Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a 1977 Japanese-American Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It premiered on ABC on December 3, 1977. The story is based on the 1975 song of the same name, written by Gene Autry, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess.

Plot
Santa Claus' pet donkey, Spieltoe, narrates the story of a small donkey named Nestor with abnormally long ears, who lived in the days of the Roman Empire. Every animal in the stable ridicules Nestor because of his large ears. This seemingly comes to a halt during the celebration of winter solstice; however, when the cruel stable owner Olaf refused to feed Nestor out of him being a burden on the farm, all the animals feeling sympathetic and guilty for the way Nestor is being treated apologize for their misjudgment and making him feel bad about himself. Nestor's mother then gives Nestor some old socks from Olaf's wife to cover up his ears.

That night, soldiers arrive from the Roman Empire in need of young donkeys. After removing the socks from Nestor’s ears, the soldiers think that Olaf, was trying to trick them. Olaf offers to give them Nestor for free, but the soldiers instead take all of the other donkeys for free but they leave Nestor. Enraged for not receiving money for his donkeys, Olaf throws Nestor out into a blizzard while not caring if he freezes and tells him to never return, Nestor's mother breaks out of her stall out of anger and runs out to search for him. After finding Nestor in the snow, his mother takes him to a small resting area where she shields him from the cold. The next morning, Nestor tearfully mourns his mother's death-(with her body covered in a pile of snow), as she had froze to death and sacrificed her life to protect him.

Later, Nestor meets a cherub named Tilly. She says they need to travel to Bethlehem, telling him "Your ears can do wondrous things no other ears can do. The sounds they hear will guide you on a path that's straight and true, and then you will save another, as your mother once saved you." They travel across the desert sands for many months, and when they finally get to the outskirts of Bethlehem, Tilly tells Nestor to wait and she flies back up to Heaven. Even though he finds a rundown old stable, nobody buys him.

Mary and Joseph are expecting Jesus, they take Nestor because of his "gentle eyes", but are caught in a sandstorm. In the midst of the storm, Nestor hears Tilly's voice, but recognizes it as his mother's, and she tells him to follow the voices of the angels. Nestor guides Mary and Joseph through the storm, while wrapping Mary in his ears to keep her warm, soon arriving at Bethlehem. They find the stable where Mary subsequently gives birth to baby Jesus, Nestor finds his way back to his home stable where he is hailed as hero by Olaf and the other animals.

Cast



 * Roger Miller as Spieltoe
 * Eric Stern as Nestor
 * Brenda Vaccaro as Tilly
 * Paul Frees as Olaf the Stable Owner, a Donkey Dealer, and Santa Claus
 * Linda Gary as Nestor's Mother
 * Iris Rainer and Shelly Hines as Nestor's friends
 * Don Messick as a Roman Soldier
 * Taryn Davies as Mary
 * Harry Maurice Rosner as Joseph

Crew

 * Produced and Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
 * Assistant Producer: Masaki Iizuka
 * Written by Romeo Muller
 * Based on the Song by Gene Autry, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess
 * Additional Music and Lyrics by Maury Laws and Jules Bass
 * Design by Paul Coker, Jr.
 * "Animagic" Supervisors: Akikazu Kono and Satoshi Fujino
 * Sound Recorders: John Curcio and Joe Jorgensen
 * Music Arranged and Conducted by Maury Laws

Production
In addition to Akikazu Kono, this is Rankin/Bass' second and last "Animagic" stop motion puppet production to be supervised by another Japanese animator, Satoshi Fujino, who also previously worked on The Little Drummer Boy, Book II.

Home video
The special was released in 2000 with The Year Without a Santa Claus. It was later included in The Complete Rankin/Bass Christmas Collection DVD in 2022 and Blu-ray in 2023.