Snow Miser
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Snow Miser is a fictional character from the Rankin/Bass-produced 1974 stop-motion animated Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Snow Miser was voiced by actor/comedian Dick Shawn.
In the special, Snow Miser controlled cold weather all over the Earth; his archnemesis is his stepbrother, Heat Miser. Mother Nature herself is their mother.
Snow Miser was a giant humanoid creature, with the supernatural power to freeze objects at will. As he sang in his memorable ragtime song ("whatever I touch turns to snow in my clutch"), Snow Miser could cause objects to burst into snowflakes with a touch. He could also restore the objects at will. He could also project intense cold at will from his hands or mouth, even forming simple objects of ice. Snow Miser lived in a large ice castle, and was attended to by a host of miniature versions of himself. He defended his domain fiercely, yet unlike Heat Miser, was a gregarious, friendly, jocular sort, given to gales of laughter and bad puns about snow and cold weather; in other words, the Snow Miser had the "cool" personality (as opposed to a "bitter" or "cold" personality), in contrast to the Heat Miser's hot-headedness.
Both Snow and Heat Miser sing a memorable ragtime style song introducing themselves.
In the 2006 NBC live-action remake, he is played by actor Michael McKean. Also, rather than miniature versions of himself, his underlings are replaced by women in white swimsuits and scarves, warring with Heat Miser by firing giant icicles from a ballista.
A 2008 sequel premiered on ABC Family, A Miser Brothers' Christmas had Snow Miser and Heat Miser set aside their differences to save Christmas when Santa once again is unable to make his run, and fight off their brother, North Wind. In this special, Canadian voice actor Juan Chorido provided Snow Miser's voice as Shawn died in 1989. The special, considered as the sequel, was produced by Warner Brothers Animation, owners of the post-1974 Rankin-Bass library and Cuppa Coffee Animation for ABC Family.
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[edit] Collectibles
Action figures based on The Year Without a Santa Claus were produced by Palisades Toys in 2002 and included the Snow Miser, the Heat Miser and their tiny clone-like assistants. The figures were re-released by NECA in late 2006.
[edit] Other media
In the movie Batman & Robin, Mr. Freeze (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) tries to get his henchmen to learn the Snow Miser's song. A clip from The Year Without a Santa Claus is shown on a television with sing-along lyrics, during the point in which Snow Miser sings his memorable ragtime song to introduce himself.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has done a cover of the song from the TV special, which can be found on their CD Everything You Want For Christmas.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Snow Miser's Cooler - Long-running fan site for Snow Miser.
