Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a 1977 Japanese-American Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It premiered on ABC on December 3, 1977. [1] The story is based on the 1975 song of the same name, written by Gene Autry, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess. [2]
Santa Claus' pet donkey, Spieltoe, narrates the story of a small donkey named Nestor with abnormally long ears, who lived in the days of the Roman Empire. Every animal in the stable ridicules Nestor because of his large ears. This seemingly comes to a halt during the celebration of winter solstice; however, when the cruel stable owner Olaf refused to feed Nestor out of him being a burden on the farm, all the animals feeling sympathetic and guilty for the way Nestor is being treated apologize for their misjudgment and making him feel bad about himself. Nestor's mother then gives Nestor some old socks from Olaf's wife to cover up his ears.
That night, soldiers arrive from the Roman Empire in need of young donkeys. After removing the socks from Nestor’s ears, the soldiers think that Olaf, was trying to trick them. Olaf offers to give them Nestor for free, but the soldiers instead take all of the other donkeys for free but they leave Nestor. Enraged for not receiving money for his donkeys, Olaf throws Nestor out into a blizzard while not caring if he freezes and tells him to never return, Nestor's mother breaks out of her stall out of anger and runs out to search for him. After finding Nestor in the snow, his mother takes him to a small resting area where she shields him from the cold. The next morning, Nestor tearfully mourns his mother's death-(with her body covered in a pile of snow), as she had froze to death and sacrificed her life to protect him.
Later, Nestor meets a cherub named Tilly. She says they need to travel to Bethlehem, telling him "Your ears can do wondrous things no other ears can do. The sounds they hear will guide you on a path that's straight and true, and then you will save another, as your mother once saved you." They travel across the desert sands for many months, and when they finally get to the outskirts of Bethlehem, Tilly tells Nestor to wait and she flies back up to Heaven. Even though he finds a rundown old stable, nobody buys him.
Mary and Joseph are expecting Jesus, they take Nestor because of his "gentle eyes", but are caught in a sandstorm. In the midst of the storm, Nestor hears Tilly's voice, but recognizes it as his mother's, and she tells him to follow the voices of the angels. Nestor guides Mary and Joseph through the storm, while wrapping Mary in his ears to keep her warm, soon arriving at Bethlehem. They find the stable where Mary subsequently gives birth to baby Jesus, Nestor finds his way back to his home stable where he is hailed as hero by Olaf and the other animals.
In addition to Akikazu Kono, this is Rankin/Bass' second and last "Animagic" stop motion puppet production to be supervised by another Japanese animator, Satoshi Fujino, who also previously worked on The Little Drummer Boy, Book II .
The special was released in 2000 with The Year Without a Santa Claus . It was later included in The Complete Rankin/Bass Christmas Collection DVD in 2022 and Blu-ray in 2023.
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass's stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called Animagic.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1964 stop motion Christmas animated television special produced by Videocraft International, Ltd. and currently distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution. It first aired December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the United States and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General Electric Fantasy Hour. The special was based on the 1949 Johnny Marks song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" which was itself based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks's brother-in-law, Robert L. May. Since 1972, the special has aired on CBS. The network unveiled a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005, re-scanned frame-by-frame from the original 35 mm film elements.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 American-Japanese animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions which features Clement Clarke Moore's famous 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, the opening line of which is the source of the title of this animated special. The special first originally aired on CBS on December 8, 1974 where it aired annually until 1994, when The Family Channel took over its syndication rights. AMC took over syndication rights for the special in 2018.
Paul Coker Jr. was an American illustrator. He worked in many media, including Mad, character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials, greeting cards, and advertising.
The Legend of Frosty the Snowman is a 2005 Canadian-American Christmas animated television special film which was simultaneously released direct-to-video, and produced by Classic Media, Studio B Productions, and Top Draw Animation.
The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Japanese-American stop motion animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name. It is narrated by Shirley Booth and starring the voices of Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, and George S. Irving. It was originally broadcast on December 10, 1974, on ABC.
Julius Caesar Bass was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft International, later named Rankin/Bass Productions, with his friend, Arthur Rankin Jr. He joined ASCAP in 1963 and collaborated with Edward Thomas and James Polack at their music firm and as a songwriting team primarily with Maury Laws at Rankin/Bass.
Frosty's Winter Wonderland is a 1976 Japanese-American animated Christmas television special and a standalone sequel to the 1969 special Frosty the Snowman, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft. It is the second television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. It returns writer Romeo Muller, character designer Paul Coker, Jr., music composer Maury Laws and actor Jackie Vernon as the voice of Frosty, while Andy Griffith stars as the narrator with the rest of the cast consisting of Shelley Winters, Dennis Day, and Paul Frees. The special premiered on ABC on December 2, 1976.
Frosty Returns is a 1993 American animated Christmas television special starring the voices of Jonathan Winters as the narrator and John Goodman as Frosty the Snowman. The special was directed by Bill Melendez and Evert Brown and features music by Mark Mothersbaugh. The special was produced in 1992, and released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment in 1993. It was first aired on the CBS television network on December 1, 1995, and continues to be broadcast. It is the fourth special in a series beginning with Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment's 1969 television adaptation of Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins' 1950 holiday song.
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 American stop motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York, New York. The film is narrated by Fred Astaire and stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934; and the story of Saint Nicholas.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys is a 2001 American-Canadian direct-to-video animated Christmas adventure musical film directed by Bill Kowalchuk for GoodTimes Entertainment. It was released on VHS and DVD on October 30, 2001. The film takes place after the events of the original special. The film thus revisits classic characters like Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the elf, Abominable Snow Monster, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who is now famous in the North Pole.
Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The special first aired on December 7, 1969, on the CBS television network in the United States, airing immediately after the fifth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas; both scored high ratings. The special has aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season every year since.
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is an American-Japanese Christmas/Independence Day film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, featuring characters from the company's holiday specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969), among others. It was filmed in Japan using the company's trademark "Animagic" stop-motion animation style. The film was originally a theatrical film released through Avco Embassy Pictures where it ran for only 2–3 weeks and was considered a box office flop. Later that year, the film premiered on television in the US on November 25, 1979, on ABC where it received better status.
The Stingiest Man in Town is a 1978 American-Japanese animated Christmas musical television special based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It was created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, and features traditional animation rather than the stop motion animation most often used by the company. It was an animated remake of a long-unseen, but quite well received, live-action musical special which had starred Basil Rathbone, Martyn Green, and Vic Damone. The live-action version had been telecast on December 23, 1956, on the NBC anthology series The Alcoa Hour, and was published on DVD in 2011, by VAI. The animated remake first aired December 23, 1978, in the United States on NBC, and was telecast in Japan the next day.
Jack Frost is a 1979 American-Japanese Christmas, Winter, and Groundhog Day stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It was directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., written by Romeo Muller, narrated by Buddy Hackett, and starring the voices of Robert Morse, Debra Clinger, and Paul Frees. The special premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979, and tells the tale of Jack Frost and his adventures as a human. It airs annually on AMC as part of its Best Christmas Ever programming block.
Maury Laws was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina.
Pinocchio's Christmas is a 1980 American-Japanese Christmas stop motion television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions that is a holiday adaptation of the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The special was originally aired on ABC on December 3, 1980. It aired annually during the Christmas season on Freeform and as of 2018 airs on AMC.
A Miser Brothers’ Christmas is a 2008 American-Canadian Christmas stop motion spin-off special, based on the characters from the 1974 Rankin-Bass special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Distributed by Warner Bros. Animation under their Warner Premiere label and Toronto-based Cuppa Coffee Studios, the one-hour special premiered on ABC Family on Saturday, December 13, 2008, during the network's annual The 25 Days of Christmas programming.
The First Easter Rabbit is an American-Japanese animated Easter television special that premiered April 9, 1976 on NBC and later aired on CBS. Created by Rankin/Bass Productions, it tells the story of the Easter Bunny's origin. The special is loosely based on the 1922 children's book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Burl Ives narrates the special, which also features the Irving Berlin song "Easter Parade". It marked Ives's return to a Rankin/Bass special for the first time since the company's 1964 stop motion television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer twelve years prior.
The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town is a 1977 American-Japanese musical Easter television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, using their "Animagic" stop motion animation. The special reunites the writer Romeo Muller, designer Paul Coker Jr., and narrator Fred Astaire from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, and stars the voices of Skip Hinnant, Bob McFadden, Meg Sargent, James Spies, and Allen Swift. It originally premiered on ABC in the United States on April 6, 1977.
