Barney's Night Before Christmas (1999, USA)

***Barney's Night Before Christmas*** is a 1999 direct-to-video Barney Home Video that was released on September 28, 1999. Directed by Ben Vaughn and written by Stephen White, this marked the second Christmas special in the Barney franchise, with the first being the *Barney & The Backyard Gang* video, *Waiting for Santa*.

## Plot

On Christmas Eve, Robert, Keesha, and Stephen arrive at Hannah's House to give gifts and they help with the Christmas decorating. Barney appears and he helps the group decorate outside the house and yard. Inside, along with Baby Bop, Barney and the kids help decorate the living room and they trim the Christmas tree. After the decorating is finished, Barney and Baby Bop go outside to play in the snow. Then, BJ appears, pretending to be Santa Claus. After sharing cookies, Baby Bop asks Barney who fills Santa's stocking. The group agrees that they should fill Santa's stocking with homemade gifts. Upon finishing the gifts, with some imagination, Barney whisks his friends to the North Pole.

While Santa is asleep at his desk, Barney and his friends sneak over to fill his stocking with the gifts. After Baby Bop sneezes, all of Santa's toys start going off, awakening him. Upon friendly greetings, Santa shows the group that all of them have made it on to his 'Good List'. Santa shows the group all of his special collectibles, such as toys and a music box (in which while the group listens to "Joy to the World" playing, Hannah performs the song in American Sign Language). Not long after, Santa shows everyone a secret passage to the toy factory.

Entering the toy factory, Mrs. Claus greets the group and takes them on a special train ride through the toy factory. Afterwards, the group agrees to help Mrs. Claus finish some gift wrapping. Everyone returns to meet-up with Santa, where he gives Baby Bop a special music box for thinking of filling his stocking on Christmas Eve. Baby Bop and BJ stay with Santa to help him with his present delivery on his sleigh ride for evening. With some imagination, Barney and the kids return to Hannah's house, where they are greeted by carolers.

Later, Keesha, Robert and Stephen head off home. Hannah wakes up, too excited to sleep in anticipation for Santa Claus. After playing with Barney a little longer, Hannah falls asleep on the couch. They sing "*I Love You*" and wish each other Merry Christmas. Hannah's parents bring her back up to bed; when, soon after, Santa appears down her chimney.

## Cast

* Barney (Voice: Bob West, Costume: David Joyner)
* Baby Bop (Voice: Julie Johnson, Costume: Jeff Ayers)
* BJ (Voice: Patty Wirtz, Costume: Jeff Brooks)
* Robert (Angel Velasco)
* Stephen (Chase Gallatin)
* Keesha (Mera Baker)
* Hannah Morgan (Marisa Kuers)
* Hannah's Mom (Carolyn McCormick)
* Hannah's Dad (John Swasey)
* Santa Claus (Frank Baker)
* Mrs. Claus (Susan Largo)
* Ballerina (Audrea Ulmer)
* Choir Master (Larry Haron)

### Bell Choir

* Linda (Adrianne Kangas)
* Ashley (Maurié Chandler)
* Alissa (Monét Chandler)
* Kristen (Sara Hickman)
* Danny (Jeffrey Hood)
* Jeff (Austin Ball)

### Carolers

* Chip (Lucien Douglas)
* Kim (Erica Rhodes)
* Mona Baker
* Bobby Butler
* Gilbert Gonzales
* Lori Plummer
* Heidi Zeko

## Adaptation

### Book

Main Article: *Barney's Night Before Christmas (book)*

The video was adapted into a book of the same name. Released on August 1, 1999. It was adapted by Stephen White, who also contributed in writing to the home video, and illustrated by Rick Grayson.

## Songs

1. "Barney Theme Song"
2. "Jingle at the Window"
3. "Winter's Wonderful" \*
4. "Deck the Halls"
5. "Oh Christmas Tree"
6. "Jolly Old St. Nicholas"
7. "Jingle Bells" \*
8. "Look into Santa's Book"
9. "Joy to the World" (Instrumental)
10. "Christmas Is Our Favorite Time Of Year"
11. "Wrap It Up"
12. "The 12 Days Of Christmas"
13. "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" (Instrumental)
14. "Silent Night" (Instrumental) / "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" \*
15. "Up on the Housetop" \*
16. "I Love You"

\*Notes a song was instrumentally played during the end credits.

## Music and Cassette

Main Article: *Barney's Sing Along: Night Before Christmas*

*Barney's Sing Along: Night Before Christmas* is the final tape in the series of sing along tapes. It was released on October 26, 1999 to coincide with the release of *Barney's Night Before Christmas*. Along with the cassette came a lyric book was included.

## Marketing

In 1999, a float based on the video *Barney's Night Before Christmas* debuted in the "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" from 1999 until 2001. It was the largest float based on Barney, as it was a two-story. The float depicted a view of Santa's North Pole workshop. The clock depicted the time until Christmas day as the below depicted a toy train with children dressed in pajamas riding the float.

## Release

### Home media

On the screener copy of the special, before it was officially released, the title was "The Holiday Show". The same version has a different and slightly longer audio track during the credits and no text in the credits. *Barney's Night Before Christmas* was available for pre-order on August 31, 1999. The video was officially released on VHS and DVD on September 28, 1999 by Lyrick Studios. Originally priced at $24.99 on DVD, it was the second interactive Barney DVD released following *Let's Play School*. The DVD release contained two read-a-longs (which were *Barney’s Christmas Surprise* and *Barney’s Wonderful Winter Day*), ten sing-a-long songs from the video, a sampler of *Happy Holidays Love, Barney* featuring five songs, eight interactive games, a Behind the Scenes info on kids in the cast, the dinosaurs, producers and a educational guide.

The VHS release of *Barney's Night Before Christmas* was on the Billboard Top Kid Video chart and Billboard Top VHS Sales, going as far to reach #11 and #35 on the charts respectively on December 1, 2001. The United Kingdom release of *Barney's Night Before Christmas*, from Universal, spent eight weeks on the Official Video Chart for OCC, entering at #75 on November 13, 1999 and peaking at #61 on December 11, 1999.

*Barney's Night Before Christmas* would later be re-released on DVD in 2007 by HIT Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in new packaging. The re-release was available for pre-order on September 11, 2007 and was officially released on October 1, 2007.

### Other

Barney's Night Before Christmas was aired on PBS from 2000 until 2001. On December 6, 2007, Rosemont Films released *Barney's Night Before Christmas* in theaters as part of its in-theater matinee movie program. The video was played all throughout the month.

## Trivia

* This video marked:
	+ Another time something happens to the Barney doll before coming to life. It was when Stephen slips while holding the box of decorations, dropping the box then they land on the snow, Then Barney comes to life.
	+ Another time where a Barney Home Video does not take place at the school building classroom, schoolyard, playground nor even the treehouse sets. Instead, it takes place at Hannah's House.
* The DVD was originally going to contain a soundtrack to the video *Waiting for Santa*.
* During one verse of "The 12 Days Of Christmas", when Baby Bop sings "5 Golden Rings", her head comes off a little but quickly falls back down.
* Larry Haron, an assistant music director to Bob Singleton (the music director of this video), makes an appearance as the Choir Master.
* Lori Plummer, the future spouse to Dean Wendt, a Barney voice actor, makes a cameo appearance as a caroler.
* *Barney's Night Before Christmas* is Stephen White's favorite Barney video that he wrote

### Children

* Although the children seen in the "bell choir" and "carolers" are regular characters on *Barney & Friends*, the characters are not credited but the actors are. This video marked:
	+ The first time Chip and Kim appeared with Alissa.
	+ The first time Chip and Linda appeared together.
	+ The first time Kristen appears with Robert, Hannah, Chip, Ashley and Alissa, and the first time they appeared with Danny and Linda.
	+ The first time Chip and Robert appeared together.
	+ The first time Chip and Danny appeared together.
* This group (Robert, Stephen, Keesha, and Hannah) appeared in "Stick With Imagination!", while this group, featuring two of the main characters and two bell choir members in this video (Linda, Danny, Hannah and Robert) appeared in the next episode.
* Although Robert isn't a member of the "bell choir" or the caroler group, he can be seen singing with Chip, Kim and the adult carolers during the song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kidding Around: Cornering the Vid Market, Children's Titles Grow Into DVD August 18, 1999 Retrieved October 7, 2023
2. ↑ Barney & Me - Stephen White Retrieved October 7, 2023

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