Christmas Specials I Want on DVD

Okay, so I’ve talked about cartoons I want on DVD (Part 1 and Part 2), now it’s time to get down to business with Christmas specials that still need a DVD release. It seems like every year this list keeps getting smaller, if only by one or two releases, but I’ll take what I can get when I can get it.

The 2008 holiday season gave us the long-waited Jim Henson’s The Christmas Toy and as for this year — Warner Bros. is finally giving us the not-so-famous 1985 Rankin-Bass special The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus which was based on the children’s book by L. Frank Baum. Granted, it is only available through their Warner Archive online store (as part of a 2-in-1 DVD along with Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey) because the DVDs are made to order, but this is still progress so I can scratch that one off my list this year.

Now let’s take a look at what’s left before I can truly have a complete Christmas DVD collection…

A Very Brady Christmas (1988)

I never see this one getting much mention from nostalgic sites but I really loved this made-for-TV movie. That’s really strange coming from me because I hated The Brady Brunch. I guess the theme of Christmas is too good for even the Bradys to ruin it. My family used to have this recorded on VHS when I was a little and I would always watch it around Christmastime. ABC Family is airing it this year, it’s well worth seeking out if you like hokey made-for-TV Christmas movies.

Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)

Hands down one of my favorite Christmas specials EVER. This was another special we had on tape and I played it and played it and played it forever, even when it wasn’t Christmas. I’m hopeful Warner will release this one next year because the first Yogi Christmas special (the approriately-titled) Yogi’s First Christmas just became available last month on DVD directly through Warner Archive. Surely they’re aiming for a complete Yogi Christmas experience!

NBC Saturday Morning!

The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour
The Flintstone Comedy Show
The Space Stars:
featuring Space Ghost, The Herculoids, The Jetson, Astro and the Space Dogs and Teen Force)
The Daffy Duck Show
Drawing Power

Yecch!! What an awful looking line-up. Sorry, kids, I was never a big fan of Hanna-Barbara cartoons outside of Scooby-Doo and the 1982 Christmas classic Yogi Bear’s All Star Comedy Christmas. Birdman and Space Ghost were decent, but they were just too old and campy for me to enjoy fully.

This ad is from 1980, so I’m assuming this was to promote the 1980-1981 season, though it’s very possible these shows may have aired in 1981 sometime before the 1981-1982 season kicked in. I can’t seem to find any site that confirms all of these shows airing during the same time period.

Being circa 1980, it’s a bit before my time (I wouldn’t rear my head until November 1981), so I don’t have any nostlagic ties to these shows, but hey, saturday morning cartoon ads are always fun to look at, right?

I’ve never heard of Astro and the Space Dogs (later officially called Astro and the Space Mutts) or Drawing Power though and I’m familiar with Teen Force in name only.

And yes, that is Astro, as in the Jetsons’ dog, Astro. Apparently, he fought crime throughout the cosmos… just like a Green Lantern!