While not as good as either "Year Without a Santa Claus" or the original "Rudolph", this was still must-see TV when I was growing up. Since it's one-hour long (when broadcast), you get more bang for your buck than the many half-hour Christmas shows.

When watching this recently, it seems to me they cut one of Red Skelton's songs. Wasn't there a song titled "The moving finger writes...", where Father Time explains to Rudolph how Baby New Year grows into an old man by the end of the year? I have a distinct memory of that. Perhaps it shows up on the DVD? In a similar vein, there's a song I know they routinely cut from "Year Without a Santa Claus"--Mrs. Claus singing "Anyone Can Be Santa Claus". I realize that they're probably squeezing in more commercials than when I was a kid, & something is bound to get cut. Still.

Happy the Baby New Year had runaway due to teasing about his big ears. The weather is frightful. After saving Christmas, Rudolph is the only one who can save New Year. He is joined by General Ticker. They cross the Sands of Time to find Father Time guided by The Great Quarter Past Five. Aeon The Terrible is after Baby New Year to stop time. Rudolph searches for Happy in the Archipelago of Last Years.

It was over a decade since the first Rudolph first aired. There is a nostalgic charm to the stop-motion animation. While it's great to have new characters, I don't understand why so many of them seem to drop off. Where did General Ticker go? Why introduce great side characters, only to drop them immediately? I also don't understand how the 3 bears fit into the Archipelago. They're not historical figures. There are some new songs but it's always the classic that is truly great. Despite a few questionable turns, it's still a fun journey.

Rudolph has to find the missing Happy, the big-eared Baby New Year, prior to the end of New Year's Eve or else the old year will go on indefinitely. Rudolph is assisted in his desperate mission by friendly whale Big Ben, cheery caveman One Million (O.M. for short), noble knight Sir Ten-To-Three, and the amiable Ben Franklynesque Seventeen Seventy Six. Meanwhile, evil monster bird Eon the Terrible wants to get his nasty claws on Happy so he can live forever. This really sweet and delightful holiday television special boasts the usual appealing attributes which make these shows by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. so utterly charming and irresistible: a catchy and jaunty soundtrack of infectiously bouncy songs, a giddy, upbeat tone, cool stop-motion animation, likable and colorful characters, an amusing sense of gentle good-natured humor, and an engrossingly simple and straightforward story. Red Skelton makes for a warm and folksy narrator as Father Time. In addition, marvelous voice actor supreme Paul Frees lends his glorious golden throat to Eon, Seventeen Seventy Six, Santa Claus, and clockwork soldier General Ticker. The other cast members voice their roles with tremendous hearty aplomb: Billie Mae Richards as eternal optimist Rudolph, Frank Gorshin as Sir Ten-To-Three, Morey Amsterdam as One Million, Harold Peary as Big Ben, and Don Messick as the grumpy Papa Bear. A total treat.