Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red–Nosed Reindeer is Rankin/Bass's very first Christmas special, originally aired on December 6, 1964, on NBC. It is the world's longest-running and highest-rated television special of all time. It is based on the song of the same name by Johnny Marks, which in turn was based on the 1939 poem of the same title, written by Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May, who was an advertising copywriter for Montgomery Ward. Marks also wrote the music and lyrics for the songs in this special, and the background soundtrack includes two more songs he made famous: "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".

Synopsis
Sam the Snowman narrates the story of Rudolph, a reindeer who is born with a glowing red nose. His father, Santa's lead reindeer Donner, feels ashamed and uses a special cover to hide Rudolph's nose so he and his wife can send him to take-off practice a year later without him being ridiculed by the other yearlings. Meanwhile, an elf named Hermey has his own problem - he wishes to be a dentist instead of making toys. The elf foreman scolds him and tries to get him to obey, but he refuses to change his interests.

A year later, Rudolph is a yearling reindeer who is sent to take-off practice to learn how to fly, with Comet as his coach. Donner still tries to hide the nature of Rudolph's nose with the cover. This causes his voice to sound as if he had a permanent cold. Despite this, two deer befriend him. One is a little buck named Fireball and the other is a beautiful doe named Clarice. During some horseplay, Fireball inadvertently pops the cover off of Rudolph's nose. After seeing his glowing nose, the other reindeer, including Fireball, start ridiculing him, and Comet bans him from the reindeer games as a result. Clarice is the only one who still likes him and tries to comfort him. However, their musings are interrupted by her father, who forbids her from being around Rudolph. Feeling outcast, he runs away into the forest.

While in the woods, Rudolph meets up with Hermey. The two bond after they discover they each have something that makes them unique. After deciding to be "independent" together, they set out to seek "Fame and Fortune." After the song ends, the Abominable Snowmonster, a carnivorous monster who hates Christmas and feeds on reindeer, chases them. They manage to escape him.

Later, they meet a prospector named Yukon Cornelius who is obsessed with finding silver and gold. The trio manages to flee to the Island of Misfit Toys, ruled by a winged lion named King Moonracer. Because they are misfits but not toys, he allows them to spend one night on his island. Rudolph leaves on his own, having realized that his nose is a danger to his friends.

A few months later, Rudolph grows into a handsome young buck. He decides to return home despite being ridiculed. When he arrives back in his cave, he finds out that his parents are not there. He learns from Santa that they left to go looking for him, and Clarice went with them. He searches the North Pole and finds them being held captive by the Abominable Snowman. He attempts to rescue them before Hermey and Yukon Cornelius find him and they try to help. They manage to knock out the Abominable while Hermey removes the monster's teeth, but Yukon knocks himself, his sled team, and the Abominable over a cliff when he stands up to him.

The others return home, where they tell what happened. Rudolph and Hermey stop being ridiculed, and the lead elf finally allows Hermey to open a dentist's office the week after Christmas. Yukon and the others, who survived, make a grand entrance with the Abominable, now reformed by Yukon. Everyone decides to keep him around because he can put a silver star on top of Christmas trees without a stepladder. However, a strong blizzard is too much for Santa's team to handle, so he decides to cancel the Christmas Eve flight. But Rudolph's nose inspires him, and he asks him to lead his sleigh, which he agrees to. He leads the sleigh to the Island of Misfit Toys and takes them along the flight, where they are dropped off to their respective homes. With Rudolph leading the sleigh, it turns out to be a merry Christmas after all.

Songs

 * "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle"
 * "We Are Santa's Elves"
 * "There's Always Tomorrow"
 * "We're A Couple Of Misfits"
 * "Fame and Fortune"
 * "Silver And Gold"
 * "The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year"
 * "A Holly Jolly Christmas"
 * "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Production notes

 * The original network airings of the special were sponsored by General Electric, three special GE commercials featuring the elves from the special were produced and aired alongside the show.
 * The original pre-production work for the special did not include the character of Sam the Snowman. The songs sung by Sam, such as "Silver & Gold", were originally intended for Yukon Cornelius. Larry D. Mann had even recorded all of the songs as Yukon Cornelius prior to filming. However, Ives was brought on at the last minute to give the special "full power!" that would help sell the special to the networks and so the character of Sam the narrating snowman was added to the special. Although Sam the Snowman resembles Ives, he was actually designed to look like the writer of the special, Romeo Muller. Due to the last minute addition of Sam the Snowman, several scripted scenes were abandoned and never filmed. Once such scene included Rudolph being delivered to Donner and his wife by a stork.
 * On the title card, the copyright year in Roman numerals was mismarked as MCLXIV (1164) instead of the correct MCMLXIV.
 * The original 1964 airing did not include the closing scene where Santa saves the misfit toys. Many complained that Santa was not shown fulfilling his promise to include them in his annual delivery. As a reaction, a new scene was produced with Santa making his first stop at the island to pick up the toys. The scene was added to the special for the 1965, and subsequent, broadcasts. However due to time constraints, some existing material had to be trimmed to make room for the addition of these new scenes. Throughout the special, Yukon Cornelius is seen throwing his pick axe into the ground, taking it out and licking it. He is checking neither for gold nor silver; Yukon was actually searching for an elusive peppermint mine. In a scene right at the end of the special, deleted to make room for the misfits' new scene, Cornelius pulled his pick from the ground, licked it and said, "Peppermint! What I've been searching for all my life! I've struck in rich! I've got me a peppermint mine! Wahoo!" The scene was later restored and put back in the special as part of the 1998 restoration and subsequent home video releases. However, this scene is now left out of televised airings, and is also missing from the 2004 DVD release. Also, when the special was rebroadcast in 1965 the song "We're A Couple of Misfits" was replaced with a newly produced musical sequence entitled "Fame and Fortune." The original scene was restored in 1998, bringing back "We're a Couple of Misfits" to its original place.

Broadcast history and availability
Rankin-Bass sold many of the pre-1973 specials and series (including The Little Drummer Boy and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town) to Broadway Video, headed by Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live fame. The collection was then sold several years later to Golden Books Home Video, and later spun off into Classic Media, part of the Entertainment Rights group in the United Kingdom until 2009, when the company was bought by Classic Media's successor, Boomerang Media. NBC ended their relationship with this special in 1971, and CBS acquired the rights to air this special the following year.