The Twelve Days of Christmas, everyone's favorite Christmas carol. Have you ever wondered what was behind it all? First off, why 12 days of Christmas? Because back in ye olden days, Christmas actually spanned from December 25 to January 6. It's the truth, look it up. But why some odd gifts, like French hens, turtle doves and milking maids? Quite a mystery, but maybe this lighthearted, early '90s animated Christmas special will fill in the gaps. Our story is narrated by a partridge. Not Danny, or sadly even Laurie, but the partridge who lives in the pear tree in the song. She will tell us all about the Twelve Days of Christmas, whether we like it or not. Apparently it all started a very long time ago in the kingdom of Sir Carolboomer, a bold and fearless knight, and also kind of a jerk. He's smitten by the fair Princess Silverbell who lives in the castle a mile away, but she won't give him the time of day. Carolboomer refuses to give up so easily, so he sends his dedicated, yet nerdy squire, Arthur Hollyberry, to infiltrate the castle and purloin the princess's Christmas list so he can shower her with whatever gifts her moody heart desires. At the same time, however, she stops at the royal crossword puzzler's to pick up the answers to this week's puzzle, as her father the king is an avid crossword puzzle solver, and he's stumped. Hollyberry snatches one of the lists from her arms and takes it back to C.B., who assumes it to be her wish list. She wants very peculiar items: 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 French hens, etc., etc. So for the next 12 days, the princess was to be delivered each of the aforementioned, and he enlists Hollyberry to do it. First up: a partridge in a pear tree. Dumbfounded and disgusted, Silverbell orders them off the premises. Next day, two turtle doves AND the partridge in the pear tree. No dice; next day, Hollyberry pleads with some French hens to accompany him to the castle with the rest of the birds. Next day: four calling birds. It's at this point, it's made obvious that Princess Silverbell is allergic to birds.
Five golden rings, stolen from a giant. These managed to get her attention, but all the birds quickly turned her off. Guess this means she won't like the six geese a-layin' coming her way tomorrow. Hollyberry tries to convince Carolboomer that this is all a waste of time, but it was either keep giving the gifts or be murdered. Seven swans a-swimming... nope. Now while each gift failed with the princess, they managed to help the king on his crossword puzzle, so I guess it's not all in vain. Not wanting to incur the princess' wrath any more, the noble squire refuses to continue this charade, and so Sir Carolbozo locks him in the dungeon over night. The partridge encouraged him to keep going, as something was bound to make that mopey girl laugh. The eight maids a-milkin' a decent impression, but not so much the nine drummers drumming while she was trying to sleep. Ten pipers piping, with Hollyberry among them, except when he tried playing the bagpipe, he got hurt, which almost made the princess laugh. The next day, H.B. taught eleven dames to dance, and even got to dance with her highness. Yeah, it seemed as though things were starting to look up...until the princess fell into those damn birds again! Okay, last day of Christmas: 12 lords a leaping. Hollyberry manages to get twelve lords to the castle, and with some chili powder in their shoes, they're leaping all over the place. The princess loved it, and not only that, but the king finally finished his crossword puzzle. So with a 12-day array of odd gifts, the princess has chosen her true love and will marry him. Surprise, it's not Sir Idiotboomer, but Squire Hollyberry! After all, any man who will go to such absurd lengths to impress a girl, and actually succeeding, must be the one. And so they all lived happily ever after, and an insipid song was written to immortalize the event.
Unlike most people of this generation, I did not grow up with this special. In fact, I only discovered it last year. I think it's good for what it is, the kids will like it and the adults will hope everybody gets what they deserve at the end, and they do. The late, great Phil Hartman lends his voice to Hollyberry, and the story was written by the legendary Romeo Muller, who also taken from us too soon. So if you like the 12 Days of Christmas song, and I think we're all thankful there were only 12, if you wonder what kind of sense it makes, you like animated adaptations of Christmas songs, you're looking to relive fond memories or you're looking to find something new to add to your holiday line-up, I say give this special a look!
Five golden rings, stolen from a giant. These managed to get her attention, but all the birds quickly turned her off. Guess this means she won't like the six geese a-layin' coming her way tomorrow. Hollyberry tries to convince Carolboomer that this is all a waste of time, but it was either keep giving the gifts or be murdered. Seven swans a-swimming... nope. Now while each gift failed with the princess, they managed to help the king on his crossword puzzle, so I guess it's not all in vain. Not wanting to incur the princess' wrath any more, the noble squire refuses to continue this charade, and so Sir Carolbozo locks him in the dungeon over night. The partridge encouraged him to keep going, as something was bound to make that mopey girl laugh. The eight maids a-milkin' a decent impression, but not so much the nine drummers drumming while she was trying to sleep. Ten pipers piping, with Hollyberry among them, except when he tried playing the bagpipe, he got hurt, which almost made the princess laugh. The next day, H.B. taught eleven dames to dance, and even got to dance with her highness. Yeah, it seemed as though things were starting to look up...until the princess fell into those damn birds again! Okay, last day of Christmas: 12 lords a leaping. Hollyberry manages to get twelve lords to the castle, and with some chili powder in their shoes, they're leaping all over the place. The princess loved it, and not only that, but the king finally finished his crossword puzzle. So with a 12-day array of odd gifts, the princess has chosen her true love and will marry him. Surprise, it's not Sir Idiotboomer, but Squire Hollyberry! After all, any man who will go to such absurd lengths to impress a girl, and actually succeeding, must be the one. And so they all lived happily ever after, and an insipid song was written to immortalize the event.
Unlike most people of this generation, I did not grow up with this special. In fact, I only discovered it last year. I think it's good for what it is, the kids will like it and the adults will hope everybody gets what they deserve at the end, and they do. The late, great Phil Hartman lends his voice to Hollyberry, and the story was written by the legendary Romeo Muller, who also taken from us too soon. So if you like the 12 Days of Christmas song, and I think we're all thankful there were only 12, if you wonder what kind of sense it makes, you like animated adaptations of Christmas songs, you're looking to relive fond memories or you're looking to find something new to add to your holiday line-up, I say give this special a look!
