''A Miser Brothers’ Christmas'' is a

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

spin-off special based on some of the characters from the 1974

Rankin-Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

special ''

The Year Without a Santa Claus ''The Year Without a Santa Claus'' is a 1974 stop motion animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name. It is narrated by Shirley Booth (her final ...

''. Distributed by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...

under their

Warner Premiere Warner Premiere was an American direct-to-video label of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros. History Early years (2006–2008) In 2006, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that they would enter the market ...

label (the rights holders of the post-1974

library) and Toronto-based

Cuppa Coffee Studio Cuppa Coffee Studios (formerly known as Cuppa Coffee Animation) is a Canadian production company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Cuppa Coffee was founded by Adam Shaheen in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animation and 2D animation, ...

s, the one-hour special premiered on

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

on Saturday, December 13, 2008, during the network's annual The 25 Days of Christmas programming.

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

(at age 88) and

George S. Irving George S. Irving (born Irving Shelasky; November 1, 1922 – December 26, 2016) was an American actor known primarily for his character roles on Broadway theatre, Broadway and as the voice of Heat Miser in the American Christmas television spe ...

(at age 86) reprised their respective roles as

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

and Heat Miser. Snow Miser (originally portrayed by

Dick Shawn Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap come ...

who died in 1987) was voiced by

Juan Chioran Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is an Argentine-born Canadian actor primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. He is based in Stratford, Ontario. Chioran is also known for his voice acting roles, such ...

, while

Mrs. Claus Mrs. Claus (also known as Mrs. Santa Claus or Mrs. Santa) is the legendary wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition. She is known for making cookies with the elves, caring for the reindeer, and preparing toy ...

(voiced in the original by

Shirley Booth Shirley Booth (born Marjory Ford; August 30, 1898October 16, 1992) was an American actress. One of only 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, Booth was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awa ...

who died in 1992) was portrayed by

Catherine Disher Catherine Disher is a British-born Canadian actress. She has won two Gemini Awards: in 2005 for Best Actress for her role in the Canadian mini-series '' Snakes and Ladders'', and in 2010 for her role in '' The Border''. She was also nominated for ...

. The movie aimed to emulate the Rankin/Bass animation style. This is the last Christmas special to feature Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus, as he died in 2014, as well as the last time George Irving voiced Heat Miser, as he died in 2016.

Plot

The feuding Miser Brothers (Heat and Snow) attend their

family reunion A family reunion is an occasion when many members of an extended family congregate. Sometimes reunions are held regularly, for example on the same date of every year. A typical family reunion will assemble for a meal, some recreation and discussi ...

with Mother Nature and their fellow siblings including the North Wind,

Earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

, and the

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

s. North Wind passively asks Mother Nature what might happen if Santa would be unable to complete his duties on Christmas. She responds that North Wind would take control instead. Heat then begins to call out Snow for trying to "give global warming a bad name". Snow responds by talking about Heat's attempts to scare people with reports of a second

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. Heat then reprimands Snow for claiming

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

as his own, which barely has any ice. Snow then calls out Heat for claiming

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

as his own because it's full of ice. The brothers then fight each other. Mother Nature ends the fight. Despite his dashing appearance and veneer of flattery and devotion toward Mother Nature, the North Wind is far more malevolent than either of his brothers. Self-absorbed and vain, the North Wind is fixated with the idea of replacing Santa Claus as a way to achieve personal glory. Beginning his machinations, He then sends two of his minions to crash Santa's Super-Sleigh designed by his mechanic Tinsel, causing Santa to injure his back after falling in the middle of a fight between the brothers as he unintentionally crosses into their domain. Despite what she told the North Wind before and having been informed by

about what happened to Santa, Mother Nature assigns the Miser Brothers the responsibility of running the toy factory. Their fighting continues as they move through several workshop stations. The North Wind hatches a new plan to keep them fighting so it would appear as if they ruined Christmas themselves, but Mrs. Claus convinces the Miser Brothers to put aside their differences and cooperate by showing them the Naughty/Nice list station. The brothers' history is revealed, showing they've always been on Santa's naughty list for mutual bickering. Upon learning the error of their ways, they begin working together and successfully get work back up to speed. However, the North Wind hatches a plan to destroy their truce and get them fighting again, leaving Santa to deliver the toys and giving North Wind the chance to finish him off. On Christmas Eve, the North Wind's minions surreptitiously attach heating and cooling units to the sleigh, apparently capable of heating or cooling entire regions of the planet. The discovery causes the Miser Brothers to blame each other. With them fighting again, Santa has no choice but to drive the sleigh as North Wind planned. After Santa leaves, Tinsel discovers the super-sleigh has been sabotaged, which stops the Misers' fight as they realize that neither of them was responsible for injuring Santa. Upon finding one of North Wind's

Christmas cards A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during t ...

with him dressed as Santa, the Misers realize the truth about their brother and comprehend his plan. Meanwhile, the North Wind attacks Santa's sleigh in flight, whipping up a vortex to consume Santa, but the Miser Brothers, with the aid of Tinsel and a team of young

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, save Santa in the nick of time. The North Wind's cover is blown and Mother Nature sentences him to do household chores for the next several thousand years as punishment for trying to finish off Santa and making his brothers fight. With North Wind thwarted, the brothers learn they've finally made the nice list. They deliver the presents for Santa and give gifts to each other in the process, making peace between them and ending their feud.

Cast

as Heat Miser *

as Snow Miser *

, Reindeer Elf * Brad Adamson as North Wind *

Patricia Hamilton Patricia Hamilton (born 27 April 1937 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for playing Rachel Lynde in the television mini-series '' Anne of Green Gables'', its sequels: '' Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel'' ...

as Mother Nature *

Peter Oldring Peter James Edward Oldring (born August 25, 1971) is a Canadian actor and comedian. Early life Oldring was born on August 25, 1971, in Drayton Valley, Alberta. He graduated from Sir Winston Churchill High School in 1989 in Calgary, Alberta, a ...

as Bob, Elf #1 *

Susan Roman Susan Roman (born April 17) is a Canadian voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC (and later Cloverway/CWi) dub of the anime, ''Sailor Moon''. She is one of the few voice ...

as Tinsel, Dr. Noel

Reception

The movie had 3.7 million viewers in its first airing, as determined by

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. It received a nomination for "Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children" in the 36th Annual

Annie Awards The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desig ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miser Brothers' Christmas Animated Christmas films Animated Christmas television specials American animated fantasy films 2008 films Canadian animated fantasy films Film spin-offs 2000s American television specials Canadian television specials Christmas television specials Santa Claus in film Stop-motion animated short films Warner Bros. Animation animated films Santa Claus in television 2008 television specials 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links