Jules Bass
Jules Bass (September 16, 1935 - October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, composer, and author, best known for the stop-motion holiday classics he created with partner Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Works
The Holiday Movies That Made Us
Unwrap the real stories behind these iconic Christmas blockbusters, thanks to insider interviews and behind-the-scenes peeks.
Release Date:2020-12-01
Character:Self
Episode Count:1
Vote Count:26
ThunderCats Roar
Lion-O and the ThunderCats — Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, Wilykat and Wilykit — barely escape the sudden destruction of their home world, Thundera, only to crash land on the mysterious and exotic planet of Third Earth. Lion-O, the newly appointed Lord of the ThunderCats, attempts to lead the team as they make this planet their new home. A bizarre host of creatures and villains stand in their way, including the evil Mumm-Ra, Third Earth’s wicked ruler who will let nothing, including the ThunderCats, stop his tyrannical reign over the planet.
Release Date:2020-02-22
Department:Production
Job:Consulting Producer
Episode Count:52
Vote Count:25
Monte Carlo
Three young women vacationing in Paris find themselves whisked away to Monte Carlo after one of the girls is mistaken for a British heiress.
Release Date:2011-07-01
Department:Writing
Job:Novel
Vote Count:2146
The Year Without a Santa Claus
Thoroughly disgruntled, Santa opts to take a year off from delivering presents, until a young man helps him rediscover the meaning of the holidays.
Release Date:2006-12-11
Department:Writing
Job:Lyricist
Vote Count:20
TigerSharks
TigerSharks is an American animated children's television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The series involved a team of heroes that could transform into sharks and other marine animals and resembled the series ThunderCats and SilverHawks, also developed by Rankin/Bass. The series lasted only one season with 26 episodes and was part of The Comic Strip show, which consisted of four animated shorts: TigerSharks, Street Frogs, The Mini Monsters, and Karate Kat. The animation was provided by Pacific Animation Corporation. Warner Bros. Animation currently owns the series, as they own the 1974-89 Rankin/Bass library, which was incorporated into the merger of Lorimar-Telepictures and Warner Bros.
Release Date:1987-09-07
Department:Production
Job:Executive Producer
Episode Count:26
Vote Count:1
SilverHawks
Bionic policemen fight an escaped alien mob boss and his gang in space.
Release Date:1986-09-08
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Episode Count:65
Vote Count:309
The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
The Great Ak calls a council of the Immortals to ask that Santa Claus be given immortality. And to justify it, he tells the history of Santa Claus. The Ak found an abandoned baby and gave it to a lioness and a fairy to raise, who named him Claus. When Claus grew up, the Great Ak showed him the evil and hardship in the world and Claus decides to live there and relieve some of the suffering. He decides to make toys for orphans, but King Awgwa, the ruler of the valley where Claus lives doesn't want the children to be happy, and there is a great battle among Immortals.
Release Date:1985-12-17
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:22
ThunderCats
The inhabitants of the planet Thundera evacuate just before it is destroyed. They were pursued by a band of mutants. All but one of their escape ships was destroyed. Only a small group of Thunderans (Thundercats) remained. With only half engine power, the group, which was led by Jaga, had to set a course for the nearest planet. Jaga commanded their ship while the other seven were in their stasis tubes. Jaga died on their journey to Third Earth and their ship crashed there. Soon they made friends with various groups in the area and they designed a fortress. Mumm-Ra the centuries-old embodiment of evil, along with the mutants that destroyed the rest of the Thunderans are a constant threat. But Lion-O, the new leader of the Thundercats, with his weapon the "Sword of Omens" will help the Thundercats to have a standing chance.
Release Date:1985-01-23
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Episode Count:110
Vote Count:1025
The Wind in the Willows
The Irresponsible Toad is in a mess and needs help from his friends try and save Toad Hall.
Release Date:1983-11-18
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:10
The Coneheads
In this animated pilot based on the SNL sketch, The Coneheads come to conquer Earth but they soon find themselves becoming domesticated.
Release Date:1983-06-28
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:9
The Sins of Dorian Gray
In this version of Oscar Wilde's tale, Dorian Gray is an actress who, desperate to become a worldwide star, makes a deal that switches her soul to her image on film, then proceeds to sleep and connive her way to the top, knowing that her screen test, and not she, will show the ravishes of time and of her immoral transgressions.
Release Date:1983-05-27
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:3
The Last Unicorn
From a riddle-speaking butterfly, a unicorn learns that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magician, and Molly Grue, a now middle-aged woman who dreamed all her life of seeing a unicorn. Their journey leads them far from home, all the way to the castle of King Haggard.
Release Date:1982-11-19
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:507
The Flight of Dragons
The realm of magic is being threatened by the realm of logic, so Carolinus, the green wizard decides to shield it for all time. Ommadon, the evil red wizard, stands in his way. Carolinus then calls for a quest that is to be led by a man named Peter Dickinson, who is the first man of both the realms of science and magic. It is Peter's job to defeat Ommadon.
Release Date:1982-08-17
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:99
The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold
Sent in search of a Christmas tree, cabin boy Dinty Doyle lands on a mysterious, uncharted Irish island where he accidentally releases a bad-tempered banshee from her pine tree prison. Leprechaun Blarney Kilakilarney knows that in order to survive, the banshee will try to swipe his clan's pot of Christmas gold. With some magical assistance from Lord Patrick, the king of the wee folk, Dinty and Blarney make a plan to outwit the gold-hungry hag before Christmas morning dawns.
Release Date:1981-12-23
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:12
The Bushido Blade
A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.
Release Date:1981-06-19
Department:Production
Job:Executive Producer
Vote Count:11
Pinocchio's Christmas
As Geppetto prepares for Christmas, Pinocchio joins a puppet show to earn money for a present. There he meets and elopes with the beautiful girl puppet, Julietta, leaving Geppetto alone and worried.
Release Date:1980-12-03
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:26
The Return of the King
Two Hobbits struggle to destroy the Ring in Mount Doom while their friends desperately fight evil Lord Sauron's forces in a final battle.
Release Date:1980-05-11
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:203
The Ivory Ape
An ivory ape escapes from a freighter and makes its way to Bermuda. Two anthropologists want to save it, but the local authorities hire a big-game hunter to track it down and kill it.
Release Date:1980-04-15
Department:Production
Job:Executive Producer
Vote Count:2
Jack Frost
Pardon-me Pete, the official groundhog of Groundhog Day, tells the story of Jack Frost, who falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begs Father Winter to make him human so that she can see him. His request is granted, but only on the condition that by the Spring he has a house, a bag of gold, a horse and a wife. But Jack finds that life as a human is more complicated than he thought.
Release Date:1979-12-13
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:93
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Winterbolt is trying to make the North Pole his evil wonderland, and it is up to Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and others to stop him.
Release Date:1979-07-01
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:70
The Stingiest Man in Town
This cartoon version of A Christmas Carol hails from the production house of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass--the team that brought you just about every other Christmas special you saw as a kid (including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Reinvented as a 49-minute musical ghost story, it stars the voice of Walter Matthau as the bedeviled Scrooge and Tom Bosley as the Jiminy Cricket-type narrator, B. Humbug, Esq.
Release Date:1978-12-23
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:16
The Bermuda Depths
Scientists pursuing the mysteries of the deep are threatened by a beautiful girl who seems to have returned from the dead and by a prehistoric sea creature that dwells in the deadly Bermuda Triangle.
Release Date:1978-01-27
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:23
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Nestor the donkey is a bit of an oddity--his long ears are enough for six donkeys and stretch all the way to the ground. One night, when Nestor is locked out in the cold, he begins to wander the desert.
Release Date:1977-12-03
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:40
The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit was just minding his own business, when his occasional visitor Gandalf the Wizard drops in one night. One by one, a whole group of dwarves drop in, and before he knows it, Bilbo has joined their quest to reclaim their kingdom, taken from them by the evil dragon Smaug. The only problem is that Gandalf has told the dwarves that Bilbo is an expert burglar, but he isn't...
Release Date:1977-11-27
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:322
Hobbit
Release Date:1977-11-27
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Episode Count:3
Vote Count:1
The Last Dinosaur
Wealthy big game hunter (Boone), along with his group, gets trapped in pre-historic times where they are stalked by a ferocious dinosaur.
Release Date:1977-07-07
Department:Writing
Job:Lyricist
Vote Count:17
The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town
The Mailman decides to stop another deluge of letters by answering questions about the Easter Bunny: Sunny, a baby rabbit found and adopted by Kidville (a town of only kids--even a kid mailman). And when Sunny goes delivering eggs to the nearby town (which he has to dye to fool Gadzooks, the mean bear on the mountain), he discovers that there are no kids in the town, and that the rightful (kid) ruler is being suppressed by his aunt. But the young king likes Sunny's dyed eggs and jelly beans. So Kidsville, with the help of an old train engine, makes a few plans (and a decoy chocolate rabbit) to distribute them.
Release Date:1977-04-06
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:12
The Little Drummer Boy Book II
Aaron, the drummer boy, struggles to protect a bellmaker's great silver bells from seizure by Roman soldiers
Release Date:1976-12-13
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:14
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Rudolph must find Happy, the baby new year, before the midnight of New Year's Eve.
Release Date:1976-12-10
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:96
Frosty's Winter Wonderland
Years have passed since Frosty left for the North Pole, but his promise is kept when he hears news of the first snowfall of the season, and decides to return.
Release Date:1976-12-02
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:76
The First Easter Rabbit
A beloved toy stuffed rabbit is rescued by a fairy to be the first Easter Rabbit.
Release Date:1976-04-09
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:10
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
A young shepherd, Lucas, is blinded by lightening, and some kindly nuns at a nearby abbey take him in. Sister Catherine describes snow to Lucas, who has never seen it. Lucas gets chosen to play an angel in the abbey's Christmas pageant, and the Christmas snow that falls during the pageant works a small miracle.
Release Date:1975-12-19
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:20
The Year Without a Santa Claus
Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, set out to see to where all the season's cheer has disappeared. Aided by a magical snowfall, they reawaken the spirit of Christmas in children's hearts and put Santa back in action.
Release Date:1974-12-10
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:184
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
When a town learns that Santa Claus has struck it off his delivery schedule due to an insulting letter, a way must be found to change his mind.
Release Date:1974-12-08
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:73
Marco
A combination of live action and animation chronicinge the great journey of Marco Polo to the mysterious Orient. Much of the story centers on Polo's relationship with the powerful Kublai Khan.
Release Date:1973-12-01
Department:Production
Job:Producer
That Girl in Wonderland
Anne Marie imagines herself in the stories "Alice in Wonderland," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Hansel and Gretel," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Cinderella".
Release Date:1973-01-13
Department:Writing
Job:Lyricist
A Christmas Tree
With the help of Charles Dickens, two young children attempt to save the essence of Christmas from the evil Mantu.
Release Date:1972-12-17
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:1
The Red Baron
This animated feature casts the Red Baron as a hero, in a world of heroic anthropomorphic dogs and villainous anthropomorphic cats.
Release Date:1972-12-09
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Jack O'Lantern
A leprechaun, who had changed himself into a pumpkin seed to hibernate for the winter, comes to life as Mr. Jack O'Lantern, who then uses his pumpkin shell to help scare away Zelda the Witch and Archibald the Warlock.
Release Date:1972-10-29
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid
A guardian angel agrees to help Willie Mays win the National League Pennant if Mays agrees to take care of Veronica, a lonely, mischievous orphan girl. Veronica makes Mays' life difficult, but when relatives show up to claim her after hearing that she's inherited money, Mays' heart softens.
Release Date:1972-10-14
Department:Directing
Job:Director
The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters
All of Universal's greatest classic monsters gather at the Transylvania Astoria Hotel for Frankenstein's monster and his bride's Friday the 13th midnight wedding.
Release Date:1972-09-23
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:3
Festival of Family Classics
Series of television versions of famous folk tales and classic literature.
Release Date:1972-09-10
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Episode Count:1
Vote Count:1
The Osmonds
The pop group starred in an animated series that had them touring the world as musical goodwill ambassadors. Each episode featured at least one song.
Release Date:1972-09-09
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Episode Count:17
Vote Count:1
Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes
Two con men convince a king that they have woven for him a suit made of magical cloth that only stupid or incompetent people are unable to see. Not wanting to seem dull, everyone pretends to admire the king's new clothes although he is completely naked.
Release Date:1972-02-21
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:1
The Jackson 5ive
The Jackson 5ive was a Saturday morning cartoon series produced by Rankin/Bass and Motown Productions on ABC from September 11, 1971 until 14 October 1972; a fictionalized portrayal of the careers of Motown recording group The Jackson 5. The series was rebroadcast in syndication through Worldvision Enterprises during the 1984–1985 Saturday morning season, during a period when Michael Jackson was riding a major wave of popularity as a solo artist. The series was animated mainly in London at the studios of Halas and Batchelor, and some animation done at Estudios Moro, Barcelona, Spain. The director was Spanish-American Robert Balser.
Release Date:1971-09-11
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Episode Count:23
Vote Count:11
Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Peter Cottontail wants to be the #1 chief Easter Bunny, and everyone in April Valley agrees...except for Evil Irontail. Peter must deliver more eggs than this archrival to earn the top spot...and save Easter for children everywhere!
Release Date:1971-04-04
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:19
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
A postman, S.D. Kluger, decides to answer some of the most common questions about Santa Claus, and tells us about a baby named Kris who is raised by a family of elf toymakers named Kringle. When Kris grows up, he wants to deliver toys to the children of Sombertown. But its Mayor is too mean to let that happen. And to make things worse, the Winter Warlock lives between the Kringles and Sombertown.
Release Date:1970-12-14
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:227
The Tomfoolery Show
The Tomfoolery Show is an American cartoon comedy television series made and first broadcast in 1970, based on the works of Edward Lear. The animation was done at the Halas and Batchelor Studios in London and Stroud. Though the works of other writers were also used, notably Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash, Lear's works were the main source, and characters like The Yongy Bonghy Bo and The Umbrageous Umbrella Maker were all Lear creations. Some original material was also written based on characters created by Lear, although much of the material was a straight recital of poems and limericks or songs using Lear's poems set to music. A recurring joke had a delivery boy running around trying to deliver a large plant and shouting 'Plant for Mrs Discobolus!'. The series was produced by Rankin/Bass, who also made the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.
Release Date:1970-09-12
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Episode Count:17
Vote Count:1
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is a 1970 American animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. After the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), it was Rankin/Bass' second hand-drawn animated work to be outsourced to Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan. The show aired on ABC on April 7, 1970 before the airing of that year's Oscars. It was a tribute to early vaudeville, and featured animated reworkings of various famous comedians' acts.
Release Date:1970-04-07
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:1
Frosty the Snowman
A discarded silk top-hat becomes the focus of a struggle between a washed-up stage magician and a group of schoolchildren, after it magically brings a snowman to life. Realizing that newly-living Frosty will melt in spring unless he takes refuge in a colder climate, Frosty and Karen, a young girl who he befriends, stow away on a freight train headed for the north pole. Little do they know that the magician is following them, and he wants his hat back!
Release Date:1969-12-07
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:349
The Little Drummer Boy
After being kidnapped and escaping, young drummer boy Aaron searches for his camel and finds him in the Nativity of the Baby Jesus. Aaron gives Baby Jesus the only gift he has, a song on his drum.
Release Date:1968-12-19
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:153
The Mouse on the Mayflower
The famous ship called Mayflower is trapped amidst a huge storm. The entire story is narrated by a church-mouse called Willum, from his viewpoint. The tale begins with the pilgrim preachers deciding to move to America and getting aboard the Mayflower. However, because of the huge storm, the ship gets on the verge of sinking. Then, Willum, the pilgrim mouse, comes up with an idea to save the ship. When the pilgrims land safely, they write the Mayflower Compact and start constructing their new church and colony. However, it is already the autumn season and they do not have much food stored for the winter. The pilgrims then learn to plant crops during the spring season and celebrate a big feast toward the onset of the autumn season or fall. This is their first Thanksgiving celebration.
Release Date:1968-11-23
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:1
Cricket on the Hearth
A delightful, animated musical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale. A Cricket on the Hearth, tells the story of a poor toymaker and his daughter whom a helpful Cricket named Crocket befriends on Christmas morning. When tragedy strikes the family, it's Crocket who comes to the rescue and restores peace and happiness.
Release Date:1967-12-18
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:19
The Wacky World of Mother Goose
In this animated children's film, Mother Goose and her fairytale friends must stop a group of sneaky spies.
Release Date:1967-12-02
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:2
Mad Monster Party?
When Dr Frankenstein decides to retire from the monster-making business, he calls an international roster of monsters to a creepy convention to elect his successor. Everyone is there including Dracula, The Werewolf, The Creature, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and many more. But Frankenstein's title is not all that is at stake. The famous doctor has also discovered the secret of total destruction that must not fall into the wrong hands!
Release Date:1967-03-08
Department:Directing
Job:Director
Vote Count:69
Ballad of Smokey the Bear
"Ballad of Smokey the Bear" tells the story of how Smokey got his name. Smokey and his forest friends encounter a creature they've never seen before that is starting fires. Smokey finds his calling in dealing with this strange new animal.
Release Date:1966-11-24
Department:Production
Job:Co-Producer
Vote Count:3
The King Kong Show
An animated series about the adventures of King Kong and his young pal Bobby Bond. Also featured were the adventures of "Tom of T.H.U.M.B.", a 6" tall secret agent.
Release Date:1966-09-10
Department:Production
Job:Executive Producer
Episode Count:73
Vote Count:3
The Daydreamer
A young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier. Each time he falls asleep, he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about in fairy tales including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and The Emperor's New Clothes.
Release Date:1966-06-01
Department:Writing
Job:Lyricist
Vote Count:10
Willy McBean and His Magic Machine
Little Willy McBean joins up with a Mexican monkey named Pablo to travel back in time and stop the evil Prof. von Rotten from changing history.
Release Date:1965-06-23
Department:Production
Job:Associate Producer
Vote Count:3
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Sam the snowman tells us the story of a young red-nosed reindeer who, after being ousted from the reindeer games because of his glowing nose, teams up with Hermey, an elf who wants to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, the prospector. They run into the Abominable Snowman and find a whole island of misfit toys. Rudolph vows to see if he can get Santa to help the toys, and he goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But Santa's sleigh is fogged in. But when Santa looks over Rudolph, he gets a very bright idea...
Release Date:1964-12-06
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:598
Return to Oz
Rather than adapt a later or create a new Oz story, this production has Dorothy still in posession of the shoes, and she clings to an apple tree during a tornado which takes her back to Oz. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion (using the names created for the nearly-abstract television series, Tales of the Wizard of Oz, from which this was derived) have had their MGM gifts destroyed by the restored Wicked Witch, and the four proceed to the Wizard for help, who is ineffectual as usual.
Release Date:1964-02-09
Department:Production
Job:Producer
Vote Count:1
The New Adventures of Pinocchio
The New Adventures of Pinocchio is an animated stop motion produced by Rankin-Bass and made by Dentsu Studios. Syndicated from 1960-61; 130 five-minute "chapters" were produced. These segments made up a series of five-chapter, 25-minute episodes.
Release Date:1960-06-19
Department:Creator
Job:Creator
Vote Count:1
Rankin/Bass Animated
Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are responsible for creating the original holiday specials that have been part of the world's annual Christmas traditions for over 50 years.
Department:Creator
Job:Creator
Vote Count:1