We open not with Jack's story, but on a modern Groundhog Day as Pardon-Me-Pete (voiced by Buddy Hackett) emerges from his home to act scared of a shadow he seems to cast, then heads back in to enjoy six more weeks of hibernation. As he tucks himself in, he breaks the fourth wall and explains the shadow is a trick he does with Jack Frost to extend winter by six weeks. He then decides to tell us the story of how it happened.
Jack Frost (voiced by Robert Morse, replacing Paul Frees) visits a town called January Junction, a town of paupers under the iron rule of Kubla Kraus (voiced by Paul Frees), who taxes them into poverty, so they have no money. He has only iron servants and animals living in his castle. When he hears a girl named Elisa (voiced by Debra Clinger) say she loves him, he becomes smitten. He rescues her when she's sliding on a frozen river that Kubla breaks up with his iron horse's hooves by re-freezing the river and floating the piece of ice she's on to safety.
The special tells us of how snow and winter weather work in this fantasy version: snowflakes are designed by Snip (voiced by Don Messick), then thrown out by the snow gypsies, except one named Holly (voiced by Dina Lynn) who stores special snowflakes for Christmas. Father Winter (voiced by Paul Frees) oversees it all, controlling the winter winds and knowing when to start and stop the winter season. Jack asks Father Winter if he can become human so he can court Elisa. Father Winter agrees, but it will only be temporary unless he manages to gain a house, a horse, a bag of gold and a wife.
Jack, assisted by Snip and Holly, who are also taking human form at the moment, sets up shop as Jack Snip in a tailor's shop. Elisa does develop feelings for Jack, but her romantic feelings are taken with Sir Ravenal Rightfellow (voiced by Sonny Melendrez), who rescues her when Kubla kidnaps her. Kubla wants to destroy the town, and when he throws Jack, Snip and Holly into his dungeon, Jack decides to give up his humanity to save the town by causing an intense winter, freezing Kubla into his castle. (This also makes Snip and Holly go back to their sprite selves.)
As February 2 rolls around, Jack plays his first trick with Pardon-Me-Pete to extend winter. On the last day of winter, Father Winter allows Jack to become human for the last hour of winter, during which he knocks out Kubla, sends all his mechanical knights over a cliff to their ruin. When Kubla recovers and is tricked into falling out a window, Father Winter blows him away from his mountain.
Jack believes he can stay human permanently: Kubla's castle is now his house, with plenty of gold, and a mechanical horse, so he just needs Elisa to agree to marry him, but when he finds her, she's marrying Sir Ravenal. Jack goes back to his sprite self, and using his frost breath, turns the roses in Elisa's wedding bouquet white, which she recognizes as a "kiss" from Jack Frost.
Jack decides to content himself with his regular winter duties, and Pardon-Me-Pete reveals they've been doing the Groundhog Day trick ever since, which he enjoys for the extra sleep.
This is a pretty good story on its own. Visual and voice aside, it almost works with the rest of the Rankin-Bass canon, but Frosty's Winter Wonderland and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July suggested that Jack isn't invisible to regular humans as he is in this one. But it's not like the continuity between the specials has ever been perfect. Where does Snow Miser fit into the Winter hierarchy now?
So, I enjoyed it.
We're down to the last handful of specials now, folks.
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