Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Developed by	Rankin Bass
Narrated by	Red Skelton
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Rankin/Bass Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC (1976) ABC Family (present)
Original run	1976 – present
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 the 1976 stop-motion animated sequel to the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass.

Plot

In this television special, Rudolph has just come back from delivering Christmas presents with Santa Claus when he is asked by Father Time to find the next Baby New Year before midnight on New Year's Eve. The baby, named Happy, was humiliated and laughed at constantly by everyone he met because of his large ears and thus ran away. However, no one who had laughed at Happy had ever meant to be cruel to him, thus causing the constant string of misunderstandings that caused him to keep running away. Unless Happy is returned in time to take his position as the new year, the old year will not end and the date will perpetually remain December 31 forever. Father Time speculates that Happy is hiding out in the Archipelago of Last Years, where the Old Years retire and rule over an island styled to resemble the year they ruled over.

Sent to assist in this journey are agents of Father Time: General Ticker (a military clock) and The Great Quarter Past Five (a camel with a large timepiece in his hump). When it comes to the waters leading to the Archipelago of Last Years, Rudolph ends up riding on Big Ben (a whale with a clock attached to his tail). Rudolph first travels to the island belonging to One Million B.C. or "O.M." for short. O.M. is a caveman whose island is anachronistically inhabited with friendly dinosaurs. After unseen visits to the islands of 1492, 1893, 1965 and 4000 B.C., Rudolph and O.M. head for the island of Sir 1023, a knight whose island is filled with medieval trappings and fairy tale characters. They then travel to the island of 1776, which reflects Colonial America and is ruled over by "Sev" (AKAK 1776), who resembles Benjamin Franklin. Sir 1023 and Sev join Rudolph and O.M. on their quest.

As Rudolph and his friends search for the baby, they repeatedly encounter the villain of the special, a giant buzzard named Aeon. Aeon is destined to live for exactly one aeon after which he will turn into ice and snow. Since his aeon will end at the turn of January 1, he plans to kidnap Happy to prevent the year from ending and thus prevent his predestined death on January 1. Eventually, Aeon captures Happy and takes him to the Island of No-Name, which is located "due north of the North Pole".

Rudolph and his friends reach the Island of No-Name and attempt to rescue him. Aeon however, thwarts them by sending an avalanche down on the group, trapping them all inside of giant snowballs. Rudolph manages to melt his way free using his nose and climbs up to Aeon's nest, where he finds Happy, who refuses to leave. Rudolph shows Happy his nose and tells him his story(in a short song sequence) and asks Happy to let him see his ears. Happy does so and Rudolph, like everyone else before him, laughs at the sight. Happy is upset at first, 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. Just as Happy shouts out with joy at this declaration, the noise awakens Aeon. Rudolph quickly instructs Happy to take off his hat for good and the sight of his large ears causes Aeon to laugh, sending him tumbling down the side of the mountain, where he lands on top of Sev, O.M. and Sir 1023, freeing them. Rudolph realizes that Aeon is cured forever, since he is now so full of warmth and happiness that he will never turn to ice and snow. With Santa's help, Happy is brought to Father Time's castle just in time to begin the new year, which is designated "nineteen-wonderful". After the celebration, everyone wishes the viewers a happy new year and Rudolph adds, "And may it be a shiny one, too!"

Archipelago of Last Years

When a year ends, the old year retires to the Archipelago of Last Years and selects an island for himself after which time on that island remains frozen forever as the year in which the old year ruled. Among the islands of the Archipelagos of Last Years are:

• 1,000,000 BC: Represented as a prehistoric island that consists of dinosaurs and cavemen. O.M. lives here.
• 4000 BC: During Rudolph's search for Happy the Baby New Year, Rudolph mentioned that all its inhabitants wanted to do was build pyramids.
• 1023: Represented as a medieval island filled with fairytale characters. Sir 1023 (pronounced "ten-to-three," as in the time 2:50) lives here. According to the special, 1023 is the year that all the well-known fairy tales actually happened.
• 1492: In Rudolph's search for Happy, he mentions that the people on that island were too busy discovering things to help them.
• 1776: Represented as a Colonial American island that celebrates Independence Day daily. Benjamin Franklin lives here. The inclusion of this date was a reference to the United States bicentennial which was ongoing at the time of the special's debut.
• 1893: During Rudolph's search for Happy the Baby New Year, he mentions that the inhabitants have never heard of Happy.
• 1965: Rudolph stated that island was "too noisy" in his search for Happy the Baby New Year. This is a reference to both Beatlemania and the growing unrest brought on by the escalation of the Vietnam War.

Cast

• Red Skelton - Father Time (Narrator), Baby Bear
• Billie Mae Richards - Rudolph
• Morey Amsterdam - One Million BC
• Frank Gorshin - Sir 1023
• Paul Frees - 1776, Santa Claus, General Ticker, Aeon
• Don Messick - Papa Bear
• Harold Peary - Big Ben
• Iris Rainer - Quarter Past Five

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

Production notes

• The reindeer model used for Rudolph in this special was significantly different from the one used in the original special, most notably in that it had a wider, rounder mouth and a more blunt face as opposed to the elongated model used in the original. This model was also used for the 1979 finale Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
• A lady with blonde hair at the front of the crowd at the end of the special was also used as the mother in The Year Without a Santa Claus.
• While Rudolph's Shiny New Year takes place after Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer, Rudolph appears in this film as a fawn, without a full set of antlers. This seems to be out of continuity with the end of Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, where he appears to be a fully grown deer with antlers.
• The camel who carried Rudolph and General Ticker to Father Time's castle was the same camel who served as "Joshua" in The Little Drummer Boy, another Rankin-Bass puppetoon.
• In one scene, the characters are on a boat using a calendar page as a sail. The calendar page is of August 1928, a reference to writer Romeo Muller who was born on August 7, 1928. The calendar page is inaccurate, since it shows the month starting on Thursday, whereas August 1, 1928 was actually a Wednesday. In addition, August appears with 30 days instead of 31.
• In the "The Moving Finger Writes" sequence, the calendar dates seen accurately reflect a common year starting on Monday.
• None of the characters from the original special returned in voiced parts except for Rudolph and Santa Claus. Rudolph's parents, (his father being Donner) are shown in the scene where Rudolph explains to Happy about himself, but are not referred by name nor do they have any lines. Donner is seen as part of Santa's sleigh team towards the end after Happy makes the Aeon laugh and it strikes midnight when Rudolph says "There's got to be a way to get to Father Time's castle before the 12th bong" and Santa and the reindeer team showing up instantly, but again is not referred by name. In the scene when 'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer' is being played, when young reindeer are seen playing ball, a female reindeer resembling Clarice, Rudolph's girlfriend, (due to her bow, which is red with white polka dots, like in the original special) is seen. However, when in the original special where Clarice is the only reindeer that does not make fun of Rudolph's nose, in this special she runs away with the other reindeer and appears to be laughing at him.
• One more difference between the original special and this one is the role of the narrator in the story. In the 1964 special, Sam the Snowman apparently knows Rudolph, but doesn't interact with him. In this special, Father Time acts as the narrator and has some interaction with Rudolph.
• The special currently airs annually on ABC Family as part of its 25 Days of Christmas programming block (despite the fact that it is not a Christmas special); it is occasionally aired on sister network ABC in the week between Christmas and New Years Day.
• Big Ben would later appear in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, albeit briefly.

External links

• Rudolph's Shiny New Year at the Internet Movie Database
• ABC Feature Page for Rudolph's Shiny New Year
• Archived ABC Feature Page for Rudolph's Shiny New Year