Of course, working for Rankin/Bass, his filmography is dominated by Christmas specials, and even after R/B dissolved in the mid-80s, he continued to write. Indeed, three of his final four projects before his death in 1992 were Christmas specials (the fourth, something called Peppermint Rose, aired in late November and is not available in its entirety online, but it appears to be a 30-minute commercial for a line of Barbie-like dolls that smell good, and doesn't have anything to do with Christmas). Unfortunately, these three specials are well below the classics he's remembered for.
1991's The Wish That Changed Christmas is based on a 50s picture book, The Story of Holly and Ivy, which is unread by me, but the special appears to have followed the plot pretty faithfully. Ivy is a young orphan who, for rather contrived reasons, ends up stranded in a small town by herself on Christmas Eve. She has two wishes--a grandmother to spend Christmas with and a doll of her own. Holly is a doll for sale in a small toy store whose only wish is to be loved and played with by a child. Mrs. Jones is an older, childless woman whose wish is to have a family to love. Obviously, we can all guess how the special ends, but the journey to get the pieces in place is rather dull. As Miller has spent his entire career writing stories with narrators, there's one here, specifically Paul Winfield. Jonathan Winters provides the voice of a mean old owl doll who delights in telling Holly exactly what happens to unsold toys after Christmas, and voiceover royalty Tress MacNeille plays Mrs. Jones. The most interesting this about this one is that the original showing was sponsored by McDonald's, meaning Ronald himself provides the introduction and conclusion. To be fair, he pitched reading instead of burgers during his two segments, but his presence alone was met with a negative reaction by critics who weren't crazy about the special in the first place.
A year later, Muller was back with another new special, Noël, which at least was more lively than Wish. Unfortunately, it's also much more annoying. In this one, the title character is a hand-blown glass Christmas bulb who is being produced just as the glassmaker learns he is a grandfather for the first time. His tear of joy falls into Noël, who then has a happiness. If you forget, don't worry, Noël will remind you about 86 times during the course of the special. He finds himself in a box with other glass ornaments who are all immune to Noël's charms, but luckily, when the box is bought and the ornaments are placed on the tree of a happy young family, he finds a more receptive audience with the other decorations and the tree. Unfortunately, Noël soon learns about January, and has to get used to the cycle of one month on and 11 months stuck in the attic. Eventually, with the kids all grown up, the family stops decorating altogether, at least until a new family moves in and finds the old box of ornaments in the attic, and the cycle begins again--or not, as the special's one twist plays out. But don't worry, there's a happy ending for Noël and his happiness.
Of course, there is a narrator, this time Charlton Heston, who does what he can to bring some gravatas. Roscoe Lee Browne, as the first tree Noël hangs on, is the only other recognizable name in the voice credits. This one is quite grating, and unfortunately, it would be the last special of his that would air during his lifetime.
A bit less than four weeks after Noël premiered, Muller would die suddenly of a heart attack, on December 30, 1992. He had come up with the story of a new special, but hadn't written it yet. That was left to another veteran writer of TV animation (and oddly, horror movies) Glenn Leopold. The Twelve Days of Christmas, which premiered the following holiday season, delves into the supposed backstory behind the carol. The rather convoluted plot has the bombastic Sir Carolboomer (any resemblance to Gaston from Disney's than-two-year-old Beauty and the Beast is, I'm sure just a coincidence) desperately trying to convince the icy Princess Silverbell to marry him, even though she wants nothing to do with him. Desperate, he sends his hapless squire, Hollyberry, to steal her Christmas wish list, planning to buy her everything on it, but it gets mixed up with the answer sheet to the royal crossword puzzle. Carolboomer, thinking the numbers and answers are what she wants, proceeds to send Hollyberry to her castle every day with a partridge in a pear tree, two calling birds, three French hens, etc., etc.
This is easily the best of the trio, with there being some amusement in seeing how each day's gift delivery goes wrong, and I also enjoyed the variety of musical styles each different verse of the song was presented in. But the special has a built-in limitation in that it's almost impossible for it not to become repetitive, just like the title song. And when Silverbell makes it clear by the time the French hens show up that she's sick of getting birds, there's not much surprise in her reaction to the multiple bird gifts still to come. Also, the special waits way too long to thaw her out, making her transformation at the end (and her not-shocking-to-anyone-whose-paid-the-least-bit-of-attention pick for her husband) feel incredibly abrupt.
There is only one recognizable name in the cast list, namely Phil Hartman, who uses an unrecognizable voice to play Hollyberry (he would probably also have killed as Carolboomer, so I don't know why he didn't play him as well). I should also point out that both this and Noël were directed by Masaki Îzuka, another long-time Rankin/Bass veteran.
The Twelve Days of Christmas is mildly fun, but ultimately pretty forgettable, which, as I said, still puts it a notch above The Wish That Changed Christmas and Noël, both of which are just forgettable. It's a shame that Muller concluded his career with these duds, but that shouldn't mar his legacy. Only a handful of specials over 50 years old are even remembered these days, let alone still airing on network TV, as Rudolph and Frosty continue to do. This trio may not be great, but Romeo Muller's legacy is secure.
Next time: An old-fashioned format streaming on a new-fashioned service
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