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Frosty Returns is a "sequel", or more of a reboot, to the Rankin/Bass Christmas special Frosty the Snowman, produced in 1992 by Bill Melendez Productions. It was first released directly to video on September 15, 1993, before making its televised premiere on CBS on December 1, 1995. The story, written by Oliver Goldstick from an earlier story treatment by Jim Lewis, includes no other characters from either the original special or Frosty's Winter Wonderland. Since Broadway Video co-produced this special (with CBS Entertainment Productions) and owned the 1969 original, it always follows CBS's annual broadcasts of Frosty the Snowman, despite the lack of continuity between the two specials.

Synopsis

Holly meets Frosty

The special begins with a musical number showing that the Beansboro Elementary School is canceled for the day due to a seven-inch snowfall, while the adults incessantly complain about the problems snow and ice cause, and the children enjoy the opportunity for playing with it. (Later in the special, however, many of the same children are shown rallying for the elimination of snow during school the next day.)

Meeting

Frosty arrives in the town of Beansboro and meets young Holly DeCarlo, a depressed and relatively lonely young girl and aspiring kid magician with only one friend, a tone-deaf, somewhat geeky character named Charles who apparently has a knack for climatology. Meanwhile, evil Mr. Twitchell has invented "Summer Wheeze", an aerosol spray that makes snow instantly disappear through unexplained means. He hopes to use the product to win over the people of Beansboro so that they will "make [him] their king" (he does not seem to realize that the "king of the winter carnival" is only an honorary title and has no real power). When one of the members of the town council voices concern about the environmental impact of the untested product, Twitchell has her dropped through a trapdoor.

Frostyreturns10

The town of Beansboro falls head over heels for "Summer Wheeze", delighting Twitchell but causing Frosty to be concerned about his safety. Holly gets Frosty to appear at the annual Beansboro Winter Carnival to persuade the townspeople to rethink their newfound hatred of snow. Singing about the joy of winter to the town, Frosty is unanimously declared king of the carnival. Holly and Frosty, however, allow Mr. Twitchell to still wear the cape and ride the sled of the carnival king as Frosty heads back to the North Pole.

Songs

Continuity

Despite its association with the 1969 special, Frosty Returns has a notable lack of continuity with it. For example, Frosty has a different physical appearance and is able to live without his top hat. In the original special and its sequels, the removal of Professor Hinkle's magic hat from Frosty's head caused him to cease being "all living" and become a regular snowman again. Frosty's hat in Frosty Returns is not even the same one from the original, since he is shown to have gotten it from Holly.

The reason behind his living without his hat possibly may be that in the original sequel produced by Rankin/Bass, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, he received a kiss from Crystal which allowed him to live without his hat. However, this does not explain why Frosty still needed his hat to live in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (or why Crystal did not simply kiss him to bring him back to life again in that movie).

Goofs

  • After Frosty is hit by the spray, Holly and Charles say that there isn't any more snow on the ground, when in fact there is.

Political undertones

The plot of this special is markedly more politically aware than its predecessors and successors, alluding to climate change, environmentalism corporate enterprise, and instead of a Christmas celebration, the term "winter carnival" is used. In fact, Christmas is not mentioned at all and Charles makes mention of creating a "fertility goddess" in the snow, possibly a reference to Frey, the Scandinavian Fertility God and a deity associated with peace and prosperity during winter solstice. Santa Claus is never mentioned either.

The use of aerosol cans hints to the use of fluorocarbons, which were used as propellants for decades before their potential to deplete the ozone layer was discovered in the 1970s. However, fluorocarbons had already been banned from aerosol cans in the United States when the special was produced, although the stigma associated with them remained. Trucks are used in the special to spray "Summer Wheeze" around the town, alluding to the use of DDT trucks in the 1950s.

Frosty no longer has a corn cob pipe. As such, the end credits skip over the verse mentioning it in the song, thus avoiding all references to smoking.

Availability

Frosty Returns has been released several times in the home media market. Up until 2019, it was included on most DVD releases and all Blu-ray releases of the original Frosty the Snowman, with the exceptions of the 2001 DVD release by Sony Wonder and the 2018 DVD and Blu-ray releases by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Universal released the special on its own DVD on November 5, 2019.

Edits

On CBS' more recent broadcasts, the opening and closing bookend shots with the narrator were inexplicably edited to remove the narrator himself, yet his narration was left in. The snowfall was also digitally erased.

Cast

Voice actor/actress Character
Jonathan Winters Narrator
John Goodman Frosty
Elisabeth Moss Holly DeCarlo
Michael Patrick Carter Charles
Brian Doyle-Murray Mr. Twitchell
Andrea Martin Ms. Carbuncle
Jan Hooks Lil DeCarlo
Steve Stoliar News Announcer
Townspeople
Mr. Twitchell's Goons
Phillip Glasser Kids
Gail Lynch Townspeople
Mearle
Objective Woman
Mindy Martin Kids

Gallery

External links

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