''A Miser Brothers' Christmas'' is a 2008

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

spin-off special, based on the characters from the 1974 Rankin/Bass special '' The Year Without a Santa Claus''. Distributed by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation divis ...

under their Warner Premiere label (the rights holder of the post-1974 Rankin/Bass 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 and Bruce Alcock in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animatio ...

s, the one-hour special premiered on

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

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

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

(at age 88) and George S. Irving (at age 86) reprise their respective roles as

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

and Heat Miser. Snow Miser (originally portrayed by Dick Shawn, who died in 1987) is voiced by

Juan Chioran Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is a 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 as Doji in ...

, while Mrs. Claus (voiced in the original by

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

, who died in 1992) is portrayed by Catherine Disher. The movie aimed to emulate the Rankin/Bass animation style. This is the last Christmas special to feature Mickey Rooney, who died in 2014, as Santa Claus, as well as the last time George S. Irving, who died in 2016, voiced Heat Miser.

Plot

The feuding Miser Brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser 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 discuss ...

with

Mother Nature Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother) is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess. European concept tr ...

and their fellow siblings including the

North Wind A north wind originates in the north and blows in a southward direction. The wind has had historical and literary significance, since it often signals cold weather and seasonal change in the Northern hemisphere. Mythology *In Greek mythology, ...

Earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

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 natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

, and the

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the 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 tables ...

s. The North Wind passively asks Mother Nature what might happen if Santa would be unable to complete his duties on Christmas. She responds that the North Wind would take control instead. When Mother Nature asks for a report from the Miser Brothers, Heat 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 g ...

. Heat then reprimands Snow for claiming

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

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

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

as his own because it's full of ice. The Miser Brothers then fight each other causing Mother Nature to break up the fight. Despite his dashing appearance and devotion toward Mother Nature, the North Wind is far more evil than either of his brothers. He is fixated with the idea of replacing Santa Claus as a way to achieve personal glory. To put his plan into action, the North Wind 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 Miser Brothers as he unintentionally crosses into their domain. Despite what she told the North Wind before and having been informed by Mrs. Claus about what happened to Santa, Mother Nature assigns the Miser Brothers the responsibility of running the toy factory as a way to make it up to Santa. 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 Miser 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 the 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 the North Wind planned. After Santa leaves, Tinsel discovers the super-sleigh has been sabotaged which stops the Miser Brothers' fight as they realize that neither of them was responsible for injuring Santa. Upon finding one of the North Wind's

Christmas card 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 ...

s with him dressed as Santa, the Miser Brothers realize the truth about North Wind and comprehend his plan. Meanwhile, the North Wind attacks Santa's sleigh in flight, whipping up a vortex to consume Santa. With the aid of Tinsel and a team of young reindeer, the Miser Brothers save Santa in the nick of time. The North Wind's cover is blown. Having found out about North Wind's scheme, Mother Nature sentences North Wind to do household chores at her house for the next several thousand years. With the 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

– Rooney reprises his role from the first film. * George S. Irving as Heat Miser – Irving reprises his role from the first film. *

as Snow Miser – Chioran replaces Dick Shawn from the first film. * Catherine Disher as Mrs. Claus, Reindeer, Elf – Disher replaces Shirley Booth from the previous film. * Brad Adamson as North Wind * Patricia Hamilton as

* Peter Oldring as Bob, Elf #1 * Susan Roman 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 American cinema and television. Origi ...

Notes

References

External links