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"The Christmas Raccoons" is a 1980 Christmas special spun-off from the syndicated animated series The Raccoons.

Synopsis

Christms

The Christmas Raccoons

The story takes place in a forest located "slightly a ways north" on Earth called the Evergreen Forest. It's "the day before the day before Christmas" (December 23rd) but Dan, the chief forest ranger, just learned that someone is chopping down all of the forest's trees. His children, Julie and Tommy, are concerned, but he assures them that he'll do whatever he can to get to the bottom of it. They and their sheepdog, Schaeffer, go to sleep and dream of winter fun. Meanwhile, in one tree known as the Raccoondominium, the Raccoons are preparing for Christmas. Ralph picks up the paper, and he too is outraged to learn about the disappearing trees. Bert, however, doesn't take the matter as seriously. Yet outside, the tree thief is revealed to be Cyril Sneer, who is looking for big bucks in his lumber company. His son, Cedric, tries to talk him out of his crazed plans to destroy the whole forest, reasoning that they already have enough trees. But as Cyril puts it, "he's a lumber profiteer, [and] whenever [he's] near, trees disappear!" Unfortunately, one of those trees turns out to be the Raccoondominium.

Left without a home, the Raccoons try to find who's behind the destruction of the forest. However, Cyril dropped their tree on the way, where Julie and Tommy find it and declare it the perfect Christmas tree. Ralph sees them bring in into their house, and deduces that they must be stealing the trees. Once Schaeffer is left alone in the cabin, the Raccoons make their way inside, where they find the Raccoondominium decorated with ornaments, tinsel, and lights. As they try to get their stockings back, some decorations fall on the floor and Schaeffer, who has been napping nearby, wakes up from the noise and chases them through the forest. Eventually, though, Schaeffer finds out the truth about his family's Christmas tree, as do the Raccoons about his innocence. The animals then team up to find the real tree thief. Once caught, Cyril finally admits that it was he who cut down the trees and that Cedric is innocent. Cyril eventually promises to replant all the trees.

The Raccoons and Schaeffer are pleased that they have saved the forest, but the Raccoons are still upset that they still haven't got a home and Schaeffer shares their sorrow, as he is desperate to help them but he can't think of how to help. They walk back to the cabin and they wish each other a merry Christmas and Schaeffer tells the Raccoons not to give up hope. Julie and Tommy have already returned and as they begin to wonder why some of the decorations have fallen off the tree and where the stockings came from (they belong to the Raccoons), Schaeffer realizes they can help and alerts Julie and Tommy to the window, where the Raccoons can be seen in the cold. Julie and Tommy realize that their Christmas tree must be the Raccoons' home and they phone Dan so that the Raccoons can get a new home.

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Schaeffer, Julie, and Tommy

The next day, Julie and Tommy rush to open their presents, but are surprised to see that the tree has gone. When they ask Dan, he tells them that they didn't even have a tree, and they realise that it mustn't even be Christmas Day yet and they must have dreamt the events of the previous day. Dan also tells them that the mystery of the disappearing trees hasn't been solved, but the trees have stopped being cut down for some reason. He reads a newspaper article to them which says that "Overnight, thousands of seedlings were planted but they didn't know who did it." Schaeffer alerts Julie and Tommy to the window again and they can see that the Raccoons have found a new home in a replanted tree not far from the cabin.

Cast

Voice actor/actress Character
Rich Little Narrator
Rita Coolidge Melissa Raccoon
Rupert Holmes Dan the Forest Ranger
Carl Banas Schaeffer
Tammy Bourne Julie
Hadley Kay Tommy
Bobby Dermer Ralph Raccoon
Len Carlson Bert Raccoon
Fred Little Cedric Sneer
Michael Magee Cyril Sneer

External links

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