In addition to all these interviews and whatnot, I like to try to throw in a little casual commentary here and there.

On Friday, I hung out with Red Kryptonite and we watched some Rankin/Bass specials–specifically, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, which could only be withstood via the magic of Rifftrax. We also watched the holiday episode of Psych, a Gumby short from Mystery Science Theater 3000, and Cabin Boy, which I consider an under-appreciated cult classic.

Saturday I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think this was the first time I really enjoyed the heck out of that film. Oh, I’ve seen it many times before, but for some reason I was never really able to get into it the way I was this time. There’s no question it’s a marvel–an incredible cross-pollination of Tim Burton’s twisted conceptions of Halloween and Christmas. Not only is it amazingly well-made, but I think the story–which is basically about Jack Skellington’s mid-life crisis–is great as well.

Santa Jack

What I love about NBX is its originality–that is, the way it takes the traditions of the old Rankin/Bass specials and the modern secular conception of two major holidays and creates a brand-new fairy tale for the modern age. I think that–and the amazing character and set designs–are why it’s more beloved than its successors James and the Giant Peach and The Corpse Bride.

I’ve recently gone on a tear for the toys–picking up Santa Jack as well as the Cyclops and Experiment Jack. I’d like a few more of them, like Oogie-Boogie and the spiral hill set, but they’re not cheap and they’re becoming pretty hard to find these days.

On Sunday I caught Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. A lot of these Christmas specials were aired annually while I was a kid in the 1980s, but they largely vanished in the 1990s. It’s nice that cable channels like ABC Family have brought them back.

Of the three mentioned above, I’ve always found ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas the most unusual. It’s a traditional 2-D cartoon by Rankin/Bass, but the story isn’t based on a popular folk song or children’s book. It’s a weird little tale about a clockmaker and the English-speaking family of mice that live in his house.

twas-night-before-christmas.jpgThe eldest son of the mouse writes a letter to the town newspaper telling off Santa Claus (signing it “All of us”), which apparently makes Santa so mad that he sends back all the children’s letters. Funny, I always thought Santa was more forgiving than that–I guess this must be the same Santa who took one look at baby Rudolph and declared he would never allow a freak like that on his sleigh team (I’m paraphrasing of course, but that’s really what he was saying).

The clockmaker comes up with a plan: he’ll alter the town clock so that it’ll play a Christmas song at midnight, which will show Santa they like him. This plan seems rife with problems–first off, what guarantee do they have that the big SC will be anywhere in the vicinity when the chimes go off? Second, why do they think that a Santa who’s petty enough to make children cry over a single newspaper editorial is going to be mollified by a tinny-sounding song? If anything, it seems counter-productive. My twenty-something sister still drives my dad crazy every Christmas morning by blasting that annoying prologue to “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” (“I just got back from a lovely trip along the Milky Way…”)

Still, ‘Twas was one of my perennial favorites growing up, and watching it always gives me a sense of nostalgic d