The Greatest Prospector In The North!

[My Yukon might not have a sled pulled by cute doggies, but he does sing songs and dance at the push of a button.]

It's been a week full of Christmas tree decorating, gift buying, baking, holiday movie watching, and generally hustling around - all in all, quite frankly, I'm pooped!

Since my mind is zapped, there's really nothing more to say today other then this: Yukon Cornelius is the rock star of animated Christmas specials.

We turned on Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer last night while trimming that tree and that prospector with the fluffiest beard is always the highlight of the show. Well him, his tiny set of sled dogs (they even hitch a ride at one point), and the polka dotted elephant from the island of misfit toys.

Speaking of that - many people for years felt there was a mystery surrounding the doll on that island with the other toys. Why would a seemingly perfect doll be considered a "misfit"? I uncovered some interesting facts just today. According to the movie's producer, the doll was abandoned by her owner, which caused the poor doll to suffer from depression, feeling she was unlovable.

Whoa. Read more about the back story here.

Toys who have experienced sadness over the loss of their owner sounds a lot like another movie too.

There is a special on ABC right now all about the making of Toy Story. It is all part of the celebration honoring its 20th anniversary. Holy. Crap.

My takeaways:

1) Toy Story is still lovely and funny after all these years. It has almost been around my whole life and even after repeated viewings, there is still a lot of magic there.

2) Apparently Joss Whedon helped with writing the movie!

3) Donning very light hair and a mustache during the interviews about his experience voicing Woody, I was reminded that Tom Hanks will be playing a certain modern American icon. Hanks is definitely in full "Sully" Sullenberger mode.

Yukon, Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, those green alien guys, Slinky-Dog and all the rest - these characters are part of movies that show the progression from the popularity of claymation to computer animation. The technology may have changed, but more importantly, these two movies have the stories that people keep wanting to watch year after year.

Until next time.