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Rudolph's Shiny New Year is the 1976 stop-motion animated sequel to the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Archipelago of Yesteryear 3 Cast 4 Trivia 5 External links

In this television special, Rudolph is asked by Father Time (voiced by narrator Red Skelton) to find the next Baby New Year before midnight on New Year's Eve. The baby, named Happy, was laughed at constantly by everyone he met because of his large ears, and thus ran away; unless Happy is returned in time to take his position as the New Year, the date will perpetually be December 31st. Rudolph searches for the baby in the Archipelago of Last Years, a group of islands; Father Time reveals that when a year ends, the old year retires to the archipelago, and selects an island for himself, after which time on that island remains frozen for eternity as the year in which the old year ruled. Rudolph subsequently visits the islands belonging to One Million B.C. (a caveman, whose island was [albeit anachronistically] filled with dinosaurs; nicknamed "O.M." for short), Sir 1023 (a knight, whose island was filled with medieval trappings and fairy tale characters; pronounced "ten two three"), and 1776 (who resembled Benjamin Franklin, and whose island reflected colonial-era United States). All of these former years join Rudolph on his quest.

As Rudolph and his friends search for the baby, they also repeatedly deal with the villain of the story, a buzzard named Aeon. Eon is destined to only live until he is one Aeon old, after which he turns into ice and snow; however, his aeon is finally up on December 31st. Aeon thus is also looking for Happy, so he can prevent his predestined death on December 31st and live forever.

Rudolph and his friends succeed in rescuing Happy from Aeon (as well as preventing Aeon's death in the process) on the Island of No-Name, and with Santa's help, return Happy to Father Time's castle in time to begin the new year.

When a year ends, the old year retires to the Archipelago of Yesteryear and selects an island for himself after which time on that island remains frozen for eternity as the year in which the old year ruled. Among the islands of the Archipelagos of Yesteryear are:

• 1,000,000 BC: Represented as a prehistoric island that consists of dinosaurs and cavemen. O.M. lives here.
• 4,000 BC: During Rudolph's search for Happy the Baby New Year, Rudolph mentioned that all it's inhabitants wanted to do was build pyramids.
• 1023: Represented as a medieval island filled with fairytale characters. Sir 1023 lives here.
• 1492: In Rudolph's search for Happy, he mentions that the people on that island were too busy discovering things.
• 1776: Represented as a Colonial American island that celebrates Independence Day every day. Ben Franklin (1776) lives here.
• 1965: Rudolph considered that island to be too noisy in his search for Happy.
• Island of No-Name: Eon's home.

• Red Skelton - Narrator (Father Time)/Baby Bear
• Billie Mae Richards - Rudolph
• Morey Amsterdam - One Million BC
• Frank Gorshin - Sir 1023
• Paul Frees - Aeon, Santa Claus, General Ticker, 1776
• Don Messick - Papa Bear
• Harold Peary - Big Ben

• A lady with blonde hair at the front of the crowd at the end of the special was also used as the mother in "The Year Without a Santa Claus"
• The camel who carried Rudolph and General Tock to Father Time's castle was the same camel who served as "Joshua" in "The Little Drummer Boy," another Rankin-Bass puppetoon.
• In one scene the characters are on a boat using a calendar page as a sail. The calendar page is of August 1928, a reference to writer Romeo Muller who was born on August 7th 1928.

• Rudolph's Shiny New Year at the Internet Movie Database
• Satirical review at Progressive Boink