History WesternAnimation / FrostyTheSnowman

----

!!Frosty's Winter Wonderland provides examples of:

* AscendedExtra: Jack Frost would eventually star in [[WesternAnimation/RankinBassJackFrost his own Christmas Special]], where he's a [[StalkerWithACrush lovestruck]] {{cloudcuckoolander}}.
* DefrostingIceKing: Happens, literally and ironically enough to Jack Frost in when he is offered the opportunity to be the best man at Frosty's wedding to Crystal. He even mentions that he's always been the best man since the wedding is winter-themed.
* DistaffCounterpart: Crystal, Frosty's bride. She even has a similar-sounding voice courtesy of Shelley Winters.
* EasilyForgiven: Frosty and Crystal forgive Jack Frost pretty quickly, considering what he tried to do. (Of course, Christmas specials aren't big on comeuppance.)
* {{Expy}}: The red-haired girl serves as a stand-in for Karen.
* GreenEyedMonster: Jack Frost's antagonism is due to the fact that he's jealous of the attention Frosty's getting.
* HappilyMarried: Frosty and Crystal get married in the climax of ''Winter Wonderland''.
* HeroicBSOD: Frosty has a minor but emotional breakdown when he reveals to the children he's lonely every time they go back inside and he is left all alone. This gives them the idea to make him a wife.
* LoveImbuesLife: The kids build Crystal, a snow-wife for Frosty. She receives the gift of life out of the love Frosty immediately felt for her, embodied in a bouquet of frost flowers he gives her. Later, a gust of wind snatches away Frosty's hat (turning him back into a non-sentient snowman) but Crystal's love allows him to become alive again without the need of his magic hat.
* HeelFaceTurn: Jack Frost experiences one when Crystal acknowledges his importance and invites him to participate in the wedding and kisses him on the cheek, prompting him to exclaim "Happy birthday!" In subsequent specials, he's a friend and powerful ally every time he appears again.
* InkSuitActor: Andy Griffith as the narrator, and Dennis Day as Parson Brown.
* SingleTear: Frosty sheds one during his HeroicBSOD and again when the kids fail to bring Crystal to life.
* TrueLovesKiss: Crystal's kiss grants Frosty permanent sentience, thwarting Jack Frost's efforts to destroy him by stealing his hat.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Parson Brown may not be able to wed Frosty and Crystal himself, but offers to help the kids build a snow-parson to do so in his stead. Afterward, when Jack Frost and the kids want winter to last forever so Frosty and Crystal won't have to leave again, Parson Brown gently tells them how this wouldn't be good for the trees and flowers that are waiting for spring to come, since "nature made them a promise."
* ReligionIsMagic: Parson Brown explains to the kids that he can't marry Frosty and Crystal since they aren't humans, and suggests they build a snow-parson who can do the job. They do, and Parson Brown brings it to life by giving it a Bible ("A parson's not a parson without the Good Book in his hand!").
* TearsOfRemorse: Frosty sheds them twice, first when he's upset at being left alone when the kids leave him, and again when failing to make Crystal all living by giving her a lady's hat.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Frosty and his wife may be happy up in the Arctic, but whatever became of "Snow Parson Brown" who performed the wedding ceremony? He was alive too but isn't mentioned after the wedding.
----

!!Frosty Returns has examples of:
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: Jonathan Winters sits on a CGI snowflake at the start and end of ''Frosty Returns''. This was later excised completely on later airings, instead just showing a blue background with Winters' disembodied voice.
* AGodAmI: During Mr. Twitchell's PissTakeRap, he directly challenges Mother Nature to try and stop him from using Summer Wheeze to render snow extinct.
* ArtShiftedSequel: The animation style is different than that of the original. As is often noted, it resembles the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' specials, which is handily explained by the fact that the animation was done by Bill Melendez Productions.
* BaldOfEvil: Mr. Twitchell.
* BigBad: Mr. Twitchell.
* ButNowIMustGo: Frosty tells Holly he has to leave after saving winter, though he does keep the promise he'll be back.
* CannotSpitItOut: Holly says this to Frosty upon meeting him outside the amusement park:
-->'''Holly:''' When I try to speak my mouth gets all dry and my hands get all clammy. I let you down, didn't I?
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: When one of the board members raises environmental objections, she gets dropped through a trapdoor.
* ContinuitySnarl: A few scenes feature Frosty either taking off his hat or without it without him reverting back into an inanimate snowman.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mr. Twitchell, who wants to use his product Summer Wheeze to eliminate snow without a care about how this would affect the environment; he even drops a board member through a trap door when she raises concerns about the environmental impact the product will have.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After Mr. Twitchell fails to destroy Frosty, he accepts the offer to wear the Carnival King's cape and crown, riding in the float.
* {{Expy}}:
** Holly is one for Karen from the original special.
** Given the Bill Melendez animation, she and Charles together can invoke comparisons to [[Franchise/{{Peanuts}} Peppermint Patty and Marcy]] respectively; Mr. Twitchell's cat Bones can be considered one of the cat next door in ''Peanuts''.
** The teacher Mrs. Butterbean resembles the old curmungeon from the ''Crabby Road'' comic strips.
* FreakOut: By Frosty as he and Holly watch snow melt everywhere with thanks to Summer Wheeze becoming popular.
* GreenAesop: One of the main criticisms for this special.
* HeelFaceTurn: After Holly and Frosty convince everyone that snow is important after all, she offers [[spoiler: Mr. Twitchell a ride in the toboggan and Frosty gives him the crown and cape even though he was elected the Carnival King. The narrator also mentions that Mr. Twitchell ceased the production of Summer Wheeze and starts making sleds instead]].
* HollywoodToneDeaf: Holly's friend Charles. Frosty and Holly even cringe when he sings part of the "Let There Be Snow" song.
* InkSuitActor: Jonathan Winters as the narrator, and Bryan Doyle-Murray as Mr. Twitchell.
* OnlyFriend: Charles is Holly's only friend at the beginning of the special.
* PissTakeRap: Mr. Twitchell's segment of "Let There Be Snow".
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Yet another criticism aimed at this special is that Christmas is never mentioned in any capacity and is replaced by the town celebrating a Winter Carnival.
* RightHandCat: Mr. Twitchell has one.
* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Like the original special, Frosty has more of a supporting role and it’s Holly who’s the main star here.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Charles wears glasses and is shown to have an obsession with science.
* SoundtrackDissonance: It's very unusual to hear Music/MarkMothersbaugh's ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''-esque music (complete with "buh buh" effects) playing underneath Bill Melendez's ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''-esque animation instead of something by Creator/KlaskyCsupo.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: "Save the environment because without snow there will be no place for magical, talking snowmen!"
* VillainSong: Mr. Twitchell has a part of the "Let There Be Snow" song where he sings "There's No More Snow" and brags about how nothing can stop his plan to eliminate the snow and become king of the Winter Carnival.

A sequel, ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' featuring [[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Andy Griffith]] as the narrator, was produced in 1976 and the feature-length {{Crossover}} ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'' (which, unlike the previous installments, [[ArtShift utilized R/B's "Animagic" process]]) followed in 1979; Jackie Vernon reprised the part of Frosty in both, and over the course of them our hero acquires a snow-wife (Crystal, voiced by Shelley Winters) and even snow-kids (for ''everyone's'' sanity, don't ask how that works). A non-Rankin/Bass sequel, ''Frosty Returns'', with Creator/JohnGoodman as the title character, Creator/JonathanWinters as the narrator, and the animation made by Creator/BillMelendez of the ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' animated specials fame, was made in 1992; it was [[{{Sequelitis}} not generally well-received]]. In this one, the plot focuses around a secular "Winter Carnival" holiday and features an evil businessman named Mr. Twitchell that goes around spraying "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol that gets rid of snow. Apparently, ''the entire town hates snow''. The entire film is about Frosty and [[{{Expy}} a new girl named Holly]] ''singing about how good snow is''. If you haven't guessed, it's an environmentally-themed short, one that would make [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers the Planeteers]] cringe at how unsubtle it is with its message. Then in 2005, another special, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfFrostyTheSnowman'', was released on video, with Creator/BillFagerbakke as the voice of Frosty.

* {{Narrator}}: Jimmy Durante in the original, Andy Griffith in ''Winter Wonderland''.

* OneTwoSkipAFew: Frosty's attempt to count to ten goes: "One, two, three, four, five, nine, six, eight."

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Frosty and his wife may be happy up in the Arctic, but whatever became of "Snow Parson Brown" who married them? He was alive too but isn't mentioned after the wedding.

** Given the Bill Melendez animation, she and Charles together can invoke comparisons to [[Franchise/{{Peanuts}} Peppermint Patty and Marcy]] respectively.

A sequel, ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' featuring [[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Andy Griffith]] as the narrator, was produced in 1976 and the feature-length {{Crossover}} ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'' (which, unlike the previous installments, [[ArtShift utilized R/B's "Animagic" process]]) followed in 1979; Jackie Vernon reprised the part of Frosty in both, and over the course of them our hero acquires a snow-wife (Crystal, voiced by Shelley Winters) and even snow-kids (for ''everyone's'' sanity, don't ask how that works). A non-Rankin/Bass sequel, ''Frosty Returns'', with Creator/JohnGoodman as the title character, Creator/JonathanWinters as the narrator, and the animation made by Bill Melendez of the ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' animated specials fame, was made in 1992; it was [[{{Sequelitis}} not generally well-received]]. In this one, the plot focuses around a secular "Winter Carnival" holiday and features an evil businessman named Mr. Twitchell that goes around spraying "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol that gets rid of snow. Apparently, ''the entire town hates snow''. The entire film is about Frosty and [[{{Expy}} a new girl named Holly]] ''singing about how good snow is''. If you haven't guessed, it's an environmentally-themed short, one that would make [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers the Planeteers]] cringe at how unsubtle it is with its message. Then in 2005, another special, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfFrostyTheSnowman'', was released on video, with Creator/BillFagerbakke as the voice of Frosty.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Frosty and his wife may be happy up in the Arctic, but whatever became of "Pastor Snow" who married them? He was alive too but isn't mentioned after the wedding.

** The teacher Mrs. Butterbean resembles the old cumungin from the ''Crabby Road'' comic strips.

** Given the Bill Melendez animation, she and Charles together can invoke comparisons to [[Franchishe/{{Peanuts}} Peppermint Patty and Marcy]] respectively.
** The teacher Mrs. Butterbean resembles the old curmungin from ''ComicStrip/CrabbyRoad''.

* {{Expy}}: Holly is one for Karen from the original special.

A sequel, ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' featuring [[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Andy Griffith]] as the narrator, was produced in 1976 and the feature-length {{Crossover}} ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'' (which, unlike the previous installments, [[ArtShift utilized R/B's "Animagic" process]]) followed in 1979; Jackie Vernon reprised the part of Frosty in both, and over the course of them our hero acquires a snow-wife (Crystal, voiced by Shelley Winters) and even snow-kids (for ''everyone's'' sanity, don't ask how that works). A non-Rankin/Bass sequel, ''Frosty Returns'', with Creator/JohnGoodman as the title character and Creator/JonathanWinters as the narrator, was made in 1992; it was [[{{Sequelitis}} not generally well-received]]. In this one, the plot focuses around a secular "Winter Carnival" holiday and features an evil businessman named Mr. Twitchell that goes around spraying "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol that gets rid of snow. Apparently, ''the entire town hates snow''. The entire film is about Frosty and [[{{Expy}} a new girl named Holly]] ''singing about how good snow is''. If you haven't guessed, it's an environmentally-themed short, one that would make [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers the Planeteers]] cringe at how unsubtle it is with its message. Then in 2005, another special, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfFrostyTheSnowman'', was released on video, with Creator/BillFagerbakke as the voice of Frosty.

* ShownTheirWork: Karen and her friends are in school on Christmas Eve, which was common up until the late '60s.

* AskAStupidQuestion: When Karen sneezes while in the refrigerated box car, Frosty asked her if she was cold. He immediately realized what a silly question it was.
* AsideComment: After Frosty asks Karen if she's cold on the train, he turns to the audience and says, "Now, that's a silly question!"

'''Traffic Cop''': Oh, well, okay, if he just came to life. [''blows his whistle''] Move along!\\
'''Traffic Cop''': Ah, silly snowmen. Once they come to life, they don't know nothing. COME TO LIFE?! [''accidentally swallows his whistle'']

* BewareTheSillyOnes: The clerk at the train station is willing to help you out despite being accident prone... but God help you if you can't afford your ticket.

*** This is lampshaded in the third special where Frosty manages to count to 100, and remembers when he can barely count to four.

* ChristmasSpecial: Although only the first is actually set during Christmas. ''Winter Wonderland'' doesn't bring up the holiday at all, and the closest mention are a couple holiday songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland" featured in the special.

* CrackIsCheaper: An InUniverse example; train tickets aren't exactly the cheapest things to buy, but a single ticket to the North Pole, including tax, is in the quadruple digits. And keep in mind, this special was released in 1969, when long-distance passenger rail in the United States was sharply declining due to the advent of private automobile ownership and jet airliners (commuter rail was faring better thanks to traffic congestion), so of course ticket prices would be very high so the railroads could continue justifying the existence of their intercity passenger services (at least until they were able to pawn them off on Amtrak in 1971).
** And that was in 1969, it has the a 2017 value of nearly $20,000

* DefrostingIceKing: Happens, literally and ironically enough to Jack Frost in when he is offered the opportunity to be the best man at Frosty's wedding to Crystal. He even mentions that he's always been the best man, since the wedding is winter-themed.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Parson Brown may not be able to wed Frosty and Crystal himself, but offers to help the kids build a snow-parson to do so in his stead. Afterwards, when Jack Frost and the kids want winter to last forever so Frosty and Crystal won't have to leave again, Parson Brown gently tells them how this wouldn't be good for the trees and flowers that are waiting for spring to come, since "nature made them a promise."

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Frosty and his wife may be happy up in the Arctic, but what ever became of "Pastor Snow" who married them? He was alive too; but isn't mentioned after the wedding.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mr. Twitchell, who wants to use his product Summer Wheeze to eliminate snow without a care about how this would affect the environment; he even drops a board member through a trap door when she raises concerns about the environemntal impact the product will have.

* HeelFaceTurn: After Holly and Frosty convince everyone that snow is important after all, she offers [[spoiler:Mr. Twitchell a ride in he tobogan and Frosty gives him the crown and cape even though he was elected the Carnival King. The narrator also mentions that Mr. Twitchell ceased production of Summer Wheeze and starts making sleds instead]].

* BornOfMagic: The jolly, happy soul only came into existence after a [[Disney/{{Frozen}} vaguely humanoid-shaped lump of ice crystals]] was topped with an inexplicably magical top hat. (Though it's possible the consciousness already existed inside the hat, and only needed a sufficient vessel.)

* HeroicBSOD: Frosty has a minor but emotional breakdown when he reveals to the children he's lonely every time they go back inside and he is left all alone. This gives them the idea to make him a life.

* HeelFaceTurn: Professor Hinkle, though only when threatened by Santa, and he still describes himself as an "evil magician" during this sequence. Of course, it helps that Santa had promised him that he'd probably get a new hat if he wrote "I am very sorry for what I did to Frosty" a hundred zillion times, so he wouldn't need his old one anymore.

* {{Animesque)): As with other Rankin-Bass specials, this was animated in Japan (by Creator/OsamuTezuka's [[Creator/MushiProductions studio]]), and on occasion it shows, particularly in the kids' facial expressions and other artistic touches like CheekyMouth.