Hello, everybody! Welcome to The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas,
and today I'm bringing you our weekly Holiday GrinchWatch! This time we're talking about the perennial animated special of Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, created by famed Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones and featuring the great Boris Karloff as narrator and voice of the Grinch.
During World War II, Jones met Dr. Seuss, or Ted Geisel as he was known, when they both worked on the Warner Bros. Private Snafu cartoons for the military. When Seuss wrote and released How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Jones eventually convinced his friend to let him animate the Grinch for television. In 1966 the special premiered on CBS and became a holiday favorite, being repeated every year.
Expanding the book into a half-hour television show meant that several things had to be added. Songs such as "Welcome Christmas," or "Fah-Who-For-Aze" as you might know it, and the celebrated "You're
A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" were brought in to heighten aspects of the story that were only hinted at in the original book, such as the Whos' Christmas celebration and the Grinch's plans to steal their Christmas. Also, the sleigh ride sequence, which is one of the show's most hilarious moments, was added to lengthen the show to 30 minutes.
Another important move was to expand the character of Max, the Grinch's dog. Max only appears in the book for a couple of pages, but in the show he takes on a new role as a faithful companion to the bitter and lonely Grinch. Despite the Grinch's meanness, Max still loves him, and ends up becoming the point of view for the audience, showing that deep down, everyone is the same, and needs love and acceptance. (That's a really important thing to keep in mind, especially around Christmas!)
And of course, the show 
just wouldn't be the same without Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft! Karloff, for years a horror icon and the celebrated star of Universal's Frankenstein films, was the perfect narrator and Grinch voice for Seuss's funny but wonderful story. Ravenscroft, whose name was unfortunately left off the credits by accident, sang the now-classic "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch," with lyrics by Seuss himself, and his rich delivery is what makes the song so great. The resulting collaboration between all these great minds is why we keep coming back year after year to watch this cool Christmas special--truly, it's a Christmas-themed triumph of the best that Mad Science has to offer!
Hey, next week is Christmas week! We'll be back then for the final part of our Holiday GrinchWatch with a review of the live-action Grinch film with Jim Carrey, so make sure you check back for more of The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas! See you then!
Merry Christmas To All,
Frankie Franken
Good evening, darlings, and thank you for reading. We welcome you back to our 25 Days Of Christmas, and today I shall share with you the origins of the Twelve Days Of Christmas. Many people think of Christmas as being only one day, but history has shown that the Christmas season was actually celebrated for a much longer period than just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as it is now. The end of the year is a special time, and in my opinion, it does deserve a bit longer.
The Twelve Days Of Christmas is the period from the evening of December 25th, Christmas Day, to the morning of Epiphany, or Twelfth Night. The Christ child is reputed to have been born on the 25th, with the 
Magi, or Three Wise Men, arriving twelve days later to present their gifts to Him. Over the centuries, different sects and strains of the Christian faith have changed the traditions and timeframe, causing several other holy days to be celebrated during this time as well. December 26 or 27 (depending on whether your church is Western or Eastern) has been known as St. Stephen's day, or the Feast Of Stephen, in which the first 
Christian martyr is celebrated. In other countries, the 26th is also known as Boxing Day, which stems from the tradition of feudal lords giving boxes of useful goods and food to their serfs after Christmas celebrations, as well as the tradition of masters rewarding workers with a "Christmas box" which was filled with money through the season and then shattered after Christmas Day, with the contents being shared among the workers. December 28th is known as Childermas, or the Feast Of The Innocents, which commemorates the massacre of innocent children by King Herod in an attempt to rid himself of the threat of the Christ child. These children are considered the first martyrs of Jesus Christ.
The Twelve Days have been celebrated in different ways through the centuries. In the Middle Ages, the period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, climaxing on Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season. In Colonial America, the colonists brought some of these traditions to their new country, such as the making of evergreen wreaths decorated with available fruits for Christmas Eve, which were hung on the doors of houses as a decoration. The colonists would also bake a special cake for Epiphany, which is now known as the "King Cake" that we see around Mardi Gras.
There is, of course, the song called "The Twelve Days Of Christmas," which lists a long series of repeated gifts for Christmas on each of the Twelve Days. The specific origins of this song are not known, but it is thought to have some relation to a Twelve Days celebration. It is considered that perhaps it was a counting-game played during the Twelfth-Night celebration, in which a leader would recite a verse and others would repeat it, with the leader adding a verse each round. Those who failed to recite the verses properly would be required to pay a forfeit, such as offering a kiss or a sweet. At any rate, PNC Financial Services has maintained the yearly custom of calculating the cost of the gifts given by the True Love over all twelve verses of the song, including all repetitions and hiring costs of the various lords, ladies, drummers and so forth involved. In 2007, the total cost of this little twelve-day gifting spree was a whopping $78,100.
The Twelve Days are not celebrated widely today, due to more Americanized and secular traditions taking hold. But some people still celebrate them, giving gifts, feasting and celebrating the entire time through to the Epiphany. These days, the Twelve Days and Epiphany also serve to mark the coming of another important festival--that, of course, being Mardi Gras. Perhaps you may wish to mark this holiday season by reflecting, upon each of these Twelve Days, what good things may be found that day to celebrate, and what good things the future shall hold as you approach the Epiphany.
We wish all of our readers the best in this holiday season, and do join us tomorrow for more holiday surprises within The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas.
Warmest Regards,
Bethany Ruthven
For our next blog on The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas, we bring you another little Yuletide treat that's also monster-friendly: The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, which is the latest new item from the popular TV show The Munsters. Though it does not feature any of the original cast, this full-length movie special first aired on the Fox channel in November of 1996.
The lot has fallen to me to review it, though. None of the Grrls are particularly big television watchers (they love DVDs mainly because you can pause them in the middle and pick up where you left off later), and they are also not fans of The Munsters. While they understand that The Munsters is from a different era and generally presents a positive view of monsterkind, they find certain aspects of the show a bit demeaning (Frankie in particular has had a big problem with Herman's childishness and stupidity, and maintains that Creatures generally don't behave like that when they have reached his age), and thus none of them felt that they could give a particularly objective review.* So today your friendly neighborhood Mad Doctor is presenting this review for you. Here's the skinny:
Christmastime is descending upon Mockingbird Lane, and the Munster clan is looking forward to it, except for Eddie (Bug Hall), who is homesick for Transylvania and has a fairly serious case of the holiday blues. (Or maybe it's greens.) To lift Eddie's spirits, the clan decides to get involved in Christmas in a major way, and sets upon various schemes toward this end: Marilyn (Elaine Hendrix) plans a holiday party and invites all of the Transylvanian branches of the Munster family (all of whom are various takes on famous movie monsters), 
while Lily (Ann Magnuson) enters herself and Eddie in a house-decorating contest, pitting them against their snobby next-door neighbor (played with foam-mouthed gusto by Mary Woronov) and Herman (Sam McMurray) tries to get a part-time job to afford the perfect present for Eddie: the Marquis De Sade Action Dungeon Playset. (Wouldn't mind having one of those myself.) Meanwhile, Grandpa (Sandy Baron) attempts to make snow for Christmas in his basement dungeon/laboratory and inadvertently winds up trapping 
Santa Claus (yes, the Santa, played by Mark Mitchell) at the Munster manse. As the family races to get Santa back to the North Pole in time for Christmas, his rebellious and overworked elves (Arturo Gil and Ed Gale) plot to undo the Munsters' work in order to score some downtime for themselves. An additional subplot has Marilyn attracting the interest of a handsome rock-n-roll-playing biker (Jeremy Callaghan) who is the first suitor in Munsters history to not be cowed by her frightening family.
If you are a diehard Munsters fan who believes that none can or should take the place of original cast members 
Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, Yvonne DeCarlo, Pat Priest/Beverly Owen and Butch Patrick, well, you're right about that, and you will probably be disappointed in this film. However, if accepted on its own merits (one of which appears to be a genuine desire by the filmmakers to do a well-created if not perfect Munsters Christmas film) this movie has some nice treats in store for you. Sam McMurray's portrayal of Herman downplays some of the grating man-child shtick 
employed by Gwynne to create more of a bumbling EveryCreature in his attempts to score a nice Christmas for Eddie, and Sandy Baron, rather than slavishly imitate Al Lewis, bravely puts his own spin on the character. Magnuson, Hall and Hendrix handle their characters fairly well, though Hall sometimes comes across as too depressed, which puts his character in danger of becoming unlikable. And the story, while full of goofy-ghouly slapstick, is a bit edgier than the original series, but not in a bad way. Plus, it's nice to see Marilyn finally get a real boyfriend in Callaghan, who might turn out to be a decent addition to the Munster clan! Their supporting cast, with Woronov's crazed performance, Gil and Gale's non-stop scheming and Mitchell's flustered but kindly Santa, does a good job too. It's very obvious that the cast and crew are all Munsters fans of old, and not just out for a fast buck, which definitely is in the Christmas spirit.
Pick this up if you want a little Halloween candy along with your Christmas peppermint, but as I said, if you're a serious Munsters fan, I suggest a rental. Also, I should clarify: the Grrls actually liked this film and found it miles better than other Munsters stuff they've seen. They just didn't want to review it because of the reasons I mentioned above, so fair enough.
We'll be back tomorrow for more of The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas, so join us then.
*Nevertheless, the Grrls have always admired the Munsters' house and their cars. --M.D.
Continuing our GrinchWatch on The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas, today we're sharing with you news of the Grinch's own musical. That's right; this Christmas season, Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will be playing at Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre in Boston from November 26 to December 28.
Originally performed as a seasonal production at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it has run every 
Christmas since 1998, Grinch hit the Broadway scene from 2006 to 2007, being the first Broadway musical to offer 12 performances a week and eventually stealing top box-office grosses from Wicked, the popular musical based on Gregory Maguire's bestselling alternate history of Oz. Now the Grinch has made his way through Baltimore's Hippodrome to stop at Boston's Citi Performing Arts for the 2008 holiday season.
Narrated by Grinch's dog Max, the musical brings to the stage Theodore Geisel's popular Christmas tale of the 
mean, small-hearted Grinch, who decides to steal Christmas from the holiday-mad Whoville population, and in the process, discovers that Christmas "means a little bit more." The sets and costumes are Seuss-derived and the music includes the familiar song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" among its songlist. The musical's website (click our title link above for access) includes a photo gallery, free downloadable fun stuff that includes e-cards and a Grinch "Wanted" poster (!), and showtimes, show 
information, and where to get tickets. The musical even has its own page on Facebook, so if you're in the Boston area this holiday season, celebrate Grinchmas with this classic Christmas story in a fun stage adaptation.
Don't forget to check back with The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas as we bring you the weekly GrinchWatch for the holiday season. Next up: the original animated special!
Feliz Navidad, and hi there! This is your favorite wolf-Grrl Harriet Von Lupin, and guess what? We're doing The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas to celebrate our Solstice season with you guys! So pull up a chair 'cause I've got something cool for you today that always comes around Christmastime--the candy cane!
Believe it or not, the candy cane is actually close to 350 years old. Back in the seventeenth century, when people in Europe started to do Christmas trees as part of their celebration, most people made food items like cookies and candy for tree decorations. The first 'candy cane' was a straight white stick of hard candy.
In 1670, the Christmas celebration at the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, had pageants of living creches. The choirmaster there bent several of these first candy sticks into the shape of shepherd's crooks and gave them out as treats to kids who were attending the ceremonies. This tradition caught on (I mean, hey, free candy!) and pretty soon, it was regularly done at living creche ceremonies all over Europe.
In the 1800's candy canes spread to America when a German immigrant named August Imgard decorated his Christmas tree with them. Other people thought they were perfect for tree decorations, because around this time people were still making homemade decorations for their Christmas trees. The candy canes were still white back then too.
Nobody knows who came up with the stripes, but about fifty years later the first red-striped candy canes appeared. Christmas cards after 1900 showed these red-and-white-striped canes, and around the same time candymakers started adding the peppermint and wintergreen flavorings that we know today. The first guy to do mass marketing of candy canes in America was Bob MacCormack, who produced red-and-white-striped candy canes for Christmas in the 1920's.
A lot of people have attached religious significance to the candy cane, because of the shepherd's crook shape. It has been said that the candy cane was used as a secret symbol for Christianity during a period in the Victorian era when Queen Victoria actually outlawed Christmas in England for awhile! But people celebrated anyway, through the use of candy canes--all right under the Queen's nose!
Today, candy canes come in all kinds of colors and flavors, and hundreds of candy makers have their own recipes for these cool sweet treats. People still decorate their trees with them, and they've become the most popular and traditional Christmastime candy. So since it's Christmastime, pick up some candy canes and take part in a 350-year-old tradition of Christmas! And that's like being super-traditional!
Hey, don't forget to come back tomorrow for more of The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas! OWW-WOOOO!!!
Feliz Navidad to All,
Harriet Von Lupin
MAD DOCTOR'S NOTE: This is the final review of a three-part series by our own witch, Punkin Nightshade, who has been investigating the Rankin-Bass specials about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She ends this series with a review of the 1979 special Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July.
Hey, y'all, this here is Petronella Nightshade, what am called Punkin by her friends, and since you's all friends you shall know me so. I have been reviewin some movin pictures about Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, what's made by the Rankin-Bass folks, and if you have been followin with me then you know we's about done. Today the last one of this bunch of movin pictures is called Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July, and it may sound uncommon strange to you to be havin Christmas in July, but I can only suppose they was tryin to avoid the rush.
This here is a different story from the others in that it takes up with another famous character what has his own Christmas song, too--Frosty The Snowman. Frosty had him some Christmas movin pictures made by Rankin-Bass too, and they told all about how he come to be and got married up to a snow-woman named Crystal, but I suppose that is all for another review. In this picture he is teamed up with Rudolph probly because somebody thought it would be a good idea to put them together in a picture.
Anyway, this one starts out tellin the story of how Rudolph's nose got its glow. It is that long ago, before Santa Claus moved up to the North Pole, there was a real mean old wizard named Winterbolt who spent all his time devilin folks with his Ice Sceptre and snow dragons, and just bein an ornery cuss. There was another magical sort named Lady Borealis who's the spirit of the Northern Lights, and she saw what was goin on and got mad, and she took on a human form and put old Winterbolt in a deep sleep. Soon after that, when folks started comin round again Santa Claus come and built his workshop, and things was all right for awhile. But Lady Borealis knew that someday old Winterbolt was goin to wake up and start bein ornery again, so she visited one of Santa's reindeer what had just had a new little buck, and put the last of the power of the Northern Lights in his nose. That little buck was Rudolph, and I bet if folks had known all this that was goin on they wouldn't have treated him so mean in the first movin picture, but of course Lady Borealis tells him to not say nothin.
So I am tellin you that story to tell you that when this picture gets goin, old Winterbolt has woke up, found out 
that Santa Claus and Rudolph and Frosty, who has him a couple of snow younguns by now, is all livin on his old stompin grounds, and of course he is upset. He sees old Rudolph and starts usin magic on him to dim his nose and make him worry, but Rudolph is pretty headstrong and gets his nose workin all right. Then a feller named Milton who sells ice cream from a hot-air balloon shows up and tells Rudolph that his lady-love Lanie, who is a trapeze artist in her mama Lilly's seaside circus, is in trouble, cause a evil feller named Sam Spangles is tryin to foreclose the circus out from under them. Winterbolt casts a spell and gives Milton the idea that Rudolph and Frosty and his family should all go up and help out in the circus show, cause it is most the Fourth Of July and ain't nobody doin nothin at the North Pole, but Frosty and his family can't go cause of course they'll melt. Then old Winterbolt shows up and starts wheedlin them, and gives them some magic amulets what will keep them from meltin, but they's only good until the last firework dies down on the Fourth of July. Rudolph talks to Santa about it all and Santa says he'll come get them before this happens, but of course old Winterbolt has got him a plan to mess up everythin, and it's so convoluted that even Bethany, who's the vampire Grrl of us MonsterGrrls, was impressed when she heard about it. Vampires is a natural connivin sort, so we wondered for a little while if old Winterbolt was part vampire. The thing of it is that Rudolph got his lightin-up nose from a power of good and so must use it for good, and if he don't, then it won't work no more. So Winterbolt has to get Rudolph to use his nose for somethin bad, and he gets him a mean scrawny little old reindeer named Scratcher to help him out with this.
Cause this is a Christmas picture, everythin turns out all right at the end, but it is a sore trial for Rudolph and Frosty before it's all over with. But they stick together through thick and thin, so that is all right. More famous folks is doin voices in this picture, includin another comedian feller named Red Buttons what plays Milton the ice cream man, and Ethel Merman, who is a famous singer and is playin Lilly, the woman what runs the circus. Mickey Rooney, who is a short little comedian feller, is doin Santa Claus, and Paul Frees is back doin Winterbolt.
So I am done here with reindeers for awhile, and shall settle down to rest some before I review somethin else. In the meantime, I wish blessins on all of you, and hope you shall be back tomorrow for The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas, cause with it bein Christmas time it is first one thing and then another and I do not know what shall happen next. Blessed be to you all!
Sincerely,
Petronella Nightshade
POST-MORTEM: Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July is currently available on the Classic Christmas Favorites DVD set. Click here for an ordering link.
MAD DOCTOR'S NOTE: Our winsome witch Punkin returns with the second part of her three-part review on Rankin-Bass's Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer films. Today she presents her review of 1976's Rudolph's Shiny New Year. --M.D.
Howdy! This here is Petronella Nightshade, and most everbody calls me Punkin. For our MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas, I am doin up reviews of three movin pictures what's all about Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and today I am talkin about Rudolph's Shiny New Year. This movin picture was made back in 1976, and it is natural a sequel to the first one, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.
This one starts out right after Santa Claus gets back home from makin all his Christmas deliveries, and he got a letter waitin for him what's from Father Time. It says that Happy, what is a baby who is also the new New Year, has done run off and got to be found before midnight on December 31st, or else there won't be no New Year and it'll just keep on bein December 31st forever. Santa sends out Rudolph to see what's the trouble, as Rudolph is the only one who can see his way through the winter storm cause of his lightin-up nose. Rudolph meets up with a feller who works for Father Time called General Ticker, who is a soldier with a clock in his belly, and then they come to a desert that they got to cross to get to Father Time's house, called the Sands Of Time. (Look, I didn't write em, I'm just writin about em. Leastways they weren't up in an hourglass or some such.)
A camel called Quarter-Past Time what's got a clock in his hump comes round to ferry em across, and that's when they run into Eon. Eon is a nasty old buzzard what's tryin to stop folks from findin Happy, cause if Happy becomes the new New Year, Eon's time will be up and he will turn to ice and snow and won't be Eon no more. You can see how one would be unhappy about that sort of thing.
Well, they escape from Eon and manage to get to Father Time's house, and Father Time tells Rudolph what's goin on. Seems that Happy has uncommon big ears, and ever time he takes his hat off, his ears spring out and somebody laughs at him cause he's awful cute and they can't help theirself. Since he's a baby he don't know no better, and so poor little old Happy has run off cause he thinks everbody's makin fun of him. Well, if Rudolph with the big red light-up nose don't know about bein laughed at then don't nobody know, so he allows he'll go find Happy.
Father Time thinks that Happy might be hidin out in a place called the Archipelago Of Last Years, which was dreamed up by the movin picture makers not just to show how much imagination they got but 
also so it would teach younguns a big word. This Archipelago Of Last Years is a bunch of little islands where old Years have gone to live when their time's up, and each one's got his own island and it stays just like that year all the time. So Rudolph heads out there lookin for Happy and Eon takes off after him, and were it not for a big old whale with a clock in his tail named Big Ben, there wouldn't be much more movin picture. Most likely you have figured out by now that all these folks what lives round Father Time's house got a clock in them somewhere, so I won't mention it no more.
Big Ben ferries Rudolph around them islands while he's huntin for Happy, and along the way we get to meet O.M., who is the Year One Million B.C. and looks like a caveman and jokes around a lot, and the Year Sir 1023, who looks like a knight in armor and was the year that all the fairy tales was happenin, and Sev, who is the Year 1776 and looks like Benjamin Franklin. They all come with Rudolph and Big Ben to help find Happy cause they all feel bad about hurtin his feelins, and the rest of the picture is about them runnin around chasin Happy and tryin to keep old Eon from makin off with Happy. There is also some things in this picture about how there ain't nothin wrong with bein different, specially if you're a reindeer whose nose lights up bright red or a little baby with big old ears who's supposed to be one of them anthropomorphic personifications, in this case bein the New Year. But of course that is just a real extreme kind of different. In any case, the movin picture is tryin to say that it's a good thing bein and doin somethin different, which is a good lesson for all kind of folks to learn.
Some of the characters in this movin picture got famous folks doin their voices. Father Time is played by Red Skelton, and he is a famous comedian who also plays the voice of Baby Bear, who is one of the Three Bears that
Happy runs into for awhile when he's on Fairy Tale Year Island. O.M., the caveman Year feller, is played by another famous comedian named Morey Amsterdam, which does a lot to explain why he's jokin round all the time, and the knight feller Sir 1023 is played by Frank Gorshin, who got famous for playin the Riddler on a old TV picture about Batman. There is also a feller named Paul Frees who plays about four voices on this picture, includin Santa Claus and the old buzzard Eon. This picture has got a lot of imaginative whatnot goin on in the story, and it made the place Rudolph lives in seem a whole lot bigger. I liked it cause of that.
So that there is Rudolph's Shiny New Year. Tomorrow I am writin the last of these postins about Rudolph, so y'all come back then for The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas. Blessed be to all of you!
Sincerely, Petronella Nightshade
MAD DOCTOR'S NOTE: Punkin Nightshade has undertaken a three-part review of Rankin-Bass's trilogy of stop-motion films about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She kicks it off for today's post with her review of the original 1964 special. --M.D.
Hey, y'all! This here is Petronella Nightshade, but most everbody calls me Punkin. Today I am doin the first part 
of a three-part review of some movin pictures about Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. This here Rudolph is a mighty popular feller for a reindeer, cause he got his own song and everythin. His song was writ by a musician named Johnny Marks, and the first recordin of it was done by the cowboy feller and movin picture star Gene Autry. But the one what originally created Rudolph was a feller named Robert L. May, who was employed with the Montgomery Ward stores round 1939. Today it is still a popular song round Christmastime, and in 1964, the Rankin-Bass company produced the first of three TV pictures about Rudolph. Gorry if this ain't somethin, that a reindeer can do all this!
This here picture was made usin the stop-motion animation technique, which I have done reviewed about already cause that Tim Burton feller does pictures with it. It tells about Rudolph bein born up at the North Pole with his nose lightin up and such, and how his folks try to hide it at first. Now, can't nobody help bein born different, but Rudolph goes along with it for awhile. But it turns out that Rudolph ain't the only one at the North Pole what's different, cause there is a little elf feller in Santa Claus's workshop name of Hermey, who wants to be a dentist instead of makin toys, and of course the elf what heads the shop is givin him the very devil for it. Now to my mind, havin their own dentist up at the North Pole would be a right practical thing, but some folks got to find out common-sense doins on their own.
So after Rudolph and Hermey get introduced to everbody watchin the picture, Rudolph is out at the Reindeer Games, what is used to help Santa see if the new reindeer younguns are fit to pull the sleigh and also to make that part of the song about not lettin Rudolph play in reindeer games make sense, which all has to do with the plot. Rudolph got mud all over his nose so it won't shine, and he looks just like any other reindeer what has a real big nose. He meets another little reindeer called Fireball, and a little girl reindeer called Clarice who tells him he's cute, which natural makes him jump higher than anybody else. Then the mud falls off his nose and everbody sees it, and Fireball and them all start laughin at him and send him off. Clarice goes after him, but her father don't want her bein squired around by a red-nosed reindeer, so after that poor little old Rudolph just runs off and durn if I wouldn't have done the same thing.
Well, soon after that he meets up with Hermey and they sing a song about goin off to seek their fortune, but pretty
soon after that they run into a prospectin type of feller named Yukon Cornelius, and then they run into a big old Abominable Snowman what ain't too smart and really don't like Rudolph's nose. Most of the rest of the picture is about them runnin around tryin to escape the Abominable Snowman and endin up on an island called the Island Of Misfit Toys, which is headed over by a big old flyin lion called King Moonracer who wants Santa to come and find homes for all them misfit toys. Everythin turns out all right in the end, cause it sure wouldn't be much of a Christmas show if it didn't, but I won't spoil the endin. Let's just say that bein different comes in uncommon handy for Rudolph and Hermey.
This picture was narrated by Burl Ives as Sam The Snowman, who is a folksingin type of feller and sings some songs in this picture when they need to get some more of the plot goin. In fact it is a musical, and there are some right nice tunes in it, cause of course it wouldn't do to have them just singin Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer all the way through, even if the picture is all about him. Turns out that Johnny Marks feller wrote all the other songs and music for this picture too, and that is good cause it ties everythin all together a right smart. Folks what come up with somethin good to start with ought to have a hand in the rest of it, I say.
So I am done here, and blessins be on you all. I shall be back tomorrow to write up the second part of my review, and I am hopin that you shall be back for our MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas. Blessed be to you all this here holiday season!
Sincerely,
Petronella Nightshade
MAD DOCTOR'S POST-MORTEM: We sadly report the death of sci-fi's perennial high elder, Forrest J. Ackerman, without whom the Grrls might never have happened. Click here for the story.
Oh, yes we did.
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) should be seen at least one time during Christmas, preferably in the company of trusted friends with lots of strong eggnog to drink.
Yes, it is a bad film. But the thing that makes this film bad is not the sets (though cheesy in that 1960's way), the special effects (though very ineptly done) or the costumes (though every single Martian in the production looks almost exactly like a human version of Hanna-Barbera's Great Gazoo). What makes this film troublesome to watch is the snail's pace at which it sets up its story.
The rather interesting plot (on paper, anyway) has the planet of Mars facing a big problem: the children of Mars (one of whom is a young Pia Zadora) are becoming unhappy and restless due to the Martian lifestyle, which has them being taught by machines and eating food pills (which look like jelly beans, only I'm not sure Brach's, Jelly Belly, or even Bertie Bott's Every Flavored 
Beans has ever experimented with the hamburger-flavored bean). Because of this, Martian children are openly rebelling, spending all their time watching television transmissions from Earth, specifically those of KID-TV, which is broadcasting live from Santa's workshop at the North Pole. (Note the snow on the newscaster's coat, which never melts.)
Kimar (Leonard Hicks), the worried ruler of Mars, consults an ancient Martian sage named Chochem, who reveals that the children of Mars need to have time to be children, and that Mars needs a Santa Claus. Another Martian named Voldar (Vincent Beck), who thinks things are okay the way they are, protests this idea vehemently, cluing us in as to who the true villain of the piece is. (Duh.) Undaunted by this, and out of concern for his own children, Kimar travels to Earth with a Martian landing party in a ship that can only be described as the Eggbeater 2000, with intentions of kidnapping Santa and bringing him to Mars. After abducting two Earth children who lead him to the North Pole, 
Kimar captures Santa (John Call) with the aid of a robot who looks like an old-fashioned robot toy (which is turned into the same by Santa), while Martian-servant and resident annoying klutz Drupo (Bill McCutcheon) tries unsuccessfully to help the children escape. Santa returns with Kimar's party to Mars, along with the Earth children, and sets up a giant toy factory to help the Martians with their unhappy children, but it's still not the end of trouble, as far as Voldar is concerned...
The movie has lots, and I mean lots, of bad things going for it. There are the horrible sets, costumes and acting, the obvious shoestring budget, the heavy, heavy use of stock footage (especially in the opening scenes, which makes the setup drag terribly), and the fact that John Call's Santa, while being what a Santa ought to be in looks and disposition, behaves much like some odd form of Alzhemier's patient. However, there are some good things going for it storywise: the Martians (with the exception 
of Voldar) are not warmongering types by nature, and Kimar is pretty adamant all the way through about not harming anyone or destroying anything if he can help it. (This can be taken as a somewhat threadbare explanation for the Martians' ray-guns, which fire no rays of any type but simply go "pop" and freeze the victim.) And Drupo, who is viewed as 'the laziest man on Mars' by other Martians, finally finds the job he was born to do, and becomes the Martian version of Santa Claus.
I cannot recommend this film as a dazzling Christmas movie by any means. Yet strangely enough, it does manage to retain some proper Christmas spirit, which is a task that some modern Christmas productions with ten times the talent and budget cannot manage to do. Perhaps it should be viewed at least once because of that, if you can swallow any inhibitions you may have and watch it. (That's what the eggnog's for.)
POST-MORTEM: If you harbor morbid curiosities about this film, try your usual method of movie rentals first. For the severely crazed, Amazon.com has it at a fairly cheap price, but sometimes public-domain DVD copies can be found in dollar stores. (We got ours from Dollar Tree.) --M.D.
Hello, everybody! Welcome to The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas,
and today I'm bringing you our weekly Holiday GrinchWatch! This time we're talking about the perennial animated special of Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, created by famed Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones and featuring the great Boris Karloff as narrator and voice of the Grinch.
Expanding the book into a half-hour television show meant that several things had to be added. Songs such as "Welcome Christmas," or "Fah-Who-For-Aze" as you might know it, and the celebrated "You're
A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" were brought in to heighten aspects of the story that were only hinted at in the original book, such as the Whos' Christmas celebration and the Grinch's plans to steal their Christmas. Also, the sleigh ride sequence, which is one of the show's most hilarious moments, was added to lengthen the show to 30 minutes.
Another important move was to expand the character of Max, the Grinch's dog. Max only appears in the book for a couple of pages, but in the show he takes on a new role as a faithful companion to the bitter and lonely Grinch. Despite the Grinch's meanness, Max still loves him, and ends up becoming the point of view for the audience, showing that deep down, everyone is the same, and needs love and acceptance. (That's a really important thing to keep in mind, especially around Christmas!)
just wouldn't be the same without Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft! Karloff, for years a horror icon and the celebrated star of Universal's Frankenstein films, was the perfect narrator and Grinch voice for Seuss's funny but wonderful story. Ravenscroft, whose name was unfortunately left off the credits by accident, sang the now-classic "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch," with lyrics by Seuss himself, and his rich delivery is what makes the song so great. The resulting collaboration between all these great minds is why we keep coming back year after year to watch this cool Christmas special--truly, it's a Christmas-themed triumph of the best that Mad Science has to offer!
Hey, next week is Christmas week! We'll be back then for the final part of our Holiday GrinchWatch with a review of the live-action Grinch film with Jim Carrey, so make sure you check back for more of The MonsterGrrls' 25 Days Of Christmas! See you then!
