History WesternAnimation / TheYearWithoutASantaClaus

* LetThereBeSnow: The mayor of Southtown insists tha he'll only

* MotherNature: She appears as the mother of the Miser Brothers and the only person who can control them. She's seems to be a friendly, refined old aged lady, but [[NeverMessWithGranny don't mess with her.]]

* NoAntagonist: While the Miser Brothers' bickering does bring up some conflict, they are not really villains. The only real conflict is that Santa has become bored of his endless job of giving presents to children and that Mrs. Claus and the elves are trying to get it to snow in Southtown.

* PowerStereotypeFlip: The Heat and Snow Misers form a FireIceDuo respectively, but the Snow Miser is fun-loving and the Heat Miser is calm and calculating.

* RhymesOnADime: The opening scene has Santa and Mrs. Claus having a conversation in rhyme.

* LyricalDissonance: Surely you're expecting a dark, gloomy song to fit in with a show about a holiday getting cancelled, right? No, this is Rankin Bass. None of the songs aside from "Blue Christmas" give off any sadness.

* AdaptationExpansion: The plot of the original poem by Phyllis [=McGinley=] is just this: Santa decides to take a holiday, the world is upset, but then Ignatius Thistlewhite convinces all the children to send presents to Santa, and when he gets them he decides to make his deliveries after all. Mrs. Claus, Jingle and Jangle, their quest to prove that Christmas spirit still exists and resulting need to make it snow in the south, and ([believe it or not) the Miser Brothers are all additions for the special.

* AdaptationExpansion: The plot of the original poem by Phyllis McGinley is just this: Santa decides to take a holiday, the world is upset, but then Ignatius Thistlewhite convinces all the children to send presents to Santa, and when he gets them he decides to make his deliveries after all. Mrs. Claus, Jingle and Jangle, their quest to prove that Christmas spirit still exists and resulting need to make it snow in the south, and ([[EnsembleDarkhorse believe it or not]]) the Miser Brothers are all additions for the special.

* InformedAttribute: During the intro song, Mrs. Claus explains how sad the children were that Santa wasn't coming, because they thought he had died. Cue the lyric "Every eye shed a blue Christmas tear" and a shot of a child crying. However, although a tear does obligingly roll down the child's face, the child is ''smiling''.
** Although that may actually be an example of SpecialEffectsFailure.

%%* LetThereBeSnow

%%* MotherNature: Don't mess with her.
%%* MrsClaus: NeverMessWithGranny.

%%* PaintingTheFrostOnWindows: Snow Miser, Heat Miser and Mother Nature.

'''Jangle:''' Mrs. C is through playing around...We're going to see...\\

* OurElvesAreBetter: The elves here are rather Keebleresque, and a bit shorter than the children.

* PaintingTheFrostOnWindows: Snow Miser, Heat Miser and Mother Nature.

* ATasteOfDefeat: Happens in one of Snow Miser and Heat Miser's childhood that shows the two playing checkers and Snow Miser taking Heat Miser's red checker pieces, causing Heat Miser to flip the table over in anger.

* RhymingWithItself: ''"I never want to know a day that's under 60 degrees. I'd rather have it 80, 90, 100 degrees."''
** This is actually a common {{Mondegreen}}. The lyric is: "...80, 90, 100's a breeze."

Followed in 2008 by the '''non'''-Rankin/Bass ''A Miser Brothers Christmas'', in which Heat Miser and Snow Miser are forced to work together to save Christmas. Additionally, at least two other Rankin/Bass specials, ''WesternAnimation/RudolphsShinyNewYear'' and ''WesternAnimation/NestorTheLongEaredChristmasDonkey'', as seen on the DVD cover (right), seem to be set within the same universe, as they have same Santa Claus and the same elf uniforms.

* LiveActionAdaptation: The 2006 TV movie with John Goodman as Santa, [[Series/DesigningWomen Delta Burke]] as Mrs. Claus, [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Michal McKean]] as Snow Miser, Harvey Fierstein as Heat Miser, and Carol Kane as Mother Nature. Among other famous faces. Despite rather dramatic changes from the original story (such as Iggy's father and the mayor of Southtown becoming a CompositeCharacter and Santa Claus negotiating with the Miser Brothers instead of Mrs. Claus), it still retained [[EarWorm those SONGS.]]

* TrueBlueFemininity: Unlike most depictions, this special's Mrs. Claus wears blue.

* PaperThinDisguise: The elves disguise Vixen as a dog by putting a pair of brown socks over her ears.

* OhCrap: Everyone's reaction, from the Miser Brothers to Jingle and Jangle, when Mrs. Claus decides to pull out the big guns and see Mother Nature directly to settle the disagreement between Snow Miser and Heat Miser. Even Mrs. Claus is hesitate to go through with it, having heard that Mother Nature doesn't like to be disturbed.

* OhCrap: Everyone's reaction, from the Miser Brothers to Jingle and Jangle, when Mrs. Claus decides to pull out the big guns and see Mother Nature directly to settle the disagreement between Snow Miser and Heat Miser. Even Mrs. Clause is hesitate to go through with it, having heard that Mother Nature doesn't like to be disturbed.

* OhCrap: Everyone's reaction, from the Miser Brothers to Jingle and Jangle, when Mrs. Claus decides to pull out the big guns and see Mother Nature directly to settle the disagreement between Snow Miser and Heat Miser.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Mrs. Claus's plan to send Jingle and Jangle Bells on Vixen out into the world to find a reason to get Santa motivated has (as she admits) a few holes in it; the most pressing is that they have to get past the Miser Bros.

->''Did you ever hear of that terrible year, way back before you were born? When Santa Claus took a holiday on the night before Christmas morn'?''
-->-- '''''Mrs. Claus'''''

->''Did you ever hear of that terrible year, way back before you were born? When Santa Clause took a holiday on the night before Christmas morn'?''

Followed in 2008 by the '''non'''-Rankin/Bass ''A Miser Brothers Christmas'', in which Heat Miser and Snow Miser are forced to work together to save Christmas. Additionally, at least two other Rankin/Bass specials, ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' and ''WesternAnimation/NestorTheLongEaredChristmasDonkey'', as seen on the DVD cover (right), seem to be set within the same universe, as they have same Santa Claus and the same elf uniforms.

* LargeAndInCharge: the Snow and Heat Misers noticeably tower over everybody else.