The Enchanted World of Rankin-Bass News

MAY 2005 NEWS!

A Cool Rankin/Bass Item from Christmas 2004!

Did you know there was a RANKIN/BASS RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER View-Master gift set released during the Holidays of 2004? It passed most of us by. It was one of the BEST items to come out to celebrate his 40th Anniversary too! We recently purchased a ours from 3Dstereo.com and it is VERY cool. Check them out! Many other Christmas themed reel sets are available on their site as well. Plus lots of neat 3d supplies for sale too! Everything one needs to begin exploring the exciting world of 3 Dimensional photography! Click the pic or the link above to visit the site!
The Rudolph Gift set is packaged on a decorated header card with the three reels and a GREEN & RED CHRISTMAS viewer. The Viewer is the new style with the clear top (To take in the light) and the RUBBER eye piece.

The photos in the set are from the ACTUAL RANKIN/BASS RUDOLPH TV Special that we all know and love (NOT the badly animated CGI thing that came out a few years back). Although the special was not shot with a special GAF View-master camera during production (Like THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY was), they somehow managed to give the photos the appearance that they were (Most likely with a computer). Some of the pictures are a bit grainy due to this process, BUT overall we HIGHLY RECOMMEND the set to all RANKIN/BASS collectors.
We missed the set during the holidays. A few people e-mailed us and told us TARGET had it. The TARGETS in our area did not. We were also told after CHRISTMAS, they were clearanced out!

Rick Invited to WGN as
Special Guest In Live Audience!

Rankin/Bass Historian Rick Goldscmidt
News anchor Larry Potash has invited RICK GOLDSCHMIDT And his sister LINDSEY to be part of WGN MORNING NEWS' first ever LIVE audience during their Friday MAY 20th broadcast! Rick has appeared several times over the years on WGN MORNING NEWS with LARRY.
WGN's Larry Potash

When You Think Of Michael....

The Jackson 5 Action Game

...Think of the HAPPIER and INNOCENT TIMES of the RANKIN/BASS J5 SHOW! Remember when Michael had his pet snake and RAY & CHARLES the mice on the RANKIN/BASS Cartoon series? This is how we prefer to remember MICHAEL. I'll never forget when someone stood up at the evening with ARTHUR RANKIN, JR. at the MUSEUM OF BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS (New York) and said "Can we have some MICHAEL stories?" Mr. Rankin replied, "I remember him as a very professional, talented and energetic kid. He was very nice and we worked well with Michael and his brothers."

rankinbass.com Helps With
Tolkien Documentary!

Producer CLIFF BROADWAY and Director CARLENE CORDOVA at PLANET BB ENTERTAINMENT requested some additional help from us with their award winning documentary on the work of TOLKIEN called RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS. We were only too happy to help, especially after seeing the film at the SUNDANCE/SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.

Their re-edited version of the film also recently screened at the NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL in California and the USA FILM FESTIVAL in Dallas, Texas.

The film was greeted with sell out crowds and standing ovations and it won the OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FILMMAKING: DOCUMENTARY AWARD at the NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL! CONGRATS to CLIFF & CARLENE!
Look for the film to be released on DVD hopefully sometime in the near future. We will keep you posted.

Did You Know?

Character sketch of Prymaat for the R/B series The Coneheads.

Did you know that RANKIN/BASS animated a special based on the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit called THE CONEHEADS? It was a cel-animated special written by FRANKEN & DAVIS and designed by Humorous Illustrator and friend JACK DAVIS. This special actually was the spark that led to Producer LORNE MICHAELS actually buying the early RANKIN/BASS Catalog in the 1980's through his BROADWAY VIDEO Company. Since then this catalog went to GOLDEN BOOKS FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT and then to CLASSIC MEDIA. The special was released once on VHS by WARNER BROTHERS HOME VIDEO many years ago.

Paul Coker's Hallmark Cards!

Many of you ask about PAUL COKER's work for HALLMARK CARDS. Most of his work appears overseas and he has done many different types of cards for Hallmark over the years. Here is an example of a Domestic card that appeared in U.S. Hallmark stores some years back. PAUL Definitely has a style of his own!

- Rick and Mark


			Did you know there was a RANKIN/BASS RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER View-Master gift set released during the Holidays of 2004? It passed most of us by. It was one of the BEST items to come out to celebrate his 40th Anniversary too! We recently purchased a ours from 3Dstereo.com and it is VERY cool. Check them out! Many other Christmas themed reel sets are available on their site as well. Plus lots of neat 3d supplies for sale too! Everything one needs to begin exploring the exciting world of 3 Dimensional photography! Click the pic or the link above to visit the site! The Rudolph Gift set is packaged on a decorated header card with the three reels and a GREEN & RED CHRISTMAS viewer. The Viewer is the new style with the clear top (To take in the light) and the RUBBER eye piece.

	The photos in the set are from the ACTUAL RANKIN/BASS RUDOLPH TV Special that we all know and love (NOT the badly animated CGI thing that came out a few years back). Although the special was not shot with a special GAF View-master camera during production (Like THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY was), they somehow managed to give the photos the appearance that they were (Most likely with a computer). Some of the pictures are a bit grainy due to this process, BUT overall we HIGHLY RECOMMEND the set to all RANKIN/BASS collectors. We missed the set during the holidays. A few people e-mailed us and told us TARGET had it. The TARGETS in our area did not. We were also told after CHRISTMAS, they were clearanced out!