12 Blogs of Christmas Day Two: The Christmas Toy

While Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is our favorite Jim Henson Muppet Christmas special, The Christmas Toy is a close second. This is produced by Jim Henson, but not directed by him, since, when it was produced in 1986, the Muppets were much bigger business, and presumably Henson was busy with other things. It’s still a great TV special. I remember loving it on its original broadcast, and that love hasn’t faded a bit in the intervening years.

(Spoilers after the jump. Although, again, this special is 21 years old, long past the spoiler statute of limitations.)

It tells the story of the toys in Jamie and Jesse’s household, particularly focusing on Rugby, last year’s Christmas toy. In this story, toys have their own secret lives when children aren’t around. However, when humans come around, the toys need to be back in the exact place where they were last seen, or they will really become lifeless toys forever.

This year, the other toys try to explain to Rugby that while he was last year’s Christmas toy, and Jesse’s favorite, he needs to be prepared for the arrival of this year’s Christmas toy, the big present that may very well displace him from Jesse’s affections. Rugby is in complete denial, and decides to open this year’s present, climb into the box, and take the new toy’s place.

The new toy is Meteora, a science fiction action figure who is completely unaware that she is a toy. Naturally, Rugby’s plan is a complete failure. The other toys, led by Apple, the doll that Rugby had replaced as the Christmas toy, and Mew—the catnip mouse—need to get Meteora back in her box and Rugby back in the playroom before the humans wake up, find Rugby out of place, and he is lost to them forever.

Of course, it doesn’t go smoothly, and of course, there’s a moment of heartbreaking tragedy that never fails to bring a tear to my eye. But (spoilers) it’s a holiday special, so everything works out okay in the end.

This is one of those productions that works particularly well for the muppets, because the characters are toys. And, like the best muppet productions, it works because the characters are three-dimensional and emotionally real. Rugby is a jerk and full of himself and treats Mew badly, but Mew sticks up for him and watches out for him anyway, because sometimes friendship looks below the surface. 

And, of course, the story of a favorite toy afraid of being displaced in a child’s affections by a new toy, particularly one that’s a flashy new science fiction action figure is a great idea for a film. So great, in fact, that on the surface, it seems impossible to believe that the makers of Pixar’s Toy Story weren’t influenced by this special. Of course, the end products are two completely different productions in execution and in the details, but the broad strokes are uncannily similar. 

This special was spun off into the series The Secret Life of Toys, which doesn’t seem to be available on home video, which is kind of sad. That series was produced after Jim Henson’s passing, but I remember it being a fun continuation of these toys’ lives.

Yesterday, I talked about how Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is very much a Christmas story at its emotional core, but without all the surface trappings of Christmas. This one is all about the surface trappings of Christmas, but goes beyond that to, once again, remind the viewer that once you get past the wrapping and the presents, friendship, love, and family—either the one you’re born into or the one you find forming around you—is what really matters.