Believe in Santa
December 25, 2019 5:27 PM Subscribe
Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa Featuring the vocal talents of Mark Hamill, Jodi Benson, Nancy Cartwright, and Walter Emanuel Jones, Rapsittie Street Kids aired during the holiday season of 2002. It was supposed to be the first of a new series of holiday specials from Wolf Tracer Studios. Instead, it was never heard from again.
This is because it is one of the most disastrously awful things to have ever aired on network television. Supposedly the producer, Chris Rose, handed over $500,000 for production and never once inspected the results until the final product aired.
After 2002 the special was never aired again, and was presumed lost, with the only known footage from a Wolf Tracer Studios demo reel. In 2015, Dycaite, founder of the Lost Media Wiki, managed to contact Chris Rose and purchase a high resolution copy of the original, and released it to the world.
This is because it is one of the most disastrously awful things to have ever aired on network television. Supposedly the producer, Chris Rose, handed over $500,000 for production and never once inspected the results until the final product aired.
After 2002 the special was never aired again, and was presumed lost, with the only known footage from a Wolf Tracer Studios demo reel. In 2015, Dycaite, founder of the Lost Media Wiki, managed to contact Chris Rose and purchase a high resolution copy of the original, and released it to the world.
I had better character animation software on my Mac 8100 in 1995 for gods sake.
posted by aramaic at 5:56 PM on December 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 5:56 PM on December 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
The same studio later produced Dinosaur Island, a special so profoundly bad that, as noted by Saberspark, reviewer of bad cartoons, its dialogue appears to accidentally incorporate notes about how the script makes no sense.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:38 PM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by BiggerJ at 6:38 PM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Yeah, is there evidence this is not a Candle Cove situation?
posted by rikschell at 7:59 PM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 7:59 PM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
how much money would it take to undo what has been done
posted by Theta States at 8:17 PM on December 25, 2019
posted by Theta States at 8:17 PM on December 25, 2019
As intrigued as I am, I refuse to watch this in case it is not indeed Luke Skywalker, Ariel the Little Mermaid, Bart Simpson, and the Black Power Ranger joining together to learn about the spirit of Christmas.
posted by ejs at 8:23 PM on December 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by ejs at 8:23 PM on December 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
is there evidence this is not a Candle Cove situation?
I mean, the evidence of the actual thing itself being on YouTube (at the first link in the post) demonstrates that it is not just creepypasta/urban legend.
I suppose I can’t prove that someone did not produce the entire thing four years ago as a prank. But that would be a hell of a lot of dedication to a prank.
posted by snowmentality at 8:38 PM on December 25, 2019
I mean, the evidence of the actual thing itself being on YouTube (at the first link in the post) demonstrates that it is not just creepypasta/urban legend.
I suppose I can’t prove that someone did not produce the entire thing four years ago as a prank. But that would be a hell of a lot of dedication to a prank.
posted by snowmentality at 8:38 PM on December 25, 2019
As intrigued as I am, I refuse to watch this in case it is not indeed Luke Skywalker
Unfortunately, no; in this case it is actually Bigger Luke.
posted by cortex at 8:41 PM on December 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Unfortunately, no; in this case it is actually Bigger Luke.
posted by cortex at 8:41 PM on December 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
It's like they blew their budget on voice talent and then had like $300 to do the animation, it looks so bad I can hardly believe it's real. First saw this as a clip on Tumblr, starting here in the linked video.
Kid: Great Grandma, you always know what to say!
Grandma: Ohhohohhuehuehohgo CHRISTMAS
posted by drinkyclown at 9:12 PM on December 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Kid: Great Grandma, you always know what to say!
Grandma: Ohhohohhuehuehohgo CHRISTMAS
posted by drinkyclown at 9:12 PM on December 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Something to air back to back with the Star Wars holiday special. Thanks, I think.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:18 PM on December 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:18 PM on December 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
I really want to know what happened behind the scenes. Where did that money GO? How did they manage to sell this, sight unseen, to the WB? And who decided to go ahead with airing it?
BTW, in case anyone is excusing the horrible quality of the visuals because this aired in 2002, here's an episode of Jimmy Neutron from the same year (which I'm willing to bet had a MUCH smaller budget.)
posted by biddeford at 1:36 AM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
BTW, in case anyone is excusing the horrible quality of the visuals because this aired in 2002, here's an episode of Jimmy Neutron from the same year (which I'm willing to bet had a MUCH smaller budget.)
posted by biddeford at 1:36 AM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
The Nostalgia Critic turned a full episode over to this thing.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on December 26, 2019
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on December 26, 2019
Where did that money GO?
Given that Nancy Cartwright is credited as a producer (and therefore may have been the only member of the voice cast to actually know what the thing was going to look like) I can't help but wonder if this was some kind of Scientology money laundering scheme.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:11 AM on December 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
Given that Nancy Cartwright is credited as a producer (and therefore may have been the only member of the voice cast to actually know what the thing was going to look like) I can't help but wonder if this was some kind of Scientology money laundering scheme.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:11 AM on December 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
I am not sure that any person involved in the production of this special was aware that they were involved in the production of this special.
posted by delfin at 6:59 AM on December 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by delfin at 6:59 AM on December 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'd love to know what rendering software they used. The Comic Sans may be a clue that it's Windows-based. TrueSpace maybe? I remember goofing around with it back in the day. Whatever it is, it doesn't have Beizers for animation, and pretty much the most basic OpenGL 1.0 lighting model.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:14 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:14 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:41 PM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]