Hidden Christmas gem: Frosty Returns
I just saw this for the first time recently, and was very pleasantly surprised at how good this is.
All of the Christmas classic television shows were made in the 1960s. There's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964, A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965, and of course Frosty The Snowman from 1969. For whatever reason, the '60s was the decade when that all happened.
But then there's Frosty Returns from 1992.
Yes, 1992. Obviously much later than the 1960s.
Before I get into Frosty Returns, let's talk about Frosty The Snowman for a moment.
I have never liked the original '69 show because it's just plain weird, has questionable storytelling and is borderline creepy.
Here are a few things I notice every time I see that show:
- Frosty doesn't know what a traffic light is, but does know what the North Pole is. He seems to know things when it's necessary to move the story along.
- A train line to the North Pole from the United States does not exist.
- Frosty melting, as in dying, is what he describes as to "get all wishy-washy".
- Frosty's death is described by Santa Claus as really no big deal since all Christmas snow is magical(?)
- At the end of the show, Santa leaves a little girl directly on top of a snow-covered roof in the middle of the night with no way to get down. Thanks, Santa.
As for Frosty Returns, this show is many times better than the original Frosty The Snowman.
When I first started watching the '92 show, I thought okay, this is going to be terrible, I'll watch a few minutes of it then go watch something else.
That didn't happen.
I noticed immediately the '92 Frosty is very self-aware of what it is. The jokes are far better and the show even pokes fun at itself here and there. There's actually a story that holds and it's paced very well. There were absolutely no cringe moments, no glaring plot holes and no errors. All the characters have just the right amount of screen time where nothing is too short nor lingers too long.
Yeah, I liked '92 Frosty. A lot.
The '69 Frosty is just weird as I said above. But the '92 show? It's a gem. Everything very neatly fits together and it's a fantastic Christmas season show.
Watch Frosty Returns. You'll like it.
