Christmas Eve unfolds with a soothing nostalgia as we don our festive pyjamas and invite you into the wintery world of the 1982 short film, 'The Snowman'. Imagine the soft glow of holiday lights as we recount the cherished tale of James and his frosty friend, exploring the cultural significance and personal memories tied to Raymond Briggs' classic animation.
Through laughter and a shared love for the season's magic, we meander down memory lane, reminiscing about our own snow day escapades inspired by James' adventures. With every snowball thrown and snowman built, our childhood selves come alive, just like James' snowy companion on the eve of Christmas. We discuss the whimsy and wonder captured in the silent storytelling of 'The Snowman'—a cozy bedtime narrative enriched with mischief, discovery, and an unforgettable midnight flight.
As the episode draws to a close, we touch on the poignant message behind the fleeting existence of a snowman, reflecting on the artistry and emotional depth of Briggs' work, including the sequel 'The Snowman and The Snow Dog'. With a chuckle, we share a mix-up involving a film with a strikingly similar name but a much darker tone. So, fill your mug with something warm, settle into your most comfortable chair, and join us for a heartwarming journey through this timeless Christmas Eve tradition.
Christmas Eve unfolds with a soothing nostalgia as we don our festive pyjamas and invite you into the wintery world of the 1982 short film, 'The Snowman'. Imagine the soft glow of holiday lights as we recount the cherished tale of James and his frosty friend, exploring the cultural significance and personal memories tied to Raymond Briggs' classic animation.
Through laughter and a shared love for the season's magic, we meander down memory lane, reminiscing about our own snow day escapades inspired by James' adventures. With every snowball thrown and snowman built, our childhood selves come alive, just like James' snowy companion on the eve of Christmas. We discuss the whimsy and wonder captured in the silent storytelling of 'The Snowman'—a cozy bedtime narrative enriched with mischief, discovery, and an unforgettable midnight flight.
As the episode draws to a close, we touch on the poignant message behind the fleeting existence of a snowman, reflecting on the artistry and emotional depth of Briggs' work, including the sequel 'The Snowman and The Snow Dog'. With a chuckle, we share a mix-up involving a film with a strikingly similar name but a much darker tone. So, fill your mug with something warm, settle into your most comfortable chair, and join us for a heartwarming journey through this timeless Christmas Eve tradition.
Living with Maidalee. Living with Maidalee. Living with Maidalee, maidalee. Living with Maidalee.
Speaker 2:Hello and a Merry Christmas Eve to one and all. This is Living with Maidalee. The Living with Maidalee team are here To guide you through Christmas Eve. My name is Andrew and I'm joined by Leroy. How things make Merry, merry, merry Christmas. We've made it. Well, we've still got another two after this. But yeah, episode 10, here we are. I'm recording this, liam in my pyjamas, a bathrobe slippers with a nice holics, which I think is very Christmas-like.
Speaker 3:It's quite fitting for this gentleman as well.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I thought I just need to watch my daughter do carol singing at church.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I'm in the festive spirit as well. So, any good, she was actually brilliant. Yeah, really good Was she? That's a shame. I'll send you a clip after. Yeah, yeah, there's nothing funny to report. What was your life?
Speaker 2:Friday, or like just Just like. Eww, yeah, very much like Celine Dion.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so all good, and obviously there's still a couple more to come out this month to complete the 12 days at Maitley, but if you have enjoyed the journey, I think some of the watch belongs. Perhaps we wouldn't do again, but we wanted to get quite a few episodes out through December. So if you enjoyed it, give us a like, give us a festive retweet. If you find it useful, yeah, give us a festive retweet.
Speaker 2:You're swat. Everyone always just likes it. Get the word out there. Also, pop the not apologies. A lot of people have asked us to do stuff Andra. The last one has asked us to do Fanny Craddock's Christmas, 12 days of Christmas thing. Whatever it was, we just had a chance. We've had a lot of things that people have asked us, but we had a lot on the list as well and, to be honest, a lot of it. We've had to try and pick stuff that you just to get out that way as quick as possible. Basically.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I think we're quite well. We've had a lot of suggestions that we kind of thought in hindsight that would have been good, actually just things that we dropped off our list to switch to other stuff. So if living with Maitley is still up and running for Christmas 2024, then yeah, we've already got lots of great ideas. So thanks for anyone who sent us anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, let's get straight into it, can't you? Yeah, you're going to lead this, liam, because I know this is something very close to your heart, and at the snowman.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love it yeah.
Speaker 2:We've got a few bit of background, if you want before you get into it. Channel 4. Obviously the first people who had this. It was made for Channel 4 in 1982, which was the first year that Channel 4 was on air, so it's a proper good ending for them. Great thing to have that on a new channel, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Like the snowman Well did you read the in-depth research on Wikipedia? Did you do?
Speaker 2:that I've gone on about four or five sites actually for bits and pieces. I know you'll be leading this, so I'm going to lead the episode.
Speaker 3:I've not done loads of background on it. I thought it was later than it was. I didn't realise it was as early. Apparently, the book was published in 1980. 78,.
Speaker 2:I've got you.
Speaker 3:Sorry, 78. And it had a bad first run. Yeah, we sold 50,000 copies, and the reason being obviously beautiful illustrated book but there's no stories. So parents couldn't read a bedtime story to the kids. That's what they thought. So in 1980, they come up with the idea of turning it into an animation. Yeah, and this is the end product.
Speaker 2:So and the book itself had nothing to do with Christmas, did it? It was just a snowy day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the editor to make it work for the animation. And then they must have then updated the book off the back of that, because the book that I had had some of the Christmas stuff in it. So I don't know if anybody's got an original Snowman book from 1978 where they didn't have the Christmas. I mean, it's all wintery, isn't it? But the actual sort of specific Christmas stuff wasn't added until afterwards. But if you've got one of those, I imagine it's worth a few squids.
Speaker 2:Obviously written by Raymond Briggs. And every time I was doing research and he said Briggs said this. I can't get him here. Johnny Briggs, you know, plays Mike Baldwin. I'm thinking Mike, actually, if he wrote it, mike Baldwin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Do you know what else he wrote? Do you know anything else that he wrote?
Speaker 2:Mike Baldwin. Yeah, or the final days of Alma Baldwin. Now, I don't know why. Yeah, I do actually. Oh, come on, father.
Speaker 3:Christmas, I can only think of one thing oh yeah, of course. Yeah, that, yeah, so there's two actually. Then I can think of what's the other big one?
Speaker 2:I know that, oh, when the wind blows. No, you did write that. Sure, you did Hang on when wind blows.
Speaker 3:You think you know where the wild things are that does not know when the wind blows.
Speaker 2:you know the nuclear war, all right.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I don't know that. I was thinking of fungus to bogeyman. Pretty sure he wrote.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not about less, but obviously, as people probably know about and I've listened to it for a while I love nuclear war and have you ever seen? You've not seen when the wind blows.
Speaker 3:No, I've not even heard of it, don't know it.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's absolutely fantastic. Honestly, if you like this, you'll like that. It's another.
Speaker 3:We recorded last time Christmas films, and you couldn't come up with five Christmas films. And now we found another nuclear film that you've watched.
Speaker 2:A lot of nuclear films. This is, yeah, honestly, when the wind blows. This is very similar thing to this, very almost identical animation to this. You've watched a couple of Hiroshima not Hiroshima.
Speaker 3:What's the plan going in Ukraine?
Speaker 2:Oh, chernobyl, yeah, yeah, chernobyl, yeah, two or three films about that and yourself.
Speaker 3:of the 10 films you've probably seen, I reckon probably four or five, or about nuclear incident.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I like. I mean. This is why I like this thing, because we'll get into it. I really like depressing films and I know if there's enough of them and I think this definitely goes into the world of depressing. But I'll let you like I think before you start, liam, because you've imagined you're going to get straight into the story. What viewers would have seen in 1982 is, at the start, raymond Briggs himself coming on and talking about how he got the inspiration for the snowman and all that sort of stuff. They were actually cut out because when it was first broadcast in America, they didn't think Briggs had the star factor to lead this thing that they were going to put out on TV.
Speaker 3:So they got David.
Speaker 2:Briggs character. Who the hell is Briggs character? I don't like him. Yeah, so they got Bowie in right and Bowie. This was really weird. This because Bowie spoke as if he was James. I don't think he's speaking, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I see there's a few bits actually that will come through. I've seen this, I reckon 100 times, but but probably watch an autopilot Don't really watch it anymore and to watch it and make a few notes for this episode, I've noticed things I've never seen before or never been aware of, and yeah, that is one thing I thought. Bowie just did an introduction. Now as he read it as if he was James, and that surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 2:I've not seen all the time. He's got his guitar and he sings. There's a snowman whiting in the wings. He obviously did he likes Christmas, doesn't he Bowie? Oh, come on, we've been crossed by. Yeah, loves a bit of Christmas, old Bowie I don't know the words, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, and he obviously had the scarf. I think that I'm pretty sure this is Bowie's daughter. I want to say found the scarf that he used to open this and, yeah, a couple of years back after he died, and yeah, everyone was like, oh my God, it's the scarf that he used at the start of the snowman.
Speaker 3:So it's become a different person again for this, hasn't it Like he's become a blind man?
Speaker 2:Brilliant If he did it like. I mean he should have done me, he should have done some fucking walking, he should have done walking in the air Anyway.
Speaker 3:Anyway. So it's a bit odd for me this, because I think I had the audio cassette version first. I did For the modern audience, which is that I used to have a little Fisher Prize tape player and I had an audio cassette and it was red because I thought how does this work then? Because it's just a musical, basically, and if you can't see it, how would it work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great point actually. Yeah, sure, good point. It went as how a break-up as he does the soundtrack, the version which is John Baddily reads the kind of it narrates the story.
Speaker 3:So that's the version I had. I've looked it up so it was an audio tape. I think you had to turn it over halfway through.
Speaker 2:I definitely had this. I definitely definitely had this on a tape. I wish I had still had those tapes. I bet they'd probably.
Speaker 3:I mean for a nostalgia, Anne, probably because they might actually be worth some of the things that you can add back then. But yeah, I think. So we get Bowie introducing it, as this was him a long time ago and it was magic, and then we go straight into some very there's gonna be lots of iconic music through this and I'm not gonna play everything, but there might be quite a few clips. So this is the first one out of the music.
Speaker 2:The soundtrack, obviously, for this is massive, obviously, with it being almost Well, it is completely wordless, apart from one song. This music is just. It's somewhat like a motive of, and I'd like to know what I mean. You might be able to tell me what you're seeing it, if it still is. Obviously we've grown up with it, so it all sounds like magical because it reminds you of that time, as when you were young and when you first watched it.
Speaker 2:And even now, though, watching it back, it was like, oh, my fucking God, these are unbelievable pieces of music. Same guy did the Avengers thing, by the way.
Speaker 3:Oh really, yeah, no, my kids love it. I know other people my age. You've got kids who watch it. They love it. I think the music is timeless. I think the animation is very dated, but in such a way where.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It actually works really well.
Speaker 2:It looks like it's been done like that on purpose to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it hasn't.
Speaker 2:But that's what it looks like. It's like you're reading an old book, like from the I don't know, the 20s or something.
Speaker 3:It's absolutely brilliant. Honestly, it's like, Of all the sort of things we talk about that trigger sort of memories and nostalgia, this is right up there for me. This takes me back to being I don't know five or six. Reading the book at Christmas, listening to my audio tape, watching this yeah, this just takes me right back. It's brilliant 20 minutes long of this.
Speaker 2:It's no longer than 25, is it? I don't think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm not sure if it's 25, 26. And there's so much in there that you think, fucking hell like there's a bit in there that they added in to kind of make it a little bit more substantial which is what you mentioned the sort of Christmas type stuff.
Speaker 2:So oh right, sorry, I thought.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you when we get to it, but there is a bit that's added in just for this TV version.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, first thing, I don't know, if you noticed, the ratio is out Because it was made before there was any wide-screen TVs or even wider TVs. So you get these two black lines at either side of your screen, which I think kids must think. Why have they done it? To not fit the screen? But a lot of TV screens were that shape, so that's the reason why.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The animation yeah, so we've mentioned it. It's all pencil drawn and it's absolutely beautiful. Each sort of still is like you could put so many of these and have them as a canvas on a wall just brilliant. And so, yeah, we meet James. He's lives in a house in the sticks. I want to say he's kind of not much around it, is he?
Speaker 2:Brighton, apparently, is supposed to be set, isn't it I? Want to say that, apparently, there's an old Fred Shaw, which people he's never been said, but people say, oh right, that's like Brighton basically. Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's a bit where they fly out over a pier. I think that's Brighton Pier, yeah, so yeah, I suppose that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's dark, but I think yeah, Anyway.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that actually. But yeah, we meet James, who it goes to bed at night and when he wakes up in the morning there's snow everywhere and it's really deep snow. He's mega excited. He runs past his dad. His dad looks so confused when he passes him twice. It's like who are you and what are?
Speaker 2:you doing here? Well, it's a family of I mean, it's a family of gingers, isn't it? So they've really had a hard time, if I know my Judging by my own.
Speaker 3:Yeah, your own experiences. Yeah, that's not you being abusive to gingers, that's you siding with the gingers.
Speaker 2:That's me trying to get some sympathy for being ginger. Another thing, before I forget, is what you're really reminding me of. The way the kid's dressed is obviously in his PJs, his blue and white PJs.
Speaker 3:Do you?
Speaker 2:remember the aquafresh toothpaste aren't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely I actually looked up because I thought I wonder if there's some sort of link here between. But there's no link and the aquafresh came out after, so it must have just been inspired or just a coincidence, because if anyone knows what I'm about, just putting an aquafresh toothpaste advert in the 1980s and you'll know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I've got the snowman in the background. Pause, just to kind of vaguely go through it as we discuss it. If anything needs to jug my memory. And yeah, as soon as you said it I thought, oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, I would have believed it was the same kid they used. So another piece of music come in again. I'm trying not to play it. I could just play the music and we could just show up. It's like I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm desperate, I have to press play. I have to do it.
Speaker 3:Just only bits of trigger memories. This is the bit of music where he starts to build the snowman.
Speaker 2:You remind me of Geldorf when he has to go on stage at Live Aid to do I don't like none of this. I just can't fuck. I've got to do it. I've got to play the song.
Speaker 3:I have to play the building, the snowman music I have to give me your fucking snowman.
Speaker 2:It didn't make sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he builds his snowman. He has it. First of all, he throws a snowball at the window We've all been told off by his mother and then he decides to build his snowman.
Speaker 2:Little thing actually. Do you want to tell people about how you once threw a snowball? At the now, sadly no one would have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like to tell the story now he's deceased, but we once this was snow days. Well, this is a bit like the James story in it. So we he built a snowman and had a magical adventure. We went to Norton pub, drank quite a lot of beers and then I threw a snowball at Harry Gratian full on in the face. He told you to grow up mate, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Grow up.
Speaker 2:And I said sorry that made the cut in this one, unfortunately. That had been brilliant, I sort of.
Speaker 3:Do you think we should put that in? I don't his family thinking bad of him. Maybe he didn't swear around his family like it. To be fair, he had just had a snowball full in the face. I'm sure he doesn't go around swearing often.
Speaker 3:Leave it him, yeah, okay, so he goes to bed, he brushes his teeth, dives into bed, even like. That made me feel sort of like cozy, how he sort of wriggles into his bed when you're a little kid and your bed's big and you can sort of, I thought I'd sleep pretty quick.
Speaker 2:I thought, though, for like close to Christmas, I could never sleep before Christmas. And he's straight, he's banged out.
Speaker 3:But this is something I think of I've kind of misremembered, because I thought it was Christmas Eve but it's not Christmas Eve.
Speaker 1:It's not.
Speaker 3:And that's something that had blurred in my head that I just assumed it was Christmas Eve and I always thought, god, he falls asleep really quick. It's not Christmas Eve. He's just built a snowman, that's all. It's a snow day, and it is near to Christmas. And then I think this is a sort of sign that society's changed this, because he sort of he looks out of his window. It's sort of dead at night. The house is quiet, everyone's asleep. He creeps downstairs. It's midnight. If my kids crept downstairs at midnight they'd probably find me watching, I don't know, the Ed Stafford or some sort of survival thing, or a blue planet, maybe we're gonna say a blue egg.
Speaker 2:A blue movie. What's your blue egg downstairs?
Speaker 3:No like a David Attenborough, I don't know. Just I'm not always in bed at 12 o'clock. Like their house is silent, all right, fucking hell, and they'll be like I'm still up at 12.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're telling me what I sometimes have to be like I'm still awake at 12. Christmas, odd case, I'm still awake at 12. Yeah, so his house is dead. He creeps up at midnight and the clock strikes midnight and that's the kind of moment of magic, seemingly, and the snowman turns around and what's done well is like there's no, it's very innocent. There's no, why? Oh, is he good, is he bad? Or should he have opened the door? It's just taken for granted that this snowman is good and you know it, and he knows it. There's no point, like these days you'd sort of say, oh, yeah, but you shouldn't open the door, because even if it's a snowman, is he good or bad? I just like that it's a good snowman and he knows it's a good snowman, obviously.
Speaker 2:I've got the tracks here. There's very few of them like every single one. I genuinely don't want writing answers here if we can get it in.
Speaker 3:It's really bingo if anyone put it. Explain a drinking game.
Speaker 2:I've not mentioned. I'm Irish yet, or that I went to Paris last year, yeah, but I would say found it really difficult to make snowmen, so I just used to make things. Do you know what I mean? Like just that's a thing I could never do you.
Speaker 3:You just say like a lump of snow, come to life.
Speaker 2:for you, it would basically yeah would you ever make a good snowman? I imagine you were really into all that sort of shit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I made a good igloo once but I couldn't get the roof sword and absolutely phenomenally good like I built. I made blocks of snow, got it like two thirds of the way done, but I couldn't quite figure out how to do the roof. No, I'm gonna say I put some pictures on the madeleine account. I'll put any one If you're interested, let us know I can share that, right. So yeah, he goes out. Yeah, I've put Midnight Magic Snowman Comes to Life. Shake hands together, no menace.
Speaker 3:So we know it's all good. Snowman comes in, they're not especially quiet. I mean, snowman comes in and strokes the cat in his house and the cat shrieks. Snowman nearly knocks over the Christmas tree. They're not being especially sort of careful.
Speaker 2:odd it to hide is sort of coming to life almost no no, I mean again, I'd be scared if Snowman came to life real this side, yeah, but I don't think in this sort of work in this safe space.
Speaker 3:You wouldn't. This is what I'm saying. There is no threat in this sort of, in this pencil drawn animation. It's a nice thing, do you think, nowadays?
Speaker 2:they'd have to think like oh you know, would this be too? Is it all right to be? Was it more like okay to be as unrealistic in the past? I'm not sure. Like I'm thinking back to, you know, the better days of the act.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, in this cartoon maybe his door wasn't locked, I don't know. But like, yeah, it wouldn't be now. Like if your kids went down now and it looks like the Snowman outside moving, do not go outside the house. Yeah, yeah, well, I'm based in Hormone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably a bigger file to be honest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, certainly yeah, but I don't think there's any of that. There's no undertone of that in this that I can see anyway. So they put the TV on and they realized the fire's melting him, so they move away from that. I mean, they don't really learn the lessons because the fire's melted him. Then they go into the kitchen and he turns on the taps and there's hot water comes out and that's sort of like not good for him, steam, but what I thought there and this is like proper pk type material there, but I thought someone's left bloody immersion on, aren't they? How can they have instant hot water back in this day?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's true, someone's left the immersion heater on and again for any youngsters listening you used to have to press a button to kind of have your hot water ready. It didn't just come on demand like it does now, and obviously somebody's left hot water on. So, a few quid in the bank.
Speaker 2:This family, I would say, yeah, it was. It looked like. They have to be fair. As I said, dad's ginger, so probably got bullied, so he probably knuckled down into his work and, mind you, he didn't work for me that well.
Speaker 3:Anyway, carry on Just Brexit, don't we? Yeah, so he opens the fridge. He likes to cold Makes sense. This bit I'd kind of quite not remember. I remember sort of thinking, yeah, they're not quiet. I remember the bit with the cat. I've forgotten, despite the fact I've watched it so many times that they go into his parents' room.
Speaker 3:His parents are asleep. So he takes this six foot four snowman into the room where his parents are asleep. It's only midnight, remember? Yeah, and he's bashing around. He puts false teeth in. He's trying clothes on in the wardrobe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, does the snowman make a noise? What are we saying? Was he less?
Speaker 1:well liked.
Speaker 3:There's a bit coming up where he falls flat on his back. I reckon he looks about 17 stone. I reckon he would definitely make a noise if he fell on his back. Whether there's some magic at play and that's why they don't wake up, I don't know. I'm going to play another piece of music here because they open a music box. I love this little piece of music when they open it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brilliant. This is one of the bits that got to me this year Like, oh fucking, because, like I say, you've probably seen this a lot more recent than I have. You've probably watched it with your kids and stuff. I've not seen this for a couple, not that long, about five or six years, and then you know that obviously I'm looking at it more intelligently than I probably have done. We were on telly actually a couple of days ago and yeah, that was the bits where I thought, oh, fucking hell, yes, I forgot about this bit.
Speaker 3:So that again really nostalgic, triggering memories. They go out in the garden and get on a motorbike now and I'm not going to play the music from this bit, but it's another great piece of music. There's some fantastic animation in there as well. There's a bit I think Jodie's pointed out to me before that she loves. But the motorbikes kind of got a single headlight shining out a beam of yellow light and it comes up over a hill and it catches some rabbits or hairs in the light. It's brilliant.
Speaker 3:It's so well done that little scene it's a bit reckless Because it's speeding through the woods, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's like really fast yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean he's not got lots to live for, but James has got lots going for him. I thought this was reckless. This through the woods.
Speaker 2:By the way, on James in the book, he's not, he's. I'm going to name. I see in the book the reason we know James on this is because one of his presences got James on it.
Speaker 3:I don't know, yeah, and it's because the woman who drew it that was her partner's name at the time when they came to do that. So, yeah, apparently it was never written with a name in mind for James, but he has See if you all misses it about.
Speaker 2:It could have been called Leroy Jr. Obviously not. Yeah, I suppose it would have worked.
Speaker 3:That's what we would have said. Here is Leroy Jr.
Speaker 2:It's such a fact that Leroy Jr is flying through. I don't know, I don't know. I don't see something so much cooler.
Speaker 3:Anyway. So again he's got too hot. Again I think that yeah.
Speaker 2:I think this honestly, this bit I wrote down liability because I think he is a bit of it's like you must know now yeah.
Speaker 3:You've sat in a fire, you've had the hot tub, and now you sat on a hot motorbike. He kind of deserved to be melting a bit now. What I thought, though, was that surely, if you wanted to demonstrate it was melting, you would show him turning to water. Yeah, show him like glowing. His legs are glowing. I'm not sure they understand what melting is. It just sort of shines light from his legs where he's supposed to be melting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Interesting. I didn't quite get that. It takes him to the freezer to chill out so it needs to cool down again, and I've never noticed this before either. The bit that seemingly triggers the snowman to decide he needs to get to the north pole and go and see Santa or that one or wherever they go, is it picks up a box of frozen fish out the freezer and sees the trees on it and that makes him think oh yeah, I've got flights of them trees. So if he'd never seen that box of frozen fish, I don't know if they would have ever done that kind of either.
Speaker 2:Why the why all of a sudden, as you thought?
Speaker 3:I'll take.
Speaker 2:In here. I'll take this kid again.
Speaker 3:That's definitely the trigger. I've never noticed that before. They're just basically just messing about until that point and he sees that and he's like, oh yeah, that's what I've got to do.
Speaker 2:So Anyway, I'm going too far into it, I don't. I still don't understand why he asked it yet. He's only been alive for about an hour, this snowman by yeah, this is just when you, when you get a snow.
Speaker 3:Well, perhaps we could Say what we think. I think when you get snow day, any kids who build snowmen there's actually snow women as well in it we find out. But they, they kind of finish one night. They can be magic and they can go off and right. That's. But why? Why that is he's triggered a frozen fish, I don't know and we get now the obviously the kind of Absolute most iconic bit. So I can't really not play this bit. I have to play it, I can't not.
Speaker 1:We're walking in the air, we're floating in the moon. It's.
Speaker 2:I think we've talked about this. To be fair, um, obviously, this is often Said to be Alan Jones. Obviously, who did? And it's not? It's? Come on, dave out, is it, is it, dave? Oh?
Speaker 3:Right, I didn't write down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I'm sorry, peter, is it all a? You see why, peter? Or say out, see, whatever is the actual one who did it? But Right, the, this is funny. This, actually the old, the altered version, which are the Jonesy, we're actually only done for a TV advertising campaign. Far Can you do. You know what company? Oh?
Speaker 3:No, no, no, it's a good question.
Speaker 2:Well, I guess, it is all under. Honestly, yeah, so they really did it. Couple of three years later, the toys are all. It was one of their adverts. He wasn't contacted, the original singer and.
Speaker 1:Blake each other.
Speaker 2:Well, the guy who did the soundtrack Blake I want to keep going William and Blake, howard Blake in it and recommended the 14 year old Ali Jones, and that song obviously got to number five in the single charts 28 they released. It got to number five on the 28th of December, which is bizarre, but you thought they'd been released the week before. You know it's a maybe it wasn't it just, you know, slow burn or whatever.
Speaker 3:The single on Would you call him not LP? Well, single in it single, the record I had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the vinyl. Yeah, obviously, alie Jones became a massive, not massive lab. We are a popular celebrity on the back of this and he's still. You know, I think if you ask most people if you did a quiz, who sang walking the air, they probably say him. And what's really Harsh is the the original singer, or see how to, or is called. I don't even know his name. I should know his name really like, and he's not even credited on on the soundtrack or the film.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it rolls his arse too much for me.
Speaker 1:Walking in the.
Speaker 2:Well, you know through the time.
Speaker 3:Like it puts sort of Don't need in there a little bit.
Speaker 2:I think this guy it's been performed of 40 times now. Cover songs. But, yeah, I'll show the guy who originally did it, but I do associate with Ella Jones I it's only when I looked it up I didn't realize I was Jones, didn't sing the original.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I did know that, but I think it's because when we, when we be kind of kind of became aware of this as kids I'll add Jones was was doing it, so you just assumed it was him. But yeah, I have since found out he's not in this, this version of it. But yeah, I don't know. I'm happy to map to credit, all right yeah, anyway, go on anyway.
Speaker 3:So they fly up in the air. We get this music, some again some absolutely stunning sort of Animation. I absolutely love the bit when these they dive down and the whales are coming up and the whales are diving and the splash term and, yeah, some some absolutely stunning animation in there. Again, there'd be some great canvases if you want. Kind of, if you were that way, I don't think you could just steal their images, can you? But yeah, so you couldn't. You couldn't actually do that officially great stuff in there and Fly past the cruise ship a bit of a mistake in there. I don't know if you noticed it.
Speaker 3:Which bit, assuming they're going to the North Pole. Did you spot the?
Speaker 2:mistake. No, the only thing is. There is obviously the guys having a drink. He sees a flying snowman and he looks at the bottle of wine or whatever he's drinking, as if you know what the fuck.
Speaker 3:Well, we fly as they get into wars. That the destination. We fly past penguins, and Penguins are not in the northern hemisphere.
Speaker 2:I don't know, you don't like them. It's here I.
Speaker 3:Don't know if I've ever told you that, but no, I don't really like him.
Speaker 2:No, Sure, you said. You know, I'm told you, told me before you don't like penguins. Girl, I used to work with loves penguins. I think she adopted one. Yeah yeah, no.
Speaker 3:I don't like him or I think like it kind of. They've adapted in such a way that where they spend half their time they're not fit for purpose. We've probably spent more than half the time on land and they're not. They've kind of got it the wrong way around, but yeah, anyway. Anyway, it's not about that is it.
Speaker 3:We get to the party. So all this was added in all this the party with a snowman meeting Father Christmas. This was all done for the animation. To flush it out a little bit, I'm guessing that means they just went for a fly and then came back in the original in the ball, yeah. Which kind of makes More sense why the penguins would be there if they were just flying around the world almost yeah, and he also makes sense that you know he's looked at some fucking frozen fish and just thought it's fucking boring here.
Speaker 2:But yeah, look to the frozen fish and thought oh yeah, obviously we're gonna see Santa now.
Speaker 3:All those things up, is that boxfish fingers Could be flying around the earth? Come on, yeah, they're flying around. There's a bit in the party scene. I'm gonna play another piece of music here. There's a really nice little jazzy bit here is One of the reasons I wanted to play that is because it made me think of this.
Speaker 2:I didn't even put that in. Do you think you'll be able to listen so that any trumpet music anymore without thinking about?
Speaker 3:I would rather any trumpet music I hear from now on is replaced by it meets the reindeer. It gets a present from Santa. There's more nice music. Has the fly back home. I'm not gonna play that one. It's basically if you haven't seen it, watch it. If you have seen it, you probably have watched this year, and if not, you probably will. And it doesn't. It doesn't let you down, does it? I think it's really.
Speaker 3:We're back at the end now. They fly back, they have a big hug and James goes back in to go to bed. And I'm never really thought about this in terms of time on as well, because I think the snowman needs to get back because it's morning. So it takes him back, it goes to bed but then Presumably doesn't sleep through the full day and night. So then is he just getting up again like half an hour later and the snowman's melted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it depends on time. I mean, obviously the moon, dad went to bed at 12. We know that we've got that fast asleep fast asleep at 12 o'clock. This trip to latlan. I mean, I don't know how far it takes to get to latlands when you're on a snowman.
Speaker 3:But it's got to be flying. Sort of supersonic Do they say it's the final. I don't know. Say 100 miles an hour, it would be a few thousand miles. Said it, yeah, there's got to be magic involved, because basically he's not getting back to bed before 5 am, I don't think, and it'll be oh. I think it's probably after that. But yeah, yeah, let's say, let's even adjust it for magic. He's getting back in at 5.
Speaker 2:He wakes up at we're saying half 7, 8 o'clock yeah, but he's not done a rodeo, but the other side of the night, yeah, they've had a solid eight hours.
Speaker 3:So I reckon they're up about eight. They go into bed. 11 got up at 7. He's up at half 7. Let's say he runs out. The snowman has melted and Unbelievable.
Speaker 2:Seeing this like I mean obviously I know it's like it, there's no, there's no sugarcoating it.
Speaker 3:He falls to his knees. The camera pans away. It's kind of almost like a Not like horror film, but like a tragedy film. Where that's it, it's gone. The camera just pans out and it just flies away and it's just a Obviously.
Speaker 2:They were coming, because it's one of the most famous endings of anything, I think. Uh, but I were amazed at how abrupt it was. In my head he's more of a saddissime, where he like picks a scarf up slowly or something, and then no it's all washed and like nice that's it gone bang dead.
Speaker 2:See you later. What the fuck you're moaning about? Yeah, go on, we're. Yeah, it's that honestly. I mean this is the bit where it genuinely is sad and I don't think it'll ever not be sad to me. I really don't. It was genuinely sad. This guy I mean I've created this story on it and we probably all do this that it seems like a bit of a lonely kids. You know, I mean obviously a single. You know, no brothers or sisters. By the looks of it, that didn't seem that interested. You know, I mean just looking at him as if he's a piece of shit on his shoe and then he runs. I make this new friend and then he's died and I don't know. It's horrible in it.
Speaker 3:It's genuinely awful. I think if you just skip to that in isolation and look at it, you'd think that's a weird way to end it. If you've watched this the 35 minutes, whatever is 25 minutes, if you're invested in it yes, it's, it's, it's heartbreaking. It's just he's having such a good time, music's all great and happy, and then I'll go sleep for a little bit, and now he's gone.
Speaker 2:That's it, the your mate, you know he's actually said. He said he creates what he thinks is natural and inevitable. He said the snowman. This is not what he actually said. The snowman melts. My parents died, animals died, flowers die, everything dies. There's nothing gloomy about it.
Speaker 3:It's a.
Speaker 2:When it made the first thing that he started with like, like, said I looked into is the snowman melts. My parents died. It's almost like. Well, my fucking parents died, so you're getting this, you know. I mean, I'm fucking grieved and you lot agree, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm a drawing of a snowman mate. My family all died All right.
Speaker 2:And then he ended by saying I do not have happy endings, not like I don't write happy endings, I don't have, I've all of the mean so much. I'm blown away by that quote.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna read it off, and obviously this can't be Raymond Briggs, and. But so much more recently. Something I wanted to mention is they've done the snowman and the snow dog. I don't know if you've seen that no.
Speaker 3:No, if I told you there's a bit about a nuclear war in there, would you be? You'd be what? You'd finish the call now to watch it. No, I think, like when it first came out, everybody was a bit like on. Yeah, it's not the snowman though, is it? It's not, but what they've done is it's a brilliant kind of tribute to it. It has the same sort of feel. They've tried to animate in a similar sort of way. They've not just tried to directly copy the story. I think they've got that right.
Speaker 3:The bit where they go flying is absolutely brilliant. I have to sort of pick my kids up and fly around the room. That no, I picked them up as if they're flying and I hover around the room and they're getting like bigger and heavier now so it's becoming all the way. But yeah, they have to kind of do this flying thing. But what I love is they they've picked another Fantastic song. If I do, you know what? I'm gonna play it now. Even it's not this episode, why not? I've already got quite a lot of clips. This is the bit where they're flying from the snowman and the snow dog.
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 2:So is this? Is it a follow-on? Is it the same snowman?
Speaker 3:No, Do we?
Speaker 2:get.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's gone. He's not coming back. Raymond Briggs family died. The snowman died.
Speaker 2:But better not place Bob. I said we're gonna do this episode. He said, what's it with his kids? And obviously kids get upset at the end and he says that he tells them that well, it's just gonna come back next year when the snow comes again, which is a nice little, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know that's not the case, but I don't, yeah to me, to me he's got, I think, particularly after what you said about Briggs like sound.
Speaker 2:Oh, briggs will not be having that ending.
Speaker 3:No, no, briggs will be telling his kids no, I think you could build another snowman, and I think that's that's the kind of beauty of these snowmen that you build them, you bring them to life. They only get that day and then, and then they're gone again. That's that's. That's what it is. There's no. The old different though.
Speaker 2:Imagine if you got like a massive bell ends like your next. Now he's thinking oh so now I'll do another one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I think what I love about that I said that one does have a happier ending. So when the snowman goes, the dog turns real, which Apologies if you haven't seen it and that's ruining it for you, but that that does. They do have a happy ending to that one.
Speaker 3:Yeah and yeah, I just I think it's worth a mention because I think it's really well done. I think it's not, it's not a copy of it, it's not a. There's not just cashed in on it and rushed something out. I think it's quite well thought out and I think it's a good version of it. So, yeah, the snowman, genuinely, you know of all the sort of things we cover and all the nostalgic stuff that I'd be right up there for me and things that take me back to being a little kid again, and it's, yes, it's kind of awful, it's kind of sad, but it's, it's fantastic, it really is.
Speaker 2:It's fantastic. I wanna. I looked at reviews for this on a MBD and the gender. This is true. This, the first thing I found was the snowman is a great story brought to screen by the wrong people. The story is strong and engaging, but the direction is chopper. Includes Val Kilmer when he wasn't on the job, but it's a huge. But I realize I read the wrong, the wrong snowman. This is the 2017 film Horrible, yeah. The next, well, the next title is nice. I'm. This is terrifying, like bloody hell fire.
Speaker 3:Yeah it's somewhere like it's no money, attacks people in the light, I don't know what that one is.
Speaker 2:I genuinely just put snowman reviews. Impress that I've been greeted by Val. I thought what was he doing it like, I mean.
Speaker 3:I'm guessing. I'm guessing this version is pretty well reviewed. I don't actually know 8.2.
Speaker 2:An AMD is 8.2, which is obviously high.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll go with that. I mean, I personally there's not many things on TV that I've watched as many times that I still love watching. So it'd be right up there for me. Yeah, it's really good and hopefully, you know, you've either watched it this year maybe, if you listen in, or you might watch it, and yeah and yeah, I don't know, I don't think we've probably told you anything. You don't know.
Speaker 2:No, it is fantastic, but in the you know, if we're trying to balance this out, bulldogboy24 on IBM D is giving it one out of ten and he said I don't see the point in the stupid kid movie. The singing was horrible, the animation sucks and the storyline was basic. By 1982, movies were great. I mean great deep descriptive storylines. This looks like it was written in five minutes by a four-year-old kid. I don't know what the fuss is all about. In my mind it's one of the worst musicals ever, nearly as bad as high school musical. If you're four to six years old it could be okay, but if you're older, stay away.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we should leave it there.
Speaker 2:Have we put a mount on massive defense? Yeah, he's wrong.
Speaker 3:He's not understood BulldogBoy24. I think where BulldogBoy's gone wrong is he's come to it too late. He's probably not come to it like with the young family. He's come to it as a. He's sort of not in that moment where you can get the magic from it. I think you either need to be a kid or have young kids. I don't think it's for you if you're a, if the BulldogBoy is, let's say, a 22-year-old man watching this on his own, it's probably not for him. Why accept that?
Speaker 2:I reckon BulldogBoy's is probably not put much thought into that review.
Speaker 3:I hope to be completely honest but yeah, he's actually written a review. Why is he bothered writing that BulldogBoy's?
Speaker 2:gone out of his way Does he write?
Speaker 3:do you see any other?
Speaker 2:reviews yeah, you can see, like what reviews he's done. Yeah, let's see what else.
Speaker 3:BulldogBoy's reviewed.
Speaker 2:Give me two seconds, because for some reason I'm back on the fucking Valkyrie, on Snowman again.
Speaker 3:If you're listening to a review of the Snowman, this is a tangent, isn't it? But if you still, if you want to know what BulldogBoy says, stick around.
Speaker 2:BulldogBoy, do you want?
Speaker 3:to just reviews everything down? Does he only ever leave negative reviews, I'm guessing.
Speaker 2:Well, according to this, I'm going to reviews. He's just reviewed this movie. He's only done this one. Yeah, he has this, is it?
Speaker 3:There's some sort of problem in there for BulldogBoy? Isn't there, Like some things happen.
Speaker 2:He's signed up. Give this a one-star review and get the fuck out of there. He joins 16 years ago.
Speaker 3:He's on a date with some honey and he sort of said to some girl, let's watch the Snowman. And he's scuppered his dates gone wrong and that's it. I'm going to have to be able to write that one review.
Speaker 2:He wrote it in April 2007. He's done nothing since. What's he's seen? Since, good or bad, has made him reactions, since this Best thing is he joined in February, so he's been writing it for two months, this review, like then he's done his bit and he's off. He's the only person.
Speaker 3:It must have so much ruin this Christmas in 2006. He was stewing on it till February. He joined in February and then took two months to write his negative reviews.
Speaker 2:That's it, and this is the only person out of everyone who's given it one-stars. Like I, read absolutely everything.
Speaker 3:That's obviously dragged the whole score down, I know, but what I would say BulldogBoy.
Speaker 2:No one's given it a two-star, no one's given it a three-star. No one's given it a four-star, no one's given it a five-star. Six is the lowest outside of BulldogBoy 24.
Speaker 3:He's way off the mark in it. I think this was what we were talking about 16 years ago. Maybe, if you're listening to BulldogBoy, have another watch and see and maybe write another review. Write your second review of the same thing and let's see if it still gives you nothing.
Speaker 2:Right. So that's all our episodes done pre-Christmas, but we have some. We actually decided what we're going to do with the final episode yet, but we know what we're doing next and, unfortunately, listeners, just because it's time we're doing another, watch along. But this one's a little bit different, isn't it? Liam?
Speaker 3:Well, you say that Not really. It's just us watching.
Speaker 2:Nice exactly.
Speaker 3:It's the same as the ones before, but hopefully. How would I sort?
Speaker 2:of try and sell it to you. It's not like last time we were saying this All of what he's doing here. All of what he's doing here. What we're doing with this one is we're looking at the BBC review of 1997. Not entire show I've picked that year. It's definitely a big year in my head that year. And basically the BBC every year they all do it. They do a review of the year. It's an hour long and they just go through like the big moments of the year and we will be doing a watch along on that.
Speaker 2:So it's not going to be like oh then, this happened, and this happened, and this happened.
Speaker 3:We're not just describing shot by shot what's happening. We're going to use it to sort of trigger. I do remember this? What do you remember about that? It's going to be used to sort of drive debate of what we're a member of. This time we're not just going to talk through shot by shot. What happened?
Speaker 2:If I said 972, I've not watched it this, by the way but if I said 972, what are you thinking top of your head?
Speaker 3:I'm thinking, what am I thinking? I'm thinking Channel 5, when we're not launched.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I think it will. Yeah, I've done that. That's a good one. I don't know if BBC will do that.
Speaker 3:We're around then I'm thinking, what would I have been watching then? So we were like 15.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking B and outweigh Oasis coming out.
Speaker 3:I don't know why yeah yeah, bit of a bit of rip-off, bit of spices, maybe they're getting it from school Neighbours was on.
Speaker 2:Don't know if that'll be on BBC. Reviewer the year.
Speaker 3:I don't know depends what Lou and Harold were up to that year.
Speaker 2:Paddy Ashdown. I don't know why that's from to my 1997.
Speaker 3:I mean, I think we've mentioned this before, but was this like the kind of the Blair era?
Speaker 2:Oh, of course Labour got elected. Yeah, that'll definitely be on it, so we can talk Newly. But that'll be all ass won't it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I don't know off the top of my head. I mean when was? I might sound ridiculous this, but no, I'm not even going to say it. I'm not even going to say it.
Speaker 2:I want you to say it, and then, yeah, well.
Speaker 3:I was going to say when was 9-11, but I was All things Amazing Fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, but it's only like 11th and 9th. It's not a year though, is it no 2001 though?
Speaker 3:mate, come on, everyone knows that All right. Well, yeah, I didn't know, it was such an obvious year.
Speaker 2:But I do know that all the way, I'm not checking, I'm not checking, I'm not checking, I'm not checking.
Speaker 3:I'm not checking, I'm not checking, I'm not checking, I'm not checking, I'm not checking because I've laughed made of it.
Speaker 2:yeah yeah, everyone knows it was 2001.
Speaker 3:See, that's what today actually went in, so I knew it wouldn't. Oh, by Diana. When were Diana?
Speaker 2:Oh shit, she was 97. Of course she will, yeah, so we'll get to talk about the Queen of Hearts as well.
Speaker 3:Another barrel of laughs there for you, so yeah we'll make it funny Just before we go.
Speaker 2:I saw today you made a short shared. It's someone said they were really disappointed that friends never mentioned that 11. I don't know if you saw this, because they said that she was being Deadly. Seas is a YouTube comment Because I just, even if Chandler said you know what guys, I really missed the Twin Towers, I didn't say that the conversation there you go Could there be any more planes question in the buildings Unbelievable, ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Anyway, thank you for that, thank you for sticking to this as a fantastic Christmas, and we will be with you on the other side of Christmas, liam and I'll. Yeah, merry Christmas, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'll Merry Christmas everyone If you've made it this far on a ramshackle episode. Thank you so much. Thanks for any that you've listened to all year and, yeah, we will catch you after Christmas Me or a Christmas.
Speaker 2:Easy now.
Speaker 3:If anyone wants to get in touch with us, send us anything. Find us on Twitter at livingwithmade1. Or you can send us an email at livingwithmadely at outlookcom.