Reviews

If you were alive and cognizant during the 1970's, you must remember the "Heat Miser" and "Snow Miser" songs, but less remembered is one other... "So you don't believe in Santa Claus", which is, imho, one of the most important that Rankin & Bass ever produced. It is about faith backed with personal experience, but in a non-religious-specific way that everyone can relate to alike. The only other Rankin/Bass special that even comes close is "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", and its song about belief in the world's true magic, a belief that some children hold and most adults sadly do not.

The animation in "The Year Without A Santa Claus" is stop-motion in the tradition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and "Rudolph's Shiny New Year". I call this a must see for every child -- and adult.

This story of the golem is decidedly different than the other story which takes place in Czech. This takes place in the kingdom of Moldavia (Poland more or less), in the Jewish town of Chelm. The hero, Aaron, attempts to foil a sorceror's attempts to steal a kabbalic book and to animate a destructive golem. While I'm not Jewish myself, I found this to be an interesting look at a seldom-seen (in the US) folktale. Highly recommended!

Aka: "Aaron's Magic Village"