A Christmas TV special with a Pagan twist!

[Faery-Wings]

It is called The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. A friend of mine told me about it, and I watched it with my family last night. It is about a group of immortals who decide to make Claus, a mortal, into an immortal. The leader is called the Great Ak and has huge antlers on his head. The other immortals include fairies, a Wind Master, a Nook who can communicate and control the animals, a water sprite and so on. There is even one scene where all thirteen of the immortals sit in a circle at a round table under a full moon! Cool!

Has anyone seen this one yet?

It is on abcfamily channel again on Christmas eve
http://abcfamily.com/movies/santaclaus_adv/


BB
Chris

[Demeter]

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus has been around for years but hasn't gotten regular airplay. It is based on a book of the same title by L. Frank Baum (author of The Wizard of Oz and many other children's tales) which was written about 90 years ago.

I agree, the themes are very pagan.

[AmberLion]

I absolutely love that special. I agree, VERY pagan but it had has not been aired as often as the more "traditional" special. I guess most people don't like to admit that Pagans had Santa first.....actually we had the entire Yuletide season first. :) LOL

Isn't the Great Ak just about the most cool character you have ever seen on one of these specials?

[Drisel]

We got to see it the other night when it aired on the family chanel of all places. My daughter loved it!

[mysticvik]

I watched it with my niece, I thought it was very good for a cartoon

[Lavender]

I'll have to tape it. Sounds like a good one. Thanks for the recomendation.

[Laiste]

Sounds cool...can't wait to see it!:cool:

[StormChaser]

My best friend has the movie.. half on one tape, half on another. hehe. So this year I made her a WHOLE copy haha.

It's very good.. makes me cry everytime too

[Niamh]

Thanks for letting me know! Haven't seen it in ages. Hopefully I"ll be able to tape it or look at in on the 24th. :)

[Hedwig]

I bought it from Amazon.com a few years ago. You can probably still get it and I have noticed they have played it just as often as the others on that family channel.

But it's not the only one that I think has pagan themes. In The Year Without a Santa Claus, some of the characters are Mother Nature, and her two sons (I think) that I forget their names but they represent fire and ice.

I hope they are taking great care of those Rankin Bass classics!

[flar7]

Heat Miester and Freeze Meister. I think thats how it went, the
songs keep going through my head. Also the mother nature
resembled the one from the comercials about butter...
"It isnt nice to fool Mother Nature!"

[MammaStar]

*Ldystarlite begins to dance silly and sing badly*

"I'm Mr. Heat Meiser. I'm Mr. Sun. I'm Mr. Heat Meiser, I'm Mr. 101"

okay, that's all remember for him! on to.....

"I'm Mr. Freeze Meiser. I'm Mr. Freeze"

and all I remember from his song!

I caught a glimpse of the Santa special a few weeks ago. I too was enthralled when I saw the Great AK. I only saw the last minutes of the ending. But it was enough. Hopefully, I'll be able to tape it on Monday, then I can show it to my son. :D

Family Channel probably hasn't repeated it as much, cause of the Pagan themes & they are the home of the 700 Club.

[MidnightSun]

it isn't freeze meiser..i think it was snow meiser.
and "i'm mr. heat meiser, i'm mr. Sun. I'm mr. heat blister, i'm mr. 101" :)

I love that movie, can ya tell :)

[flar7]

main name is Freeze, it was the last part I wasnt sure about on
the pronunciation. "...whatever I touch, turns to ice in my clutch.
I'm too much!"

[Danustouch]

I saw that special last year too! And your right...it does have a pagan twist! Loved it.

[Niamh]

I had a professor in graduate school who looked like the Heat Meister! :)

[yemayasdaughter]

I find it really ironic that ABC Family even played it, because later on that evening they played the "700 Club". I guess is was "acceptably Pagan" LOL

I had no idea it was on video, I have to pick that up. This and "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas" are my favorite!!

[Demeter]

This weekend I discovered another version of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. The one I originally spoke of was the Rankin-Bass puppet animation one, where the Great Ak had antlers. A new one has recently been produced with regular cell animation (this one was all over the tube this weekend), and the Great Ak is more of an angelic being with wings instead of antlers. But both versions are excellent. The cartoon version of Claus, in particular, was quite similar to a European Father Christmas, wearing a long red robe, shoes with curly pointed toes, and a laurel wreath. The cartoon one is available on videotape; I haven't seen a commercial version of the Rankin-Bass one.

[Lavender]

We taped & watched the animated version. It was really good!

[Laiste]

Yay!! That was cool! My son and I watched it and we taped it too! The Great Ack was a great character! (AK?)

[Faery-Wings]

I'm glad you all liked it!

:)

Chris