It's Easter time, and our friends at Rankin/Bass have prepared this charming little tale all about the very first Easter rabbit. This isn't the Easter Bunny, it's the Easter rabbit, there's a difference. Christmas isn't the only time of year these masters of stop-motion animation... well, the best that the '60s and '70s had to offer anyway... can put together a fun, enchanting holiday special. The First Easter Rabbit opens on... Christmas. Okay, that's interesting, I guess RB really DO love that holiday, and if our narrator sounds familiar, that's because they brought back one of the best: Burl Ives, who you may recall told us the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He's back, though this time as an old rabbit, complete with familiar waistcoat, and here to tell us the story of the first Easter Rabbit (again, Rabbit, not Bunny, remember that). It all began when a stuffed rabbit was given as a Christmas present to a beautiful little girl named Glinda, who fell in love with it instantly and gave it the placeholder name Stuffy, saying she'll come up with a better one later. I guess Peter wouldn't be very original. So while Glinda was outside playing in the snow with her new fluff-filled friend, we meet a trio of troublemaker rabbits- Spatz, Whiskers, and Flops, who are clearly up to no good. They're going to serve as our comic relief throughout the story, and I think we'll certainly need it, as not long after, poor Glinda came down with scarlet fever. The doctor told her mother to burn not only her bed clothes, but that "old, stuffed rabbit." Huh, so was Stuffy a hand-me-down rather than a new, store bought toy? Regardless, the mother now had a heartbreaking task before her: in addition to dealing with her sickly child, she now had to take her treasured toy away. Fortunately, the mother was too tired to make a bonfire that night, so she left poor Stuffy on a stack of toys to be burned for the morning, but then, something magical happened: the inanimate stuffed rabbit shed a tear, and from that, a beanstalk grew, and from out of which came a fairy named Calliope. Her job is to take old, discarded toys once loved by children and bring them back with her to be transformed into real. Huh, that's kind of a scary thought. What if some child threw out an old robot armed with cannons, missiles, and gatling guns for hands? Would Calliope turn that into a real robot to wreak havoc on the people? Or maybe she just turns dolls into real boys, and if that's the case, Pinocchio should've called her instead of that other fairy who made him behave himself, but I digress. Calliope has chosen Stuffy for a very special mission: he was to be the first Easter Rabbit. Why does Easter need a rabbit? Well, for those non-religious folks, they needed their holiday to have a symbol, and with eggs and chicks and candy, a rabbit is the obvious choice, is it not? So his mission, should he choose to accept it, is to travel all the way to Easter Valley to find the Golden Easter Lily, but is warned to beware of Zero. I'd say that's kind of a lot to throw at a guy who just came to life. He's left with so many questions, but this special would only be ten minutes long if he were told everything from the beginning, similar to how Glinda (the good witch) kept Dorothy in the dark about certain important details until her journey concluded. So Stuffy set out on his mission, hopping all the way, and that's when he runs into the three stooge rabbits. When they heard tell of a golden Easter lily, they offered to help Stuffy on his way. I dunno, I wouldn't trust those guys as far as I could throw them. If you're wondering who Zero is, he's our villain, of course. He's an ice wizard with a talking snowball, Bruce, as his accomplice. His job is to-get this-keep the North Pole white and snowy all year round, though the one patch of northern land he could never touch was Easter Valley. It was a lush, green, fertile paradise surrounded by mountains, and the only reason it stayed that way was because Zero couldn't find a way to get to it. I don't know, is that really a problem? Acres and acres of tundra, but this one, miniscule green valley is posing a problem? Guess Zero is an OCD perfectionist.
Stuffy, Whiskers, Spatz, and Flops arrive at the outskirts of Easter Valley and were baffled about where to go from there. Fortunately, a chirping bird helped them find the right path. Gotta love those happy, golden birds that can live in subzero temperatures. The bird points them to a hollow tree, which they all slide down and instantly arrive in the beautiful, green Easter Valley. Well, if a bare, hollow tree was the only entrance, I can see why Zero was baffled. I guess birds don't talk to him. The rabbits were only in the valley a few seconds before Santa Claus showed up. Well, hey, what's one holiday icon helping another... er, to say nothing of that time a guy from Halloween tried to take over Christmas, but that's another story. Yes, this is where Santa spends his off days, I guess, and he encourages the group to go about their task of painting eggs and delivering them. A large chore, of course, but he suggests starting with one town, and then gradually working their way up to whole countries, after all, it's how Santa started. Yeah, and when an evil mayor (the loveable ol' B. M.) tried to stop him, he had to engineer new and very creative ways of still delivering the gifts and those evil men were none the wiser. Having fulfilled his contribution to the plot, Santa wishes them luck and flies away on his reindeer. Zero watched the whole thing with his telescope, cursing those rabbits for finding the secret entrance to Easter Valley, however he knows something they don't: the Golden Easter Lily is what gives the valley it's year-round springtime. If it were to disappear, the valley would lapse into a time of drought, dryness, and despair. Ah, don't worry, I'm sure nothing will happen to that precious lily. Nothing at all. In the meantime, remembering that special little girl who took him in and the first to ever truly love him, Stuffy makes a short visit back home to see Glinda, who was overjoyed to see her toy again, and that he was alive. Naturally, when she relayed all this to her mother, she assumed it was the fever talking. Feeling much better, Glinda is now looking forward to the big Easter parade and plans to wear her prettiest dress... yeah, about that: Mom comes clean about having incinerated all of her clothes, but Glinda was very forgiving. A girl who doesn't care about clothes? That is a miracle. Guess she didn't mention torching her toys as well, but I suppose she wants to spare her daughter as much trauma as she can for the time being. En route back down the tree, Bruce spots Stuffy and quickly reports back to Zero. This time tomorrow, Easter Valley would be finished. Again, I'm not sure why this place poses such a threat to him. Well, he's the villain, he doesn't need a reason to be evil. So, the next day, as the rabbits go about their chore, they notice that it was beginning to snow, and that snow quickly turned into a blizzard. That dastardly Zero had infiltrated the valley and pilfered the Golden Lily! Dang it, I did not see that coming. It's at this point that Bruce begins to have a crisis of conscience, as the sound of Zero willing to leave everyone in Easter Valley to freeze to death didn't sit well with him. He knows that the only morally right thing to do would be to fink on his boss, so he rolls down to Santa's workshop and tells him everything. It isn't long before Santa flies in on his sleigh to save the rabbits and their baskets of eggs. Hooray! Even little Glinda received her gift: a lovely new hat, and both she and her mother received a surprise visit from the doctor, Jonathan, who brought them presents, including a beautiful new dress for Glinda. I'm sure he means well, but I'm not sure if this is appropriate. Do medical ethics state if it's okay for the physician to bestow gifts upon their patients? Let's be honest, he's got the hots for Elizabeth (the mom). So the parade was on and it was a grand affair. But what of Zero? Santa delivered the following ultimatum: either he return the Easter Lily, or he would move his entire workshop away from the North Pole, leaving Zero all alone. The prospect of which shook him to his core, so he returned the lily and apologized to Stuffy and his friends. So now, all was well again, Easter Valley saw an eternal spring, Stuffy had a new job he loved, and in case you haven't figured it out, he was Burl Ives all along.
This Easter special was pretty good. The animation was decent and colorful, the songs and music are great, and the voice acting was fantastic. The only problem I could see was the story, as it didn't make much sense in some places and things felt kind of rushed. If you're willing to overlook that and just enjoy this as another colorful, light-hearted holiday special, then you're in for a good time. Now to give credit where it's due: Burl Ives once again does a fantastic job as our narrator, Robert Morse played a great Stuffy, and the immense talents of Paul Frees, Don Messick, Joan Gardener, Stan Freberg, and Dina Lynn are put very well on display here. I discovered this gem a few years ago and have been wanting to talk about it for a while. There aren't that many memorable Easter specials out there, aside from the Easter Beagle. Rankin/Bass made two other specials celebrating this holiday: Here Comes Peter Cottontail, narrated by Danny Kaye, and The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town, which was a spin-off of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, both narrated by Fred Astaire. Speaking of Santa, it was interesting he played a part in The First Easter Rabbit. I guess the tie-in with Christmas really does show how much RB love the holiday. Well, whether it's Easter or Christmas, I recommend checking out The First Easter Rabbit.
Stuffy, Whiskers, Spatz, and Flops arrive at the outskirts of Easter Valley and were baffled about where to go from there. Fortunately, a chirping bird helped them find the right path. Gotta love those happy, golden birds that can live in subzero temperatures. The bird points them to a hollow tree, which they all slide down and instantly arrive in the beautiful, green Easter Valley. Well, if a bare, hollow tree was the only entrance, I can see why Zero was baffled. I guess birds don't talk to him. The rabbits were only in the valley a few seconds before Santa Claus showed up. Well, hey, what's one holiday icon helping another... er, to say nothing of that time a guy from Halloween tried to take over Christmas, but that's another story. Yes, this is where Santa spends his off days, I guess, and he encourages the group to go about their task of painting eggs and delivering them. A large chore, of course, but he suggests starting with one town, and then gradually working their way up to whole countries, after all, it's how Santa started. Yeah, and when an evil mayor (the loveable ol' B. M.) tried to stop him, he had to engineer new and very creative ways of still delivering the gifts and those evil men were none the wiser. Having fulfilled his contribution to the plot, Santa wishes them luck and flies away on his reindeer. Zero watched the whole thing with his telescope, cursing those rabbits for finding the secret entrance to Easter Valley, however he knows something they don't: the Golden Easter Lily is what gives the valley it's year-round springtime. If it were to disappear, the valley would lapse into a time of drought, dryness, and despair. Ah, don't worry, I'm sure nothing will happen to that precious lily. Nothing at all. In the meantime, remembering that special little girl who took him in and the first to ever truly love him, Stuffy makes a short visit back home to see Glinda, who was overjoyed to see her toy again, and that he was alive. Naturally, when she relayed all this to her mother, she assumed it was the fever talking. Feeling much better, Glinda is now looking forward to the big Easter parade and plans to wear her prettiest dress... yeah, about that: Mom comes clean about having incinerated all of her clothes, but Glinda was very forgiving. A girl who doesn't care about clothes? That is a miracle. Guess she didn't mention torching her toys as well, but I suppose she wants to spare her daughter as much trauma as she can for the time being. En route back down the tree, Bruce spots Stuffy and quickly reports back to Zero. This time tomorrow, Easter Valley would be finished. Again, I'm not sure why this place poses such a threat to him. Well, he's the villain, he doesn't need a reason to be evil. So, the next day, as the rabbits go about their chore, they notice that it was beginning to snow, and that snow quickly turned into a blizzard. That dastardly Zero had infiltrated the valley and pilfered the Golden Lily! Dang it, I did not see that coming. It's at this point that Bruce begins to have a crisis of conscience, as the sound of Zero willing to leave everyone in Easter Valley to freeze to death didn't sit well with him. He knows that the only morally right thing to do would be to fink on his boss, so he rolls down to Santa's workshop and tells him everything. It isn't long before Santa flies in on his sleigh to save the rabbits and their baskets of eggs. Hooray! Even little Glinda received her gift: a lovely new hat, and both she and her mother received a surprise visit from the doctor, Jonathan, who brought them presents, including a beautiful new dress for Glinda. I'm sure he means well, but I'm not sure if this is appropriate. Do medical ethics state if it's okay for the physician to bestow gifts upon their patients? Let's be honest, he's got the hots for Elizabeth (the mom). So the parade was on and it was a grand affair. But what of Zero? Santa delivered the following ultimatum: either he return the Easter Lily, or he would move his entire workshop away from the North Pole, leaving Zero all alone. The prospect of which shook him to his core, so he returned the lily and apologized to Stuffy and his friends. So now, all was well again, Easter Valley saw an eternal spring, Stuffy had a new job he loved, and in case you haven't figured it out, he was Burl Ives all along.
This Easter special was pretty good. The animation was decent and colorful, the songs and music are great, and the voice acting was fantastic. The only problem I could see was the story, as it didn't make much sense in some places and things felt kind of rushed. If you're willing to overlook that and just enjoy this as another colorful, light-hearted holiday special, then you're in for a good time. Now to give credit where it's due: Burl Ives once again does a fantastic job as our narrator, Robert Morse played a great Stuffy, and the immense talents of Paul Frees, Don Messick, Joan Gardener, Stan Freberg, and Dina Lynn are put very well on display here. I discovered this gem a few years ago and have been wanting to talk about it for a while. There aren't that many memorable Easter specials out there, aside from the Easter Beagle. Rankin/Bass made two other specials celebrating this holiday: Here Comes Peter Cottontail, narrated by Danny Kaye, and The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town, which was a spin-off of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, both narrated by Fred Astaire. Speaking of Santa, it was interesting he played a part in The First Easter Rabbit. I guess the tie-in with Christmas really does show how much RB love the holiday. Well, whether it's Easter or Christmas, I recommend checking out The First Easter Rabbit.