Those old Christmas specials with the puppets...

[crispini]

you guys know what I mean, they look like puppets but they don't have any strings. "Rudolph" and "Frosty" and "Little Drummer Boy" and all that jazz. WTF are those? Are they puppets? How did they make them?

They are apparently running these ALL FREAKIN DAY on "ABC Family." They're still doing the low rent ones like the one about the long-eared Christmas donkey (DONKEY?) and "Drummer Boy 1 & 2."

Yes, I'm watching them. They're kinda cool, they're so obviously MADE by hand and not computer animated. Mondo cheez, of course.

[SmokingJacket]

1. Claymation?

Like Gumby?

What, are you that young?

[crispini]

3. No, they're older than that.

Like, 70s.

[hippiechick]

7. Uh, try mid 60's ...

... some of us are old enough to remember when they were new :(



:hippie:

[Left Is Write]

8. We referred to Rudolph, et al as "claymation" when I was a kid.

And Rudolph is older than 70s - it premiered in 1964. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town premiered in 1970.

[SmokingJacket]

10. No, way, clay mation is OLD.

You make a little thing out of clay, and move it, take a pic, move it... did it in 6th grade art class.

You know... GUMBY.

[crispini]

12. They're not clay, though, you can see that when you look at 'em.

Ah! They're called "ANIMAGIC" figures.

http://rankinbass.com/rudolph12.html

I love the internets.

[trof]

2. Stop action animation?

I think that's what it's called.
Take a picture, move the doll a teeny bit, take another picture, move a teeny bit more, take another picture...
String 'em all together and...MOVIES!

[crispini]

6. That's it.

Here's Rudolph:

http://rankinbass.com/rudolphhome.html

[trof]

11. It was a long, laborious process.

No longer necessary with computer animation.

[Left Is Write]

13. But I like it better.

That new show, "Rudolph And The Island Of Misfit Toys" is the same cast of characters as the original Rudolph, but it's computer animated.

It's just not the same. :(




edited for typo.

[asthmaticeog]

4. I LOVE those.

A lot of those puppets were designed by Paul Coker Jr. from the old Mad Magazine, and I think they look teriffic. Those specials rock, especially "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." - ABC Family, you say? OK then, computer off, TV on...

[Left Is Write]

9. They do it every year.

They called it "The 25 Days Of Christmas" (I don't know if they still call it that). They run many of the old specials from when I was a kid, along with "newer" Christmas specials, sequels, and movies.

[liberal N proud]

5. This is exactly what my eleven year old said when I asked her

what she was watching. Only she added "that are as old as you are daddy"
She is getting a big kick out of them.