Jim Henson Company The Christmas Toy

A Christmas Toy is a family favorite Christmas special that was originally released as a TV special back in 1986. I was fortunate enough to record the special on a video tape.Being a family favorite we did watch the video over and over again and the tape was beginning to show its age. So I shelved it for 5 years in the hopes that I would get a new tape. While a tape was released in the 90's, I pretty much all but forgotten about the special, until I thought of it again around the time I bought a DVD player. Alas, at that time the special wasn't released on that format, BUT was on VHS.Having kids of my own now, I decided to once again play the waiting game in favor of getting the show on the more 'permanent' DVD format since I know I would be playing it often. And as my memory has it, once again, I ended up forgetting about the show.Enter Christmas 2011 and the show came up in a family discussion 3 days before Christmas. Naturally I hopped on-line to see if the show was released on DVD. I was thrilled to find out that it was. So I immediately placed a rush order on the DVD so I would have it for Christmas.It was THEN after the fact, that I did some reading on the reviews to see what others thought about the special (in general), when I read that the beginning and ending were cropped from the DVD to remove the scenes that contained Kermit The Frog. While I was disappointed, I still decided to go through the purchase.Tonight (12-27-2011), I viewed the DVD with my sons and I must say that it is still a good purchase. The editing is done tastefully and in good places, so for those that never seen it before, you would really not know that there were deleted scenes. Still, I know they are gone.Doing a bit of research to find out why the DVD was released this way and not the VHS, I found out that the VHS release was done by Walt Disney Studios, which at that time owned the rights to all of Jim Henson's work.Today, Jim Henson's work is released under the Lionsgate name. However, the rights for the Muppets is still owned by Disney. Apparently it must have been too costly for Lionsgate to license the presence of Kermit The Frog in The Christmas Toy, so they probably did the next best thing...edit Kermit out.Now, would I have paid more to cover the licensing so that the special would be scene in it's entirety? Yes, probably. I like to see shows...especially those that have memorable meaning to my (and my family's) past, to be seen complete. So I have mixed feelings about the removal of the scenes with Kermit.That being said, the rest of The Christmas Toy was left intact. Nothing else was removed from the mid section of the show.I do know that Lionsgate tried to save a buck here, but as I said, in a case like this I would have paid a little extra just to have the special shown in it's entirety.For those that bought the DVD and have not seen the sections with Kermit, basically in the beginning, the show starts with Kermit the frog sitting on the edge of the chimney on the roof of the house where the story takes place. He begins his narration when he accidentally slips and falls into the children's playroom. He continues to describe to the audience the playroom and what happens when no one is around. He crawls back up the chimney exclaiming that it is "Harder getting up this thing than getting down". The scene then shifts to a mobile on the ceiling that starts to spin around and the opening number starts...this is where the DVD starts directly.At the end of the show, the song, "Old Friends, New Friends" had a reprise right after Jamie (the girl in the story) leaves the room. (The DVD ends right at this point). During the reprise that was cut out...Kermit enters the playroom and joins in. The main thing that I miss with this scene being cut out is that after the song ends you can see the old toys interacting with the new toys. For example, Meteora finds the Barbie doll and starts to chit chat with her. It is a major loss that the scenes are missing? No. But it would have been nice to have the show complete as I remember it.

This special, while being a warm, funny, and imaginative take on what happens to toys once kids leave the vicinity, contains a surprising bite of frigidness; the fear of being caught by humans, and the resulting death-like state that awaits all toys who step out of line, make this show unique, and timeless. Peppered with heartbreaking moments throughout, Christmas Toy also captures the tender feelings experienced by children on Christmas Day. This is not standard kiddie stuff, and adults should not shy away from watching this one.This story is about a roomful of toys and their adventures on Christmas Eve. Rugby the Tiger Cub is the little girl Jamie's favorite toy, and Apple the doll, Jamie's former favorite toy, is trying to make Rugby understand that a new favorite toy will be coming to replace Rugby tonight. Rugby refuses to believe it and ventures out to the living room to take his rightful place under the Christmas tree, but Apple and the rest of the toys know that if Rugby is found out of place by humans, he'll be frozen forever.There is genuine danger and suspense, as the toys actually "die" if caught outside the playroom by a human. For me, this film contains the suspense and excitement of Christmas Eve itself, the possibility of being caught, or catching Santa in the act - feelings I felt as a child sneaking down to the tree on Christmas Eve myself. I've always felt this film perfectly captured the magic, joy, and terrifying butterflies which reside in all children on Christmas Eve. I had a VHS copy of this when I was younger, but was ecstatic to find it on dvd a few years ago. The film is filled with life lessons, excitement, suspense, songs, laughter, and tears. Even as an adult, I still cry upon viewing.By far, one of the best Jim Henson movies ever made, though pretty much everything he made was the best. I think the last time they showed this was in 1993 or around that time, which was/is really heartbreaking, as it really is an excellent movie. I have been racking my brain for the past 10 years or so (around the holidays) trying to remember the name of this movie. Finally, just a few minutes ago i decided to put in a search engine, "jim henson christmas movie about toys" as i had to do with the obscure jim henson tv show called what people? "The Storyteller"If you weren't a video-phile like me, you wouldn't be able to tell this was shot in the 80's, the quality was perfect - not grainy or faded or anything! Unfortunately, I'm not much of an audio-phile, so I could not provide much on the sound quality except for the fact that it says on the back it is Dolby 2.0. The only thing that gave away the fact this movie was shot in the 80's was the types of clothes the people were wearing!!My one and only complaint is that the ending is a bit sugarcoated, the happy resolution is sudden, and seems to contradict several "rules" in the toy universe; however, I understand Henson's choice, as Christmas should ultimately be a happy, joyous occasion free from fear and sadness.

I watched this as a child and have very fond memories of being near Xmas and having a cosy afternoon watching this lovely film, it is a Jim Henson's puppet production and there is a version which starts and ends with Kermit the Frog climbing up the chimney - but this version had the scenes edited out, maybe due to copyright for Kermit I'm not sure?? The story is one of friendship and centres around the toys' anxiety on Xmas Eve when a 'new' toy will be the focus of little girl Jamie's affection. Although it was made in the 1980's it is still a modern, fun film and because of the puppets it does not feel too 'dated' when you watch it, I would recommend for children aged 3-10yrs.

I remember first watching this when I was 6 years old and now I'm 33. Just a simple touching funny story that's perfect for watching on Christmas eve.

I saw this film when i was a child and i am so pleased they have released it on dvd now so another generation of children can enjoy it. It will be lovely to watch on Christmas eve, and it doesn't seem to have 'aged' too badly as the context still fits with todays society. Before Toy Story there was this, and i like Toy Story but would choose this everytime.

My daughter loved this when she was small, as did I and she watched it again and again - the Tiger's song to ?Theodora sticks in my memory! I was so excited to find it out on DVD which meant I could buy it for my grandaughter - I can't wait to see it again and am looking forward to watching it with her!

We watched this film many times originally years ago when our son was little. Now he has his own children it was lovely that they could watch it and love it too. It is such a beautiful story and the characters are great. It keeps young kiddies interest as not too long. Glad we found it again. Love it. Mo 24.11.2011 The Christmas Toy [DVD ] The Christmas Toy [DVD ] The Christmas Toy [DVDThe Christmas Toy [DVD