History WesternAnimation / RankinBassJackFrost

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackfrost_3536.png]]
In this 1979 Creator/{{Rankin Bass|Productions}} winter special, reporters from all over the USA are gathering to see Pardon-Me Pete, the groundhog that does the whole Groundhog Day thing. He sees his shadow and runs back inside, but wait! There's no sun to make any shadows! Cut to inside the burrow, where Pete talks to [[BreakingtheFourthWall the camera]]. He decides to explain all about a little agreement he has with Jack Frost...

* GenderFlip: The main plot is very similar to Hans Christian Andersen's "Literature/TheLittleMermaid": a water elemental falls in love with a human after rescuing them from drowning and becomes human in order to win their love. Added to that, the love interest never realizes the truth, and marries a noble who they believe was the one who saved their life. To further cement this, the elemental "dies" at their loved one's marriage to another.

* AnimalsHateHim: Kubla Krauss. No living creature can bear to be around him, so, to quote the narrator, "he had his horse Clangstomper, who ran by steam, and Fetch-Kvetch the butler, who ran by clockwork. Even the mice were mechanical!"

* GenderFlip: The main plot is very similar to Hans Christian Andersen's TheLittleMermaid: a water elemental falls in love with a human after rescuing them from drowning and becomes human in order to win their love. Added to that, the love interest never realizes the truth, and marries a noble who they believe was the one who saved their life. To further cement this, the elemental "dies" at their loved one's marriage to another.

In this 1979 RankinBass winter special, reporters from all over the USA are gathering to see Pardon-Me Pete, the groundhog that does the whole Groundhog Day thing. He sees his shadow and runs back inside, but wait! There's no sun to make any shadows! Cut to inside the burrow, where Pete talks to [[BreakingtheFourthWall the camera]]. He decides to explain all about a little agreement he has with Jack Frost...

* ForgoneConclusion: Jack Frost clearly is still a magic spirit at the beginning of the short which seems to take place in TheSixties.

* GenderFlip: The main plot is very similar to Hans Christian Andersen's TheLittleMermaid: a water elemental falls in love with a human after rescuing them from drowning and becomes human in order to win their love, but the love interest does not recognize the truth and marries another.

--> '''Fetch-Kvetch:''' How can you woo her? She doesn't ''like'' you!

* DeadpanSnarker: Fetch-Kvetch the clockwork butler has moments like this. His responses to Kubla Krauss's IWantSong fit the bill.

* KingArthur: He doesn't appear, but when Sir Raveneau comes back to January Junction, Elisa explains that he's been away in Arthur's service. For
whatever reason, Arthur gave the knight permission to go home for Christmas.

* ImagineSpot: Imagine ''song'', technically. Too poor to afford Christmas gifts, the denizens of January Junction pass around a single box and pantomime their ideal gifts, even putting up a token fuss for good measure. [[note]]For those playing along at home, said gifts are a hat, a mirror, a shawl, and a watch.]][[/note]]

* ImagineSpot: Imagine ''song'', technically. Too poor to afford Christmas gifts, the denizens of January Junction pass around a single box and pantomime their ideal gifts, even putting up a token fuss for good measure. [note]For those playing along at home, said gifts are a hat, a mirror, a shawl, and a watch.]][/note]

* ImagineSpot: Imagine ''song'', technically. Too poor to afford Christmas gifts, the denizens of January Junction pass around a single box and pantomime their ideal gifts, even putting up a token fuss for good measure. [[note]For those playing along at home, said gifts are a hat, a mirror, a shawl, and a watch.]][/note]

* KingArthur: He doesn't appear, but when Sir Raveneau comes back to January Junction, Elisa explains that he's been away in Arthur's service. For whatever reason, Arthur gave the knight permission to go home for Christmas.

* AnachronismStew: The main setting seems to be roughly late medieval Russia, but Sir Raveneau was serving King Arthur, who, if he ever existed, would have lived about a thousand years earlier. Punxsutawney Phil, meanwhile, traditionally began in 1887, and is of course an American tradition, despite the fact that this story is set long before the United States should even exist.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Kubla Krauss, Raveneau Rightfellow, Pardon-Me Pete

* BlingOfWar: Sir Raveneau's golden armor

* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl]]
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Inverted with the villain, Kubla Krauss. No living creature can bear to be around him, so, to quote the narrator, "he had his horse Clangstomper, who ran by steam, and Fetch-Kvetch the butler, who ran by clockwork. Even the mice were mechanical!"

* KnightInShiningArmor: Sir Raveneau Rightfellow, Elisa's rescuer [[spoiler:and eventual husband]]

* LoveTriangle: Technically a square, since Jack, Kubla Kraus and [[spoiler:Raveneau]] all have a thing for Elisa.

In this 1979 RankinBass winter special, reporters from all over the USA are gathering to see Pardon-Me Pete, the groundhog that does the whole Groundhog Day thing. He sees his shadow and runs back inside, but wait! There's no sun to make any shadows! Cut to inside the burrow, where Pete talks to [[BreakingtheFourthWall the camera]]. He decides to explain all about a little agreement he has with Jack Frost... And then Pete gets into the story of who Jack Frost is, considering that his audience apparently doesn't know.

Jack Frost (voiced by Robert Morse) is the personification of winter, who uses his icy breath to bring ice and snow to the world. One day, as he's swooping invisibly through the town of January Junction, he overhears a conversation in which a young woman named Elisa playfully tells her family that the only person she's in love with is him. Intrigued, he follows her, and is the only witness when she's knocked aside by the villainous Kubla Krauss as he rushes by on his horse. As Elisa tumbles toward the lake and her death, Jack quickly freezes the water so that she slides harmlessly across the surface. She laughs, calling him a hero, and Jack decides that he returns her love.

He returns to his home in the skies, and appeals to Father Winter (Paul Frees) for aid. Father Winter allows him to become human, but warns him that he has until the first day of spring to win his wife and provide her with a house, gold, and a horse, or he must return to sprite form. Jack is sent to January Junction in the human guise of Jack Snip, a tailor. Two other sprites, Snip and Holly, are also turned human in order to help him.

Jack easily befriends Elisa, who is charmed by him, but he learns to his chagrin that she secretly idolizes the golden-armored Sir Raveneau Rightfellow. Not long after, she is abducted by Kubla Krauss, and Jack learns that this individual controls all the land, timber and gold that once belonged to the people of January Junction. He endeavors to rescue Elisa, clumsily, but she is properly saved by Sir Raveneau; Jack and his friends are meanwhile captured by the enraged Kubla Krauss, who vows to destroy the community with his "Ka-Nights." Jack calls out to Father Winter, who returns him to sprite form so that he may trap the castle in a terrible snowstorm. On Groundhog Day, he causes Pardon-Me Pete to see his shadow, in order to buy extra time to keep Kubla Krauss trapped, but the deadline of spring is still approaching.

Finally, with only an hour left before spring arrives, Jack ends the storm and returns to his human form. He battles with Kubla Krauss, who falls out of a castle window, and thus Jack lays claim to his castle, horse, and gold. He rushes to propose to Elisa...[[spoiler:only to find that she and Sir Raveneau have fallen in love over the winter and are about to be married. He lets her go, only ducking past the church as they come out and blowing on Elisa's bridal bouquet to turn the flowers white. Elisa stares, realizing who it must have been, and says that "An old friend just kissed the bride."]]

* ConsultingMrPuppet: Because no living thing can stand Kubla Krauss, the only thing he can talk to is his metal puppet, Dahmi.

Not to be confused with either of [[JackFrost the movies]], especially the horror one.

* HairOfGold: Elisa, her knight, and Jack as a human.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Kubla Krauss, Raveneau Rightfellow