The Christmas Tree Train

It’s 1983, and a young bear and fox are lost in the Big City after accidentally riding the rails on the apparently famous Christmas Tree Train in an obscure special that has little to do with Christmas trees or trains.  Ethan “The Hungry Reader” climbs aboard as we explore the first holiday special starring Buttons and Rusty, known later as the Chucklewood Critters.  You can watch “The Christmas Tree Train” on the Internet Archive.  ****  Topics & Tangents:  The Unofficial Chucklewood Critters Home Page, which looks like it was created in 2003, last updated in 2011, and is a perfect specimen of an early 2000s Internet fan page.  William Boyett (Ranger Jones) in “Last Clear Chance,” a 1959 driving safety film later featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”  Foxes actually hang out around bears in nature (Nature.org, 2021)  A random shout-out to mid-1990s Sonic the Hedgehog wannabe Bubsy the Bobcat.  A very difficult jump in a sewer level in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo game.  All the human characters in this special look like they’re related to Gargamel from The Smurfs.  RiffTrax Christmas Circus with Whizzo the Clown.  ****  Commercials:  Santa’s Village in Southern California, circa 1983 during an airing of “The Christmas Tree Train.”  North Pole Radio.  ****  “The Christmas Tree Train” © 1983 Encore Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.