We are back in the Rankin/Bass cinematic universe for the first Frosty sequel, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. Essentially just a riff on Bride of Frankenstein, the special has next to no plot. Jack Frost makes his first Rankin/Bass appearance, decidedly at odds with his next two appearances in Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July and Jack Frost, but when has Rankin/Bass ever cared about continuity? Ian tries to make sense of the chaos.

This will be our final holiday episode for 2025! Be sure to check out all our other holiday episodes. Happy Holidays everyone!

We are back in the Rankin/Bass cinematic universe with the Cricket on the Hearth. One of the earliest specials in their canon, Cricket is a bit of a mess. The animation is somewhat solid, but the characters are a bunch of morons and the music is awful. What else is new?

This special is pretty awful and should be avoided by everyone other than Rankin/Bass completionists. No wonder it’s taken us this long to cover it! Watch at your own risk. 

We’re back in the Rankin/Bass cinematic universe. Ian covers the classic Frosty the Snowman, the most normal of the hand-drawn animated holiday specials. Ian unpacks Professor Hinkle’s villainy, and the beauty of Frosty’s existential musings. Hinkle’s tracking abilities don’t make a lot of sense, but at least we have a Santa Claus who isn’t completely worthless for once.

Ever wonder what a St. Patrick’s Day special would look like if it suddenly became a Christmas show?

The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold is easily the worst stop-motion Rankin/Bass Christmas special, twenty-four minutes of nonsense with practically no redeeming qualities. Ian does not recommend this show at all, but we at Estradiol Illusions are nothing if not Rankin/Bass completionists.

Watch this garbage at your own risk! We tried to do it justice on the pod. We’re sorry that any of this exists.

Our Christmas coverage begins! Ian revisits the 1964 special Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer for an episode that’s more stylistically in line with our Rankin/Bass episodes than the first one we did in 2020.

Ian still has a lot of complex feelings about this special, namely it’s Axis of Awful (Santa, Donner, and Coach Comet). It’s definitely problematic, but there’s a reason people love this one so much.

Be sure to check out all of EI’s Rankin/Bass holiday episodes. 

EI’s original Rudolph episode: https://ianthomasmalone.podbean.com/e/rudolph-a-transgender-perspective/

Ian’s original Rudolph article: https://ianthomasmalone.com/2017/12/a-transgender-perspective-on-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer/