"Casper's First Christmas" Talkback

[Kolbar]

Boomerang airs this classic Hanna-Barbera special featuring HB all-stars Yogi Bear, Huck Hound, Quick Draw, and the rest along with Casper the Friendly Ghost who've all come to celebrate Christmas. Watch it for FREE at AOL In2TV!

Casper's First Christmas
Original Airdate - December 18, 1979

Casper and his friend Hairy Scary spend the winter in a battered old house. Christmas is just around the corner, and Casper and Hairy Scary are being evicted. So on Christmas Eve, Hairy persuades the Friendly Ghost to join him in a search for new haunts, and along the way, they meet lots of old friends. Hairy becomes upset when Yogi, Boo Boo, Snagglepuss and others get lost and decide to make Christmas merry by visiting Casper.

Comments?
​

 

[Wussycat]

Shouldn't the title be "Casper's First Christmas as a Ghost"?

 

[Kolbar]

Shouldn't the title be "Casper's First Christmas as a Ghost"?

The title's supposed to mean it's the first time Casper actually gets to celebrate Christmas.

 

[Anthonynotes]

The title's supposed to mean it's the first time Casper actually gets to celebrate Christmas.

Think the previous poster implies that he probably celebrated Christmas when he was, well, *alive*... thus the "as a ghost" line the poster made.

I remember seeing this special a few years ago; the special was so-so I suppose, but had to laugh at the "we'll visit you every CHristmas from now on" bit toward the end (something else to add to the list of Christmas cliches on the general animation forum---"promise to visit an unrelated/unlikely character every Christmas from that point on, even though we never see it happen")...

 

[hobbyfan]

I remember seeing this on Cartoon Network a while back. I thought this came out a year earlier, as this was the 2nd and last Casper prime-time special HB produced for NBC as part of the deal that had Casper & the Angels on Saturday mornings (1978-79). HB had acquired Casper the same year they bagged Godzilla and Popeye, I thought.

For continuity buffs, this would come after the TV-movie Yogi's First Christmas, which IIRC came a ways after this show aired. Right or wrong?

 

[Anthonynotes]

I remember seeing this on Cartoon Network a while back. I thought this came out a year earlier, as this was the 2nd and last Casper prime-time special HB produced for NBC as part of the deal that had Casper & the Angels on Saturday mornings (1978-79). HB had acquired Casper the same year they bagged Godzilla and Popeye, I thought.

For continuity buffs, this would come after the TV-movie Yogi's First Christmas, which IIRC came a ways after this show aired. Right or wrong?

Assuming a version of Casper exists in Earth-Yogi (see the earlier "H-B Multiverse" thread we had here and my input into it), guess Casper's First Christmas would come after Yogi's First Christmas (IIRC, didn't the gang mention in the Casper special going to a Jellystone lodge?)...

 

[Howard Fein]

The whole special is extremely bizarre. Since I intensely dislike Casper (and most of the Famous/Harvey canon), I never watched his H-B revival. The few times I've bumped into it, or this special, I was repulsed all over again by his overly cutesy personality that was further magnified by Julie Dees' voice performance.

The whole Casper/H-B marriage seemed misbegotten from the start. The studio probably bought the rights of Casper from Paramount to adapt to Saturday AM animation because of the success enjoyed by CBS' Popeye revival the season before. NBC must've had a lot riding on this acquisition to schedule two prime-time Casper specials (the other much more appropriately being Halloween-based) in addition to the Saturday AM series- which was a one-season failure. Forcing him into a comedy/mystery/police format served his limited talents extremely poorly. In contrast, the Popeye revival stayed fairly faithful to the conventions of the franchise while managing to comply with contemporary anti-violence standards.

Casper's supporting cast also was completely eliminated. While Wendy, Spooky and the Ghostly Trio weren't especially memorable, one wished to see them rather than the pathetic Hairy Scary (made to sound like Ed Wynn by the reliable John Stephenson). The Trio, ironically, were the comic highlights of the superior 1996-98 FOX Casper revival helmed by Universal which, like most later revivals of classic characters, parodied their conventions while retaining their beloved qualities.

Then to introduce the classic early H-B characters into Casper's universe was even stranger. By 1979 it was common and accepted to see Yogi, Huck, Quick Draw, the Doggies and other vintage creations interacting with each other. But teaming them up with the Friendly Ghost?! You never saw the gang interacting with the Harlem Globetrotters, Moby Dick, Gulliver, Josie, Godzilla, the Robonic Stooges, the Addams Family or any other established properties adapted by H-B. Every time one of the gang uttered Casper's name (or vice versa), it was cringeworthy. Even Daws Butler sounded uncomfortable.

The type of humor in the original Casper cartoons was fantasy-based, gentle and frequently sentimental- as opposed to the generally edgy, brash slapstick hijinks associated with the H-B gang. Not a good fit at all. Also awkward was hearing the gang sing the studio's de facto Christmas anthem (recycled the following year in the syndicated YOGI'S FIRST CHRISTMAS movie) as provided by the Paul DeKorte singers.

To make matters even worse, the special carried the dedicated H-B laugh track that had no business being, but was used in the Saturday AM series. Maybe that was a tacit admission that NBC felt kids wouldn't find the series funny unless prodded.

It seemed that Hanna-Barbera hit kind of a creative low point between roughly 1974 and 1982. This special, and the series that spawned it, are prime examples.

 

[Steve Carras]

The whole special is extremely bizarre. Since I intensely dislike Casper (and most of the Famous/Harvey canon), I never watched his H-B revival. The few times I've bumped into it, or this special, I was repulsed all over again by his overly cutesy personality that was further magnified by Julie Dees' voice performance.

The whole Casper/H-B marriage seemed misbegotten from the start. The studio probably bought the rights of Casper from Paramount to adapt to Saturday AM animation because of the success enjoyed by CBS' Popeye revival the season before. NBC must've had a lot riding on this acquisition to schedule two prime-time Casper specials (the other much more appropriately being Halloween-based) in addition to the Saturday AM series- which was a one-season failure. Forcing him into a comedy/mystery/police format served his limited talents extremely poorly. In contrast, the Popeye revival stayed fairly faithful to the conventions of the franchise while managing to comply with contemporary anti-violence standards.

Casper's supporting cast also was completely eliminated. While Wendy, Spooky and the Ghostly Trio weren't especially memorable, one wished to see them rather than the pathetic Hairy Scary (made to sound like Ed Wynn by the reliable John Stephenson). The Trio, ironically, were the comic highlights of the superior 1996-98 FOX Casper revival helmed by Universal which, like most later revivals of classic characters, parodied their conventions while retaining their beloved qualities.

Then to introduce the classic early H-B characters into Casper's universe was even stranger. By 1979 it was common and accepted to see Yogi, Huck, Quick Draw, the Doggies and other vintage creations interacting with each other. But teaming them up with the Friendly Ghost?! You never saw the gang interacting with the Harlem Globetrotters, Moby Dick, Gulliver, Josie, Godzilla, the Robonic Stooges, the Addams Family or any other established properties adapted by H-B. Every time one of the gang uttered Casper's name (or vice versa), it was cringeworthy. Even Daws Butler sounded uncomfortable.

The type of humor in the original Casper cartoons was fantasy-based, gentle and frequently sentimental- as opposed to the generally edgy, brash slapstick hijinks associated with the H-B gang. Not a good fit at all. Also awkward was hearing the gang sing the studio's de facto Christmas anthem (recycled the following year in the syndicated YOGI'S FIRST CHRISTMAS movie) as provided by the Paul DeKorte singers.

To make matters even worse, the special carried the dedicated H-B laugh track that had no business being, but was used in the Saturday AM series. Maybe that was a tacit admission that NBC felt kids wouldn't find the series funny unless prodded.

It seemed that Hanna-Barbera hit kind of a creative low point between roughly 1974 and 1982. This special, and the series that spawned it, are prime examples.

On the "anti-violence standards":
Didn't take much to please, them, given the well-known syrupy sweetness of the ghost (though I do bear a certain fascinaiton with a few of the shorts and a ahandful of Winston Sharples's productions cues, many of which show up on Felix and of course on Popeye and others made in NYC).

On "Hair Scary": John Stephenson's "Ed Wynn" impersonation was the ONLY reliably good thing about THAT Casper revival!

The laugh track: I agree with you..I saw this when it first aired--I was 17 or so..(btw I'm 46 now!)

Your final comment: I think HB "jumped shark"(http://www.jumptheshark.com) after the early 1970s, about same time as you..

Paul DeKorte did direct music and there were singers but I'm not sure if those particular were the DeKort singers..then again, Rankin-Bass, whose XMAS cataloge is on ABC Family, and glad to see you finally have Boomrang as you mentioned earlier..just wish I did!,--Rankin-Bass, anyway, they had the Mauary Laws SIngers, and Laws was their longtime inhouse musical director and songwriter (http://www.maurylaws.com. and http://www.rankinbass.com.)

Totally agreed on the gerneral bizarre status of the whole thing.



BTW eveyrone, I was in Vegas a week ago or so, so I was absent for a while.

 

[George3000]

Well let me tell you, the first time I saw Casper was in the "Angels" series, about 12-13 years ago, with Hairy Scary. It wasn't until the 1995 movie that I got to see the Ghostly Trio, but I like them as much as I enjoyed Hairy (as the latter seemed to pursue more on Casper to scare people).

 

[Eric Brown]

Last contribution

On a technical note, this special contained Tex Avery's last contribution. He worked on the dance seqences.

I taped this 1979 special off of TV in 1981. I still have it. And YEs it did seem a rather lame vehicle for the character mixes. However, the opening music has stuck with me.

THANX

 

[Anthonynotes]

On a technical note, this special contained Tex Avery's last contribution. He worked on the dance seqences.

I taped this 1979 special off of TV in 1981. I still have it. And YEs it did seem a rather lame vehicle for the character mixes. However, the opening music has stuck with me.

THANX

I thought Tex Avery's last animation work was Kwicky Koala in 1981...

 

[Eric Brown]

Tex Avery

In a sense, I should stand corrected concerning the statement of "Tex's last contribution". Shortly before Tex's death in August 1980, he had made a short pilot for the "Qwicky Kowala " series. The series was partially based on this pilot, but unfortunately, Tex did not contribute to the series production.

THANX

 

[Leviathan]

The whole special is extremely bizarre. Since I intensely dislike Casper (and most of the Famous/Harvey canon), I never watched his H-B revival. The few times I've bumped into it, or this special, I was repulsed all over again by his overly cutesy personality that was further magnified by Julie Dees' voice performance.

The whole Casper/H-B marriage seemed misbegotten from the start. The studio probably bought the rights of Casper from Paramount to adapt to Saturday AM animation because of the success enjoyed by CBS' Popeye revival the season before. NBC must've had a lot riding on this acquisition to schedule two prime-time Casper specials (the other much more appropriately being Halloween-based) in addition to the Saturday AM series- which was a one-season failure. Forcing him into a comedy/mystery/police format served his limited talents extremely poorly. In contrast, the Popeye revival stayed fairly faithful to the conventions of the franchise while managing to comply with contemporary anti-violence standards.

Casper's supporting cast also was completely eliminated. While Wendy, Spooky and the Ghostly Trio weren't especially memorable, one wished to see them rather than the pathetic Hairy Scary (made to sound like Ed Wynn by the reliable John Stephenson). The Trio, ironically, were the comic highlights of the superior 1996-98 FOX Casper revival helmed by Universal which, like most later revivals of classic characters, parodied their conventions while retaining their beloved qualities.

Then to introduce the classic early H-B characters into Casper's universe was even stranger. By 1979 it was common and accepted to see Yogi, Huck, Quick Draw, the Doggies and other vintage creations interacting with each other. But teaming them up with the Friendly Ghost?! You never saw the gang interacting with the Harlem Globetrotters, Moby Dick, Gulliver, Josie, Godzilla, the Robonic Stooges, the Addams Family or any other established properties adapted by H-B. Every time one of the gang uttered Casper's name (or vice versa), it was cringeworthy. Even Daws Butler sounded uncomfortable.

The type of humor in the original Casper cartoons was fantasy-based, gentle and frequently sentimental- as opposed to the generally edgy, brash slapstick hijinks associated with the H-B gang. Not a good fit at all. Also awkward was hearing the gang sing the studio's de facto Christmas anthem (recycled the following year in the syndicated YOGI'S FIRST CHRISTMAS movie) as provided by the Paul DeKorte singers.

To make matters even worse, the special carried the dedicated H-B laugh track that had no business being, but was used in the Saturday AM series. Maybe that was a tacit admission that NBC felt kids wouldn't find the series funny unless prodded.

It seemed that Hanna-Barbera hit kind of a creative low point between roughly 1974 and 1982. This special, and the series that spawned it, are prime examples.

Either Howard here must be psychokinetic (read minds and all that jazz) or he came to the same conclusion as I did, because his analysis is eerily (PUN!) similar to what I thought after watching Casper's First Christmas for the first time in God knows how long.

But hey, as a crossover (between Casper and the H-B "funny animals" gang), its a good couple of lightyears above the low bar Filmation set with a TV movie involving Warner Bros. Looney Tunes....

 

[Trevor]

Boy, its been years since I last saw this special and I remember that when I was a kid it was one of my favorite Christmas specials, and I still consider it to be a favorite. Maybe this year I'll try to hunt down an old VHS copy, and hopefully in a few years Warner Brothers and Classic Media will release this special on DVD or maybe even Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, up here in Canada, I can't seem to find it on any channel at Christmas time, and yet you would think that it would pop up at least once before Christmas, considering that stations like YTV seem to run Yogi's First Christmas which is so-so, about 3 or 4 times during the Christmas season.

 

[dth1971]

Should this Hanna-Barbera Casper's First Christmas special appear on DVD possibly in a DVD set with other Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros. Christmas related cartoon specials/cartoon episodes (including "Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper", "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land", "Cabbage Patch Kids Christmas", "A Flintstone Christmas", "A Christmas Story with Goober and Gumdrop", "Scooby Doo - Nutcracker Scoob", "The Adventures of Batman (Filmation) - The Cool Cruel Christmas Caper", "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales", "It's A Wonderful Tiny Toon Adventures Christmas Special", "Animaniacs - A Christmas Plotz/Little Drummer Warners", and "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas")?

 

[Silverstar]

Should this Hanna-Barbera Casper's First Christmas special appear on DVD possibly in a DVD set with other Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros. Christmas related cartoon specials/cartoon episodes (including "Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper", "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land", "Cabbage Patch Kids Christmas", "A Flintstone Christmas", "A Christmas Story with Goober and Gumdrop", "Scooby Doo - Nutcracker Scoob", "The Adventures of Batman (Filmation) - The Cool Cruel Christmas Caper", "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales", "It's A Wonderful Tiny Toon Adventures Christmas Special", "Animaniacs - A Christmas Plotz/Little Drummer Warners", and "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas")?

As Babs Bunny would say, "In your dreams, pal!"

Seriously, it's a nice thought, but that's not going to happen. A more likely scenario would be for all of those specials to be released separately or on their own respective series sets rather than putting all of those different specials from different shows on a single DVD set.

 

[Trevor]

As Babs Bunny would say, "In your dreams, pal!"

Seriously, it's a nice thought, but that's not going to happen. A more likely scenario would be for all of those specials to be released separately or on their own respective series sets rather than putting all of those different specials from different shows on a single DVD set.

Plus, one thing that I think might be holding the DVD release up of Casper's First Christmas is the fact that the Casper rights are held by Harvey Entertainment which is in turn owned by Classic Media, while the Yogi Bear rights are with Hanna-Barberra/Turner/Warner Brothers.

 

[AnimationX]

When I was a kid I loved Casper yet I have never seen this Christmas special, so this year I vow to hunt it down and get in on DVD or watch it online if I have to but I do want to see it. As good as it could be I don't see it being as classic to me as the Charlie Brown Christmas, Micky's Christmas Carol or Garfield Christmas, the classics are just hard to beat.

 

[Trevor]

When I was a kid I loved Casper yet I have never seen this Christmas special, so this year I vow to hunt it down and get in on DVD or watch it online if I have to but I do want to see it. As good as it could be I don't see it being as classic to me as the Charlie Brown Christmas, Micky's Christmas Carol or Garfield Christmas, the classics are just hard to beat.

Yeah, the classics are hard to beat. I managed to find a DVD copy on Ebay, and I checked around on the internet and it appears to have been released on DVD a few years ago, but was only available for a limited time and has been out of print for a few years now. So it will be interesting to
see how good the special still is after not having seen it in close to 20 years.

 

[AnimationX]

Yeah, the classics are hard to beat. I managed to find a DVD copy on Ebay, and I checked around on the internet and it appears to have been released on DVD a few years ago, but was only available for a limited time and has been out of print for a few years now. So it will be interesting to
see how good the special still is after not having seen it in close to 20 years.

This happened to me with the Garfield Halloween special, I had not seen it since I was a kid back in 1992 or around that time and then I bought the DVD with all of Garfield's holiday specials around 2006 and after seeing the Halloween special for the first time in 14 years I can say that it was every bit as good as it was when I was a child.

I do plan on getting this Casper special though, I have had a renewed interest in Casper as of late and this would make a nice addition to my holiday collection.