- The 1964 showing did not have Santa picking up toys from the Island of Misfit Toys at the end. A letter-writing campaign ensued and the new ending was added in 1965. Also in 1965, sponsor General Electric insisted on replacing the song "We're a Couple of Misfits" with "Fame and Fortune", a change that lasted until 1998, when "Misfits" was put back in.
- When remastered in High-Definition for the CBS airing in 2005, the special featured a highly-edited version of the song "We're a Couple of Misfits" synched to the animation of "Fame and Fortune," and the special also removed the musical interlude to the song "We Are Santa's Elves."
- The version shown on CBS in the mid 1980s included several edits: 1) The entire "We Are Santa's Elves" rehearsal segment was cut. 2) The segment of Yukon Cornelius showing the dogs how to mush was cut. 3) The quote said by Donner to Mrs. Donner, "no, this is man's work" was edited out. 4. "Fame and Fortune" was, of course, used over "We're a couple of misfits"
- In 2005, CBS put the audio of We're A Couple Of MIsfits to the Video of Fame and Fortune
- In 2014, Classic Media switched BURI IVES SINGS to BURL IVES SINGS
- The bit of Bumble's roaring in the dead of night as Rudolph decides to head out on his own to not endanger his friends by sailing back to the mainland of the North Pole is cut out in the FreeForm airing since 2019.
- Some airings cut out "There's Always Tomorrow".
- The 1998 restored version contains a longer version of "We Are Santa's Elves", a duet reprise of "We're A Couple Of Misfits", plus additional narration by Burl Ives and two short scenes towards the end resolving Yukon Cornelius' quest for gold (he discovers that all he was really searching for was a peppermint mine) and Santa's lead reindeer Donner looking up at Rudolph in the air and proclaiming "That's my buck". The version that originally premiered on NBC in 1964 had these sequences minus the Island Of Misfit Toys ending (where Santa and company return to the Island to rescue the toys that had been left behind earlier in the story) -- that was animated, filmed, and used for the 1965 re-broadcast (and all subsequent telecasts and video releases through 1997) after viewer protests demanded a resolution of that storyline. The original version also had a different main title that does not mention "Rankin/Bass present" (as it had already been established it was originally a General Electric presentation -- GE had been the show's original sponsor), and an end credits sequence where the elves show the technical credits on gift boxes before dumping them on the ground to their destinations. The 1965-1997 re-edit has the "Rankin/Bass present" subtitle at the beginning, and an alternate end credits sequence with the elves putting their gifts under flying umbrellas to take them to their destinations (as the technical credits are superimposed on the screen), while omitting the instrumental bridge to "We Are Santa's Elves" and the "Peppermint Mine" & "That's my buck" dialog sequences, and finally replacing the "...Misfits" reprise with the song "Fame And Fortune" (which appears on the current DVD release as a separate supplement). The Island Of Misfit Toys ending was later incorporated into the 1998 restored version, which (as of 12/2002) continues to air annually on CBS.
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Top Gap
By what name was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) officially released in India in English?
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