Friday, December 18, 2009

The Great Santa Claus Caper (1978)

Time for some more yuletide cheer as our little Chuck Jones Christmas party continues. I have to admit, Jones' later stuff is starting to grow on me. Like the Chipmunks special, here's another Jones take on some existing characters. 1978's The Great Santa Claus Caper was the first of two TV specials Jones did that starred the dolls Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy (1979 saw the Halloween special, The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile). The story is pretty simple and clearly aimed at kids, but the highlight is a very Wile E. Coyote-esque wolf who plots to make Santa's workship more efficient by covering all the gifts in a substance he calls "Gloopstick". The crazy Gloopstick machine feels very Dr. Seuss-ish to me. The show is filled with the familiar voices of June Foray, Daws Butler, and Les Tremayne. I don't believe either of the Jones "Raggedy Ann" specials have been released onto DVD.

1 comment:

Robert Pope said...

Gloopstick turned out to be ahead of it's time, today they use it to slab comic books so you can't read 'em!

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