The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1985 Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and their final “Animagic” stop-motion production well as the company’s last Christmas special before their closure in 1987. Notably, this special is based on the 1902 children’s book of the same name by L. Frank Baum, the writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and as such is not connected to the continuity created by previous Rankin/Bass Productions. It is considered by many as their darkest Christmas special.
Plot[]
Long ago in the Forest of Burzee, a council meeting is held to decide on giving Santa Claus immortality. The head of the meeting, the Great Ak, tells the story of “Claus” to the leaders of the Immortals, hoping to persuade them to bestow upon Claus the “Mantle of Immortality,” as this particular night marks his very last annual sleigh ride. Sixty years ago, in a snowy land of misery and sorrow, the Great Ak finds an abandoned baby in the woods on the border of the Forest. He leaves the child in the care of a lioness named Shiegra. But a fairy named Necile, after hearing about the discovery of the infant, steals him from Shiegra and goes to the Great Ak, begging him to let her raise the child. After initial concern that a human was brought into the Forest, which is against the law, the Great Ak agrees and allows Necile to raise the child while Shiegra stays to protect them. Necile names the child “Claus,” which means “little one.”
When Claus has become a young man, the Great Ak takes him to see the mortal world, where he learns of the cruelty and suffering of the mortal world. Claus learns that he must live there and somehow make it a more joyful place. So he leaves the Forest and sets up a workshop in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, accompanied by Shiegra and Tingler, a Sound Imp. As he grows older, he makes it his mission to bring happiness to children in a nearby village. He accomplishes this by making toys (with his very first one being a wooden black cat modeled after Blinky, a kitten that Necile sent to them, which he gives to an orphan boy named Weekum), with some assistance from a group of Ryls, Knooks, and Wood Nymphs from the Forest.
Meanwhile, in the Rocky Mountains, a group of evil, ugly and hairy monsters called the Awgwas (who influence children to do bad things), led by King Awgwa, are not happy with Claus’ efforts to bring happiness to children, so they attempt to stop Claus from making and delivery toys. At first, they send a warning to Claus, telling him to stop or they will come for him. When Claus ignores the warning, the Awgwas kidnap him, but he escapes with aid from the Knooks. As he and his friends make attempts to deliver toys to the village, they are repeatedly ambush them and steal the toys. Claus attempts to go along by nightfall, but he is ambushed by the Awgwas again, only to be saved by Shiegra.
The Great Ak has finally had enough of this and summons King Awgwa and the other Awgwas to face him. Despite the Great Ak’s demand that he stop interfering with Claus’ efforts, King Awgwa defies him and declares war on the Immortals. Later, the Great Ak and the other Immortals face off against King Awgwa and his monstrous followers. They attack the Immortals, but the Immortals ultimately defeat them. The Great Ak leads the final charge and the Awgwas all flee in terror. Afterwards, the Great Ak informs Claus that he can resume his toy delivering without fear of interference, because the Awgwas’ reign has been put to a permanent end.
Claus and his friends prepare a sleigh to deliver the toys, but it’s too heavy for them to pull. Peter Knook comes up with the solution by enabling reindeer from the Forest to fly in order to pull the sleigh. Claus travels across the valley with Shiegra and Tingler, claiming that he now knows why it is named the way it is, as he laughs in a “ho, ho, ho” manner. When he makes his first stop, he finds that the front door is locked since it is night, she he decides to enter through the chimney and leave smaller gifts in the stockings while placing larger toys elsewhere. Once Claus returns, Peter informs him that he can only use the reindeer once a year on Christmas Eve, which is only ten days away. As such, there is not enough time to make enough toys. In order for Claus to enough gifts, Peter Knook finds and recovers the toys stolen by the Awgwas, thus allowing Claus to set out on his first of many Christmas Eve sleigh rides.
As Claus nears the end of his life, he suggests that his friends decorate a tree with ornaments every year as his memorial. After hearing about Claus’ life and good deeds, the council unanimously votes to bestow upon him the Mantle of Immortality. Now having become known as “Santa Claus, the Patron Saint of Christmas” he delivers gifts to children every Christmas Eve to this very day, since as Santa himself says “There is nothing so beautiful as a happy child.”
Songs[]
- “Ora e Sempre”
- “A Child”
- “Babe in the Woods”
- “(We Wanna Wake Up to a) Big Surprise”
- “As Merry As We Can Be”
Cast[]
- Earl Hammond—Santa Claus
- Earle Hyman—King Awgwa
- Larry Kenney—The Commander of the Wind Demons
- Lynne Lipton—Queen Zurline, Wife
- Robert McFadden—Tingler
- Lesley Miller—Necile
- Peter Newman—Peter Knook, Awgwas, Gnome King, Husband, Manor lord, additional voices
- Joey Grasso—Weekum
- J. D. Roth—Young Claus
- Alfred Drake—The Greak Ak
The Children[]
- Amy Anzel
- Josh Blake
- Ari Gold
- Jamie Lisa Murphy
Chorus[]
- Al Dana
- Margaret Dorn
- Arlene Martell
- Marty Nelson
- David Ragaini
- Robert Ragaini
- Annette Sanders
External links[]
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus on Bing Videos