Last night, for the first time in almost 20 years, I watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I’m sure I saw this thing at least once a year from birth until, like 1989 (when we got cable and I basically refused to watch anything but Yo! MTV Raps), but I had totally forgotten about the strange and wonderful little narrative details.

Like, for instance, Rudolph’s friend Hermy, the queer little elf who runs away from Christmas Town because no one understands his desperate desire to become “a … dentist.” And Yukon Cornelius, the shady mountain man who befriends Hermy and Rudolph en route to pick up “cornmeal, ham hocks, gun powder and guitar strings” (the makings of any good night, no?) And, oh, the Island of Misfit Toys. I can’t even begin to top the Wikipedia descriptions of that whole mess. Their take on Misfit Doll: “Misfit Doll (voiced by Corinne Conley) is an unnamed, but seemingly normal girl rag doll. Her presence on the island is never explained, though one accepted reason is that the problem is somewhat psychological.”

The whole experience basically caused me to revert to my 8 year-old self–as soon as it was over, I fell asleep on the couch in a puddle of my own drool. While I’m getting my game together this morning, go here to watch an unembeddable clip of Rudolph and Hermy, finding each other in a snow bank and cementing their bond through song.