Riverbottom Nightmare Reimagined

“Ma, who’s the guy in the hockey mask?”

Maybe I feel some tenderness in my heart when Sylvester Stallone’s character loses the title fight in Rocky, but realizes his bond with Adrian is more important than winning a slugfest. And maybe I’m okay with Charlie Brown picking himself up off the ground and pushing forward after every humiliating time Lucy pulls the football away and he goes flying. But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let those rich punks from Riverbottom show up late to the Waterville Talent Contest and just swipe the prize money from poor Emmet Otter and his friends. So this year, I finally did something about it.

Chuck Stoat is not a bear, he’s a stoat. The clue is cleverly hidden in his name.

First thing I had to do was lay hands on the long-rumored, controversial, alternate ending to Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas. The story and illustrations were the work of Russel and Lillian Hoban, and eventually gained even more popularity when Jim Henson’s award-winning puppets brought it to life in a holiday television special.

I also found an original copy of the constitution, but puppets are more fun to make videos about.

And against astronomical odds, I went rooting through my basement and happened upon an old cardboard box with some original manuscript pages containing the original ending to the story. How did I come by these priceless early drafts? Let’s just say where there’s a will (and a printer, and a tray filled with strong tea to age the paper), there’s a way.

Clip Studio Paint came in handy during this project.

Next, I enlisted Michelle in my plot to resurrect this “lost ending.” We would each work from this forgotten manuscript: I, on my computer, creating digital illustrations of some of the scenes from those worn pages, and she, with her wool and needles, felting characters from the story. As well, we’d build a miniature set for the story to play out in.

Never try this with an actual otter.

My initial plans were to draw the images on paper with watercolor and colored pencil. But time runs short when you’re lovingly desecrating a holiday classic.

I worked digitally, but tried to make the illustrations look like natural media.

So I switched to digital and used the original Hoban illustrations and Henson designs as inspiration for my work. In the end, I think the final pieces were both fresh and nostalgic.

“It’s just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right.”

Michelle, whom I’d rushed from day one of this project, worked furiously to get it done on time and, no surprise to me, succeeded in sculpting three adorable characters from the story.

Michelle did 99% of these figures. I sculpted the noses. Teamwork!

Then we grabbed some foam, some cardboard, and lots of glue, and worked on a diorama that would serve as the backdrop for the figures. The idea was that the illustrations would lead you through the story, then lift off the page to become a three-dimensional continuation of the tale. Once the set was built, it was time to set up the lighting and shoot the final images.

Ma and Emmet getting ready for their big moment in the spotlight.

It should be noted that, in the canonical, published ending of both the book and television special — and here come some spoilers — Emmet, his friends, and his mother do not win the talent show, but discover that the bonds of family and friendship provide a comfort and joy that far exceed anything the prize money could have purchased. It’s a sweet ending. Very Rocky.

I never have change in my pocket at the holidays for the sidewalk musicians.

But you can’t tell me you never rooted for Rocky to knock the socks off of Apollo Creed at the end of that movie. And you can’t say you don’t hope to see Charlie Brown kick that football so far that Lucy has to hike for half a day to find it. So, in an effort to bring catharsis, if not justice, to Frogtown Hollow, we staged an ending that had a little more punch than the original. A little more bite. Frankly, there may be both punching and biting, this alternate ending is an absolute melee.

Emmet, off the top rope.

If you’d like to see how we put it all together, you can watch the video below. Happy Holidays!