Advent Calendar House: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
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Day 5: Rankin/Bass goes off the rails in its last-ever stop motion animated Christmas special, 1985’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, based on the 1902 book by “Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum, which explains a lot.

On this episode

- Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), lord of the Sound Imps.
- Paxton Holley (@paxtonholley), grand protector of movie novelizations from the Cavalcade of Awesome, I Read Movies, Nerd Lunch, the Cult Film Club, and Hellbent for Letterbox.
- Brandon Medley (@brandmed), master beardsman of Blessed are the Geek.
Topics and tangents
- Santa Claus’s growth to manhood, from J.D. Roth to Mumm-ra, and the rest of the Thundercats cast is here, too!
- Read L. Frank Baum’s original book on the Internet Archive:
- Text ebook, courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
- Borrow the book in PDF format.
- Audiobook by Kristin LeMoine for Librivox.
- Pax’s review of the Baum book and Road to Oz, which also features Santa.
- Baum’s sequel short story, A Kidnapped Santa Claus.
- King Awgwa looks like My Pet Monster. Change my mind!
- “The Most Pagan Christmas Special You Will Ever See,” by Bayou Babylon on Fit for Dragon*Con:
- That’s not Santa in Return to Oz. That’s the Shaggy Man.
After this episode
- Watch this Doom Metal Tribute to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus!
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