Creepmas - Rankin Bass Krampus Night

Krampus Night is almost impossible to find with  Rankin Bass disavowing any knowledge of the 25 minute cartoon's existence. I have been searching for years to find an actual copy and the closest I can come is this DVD mock up for the unreleased title.

From information collected from various sources the special focused on a modern (early 80's) toy company exec Filmore Clutch, that used his fortune to release the hot toy of the year and to release it for free but only to kids who could prove themselves naughty and therefore would not be receiving presents from Santa. Since kids all over the world want the toy, thanks to subliminal advertising, they all behave as naughty as possible to receive it from "Uncle Clutch". The influx of naughty ratings of children into the north pole results in the weakening of Santa Claus who travels to New York to confront "Uncle Clutch". The weakened Santa is easy prey for Clutch who locks the Christmas Icon away in his own private jail. With Santa gone and the naughty list set to go critical an ancient fail safe is activated and, as Mrs Claus states, the List Keeper is being unleashed.

From a cavern under Santa's Castle comes, according to the back story we are given, the last of the Kringle Elves - Krampus Kringle - who toiled for years with the task of keeping the list of naughty or nice and doling out the punishments to the naughty until his body twisted into a red skinned coal eating abomination that lives only to punish. Santa had him locked away centuries ago to protect the children of the world from his overzealous actions. It is alluded to that Krampus played Judge, Jury and Executioner to the naughtiest of children, one of the reasons the special aired only once. Mrs Claus pleads with Krampus about what has happened and with great flourish and a fantastic musical number set to Alice Cooper's "No More Mister Nice Guy" the Krampus leaps into action. In the end Santa is saved, the children released from the spell of Clutch's subliminal advertising return to being good and the Krampus drags off an unrepentant Clutch into the caverns under the castle. It can be surmised this is the Rankin Bass version of naughty children being dragged to Hell by the Krampus.

There are several factors as to why this special aired only once and has never seen a release on home video or DVD. First is the a fore mentioned scene depicting Krampus appearing to execute children he deemed naughty, second was an unfavorable reaction to injecting the Devil like Krampus into the very happy world of Rankin Bass Christmas specials by the Parent/Teacher Decency League who also took offense to the use of Alice Cooper music and the Krampus being voice by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Most however feel that the special has been buried due to the threat of legal action by Donald Trump, who took great offense to the character of Clutch and his appearance closely matching the real estate tycoon's own image. As fans of the many holiday specials of Rankin Bass continue to hope that one day Krampus Night will be released to the public those with inside knowledge remain steadfast in their belief this day will never come.

Creepmas - Rankin Bass How the Watchamacallit Saved Christmas

It's a true holiday classic that seems to have gotten buried by Rankin Bass Productions....might be because of all the cursing...

okay no, it's not real it's my comic character the Watchamacallit in Rankin Bass style

The 13 Days of Creepmas - War of the Misers

A joint venture between Rankin Bass and Toho studios in 1974 War of the Misers released in Japan as Miser Brothers: Heat vs Snow. It introduces two giant humanoids called The Miser Brothers, which spawned from the ancient titans of mythology and are described as brothers. The Red Brother is violent and savage, preying upon human beings; as he lives in a volcano, he is given the name Heat Miser. The Blue Brother is more docile and gentle; because he resides in the Japan Alps, he is called Snow Miser. The film follows the investigation and military engagements of these creatures until their climactic confrontation in Tokyo.

Several ambiguous references are made to previous Rankin Bass and Toho productions, such as the appearance of Santa's Castle, the main reference to the Toho series are the appearance of the military vehicles and weapons such as the Maser Cannon and the Markalites used to battle the Misers. War of the Misers features Hollywood actress Shirley Booth as the lead in Mrs Claus and Mickey Rooney reprising his role as Santa Claus.

The film itself is rather vague as to where (if at all) The War of the Misers falls in regard to the continuity of Toho's other kaiju films, or even if it should be considered a canonical part of the Godzilla series. In 2002's Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, however, specific reference to the Misers is made, indicating that (in this variation on Godzilla continuity, in any case) The War of the Misers is considered by Toho to be a legitimate part of the Godzilla universe.

King Kong Cartoon

Running from 1966 to 1969 the King Kong Show was a joint production between Toei animation in Japan and Rankin Bass in America.

Episode guide
1. King Kong (Hour long Pilot Episode). In syndication the show was split into two parts and the episodes were titled A Friend in Need and The Key to the City.

The following episode list describes the show as originally aired with a 6 minute King Kong episode, followed by a 6 minute Tom of T.H.U.M.B. episode, followed by another 6 minute King Kong episode.
2. Under the Volcano/For the Last Time, Feller...I'm not Bait!/The Treasure Trap
3. The Horror of Mondo Island/Hey, that was a Close One World!/Dr. Who
4. Rocket Island/I was a 91⁄2 oz. Weakling Till One Day.../The African Bees
5. The Hunter/I was a Starling for the USA!/The Space Men
6. The Jinx of the Sphinx/Cool Nerves and... Steady Hands/The Greeneyed Monster
7. The Top of the World/All Guys from Outer Space are Creeps/The Golden Temple
8. The Electric Circle/Mechanical Granma/Mirror of Destruction
9. Tiger Tiger/The Day We Almost Had It/The Vise of Dr.Who
10. King Kong's House/Tom Makes History/MechaniKong
11. The Giant Sloths/Tom Scores Again/The Legend of Loch Ness
12. Dr. Bone/Blow, Jack, Blow!/No Man's Snowman
13. The Desert Pirates/Tom and the TV Pirates/Command Performance
14. The Sea Surrounds Us/The Girl from M.A.D./Show Biz
15. The Wizard of Overlord/Just One of those Nights/Perilous Porpoise
16. The Trojan Horse/Runt of 1,000 Faces/The Man from K.O.N.G.
17. Caribbean Cruise/Hello, Dollies!/Diver's Dilemma
18. The Great Sun Spots/Pardner/Kong is Missing
19. In the Land of the Giant Trees/Beans is Beans/Captain Kong
20. Statue of Liberty Play/What Goes Up.../Pandora's Box
21. The Thousand Year Knockout/Our Man, the Monster/Desert City
22. Eagle Squadron/Never Trust a Clam/The Kong of Stone
23. Murderer's Maze/Drop that Ocean, Feller/The Great Gold Strike
24. It Wasn't There Again Today/Plug that Leak/The Mad Whale
25. The King Kong Diamond/The Scooby/Anchors Away

Now look at the influence of the movie King Kong Escapes had on the show...

Countdown to Halloween - Rankin Bass Jack O' Lantern

Produced by Rankin Bass in 1972 for it's syndicated Festival of Family Classics syndicated cartoon comes the story of Jack O'Lantern. The show entails the telling of the story of  leprechaun, Jack O Lantern by a grandfather to his vising granchildren. Jack is a good soul, who has turned himself into a pumpkin seed to hibernate for the winter and his pumpkin shell home cut into a face to be added to the farm's scarecrow by the grandfather and his sister when they were children. The local farmers have been suffering from hard soil and withering crops they attribute to crows, but in actuality their crops are destroyed nightly by Zelda the witch, her husband Archibald the warlock and her ghouls. Jack launches an offensive against the evil-doers with the help of two of the farmers children and in true Rankin Bass fashion saves the day. Check out the array of powers Jack has at his disposal, from flight and bio-luminescence to a magical Horn of Plenty, ghost punching fists, ghost repelling throwing straw and proton accelerator finger tips....seriously, watch this cartoon and see for yourself....

Countdown to Halloween - Mad Monster Party?

Ah, Rankin Bass you glorious mad men how I love this movie. I remember catching part of this at an early age on a Saturday afternoon while I was being force to get ready to go someplace so boring I can't recall and thinking how incredible it was. Then for years nothing, it didn't air on television, VHS was just starting out and the selection of movies were slim...hell I didn't even know the name of the actual film. Then I went to my first Creation convention with my friend Derrick and there at the end of the dealer's room was a table selling autographs and movie stills, taped to one of the boxes was a promotional shot of the monster puppets from the movie and a note saying Mad Monster Party? It would be years later that I found it on VHS and got to see the glory of the full movie. This was the late 80's and a few years before Nightmare Before Christmas would make the scene. It wasn't until the DVD release that I realized how faded and deteriorated the video copy was as the DVD played and the true colors of the monsters and the rich detail of each scene played out..I almost wept.

In the film, Baron von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) decides to retire, leaving the monster business to his nerdy nephew, Felix Flankin (Allen Swift). Frankenstein plans to announce his decision at a convention of monsters that includes his creature and the creature's more intelligent mate (Phyllis Diller), Frankenstein's seductive laboratory assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett), Dracula, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Mummy and It (a knock-off of King Kong). However when Felix proves to be an incompetent (and unsuitably kind-hearted) human, the monsters plot to eliminate him and gain control of Frankenstein's latest discovery: the secret of total destruction!

The film was created using Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" stop motion animation process. Rankin/Bass had created several stop motion productions before this, spurred by their first, the enormously successful television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964. Classic monster movies were enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the late 1960s and humorous monsters like The Addams Family and The Munsters were enormously popular.

Mad Magazine creator Harvey Kurtzman penned the script and Mad artist Jack Davis designed many of the characters. Mad Monster Party also features several celebrity likenesses. Karloff and Diller's characters are both designed to look like the actors portraying them, while Baron Frankenstein's lackey, Yetch, is a physical and vocal caricature of Peter Lorre. Felix, on the other hand, strongly resembles James Stewart vocally but not physically, and Francesca was modelled after Ginger Grant, the voluptuous starlet character played by actress Tina Louise from the Gilligan's Island television series.

Although the opening credits identify Ethel Ennis as singing the opening theme song and, in the same frame, a soundtrack being available on RCA Victor, a commercially-released soundtrack was never produced in any format. In September 1998, Percepto released a CD of the soundtrack for the film. Most tracks are instrumentals and make great background music..well around my tomb they do...

The tracks on the released CD include:

1. "The Baron"
2. "Mad Monster Party" - Ethel Ennis
3. "Waltz for a Witch"
4. "Cocktails"
5. "The Bash"
6. "You're Different" - The Monster's Mate (Phyllis Diller)
7. "Jungle Madness"
8. "Our Time to Shine" - Francesca (Gale Garnett)
9. "Mad Monster Party"
10. "The Mummy" - Little Tibia and the Fibias (Dyke & the Blazers)
11. "One Step Ahead" - Baron von Frankenstein and Company (Boris Karloff and Company)
12. "The Baron Into Battle/Transylvania, All Hail/Pursuit/Requiem for a Loser"
13. "Never Was a Love Like Mine" - Francesca (Gale Garnett)
14. "Finale"

Here's a two part making of video...watch and enjoy:

In 1972, Rankin/Bass produced a sequel of sorts, with the TV special Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters. This Halloween special featured many of the same monster characters, including an imitation of Karloff as the doctor (he died in 1969), although it presumably was not intended as a direct sequel since many of these characters perished at the end of Mad Monster Party. Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters was created using cel animation, rather than stop-motion.