B.C.: A Special Christmas

• Directed by Vlad Goetzelman
• December 1981
• HBO
• Based on B.C. created by Johnny Hart

Voice Cast

• Peter-Bob Elliott
• Wiley-Ray Goulding
• Fat Broad-Barbara Hamilton
• Thor-Henry Ramer
• Clumsy Carp-Keith Hampshire
• Curls-John Stocker
• Cute Chick-Melleny Melody as Melleny Brown

Peter enlists Wiley to help come up with a myth around the idea of giving with an eye towards making a profit off of the selflessness of others.

Having watched B.C.: The First Thanksgiving from the 70s and subsequently learning this existed I decided to give B.C.: A Special Christmas a shot because, well, why not? I have some knowledge of the B.C. characters, but their star has certainly waned since their heyday with my memory of them doing the same. It happens. Even Popeye no longer resonates in the popular culture mindset like he once did aside from a horror themed film.

In contrast to the Thanksgiving special, this is a more connected storyline rather than being a series of gags. An issue I see is that it’s not strongly Christmas centered. If this does have a message it could be: Santa is a myth perpetuated for retail purposes or that The Nativity is a myth that people believe. I am not sure how either square with B.C. creator Johnny Hart’s turn towards faith later in life.

Not sure when that life event occurred but I don’t think it occurred when this came out considering his involvement and the presentation we got. I would presume a person of any faith would not authorize something like this but that’s a supposition on my part. In contrast to the Thanksgiving special the characters come out of this mildly changed, but only in so far that they are open to the possibility of Santa Claus.

In a bout of cynicism Peter and Wiley conjure the story of Santa to sell cut rate gifts at elevated prices to their friends. They stumble upon the reindeer and Santa and in the end are trying to figure out what exactly happened.

Maybe when this came out the characters didn’t need to be introduced in some way either by name or something that gave context but in the light of modern day you are left wondering who exactly they are. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, or any number of others-even their sequels-at the minimum remind you of the characters making them understandable decades later.

The animation isn’t bad. They don’t reinvent the wheel meaning the characters look like they come straight from the strip. There’s no attempt to tweak or alter the design to do anything more dynamic than what you might see in the paper of the time. With the message muddled or nonexistent, the humor is ‘meh.’ Music to set the tone? What music? Nothing makes this stand out other than it is connected to a once well known strip. It is not even that special as a one off.

B.C.: A Special Christmas is a pretty forgettable 30 minutes of your life. It’s not strongly Christmas centered and without any idea who the characters are or what their characteristic traits are you just can’t care. Available on YouTube to view as a curiosity but not as a must see.