It’s October and you know what that means’yes, it’s time to start focusing on the winter holidays. Today’s batch of home video releases offers several animated Yule Tide specials, including classics from the Rankin & Bass catalog and a pair of new toons featuring timeless characters from the annals of Warner Bros. Animation. Warner Home Video today released the Christmas Television Favorites collection, A Flintstones Christmas Carol and Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale. Taking a sharp left turn, the company has also unleashed the first season of the demented Adult Swim animated series Metalocalypse.
The Christmas Television Favorites collection is a four-disc set that will come in collectible packaging reminiscent of a classic storybook with foil accents. The eight films Included are How the Grinch Stole Christmas Deluxe Edition, Horton Hears a Who!, The Year Without a Santa Claus Deluxe Edition, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July. The set carries a suggested retail price of $39.72.
The Rankin/Bass 1974 stop-motion classic The Year Without a Santa Claus has been newly re-mastered for the Deluxe Edition and has been released separately as well. Bonus features include We are Santa’s Elves, a documentary focusing on the legacy of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, and School of Stop Motion, which takes viewers behind the scenes at modern stop-motion animation studio Chiodo Bros. Prods., and offers a step-by-step demonstration for youngsters. The disc lists for $19.98.
A Flintstones Christmas Carol is a new entry that offers a stone-age version of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale. There’s just one shopping day until Christmas and Fred is so wrapped up in his role as Scrooge in the Bedrock production of A Christmas Carol that he’s completely forgotten to buy any gifts, and has left baby Pebbles stranded at Cave Care Center. Barney, Betty, Bam Bam and Dino are back as Wilma and a few familiar ghosts help Fred remember the true meaning of the season. The stocking stuffer is available for the suggested retail price of $14.98.
Another set of Warner Bros favorites takes on a Christmas staple in Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale. Based on an original idea by Joe Barbera, the new special finds Jerry the mouse magically transported to a fantastic wonderland set to the music of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker Suite”. The bliss of his fantasy adventure is, however, cut short when a group of alley cats led by Tom kidnaps the music box ballerina and wreaks havoc in the enchanted kingdom. With the help of a mouse named Tuffy and various other newfound friends, Jerry just might be able to save the day. Fans can pick up the DVD for $19.98.
Metalocalypse: Season One has nothing to do with the holidays, other than the fact that a lot of fans will be happy to unwrap it in December. The two-disc set features 20 episodes of the Adult Swim series about a twisted death-metal band that travels the post-apocalyptic world and leaves a trail of death and destruction in its path. The show was created by Brendon Small (Home Movies) and comedy writer Tommy Blacha (Da Ali G Show, Latenight with Conan O’Brien, TV Funhouse). The DVD includes commentaries, deleted scenes a music video and more, and lists for $29.98.
