Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

I love Christmas. I adore it. I am not a practicing Catholic. I was baptized and had first communion but as soon as I was old enough to make the choice I quit the church. Even though I went to a Catholic grade school and high school I was never very religious. As far as I was concerned organized religion was for a certain type of person and I was not that person. As such I always saw Christmas as a family holiday. I know that it has it's roots in pagan Rome and pagan Winter Solstice celebrations and as such I have no problem celebrating it. My favorite aspect of Christmas is Santa Clause. How could it not be? He is the most beloved Fat Guy ever. So seeing as today is Friday, the last Friday before Christmas at that, there was only one man for me to talk about today. That brought up a problem. Where do I start? What do I talk about? Where do I end? Well I came up with an answer. Check after the jump for this week's Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

Santa from the Rankin and Bass special.

My answer was a simple one. I would talk about a version of Santa. I figure that this time every year I could pick a movie, show, book, or even a song about Santa and talk about the version in that work. To start with I want to talk about the Santa Claus from one of my favorite Christmas Animated Specials "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus".

"The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" was written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark. It was released in 1902. The story follows Santa Claus as  a baby found in the Forest of Burzee. He is found by Ak the Master Woodsman of the World. The baby is placed in the care of a lioness named Shiegra. He is then stolen by Necile, The Wood Nymph, which is against the law of the forest. She takes him because she wishes to raise a child like the mortals do. She convinces Ak to allow this. Since he is the one who made the law he can allow her to break it. Necile names the child Claus, which means "little one" in the Burzee language. The baby is eventually given the name Neclaus, "Necile's Little One", by Queen Zurline.

Necile

He is educated by the immortals of the forest until he reaches young adulthood. At that time he is shown how other mortals live. He is appalled at what he sees. Especially by the neglect and abuse levied at the children.  Ak encourages him to live near the mortals since he is one of them. He ends up in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho. While there he is visited by many of the immortals. The immortals assist him when needed and Necile gives him a little cat.

Clause and Ak from a stage production.

He becomes known for his kindness to children. So much so that a lost child attempts to find him in the hopes of being saved. Claus finds the boy after he collapses in the snow. He takes him to his home where the boy awakes. The boy is very taken with Blinky, Claus's cat, but cannot afford to take care of a cat. Claus, who had been carving a likeness of Blinky, gives it to the boy. It is the first toy Claus ever makes. 

Awgwas from the Rankin and Bass version.

Clause decides to make more toys, with the help of the immortals, and give them to the children. Rich and poor alike. Unfortunately the Awgwas, evil beings, steal the toys one year. This causes Claus to deliver his toys at night and descend through chimneys.

The story continues from there. Giving reasons for all of the Santa Claus traditions. It is a very cool take on the legend. Giving Santa motivation and even an evil force to overcome. The story's writer, L. Frank Baum, is probably better known to you as the man who wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".

Much like that book this one has had a number of adaptations. First as a stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. This version was released on December 17, 1985. It utilized stop motion animation. I have never seen this version. From the pictures I found while researching this post it looks to be a very high quality special. If you like stop motion you may want to check it out.

The version I know is from Universal Studios. It was produced by Mike Young and released on October 21, 2000. Is a more faithful adaptation than the Rankin/Bass version. I was drawn to the special by the unusual plot. It can be considered to be an origin story or even a biography. Unlike other Santa stories it isn't about a single Christmas night. It is about Santa as a person. I loved that. I also loved seeing Santa surrounded by other magical/supernatural creatures. This story really treats Santa as mythical creature. He inhabits a world of magic, elves, gods, and other very unchristian things.

The OZ Kids video, "Who Stole Santa?" is based on part of this story. It has an adult Dorothy Gale telling the tale to her children.

There was also a graphic novel by Mike Ploog. While there are a number of changes to the story the overall plot stays the same.

The story is so popular that it has even crossed borders. It became an anime called "Shōnen Santa no Daibôken" which ran for 24 episodes. The show originally aired from April 6, 1996 until September 21, 1996.

L. Frank Baum even had this version of Santa Claus show up in "The Road to Oz", the fifth in the OZ series.

There are so many aspects of this story that I love. If I was to pinpoint one thing though it would be just how nontraditional it is. This Santa Claus is treated so differently that it deepened my love of the character. This is the version of Santa I would to tell my children about. If I had any. I would want to share this with them. This isn't just a Santa Claus story, it's "The Santa Claus Story".  If you haven't seen it, either the stop motion or animated version, then find it and watch it this Christmas. You will not be disappointed. I know I wasn't.

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