Of all the Christmas specials I watched as a kid, the trippiest was A Year Without a Santa Claus. This was one of the last Rankin-Bass cartoons I remember coming out.
The premise is simple. Santa is having a bit of a midlife crisis. At his age, you’d think he’d have had several by now. Anyway, Santa thinks no one believes in him anymore and is considering saying “Screw it. I’m taking December 25 off.”
Mrs. Claus and elves Jingle and Jangle ain’t having it. They head south to the US to determine what would bring Christmas spirit to the world. In the case of America, North and South want to trade places: Snow in Florida; warm, green Christmas in Ohio.
This requires an assist from two characters who make this special special, the brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Heat Miser, who looks like Fred Flinstone’s smarter brother, would like to extend summer in the north just once. Snow Miser, who’s a bit of a song-and-dance man, what’s to dump a load of the white stuff on the south.
Cataclysmic climate change aside, the change in weather is enough to rekindle Christmas spirit and bring Santa out of the North Pole again this year.
What makes this show so trippy is the Miser Brothers song.
Song redubbed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
