Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa is a 2002 musical animated Christmas special.[1] It is one of two films produced by Colin Slater's Wolf Tracer Studios. Featuring the voices of Walter Emanuel Jones, Mark Hamill, Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara and Nancy Cartwright, Believe In Santa tells the story of how suburban boy Ricky Rogers and his friends spend Christmas after the death of Ricky's mother.

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa
Written by
  • Colin Slater
  • Trisha Koury-Stoops
Directed byColin Slater
Starring
Music byKevin Saunders Hayes
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • James De Luca
  • Chris Rose
Producer(s)
Editor(s)Dave Edison
Running time43 min.
Production company(s)
  • J Rose Productions
  • Wolf Tracer Studios
DistributorPromark Television
Release
Original networkBroadcast syndication
Original releaseDecember 2002 (2002-12)

Believe In Santa was broadcast throughout December in broadcast syndication in the top 100 markets, though its most prevalent distribution was through The WB 100+ Station Group, which broadcast The WB over cable and broadcast stations in smaller markets (it did not air on The WB itself as part of its primetime schedule). The special is notorious for its bizarre production history and overwhelmingly negative reception. Almost every aspect of the special was panned, including its amateur computer animation and plot, although the voice acting received some minor praise. After a small number of broadcasts during the 2002 holiday season, the special was never officially released on home video and faded into obscurity. A copy of the special was secured from producer and director Colin Slater and uploaded onto the video sharing site Vimeo in 2015. It later garnered a cult following.

Plot

Ricky Rodgers (Walter Emanuel Jones) is a poor preteen boy who lives on Rapsittie Street with his great-grandmother (Debra Wilson). When his class' Christmas gift exchange is coming up, Ricky wants to give his teddy bear gifted to him from his late mother to his classmate, Nicole (Paige O'Hara), an affluent and self-centered girl who believes that anything she deems is 'cheap' isn't worth her time. When Ricky gives her the bear after school, she angrily rejects it and throws it in the trash, causing Ricky to run away upset.

After writing a letter to Santa, Ricky drops one of the letters he was intended to put in the mailbox, where the wind blows it to Nicole's house. Nicole reads and learn that alongside a videobox, Ricky asked for Santa to bring toys to all the kids in his class and explaining the sentimental value to his teddy bear. Feeling remorse for what she's done, Nicole, alongside her best friend, Lenee (Jodi Benson), and Ricky's friend Smithy (Eddie Driscoll), attempt to find the bear to no avail. After looking through the basement of the local garbageman, Smithy suggests that the bear may be in the local dump. However, upon arriving, the trio are ambushed by guard dogs and the bullies of their class, Todd (Nancy Cartwright), Tug (Clint Howard), and Zeke (J.R. Horsting). Smithy is able to attract the attention of the dogs by throwing his sandwich at Todd, who in return, attack the bullies as they run away. Smithy finds the bear on top of a car and Nicole returns it to Ricky, who explains that it was a gift for her and that friendship, like the bear, means a lot to him.

Meanwhile, in the film's subplot, after being made fun of by Nicole for still believing in Santa, Lenee begins to question her belief in Santa Claus, causing her to be depressed. It isn't until later on, her father is able to restore her spirits that Lenee is able to not only continue believing in Santa, but also allowing Nicole to believe in Santa too, much to the pleasure of her parents.

The film ends with Nicole and Lenee's family, Ricky and his grandmother, and Smithy all spending Christmas at Lenee's house.

Cast

History

According to Kennedy Rose, the daughter of Chris Rose, one of the special's executive producers, the film's production started back in 2002, when her father and a friend of his formed J Rose Productions. Wolf Tracer Studios, a computer animation company also known for producing the 2004 direct-to-video feature Wolf Tracer's Dinosaur Island (also starring Mark Hamill) and the full-length animated pilot Not Quite Right by Crappco, was hired to make the film's animation. Her father trusted the animators, to the point where he spent around $500,000 USD on production, and never checked in on their work. His first time seeing the animation was on the night the movie premiered on television.[2]

A demo reel from Wolf Tracer Studios features an early test animation of Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa under the name The Bash Street Kids, not to be confused with the comic strip. The website of Promark Television, the special's distributor, enthusiastically promoted Believe In Santa as "an animated program ... that seems destined to become a classic".[3]

As part of its syndicated distribution after its WB 100+ airing, it aired on KFVE-TV in Hawaii on December 6, 2002,[4] WABC-TV in New York and KABC-TV in Los Angeles on December 21, 2002,[5] continuing to air through the United States in larger markets in syndication until Christmas Day,[6] though its top-100 market distribution outside of the smaller-market WB 100+ chain cannot be fully ascertained. After the 2002 holiday season, the film eventually fell into obscurity. It was found in 2015 by Dycaite, the founder of the Lost Media Wiki, a website dedicated to documenting lost media,[7] and uploaded to Vimeo.[8]

Reception

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa has become infamous among fans of bad films.[9] Ever since it aired on television, it has been repeatedly noted for its "hideous" computer animation, inexplicably distinguished cast and bizarre production history.[10][11][12]

Sequel

Believe in Santa was intended to be the first in a possible series of Rapsittie Street Kids films. The end credits of the film teases a follow-up tentatively titled A Bunny's Tale with Lenee's little sister, Jenna explaining "I'll be back for the Easter Bunny". It was planned for a 2003 release, and evidence exists that it aired in at least some areas, but no copies have surfaced.[13]

References
  1. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 26. ISBN 9781476672939.
  2. "I told the story of the production of Rapsittie". Tumblr. The New Propaganda.
  3. "Believe in Santa". Promark Television. Archived from the original on 2016-02-28.
  4. "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa". The Honolulu Advertiser. 1 December 2002. p. 185. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  5. "Through a Child's Eyes | NEW ON CD!". throughachildseyes.com. Archived from the original on 2003-03-26.
  6. "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa". Star Tribune. 25 December 2002. pp. E14. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  7. "Cartoon Lampoon" (Podcast). No. Mail Bag.
  8. "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa". Vimeo.
  9. Neilan, Dan (2017-11-13). "Spread some Holiday Fear". The A.V. Club.
  10. Rabin, Nathan (2017-12-29). "Exploiting the Archives Week: This Looks Terrible! Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa".
  11. "Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast on Apple Podcasts". iTunes.
  12. "TV Barn: "Believe" it: "Santa" sucks!". TV Barn archives. 2002-12-24. Archived from the original on 2003-01-15. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  13. "Lost Media "A Bunny's Tale"". Lost Media Wiki. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
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