Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a popular Christmas story about Santa Claus' ninth and lead reindeer who possesses an unusually red colored nose that gives off its own light that is powerful enough to illuminate the team's path through inclement weather.
The story is owned by The Rudolph Company, L.P. and has been sold in numerous forms including a popular song, a television special (done in stop motion animation), and a feature film. Rudolph was created by Robert L. May in 1939 as part of his employment with Montgomery Ward. Character Arts, LLC manages the licensing for the Rudolph Company, L.P.
While the story and song have not passed into public domain, they have established themselves as folklore (as evidenced by the development of local variations and parodies such as "Deadeye the Lonesome Cowboy," collected in the field by Simon J. Bronner and included in "American Children's Folklore"). Earlier generations of folklorists would have rejected the possibility, and some contemporary scholars (e.g., Lucy Rollins) continue to classify the case as fakelore, much as Paul Bunyan has been criticized as an authentic folk hero. At all events, the story demonstrates the complex relationship between mass-culture and folklore.
Marks, May's brother-in-law, decided to adapt May's story into a song, which through the years has been recorded by many artists (most notably by Gene Autry in 1949), and has since filtered into the popular consciousness.
The popular song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in its Finnish translation, Petteri Punakuono, has led to Rudolph's general acceptance in the mythology as Joulupukki's, the Finnish Santa's, lead reindeer. However, in Finland, Santa's reindeer do not fly. Mike Eheman made the newest version of the song with the actual flying reindeer so Santa can land on roof tops.
The reindeer debuted on NBC in 1964, when Rankin/Bass produced a stop motion animated TV special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that became a popular hit in itself. This version was re-broadcast many times over the years, even after it was finally released on video and then DVD. CBS now airs it each year, making it the longest-running TV special with regards to consecutive years. The TV special, though based on May's story and Marks' song, contains many additions and alterations to the original story.
The film is narrated by Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives), who tells that when Rudolph was first born, he had a red light-up nose. Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph's father, wants to hide the oddity, and does so by covering it with mud so that it's black like any other reindeer's nose. While playing reindeer games with other young reindeer, Rudolph befriends a young doe named Clarice. He seems rather popular amongst the other reindeer, until his false nose falls clean off, revealing his red glow. All of the other reindeer — aside from Clarice — ridicule and shun Rudolph. Clarice tries to comfort him, but to no avail.
Luckily, Rudolph's not the only one who's different. One elf, Hermey, wants to be a dentist instead of making toys in Santa's workshop, and is similarly unaccepted by his peers. Hermey and Rudolph take off together to find where they belong, and meet Yukon Cornelius, an unsuccessful prospector who is seeking silver and gold.
They have to beware of the Abominable Snow-monster (whom Yukon refers to as "the Bumble"), and stumble upon the Island of Misfit Toys, populated with toys such as a "Charlie-in-the-box", a train with square wheels, and a cowboy who rides an ostrich. They want to stay on the island, but King Moon Racer, ruler of the island, says it is for toys only. Hermey and Yukon say the three of them will leave the island in the morning, but Rudolph, figuring his nose will get them in trouble by attracting the snow-monster, decides to set out alone.
Rudolph arrives at home, but Rudolph's family and Clarice are out looking for him. He discovers that they are being held captive by the Bumble, and rejoins his friends to help defeat the frosty fiend. Hermey, with his dentistry skills, helps Rudolph rescue the others by pulling out all the Bumble's teeth. The Bumble still tries to attack—toothless or not—and Yukon tackles the beast...right over the edge of a cliff.
When they get back to the North Pole, Rudolph and Hermey are hailed as heroes and apologized to by all. However, Yukon is sorely missed. That is, until he shows up at Santa's doorstep with the Bumble in tow! Rudolph asks how the two of them survived the fall, and Yukon simply replies, "Didn't I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!" The toothless Bumble, now reformed, puts the star on top of the tree at the Christmas Eve party, in which Rudolph and friends are very welcome.
When there is a strong fog, Santa relies on Rudolph as a beacon, and Rudolph gets them to the Island of Misfit Toys. In the end, the misfit toys are given homes (they are dropped out of the sleigh behind the credits via umbrellas).
In 1976, a sequel to the Rankin-Bass original special was produced, entitled Rudolph's Shiny New Year and then a third in 1979 entitled Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. Then in 2001, a a fourth in the series was released titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island of Misfit Toys, produced entirely with computer animation as opposed to traditional stop motion animation; however, care was taken to make the computer-generated characters resemble their stop-motion counterparts from the original special as much as possible
An animated feature film remake of the story was produced in 1998, entitled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie It received only a limited theatrical release before debuting on home video. Despite this it has garnered a base of dedicated fans as well as criticisms of many of the songs; the sprite characters, which both fans and non-fan agree on, are annoying narrators.
The movie begins with the sprites of the Northern Lights traveling to the house of a newborn reindeer named Rudolph. Rudolph attempts to walk to his father (Blitzen), but he trips and rolls into a haystack. When he sneezes, his nose lights up; his mother's only word on the incident is, "Bless you."
A few days later, two mail delivery elves, Boone and Doggle, are delivering mail in hopes of a promotion for the two of them (they dislike their current job, and wish to be promoted to the "factory floor"). But as they pass the bridge made by the ice queen, Stormella (Whoopi Goldberg), Boone loses control of the sled vehicle, inadvertently crashing it into and in turn destroying Stormella's ice garden. The two elves make a dash for it, but in the process, Doggle's hat falls off his head. Meanwhile Rudolph, who has now mastered the skill of walking, is shown Santa's toy factory. Work, however, is cut short as Stormella bursts in with butler Ridley (a penguin who can speak human language) and her snow wolves, demanding justice. She explains that her ice garden has been wrecked, and she knows one of Santa's elves was responsible. When Santa's wife, Mrs. Claus, asks how Stormella knows that, Stormella displays Doggle's hat that she found at the "scene of the crime." Santa asks that the elf to whom the hat belongs should show himself; Boone and Doggle obediently step forward. Stormella requests that Santa Claus "hand them over," but Santa refuses. Stormella's response is to close down her bridge to the public and making it clear that if anyone crosses it she shall make a storm so big "It will knock your thermal socks off, baby!" She then leaves. A hopeful Doggle asks if they will still get a promotion; Boone merely knocks Doggle on the head.
Later in the year, on Christmas Eve, as Rudolph attends school his nose is a bully magnet. Zoey is the only one of his classmates not to join in bullying, sympathizing with Rudolph. Rudolph also receives unexpected comfort from Santa himself, the latter saying that everyone is family.
That night after Santa takes off for Christmas, Zoey talks to Rudolph and leads him to mistletoe, saying that he has to kiss her, to their (mostly) mutual delight (although Rudolph is embarrassed at first). The would-be kiss on the cheek is interrupted when Rudolph's rival, Arrow, arrives unexpectedly, ordering Zoey to come with him. To avoid Arrow becoming "jealous," Zoey obediently follows him, though when Arrow's back is turned, she gives Rudolph a smile; she still prefers him to Arrow.
Several years later, Rudolph is now a teenaged reindeer, complete with horns. He is competing in the reindeer trials that every reindeer his age has to compete in. Zoey is now his best friend, and she gives him her locket for good luck in the race to come. That race, it turns out, is carriage racing, in which young reindeer practice pulling human drivers just as Santa's famous reindeer pull his sleigh (as an incentive to win, Santa sometimes picks future reindeer to pull his sleigh from the best in the competition). During the race, Arrow takes advantage of Rudolph's feelings for Zoey by lying to him, saying that Zoey is only nice to him because she feels sorry for him. Rudolph denies this, but Arrow tells another lie by saying that Zoey told him so. Rudolph does not believe a word of it, but becomes so angry at Arrow's taunts that his nose shines brightly, blinding Arrow and his carriage's elf driver and inadvertently making them crash, causing Rudolph and Doggle (his elf "driver") to win. Unfortunately, a paranoid referee disqualifies Rudolph and makes Arrow the winner by default, much to the shock of Blitzen (who considers the decision an "outrage"), Zoey and Doggle (who apologizes to Rudolph, prompting Rudolph to remind Doggle that the decision wasn't the latter's fault). Even Mrs. Claus finds the decision unfair, but Santa gently reminds her that the judge has the final say in the matter, not him and his wife.
Zoey, however, immediately deduces the truth of the matter: Arrow made Rudolph's nose shine brightly on purpose. Arrow knew that his jeers would make Rudolph's nose glow and that the light would blind the former, but Arrow also knew that Rudolph would be disqualified as a result. Zoey angrily yells, "You cheated!" Arrow is unrepentant, telling Zoey, "So what? The point is, I won, and Santa's gonna notice me!" Zoey explains to Arrow that Rudolph deserves to be one of the fliers, not Arrow, and concludes by breaking up with Arrow (she has apparently been Arrow's "doefriend" up to now, but she now declares, "I don't want to be your doefriend anymore!"). She leaves, while Arrow is congratulated by the officials.
Blitzen tries to get the referee to change his decision, but the referee tells the former that the latter's decision is final. Blitzen explains that "the nose problem isn't his fault, he was born that way!" He then tells the referee, "That nose of his...was an accident." It is obvious to the viewer that Blitzen meant no harm by that remark; he was merely attempting to persuade the referee that there was no way Rudolph could have controlled his nose's glow and avoided blinding Arrow. But Rudolph overhears and misinterprets Blitzen's explanation; Rudolph thinks Blitzen is regretting his son's birth. Rudolph starts to feel that he is not wanted and, vowing that he'll make his father proud someday, runs away with several of his things. The romantic song "Show Me The Light" (which is considered the only good original song by those who have watched this movie) fully expresses Rudolph's despair and Zoey's heartfelt feelings for him.
Rudolph soon finds shelter in a cave, but soon finds out that the cave is inhibited by Slyly, a slightly ironically-named snow fox. After a small scuffle, Slyly is forced to let Rudolph stay in the cave with him. Slyly rightly guesses that Rudolph was running away from his home; Slyly's personal opinion is that it could be worse. As Slyly explains in a song to Rudolph, the attitude Slyly has always taken towards life is that if your prospects are low, you need to remember that life could always be worse than your current situation. He finds out about Rudolph's glowing nose, and when Rudolph provides examples to Slyly of teasing remarks the former has received in the past, the show of indignity that Rudolph then puts on backfires, and both he and Slyly fall down laughing.
That night, Blitzen and his mate discover that Rudolph has run away. When Zoey learns of this, she journeys after him. Later, Slyly awakens to an avalanche that both he and Rudolph (he refers to Rudolph as "Red," an affectionate nickname) escape in a nick of time; the avalanche effectively seals the cave. This prompts Rudolph to explain Slyly's own advice to the latter: "It could have been worse;" they could have both been trapped inside the cave. Slyly admits that Rudolph has a good point, and the two soon find a cave inhabited by a polar bear named Leonard, whom Slyly tries to trick into leaving. But Rudolph tells Leonard the truth: "we were just cold and hungry with no place to go." Leonard lets them stay after asking why they didn't just say so in the first place.
Meanwhile, Zoey is faced with crossing Stormella's bridge to find Rudolph, a risk that she knows is forbidden but decides she must take; however, her crossing is seen in a crystal ball by Stormella, much to her delight (Stormella was secretly hoping that someone would violate her order not to cross the bridge because this would provide the excuse Stormella needs to create a gigantic ice storm, Stormella's real goal due to her desire to cause chaos). Zoey is then found and scorned by Stormella, and consequently thrown into Stormella's dungeon.
Later awakened by bad memories, Rudolph is met by the sprites of the northern lights, who teach him to light his nose up and tell him of the capture of Zoey. He soon tells the others about this (but not before, to Rudolph's amusement, Rudolph sees Slyly cuddled up with Rudolph's teddy bear), and they make their way to the castle.
Boone and Doggle are soon sent out by Santa to find Rudolph and Zoey, since Santa has given a second chance even after the chaos they caused the last time Santa trusted them with a task. At the castle, Slyly considers the rescue mission to be crazy and leaves them on their own, telling them of a passageway that leads to the dungeon. Crossing the bridge, Rudolph lights up his nose to block out any image on Stormella's crystal ball (it is obvious to the viewer that Rudolph does not actually know that Stormella is watching through a crystal ball, per se; Rudolph was merely trying to block out any method at all for discovery). Upon entering the catacombs, they soon find the dungeon after hearing Zoey sing to herself (coincidently, the song is "Show Me the Light") but Stormella finds them and, after singing "I Hate Santa Claus," locks up Leonard and Rudolph. Stormella informs all three prisoners that she'll call up her big storm to crash Santa's business, and Stormella leaves them so she can go to bed. Zoey tells Rudolph of her feelings for him and shyly Rudolph confesses his feelings, too.
Meanwhile, Stormella casts her big storm spell; this allows Santa to deduce that someone crossed Stormella's bridge. Slyly then comes to the rescue, stealing Stormella's key while she is asleep; she partially awakens in the process, prompting Slyly to say that he's just stealing the key to the dungeon, and Stormella, shockingly, goes right back to sleep after Slyly tells her to do so. Slyly's dumbfounded remark is, "Hey, this truth stuff really works." Unfortunately for Slyly, the only reason telling the truth worked in this instance was because Stormella was half-asleep and thus her brain could not yet fully process what Slyly told her. Consequently, after the prisoners are freed, Slyly's words fully sink in, and Stormella finally wakes up shouting "Stealing the key to my dungeon?!" Stormella soon stops the group and threatens to freeze Zoey for good; Rudolph comes to her defence and with the brightness of his nose's resulting glow sends Stormella stumbling backwards, unintentionally sending her toppling over the cliff. Stormella clings onto the cliff and begs, in tears, for someone to help her. Rudolph saves her life, confusing Stormella until Rudolph's simple explanation: "Well, I couldn't let you fall."
Stormella acknowledges this altruistic motive on Rudolph's part, and at first offers to pay him back, telling Rudolph and his friends, "Well, you're free to go! Consider us Even Stevens!" But much to Stormella's chargin, Slyly reminds her that the rules of the North Pole clearly state that when someone saves your life, you owe them a wish (probably assuming you have the power to grant one; Stormella is adept at magic and thus has that power, so she is obligated to do so for Rudolph). Rudolph promptly wishes for Stormella to "be nice." Stormella is incredulous, asking Rudolph, "What kind of wish is that?!" Rudolph repeats his request, and Stormella pleads with him to pick something else. Even Rudolph's friends attempt to persuade him to change his mind; Slyly wants Rudolph to be more ambitious with his wish, Zoey tells Rudolph that he could have anything he wants, and Leonard reminds Rudolph that he only gets one wish. Stormella then has an idea; what if Rudolph could have a normal nose? That, in Stormella's mind, was what Rudolph always wanted. But no matter what Rudolph is told, he stubbornly continues to insist, "I want you to be nice." Stormella reluctantly grants the wish, saying, "the North Pole is about to get awfully dull." After a brief swirl of magical power, Stormella becomes nice (which seems to be defined, in the context of this movie, as the combination of a capacity for obvious affection and goodwill, the absence of malice or desire to cause harm to anyone, and the desire for others to achieve happiness). She starts kissing Ridley, which irritates him and prompts him to ask "Will someone change her back, please?"
Unfortunately, when Zoey demands that Stormella call off the ice storm now that she has the motivation to do so, Stormella regretfully informs her that until the storm can run its natural course, it's out of Stormella's hands (which means that while Stormella was able to summon the storm, she is incapable of dispelling it). When the group leaves using her bridge, now reopened to the public, Boone and Doggle find them and bring them to Santa. He, in turn, suggests that Rudolph's nose may actually help the team and bring Santa's presents to the children in spite of the storm; and this turns out to be a successful solution. His friends come to congratulate him and Zoey kisses Rudolph, causing him to blush. Blitzen is proud of his son's success.
When the team is done delivering presents (Rudolph's friends also receive presents, but directly from Rudolph himself; Leonard gets a scarf, Slyly gets Rudolph's old teddy bear much to his delight, and the reformed Stormella gets some replacement ice sculptures). At the end, everyone sings the classic "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" song, and in the credits along with the fan-favourite "Show Me the Light".
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