History Trivia / TheLittleDrummerBoy

* RealitySubtext: Throughout the special, Aaron is embittered with hatred for all humans due to the murder of his parents until playing for the newborn Jesus. When his lamb returns, Greer Carson's narration mentions that "Aaron's heart was filled with joy and love. And he knew at last that the hate he had carried there was wrong. As ALL hatred will ever be wrong." A valid point regardless of when it aired, but the moral seems especially directed to those struggling with the horrible events of 1968 (a year that saw, among other things, the assassinations of [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Dr. Martin Luther King]] that April; followed exactly two months later by the assassination of New York Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby Kennedy]] along with race riots following Dr. King's death, and another riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, instigated by the Youth International Party/Yippies, who instigated a similar riot at Disneyland two years later; the year would've been viewed with scorn had it not been for Apollo 8).

* SequelGap: ''Book II'' came out eight years after its predecessor.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem. The restoration also leaves out a piece of narration by Greer Garson in the final scene, which was replaced by a scratch track from voice actor [[Creator/PaulFrees Paul Frees]]. Making matters worse is that Universal only has a 16mm B-roll of the film archived and are apathetic to finding a 35mm source at present.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: As of 2015, ABC Family/Freeform has taken to cutting out the song "When The Goose Is Hanging High", presumably to retain precious advertising time. This means that the movie transitions from Aaron fleeing into the desert following his parents' murder, to the scene in Jerusalem. When AMC acquired the rights to all post-1974 Rankin-Bass specials in 2018, the song was restored in Freeform's airings.
* TalkingToHimself: The Three Kings and their servant discussing how to replace their weary camel -- are ''all'' Paul Frees.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem, as well as a piece of narration by Greer Garson in the final scene being replaced by a scratch track from voice actor [[Creator/PaulFrees Paul Frees]]. Making matters worse is that Universal only has a 16mm BRoll of the film archived and are apathetic to finding a 35mm source at present.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem, as well as a piece of narration by Greer Garson in the final scene being replaced by a scratch track from voice actor [[Creator/PaulFrees Paul Frees]]. Making matters worse is that Universal only has a 16mm B-roll of the film archived and are apathetic to finding a 35mm source at present.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem, as well as a piece of narration from Greer Garson in the final scene being replaced by a scratch track from voice actor [[Creator/PaulFrees Paul Frees]]. Making matters worse is that Universal only has a 16mm B-roll of the film archived and are apathetic to finding a 35mm source at present.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem. Making matters worse is that Universal only has a 16mm B-roll of the film archived and are apathetic to finding a 35mm source at present.

* SequelGap: ''Book II'' came out eight years after it's predecessor.

* DigitalDestruction: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: As of 2015, ABC Family/Freeform has taken to cutting out the song "When The Goose Is Hanging High", presumably to retain precious advertising time. This means that the movie transitions from Aaron fleeing into the desert following his parents' murder, to the scene in Jerusalem. When AMC acquired the rights to all Rankin-Bass specials not held by CBS or ABC in 2018, the song was restored (in fact, AMC restored everything Freeform had cut in their airings of the specials).

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: As of 2015, ABC Family/Freeform has taken to cutting out the song "When The Goose Is Hanging High", presumably to retain precious advertising time. This means that the movie transitions from Aaron fleeing into the desert following his parents' murder, to the scene in Jerusalem.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: As of 2015, ABC Family/Freeform has taken to cutting out the song "When The Goose Is Hanging High", presumably to retain precious advertising time. This means that the movie transitions from Aaron fleeing into the desert following his parents' murder, to the scene in Jerusalem, not explaining at all how he came to be there nor why he is apparently enslaved by a showman.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. Unlike the orginal mono mix, this mix leaves out a number of crucial sound effects, most notably Aaron's drumming sounds and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Paul Frees, voice of Ali and the Magi, as well as assorted other minor characters, is probably best remembered as Boris Badanov from ''RockyAndBullwinkle'', and is also the "Ghost Host" from Disney's Haunted Mansion rides.
** He's also Toucan Sam. Kinda puts a new spin on the story: "How do we get to Bethlehem? Just follow my nose!"
** JuneForay, the voice of Rocky and Natasha Fatale, is Aaron's mother.
** Greer Garson, who played the titular Mrs. Miniver, is the Narrator in the original special and its sequel.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases feature an unreleased stereo soundtrack that was added during restoration of the special. This mix leaves out numerous sound effects, most notably the drumming sound effects and the crowd commotion during Aaron's performance at Jerusalem.

** JuneForay, the voice of Rocky and Natasha Fatale, is Aaron's mother.