My 90's and 2000's Experience: My Childhood Christmas Movies and Specials VHS Collection

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. We're shifting gears and getting into the Christmas spirit here in the Geek Cave this week. Today I'm going to talk about my childhood Christmas movies and specials VHS collection. Let's get into it!

Up first is The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. I loved the Berenstain Bears when I was a kid, and I had a ton of the books. I don't even remember who gave this tape to me or when. I just remember watching it at least once during the Christmas holidays when I was growing up. It was a little weird having actual voices connected to the Berenstain Bears, just because I mostly knew them from books since I didn't watch the 80's animated series. Just this special. I don't have this special anymore, but it is available to watch on YouTube.

Next up is The Nutcracker Prince. I haven't seen this movie in probably twenty years or so, but I remember watching it with my sister all the time at Christmas. In the U.S. the movie was released on VHS by Warner Bros, but in Canada it was released by Cineplex Odeon Video in collaboration with MCA Home Video. Kiefer Sutherland voices the titular Nutcracker Prince. It did get released on DVD in Canada and the United States in 2004, but it's long out of print, and outside of two releases in the U.K. (one in 2001 and the other in 2007), the movie hasn't been released on DVD since then and has never been released on Blu-ray or 4K. 

Alpha's Magical Christmas is a really weird release for the Power Rangers franchise. It's a sing-along direct-to-video special and isn't canon to the show or even to the 1995 movie, yet, it exists. I think I got this after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had been removed from Global, so apart from the five episodes that I had on VHS that had been taped off Global and YTV for me in early 1994, this special was the only way I had to watch Power Rangers at all, since I didn't have the movie on VHS yet. It's pretty cheesy, but it's still fun to watch. Oddly enough Shout! Factory included it on one of the two bonus discs in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series DVD set back in 2013, though I don't know if it was included in the 2016 re-release of the box set, or the 2018 steelbook release of the series. So even though I don't own the VHS anymore, I still have it on DVD since I have the original 2013 complete series box set.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is also a bit of a weird one too because it's the first direct-to-video midquels for Beauty and the Beast and it's a Christmas one. I've watched it at least once on Disney+ back in like 2021 or 2022, but I definitely watched it more when I was growing up because of my sister. In fact, I actually think that this one was my sister's tape, but it was in the family VHS collection in the family room. This was a 1997 release too, so my sister probably didn't even get it until either Christmas 1997, her birthday in 1998 or Christmas 1998 at the latest. 

I've talked about Waiting for Santa a lot on my blogs over the years, but it was part of our Christmas specials VHS collection when I was a kid. We got it pretty late. I'm pretty sure we didn't get it until 1994 at the latest, just because it got re-released again in 1996, 1997, and 1998, and we weren't getting Barney tapes that late. While I've watched the later Barney Christmas specials on YouTube about a decade ago, Waiting for Santa is still my favourite, just because it was from pretty early on in Barney's history, and was part of my generation of Barney.

When I was a teenager, we got the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas on VHS. We never owned the original animated version on a retail VHS release, though we did have it taped off of TV, and we still do as I found that tape. So getting this one was the next best thing. I really do enjoy Jim Carrey in the role. It just felt a little too stretched out given the story it's telling. Even watching it now, it feels pretty stretched out. I have it on DVD now, and I also watched it on Netflix in like 2019 or 2020, but I have no idea if it's still on Netflix or not. 

Is there anyone who was born between 1959 and 1995 who hasn't watched Frosty the Snowman? This one was always in the rotation, whether we watched it on VHS or watched it during its annual airing on Global or CTV. I even did a full lookback at the special itself as well as its history on home video last year. I have it on VHS and on DVD as part of a box set of classic Christmas specials.

Next is Disney's 1998 Christmas movie, I'll Be Home for Christmas, starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, and Adam LaVorgna (with the last two being regulars on the WB drama, 7th Heaven). It's not the best Christmas movie, or even the best comedy movie, but it's still pretty funny.

The Teddy Bears' Christmas is a pretty obscure Canadian made Christmas special from 1992. I don't think it ever had a DVD release, but it was released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment. I remember watching it on VHS, though I think I also saw it on TV at one point, though I don't remember whether I saw it on TV before or after we got it on VHS. If at all. It's on YouTube. 

Finally we have The Muppet Christmas Carol. This is one of my favourite movies of all time and I finally got it on DVD last year or the year before. Prior to that I would put it on on Disney+ to watch, and before THAT, well, I hadn't seen it for years because I don't have the VHS anymore and I didn't have it on DVD yet. But, I have it now, so I'm pretty pleased with that. Christmas is always fun with the Muppets.

And that was my Christmas movies and specials on VHS collection from my childhood. Next week I think I'm going to talk about my current Christmas specials and movies collection because I have a lot more on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray now. In the meantime though, I might have other blog posts coming this week, but we'll see because I have a dental appointment on Wednesday and I might be getting my flu shot on Friday, so we'll see. Until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.