Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976) Review

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976) Review

You know the classic story of how Rudolph saved Christmas, but do you recall the time he saved New Year’s, as well? Rudolph’s Shiny New Year is a wild sequel to the Rankin/Bass original, and when I say wild, I mean…wow, where do I begin? 

The gist of the story is, Baby New Year ran away to an archipelago of islands where time stands still at different points on each island (example: on one island it’s always One Million Years B.C., on another it’s always the year 1023). The reason he ran away is everyone laughs at his big ears. So, Father Time, an old dude with a frighteningly giant and sharp scythe, asks Rudolph to track him down, because if he isn’t found before midnight on New Year’s Eve, it will be the same year forever. Along the way, Rudolph meets some unusual friends, and is terrorized by Eon, an evil bird monster who looks like The Giant Claw. 

There are many repeated beats from the original Rudolph (Baby New Year being teased because of a physical anomaly, the big bad monster, only it’s Eon instead of the Bumble, instead of visiting The Island of Misfit Toys, numerous islands are visited) but the story is very unique. I like that it’s not just another Christmas-themed show—New Year’s always gets the short end of the stick, come December, it’s nice to see a special centered around it for a change. The story has an interesting mythology, and allows for many fun scenes, but the characters are what makes this holiday special truly “special”. 

This is one of the strangest collections of characters ever. There’s a giant whale named Big Ben with a massive clock lodged in its tail, there’s a knight named ten-to-three who is the main comedic relief, a Caveman from The One Million B.C. island (nicknamed O.M. for short), the giant bird Eon has an overbearing cackle and is an absolute idiot (there were several times when he could have easily swooped down and killed Rudolph but didn’t). Oh yeah, and there’s a camel with a clock for a hump, too, named The Great Quarter-Past-Five. The number of puns and jokes about time in this show are through the roof. 

No time is wasted, however, in getting the story underway, and it moves at a brisk pace, but takes a few random detours. On one island, all fairy tales exist together, and Baby New Year suddenly ends up in the role of Goldilocks and re-enacts the story of The Three Bears. It’s random, but hilarious. 

In comparison to the original Rudolph special, the songs aren’t as good, the characters aren’t as endearing, and obviously it’s nowhere near as classic, but Rudolph’s Shiny New Year is still a fun watch. The stop motion is actually better than most Rankin/Bass productions, and it feels different, while at the same time, still traditional, but does get pretty weird at points, though that just makes it more fun.