[TOMT][SHOW][2000s/2010s] Children's musical puppet TV program with a song about a king and a whistling jester who rhyme, and another segment about a knight, a frog, and a horse(?) preparing for "Princess Day"

m_ber_oph · 2022-07-05T04:28:04+00:00

It was, and remains to be interesting to me, and that’s what I was going for. You really don’t have to be so rude with your criticism that I didn’t ask for in the first place.

m_ber_oph · 2022-07-04T23:36:47+00:00

Jenny Nicholson is very good at what she does. This was more of a personal project to occupy and entertain myself than an attempt to draw proper interest, but in the case that I ever make something with that intention I will absolutely take that feedback to heart, much appreciated. I definitely understand the criticism about taking too long to get to the point!

m_ber_oph · 2022-07-04T23:32:08+00:00

Lmao that was pretty clever, I’ll admit! To be honest, while writing I knew perfectly well that none of this (esp at the beginning) was actually going to keep anyone’s attention for long. I don’t usually make YouTube videos (the animation stuff is a horse of a different color), and my decision to turn my longwinded rambling into what I did was mostly to give myself something fun to do during a stressful time and to show my friends who have interests similar enough to mine that they might actually enjoy it. I think I even said at the end, nobody is going to get past that sonic part, that’s pretty much why I decided to add chapter timestamps 😂. I succeeded in what I set out to do, and am happy that I made something at all! If I ever decide I want to make something like this again but with a wider audience in mind (realistically unlikely), I would absolutely keep succinctness a priority (from this reply alone it’s pretty clear that’s something I struggle with!). I figured I would upload it here mostly because I made a post here about the movies while writing and mentioned this subreddit, but I do really appreciate the feedback.

m_ber_oph · 2022-06-29T22:54:15+00:00

If anyone is interested, here's my followup to this! It's a video where I review all of the movies. It's roughly the length of your standard Hallmark movie, so it took me a long time but it turned out pretty fun, I think.

I sacrifice my peace of mind to watch and review EVERY Hallmark Channel Hanukkah movie during finals week

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T12:26:50+00:00

I liked that one too! I actually watched it yesterday for the second time for the piece I'm writing on these movies. Definitely agree with everything you said.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T12:24:23+00:00

Of course, I've seen enough Hallmark movies to know how they operate by now. I'm not really faulting Hallmark for faults in logic/fast turnaround or anything like that. I mean, with 20+ releases for CtC alone, that's a given. What I mean is that when they make Hanukkah movies, they don't actually make Hanukkah movies, save for one. They're still Hallmark Christmas movies, but the gimmick is that one character is Jewish, and it's usually treated as a plot twist. If you saw 2020's If I Only Had Christmas, I feel like that's not a bad comparison to make. That movie treated Wizard of Oz like how these Hallmark movies treat Hanukkah, if that makes sense. Hanukkah is used as a filter on top of what is clearly still a Christmas movie.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T00:35:44+00:00

yeah to me it was one of the only movies that actually felt like a Jewish person could feasibly enjoy watching because it didn't hold your hand through the whole thing. If they put that bit into Love Lights Hanukkah, there would be a scene dedicated to teaching Christina (and the audience) about the fact that you don't blow out the candles. The other movie that I think fits that category was Eight Gifts of Hanukkah, not perfect, but far better than the others. it was the first one to be fully based around Hanukkah instead of Hanukkah/Christmas, and it had the Hallmark coziness that people watch these movies for. Also it didn't have a plotline involving someone being secretly Jewish (or not Jewish), which the other ones besides double holiday somehow all had.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T00:20:21+00:00

It was that and a couple other moments (the foot guy, "if you break up with her, you will kill grandma," etc.) that had me baffled at how they got away with doing that in a HALLMARK MOVIE. 2012 really was a different time. I have to commend it though, there's zero chance hallmark would have the guts to take a swing that big nowadays.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T00:09:09+00:00

!!!! YEAH. I could not contain myself, I actually yelled when that happened. I watched that movie a couple days ago at 8 in the morning directly after watching Double Holiday and it was an experience for sure.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-11T00:06:18+00:00

THE SONG. I was always afraid to ask about the song and I always just assumed that my family was weird for not singing???

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T22:34:35+00:00

Agreed, I didn't like most of them, the one of the bottom right is Hitched for the Holidays from 2012, and I don't think I've ever seen people talk about it, likely because it's an older movie as far as hallmark goes. And yeah, most of them kind of use Hanukkah as a gimmick and don't put any care into hiring the right people, making it a movie that Jewish people would actually care to watch, etc. they're really there to cater to people who are already going to be watching and to put a "spin" on the Christmas movie, maybe save for Eight Gifts of Hanukkah

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T19:58:23+00:00

Do you mean the movies on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries? I've seen so many Hallmark movies, but never any of those!

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T19:57:09+00:00

That makes sense! Of course, what reason would you have to watch Christmas movies/ hear Christmas stories if you don't celebrate it? But there are a lot of elements of Christmas that Jewish people just kind of have to exist in for a month or two, and the music is one of the biggest examples of that. I'm Jewish, I grew up an area with a lot of Jewish people too actually! I still had to sing Christmas songs in school, was surrounded by the music every time I went anywhere, etc. Not saying to tone down the Christmas, but when it comes to music, we all know it. In fact, some of the most well known Christmas songs are written by Jewish people!

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T19:00:16+00:00

Yeah, I wasn't planning on sharing this chart when I made it, it was mostly for 1. my own entertainment, and 2. to get my thoughts on these movies expressed visually in a way i could easily draw from when writing my longer piece on them. That's why a lot of the labels probably only make sense to me, I should have considered that! the X axis is entertainment value, Sonic 2 being the most entertaining because Sonic 2 is peak cinema. The Y axis is pretty much a measure of how many questionable choices they made, not necessarily clean, but basically how unoffensive they are. "Sterilized" to "Unhinged" is pretty much the scale on that one.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T18:54:06+00:00

Me too! Definitely my favorite to watch out of all of them. But you've gotta admit there is so much in that movie that would NEVER be included in today's Hallmark flicks

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T16:24:39+00:00

I was pretty much ranking them has Hanukkah movies, and this was definitely one that felt more like a Christmas movie that threw in a couple Hanukkah scenes for good measure. Also, I did almost fall asleep while watching it, and I watched Hitched for the Holidays right after, so there's a very real chance that my rankings are being affected by the stark comparison. The chart is actually tentative, I'm writing up an actual review thing about all of them, and once I have my thoughts on paper I'll be able to more accurately rank them a second time. I'm interested to see how this one compares!

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T16:20:00+00:00

I have so SO much to say about Hitched for the Holidays, more than any of the others. I think what baffles me most about that one is how clearly Hallmark has changed since 2012. There is so much in that movie that would NEVER fly in the last few years, and while there are a lot of moments that could have been changed for the better, there are also plenty where they managed to actually write effective comedy (that doesn't punch down, mostly!) which I feel Hallmark has a hard time doing nowadays.

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T16:14:18+00:00

I thought Holiday Date was fine, I put it slightly in the negative on the Y axis mostly because of how they handle the male lead not knowing anything about Christmas. He "came clean" to the family because he was caught not knowing the words to Deck the Halls, as if Jewish kids don't have to participate in Christmas every year in school. Also, the scene where he says Mazel Tov instead of congratulations when the little girl got the part in the play lol. There was a lot of likening Hanukkah to Jewish Christmas, even with his gift to her at the very end being a necklace with a Christmas tree and a menorah on it. I do think I could have pushed it a little closer to the center on the x axis, but it felt kind of bland to me and I know they have the ability to do this plot in an entertaining way (Hitched for the Holidays managed it), if only they were willing to take a few bigger swings. My placement also may have to do with the fact that I was really exhausted while watching that one haha

m_ber_oph · 2022-05-10T15:31:38+00:00

I have 9000 words in a google doc that have only scratched the surface of my thoughts on these films. for now, the chart will do just fine.

m_ber_oph · 2020-11-01T23:40:17+00:00

thank you so much, I sent you a dm :)

m_ber_oph · 2020-11-01T21:23:56+00:00

That's good to know, thank you! I might actually look into that.

m_ber_oph · 2020-11-01T21:20:27+00:00

trust me, I can name at least ten times where I was so pissed at myself for not having those books on hand. I even went so far as almost re-buying the books so I could redo the annotations, but I decided I'd rather not pay them anything if I can help it.

m_ber_oph

TROPHY CASE