1. Robbie The Reindeer
This is unique in the list in that it's not an American-produced special - it's from many of the folks from Aardman Animation, the gifted maniacs that brought us Wallace and Gromit. The original UK version is FAR superior to the American version, featuring a pantheon of modern British comedy, including Ardal O'Hanlon, Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais. The American version re-recorded the entire soundtrack, with Ben Stiller as Robbie, James Belushi as Santa and Britney Spiers as Robbie's girlfriend Donner. Robbie is the son of a certain well-known reindeer with a red nose, that the producers didn't have the rights to, so his name is never mentioned, resulting of a great running gag where people try to start singing the song, and are shushed by bad guy Blitzen. Blitzen wants to be the leader of Santa's team, and with Robbie now here, son of Santa's favorite, he sees his chances drop to zero. The dialogue is classic - one of Blitzen's plans to eliminate Robbie is "Let's trample him into dust, then throw the remains of the dust to the wolves, then blow up the wolves". Available on video, usually with both soundtracks. Enjoy the original UK one, then listen to the American one only to experience what The Residents describe as "The ear numbing power of difference". Which forgotten Christmas specials did we miss? Share your on picks below in the comments.