Frosty Returns
Encyclopedia
Frosty Returns is an animated
Christmas
television special
featuring the character Frosty the Snowman
. It first aired on December 1, 1992. The special is not a direct sequel to the original 1969 special
, and the two were produced by different companies (Rankin/Bass
produced the original, while this special was made by Lorne Michaels
' Broadway Video
, the company that owned the original special at the time; in association with CBS Productions
, whose parent company is the very network that currently airs both this and its 1969 predecessor), and feature different characters, setting and voice actors. Regardless, Frosty Returns, in addition to its CBS showings that follow the 1969 original, has been coupled with the original on DVD.
Jonathan Winters
- in animated cartoon form (following the Rankin/Bass tradition of the narrator being a caricature of its' voice actor) narrates and John Goodman
provides the voice of Frosty (Goodman took over from the late Jackie Vernon, who had died five years earlier). The special was directed by Bill Melendez
and Evert Brown and features music by Mark Mothersbaugh
.
Frosty (voiced by Goodman) arrives in the town of Beansboro and meets young Holly DeCarlo (voiced by Elisabeth Moss
), a relatively lonely young girl with only one friend, a tone-deaf, somewhat geeky character named Charles who apparently has a knack for climatology
. Meanwhile, evil Mr. Twitchell (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray
) is the inventor of "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol spray
that makes snow instantly disappear through unexplained means. He hopes to use the product to win over the people of Beansboro so that they will "make me their king" (Twitchell seems not to realize that the "king of the winter carnival" to which he alludes is only an honorary title and has no real power). When one of the members of the town council voices concern about the environmental impact of the untested product, Mr. Twitchell has her dropped through a trapdoor
.
To Twitchell's delight, and Frosty's dismay, the town of Beansboro falls head over heels for "Summer Wheeze", delighting Twitchell but causing Frosty to be concerned, not unreasonably, about his safety. Holly gets Frosty to appear at the annual Beansboro Winter Carnival to persuade the townspeople to rethink their newfound hatred of snow. Singing about the joy of winter to the town, Frosty is unanimously declared king of the carnival, a title which Mr. Twitchell had hoped to win. Holly and Frosty, however, allow Mr. Twitchell to still wear the cape and ride the sled of the carnival king.
. In the original special and its other sequels, the removal of Professor Hinkle's hat from Frosty's head causes him to become a regular snowman again. The hat he wears in Frosty Returns is not the same one from the original, since he is shown to have gotten it from Holly.
The reason behind his living without his hat may be that in a previous special, Frosty's Winter Wonderland
, he received a kiss from his wife Crystal which allowed him to live without his hat.
, environmentalism
corporate enterprise, and instead of a Christmas
celebration, the term "winter carnival" is used. In fact, the word Christmas is not used at all and Charles makes mention of creating a "fertility goddess" in the snow, possibly a reference to Frey, the Scandinavian Fertility God and a deity associated with peace and prosperity during winter solstice. Santa Claus is never mentioned either.
The use of aerosol cans hints to the use of fluorocarbons, which were used as propellants for decades before their potential to deplete the ozone layer
was discovered in the 1970s. However, fluorocarbons had already been banned from aerosol cans in the United States
at the time the special was produced, although the stigma associated with them remained. Truck
s are used in the special to spray "Summer Wheeze" around the town, alluding to the use of DDT
trucks in the 1950s.
Frosty no longer has a corn cob pipe. The Frosty song, when sung, uses humming or whistling through the corn cob pipe section, thus avoiding all references to smoking.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
television special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
featuring the character Frosty the Snowman
Frosty the Snowman
"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shipped the...
. It first aired on December 1, 1992. The special is not a direct sequel to the original 1969 special
Frosty the Snowman (TV program)
Frosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS , was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the...
, and the two were produced by different companies (Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
produced the original, while this special was made by Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
' Broadway Video
Broadway Video
Broadway Video is a media production and distribution company located within the Brill Building on Broadway, New York, United States. Founded in 1979 as a production house tasked with post-production work on Saturday Night Live, Broadway Video has since become one of the largest independent...
, the company that owned the original special at the time; in association with CBS Productions
CBS Productions
CBS Productions is the production arm of the CBS television network now a part of CBS Corporation, formed in 1952 to produce shows in-house, instead of relying solely on outside productions. Its first production was CBS Television Workshop, a drama anthology series...
, whose parent company is the very network that currently airs both this and its 1969 predecessor), and feature different characters, setting and voice actors. Regardless, Frosty Returns, in addition to its CBS showings that follow the 1969 original, has been coupled with the original on DVD.
Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
- in animated cartoon form (following the Rankin/Bass tradition of the narrator being a caricature of its' voice actor) narrates and John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
provides the voice of Frosty (Goodman took over from the late Jackie Vernon, who had died five years earlier). The special was directed by Bill Melendez
Bill Melendez
José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Meléndez was a Mexican-American character animator, film director, voice artist and producer, known for his cartoons for Warner Brothers, UPA and the Peanuts series...
and Evert Brown and features music by Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
.
Cast
- Jonathan WintersJonathan Winters-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
as Narrator - John GoodmanJohn GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
as Frosty - Elisabeth MossElisabeth MossElisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
as Holly - Michael Patrick Carter as Charles
- Brian Doyle-MurrayBrian Doyle-MurrayBrian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...
as Mr. Twitchell - Andrea MartinAndrea MartinAndrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
as Ms. Carbuncle - Jan HooksJan HooksJanet V. "Jan" Hooks is an American actress and comedienne best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live , on which she appeared from 1986 to 1991...
as Lil
Synopsis
The series begins with a musical number showing that Beansboro Elementary School is canceled for the day due to a seven-inch snowfall, while the adults incessantly complain about the problems snow and ice cause, and the children enjoy the opportunity for playing with it. (Later in the special, however, many of the same children are shown in school the next day rallying for the elimination of snow.)Frosty (voiced by Goodman) arrives in the town of Beansboro and meets young Holly DeCarlo (voiced by Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
), a relatively lonely young girl with only one friend, a tone-deaf, somewhat geeky character named Charles who apparently has a knack for climatology
Climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
. Meanwhile, evil Mr. Twitchell (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...
) is the inventor of "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol spray
Aerosol spray
Aerosol spray is a type of dispensing system which creates an aerosol mist of liquid particles. This is used with a can or bottle that contains a liquid under pressure. When the container's valve is opened, the liquid is forced out of a small hole and emerges as an aerosol or mist...
that makes snow instantly disappear through unexplained means. He hopes to use the product to win over the people of Beansboro so that they will "make me their king" (Twitchell seems not to realize that the "king of the winter carnival" to which he alludes is only an honorary title and has no real power). When one of the members of the town council voices concern about the environmental impact of the untested product, Mr. Twitchell has her dropped through a trapdoor
Trapdoor
A trapdoor is a door set into a floor or ceiling .Originally, trapdoors were sack traps in mills, and allowed the sacks to pass up through the mill while naturally falling back to a closed position....
.
To Twitchell's delight, and Frosty's dismay, the town of Beansboro falls head over heels for "Summer Wheeze", delighting Twitchell but causing Frosty to be concerned, not unreasonably, about his safety. Holly gets Frosty to appear at the annual Beansboro Winter Carnival to persuade the townspeople to rethink their newfound hatred of snow. Singing about the joy of winter to the town, Frosty is unanimously declared king of the carnival, a title which Mr. Twitchell had hoped to win. Holly and Frosty, however, allow Mr. Twitchell to still wear the cape and ride the sled of the carnival king.
Continuity
Despite its association with the 1969 special, Frosty Returns has a notable lack of continuity with it. For example, Frosty has a different physical appearance and is able to live without his top hatTop hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
. In the original special and its other sequels, the removal of Professor Hinkle's hat from Frosty's head causes him to become a regular snowman again. The hat he wears in Frosty Returns is not the same one from the original, since he is shown to have gotten it from Holly.
The reason behind his living without his hat may be that in a previous special, Frosty's Winter Wonderland
Frosty's Winter Wonderland
Frosty's Winter Wonderland is an animated Christmas television special produced in 1976 by Rankin-Bass. It is a sequel to the 1969 Frosty the Snowman special, also written by Romeo Muller, with narration provided by Andy Griffith...
, he received a kiss from his wife Crystal which allowed him to live without his hat.
Political undertones
The plot of this particular special is markedly more politically aware than its predecessors and successors, alluding to climate changeClimate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
corporate enterprise, and instead of a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
celebration, the term "winter carnival" is used. In fact, the word Christmas is not used at all and Charles makes mention of creating a "fertility goddess" in the snow, possibly a reference to Frey, the Scandinavian Fertility God and a deity associated with peace and prosperity during winter solstice. Santa Claus is never mentioned either.
The use of aerosol cans hints to the use of fluorocarbons, which were used as propellants for decades before their potential to deplete the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
was discovered in the 1970s. However, fluorocarbons had already been banned from aerosol cans in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the time the special was produced, although the stigma associated with them remained. Truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
s are used in the special to spray "Summer Wheeze" around the town, alluding to the use of DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
trucks in the 1950s.
Frosty no longer has a corn cob pipe. The Frosty song, when sung, uses humming or whistling through the corn cob pipe section, thus avoiding all references to smoking.
External Links
- Mahalo article
- Frosty Returns Movie Sounds
- Frosty The Snowman and Frosty Returns at CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.com - Holiday Central at CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.com
See also
- Frosty's Winter WonderlandFrosty's Winter WonderlandFrosty's Winter Wonderland is an animated Christmas television special produced in 1976 by Rankin-Bass. It is a sequel to the 1969 Frosty the Snowman special, also written by Romeo Muller, with narration provided by Andy Griffith...
- Frosty the SnowmanFrosty the Snowman (TV program)Frosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS , was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the...
- ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
- Cartoons