A Claymation Christmas Celebration
| Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration |
|
|---|---|
| Directed by | Will Vinton |
| Produced by | David Altschul Will Vinton |
| Written by | Ralph Liddle |
| Starring | Tim Conner Johnny Counterfit |
| Music by | Patric Miller |
|
Release date
|
December 21, 1987 |
|
Running time
|
24 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration is a Christmas television special originally broadcast on the American CBS TV network on December 21, 1987. The special featured stop motion clay animation and was produced and directed by Will Vinton. The special debuted alongside A Garfield Christmas and the two continued to be aired back to back in subsequent years.
Situated in a facsimile of London's Christmas Square, the special is co-hosted by Rex (Johnny Counterfit), an erudite and intellectual Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Herb (Tim Conner), a dimwitted, bespectacled Styracosaurus with a voracious appetite. Some critics have cited similarities between these two characters and film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Rex and Herb previously appeared in Vinton's Dinosaurs! - A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time!, but this is where they were given speech and more complex personalities.
Recurring characters in Vinton's films dating back to 1980, Rex and Herb introduce several stand-alone videos of Christmas carols and standards and discuss the origins of each song relating to different holiday traditions around the world.
The songs featured were:
Throughout the program, Rex futilely attempts to clarify the true pronunciation and meaning of the term 'wassail', featured in the Christmas carol Here We Come A-Wassailing. As the show progresses, Rex is dismayingly accosted by different groups singing the song, though each version is lyrically incorrect.
Though Rex is convinced his own definition is correct, he finds himself continually being questioned by the others, including Herb when he's not busy excessively partaking of the various Christmas treats offered by each group. Finally, near the program's end, a large truck loaded with elfin, cider-swilling townsfolk arrives on the scene, singing the correct version of the carol, validating Rex's theories much to his delight. When asked, one of the townies explains the real meaning of wassailing: going around the neighborhood singing Christmas Carols, and getting treats and cordials. After that, the entire cast performs Here We Come A-wassailing, and then We Wish You a Merry Christmas as the end credits roll.
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