7 Fantastic Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials That Deserve More Love

Rankin/Bass’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is notable as the last of their holiday specials made using stop-motion animation, a technique they called “Animagic.” However, it’s often overlooked when people discuss the best Rankin/Bass productions. This is because it differs significantly from their other specials – it’s based on a novel from the early 1900s and doesn’t include the familiar Santa Claus characters or storylines established in their previous work. A key feature of many Rankin/Bass specials was that they all took place in the same shared universe, but this one feels separate and disconnected from everything else.








