Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Rudolph's Shiny New Year
File:Poster of the movie Rudolph's Shiny New Year.jpg Cover of the 1999 VHS release
Written by	Romeo Muller
Directed by	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Voices of	Billie Mae Richards Red Skelton Morey Amsterdam Frank Gorshin Paul Frees Don Messick Harold Peary
Narrated by	Red Skelton
Theme music composer	Johnny Marks
Composer(s)	Johnny Marks Maury Laws
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language(s)	English Japanese (Dubbed)
Production
Producer(s)	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Cinematography	Akikazu Kono Ichiro Komuro
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Rankin/Bass Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	ABC (1976-present) ABC Family (present) TV Asahi (1979)
Original release	December 10, 1976 (USA) December 24, 1979 (Japan)
Chronology
Preceded by	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Followed by	Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)

Rudolph's Shiny New Year is a 1976 Christmas/New Year's stop motion animated television special and a sequel to the 1964 special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The special premiered on ABC on December 10, 1976. Three years later, it was also aired on TV Asahi in Japan on December 24, 1979 under the Japanese dub title 赤鼻のトナカイ ルドルフ物語 (Akahananotonakai Rudorufu Monogatari).

Plot

A year after delivering Christmas presents, Santa Claus receives a letter from his friend Father Time asking for help to find Happy the Baby New Year before midnight on New Year's Eve, or else it will be December 31 forever. Santa sends Rudolph out to find him. An evil vulture called Aeon the Terrible is supposed to live for exactly one aeon after which he will turn into ice and snow and disintegrate. As his particular aeon will end January 1 of the New Year, he plans to kidnap Happy to keep the year from ending and stop time, thus preventing his predestined death.

Father Time speculates that Happy, who ran away due to his big ears being laughed at, is hiding out in the "Archipelago of Last Years", where the Old Years retire and rule over an island styled to resemble the year over which they ruled. Sent to assist in this journey are some agents of Father Time including General Ticker (a military clock), The Great Quarter-Past-Five (a camel with a clock in his hump), and Big Ben (a whale with a clock attached to his tail).

Upon arrival in the Archipelagos, Rudolph first travels to the island belonging to a caveman named One Million B.C. ("O.M." for short). O.M. inhabits an island anachronistically inhabited with friendly dinosaurs and other prehistoric and long-extinct creatures. As Rudolph and his friends search for Happy (who left after his hat accidentally fell off and revealing his big ears, causing the dinosaurs to laugh), they repeatedly encounter Aeon.

After other off-screen visits to the islands of 4000 B.C., 1492, 1893, and 1965 have been completed without success, Rudolph and O.M. head for the island of 1023 (pronounced ten-two-three), belonging to a knight named Sir 1023, whose island is filled with medieval trappings along with several fairy tale and Mother Goose characters. Meanwhile, Happy managed to befriend the Three Bears, but becomes saddened when he removes his hat and exposing his big ears to them, causing him to leave again.

The group then travels to the island of 1776, which reflects Colonial America and is ruled over by "Sev" (AKA 1776) who resembles Benjamin Franklin. Following Happy's seeming rejection on the Island of 1776, Aeon kidnaps him and takes him to his lair on the Island of No-Name which is said to be located "due north of the North Pole".

The group now leaves the Archipelego in pursuit. Catching up to Aeon, they attempt to rescue the baby. However, Aeon (upon being awakened by the sound of O.M. tumbling) thwarts them by sending an avalanche down on the group and trapping them inside giant snowballs. Managing to melt his way free using his nose, Rudolph climbs up to Aeon's nest where he finds Happy, who refuses to leave. Rudolph shows Happy his nose and tells him his own story of being bullied because of his nonconformity before asking Happy to let him see his ears. Happy does so, and Rudolph, like everyone else before him, laughs at the sight. Happy once again gets upset, but Rudolph explains that the sight of Happy's ears had made him feel so wonderful that he had to laugh out loud, just like it had done with everyone else. With this declaration, Happy shouts out with joy, but causes Aeon to awaken. Rudolph quickly tells Happy to take off his hat and leave it off for good. At the sight of Happy's large ears, Aeon bursts into uncontrollable laughter which sends him tumbling down the side of the mountain and into the three remaining snowballs, freeing O.M., 1023, and Sev. Rudolph realizes that Aeon is now so full of warmth and happiness that it would be impossible for him to turn to ice and snow.

With Santa's help, they return to Father Time's castle with Happy just in time for the beginning of the new year, which is designated "Nineteen-Wonderful". After the celebration, everyone wishes Happy a happy new year and Rudolph proclaims to the viewers that it may be shiny, too.

Archipelago of Last Years

Among the islands of the Archipelago of Last Years are:

• 1,000,000 BC: Represented as a prehistoric, anachronistic island that consists of dinosaurs, other prehistoric creatures, and cavepeople living together. O.M. lives here.

• 4000 BC: Rudolph mentions that all its inhabitants wanted to do was build pyramids.

• 1023: Represented as a medieval island filled with fairytale characters. The year 1023 is said to be when all the well-known fairy tales and nursery rhymes actually happened. Sir 1023 lives here.

• 1492: Rudolph mentions that the people on that island were too busy discovering things to help them.

• 1776: Represented as a Colonial American island that celebrates American Independence Day on a daily basis. 1776 lives here.

• 1893: Rudolph mentions that the inhabitants have never heard of Happy.

• 1965: Rudolph stated that island was "too noisy" to search for Happy.

Cast

• Red Skelton – Father Time (Narrator), Baby Bear
• Billie Richards – Rudolph
• Morey Amsterdam – One Million BC
• Frank Gorshin – Sir 1023, Quarter Past Five
• Paul Frees – 1776, Santa Claus, General Ticker, Aeon the Terrible, Humpty Dumpty
• Don Messick – Papa Bear, Rumpelstiltskin, Prince Charming, The Seven Dwarfs
• Harold Peary – Big Ben the Whale
• Iris Rainer - Mama Bear, Nanny Nine O'Clock

Japanese Dubbed Cast

• Kazuo Kumakura - Father Time
• Shinobu Otake - Rudolph
• Masashi Amenomori - One Million BC
• Koichi Kitamura - Sir 1023
• Junpei Takiguchi - Santa Claus
• Toshiro Ishii - General Ticker
• Chikao Otsuka - Aeon the Terrible
• Tamio Oki - Big Ben

Songs

• Have a Happy New Year
• The Moving Finger Writes
• Turn Back The Years
• It's Raining Sunshine
• What A Wonderful World We Live In
• Fourth Of July Parade
• Have A Little Faith In Me
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Crew

• Producers/Directors - Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass
• Writter - Romeo Muller
• Music and Lyrics - Johnny Marks
• Design - Paul Coker, Jr.
• Sound Recording - John Curcio, Don Hahn, Bill Bell
• Effects - Tom Clack
• "Animagic" Production Supervisors - Akikazu Kono, Ichiro Komuro
• Animation: Hiroshi Tabata, Seiichi Araki (both uncredited)
• Post Production Supervisor - Irwin Goldress
• Music Arranger/Conductor - Maury Laws

© 1976 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.

DVD details

Released with The Year Without a Santa Claus

• Release date: October 31, 2000
• Full Screen
• Region: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Audio tracks: English
• Second extra: Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

External links

• Rudolph's Shiny New Year at IMDb
• ABC Feature Page for Rudolph's Shiny New Year
• Archived ABC Feature Page for Rudolph's Shiny New Year
• Rudolph's Shiny New Year review from Red-Skelton.info