When you think of Filmation and Snow White you probably think of the failed attempt at a sequel to the fairy tale the Disney film is based on. Happily Ever After isn’t that great, but they did try to do something different beyond “let’s make the new dwarfs into girls”. But here’s something I bet you didn’t know, or at least I didn’t until earlier this week: it’s not the only time Filmation played with the world of the lost princess and her seven landlords.
In 1980 CBS aired A Snow White Christmas, although frankly there isn’t a lot “Christmas” about it. It’s not about Christmas, Christmas doesn’t save the day, and any Winter day frankly wouldn’t have changed anything. I mean, I still put it on my Christmas special playlist over on YouTube but it’s a bit of a stretch. The story takes place well after the classic tale, as the now King Charming and Queen Snow White have a daughter, also named Snow White (for branding purposes I guess), who is joined by her comic relief friend Grunyon and meets with seven friendly giant (because Filmation couldn’t stop themselves from messing with the dwarfs apparently) who must protect her from the returned wicked queen. Anybody remember seeing this because it was new to me. While I put the official version on the playlist I’m going with a different posting (unless it’s taken down at some point) for this article because Classic Media’s official channel for this stuff didn’t include the intro and outro. I like to show the credits after all.
Despite the ending being a bit too close to the source material, the giants just the dwarfs remade, and not really tied to the holiday in the title, I thought it was pretty good. Snow White the younger is a decent character and Grunyon isn’t the love interest. Instead it’s the love of her parents (and possibly everyone else around her at the time) breaking the spell. The queen does try a few new tricks. Overall I thought the special was enjoyable. Just not every Christmas-y outside of the winter setting, and it takes more than snow to make a Christmas.
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