TROLL

Over the month of December I’ll be looking to Christmas related stuff from the past: Christmas stuff as in the media specials that are produced to coincide with the Holiday Season. I grew up on a number of these Christmas Specials on my mass TV diet, and a lot of these date back to over 20 years ago. I am going to reflect on these past indulgences with my present day views in comparison to what I thought back then.

I take no shame in admitting I spent a lot of my childhood indoors soaking up some form of media or another. If I wasn’t junking out on TV programmes my head would be stuck in comics and if neither of those I’d be into my action figures. The latter is still much the same in the present day except that my TV intake has decreased a great deal despite having hundreds more channels to watch than I did in the 80’s.

So the first Christmas Special I want to talk about is a Hanna Barbera produced TV animation called The Little Troll Prince. Yep! a Christmas toon about a troll who is a prince, but not a very good prince in the eyes of his peers.

I first watched this toon in 1988 when my mum taped it on Betamax for us Flatt siblings to watch. I watched that toon over and over during the 3 week Christmas Holiday break, it was colourful and cheerful and dare I say heart-warming.

The Little Troll Prince centred towards the protagonist named Bu. Bu was the eldest of 3 brothers (or 5 rather as other brothers both had two heads, you follow?) and heir to the throne of the Troll Kingdom, the only trouble was that he was a complete wimp. Bu was not as nasty as his brothers and screwed up all the time at Sinister School. Bu’s father The Troll King (who also has two heads) was getting cheesed off with it all and attempts to straighten his son out once and for all. Bu’s mother – Queen Sirena could not care less about her eldest son.

Here’s a youtube link to the soundtrack:


Basically Bu’s destiny lays elsewhere for he is to embark on a path of ‘love’. Of course this path does not run smoothly for it begins with Bu’s two-headed brothers Borch and Brag and a couple of classmates plotting his demise. They trick Bu into crossing over into the ‘People’ kingdom on an important Princely mission and leave him stranded and tied to a tree. The tree is cut down (obviously Christmas is coming) and Bu somehow ends up being taken into the home of a Christian family unit where he meets the sisters Christie and Sonia. The sisters witness the gospel of Christ to Bu and give him a bible before he is captured and taken back to the Troll Kingdom prison. Bu at least has some time to think about stuff before his trial and uses that time to bone up on bible stories during the imprisoned wait.

Looking back I can see that no wonder Bu was a confused and messed up kid. The Prince’s family background was pretty messed up through technically having a three-way biological parental unit (his mum has one head) and having no concept of love.

This toon meant a lot to me at the time I first watched it. It as around the same time I was also given a small bible (a Gideon bible at a school assembly) and watching that animation made me want to pick that bible up and read it. Reading books for me aside from the odd Dhal story was a rarity. Since then that Gideon bible was passed on 12 years later to a work colleague I though would a appreciate it, but for a while that little book was a comforter during a tough time at school. I guess I could relate to the Bu character in that I got picked on a bit and was a bit of an underdog. In fact some of those troll kids reminded me of a few classmates at the time (I am sure those classmates have now grown up and moved on like myself lol).

Here’s the full thing in 4 parts.


So basically, after Bu’s wait in the cell and self session of prison ministry he’s called to Troll Court and bombarded with jeers, insults and heel heat. Despite the odds against him Bu ends up standing up to his dad, and the troll kingdom at his trial by reading out the gospel of Christ. An outraged pile-on from the bible bashing ensues at the accused stand and Bu escapes this (if only real pile-ons were that easy to get away from). Bu now on the run and transformed into a gnome at this point ends up back in people world. Bu ends up taken in by the family of the girls who witness to him and lives a new life as a bible toting friendly Christmas loving gnome.

Looking now 20 years on, this has actually aged well, the animation is still good and I now know who the likes of Vincent Price and Chloris Leechman are (they who provided the voices of two out three of Bu’s parents). I mainly like the moral story of this cartoon and the portrayal of how a small random act of kindness to another can really impact their life. Some of the character designs to me now are a little iffy, as I would have done away with the two headed concept on of some of the trolls if I were commissioned to remake this. Bu’s dad the Troll King is a little confusing to buy into as an individual because of the two headed concept and I feel that Vincent Price had only half a voice acting role to fulfil. The rest of the cast both troll and other are all simple and establish themselves well. I guess the two-headed thing with some of the troll characters is a good insight to how messed up Bu probably used to feel before his transition to gnome.

It all sounds bizarre but The Little Troll Prince has to be seen to be believed. The toon itself was only released on VHS and as far as I know is still yet to see the light of day on DVD. I am sure somebody has youtubed this somewhere for a cheap laugh or two. Amazon.com is littered with lots of positive feedback about this one off special so it must be really liked. I am glad to have rediscovered this little gem of Christmas animation two decades in the future. It certainly Is worth the one off viewing for those curious about it alone.