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Weirding Way Media

Welcome to Rankin on Bass, an offhanded joke that became a short-lived podcast where we discuss the stopmotion and animated works of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass.

Your hosts:  Chris Stachiw of The Kulturecast podcast, Richard Hatem of DC's Titans, and Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast. 

Artwork by Abbie Stabby - https://www.instagram.com/abbiestabby

Music by The Great Octopus - http://thegreatoctopus.bandcamp.com

Rankin on Bass

We kick off the series with a look at Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, talking a bit about the history of character before he appeared on Rankin & Bass's beloved holiday special. We also discuss the sequel wherein Rudolph has to save Baby New Year from the clutches of an evil bird.

Episode 1: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Rudolph's Shiny New Year

What's the story behind the Ho Ho Ho? We talk about how Santa came to be in Rankin & Bass's Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and the time when Santa got sick and lost hope in The Year Without a Santa Claus.

Episode 2: Santa Claus is Coming to Town & The Year Without a Santa Claus

We head to the Middle East to look at the The Little Drummer boy story -- along with its sequel -- and Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. It's something of a re-telling of the Nativity Story via side-characters.

Episode 3: Little Drummer Boy and Nestor the Long-Eared X-Mas Donkey

Happy Birthday! We’re talking about the animated adventures of Frosty the Snowman and Jack Frost as we look at Frosty the Snowman, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, and the Animagic stoy of Jack Frost. Somehow this episode gets into Cossacks, ventriloquism, and Groundhog Day.

Episode 4: Frosty the Snowman & Jack Frost

We talked about this back on our second episode... It's a discussion of the live action Year Without a Santa Claus and A Miser Brothers Christmas. Ever want to see Harvey Fierstein as the Heat Miser and Michael McKean as Snow Miser? Here's your chance.

Episode 5: The Miser Brothers Return

We wrap up the first season of Rankin on Bass with a look at the meeting of two titans: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer meets Frosty the Snowman in a Christmas special set in July where we learn about the origins of the North Pole and tie together several of the other Rankin & Bass shows.

Episode 6: Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July

Welcome to the second season of Rankin on Bass where we're looking at other holiday-themed specials. The Leprechaun's Christmas gold wasn't a St. Patrick's Day special but it is as much that as a Christmas special where Blarney Kilakilarney (Art Carney) relates a story within a story within a story about the Leprechauns' eternal struggle against an evil banshee who wants their gold.

Episode 7: The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold

Chris Stachiw and Mike White (Richard Hatem was on assignment to the North Pole) talk about the Rankin/Bass-produced King Kong Escapes which is part sequel to the Japanese animated TV-series, part re-telling of the Kong story, and part sequel to the Toho King Kong vs. Godzilla movie from 1962.

Episode 8: King Kong Escapes (1967)

Ah, spring is here! Nothing better than to celebrate the martyrdom of Jesus by discussing the origins of the Easter Bunny! Chris, Richard, and Mike delve into Rankin/Bass's three Easter specials: Here Comes Peter Cottontail, The First Easter Rabbit, and The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town. They're essentially Santa Claus stories but with a rabbit playing the Santa part. We learn about the importance of bonnets, the Scarlet Fever epidemic, and why we roll Easter eggs across these three celebrity-voiced specials.

Episode 9: The Easter Chronicles

Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, The Last Unicorn was adapted for the screen by Peter S. Beagle and based on his book. It's an offbeat look at legacy, legend, and immortality. It's the story of a unicorn (Mia Farrow) who thinks she may be the last of her kind and her quest to find the truth.

Episode 10: The Last Unicorn (1982)

Pepsico presents The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians, an animated special that played before the Academy Awards ceremony in 1970. The cast includes contemporary (Flip Wilson) and older (George Burns, Henny Youngman, Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, etc.) comedians as well as the voice talent of Paul Frees in an uneven TV event.

Richard Hatem, Chris Stachiw, and Mike White discuss the state of stand-up comedy in the early '70s as well as what a series of Mad Mad Mad Comedians might have looked like.

Episode 28: The Mad Mad Mad Comedians (1970)

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