The Town Santa Forgot
The Town Santa Forgot is a 1993 animated Christmas television special produced by Hanna-Barbera, narrated by Dick Van Dyke and originally broadcast on NBC.[1] It is an adaptation of the poem Jeremy Creek, written by Charmaine Severson. Since then, it was frequently shown in Christmas marathons on Cartoon Network until 2005, and is still shown annually on Boomerang.
| The Town Santa Forgot | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Charmaine Severson (story "Jeremy Creek") Glenn Leopold (teleplay) |
| Directed by | Robert Alvarez |
| Voices of | Dick Van Dyke Miko Hughes Hal Smith Ashley Johnson |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Country of origin | United States Taiwan |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | David Kirschner |
| Producer(s) | Davis Doi |
| Production company(s) | Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Wang Film Productions (animation) |
| Distributor | Turner Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | December 3, 1993 |
Plot
The film opens to a snowy Christmas Eve, on which a pair of anxious young children eagerly anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus and the gifts that they will be receiving. Taking notice of this, their elderly grandfather named Jeremy Creek narrates a poetic fable with the intentions of educating them in the true nature of the holidays.
The tale details the life of an outrageously, overindulged, bratty 5-year-old little Jeremy, spoiled ridiculously by his mild and intimidated parents, flinging himself into destructive, earsplitting, and violent temper tantrums when his requests are not met. After his parents have decided to stand their ground by refusing to dote on their child any longer, an infuriated Jeremy, recalling the upcoming Christmas season, decides to devise a humongously lengthy and demanding wish list consisting of all the presents that he has yet to own. However, when Santa Claus notices the massive compilation of toys listed, he concludes that the Christmas list actually was intended for multiple people, and soon makes the discovery of an impoverished swamp town coincidentally named "Jeremy Creek" that he had previously forgotten.
On Christmas morning, the selfish Jeremy is crestfallen upon the total absence of gifts intended for him beneath his family's Christmas tree, and catches sight of a news broadcast detailing the joy of the penniless and bedraggled children of the town Jeremy Creek upon receiving the countless presents from Santa Claus. Surprisingly, Jeremy himself is touched by the joy brought to the less fortunate through his own greed inadvertently, and his self-absorption is dissolved upon the realization of the true meaning of Christmas. As a result of Jeremy's newfound selflessness, he is rewarded by Santa (as Santa also apologizes for the accident) with the privilege of assisting him in delivering gifts to children globally on Christmas Eve every year until, as a teenager, he has outgrown his seat on the sleigh, to the boy's disappointment; however, he thanks Santa for all the years he had with him and he'll remember it forever.
As the young children's grandfather concludes the story with the tradition of Santa selecting new assistants every couple of years, they, too, are educated by the tale, and no longer quite as concerned with toys. As the special concludes, the two grandchildren ponder if one of them could be Santa's assistant, and the grandfather ponders if he himself could be Santa's assistant, with an implication that the grandfather is actually Jeremy Creek himself.
Cast
- Dick Van Dyke - Narrator / Jeremy Creek
- Miko Hughes - Young Jeremy Creek
- Troy Davidson - Grandson
- Julie Dees - Additional Voices
- Haven Hartman - Little Swamp Girl
- Ashley Johnson - Granddaughter
- Melinda Peterson - Mrs. Holly Creek
- Philip Proctor - Mr. Junior Creek
- Neil Ross - Pout the Elf
- Hal Smith - Santa Claus
- B.J. Ward - Neighbor
- Paul Williams - Pomp the Elf
Crew
- Gordon Hunt - Recording Director
- Jill Ziegenhagen - Talent Coordinator
- Kris Zimmerman - Animation Casting Director
- Ruben Chavez - Background Painter
Home media
The special was released on VHS by Turner Home Entertainment under the Cartoon Network Video label in 1996 and featured on In2TV in 2006. On July 31, 2012, Warner Home Video released Hanna-Barbera Christmas Classics Collection on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US. This collection features a trilogy of Christmas specials: The Town That Santa Forgot, Casper's First Christmas and A Christmas Story.
VHS release dates
- September 24, 1996 (Turner Home Entertainment/Cartoon Network Video)
- September 29, 1998 (Turner Home Entertainment/Cartoon Network Video/Warner Home Video)
- November 2, 1999 (Turner Home Entertainment/Cartoon Network Video/Warner Home Video)
- October 31, 2000 (Turner Home Entertainment/Cartoon Network/Warner Home Video)
- October 16, 2001 (Turner Home Entertainment/Cartoon Network/Warner Home Video)
DVD release date
- July 31, 2012 (Warner Home Video/Warner Archive)
References
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 319–320. ISBN 9781476672939.