Frosty the Snowman finally received a sequel seven years later in 1976 with Frosty's Winter Wonderland. Returning were Jackie Vernon as the voice of Frosty and writer Romeo Mueller as well as the character designer and composer. Andy Griffith takes over as narrator.
The children who built Frosty are anxious for him to come back, and when Frosty hears it's snowed, he comes back and begins playing with them, much to the chagrin of Jack Frost, who feels like he's been upstaged by Frosty, so he begins trying to get back at Frosty by wrecking his games with the children or trying to steal his hat. All of these schemes backfire, however.
Frosty gets lonely when the children have to go home at night, so they propose he takes a wife to keep him company. They build a snow wife for him that Frosty names Crystal, and after they try to bring her to life, Frosty does it by presenting her with snow flowers he made with pure love. As they celebrate, Jack uses an icy wind to blow off Frosty's hat, sending him back to his non-alive state. However, Crystal restores him with a kiss.
Frosty and Crystal gather the kids to announce their wedding, but Parson Brown refuses as he's not legally allowed to marry snow-people. However, he suggests building a snow parson to do the job, lending it his hat and Bible. Jack tries to whip up a blizzard to stop the wedding, but Crystal and Frosty acknowledge that he's important to the winter season, which is very important to their continued existence, so he's invited to be the best man, which makes him stop being antagonistic.
Jack joins the fun and tries to keep winter going for as long as possible, but Parson Brown points out that the trees and flowers need to come back for Spring. So Jack joins Frosty and Crystal to the North Pole, with the narrator assuring us that they'll be back every time the season changes to a winter wonderland.
Honestly, I thought this might actually be better than the original Frosty special. It's not Rankin-Bass' best, but it was fairly enjoyable, and Jack Frost makes a nice antagonist who can be won over. The original felt like they were stretching the story of the original Frosty song to make a special. This one combines the lore of the first special with lore inspired by the song "Walking In A Winter Wonderland."
Speaking of older specials getting sequels...
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