Mary. All the pieces fit. Add some country twang via Gene Autry’s song and Roger Miller’s narration, and you have a hit. Despite the obvious remake quality, Nestor is a character who’s impossible to dislike, and his special grows in emotional power as it unfolds. Rankin/Bass is at their best when they’re telling tales of the outsider, and Nestor is one of their most memorable unlikely heroes.
4. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970)
A Santa Claus origin story? Why not? Again, the Rankin/Bass people took a well-known song and made it something magical by expanding on the world of the source with new characters like the unforgettably named Burgermeister Meisterburger. The ruler of a tragic place named Sombertown finds a baby named Claus, who ends up with a family of elves named Kringle. They teach the renamed Kris how to make toys and a grown-up Kringle goes back to Sombertown and basically starts Christmas before becoming Santa Claus himself. There’s also a scarf-wearing penguin named Topper who’s just one of the most lovable Rankin/Bass creations.
3. The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
This one starts out kind of slow and feels a bit flat at first until it just explodes in awesomeness with the arrival of Heat Miser and Snow Miser, two of the best character designs in the history of Rankin/Bass. Based on the Phyllis McGinley 1956 book of the same name, it’s the story of an identity crisis for Santa Claus when he decides to call in sick during Christmas Eve, leading Mrs. Claus and a pair of elves to save the holiday. When the elves Jingle and Jangle get stuck in a place called Southtown, Mrs. Claus and a boy named Iggy have to ask the Snow Miser to bring snow to the region for a day. It leads to one of the best songs in Rankin/Bass history (“I’m Mr. White Christmas, I’m Mr. Snow …”) and then that’s almost topped by the clever creation that is the Heat Miser. Trivia: This classic was remade in 2006 in a live-action TV movie that was called basically the worst thing ever and sounds like absolute nightmare fuel.
2. Frosty the Snowman (1969)
Five years after Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rankin/Bass transformed the historical legacy of another character forever in the first TV special to feature the snowman who came to life. When people hear that 1950 song during the holiday season, they generally think of this 1969 iteration of Frosty, brought to lovable life by Jackie Vernon. It’s a 25-minute special that merges the magic of the season — if a snowman can become real, then anything is possible during Christmas — with what’s really a story of sacrifice. A girl named Karen and a rabbit named Hocus Pocus try to get Frosty to the North Pole to save his life, but he ends up melting to save the girl instead. Of course, Santa steps in and Frosty has kept his promise to be back on Christmas Day for half a century.
1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Rudolph has to be out in front, right? It’s where he belongs. The team at Rankin/Bass set the foundation for all future Christmas specials with their first special. Using the 1949 Johnny Marks song as a base, this 1964 NBC special has aired every single year since it premiered, becoming one of the most beloved holiday properties in the world. And it’s held up stunningly well. Narrated by Burl Ives, it’s a gentle, sweet classic tale of the outsider with the bright red nose, but it’s also about the power of believing and the magic of the season. It’s not just Rudolph but Sam the Snowman, Yukon Cornelius, the lovable Hermey the Elf, and King Moonraiser — who gets one of the best lines just ever anywhere in, “A toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child.” Watching this special six decades later, you can see its DNA in literally hundreds of other pieces of family entertainment, even the non-Christmas stuff. It’s magical.
Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed King Moonraiser’s quote to Hermey the Elf.
