Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

If I live to be a hundred,

I'll never be able to forget that big snowstorm...

a couple of years ago.

The weather closed in, and, well, you might not believe it,

but the world almost missed Christmas.

Oh, excuse me. Call me Sam.

What's the matter?

Haven't you ever seen a talking snowman before?

Nice around here, isn't it?

I call it Christmas Town, better known as the North Pole.

The Christmas Tree Forest. Yep, here's where we grow them.

Nice place to live, you know.

Christmas seals.

The number-one citizens up here...

are the Clauses: Santa and the missis.

They live right over there, first castle on the left.

Matter of fact, the only castle on the left.

Papa, you haven't touched a morsel!

I'll have to take this suit in! Eat!

I'm busy, Mama! It's almost Christmas!

Whoever heard of a skinny Santa?

Eat! Eat!

Don't any of you worry your heads about Santa.

Mrs. Claus will have him plenty fattened up by Christmas Eve.

It's always the same story.

Ahh! I love this Christmasy time of year,

especially when everything is running happy and smooth...

like it is this season.

Nothing like that year of the big snowstorms.

I don't know what we would have done...

without Rudolph to pull us through.

Anyway... hmm, Rudolph?

Could it be some of you are not acquainted...

with the story of Rudolph?

Well, pull up an ice block and lend an ear.

Now, you know how Santa uses these flying reindeer...

to pull his sleigh.

You know Dasher and Dancer...

and Prancer and Vixen...

Comet and Cupid...

and Donner and Blitzen...

Well, now, let me tell you about Rudolph.

It all started a couple of years before the big snow.

It was springtime, and Santa's lead reindeer Donner...

had just become a proud papa.

Nah, we'll call him Rudolph.

Rudolph is a lovely name. Rudolph.

Hey, hey! He knows his name already!

Papa. Mama.

He's got a shiny nose!

Shiny? I'd even say it glows!

Well, we'll simply have to overlook it.

How can you overlook that?

His beak blinks like a blinking beacon!

Well, Donner, where's the new member of the family?

After all, if he's going to be on my team someday,

he'd better get to know me.

Well, hi there. Aren't you the sturdy little fellow?

Santa?

And smart, too!

Great bouncing iceberg!

I'm sure it'll stop when he grows up, Santa.

Well, let's hope so if he wants to make the sleigh team someday.

You see, little fellow,

every year I shine up my jingle bells...

for eight lucky reindeer.

Ho ho!

Bye-bye.

Oh, Santa's right.

He'll never make the sleigh team.

Wait a minute! I've got it!

We'll hide Rudolph's nose.

- Hide it? - Yeah.

Come here, boy.

You'll be a normal little buck just like everybody else, right?

A chip off the old antlers.

Now, now. You'll get used to it.

Put it there, son.

Aw, gee.

For the first year, the Donners did a pretty fair job...

of hiding Rudolph's, uh, nonconformity.

Donner taught Rudolph all the ins and outs...

of being a reindeer:

how to get food, how to fight off enemies, things like that.

But most important...

Most important of all, he taught his son to beware...

of the Abominable Snow Monster of the North.

He's mean, he's nasty,

and he hates everything to do with Christmas.

Now, aside from the Abominable, business goes on as usual.

And soon it is right before Christmas,

and everybody is getting ready for that big, big sleigh ride...

on the night of the 24th-- Christmas Eve!

See, all the toys Santa brings are made by these elves.

Seems elves have that certain knack for toy-making.

All except for this one misfit.

Hermey!

Aren't you finished painting that yet?

There's a pileup a mile wide behind you.

What's eating you, boy?

Not happy in my work, I guess.

What?!

I just don't like to make toys.

Oh, well, if that's all.

What?! You don't like to make toys?

No.

Hermey doesn't like to make toys.

Oh, shame on you!

Mind telling me what you do want to do?

Well, sir, someday I'd like to be a dentist.

A dentist?!

Well, we need one up here.

I've been studying. It's fascinating. You've no idea.

Molars and bicuspids and incisors.

Now, listen, you. You're an elf, and elves make toys.

Now get to work!

10 minutes break!

Not for you!

Finish the job, or you're fired!

Ah, well. Such is the life of an elf.

Meanwhile, Rudolph is having his growing pains, too.

Old Donner is determined to keep Rudolph's nose a secret.

All right, son. Try it on.

I don't wanna. Daddy, I don't like it.

You'll like it and wear it.

Oh, but, Daddy!

It's not very comfortable!

There are more important things than comfort: self-respect.

Santa can't object to you now.

And so time passes.

Christmas comes and goes on schedule, and soon it is April,

when all the new fawns come out with their folks...

to meet the other new fawns and to be inspected by Santa.

Now, don't worry about your nose, son.

Just get out there and do your stuff.

Remember, you're my little buck.

Hi. My name's Fireball. What's yours?

- Rudolph. - You can be my buddy.

- Where are we going? - The reindeer games.

Makes antlers grow.

Besides, it's a great way to show off in front of the does.

Ah, youth.

Meanwhile, the elves are bustling with activity.

Christmas is over, but they still keep busy with lessons...

in elf improvement.

All out for elf practice!

Let's get this over with.

I have to look over the new deer.

OK, Santa. Let's try out the new elf song I wrote.

And remember, it's for Santa.

And a-1 and a-2 and a-3...

Hmm. Well, it needs work. I have to go.

What does Papa know?

It's beautiful. You keep it just the way it was.

Papa? Papa!

That sounded terrible!

The tenor section was weak.

Wasn't our fault, boss. Hermey didn't show up.

What?

Now, this won't hurt a bit.