History WesternAnimation / RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer

* DamnedByFaintPraise: The rehearsal of "We Are Santa's Elves" is met with a lukewarm reception by Santa, but praised by Mrs. Claus, and the Boss Elf criticizes the elf choir afterwards:

* StayInTheKitchen: When Donner's wife asks if she can help look for Rudolph, he responds, "No. This is man's work." Joined by Clarice, she follows up, though, and it gets worse for both of them when they all get captured by the Abominable Snow Monster.

** The original 1964 broadcast differs from later versions through Rudolph's and Hermy's performance of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwlOUAAyPQE We're a Couple of Misfits]]," Donner expressing pride in his son guiding Santa's sleigh, Yukon Cornelius striking peppermint, and elves dropping presents from the sleigh during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC5QFhZ7ZMo&feature=plcp the end credits]].

** Also the elf foreman, who sounds exactly like YosemiteSam.

* RoleReprisal: Billie May Richards[[note]]Originally credited as [[GenderBlenderName "Billy]] Richards"[[/note]] provided the voice for Rudolph in every Rankin-Bass special featuring the character until her death. A curious example occurs in the 2006 special, where Kathleen Barr from the Goodtimes animation reprises Rudolph, despite the interpretation following the Rankin-Bass continuity.

* VocalDissonance: During the opening for the "We are Santa's elves" song, the Head Elf jarringly switches from his normal Yosemite Sam-esque growl to a nasally Porky Pig-like whine, clearly voiced by a different actor, for several lines with no explanation.

''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' is a StopMotion animated ChristmasSpecial made by Creator/RankinBassProductions and first broadcast on Creator/{{NBC}} (under the ''General Electric Fantasy Hour'' umbrella) in 1964.

Rudolph was created in 1939 by Robert L. May, an advertising copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, after his employer asked him to come up with a short Christmas-themed storybook to give to customers during the holiday season. The Rudolph story was further popularized a decade later when May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, adapted it into a catchy ditty, which was subsequently made into a #1 hit record by singing cowboy Creator/GeneAutry. The song became a Christmas holiday standard, and eventually inspired the creation of the TV special (in which Burl Ives performs the tune).

* InkSuitActor: Burl Ives' Sam, again.
** As per normal with [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin/Bass]] narrators. [[WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown Fred Astaire as S.D. Kluger]] and [[WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman Jimmy Durante]], anyone?

* KarmaHoudini: Except for Yukon Cornelius, all of the adults around Rudolph treat him in a way that borders emotional abuse. They never get called out or face any consequences, his InformedDeformity just turns out to be useful, and they accept him. (The exception being Donner, who we get an apology from before the big Santa epiphany.)

* LaserGuidedKarma: The Big Snow is hinted to have been caused by Santa's unusually jerkish behavior over the past year; earlier in the special he came across as a bit more reasonable, whereas the next year he's shown to be putting down the elves' premiere performance of "We Are Santa's Elves" (and the elves decide that Hermey is to blame for not being there to back the tenor section) and chewing out Donner for his part in deliberately hiding Rudolph's nose. That's right, the man who puts coal in the stockings of naughty children was being naughty himself that year, and just after he voided his KarmaHoudiniWarranty by coming to Rudolph for help when Donner goes missing, the Big Snow hit and almost caused Christmas to be cancelled. At the very least, it taught Santa a valuable lesson in humility and tolerance.
** In the sequel ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'', however, it's revealed that the foggy weather was caused by the warlock Winterbolt, in an attempt to prevent Santa from making his Christmas Eve rounds.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: A line in the song makes it the TropeNamer.

* KarmaHoudini: All of the adults around Rudolph treat him in a way that borders emotional abuse. They never get called out or face any consequences, his InformedDeformity just turns out to be useful and they accept him. (The exception being Donner, who we get an apology from before the big Santa epiphany.)
** Yukon Cornelius is actually the ONLY adult who isn't a jerkass at all!
* KidsAreCruel: Fireball and the other young reindeer that start calling Rudolph by such nicknames as "Firesnout", "big nose" and "schnoz" once they find out about his nose.

* {{Narrator}}: Sam the Snowman and the original special, and Father Time in ''Shiny New Year''.

* {{Narrator}}: Sam the Snowman.

* ViewersAreMorons: The Toy Bandit doesn't know the meaning of the word "surrender", just for the sake of having it be explained to the target audience.

** The Dc Comics miniseries takes place in its own distinct continuity as well. Its also an official part of the DC multiverse despite DC only licensing the character,

Directly followed (with diminishing returns) by ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' in 1976 and the crossover movie ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'' in 1979, while the characters re-appeared in the 2001 CGI film ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys'' (also made by [=GoodTimes=], ironically.)

** Most [=DVDs=], Blu-Ray Discs, and digital copies released by either Golden Books Family Entertainment or Classic Media feature the cut that most closely matches the original broadcast. It includes "We're a Couple of Misfits" and the uncut "We Are Santa's Elves," and also places Donner's and Yukon Cornelius' final scenes right before the scenes of the Misfit Toys becoming presents. However, it does not include the original end credits sequence (as the original color version is actually lost, only existing in black-and-white form), and Classic Media [=DVDs=] produced from 2005-2006 are inexplicably missing Donner's and Yukon Cornelius' final scenes.

* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQvbJ-spKuU There's Always Tomorrow]].

* SpinningPaper: This is how the special begins, with live-action footage of people stuck in snow while newspapers fly up at the screen, with headlines screaming about a cold wave bringing snowstorms so severe that they threaten Christmas.

''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' is a StopMotion animated ChristmasSpecial made by Creator/RankinBassProductions and first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} (as part of the ''General Electric Fantasy Hour'') in 1964.