Jack Frost (TV special)
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Jack Frost was created in 1979 by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., this claymation special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human. This special airs annually on the ABC Family cable network.
[edit] Plot
Today was a very special and fateful day. It was February 2: Groundhog Day. News reporters from all around gathered at the hole of Pardon-Me- Pete the Groundhog (voiced by Buddy Hackett). This was indeed a fateful day because if Pete casts a shadow and is afraid of it, the world would be in for six more weeks of winter. Well, Pardon-Me-Pete stepped out of his hole, cast a shadow, and was indeed afraid of it and ran back inside. But how could he cast a shadow on a day like today with no sun? Back down in his home, Pardon-Me-Pete tells that it was not in fact his shadow, but a magic shadow cast by Jack Frost, the mystic sprite who creates snow and ice. Pete tells us the story of how at one time, many, many years ago, Jack Frost became human. Not to mention the reason Jack Frost helped out Pardon-Me-Pete with the shadow routine: six more weeks of winter for Frost, and six more weeks of shut-eye for Pete. The story begins long, long ago in a tiny village called January Junction. Mama and Papa, the pumpkin peasants, were busy harvesting pumpkins. This particular family was very poor, except for one copper kaputnik Papa managed to hide from that greedy, sinister ruler Kubla Kraus, king of the Karsecks. Well instantly, Kubla rode up on his mechanical horse Claimstomper and stole Papa's kaputnik. But all was not lost, for soon they received a visit from Jack Frost, which meant snow and ice, which also meant...Ice money!
Cutting coins from icicles created ice money. For the entire duration of winter, the village was rich with ice money. Nobody could see Jack Frost, but he liked to mingle with the townsfolk anyhow. He even used his magic powers to save the life of Elisa, the daughter of Mama and Papa, who was inches away from going over a water fall on a block of broken ice. She was actually in love with Jack Frost and, as soon as he heard, returned home to the clouds to see the ruler of it all: Father Winter. Jack told him he wanted to be human. Father Winter reluctantly agreed, and so Jack Frost could be human until the first day of spring, unless he were to accumulate four basic human necessities: a house for shelter, a horse, a bag of gold, and a wife, then he would be human forever. So Jack said goodbye to his friends: snowflake maker Snip, snow gypsy Holly, the hail persons, sleet sisters, and the rest, and then he headed for Earth and immediately ran into Elisa. He identified himself as Jack Snip, the tailor. Elisa brought him home to meet the family. The next day was Christmas day, and they really saved money on presents here, because they passed around one imaginary gift and each recipient imagined it to be the gift they had always wanted; Father Winter made Snip and Holly human also so they could keep an eye on Jack. Snip identified himself as Fernando Leonardi Dopopolopolis. That same day, a handsome young knight named Sir Ravenaugh stopped by, looking for a tailor to mend his cape. Elisa fell head over heels for him; Jack learns that obtaining a house, horse and gold would be difficult since Kubla Kraus owns all of them and wasn't about to give any of them up. Jack decided he had to over throw Kraus.
Meanwhile, Kubla Kraus set his sights on Elisa and, using his metal puppet and alter ego Dommy, managed to unsuccessfully woo her. He takes her back to his castle atop an icy, snowy mountain. He and his friends raced to Elisa's rescue. Now that he was human, Jack Frost had a harder time handling ice; Sir Ravenaugh rescued Elisa, while Jack, Snip and Holly were captured by Kubla Kraus' army of metallic knasty knights: Knute, Knick, Knorman, Knathan and the rest. They were imprisoned in Kraus' dungeon. They then overheard his plan to send 1,000 knights into January Junction and ransack the place. Jack had to do something, so he gave up his humanity to become Jack Frost again and cast a very fierce snow storm upon the town, keeping Kraus and his knights snowed in. And it worked. Until February when winter would have to end, depending on whether or not a groundhog was frightened by his shadow. Jack Frost made sure that he was, so winter would carry on another six weeks. But by April, winter definitely had to end, but Jack wanted another chance to be human. Father Winter granted it, until 12:00 noon. Jack raced to Kraus' castle and, imitating Dommy, managed to command the knights down the ice slope on the hill and become a heaping junk pile at the bottom. Father Winter makes short work of Kubla Kraus by blowing him away. Jack now had Kraus' castle, horse and gold for himself, but he needed a bride: Elisa, who at that moment was marrying Sir Ravenaugh! So, Jack Frost became his old shadow again and went back into the clouds until next winter.
[edit] References
the kubla kraus songs are cut from broadcasts
