Western Animation / The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold

Christmas? St. Patrick's Day? Why not both?

Everyone knows, that rainbows end in gold

Guarded by leprechauns, so we've been told

And if you walk a hundred miles to where the colors all descend

Don't give up, my friend! There's been a million dreams about the rainbow's end

Released in 1981, The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold is a Rankin/Bass Christmas special starring Art Carney.

Young Irishman Dinty Doyle is a sailor on an Irish ship called the Belle of Erin. On Christmas Eve, his captain instructs him to sail to a mysterious island to dig up a pine tree sitting on the shore. Unfortunately of Dinty, it turns out that this tree was an enchanted tree, planted there by the leprechauns to seal away a dangerous banshee that seeks to steal their gold and run wild through the world. Speaking of gold, when the banshee summons a terrible storm, Dinty believes he's done for, only to discover a rainbow peeking through the clouds onto an unusual pile of shamrocks. The shamrocks part to reveal, to Dinty's awe, the leprechaun's Christmas gold. He also meets Blarney Kilakalarney (voiced by Art Carney), a leprechaun who guards the gold.

Dinty learns from Blarney that many years ago, the gold-mining Kilakalarney clan of leprechauns lived peacefully with the shoe-making O'Clogjigger clan. However, Mag the Hag, the banshee, desperate to steal the leprechaun's Christmas gold lest she be literally reduced to tears forever, drove a rift between Blarney and his wife (one of the O'Clogjiggers) by tricking the leprechauns into thinking that Blarney is hoarding their gold and will bring the clans to ruin unless they give it away. (Especially to Mag.) Blarney refused to give the gold, knowing it was Mag trying to trick them, so the leprechauns abandoned Blarney and the angry Mag broke their territory off from Ireland in an attempt to drown the leprechauns. Fortunately, Blarney teamed up with the Lord of the Leprechauns to trick Mag into becoming tears and being sealed beneath a pine tree, the same one that Dinty dug up not knowing that it sealed her. With Mag on the loose, Blarney enlists Dinty's help to protect their gold until Christmas Day, thus defeating the banshee, but will Dinty be able to?

One of Rankin/Bass's more obscure TV specials, The Leprechaun' Christmas Gold was the company's second-to-last stop-motion animated special and the last original story to be produced by the company for many years.

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Tropes in The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold include:

• Art Shift:
  • A Shadow Discretion Shot during Blarney and Fay's falling-out in one of the flashbacks appears to be animated with shadow puppets.
  • The ocean wave that overtakes Mag as she's wasting away in the climax is 2D animated.
• Big "WHAT?!": Blarney gives one when he learns that Dinty accidentally freed Mag.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Tricked by Mag into thinking Blarney would bring them to ruin by keeping all the gold to the leprechauns, Blarney's wife Fay and Blarney himself have a falling out and separate for many years until Dinty's arrival eventually leads to them reconciling.
• Celestial Deadline: A banshee must be given gold every year before Christmas Day (and it must be given to her, she isn't allowed to steal it), or else she turns to tears and washes away in the sea forever.
• The Chosen One: Dinty becomes this when Blarney, under the influence of a generosity inducing potion slipped into his tea by Mag, is forced to give his gold to someone. Dinty is appointed to protect the gold from Mag until daybreak on Christmas Day.
• Did I Mention It's Christmas?: Apart from the fact that Christmas Day is the Celestial Deadline by which Mag needs to receive gold, and the fact that Dinty accidentally frees her from imprisonment by digging up her pine tree to use as a Christmas tree, the plot actually has little to do with Christmas. Critics often point out that with a few small edits, this could just as easily be a St. Patrick's Day special.
• Disney Death: Blarney and the other leprechauns believe that Dinty has been killed by Mag when they find him after she tricks him. He's only in a very deep sleep and wakes up when Blarney and his wife reconcile.
• Earthquakes Cause Fissures: When Mag creates an earthquake when refused the leprechauns' gold, many fissures are shown opening up in the ground, and ultimately the leprechaun's land completely breaks away from the coast of Ireland.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Discounting the flashbacks and Imagine Spot, the story takes place over the course of one evening and morning.
• The Fair Folk: (also Wicked Witch) Mag herself.
• Femme Fatale: Mag pulls the wool over Dinty's eyes by turning into a beautiful young woman named Colenne. Dinty is so infatuated by her that he forgets his mission to protect the gold and gives it to her without thinking about it.
• Forced Sleep: Inflicted onto Dinty by Mag so she can take the gold. She intends him to sleep for a hundred years, but when Blarney and Fay reconcile, the spell is broken.
• Forgotten Framing Device: Another reason the special is an oddity among the Rankin Bass collection. The special begins with Blarney telling the story of how he met Dinty and the leprechauns brought the Christmas gold back to Ireland. After the end of the special, however, it merely ends with the leprechauns sailing home on Dinty's ship, without it cutting back to the present with Blarney closing out.
• Freudian Excuse: Mag wants the Christmas gold so she won't melt away into tears on Christmas morning. Doesn't really excuse the fact that she is evil and threatens to cause chaos throughout Ireland when she gets it, though.
• Happily Married: Blarney and Fay until Mag tore them apart. Thankfully, by the story's end they seem to be on their way back to being this.
• Happy Ending: At the story's end, Blarney and Fay have made up, the Belle of Erin finds the island again and rescues Dinty, and without Mag there to try and steal the gold, the leprechauns are free to join Dinty aboard the ship and give away their gold to all of Ireland.
• Hats Off to the Dead: Blarney sadly removes his hat when Mag casts Dinty into a hundred-year Forced Sleep.
• Idiot Hero: Dinty has one job - don't give away the gold to anyone because they could be the banshee in disguise. Banshees can be spotted because they're incapable of hiding their tears even in disguise. So naturally, Dinty immediately gives the gold over to the very first crying woman he meets that asks for it. Truly, the only reason the world is saved is because the banshee didn't get to the gold fast enough before the sun rose on Christmas morning, but that had nothing to do with Dinty.
• I'm Melting!: Mag's fate. Despite tricking Dinty into giving her ownership of the gold, she wasn't able to reach it in time before Christmas morning, causing her to become salty teadrops and be washed away by the ocean.
• Just in Time: With the heroes distracted by Dinty being asleep and reconciling with each other, Mag nearly gets the leprechauns' gold. Fortunately, the sun rises on Christmas morning just before Mag gets her hands on it, spelling her defeat.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The final shot of the film is Dinty and leprechauns facing the screen and waving good-bye, as if to the viewers, as they sail home on the Belle of Erin.
• Leprechaun: Lots of them. They're all benign, and, once Blarney knows Dinty is not on the island to steal their gold, invites him in for some tea.
• Loophole Abuse: Per the rules of enchantments, banshees aren't allowed to steal Christmas gold and it must be given to them freely. However, Mag was able to get around that by slipping Blarney the Potion of Generosity. Fortunately, he managed to out gambit her.
• Morphic Resonance: Banshees like Mag can be quickly identified by the fact that they are constantly shedding tears no matter what form they take. Poor Dinty forgets this when Mag comes to him disguised as a beautiful young woman supposedly washed ashore onto the island.
  Blarney: (Despondently) Ah, lad, I warned you to watch for the banshee tears.
• Musical Episode: Par for the course with Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. Taking place in Ireland, the songs have a bit of an Irish flair.
• Near-Villain Victory: Mag succeeds in tricking Dinty into giving her the gold, thus ensuring her existence for another year and allowing her to continue her rampage. Unfortunately, she runs into the bad luck of not getting to the trove fast enough before the Christmas morning sun rises, leading to her defeat.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Poor Dinty does this twice, first upon inadvertently releasing Mag the Hag and later when he unknowingly gives the gold to Mag.
• Nightmare Face: Dinty realizes he's been duped when "Colenne" flashes a particularly frightening one of these at him, complete with a slasher smile and red eyes.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Or saints, in this case. The Lord of the Leprechauns is named Lord Patrick, and he looks like traditional depictions of St. Patrick, but he isn't St. Patrick, since he speaks of the latter as a separate person.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Dinty when he realizes "Colene's" true identity as Mag.
  • Mag has this reaction when Christmas morning arrives before she can claim the gold.
• Our Banshees Are Louder: In this special, banshees are portrayed as evil fairies created from tears that can transform, cause cataclysms, make the moon and the stars dance, and turn milk sour. However, they need to obtain gold before Christmas every year otherwise they'll turn into tears forever.
• Sailor's Ponytail: Dinty has one.
• Sealed Evil Beneath A Pine Tree: Mag until Dinty accidentally frees her.
• Slipping a Mickey: Mag sneaks a generosity-inducing powder into Blarney's tea in an attempt to force him to give her the leprechauns' gold. He does drink it, but he thinks fast and gives the gold to Dinty instead.
• Spanner in the Works: Despite being unsuccessful in protecting the leprechauns' gold, had Dinty not been sent to (and subsequently stranded on) the leprechauns' island in the first place, Blarney would not have anyone else to give the gold to when Mag spikes his tea with the generosity-inducing powder. Thus Blarney would have given the gold to Mag, and Mag would have won and gone on to terrorize Ireland instead of being defeated once and for all.
• Tricking the Shapeshifter: In order to stop Mag's initial rampage, the Lord of the Leprechauns tricks her into willingly transform into tears, followed by Blarney using a special pine cone that grew into a tree to trap her.
• You Are Too Late: A rare villainous version. Even though Mag succeeded in tricking Dinty into giving ownership of the gold to her, the sun rose on Christmas Day just before she could lay her hands on it, causing her to be washed away as tears forever,

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