Nutcracker Fantasy: Losing The History Of Anime And Christmas (ANIME ABANDON)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ค. 2024
- The animators of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and Nutcracker Fantasy are NOT who you think they are, and this Christmas, its about time we find out who did.
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0:00 - Intro
2:16 - Part 1: It's The Nutcracker... But...
11:54 - Part 2: Wait, Frosty The Snowman Is Anime?!
18:05 - Part 3: What We Lose
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
#anime #funny #review - บันเทิง
Fun Fact:
The Last Unicorn film by Rankin/Bass had its animation done by people that would work at Studio Ghibli.
One of my all-time favorite films.
Also The Hobbit film was animated by Topcraft. And Frosty the Snowman was outsourced to Mushi Productions with animation by Osamu Dezaki.
I actually thought it was anime as a child.
which funnily enough has become a Christmas Clasdic in Germany due to being aired each year at Christmas, while none of the stop motion movies are
If you want to count The Return of The King (1980), & The Flight of Dragon (1982) as also done by the same animators that would later worked at Studio Ghibli then count them in. Oh, speaking of The Return of the King, there's going to be a Lord of the Rings anime film that will come out in 2024, so that would make it the 2nd time Lord of the Rings got a anime adaptation if you want to count The Return of the King as a anime.
@@mdo7 I don't see why it wouldn't count, just because the animated Fellowship of the Ring was done by different people?
The story of Nutcracker Fantasy is based off the book "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann 1816. And yes, it is faithful to the book with the selfish princess, the spell that turns Franz/Frtiz into a nutcracker, the questionable romance plot and Claire/Marie becoming a child bride.
The Nutcracker ballet, 1892, is loosely based off of the book and focuses more on the Christmas part of the story. The book feels like a medieval fairytale meshed with the Wizard of Oz and set during Christmas. Another special that follows the book plot is "The Nutcracker Prince".
Yep, the eyebrow-raising bits are in the original material.
The movie still changes the context of most of the books plot points. For example the story about the princess is originally set in the past in Drosselmeier's youth. Also the Ragman is not in the book at all
Funnily enough, The Nutcracker Prince is also out of print in English. Last I've seen was its 2004/05 Goodtimes release.
Kind of like how Die Hard isn't a Christmas movie, but because it was set in late December, people keep mistaking it for one.
The animation industry has changed a lot over the years but it has never stopped screwing artists over in some way.
Man, it's infuriating how hard and consistently stop motion animation projects get shafted.
Thanks, Sage. Happy holidays!
Yeah, I think my favorite version of Peter and the Wolf is stop motion.
And now we got... Santa Inc...
🤬
@@battlion507 It's not worth getting mad at Santa Inc. It's just very bad
R&B survived off the backs of Japanese animators/companies/puppeteers. Thank you for this episode, Sage. Never stop bringing integrity to the medium!
Agreed
It's so soul-crushingly sad to know that dedicated skilled artists just end up being forgotten, wilfully swept under the "NOT ANIME" rug.
Because American networks see them as 'Christmas specials' they can air alongside our own Christmas specials.
Not even that, they were swept under the "not important enough to get credited" rug. Name any other movie where the director, cinematographer and many other top names are just not even named in a quick end credit list. The only times that happens normally is when they themselves insist on not being credited.
What you're talking about at the end is just the decay of time. It's being helped along by negligence, but this is the fate for most creatives in the end. There's graffiti on the walls of Pompei that's outlived more than 80% of ancient Greek and Roman literature. We don't know who wrote the poems that compose the Iliad and the Odyssey (they're attributed to Homer, but we know he only collected poems that existed and put them together according to theme), but we know the names of people who wrote bawdy jokes on the walls of bathroom stalls.
Time defeats the efforts to preserve the works of so many people, and in the end will probably defeat everyone.
But we should make more effort towards preserving that knowledge. So much is going to end up lost to time, but we shouldn't just let it go so easily as this.
It really is sad to see a studio, so influential go forgotten it actually is heartbreaking to know that a film that is part of such a rich history is nearly impossible to find. I watch those Christmas specials every year, and I never thought twice about who made him until now I hope someday somehow people will find out who did this and we can give them the proper respect they deserve
An equally strange rankin bass special is the last stop motion feature they did. It's called The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It can be found here on TH-cam, and the archive. It's super weird, full of strange fae creatures, knights and samurai, and weird troll ogre monsters. It's a personal favorite and totally worth checking out
@@TheBrotherGrim wow that really is an odd duck of a film. I might need to check it out someday just to say I saw it
This is what I appreciate and respect about Sage's videos... He's not afraid to show his genuine emotions. No distracting drama, no laugh offs and move on. A tragedy in animation happened, and it deserves to be addressed as such. Thank you, man, for not hiding yourself like other TH-camrs.
Why are you resentful over other people business?
@@jrpgnation6375 "Resentful"? That's an odd spin on what I said. I'm not resentful of anyone, I simply have a great appreciation for Sage's openness to expressing his genuine emotions. It's something I don't see very often, and therefore I'm grateful for his content and work. Why infer resentment from that?
@@trentwilliamson1928You used the words other youtubers.
@@jrpgnation6375 Yeah... and? I'm "resentful" because I appreciate Sage for what makes him unique from some other popular TH-camrs? If you have a favorite content creator, does that mean you resent everybody else?
The ending vid makes me sad l. I never of the special and I wish I could truly see it. Thank you Sage for showing love to the forgotten anime
This reminds me of how the puppets used in the Rudolph special were given to a secretary who kept them as Christmas decorations and stored them in her family's attic where most of them melted away after being played with by children for years. Only a few pieces survive, like Rudolph and Santa.
One of my favorite animation facts: One of the studios the worked with Ranklin-Bass was TOPCRAFT, which later rebranded and re-organized into Studio Ghibli. They worked on RB's adaptation of The Hobbit, the cult classic The Last Unicorn, and it's sibling production Flight of Dragons. You can really see it, too, especially regarding The Last Unicorn and it's beautiful natural landscapes.
Merry Christmas, Sage, and happy new year too. Treat yourself to a rewatch of Tokyo Godfathers as congratulations for making it through a tough 2023. :)
I grew up with the animated version of The Hobbit, but only saw The Last Unicorn within the past year. It really felt like if the characters from one movie would've just wandered in a different direction, they'd run into the other movie.
Speaking of which, my favourite would you call this anime or not is Doctor Snuggles. A cartoon series based on a British children's book, voiced by Peter Ustinov but produced by a Dutch company for a Dutch (and other European) tv channels, with half the episodes animated by Filmation and the other half by TOPCRAFT.
Thundercats and Silverhawks too! Once I learned Topcraft had a hand in all of them, I started to see some common design elements between the look of the character faces, backgrounds, etc. among all of those movies and shows.
@@kewlwarez Actually, it wasn't Filmation, but DePatie-Freeling (aka Marvel Productions, the studio who produced G.I. Joe and Transformers down the line) who animated the other half of the show with Topcraft.
Your talk about all the people who were essentially erased from history despite their contributions reminded me a lot of similar practices that happened in the comic book industry (especially during the Golden Age). Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster all got the shaft despite creating some of the most iconic characters ever to grace the printed page. Luckily, they have been getting more recognition in the modern day (Bill Finger especially).
honestly, Bob Kane can rot in hell, I hope some day, his name is struck from every Batman product and replaced with Bill Finger's wholecloth
Sheesh I was NOT expecting that kind of ending. But much like other episodes of Anime Abandon I bet someone will find something and properly credit the people at MOM Productions on this. Such an impact they had
In first grade, my teacher put this on thinking it would be an accurate adaptation of the ballet.
The rag-man scene kinda fucked me up for a while. As much as the whole mouse thing is trying to tone down what they're presenting, they're still basically showing a kidnapper and one with supernatural powers who can get you in your own home. That's kinda terrifying, and moreso to my young mind.
The worst part is, when things scare you as a kid, you can't sleep and this guy specifically goes after children who stay up past bedtime. Those two elements are a bad mix. Or a good one, depending on what you're going for.
There are some people that do their best work after 11pm, but apparently there are some monsters who don't understand that.
The whole "is Frosty anime?" debate is interesting for sure. A contemporary case might be The Simpsons, which has been animated entirely by South Koreans for thirty years now. Yet I've never once heard anyone describe it as a "Korean animated series."
Well, The Simpsons have made fun a couple of times of the fact that the animation of the series is made in South Korea, albeit by making fun of the animation quality and there's also that couch-gag where they made it seem that the animation studio was like a sweatshop, which I heard the staff in Korea didn't like it that much, though there was also a similar joke in the episode Itchy & Scratchy the Movie where the animators are shown working at gunpoint
I also heard a story that on one of his trips to Korea, Simpsons' animation director David Silverman, noticed that several animators had on their desks figurines of Homer with his fat appearance from the episode King-size Homer. It seems like they really liked that episode
Majority of western cartoons are animated in korea
Tragic that this movie doesn't get the respect it should have, and the fact it's been left in the dust
I haven't seen this since the early 80's anywhere.
the uncut version with english subs is on youtube
Your anger is valid. It's a shame when artists become long-forgotten after putting their sweat and tears into time-consuming projects.
Off topic, you might already know about another Sanrio film called The Legend of Sirius/The Sea Prince & Fire Child but have you talked about it yet? It's okay if you haven't.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays.
I've known for a long time that Rankin/Bass went through a Japanese studio to animate their adaptations of "The Hobbit" and "Return of the King", and "The Last Unicorn". I never realized they did that for ALL of their movies, though.
Ya. Oh a side note. I think it's why anime is way more accepted as part of the mainstream. Without realizing it the people of the past (In the US) where showen and lovein Japanese anime works. Opening the way for anime in the 90s to become common place over sea.
Rankin/Bass would farm some of their 2D animation to Top Craft. Which would spit into two studios. One was Pacific Animation Corporation, the other was Studio Ghibli. Pacific would work with Rankin/Bass on 'Thundercats', and 'SIlverhawks', and would later be bought out by Disney.
They're all inherently anime by default, change my mind
I had no idea that so many people were uncredited and remain unknown for their work. This is beyond heartbreaking and infuriating.
I have learned so much from this video (and so many others in the past you’ve done, Sage).
Thank you for your tireless work and research to inform, educate, and preserve the historic and cultural heritage of anime and the people who create it. You are doing important work and I appreciate it!
That ending was how I feel knowing a lot of Japanese animators not being credited I grew with these specials it hurt me me a lot with all these hard working people getting swept underneath the production is heart breaking………
Thank you, Bennett. The ending you did give us was fantastic. So many of these people go unthanked for hours upon hours of grueling work. Merry Christmas to you.
Hopefully, their names and contributions will be recognized in time, but like with Bill Finger it might be too little too late depending on how many of them are still alive. This video will help, if only a little, to give them the recognition they deserve. I also agree that stop-motion animation should count as anime along with the hand-drawn stuff, though the Rankin/Bass stuff is in kinda in a grey area.
We should also shout out the amazing Filipino and south Korean artists who worked on so many american classics. Also fun note, in the 70s and 80s in Europe Czech animators were the main source for outsourced labour
And British and Vietnamese and so many other places, and not just for American companies, but Japanese ones too.
@@fat1fared can't forget Canada then. We are also being used for tax breaks lol
This just makes Rankin/Bass Productions look villainous, even if they didn't intend for that to be the case. Glad animators get more credit for modern work, but it sucks how much has been lost to time.
If anyone has any connection to these animators, please share. I'd love for them to see their names and hear how impactful their work was for so many of us. Thank you for your work. And Bennet thank you for shedding a light into a place that needed it.
It's a weird feeling but videos like this are weirdly... comforting, even if the conclusions drawn are so infuriating and unfortunate. But it's a good feeling to both know you're not alone in wanting more people to be given proper credit for their work, and knowing there are others out there that are willing to fight for that, even for as minuscule as our voices can feel at times. It is undoubtedly tragic that the names of so many who gave so much for their craft are being lost to time and that films like Nutcracker Fantasy are teetering on the edge of becoming Lost Media... but I'm also thankful that fans like you, Sage, have used their voice to speak up and want that change that we can do better in the future.
As a fellow anime collector the dreaded words 'Out of Print' really hurts. I love Discotek to death but the fact that so many of their titles go out of print so quickly leaves a major feeling of FOMO, to the point I tend to pre-order new releases for fear of not getting a copy. *cough* Space Runaway Ideon *cough*
Dang... this... this one actually hurt. Like... really hurt. Some of my favorite Christmas specials growing up were some of the Rankin Bass specials, notably Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Nestor the Christmas Donkey, Santa Claus is Coming to Town... Beautifully animated stop-motion specials... and i now know why... they, along with the rest of Rankin Bass' stop-motion productions were done in Japan by a different studio. Rankin Bass was just the publisher...
MOM Productions were the ones who brought these tales to life! So many talented people from Japan! So many names that i haven't even heard of.. All to just... get swept away... by misconceptions and failure to credit those responsible...
It feels so... strange that what are iconic parts of North American pop culture... are just kind of a bit of a lie...
I'm heartbroken.
Rankin-Bass' Christmas and fantasy stuff are all inherently anime by default, change my mind
I like finally seeing videos covering Japanese stop-motion. I've had teachers who worked in the stop-motion industry for Laika/Will Vinton Studios and Aardman since the 80s. Whenever discussing the history of Stop-motion animation in the intro classes, we would skip Asian animation, not because of a cultural thing, but because all of the cited examples that were properly credited were in Europe, Russia, and the US.
Some (but not all) of the weirder plot points are adapted from the ETA Hoffmann novel that the ballet is based on, rather than the ballet itself, but the movie still changed their context. For example the princess that is saved by cracking a nut is part of the Drosselmeier's backstory in the book
I'll say this much, Sage. This video has meaning. And a lot of it. I never knew any of this history of Rankin Bass or who ACTUALLY MADE their stuff. And I'd wager few to none of the thousands of people who have watched this video knew it either. Which means that your efforts- you, personally- have taken a step, however large or small, towards giving the dozens of artists, animators, camera people, lighting experts, and more all of the respect they DESERVE for having made something so many people watch every single year. And that's a lot. Tragic as it all is, you've done something to correct that mistake. Your anger at the past is absolutely justified, I just hope you can take solace in knowing you've done your part here.
This is part of the reason I dislike categorizing some animation as "anime" since it shouldn't be set aside from the rest of the industry, but I'm also in the vanishing minority that believes all animators from all countries should be recognized with the same respect of any Hollywood creator. I'm just also not so naive as to believe that enough people agree with me that it would make a difference.
So, I'll be sure to mention that Rudolph and Frosty and Nutcracker Phantasy are, indeed, anime.
I'm not scared of clowns, but I really appreciate the clown warning. That was creepy
I clicked this for a nostalgic look back at a film I vividly remembered seeing as a kid, but never ran into anyone else who saw it. But your deep dive into the production company and history of stop motion animation in Japan made these even more impactful. Great job bringing this forgotten movie back up to the conversation again. And thank you for digging a little deeper and showing us what we are losing to time.
And for the record, the Ragman scared the crap out of me and my little sister. He was the main reason we only watched that movie a couple times. I loved stop motion animation but was fearful of revisiting it. But man Nutcracker Fantasy was both alluring and disturbing in equal measure to my young mind.
Bennett, I've loved your work since 2019. And I've have to say you did a tremendous service making this episode 😢
You couldn't find their names but you... acknowledged these people. I'm sure they'd appreciate that.
It's Stop Motion animation from Japan. So yeah, it's technically Anime.
So would that include the Rankin Bass movies/specials cause i know they used the studio Topcraft before it became Ghibli. Just curious cause that always confused me.
@@nicklundy9965 I personally would say no, for the same reason I wouldn't call The Simpsons a Korean animated show, because it's outsourced labour. Nutcracker Fantasy seems more like an American/Japanese co-production.
Thats animated film.
Only Nutcracker Fantasy was designed by Japanese producers and for the Japanese market, though.
I mean, any animation is anime, to Japan. Same for France. Because that's just the word for animation.
Try to find some joy, Sage. Even if we don't remember all these people, you ensured that their work will be remembered and that's something worthwhile.
It blows my mind that all these works I watched growing up were all crafted by Japanese animators!
Another one that kind of surprised me was The Last Unicorn movie, since I watched that when I was little too. The author of the book is Peter S. Beagle, so the script was originally in English, but all the animators for the movie were Japanese. My favorite movie!
Thanks for bringing this to us! I feel your anger.
Rankin-Bass' "Mouse On The Mayflower" was animated in Japan, where a newly-hired artist named Hayao Miyazaki got his start in animation.
Truly unfair. Imagine if the people inspired by them pooled their resources to go in deep and get those Japanese animators the credit they deserve. Burton, Selick, Aardman, etc.
Ooh. I remember seeing this on HBO, or, some cable station when I was a kid. I did watch it recently on Retro Crush and… wow. The ending to the Japanese version was wild.
Me, too. Though, I'm not sure if it was HBO, or Showtime that aired it.
I remember seeing the promo for Disney Channel's run of the film in a break that had been uploaded to this very site.
Of course, that was during the 1980s when the channel's subscriptions were sold at a premium.
@@Code7Unltd It must've been in the early days of Disney Channel because according to 'Nick Knacks', Disney was gonna work with Group W on forming the channel, but Group W declined because they would lose creative controle.
It’s really sad that so many people who had given sweat and blood to make something that gives us joy every year are relegated to the mist of time and its contribution in some cases never acknowledged.
The Frozen comparison might have more to do with the actual Snow Queen story. I'm not sure how much was taken from the original story, but before revisions, the story of Frozen would involve a sword sacrifice in order to save the kingdom from the Snow Queen or something of the like. In one of the Soundtracks or maybe an Extra on the DVD, some of the creators go into detail about the original story that they wanted to do.
This hits me hard. I have a second channel that I use to make brickfilms, aka Lego stop-motion films. Stop motion animation is a real passion for me and seeing great animators forgotten is so heartbreaking. I also love this movie in both languages Christopher Lee saying, ‘tick-tock-tee’ just makes me giggle
Thank you FOR PUTTING YOUR HEART and SOUL into your videos. you are the anime guy i go to basically...relive nostalgia from the anime I once watched as a kid. A lot I still love...but from a different perspective since i'm older. Holy cow people just don't get enough credit. Its so... disheartening to know/hear that the people working on the Nutcracker Fantasy were more then meets the eye. Thanks for covering this man.
Sage, your passion to recognize these long-forgotten artists rings true, and i hope that someday they will be recognized as the architects of the holiday dreams of multiple generations. knowing the Japanese work ethic as i *think* i do--i may be sorely wrong, this is only based on third-hand observation--many of them may have shrugged and just thought of it as one job among many in their careers. but their hard, thankless work sent ripples of influence and inspiration into the future, and is worthy of our recognition and gratitude. And thank you for championing them!
Thank you for brining light to this injustice. I hope it will lead to people learning and giving proper recognition.
I grew up watching all of these, but I’ve never seen this one. Thank you. In the past wife, I was an animator so seeing someone works so hard to recognize the work of other animators gives me the warm fuzzies. you rock Bennett.
Thank you for shining a light on this Bennet. I honestly had no idea of the influence so many artists and appreciate being informed.
There are so many shows, movies and specials that are or were made in Japan, dating all the way back to the 60s, and were passed off as just showing up out of thin air when aired outside of Japan. It’s so insulting and upsetting. I learned about this in college and it’s still upsetting every time I hear about it.
A sad video about a sad subject by a sad man in sad times, to make us all appreciate that time aren't always sad, but the sad needs to be recognized.
I'm so glad you mentioned Nick Park - his Wallace and Gromit series are pretty much the British holidaytime canon - not just Christmas, but Easter too!
Speaking of Nick Park, he didn't mention Rankin Bass productions as having any influence on him whatsoever. So you listed him as being influenced by the various MOM work that produced the Rankin Bass Ordered productions, but according to the man himself, that is not true and one that I believe as us Brits are only aware of the Rankin Bass stuff thanks to the internet. When it comes to American influences on his work, Park referenced Chuck Jones (Looney Tunes) and Ray Harryhausen, British influences on his work including Terry Gilliam and Gerry Anderson.
I often get annoyed at how little people know about Gerry Anderson's productions, but his 'Supermarionation' series are so adored that we have books, documentaries, profiles and magazine articles detailing who did what and where and how expensive it all got. It's nuts that The Nutcracker Fantasy is not discussed at all (I had never heard of it until today) and we know less about its actual production.
Oh well, I'm sure some Japanese people can research the info and translate the material in some way.
I was lucky enough to get a copy of this movie before it went out of print it's sad to see. These animaters and studio's be forgotten over time
"We venerate those that we can remember. For those that we have forgot; we cannot."
That ending reminded me of my quote.
I believe it is worth pointing out that, semantically speaking, even the Japanese Language Wikipedia has a separate category for Stop Motion Animation (found as 「 ストップモーション・アニメーション 」, literally "stop motion animation"), distinct from the Anime category (which normally encompasses all other animations, western styles included).
It still sucks that people have gone uncredited for their work in these productions. Sanrio is apparently still guilty of this (referring to their IP as the company's creation and not from that of the original creator, Gudatama being an example)
An obscure missing link in the narrative is the Rankin Bass live action film "the Bermuda Depths," which features a Gamera-esque Kaiju sea turtle.
The research you did for this one was wildly impressive. I never knew Rankin/ Bass used Japanese animators, it really is tragic we don't know everyone who put in so much work creating these specials. Maybe by putting this out there, more information can be brought to light. Nice work as always.
At this point I see a lot of different co-productions being reevaluated by anime fans as Scott Pilgrim has reignited the discussion of what makes something anime. Something like G1 Transformers despite being scripted in the United States, actually kickstarted the careers of a lot of familiar names on Anime Abandon since Toei was the other major company behind both pre-production and animation. Names such as Masami Obari, Satoshi Urushihara, Kia Asamiya, etc, got their start drawing mecha for Transformers. This is of course ignoring the countless Japan-only anime follow ups and sequel series to that same show, all of which made to advertise what are Japanese toys.
Makes sense
Peter Chung actually got his start on Transformers as well
@@Harleyquinn_95 that kind of reminds me that Peter Chung used to work at Disney in the early 80s and, according to an article I read once, when some animators brought some anime videos from Japan Chung said he was more interested on Osamu Dezaki's work on series like Space Cobra, compared to other animators like John Lasseter who preferred the works made by Miyazaki
In the late 90s Chung actually directed Reign the Conqueror/Alexander Senki in Japan
@@pablocasas5906 Yoshinori Kanamori and Peter Chung worked together on Transformers The Movie and Reign the Conqueror
Much respect to you for putting the effort in to give these folks some recognition.
The ending of this video hurts especially right now when there are some people ready to throw artists out the door entirely as soon as AI looks good enough not to make people's eyes bleed.
as a lifelong lover of stopmo animation, and a very fortunate owner of nutcracker fantasy on bluray, i thank you for this important video you have made. (my one lil gripe is that you failed to mention film archivist and actor roddy mcdowall was cast as franz/fritz but that is all)
The NUTCRACKER ballet is an adaptation of the book THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING.
My wife and I discovered Nutcracker Fantasy during December of 2020 on Amazon Prime because it was free and we were bored. This was a hidden gem! I couldn't believe how well done it was and to have the same team who worked on the Rankin/Bass Stop Motion movies, this deserved to be shown alongside them! I'm not sure why it hasn't gained as much popularity, but I'm hoping your video brings this film to light for others to see for themselves. Sanrio did a great job with this!
I said it in another video, and I'll say it here too, the "romance" between Clara and Fritz would be more touching if she didn't look 12 and he didn't look 20...and yes I'm aware in the original story the prince was supposed to be closer 15, but the visuals in this movie do nothing to convey that.
No joke, this episode gives new meaning to the namesake of this series: Anime Abandon. Truly remarkable episode both on subject and history. Saddens me I probably won’t be able to see this film😢. Nevertheless the fact you endeavored to immortalize this unsung studio and its heroes is commendable and I salute! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Sage. PS: does this mean the studio behind frosty is responsible for The Hobbit, Return of the King and the Last Unicorn? Or that MOM is also responsible for the Life and Adventures of Santa Clause?
The studio who did Frosty is Studio Mushi, not TopCraft
@@KaminoKatieah thank you
Thank-You for the explanation.
The Japanese studio should've received the well deserved credit!
Merry Christmas and Holidays to Ya Bennett!
It's so sad. The animation is really the whole point of those movies IMO. It works really well specifically for Christmas movies because it lends that sensation of the fantastic, a dreamlike quality. And it really is a timeless style. Such brilliant work. It seems such a callous crime not to credit the people who made it properly. For a (tangentially?) Christmas movie, of all things to go cheap on gratitude for. A movie about love and sacrifice, at that.
Well in a way Rankin/Bass (and other western production studios) were a gateway for a lot of old school anime fans me included. I knew about the weird named studios, but I never understood until I discovered what anime/manga was in the early 90's as a teenager thanks to Dark Horse & Viz Comics (I was a kid so they were weird to me). For that I can give them thanks for the introduction regardless.
With that said I can understand the frustration of not giving credit were credit is due, I met a former unaccredited Disney animator in a nursing home back in the late 90's. The guy worked there for many decades he had cell art that he made from the many short subjects & movies he worked on hanging on the walls as well as photos & other artworks too. I can not say his name due to HIPPA laws so it irks me further. I was learning to be a CNA in that nursing home (so I have to follow the law), but it was a global industry problem until the last 40 something years. After seeing his talent as well as ending up the way he did (mostly forgotten) it was a harsh reality check about life & the industry in general. Regardless the man I met was still happy he was a part of it even though he never got the credit he deserved so I hope those stop motion animators felt the same way as well.
A little note regarding Nutcracker Fantasy's re-release. In Japan, the reception for the re-release was negative due to the original voice cast being replaced alongside the theme song now performed by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
I saw this back in 2017 and I was really surprised it wasn't made by Rakin/Bass
Because while growing up there were more coming out on some tv networks and that didn't added them to the main four on DVD collections
Honestly I like it and this is one of the few story ideas that Clara saw The Nutcracker human (regardless prince/Knight/Shoe maker) turned into the toy
I enjoy it because of different retellings and I'm a sucker for stop- motion
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas Bennett and everyone!
I just recently got to see this odd but hidden gem. And I was impressed by who they got for the dub. Christopher Lee we already know but for the Nutcracker they got Roddy McDowell and for Clara they got Melissa Gilbert. So yeah they got some big names for this. Which makes me wonder why this didn't get a bigger release.
And I agree completely. It's unfair that so much hard work went on unknowledged for so many years until this video. Not only in this production but other Rankin Bass productions.
Thanks so much for analyzing this and for doing so much digging and research.
I have not grown up with these Christmas specials but to many of my American friends they mean a lot. It really is a shame that the makers of these staples of American Christmas tradition never got the credit for it.
Atleast videos like this will serve history very well when it comes to preservation, and the need for it in the future. It could even be apart of a thesis taught in a class.
Most people consume media and never think about what went into the creation, and that's a shame.
I saw that trigger warning and thought "I know some people are afraid of clowns but it kind of trivializes trigger warnings to do them for--- JESUS FUCKING JESUS!"
It is a huge shame how many talented people are mistreated in the industry. Never credited to never given a break to never even getting paid. Worse is when their work is forgotten, making it all seem frustratingly pointless.
Happy Holidays, Sage, to you and your loved ones. See you next year.
Why are they mistreated and disrespected when they deserve so much better?
@@Disneyfan82 Because some companies prioritize profit too much. If making more money means not caring about the well being of their employees, they'll do it. In order to make a lot of money, you generally have to have a few screws loose. You have to be willing to turn the cheek on a lot, and have a few negative characteristics. And with so many people wanting to be part of the industry, companies see others as disposable/expendable because they don't have any shortage of would be workers. A lot of companies across the globe operate like this (multiple anime studios, multiple AAA gaming companies, Disney, Amazon, RoosterTeeth, etc.)
@@neonnwave1 Are they really that stupid, prideful, and narcissistic not to realize that you don't make a profit or more by getting rid of people that deserve much better? Who the hell are they to decide that it's ok to treat talented and gifted people like yesterday's trash as if they were nothing special or important. You don't make money by loosening screws and pretend that nothing could ever go wrong. And having negative characteristics only sets you up for a bad reputation. Someone should fire narcissists and demand new rules of better respect towards workers that deserve better, even directors, and coworkers. I hate them for this!
When Japan tries to make an American stop-motion Christmas film. Merry Christmas. 😁
Thanks for doing the work of Angels, Sage. The connection to Utena made me want to see a long review of the series in a style similar to your recent Death Note and EVA reviews. Just rewatched it again recently and there is just so much you could talk about. I think even more than EVA, it has so many complex ideas weaved throughout the story and I would be fascinated to hear what you would talk about!
I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I saw "Nutcracker Fantasy" was up and coming on Anime Abandon, so I watched it on TH-cam before tuning in to your show. Merry Christmas, Sage.
This was terrific and emotionally impactful, and something I always love bringing to the table this time of year. Thank you for this
2:37 "Sssoon I will have nutcracker! One far younger and more powerful!!"
I always known that Rankin/Bass made anime because they make tokusatsu as well.
We all knew they made "King Kong Escapes" with Toho, but they also made some with Tsuburaya.
The lesser know: "The Last Dinosaur", "The Bermuda Depths" starring Carl Weathers, and the now lost "The Ivory Ape".
Their contributions to Toku need more merit on the web.
i still remember the awe i felt as i watched this movie, and my efforts to track down a bootleg copy - it took me about three years in tht '90s
i wanted those models so much!
to learn that no one remembers who worked on this movie is angering, that they'll never get recognized...
i think i'll track down a new bootleg
Star Fleet is a puppet show that takes cues from Gerry Anderson’s supermarienation series.
That this could have inspired Utena? I see it, but in all the discussions I've had with the fandom it never came up. Angel's Egg did tho, an interesting thought linking the nameless male character to Akio, but that is a stretch. Anyway stop motion is so out of sight, there was a Pingu anime made with CGI. Remember Pingu, the claymation show with penguins? They rebooted it with CGI in 2017. And having a wall of fog in front of you when you look into old stop-motion is quite sad, it's not my thing, but isn't there anybody who would be into that? Cataloguing old stop-motion and sharing your findings with like-minded nerds for fun? It will eventually be lost to time if we let it, if it isn't already. Sure, not everything is worth preserving, but stop-motion as a whole? Good one, Bennett, and happy holidays!
I hope one day Japanese historians can figure out who it was that gave me my childhood.
When this scene 9:40 along with HK's cameo in the Unico film, I'm reminded of the line in Life of Brian when during the Always Look on the Bright Side of Life scene, Eric Idle's character says
"Who do you think pays for all this rubbish?"
Hope whoever is reading this will get a good laugh after the ending of this video and that they have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
let's not forget Japan also made puppet shows in the same vein as Gerry Anderson who's famous works includes Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.
and Gen Urobuchi threw his hand at Glover puppetry with Thunderbolt Fantasy. thought most of the puppetry is done by Studio Pili who have a long history of keeping that artform alive on Television.
@@ghoulchan7525agreed
Theres something really sobering learning that Disney wasnt the only kids enternaiment producer with an insanely scummy business acumen.
Okay, now you guys HAVE to edit the little bit of info here into the WIki. It can be edited by anyone, right? Too many animators give up on foundational but ultimately forgotten media so to see the opposite thing happen; people bleeding their souls into something that gets forgotten more quickly is heartbreaking. I'm going to put this in a list so I don't forget.
What I never got about about older animation, be it from Rankin-bass, Marvel, DiC or Disney, is that they always seemed to refuse to give credit to the animators who actually deserve it. And even when they do credit animators, it's never a complete list and often leaves out important names or sub-contracted studios. Hell, this is an issue that still persists to this day in both Western AND Anime titles alike.
It's extremely sad that the industry is like this, and I would love to know who is in charge of crediting people in shows and movies and ask that they be slapped in the face for the omissions.
The fact that sruff like this always annoys "anime fans" brings a smile to my face hahaha
Holy crap. This was one of the most informative videos I've seen all year. I've loved The Nutcracker and attended its ballet for years, but never heard of Nutcracker Fantasy until now.
Sorry to hear about all those artists who went uncredited, and that I may not be able to get Nutcracker Fantasy on DVD (I REALLY want it now).
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Mr. Sage, and thanks for being one of the most professional, well-informed, and objective anime researchers and entertainers on TH-cam. I also need to ask, is Leprechaun's Christmas made by the same creators Rudolph the Red-Nosed Raindeer?
Thank you Sage, I always wondered about the outsourcing for Rankin Bass specials, the original production team can rest in peace knowing that you discovered that truth. Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Years!
Happy holidays Sage, and thank you so much for all your hard work.
Let's us hope that this video will be the first of many that extoil the hard work of MOM Productions and others like them.
Reminds me of back in 2016 when Thunderbolt Fantasy caused many an anime viewer to question what exactly counts as anime.
One of my favorite Christmas things is Nutcracker: the ballet and watching various adaptations. I'd watch the Canadian animated film The Nutcracker Prince like five billion times ... I think my family went through three VHS tapes of it, cause we'd have to catch a rare showing of it on TV and record it because we could never find it at a store at the time. And I'm OBSESSED with Rankin/Bass. I think I've seen all of their Christmas specials. Yet it was only some years ago (maybe around 2016? The 2020 pandemic times broke my sense of time XD) that I found out Nutcracker Fantasy was a thing that existed. At that point it was long out of print, and I had to pirate uploads of VHS transfers people made and put online because that's literally the only option then. And the quality wasn't that great (though, being a 90s kid growing up with VHS, I'm not that picky). It was so depressing this charming movie voice acted by Christopher Lee, no less, was so unknown in the US, especially when we apparently love watching Rudolph every year. Then Japan did their high def restoration for the anniversary, so it was nice that at least in its native country this movie was getting some love. Then I found out that company you mentioned was doing a run of the English version on DVD, and I bought it as soon as I found it on Amazon. It's really nice being able to watch both language versions, and the English dub quality may not be all that amazing, but it's certainly better than those VHS transfers floating around the Internet, and I'm sure the company did their best with the audio/etc. they had available. It's really unfortunate that this movie is AGAIN out of print in the west...but, y'know, "circulate the tapes" and all that. That's about all the community can do with stuff like this.
Appreciate you giving this cute film some attention. You bring up its flaws rightfully, but the movie has a lot of heart too. And I really feel your anger about the lack of credit the Rankin/Bass productions got despite being such a cultural staple in the states. I felt the same pain when I tried to do my own digging about it some years back. I've always wondered if any of those Christmas specials ever played in Japan and if they even know about that stuff over there. Or how well documented their stop motion animation history was. Wish I knew more of the language so I could figure that out. (Surely they got some play time on Japanese TV? Cause every time I look at the art style of Wind Waker, it's like .................. Yeah, I know Nutcracker Fantasy is popular there, but, maybe it's cause Link looks like an elf, but Wind Waker screams "Rankin/Bass Christmas special." Anyway...
Hope someone enjoys this word vomit. XD I love Rankin/Bass so much, and obviously it has a cultural impact, but everyone I know in person barely recognizes who they are beyond "Rudolph cartoon" and usually don't like their movies and think the stop motion is creepy. :(
Nutcracker Fantasy [1979] has lived in my heart ever since i had the video, since i can remember... It'll always be alive in there
This story is actually a lot closer to the OG nutcracker that the ballet was derived from. The 18th century was a wild time to be alive.
I had heard that Frosty was made by a Japanese studio, dont remember where, but i didnt know that the rest where too.
And i agree, they deserve their credit, cuz those specials are amazing and i want then to know they are appreciated