A Claymation Christmas Celebration

Will Vinton's
Claymation Christmas Celebration
Directed by Will Vinton
Produced by David Altschul
Will Vinton
Written by Ralph Liddle
Starring Tim Conner
Johnny Counterfit
Music by Patric Miller
Release dates
December 21, 1987
Running time
24 min.
Country United States
Language English

Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration is a Christmas television special originally broadcast on the American CBS TV network on December 21, 1987. 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

Situated in a facsimile of London's Christmas Square, the special is co-hosted by Rex (Johnny Counterfit), an erudite and intellectual tyrannosaurus, and Herb (Tim Conner), a dimwitted, bespectacled styracosaurus with a voracious appetite. Some critics have cited similarities between these two characters and film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Rex and Herb previously appeared in Vinton's Dinosaurs! - A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time!, but this is where they were given speech and more complex personalities.

Recurring characters in Vinton's films dating back to 1980, Rex and Herb introduce several stand-alone videos of Christmas carols and standards and discuss the origins of each song relating to different holiday traditions around the world.

The songs featured were:

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 dismayingly accosted by different groups singing the song, though each version is lyrically incorrect.

Though Rex is convinced his own definition is correct, he finds himself continually being questioned by the others, including Herb when he's not busy excessively partaking of the various Christmas treats offered by each group. Finally, near the program's end, a large truck loaded with elfin, cider-swilling townsfolk arrives on the scene, singing the correct version of the carol, validating Rex's theories 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. After that, the entire cast performs Here We Come A-wassailing, and then We Wish You a Merry Christmas as the end credits roll.

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

Awards

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

Parody

This special was spoofed as Christmas with the California Prunes in the 2003 Christmas episode of The Simpsons ("'Tis The Fifteenth Season")

The Prunes sing "O Pruney Night" (a parody of "O Holy Night") which includes the lines:

"O Pruney Night, the stars are slightly wrinkled
We are the fruit that your grandmother loves".

(Lisa remarks that the song is "offensive to Christians and Prunes!")

Soundtrack

A companion soundtrack album was released by Atlantic Records in 1988 and was originally available on Vinyl, 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.

Track List:

External links

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