Jack Frost (TV special)
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Jack Frost, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and written by Romeo Muller, premiered December 13, 1979. This stop motion animated special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human. This special airs annually on the ABC Family cable network.
[edit] Plot
The story is narrated by Pardon-Me-Pete, the Groundhog, voiced by Buddy Hackett, who has a deal with Jack Frost to extend winter by six weeks, letting him sleep that much longer.
Jack Frost, an immortal winter sprite, falls in love with a human girl named Elisa, and asks Father Winter if he can become human in order to be with her. Father Winter gives him a chance, but warns that Jack must prove he can succeed as a human, by earning a house, a horse, a bag of gold, and a wife by the first sign of spring; if not, he will become a sprite again. Jack agrees and turns human, assuming the identity of Jack Snip. He runs a tailor shop in the town of January Junction with two friends who also turned human. Elisa is charmed by "Jack Snip," but she harbors romantic dreams of Sir Raveneau, a "knight in shining armor."
Elisa is kidnapped by the evil Cossack King, Kubla Kraus, who has an army of robots, his "Ka-Nights," as well as a menacing mechanical horse named Klangstomper. Kraus also possesses all the gold in the land; he lives in a castle with his sidekick, a ventriloquist's dummy (aptly named Dummy). After Elisa is rescued by a (human) knight named Sir Raveneau, Kubla vows to destroy January Junction, and he imprisons Jack Snip and his friends. Jack decides to become a sprite again in order to whip up the biggest snow storm ever seen, freezing Kraus in his castle. This tactic works until Groundhog Day comes. Jack Frost uses his shadow to scare Pete back to hibernation, and continues whipping up the storm. Finally, with only one hour left before the arrival of spring, Jack returns to human form in an attempt to meet Father Winter's conditions and win Elisa. He battles Kubla Kraus and claims the gold, the mechanical horse, and the castle. He races off to ask Elisa for her hand in marriage, but during his absence she has fallen in love with Sir Raveneau, and he with her. Jack becomes sprite again for good, and blows ice onto Elisa's wedding flowers, turning them white. When asked about the change, she sheds a tear, saying "An old friend just kissed the bride."
[edit] Trivia
- Kubla Kraus looks and sounds quite like Burgermeister MeisterBurger from Santa Claus is Comin' to Town except with a beard. They are both voiced by the same actor, frequent Rankin/Bass performer Paul Frees.
