Talk:Rankin/Bass

For you, when did the decline in R/B specials begin? I really hate to even broach this, but there was a time when they had the Midas Touch, and then it was like the ideas ran dry. Part of me wants to say 'The First Christmas', for its misleading title, but its a sweet little story with the voice of Angela Lansbury backing it up. I liked Nestor right up until the ending where he returrned to the ones who had treated him so badly--his hero status aside. I was a little thrown by 'The Stingiest Man In Town' at the time, only because I wondered how many versions of the Dickens' tale could they make? I was so naive about that. But also, why would this creative studio redo something done a billion times over?--and this was 1978. Looking back, wouldn't 'Good King Wenceslas' have made an awesome R/B special, or maybe working with the Beach Boys for something based on 'Santa's Beard'?

Instead, we get 'Jack Frost', which starts out on Groundhog Day, features Russian-esque-sort-of peasants and a ruler and a knight of the Round Table and...this isn't even a secular versus religious thing. What does this special have to do with Christmas?

The Leprechauns made my head spin trying to watch it, and at the time, I didn't know enough about Pinochio's pre-Disney heritage to appreciate that one--and I have to suspect I'm not alone. Even with that appreciation, I still didn't much like the special. Then came 'Life&Adventures Of Santa Claus'. Too ambitious a story to be simply told in one hour, especially by a company that had already made the most definitive Santa since Coca-Cola started Christmas adverts.

For myself, I'll fix the time of the decline as starting with the end of Nestor. How simple would it have been for Roger Miller's narration to say 'he watched that little baby grow to become quite a man, to hear it told'?

I love R/B, but I feel like in later times they really showed a lack of effort.Gojirob 09:22, January 7, 2011 (UTC)Gojirob