Rudolph’s Shiny New Year – 1976
Directors
Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writer
Romeo Muller

Producers
Jules Bass producer
Arthur Rankin Jr. producer

Cast
Red Skelton – Father Time/Baby Bear (voice)
Frank Gorshin – Sir Ten-To-Three (voice)
Morey Amsterdam – One Million (O.M) (voice)
Harold Peary – Big Ben (voice)
Paul Frees – Santa Claus/Eon/General Ticker/Seventeen Seventy Six ‘Sev’ (voice)
Billie Mae Richards – Rudolph (voice)
Don Messick – Papa Bear (voice)
Iris Rainer – (voice)

Review by Jack Gattanella

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976) (TV)
One of the first things I saw as a little kid- and it can stick with you,

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year can be striking, and entertaining, if you’re watching it when you’re little – little enough that by the time you’re my age you have no clear memory of the first time you watched it, just that you did over and over. As a kid you get introduced to claymation someway or another (even those of today who don’t have Gumby get Wallace and Gromit), and this plays for a fine hour for the little ones, but can perhaps be of worth for the parents here and there.

The story of Rudolph saving the “baby new-year” from the clutches of Eon, a vulture looking to keep December 31st on a loop, is pretty simple, with conflicts and characters that are typical and funny enough to take. But what can be memorable for a child is how some of this special is dark (with Eon) when it’s not cute (most scenes with the baby). It’s also interesting as a kind of sequel-cum-remake of the original Rudolph story, as the baby has to contend with having big ears- something that a child might find more relatable than a shiny nose.

The songs are also a bit of a treat, if dated, and Red Skeleton does a fine double-job with the voicing of Father time and the little Bear on the island. Basically, it’s the kind of special that is worth checking out with the kids for a few minutes, and if they get into it, it may prove a treat, and if not, there’s still Nickelodeon.