
The cover to the VHS release.
The City That Forgot About Christmas is an syndicated-animated Christmas TV special, adapted from a Concordia book by Mary Warren. It was produced for Lutheran Television by the Holywood-based Screen Images Inc., which also produced Christmas Is, in cooperation with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the International Lutheran Laymen's League. The character Benji appears in both specials. A third one featuring him, Freedom Is, for the Fourth of July, was also produced.
Synopsis
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Benji is upset that his parents are busy and seem to have no time for him, because they are busy getting ready for Christmas. He and a friend go to see his grandfather, who always makes time for them. When they tell him that they don't care much about celebrating Christmas anymore, he tells them a story about a city that had forgotten about Christmas altogether. Then one day a traveling carpenter named Matthew came to town and taught first the children, and then their parents, all about Christmas and the birth of Jesus. He also begins to build them a Nativity scene for their first Christmas in anyone's memory, and everyone pitches in to help. The town's mayor is not happy about any of this, and he and his henchmen steal the baby Jesus sculpture after hearing Matthew say that you can't have Christmas without the baby. Matthew watches as they carry out their scheme, and then he quietly leaves town, to see if what he has shared with the townspeople has really been understood. At first, they are upset that the baby Jesus and Matthew are missing, but in faith they set up the Nativity scene on Christmas Eve anyway, with a real baby in the manger, and everyone realizes that it was the real birth of Jesus that's the most important thing of all.
Voice cast
Voice actor/actress | Character(s) |
---|---|
Sebastian Cabot | Benji's Grandfather Matthew |
Charles Nelson Reilly | Wicked Mayor |
Louis Nye | Henchman |
Casey Kasem | Benji's Father |
Don Messick | Waldo |
David Kelley | Benji |
Robie Lester Jon Gardner Philip Morris Dina Lynn Gary Shapiro Sonny Melendrez |
Additional Voices |