Rankin/Bass Rock X-mas - Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

The best Rankin/Bass Christmas special is Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town. This 1970 Christmas Special tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. Here is the plot:

The mailman's truck breaks down so he begins to tell the story of Santa Claus, in order to answer children's letters to Santa.

The story begins in a small town called Sombertown, which is ruled by Burgermeister Meisterburger. A baby arrives on his doorstep, with nothing more than a name tag that reads: "Claus". The Burgermeister orders his right-hand man, Grimsby to take the baby to the "Orphan Asylum". On the way, a gust of wind blows sled and baby far away, where he is discovered by a elf family by the name of Kringle. They immediately adopt him, giving him the name “Kris”. The Kringle family used to make toys for the king, but since the Burgermeister's rise to power, they have no longer been able to do so.

When Kris is old enough, he volunteers to deliver the toys to Sombertown, through the woods. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kris, Burgermeister has outlawed all toys in Sombertown. Before he enters the town, he runs into a penguin who's lost trying to find his way to the South Pole. He befriends a penguin and names him "Topper". Kris arrives in the town, where he meets Mistress Jessica (pretty hot for claymation), a local schoolteacher. At first, she is somewhat rude to Kris, but begins to like him after he gives her a china doll (Something she had wanted since childhood). Burgermeister soon finds Kris, and after a short confrontation, chases him out of town.

In the woods outside of town, Kris and Topper meet the Winter Warlock, an evil wizard who lives in the woods. Kris offers him a toy train. This act of kindness melts the Warlock’s icy heart, and he too joins their group. After a few more attempts at delivering presents to Sombertown, Burgermeister manages to capture Kris, the Kringles, Topper, and the Winter Warlock.

Mistress Jessica, who managed to evade capture, climbs up to Winter's jail cell, and manages to get some of his "magic feed corn", which will give reindeer the ability to fly. With the help of the reindeer, the group manages to escape from their holding cells, and escape into the woods.

After months of being an outlaw, Kris (who has now grown his trademark beard) decides to go by the name of "Claus" (his birthname), and takes Jessica as his wife. In order to escape the Burgermeister, the group journeys to the North Pole, where they build a toy shop. As time goes on, the Burgermeister regime comes to an end, and Kris (now Santa Claus), whose fame has gone worldwide (and toy requests increased accordingly), decides to cut his number of visits down to once a year, on December 24th.

Not only does this Christmas Special explain a lot about Santa, it also has some great musical numbers, including "First Toymaker to the King".

The best song in this Special is "Put One Foot in Front of The Other", a fantastic dance number with Kris, Topper and the Winter Warlock.