Animation Source Forums

So I was watching Balto 3 today when I thought of this. How many of you would want to see a Balto-themed Christmas/Holiday special? with all the talk of whether or not a TV series would work or not I thought it would be a legitimate question. Personally I love Christmas/Holiday specials and a Balto-themed one would be all the better. Most Christmas/Holiday specials based off of movie and TV series' are based off of classic story's such as Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" or a story about finding the spirit of the holiday's, basic stuff nothing fancy but set in the universe of the Movie or Show it's based off of....So What do you think?

There's already enough renditions of every Christmas Story in existence. I'm just sick of Christmas specials altogether, especially if they're anything like All Dogs Go To Heaven: A Christmas Carol

I don't think there would be a good potential for this to sell well.
If there was a TV series, it could be an episode - but I would rather have a different scenario if they were to make a new sequel.

I'm kind of divided on this. Personally, I like Christmas specials, even othe ones that are essentially remakes of classics like A Christmas Carol. As long as it has a good message, I'll probably enjoy it. On the other hand, I think it only right that a series like Balto get, at the very least, the respect of having a good, original special and not just a remake.

Pragmatically, it might work best if Christmas were used as a setting, more than an emphasis. Instead of being what the whole thing revolved around, it could be a good background and then sort of soak into the plot.
Let me give an example of what I mean: in An All Dogs Christmas Carol, the whole focus of the plot was on saving Christmas. But in McGee and Me Twas the Fight Before Christmas (which, I concede, most of you if not all of you haven't seen), it's just as pervasive, but in a different way. That particular episode showed the main character, Nicholas (no connection to Saint Nicholas), trying to reach out to a classmate with the message of Christmas; the truth that underneath all the tinsel and lights is a message of hope for everyone. The main obstacle in his way is the classmate himself: Derick Cryder (sp?), an all-around school bully who was never a nice guy to begin with and now, at Christmastime, "seemed worse than ever, like he really hated Christmas." They guy's in a gang, he steals and beats people up, and he makes the Grinch seem downright friendly.
Why, then, is Nick trying to get through to this guy? What drives him to show kindness to such a jerk? At the heart of it all, it's Chistmas itself.

What I'm trying to say in all this rambling is that maybe the problem with Christmas Specials is that they always seem to revolve around somebody saving Christmas, and ultimately the heart of Christmas is lost in the shuffle. In stories like The Fight Before Christmas, however, we see Christmas, in effect, doing the saving. If people let Christmas touch them, instead of always trying to touch it and in the process pushing it around, maybe it could have a chance at showing for itself.

There's a fic I've read that is similar to Dragon Tamer's idea of having Christmas as the setting instead of the focus. Here's a link:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1126954/1/Desperado

It's short but if (and it's a pretty big if) a special was made, I think that this story would be perfect.

I guess I should have phrased what I said differently. I don't think we should let Christmas become just another plot filler. That's an awfully disrespectful treatment of one of our most cherished holidays (and I say that of a lot of people, not just my circle. It wasn't a Halloween truce in World War Two, after all).
I guess what I was really trying to get at before is that we should stop putting ourselves into Christmas, and let Christmas be Christmas.
I'm only on for a short time at the moment, but I'll see about taking a look at that story. You ought to read redwolf03's "Dakota's Gift" on here, that's a good one too. What I'd like to see, maybe, is one where Balto's dad comes back to Nome from wherever he's been, and Balto is trying to reconnect with him. Add in the effect this would have on Jenna and the pups, and you could have a very nice plot to put into a Christmas setting.

Good point

The beauty of such a plot is that it would not cheapen Christmas by making it a thing to be saved, but instead mirror it in such a way that the two would simultaneously enhance each other, almost a symbiotic relationship.

I don't know, I guess it depends on a combination of aspects. If it was the same people who did Balto 3, with hopefully the same voices as far as the main characters or a darn good replacement, maybe one or two good songs (not to go overboard or too cheesy, something like what Jenna sang in Balto 3), a plot and/ or subplots that are different from other Christmas specials, and it keeps to the meaning of Christmas, sure its a good idea for Universal to look at, but all the stars have to line up for it to work. The last thing we want is for people to look at the Balto series and look at it as a gimmick to give NBC Universal more money and to work the Balto series to the ground.