A Claymation Christmas Celebration

1987 American television Christmas special

A Claymation Christmas Celebration

Opening Titles

Written by| Ralph Liddle
Directed by| Will Vinton
Starring| Tim Conner
Johnny Counterfit
Music by| Patric Miller
Country of origin| United States
Original language| English
Production
Producers| David Altschul
Will Vinton
Running time| 24 minutes
Original release
Network| CBS
Release| December 21, 1987 (1987-12-21)

Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration is an animated Christmas television special originally broadcast on the American CBS TV network on December 21, 1987.[1] The special featured stop motion clay animation and was produced and directed by Will Vinton. The special debuted alongside A Garfield Christmas and the two continued to be aired back to back in subsequent years.

## Synopsis

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The special is co-hosted by Rex (Johnny Counterfit), an erudite Tyrannosaurus rex, and Herb (Tim Conner), a dimwitted and bespectacled Styracosaurus with a gluttonous appetite. The two appeared in previous Will Vinton videos dating back to 1980 including Dinosaur, but this Christmas special is the first in which they have dialogue and contemporary personalities, vaguely parodying Siskel and Ebert respectively.

Situated in a facsimile of London's Christmas Square, Rex and Herb introduce several stand-alone videos of Christmas carols and holiday standards and discuss the origins of each song relating to different holiday traditions around the world.

Among the musical performances:

* The Biblical Magi sing the verses of "We Three Kings" traditionally, while their camels sing the chorus in the style of doo-wop.
* At Notre Dame Cathedral, The Paris Bell-Harmonic, a group of anthropomorphic church bells who strike their own heads with chime hammers to achieve their respective notes, performs "Carol of the Bells". The low C bell (the tonic) constantly dawdles, chimes out of tune and loses his mallet, enraging the maestro, Quasimodo, who uses a slingshot on the bell to get the proper tone at the end.
* A children's choir sings "O Christmas Tree", with the video depicting various scenes taking place inside of Christmas ornaments.
* "Angels We Have Heard On High" is set to a walrus couple doing an interpretive ice ballet while several luckless penguins watch.
* At a black church in the countryside, a soul/jazz hybrid rendition of "Joy to the World" plays out in colorful scenes. (This segment, using stylized, flat animation resembling paintings and stained glass windows, is the only segment not rendered in Vinton's trademark Claymation.)
* The California Raisins perform "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," in the style of The Temptations, after they miss the last bus out of town Christmas Eve following a concert—and fly off in the style of Santa Claus's reindeer into the night.

Throughout the program, Rex futilely attempts to clarify the true pronunciation and meaning of the term "wassail', featured in the Christmas carol "Here We Come A-Wassailing". As the show progresses, Rex is accosted by different groups, all singing parodies of the song.

* "Here We Come A-Waffling", by a kennel of dogs selling waffles from a vendor's wagon.
* "Here We Come A-Waddling", by a gaggle of straggling geese carrying baskets of goodies.
* "Here We Come A-Wallowing", by a herd of slovenly pigs on a John Deere-style field wagon gorging themselves on an abundance of assorted fruits.

Rex is convinced that his own pronunciation is correct, but he is continually questioned by the others, including Herb, when the latter is not busy excessively partaking of the various Christmas treats offered by each group; consulting the dictionary provides no meaningful help. Finally, near the program's end, a large truck loaded with cider-swilling Irish elves arrives in Christmas Square singing the correct version of the carol, validating Rex's theory much to his delight. When asked, one of the townies explains the real meaning of wassailing: going around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols, and getting treats and cordials.

At the end, the entire cast performs "Here We Come A-Wassailing", and then "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as the end credits roll.

## Production

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Filming took place in Portland, Oregon.[2]

## Awards

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1988—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program given to Will Vinton (executive producer/director), David Altschul (producer) and Ralph Liddle (writer)

## Soundtrack and video

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A companion soundtrack album was released by Atlantic Records in 1988 and was originally available on LP, cassette, and compact disc. The album contains six songs not featured on the special, including an alternate version of "Angels We Have Heard On High". The song "O Christmas Tree", as featured in the special, was excluded from the soundtrack.

The special was released on the Hen's Tooth Video DVD Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Plus Halloween & Easter Celebrations in 2003.

Track List:

* Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
* Good King Swing
* We Three Kings Bop
* God Rest Ye
* Carol of the Bells
* Silent Night Jazzy Night
* Noel
* Hark!
* Up on the Housetop
* Joy!
* Waffle, Waddle, Wallow, Wassail
* Angels We Have Heard On High

## See also

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* Claymation Easter
* List of Christmas films

## References

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1. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays--Animated!: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 72\. ISBN 978-1476672939.
2. ^ "Filmed in Oregon 1908-2015" (PDF). Oregon Film Council. Oregon State Library. Retrieved December 27, 2015.

## External links

[edit]

* A Claymation Christmas Celebration at IMDb
* A Claymation Christmas Celebration at the Internet Archive

* v
* t
* e

The California Raisins

TV specials and series|

* A Claymation Christmas Celebration
* Meet the Raisins!
* The California Raisin Show

See also|

* California Raisin Advisory Board
* The Grape Escape

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program

1970s|

* Halloween Is Grinch Night (1978)
* The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)

1980s|

* Carlton Your Doorman (1980)
* Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown (1981)
* The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982)
* Ziggy's Gift (1983)
* Garfield on the Town (1984)
* Garfield in the Rough (1985)
* Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1986)
* Cathy (1987)
* A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1988)
* Garfield's Babes and Bullets (1989)

1990s|

* The Simpsons ("Life on the Fast Lane") (1990)
* The Simpsons ("Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment") (1991)
* Claymation Easter (1992)
* Batman: The Animated Series ("Robin's Reckoning: Part I") (1993)
* The Roman City (1994)
* The Simpsons ("Lisa's Wedding") (1995)
* Pinky and the Brain ("A Pinky and the Brain Christmas") (1996)
* The Simpsons ("Homer's Phobia") (1997)
* The Simpsons ("Trash of the Titans") (1998)
* King of the Hill ("And They Call It Bobby Love") / Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1999)

2000s|

| Program (Less Than One Hour)|

* The Simpsons ("Behind the Laughter") (2000)
* The Simpsons ("HOMR") (2001)
* Futurama ("Roswell That Ends Well") (2002)
* The Simpsons ("Three Gays of the Condo") (2003)
* Samurai Jack ("The Birth of Evil") (2004)
* South Park ("Best Friends Forever") (2005)
* The Simpsons ("The Seemingly Never-Ending Story") (2006)
* South Park ("Make Love, Not Warcraft") (2007)
* The Simpsons ("Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind") (2008)
* South Park ("Margaritaville") (2009)

|

Program (One Hour or More)|

* Walking with Dinosaurs (2000)
* Allosaurus: A Walking With Dinosaurs Special (2001)
* Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (2002)
* Chased by Dinosaurs (2003)
* Star Wars: Clone Wars (Volume 1: Chapters 1-20) (2004)
* Star Wars: Clone Wars (Volume 2: Chapters 21-25) (2005)
* Before the Dinosaurs (2006)
* Camp Lazlo ("Where's Lazlo?") (2007)
* South Park (Imaginationland: The Movie) (2008)
* Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ("Destination: Imagination") (2009)

2010s|

* Prep & Landing (2010)
* Futurama ("The Late Philip J. Fry") (2011)
* The Penguins of Madagascar ("The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole") (2012)
* South Park ("Raising the Bar") (2013)
* Bob's Burgers ("Mazel-Tina") (2014)
* Over the Garden Wall (2015)
* Archer ("The Figgis Agency") (2016)
* Bob's Burgers ("Bob Actually") (2017)
* Rick and Morty ("Pickle Rick") (2018)
* The Simpsons ("Mad About the Toy") (2019)

2020s|

* Rick and Morty ("The Vat of Acid Episode") (2020)
* Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal ("Plague of Madness") (2021)
* Arcane ("When These Walls Come Tumbling Down") (2022)
* The Simpsons ("Treehouse of Horror XXXIII") (2023)
* Blue Eye Samurai ("The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride") (2024)

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