I took a break from some freelance work on Sunday to sit with my wife and watch part of a heretofore unknown Rankin & Bass stop motion Christmas special.
Remember those joyless folks in the 80's who use to whine about how violent your cartoons were? Well, after watching the herky-jery animation below, I kinda sorta maybe see a little bit of what those gloomy scolds were freaking out about.
(The effect was compounded by the fact that I had just put down a book about Rwanda: the similarities between the R&B special and the book I was reading are as disturbing as they are obvious.)
Witness now, "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus," released in the Year of Our Childhood 1985:
In the show's defense though, it did have the foresight to give Santa Claus his own Battle Cat. Which was way overdue.
