DreamWorks/Universal is releasing the Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials on DVD/Blu-ray again this October and if you're wondering if these are the same anniversary editions released a few years ago, surprisingly they're not! They'll be brand new deluxe editions with extras! Courtesy of Amazon:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:
• The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass
• Restoring the Puppets of Rudolph
• Reimagining Rudolph in 4D
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Attraction Film
• T.E.A.M. Rudolph and the Reindeer Games

Frosty the Snowman:
• The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass
• Original Pencil Test
• Commentary by Animation Historian Mark Evanier

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town:
• The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass
• Commentary by Animation Historian Greg Ehrbar

And according to the listings, Rudolph and Frosty will have 5.1 AND Original 2.0 Mono (Santa Claus only has 5.1 listed though maybe they forgot to list that).

The 3 specials will be available on both formats seperately or in a box set which will also contain The Little Drummer Boy and Cricket on the Hearth:

Do note though, you might want to keep your anniversary editions from a few years ago anyway since they have some extras not ported over.

Anyway, do get these anyway since these are the editions of the classic Rankin/Bass specials we've been wanting for such a long time! Thanks again DreamWorks and Universal.

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER:
https://www.amazon.com/R...-ray-Burl/dp/B07GQRSRL3/ 

https://www.amazon.com/R...-Burl-Ives/dp/B07GRCZW5T 

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN:
https://www.amazon.com/F...ules-Bass/dp/B07GQXZDWL/ 

https://www.amazon.com/F...Jules-Bass/dp/B07GQZKSN5 


SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN:
https://www.amazon.com/S...n-Blu-ray/dp/B07GRJGYP2/ 

DVD:https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Claus-Comin-Town-Astaire/dp/B07GR1QTBJ/


THE ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS SPECIALS:
https://www.amazon.com/O...n-Blu-ray/dp/B07GRJM3HV/ 


https://www.amazon.com/O...ollection/dp/B07GRJM3HW/ 

Dreamworks/Classic Media and Universal purposely missed out on the real deal. They did not bring in Rick Goldschmidt (Rankin/Bass historian, book author and archivist)

https://enchantedworldof...-was-afraid-of-when.html 

Why is he so sore with Evanier?

"from Rick's blogpost I just linked earlier: I see a name in this listing of a guy I appeared with at the Mid-Ohio Con in 2007. I had the original Rudolph and Santa Claus puppets on display there and he didn't even come over to see them and had no interest in Rankin/Bass Productions what-so-ever, yet he is doing commentary on one of these blu rays."



if Mark says any misinformation like "June Foray's voice for Karan was replaced by annomous in 1970" something disapointing will bound to happen. people will think it is true (It's not.)

I'm not sure if this may or may not happen. we will see in the coming months.


Rick debunks this myth of "June's voice as Karan replaced in 1970"

From Rankin/Bass Historian Rick Goldschmidt's Facebook

https://www.facebook.com...505854508173?pnref=story 
Rick Goldschmidt
December 14, 2016 ·

Just looked at a "click bait" Frosty article with 10 things you never knew about Frosty the Snowman. Unfortunately,

the authors of these articles don't know either.

One thing they said is that June Foray's voice was featured in the first few broadcasts of Frosty.

FALSE: She recorded the voice of Karen, but was replaced by a small girl actress,

before it aired in 1969. Her recording remained on the MGM soundtrack release as Karen.

I actually worked on the CD release through Warner Bros/Rhino music group.

I have seen many things I have said or put in my books,

written about online, either half right or completely wrong and never crediting where they got the information.

⛄ #cbs #christmas #tv #metv #frostythesnowman #clickbait #viral #rankinbass

Update: According to Rick Goldschimidt, June Foray's voice for Karen was replaced in 1973, replaced with Suzanne Davidson
http://enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/2021/12/happy-december-i-thought-i-would-start.html 

Excerpt from the book The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass Portfolio by Rick Goldschmidt:

"Veteran cartoon voice actress June Foray best remmeberd as the voice of Rocket Jay Squirrel on The Bullwinkle Show voiced the school teacher "I was called in to voice the little girl Karen" says Foray "I actually recored her entire dialogue along with the school teacher. i was disapointed to learn later that my work for the karen character was replaced by another actress. To this day I am unsure of the reason. but i still enjoy the show."

those who write for Wikipedia and IMDB had came up with the erroneous conclusion that June's voice as Karen was replaced in 1970.

"from Rick's blogpost I just linked earlier: I see a name in this listing of a guy I appeared with at the Mid-Ohio Con in 2007. I had the original Rudolph and Santa Claus puppets on display there and he didn't even come over to see them and had no interest in Rankin/Bass Productions what-so-ever, yet he is doing commentary on one of these blu rays."



if Mark says any misinformation like "June Foray's voice for Karan was replaced by annomous in 1970" something disapointing will bound to happen. people will think it is true (It's not.)

I'm not sure if this may or may not happen. we will see in the coming months.


Rick debunks this myth of "June's voice as Karan replaced in 1970"

From Rankin/Bass Historian Rick Goldschmidt's Facebook

https://www.facebook.com...505854508173?pnref=story 
Rick Goldschmidt
December 14, 2016 ·

Just looked at a "click bait" Frosty article with 10 things you never knew about Frosty the Snowman. Unfortunately,

the authors of these articles don't know either.

One thing they said is that June Foray's voice was featured in the first few broadcasts of Frosty.

FALSE: She recorded the voice of Karen, but was replaced by a small girl actress,

before it aired in 1969. Her recording remained on the MGM soundtrack release as Karen.

I actually worked on the CD release through Warner Bros/Rhino music group.

I have seen many things I have said or put in my books,

written about online, either half right or completely wrong and never crediting where they got the information.

⛄ #cbs #christmas #tv #metv #frostythesnowman #clickbait #viral #rankinbass

Excerpt from the book The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass Portfolio by Rick Goldschmidt:

"Veteran cartoon voice actress June Foray best remmeberd as the voice of Rocket Jay Squirrel on The Bullwinkle Show voiced the school teacher "I was called in to voice the little girl Karen" says Foray "I actually recored her entire dialogue along with the school teacher. i was disapointed to learn later that my work for the karen character was replaced by another actress. To this day I am unsure of the reason. but i still enjoy the show."

those who write for Wikipedia and IMDB had came up with the erroneous conclusion that June's voice as Karen was replaced in 1970.

I've watched my brother's DVD copy of Frosty the Snowman before. On the "Snowflake Surprises" bonus, one of the pieces of trivia shared is that June Foray was the original voice of Karen, but it didn't deliberately say that she was replaced the year after.

There's also two other things wrong with both of the versions that have been made available on home video:
-The "Rankin/Bass Present" subtitle isn't present on current DVD and Blu-ray releases
-Numerous sound effects on the audio of almost all home video releases prior to 2010 are either missing or out-of-sync (more recent releases correct a lot of these issues)

When are either of these errors going to be completely fixed?

right.

I got a Bluray set from 2010 a couple years before Classic Media got bought out by Dreamworks.

The Blurays from 2010 only have Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reiendeer, Frosty The Snowman and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town.

The restoration on those films are bad, I'm not sure if you notice there is also missing frames on both of them, and Rudolph has been missing a piece of the soundtrack Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman singing "Sivler and Gold".

Example : in both the 1964 version and 1965 version: "every wishes for sivler and gold". and now the 2010 blay and onward: "everyone wishes (background score) silver and gold"

and the the 1965 end credits has the soundtrack from the 1964 sountrack (in that one Santa does not go to Isle of Misfit Toys, and in the 1964 end credits an elf throws packages from Santa's sleigh. That is were the "whoosh" sound comes from, and has been there since the Golden Books Home Entertainment restoration.

and also the picture quality on both Rudolph, Frosty and Santa Claus is Coming to Town has a red-ish color. (probably why Yukon's shirt is green instead of blue.

I got the set and I'm happy to say this is a revelation! Here's the score:

-Rudolph's transfer seems to be improved (there's still some DNR though) AND the "for" in "Everyone wishes for silver and gold" is finally restored to BOTH 5.1 and Original Mono!

-The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass extra...a whopping 47 minutes long (Jerry Beck is one of the interviews)!

-Cricket on The Hearth FULLY RESTORED AND REMASTERED! :D

So is this set worth it. Yes, yes, and YES! Could it have been better? If Rick Goldschmidt was involved, you bet.

How is Rick involved? he said he wasn't. who are the other interviewees?

Apparently, according to our very own Toonatic on the Blu-ray.com forums, Frosty the Snowman has the same transfer as before (and the mono soundtrack is obviously still the "post-production" edit, with June Foray and Paul Frees' voices for the children redubbed; only gripe I have with him is that the redub wasn't done in 1970, but according to June herself, before the special first aired).

Are the sound effects on the mono track in sync or have they simply reused the one found on all prior home video releases? Secondly, has the "Rankin/Bass Present" caption at the beginning returned?

As I stated, since the deluxe edition transfer is the same since the 2010 Classic Media release, the "Rankin/Bass Presents" caption is not present (I'm still amaze though how Classic Media manage to find a version without that caption).

I'll have to check the Mono on Frosty for the sound effects.

UPDATE: OK, I check the Mono track on Frosty is the same one on the original DVD release from the early 2000's.

How is Rick involved? he said he wasn't. who are the other interviewees?

That's why I said IF Rick was involved with these releases.

I only glanced at the documentary but so far I believe the interviewees I saw were Henry Selick, Kevin Lima, and Jerry Beck.

As I stated, since the deluxe edition transfer is the same since the 2010 Classic Media release, the "Rankin/Bass Presents" caption is not present (I'm still amaze though how Classic Media manage to find a version without that caption).

I'll have to check the Mono on Frosty for the sound effects.

UPDATE: OK, I check the Mono track on Frosty is the same one on the original DVD release from the early 2000's.

According to this forum post , the version of Frosty without the Rankin/Bass subtitle is an early print - the special was produced in 1968, but was not shown until 1969. The redubbing of June and Paul's voices as the children was, again, not done in 1970, but was rather one of the changes made before the special originally aired.

As for the mono track....that's a pity to hear. The mix we've heard often has some sound effects either cut out or out-of-sync, while the 5.1 track on newer releases does have these sounds intact....why not use whatever audio's on the early print for this disc's mono audio?

deleted my stupid bloated negative review. I should have saved my money last year.

Caught some of Rudolph, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty, and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town on Freeform over the course of the week. They (surprisingly enough) used the masters from these Blu-rays, complete with the Universal logo appearing at the beginning of the special - and scenes excised from previous ABC, CBS, and ABC Family airings left intact!

Ought to get these discs while doing my Christmas shopping soon, because I'd like to see how these specials look in progressive scan HD (my cable box and/or TV displayed the Freeform airings in interlaced HD) and hear the audio commentaries on Frosty and Santa...