A Snow White Christmas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids A Snow White Christmas |
|
|---|---|
VHS cover art
|
|
| Written by | Marc Richards |
| Directed by | Kay Wright |
| Voices of | Melendy Britt Erika Scheimer Diane Pershing Larry D. Mann |
| Music by | Dean Andre Ray Ellis Norm Prescott |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lou Scheimer Norm Prescott Don Christensen |
| Cinematography | R.W. Pope |
| Editor(s) | Joe Gall |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Filmation |
| Distributor | BCI Eclipse |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | December 19, 1980 |
A Snow White Christmas is a fun animated television special made by Filmation. It first aired on December 19, 1980, on CBS. This special is a new story that continues the classic fairy tale "Snow White". It's not connected to another Filmation Snow White sequel called Happily Ever After (1989).
The story begins when the Wicked Queen unexpectedly comes back to life during Christmas. She casts a powerful evil spell that freezes the whole land! Only the young Snow White, who is the daughter of the original Snow White, manages to escape. She finds safety with seven friendly giants and her dwarf friend. Now, it's up to these giants to defeat the Queen for good and save the kingdom from the icy curse.
Contents
The Story
After defeating the Wicked Queen, Queen Snow White and her husband, King Charming, are now the rulers of the land. They have a young daughter, also named Snow White, because of her snow-white hair. The royal family decides to host a big Christmas winter sports festival. One of the people joining in is Grunyon, a funny dwarf who is a good friend of the young Snow White.
Young Snow White shares her Christmas wish: she wants to build a playhouse for all the children. She suggests they fix up the old, empty castle nearby that used to belong to her mother's evil stepmother.
But then, a large block of ice melts, and out pops the Wicked Queen! She had been trapped inside it since her defeat. The Queen returns to her castle and finds her Magic Mirror still there. She uses it to create a huge magical ice storm. This storm freezes the entire kingdom, turning everything into an ice age. Luckily, Princess Snow White just barely escapes. Her mother tells her to find the Seven Dwarfs right before she and the King turn into ice statues. Grunyon, who also wasn't frozen, leads Snow White into the forest to get away from the storm.
They find their way into a warm valley. There, they accidentally walk into a giant garden. Suddenly, two giants, Finicky and Corny, appear! They think Snow White and Grunyon are tiny bugs and try to squash them. Snow White starts to cry, and Grunyon tells the giants off. The giants apologize and introduce themselves through a song, along with five other giants: Thinker, Hicker, Tiny, Weeper, and Brawny. It turns out they are cousins of the original Seven Dwarfs. After hearing Snow White's story, they feel sorry for her and Grunyon. They let them stay in their cozy cottage.
The Wicked Queen soon finds out that the young Snow White is still alive. She also learns that Snow White is even more beautiful than her! First, the Queen turns herself into a giant rat to attack Snow White. But one of the giants comes home and scares her away. Then, she melts all the ice on the mountains to create a huge flood. Brawny, one of the strong giants, saves Snow White from the rushing water.
The giants decide to leave Snow White at home and have Hicker guard her. The Queen turns two vultures into scary, dragon-like creatures to distract Hicker. Then, she disguises herself as a giant old woman. She tricks Snow White into smelling a poisoned flower that puts her to sleep. This is just like how she tricked Snow White's mother with the poisoned apple! However, Hicker's loud hiccups are heard by the other giants, and they rush back to the cottage.
Seeing Snow White seemingly dead, the giants run off to attack the Queen's castle, wanting revenge. At the castle, the Queen tries to stop them by casting lightning bolts, but Brawny is too strong. She then summons seven demons to fight the giants. But Hicker starts hiccuping so loudly that it causes an earthquake! The castle begins to collapse. The Magic Mirror, which was the source of the Queen's power, shatters. The demons disappear, and the Queen herself vanishes into nothing. With the Wicked Queen finally gone, the curse she placed on the kingdom is broken. The land thaws, and the ice statues turn back into people.
Grunyon and the Giants bring Snow White home to her parents in a coffin filled with roses. Her parents kiss her cheeks, and she wakes up! Everyone rejoices. Brawny also shares good news: he and the other giants built a castle for all the children while Snow White was asleep.
Cast
- Erika Scheimer as Snow White II
- Melendy Britt as the Wicked Queen
- Charlie Dell as Grunyon
- Larry D. Mann as the Magic Mirror
- Diane Pershing as Snow White
- Clinton Sundberg as Thinker
- Arte Johnson as Finicky, Corny, Tiny, Hicker, Weeper, Brawny
Making the Special
This was the first film made by Lou Scheimer that featured his daughter, Erika, in a main role. The company, Filmation, wanted to start making sequels to classic stories. They chose "Snow White" because no one had really made a film about what happened after the original ending. Also, it was easy to sell a Christmas special back then.
While this special is a sequel to the original fairy tale, and not the 1937 Disney movie, there are some similar parts. For example, the Magic Mirror looks like a drama mask in the dark in both films. Also, in both stories, the seven friends include a quiet and grumpy person. Even though he doesn't seem to like Snow White much, he ends up leading the fight against the Queen. The Queen also disguises herself as an old woman and is chased up a cliff. Just like in the Disney movie, a pair of vultures watch the Queen closely.
See Also
- A Snow White Christmas (musical)
- Happily Ever After (1989 film)
- List of Christmas films
- The Snow Queen's Revenge
