Happy HB Holidays.

Just when you thought I was done posting my thoughts about Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I decide to post what I thought of the studio's Christmas toons.

When I did my research, I realized that HB's holiday-themed cartoons were about equal in number to those produced by Rankin-Bass. There were two about Easter("Yogi The Easter Bear," and one about the Resurrection, from "The Greatest Adventure: Stories From The Bible"), and one about Thanksgiving("The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't"). I only saw the latter one, and absolutely loved it. Now let's see the many ways HB's immortal characters celebrated Xmas. Halloween themed cartoons, and "Casper's First Christmas" were mentioned in other threads.

"Christmas Flintstone." This episode actually aired on December 25th, 1964, and remains one of the greatest episodes, at least in my opinion. Fred begins by subbing for Macyrock's department store Santa, only to be commissioned by the real one to deliver the presents when poor St. Nick has a cold. Fred travels the world, delivering mostly Pebbles dolls, which really did exist back then. I even got one of my own for Christmas. And he proved to be multilingual, calling out "Joyeux Noel!" and so on, as he flew over the foreign lands.

But the best part of all was the ending, when, after realizing Fred overlooked his own house, the real Santa put the forgotten gifts under the tree, and the others thought Fred did it. And when the Flintstones and Rubbles stood in front of the Christmas tree, and Fred and company wished the home viewers "Merry Christmas!" I choked up, and thought, "That was beautiful, guys." Previously, Fred had also mentioned Santa Claus in the episode "The Hero."

"The Flight Before Christmas," Space Kidettes, 1966. Yes, even the Space Kidettes got into the spirit of the season. Captain Skyhook pretended to be Santa in yet another scheme against the itty bitty kids. But of course, the real deal entered the picture. And it even snowed in space! Go figure. I sort of liked this.

"A Christmas Story," 1972. No, this wasn't an animated version of the live action movie. Goober the dog and Gumdrop the mouse set out to deliver Timmy's letter to Santa Claus. They soon seek help from the neighborhood dogs, and even the cats who threatened Gumdrop earlier, to locate the man in the red suit. Just when all seems lost, Santa reads the boy's letter, and leaves the toys he requested. And when Timmy's dad reveals he wished for peace on earth, those words appear in the sky. Simply lovely and timeless.

"Silent Night," 1976. A simple story detailing the origin of one of the greatest and most-recorded Christmas songs of all time.

"A Flintstone Christmas," 1977. Similar to "Christmas Flintstone," but this time, it lasts a full hour. When Santa is injured on Fred's roof, Fred and Barney have to deliver the gifts, while Wilma, Betty, Mr. Slate, and all the kids, including Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, wait anxiously. Here, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm are retconned to toddlers about three or four years old, who can talk. And HB even keeps up with the times-Santa's sleigh now has a CB radio. I liked this, except for when the wives and Slate were angry due to their impatience. I still see it occasionally.

"Yogi's First Christmas," 1980. Now here's one that shows more holiday spirit than I expected. Yogi and company successfully convince Mrs. Throckmorton not to close Jellystone Lodge, and she agrees. Very well-written. I should point out, that even though Snively was indeed a nasty little boy, it was he who warned Mrs. Throckmorton about the landslide, and he also showed genuine fear when he realized he was lost. Plus, both he and Herman finally decided to be good guys, so everything worked out in the end. I have this on DVD, and plan to watch it sometime this season. Since I was at boarding school when it first aired, I saw it for the first time thirty years ago.

"The Smurfs' Christmas Special," 1982. Here, the Smurfs, including newbie Tracker, rescued Gargamel and the kids he'd abducted from another evil wizard. It was magnificent, and I wish it aired more often than it did.

"Christmas Comes To Pac-Land," 1982. Never saw this one, due to the fact that I just couldn't bring myself to watch Pacman as a cartoon character.

"Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper," 1982. Another one that I missed out on.

"Baby's First Christmas," 1983, and "The Magic Sack Of Mr. Nicholas." These episodes of "The Smurfs" aired in 1983, and 1987, respectively. I can't recall the complete details of either one.

"A Dickens Of A Christmas," The Dukes, 1983. As mentioned below, this episode had Boss Hogg as Scrooge. Can't say anything about it myself, since I never saw the animated series. But now I can, since I saw it online last night. I was very impressed to see redneck versions of the spirits, and the way Boss Hogg mended his ways, at least temporarily.

"The Nutcracker Scoob, Parts One And Two" 1984. The gang(save for Velma) tried to stage a production of "The Nutcracker." Standing in the way were the Scrooge-like Winslow Nickelby, and the mysterious Ghost Of Christmas Never, both of whom were looking for an emerald. The ghost's identity was revealed, and Nickelby, like Scrooge, became a better man. There were also later Scooby-Doo episodes about Christmas, but these weren't produced by HB.

"A Jetsons' Christmas Carol," 1985. Here, Mr. Spacely became a futuristic Scrooge. The story was pretty much the same, with Astro becoming the Jetsons' Tiny Tim. Still, it was a great effort on HB's part.

"The Nativity," 1986. This entry from "The Greatest Adventure: Stories From The Bible" marked the only time HB produced a story about the true meaning of Christmas. I should check it out sometime.

"Tis The Season To Be Smurfy," 1987. The very last Christmas-themed cartoon about the Smurfs. I liked the way it was done, especially when the Smurfs helped Wild celebrate his first holiday. I also liked the fact that the Smurfs were able to clear the elderly couple of a crime committed by someone else.

"The Little Troll Prince," 1987. Somehow, I let this one get by me.

"The Town Santa Forgot," 1993. Little Jeremy Creek learned that it's wrong to be selfish when Santa delivered toys to the TOWN of Jeremy Creek instead of him. The narrator was an elderly Jeremy, as revealed at the end.

"A Flintstone Family Christmas," 1993. I think I only saw a quick glimpse of this one.

"A Flintstones' Christmas Carol," 1994. Having seen many different versions of the classic tale, I was utterly shocked by Fred's self-centered behavior offstage. Plus, the Bedrock Bug was enough to make me sick. Sorry, HB, but this adaptation was lame with a capital L.

And although these weren't Christmas episodes per se, in "How To Pick A Fight With Your Wife Without Really Trying," Wilma calls Fred Scrooge during a Rockopoly game. A bit of foreshadowing of the cartoon mentioned above. And in the "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" episode "Don't Fool With A Phantom," Shaggy asks, "Can't we do this at some other time, like Christmas?" To which Velma replies, "Ok. Merry Christmas." Kaite Butler mentioned Christmas in the "Valley Of The Dinosaurs" episode "Rain Of Meteors," when she and Lok first see the Allosauruses. "Now I know what I don't want for Christmas.:"

Finally, in the mid 80's defunct Boston radio station WBCN came up with a brilliant spoof of "It's A Wonderful Life," in which Gazoo showed Fred how things might have been had he not been born.

So there you have it. Too bad HB never had cartoons devoted to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. I think those would have worked. A trivia question will follow on Christmas Day.

HB Christmas Trivia Question: In the "Greatest Adventure: Stories From The Bible: The Nativity," what exotic animal did King Herod have for a pet?

Answer: a capuchin monkey, which is Misplaced Wildlife in that part of the world.

Totally, awesomely right! You get an A+ for Christmas! Great job, and Merry Christmas to you!