History WesternAnimation / TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas

The plot begins when the town of Junctionville has all of its letters to Santa Claus returned -- because a letter proclaiming that Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and soon discovers that his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter.

** To further emphasize this, on Christmas Eve some citizens are shown singing "Silent Night" - one of the most religious Christmas songs - while holding a vigil at the CLOCK TOWER! A song about the birth of Jesus is being used to try to summon Santa!

* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Albert wears a sweater and, later on, a baseball cap with the letter M, most likely standing for "Mouse".
* CelestialDeadline: The townsfolk run on the assumption that Santa will pass over on midnight on Christmas Eve/Day.

** Another case is Trundle's daughter whose outfit switches between pink and yellow a few times before settling on yellow.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Seriously, the townsfolk were much harder on Mr. Trundle (an established and respected tradesman) than was remotely justified in response from a failed demo.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Albert not believing Santa is real even if all it takes to demonstrate he's real is ''looking up to the sky on Christmas'' and Santa assuming that a letter decrying him as a fake anonymously signed as "All Of Us" actually means "all of us at Junctionville".
* EasilyForgiven: It could be argued that Santa never intended to hold a grudge against Junctionville after all. He's convinced to visit the town when he hears the clock playing the song... and he ''just so happens'' to have gifts for the town residents in his sleigh. Maybe he just wanted them to sweat a little.
** Subverted with Albert. When he tearfully apologizes, his father tells him "It's not enough to be sorry. You have to correct the thing you did." This inspires Albert to fix the clock - not because he believes in Santa, but because he's realized he [[MustMakeAmends has to make up]] for his accidental sabotage. Later, Father praises Albert's willingness to fix the clock with his mechanical know-how.

* FromBadToWorse: After the clock dramatically malfunctions, no one wants to give Joshua Trundle any work. Not only is Santa not bringing any gifts this year, he can't pay his bills or feed his family. This also affects the resident mice, since "crumbs don't fall from empty tables."
* GadgeteerGenius: Albert is ultimately able to fix the clock using a toolkit, a book, and his determination.

* LettersToTheEditor: The plot is kickstarted by one, an incredibly mean one written by Albert in which he decries Santa Claus as a fraud and a myth. All of the drama that ensues happens because he doesn't signs it as "Albert Mouse" or something similar, but rather as "All Of Us" -- and Santa assumes that it means ''all of us in Junctionville''.

** To further emphasize this, on Christmas Eve some citizens are shown singing 'Silent Night'- one of the most religious Christmas songs- while holding a vigil at the CLOCK TOWER! A song about the birth of Jesus is trying to be used to summon Santa!

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The Mayor strives for this, but usually runs out of steam midway through. Similarly, Albert's penchant for LittleProfessorDialog is what makes Father Mouse realize who wrote the letter that so offended Santa.

* SleepingSingle: Averted, a bit surprising with the apparent time period. Both Joshua Trundle and Father Mouse share their beds with their wives.

* StrawVulcan: Albert, who repeatedly rejects the concept of thinking with his heart and that Santa Claus is real, even though the existence of Santa Claus ''is an objective fact'' in this world.

* VagueAge: Albert is young but he could be anywhere from a [[ChildProdigy young child]] to a [[TeensAreShort teenager]].
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: All the mail is addressed to the residents of "Junctionville, U.S.A."
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* DisproportinateRetribution: Seriously, the townsfolk were much harder on Mr. Trundle (an established and respected tradesman) than was remotely justified in response from a failed demo.

* FlatEarthAtheist: Santa's existence is a demonstrable fact in this special. He makes no effort to hide himself when making deliveries, can receive and return mail, and even has switchboard operators representing him at the North Pole that you can call up at any time. Doesn't stop Albert from disbelieving.

** Albert also claims that "grown-ups never believe in Santa". Hard to see where he got that idea, since literally ''every'' grown-up in the special professes belief -- even the pompous mayor who authorizes a massive public works project just to please the jolly old elf.
* FromBadToWorse: After the clock malfunctions, no one wants to give Joshua Trundle any work. Not only is Santa not bringing gifts for his family, but he can't pay his bills or put food on the table. This also affects Albert's family, as the mice typically feed off scraps from Trundle's table.

* TheGrinch: Albert, who writes a mean-spirited letter denouncing Santa and his reindeer as a fraudulent myth rooted in unconscious fantasies and a deceitful lie, signing the letter as coming from "all of us".

* HeelRealization: Albert doesn't regret his actions until he sees the family he wronged singing a song about how they need to keep their hopes up, do what they can, and try to have faith that Christmas will turn out okay.

* LettersToTheEditor: The plot is kickstarted by one, an incredibly mean one written by Albert in which he decries Santa Claus as a fraud and a myth. All of the drama that ensues happens because he doesn't signs it as "Albert Mouse" or something similar, but rather as "All Of Us" -- and Santa assumes that it means ''everybody in town''.

* {{Narrator}}: Father Mouse

* NonHumanSidekick: The implication seems to be that most of the humans have a rodent equivalent who does the same job right alongside them. Trundle has Father Mouse helping in the clock shop; the postman has a mail mouse who rides on his shoulder to deliver mail to the other mice.

* SantaClaus: Convincing him to come is the object of the story.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The Mayor strives for this, but usually ends up stumbling over his words. Conversely, Albert's penchant for long words is what makes Father Mouse realize who wrote the letter that so offended Santa.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: All the mail is addressed to the residents of "Junctionville, U.S.A."

Meanwhile, clockmaker Joshua Trundle (Creator/JoelGrey) tries to makes a singing clock for the town in hopes of bringing Santa back. Things go from bad to worse when the clock publicly malfunctions, but in the end -- with the help of a HeelFaceTurn on Albert's part -- a happy Christmas ensues.

** Subverted with Albert. When he tearfully apologizes, his father tells him "It's not enough to be sorry. You have to correct the thing you did." This inspires Albert to fix the clock (not because he believes in Santa, but because he's realized he [[MustMakeAmends has to make up]] for his accidental sabotage.) Later on, he praises Albert's willingness to fix the clock with his mechanical know-how.

* JustInTime: Subverted in that Albert doesn't get the clock working until about a minute after the Midnight deadline, but Santa still hears the music and is convinced to visit the town.

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Father Mouse figures out that Albert was the one who wrote the letter because it's the only person he knows that is so verbose.

* TokenMinority: In this case, an entire TokenMinority ''family''. Among all of the white families, there is one black family.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: All the mail is addressed to the residents of "Junctionville, U.S.A."
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Meanwhile, clockmaker Joshua Trundle (Joel Grey) tries to makes a singing clock for the town in hopes of bringing Santa back. Things go from bad to worse when the clock publicly malfunctions, but in the end -- with the help of a HeelFaceTurn on Albert's part -- a happy Christmas ensues.

* YesVirginia: There is a SantaClaus -- and he apparently believes strongly in DisproportionateRetribution.

This animated ChristmasSpecial from Creator/RankinBassProductions, which first aired on Creator/{{CBS}} in 1974, uses Clement Clarke Moore's [[Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas famous poem]] as a hook for telling the story of one turn-of-the century family and their MouseWorld counterparts.

The plot begins when the town of Junctionville has all of its letters to Santa Claus returned -- because a letter proclaiming Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and soon discovers that his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter.

The plot begins when the town of Junctionville, New York has all of its letters to Santa Claus returned -- because a letter proclaiming Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and soon discovers that his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RankinBassTwasTheNightBeforeChristmas.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Not even a mouse...]]

A 1974 animated ChristmasSpecial from Creator/RankinBassProductions starts when the town of Junctionville has all of its letters returned from Santa Claus -- because a letter proclaiming Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and realizes his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter.

Meanwhile, clockmaker Joshua Trundle (Joel Gray) tries to makes a singing clock in hopes of bringing Santa back. Things go from bad to worse when the clock publicly malfunctions, but in the end -- with the help of a HeelFaceTurn on Albert's part -- a happy Christmas ensues.

Unlike most R/B productions, this featured 2D animation, rather than their usual StopMotion "Animagic".

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A 1974 animated ChristmasSpecial from Creator/RankinBassProductions starts when the town of Junctionville has all of its letters returned from Santa Claus -- because a letter proclaiming Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and realizes his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter. Meanwhile, clockmaker Joshua Trundle (Joel Gray) tries to makes a singing clock in hopes of bringing Santa back. Things go from bad to worse when the clock publicly malfunctions, but in the end -- with the help of a HeelFaceTurn on Albert's part -- a happy Christmas ensues. Unlike most R/B productions, this featured 2D animation, rather than their usual StopMotion "Animagic".

* ChristmasSpecial

* FlatEarthAtheist: Santa's existence is a demonstrable fact in this special. He makes no effort to hide himself when making deliveries, can receive and return mail, and even has official operators representing him at the North Pole that you can call up at any time. Doesn't stop Albert from disbelieving.

* LettersToTheEditor: The plot is kickstarted by one.

* StrawVulcan: Albert, who repeatedly rejects the concept of thinking with his heart, even though the existence of Santa Claus ''is an objective fact'' in this world.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Despite Rankin-Bass having done normal versions of Santa since ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', this version is vastly different, eschewing the usual full-facial beard for something more akin to an Amish beard and being short and stocky.

** Averted with Albert. When he tearfully apologizes, his father tells him "It's not enough to be sorry. You have to correct the thing you did." This inspires Albert to fix the clock (not because he believes in Santa, but because he's realized he [[MustMakeAmends has to make up]] for his accidental sabotage.)

* NoNameGiven: Most of the cast, including Trundle's two children and Father Mouse's non-Albert children.

A 1974 animated ChristmasSpecial from Creator/RankinBassProductions starts when the town of Junctionville has all of its letters returned from Santa Claus -- because a letter proclaiming Santa and his reindeer are fakes has appeared in the local paper and offended the jolly old elf. Father Mouse (George Gobel) investigates, and realizes his know-it-all son Albert (Tammy Grimes) has written the letter. Meanwhile, clockmaker Joshua Trundle (Joel Gray) tries to makes a singing clock in hopes of bringing Santa back. Things go from bad to worse when the clock publicly malfunctions -- but in the end, with the help of a HeelFaceTurn on Albert's part, a happy Christmas ensues. Unlike most R/B productions, this featured 2D animation, rather than the usual StopMotion puppet animation (called "Animagic").

** Averted with Albert. When he tearfully apologizes, his father tells him "It's not enough to be sorry. You have to correct the thing you did." This inspires Albert to fix the clock (not because he believes in Santa, but because he's learned that he can make mistakes.)
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Character example -- Father Mouse's name seems to be... Father Mouse. Even Trundle calls him that. He's a mouse who fathered children.

* FromBadToWorse: After the clock malfunctions, no one wants to give Trundle any work. Not only is Santa not bringing gifts for his family, but he can't pay his bills or put food on the table. This also affects Albert's family, as the mice typically feed off scraps from Trundle's table.

* HeelRealization: Albert doesn't seem to regret his actions until he sees the family he wronged singing a song about the need to keep their hopes up, do what they can, and trust Santa to do the rest.

* StrawVulcan: Albert, who repeatedly rejects the concept of thinking with his heart.

** Well, the special says that the offending letter was written by Albert ''and his friends'', who then signed the letter "All of Us." The implication is that Santa interpreted "All of Us" as not meaning "Albert and his Know-It-All Friends" but "The entire population of Junctionville, U.S.A."
*** If only Santa had some means of distinguishing who was naughty and who was nice, he could probably have cleared that up.
*** And yet only Albert is ever called to account. His friends are only mentioned as having written and posted the letter with him. They never come up again. It's all dumped on Albert and Albert alone, and only he ever is shown to have to atone, while his mentioned but unseen buddies are pretty much allowed to go unpunished.
*** Albert's the only one who messed with the clock. He had a lot more guilt on his shoulders than his friends, whoever they are, although they are unquestionably {{Karma Houdini}}s here.
*** He's also implied to be the one who ''wrote'' the letter, as its SesquipedalianLoquaciousness is such that Father Mouse immediately pegs it as ''Albert's'' writing, not merely the kind of thing his son's nerdy friends would collectively come up with.

* HaveAGayOldTime: Creator/ABCFamily removed the "Give Your Heart a Try" number for having the word "gay" in it when it re-aired the special.
** And then they brought it back in...