thematic change is Nicholas spreading information about the immortals far and wide, to the point he never coins the term "dolly", just mass-produces "Neciles". Dixie Carter portrayed Necile and Hal Holbrook played Ak, who chooses Christmas as the day of Claus's yearly rides for its significance, much to the delight of Wil Knook, for the same reasoning as in the book. Misha Segal provides a Celtic-inflected score, with song lyrics by Harriet Schock. Oz Kids The kidnapping of Claus by the Awgwas is the basis of the Oz Kids video, "Who Stole Santa?", which appears to draw no material from "A Kidnapped Santa Claus". An adult version of Dorothy Gale tells the life story of Santa based on the book to her children and her friends. (Note: the Awgwas are excised from Dorothy's tale.) Graphic novel The major change in Mike Ploog's graphic novel is placing the Gnome King in charge of nearly everyone (Baum's hierarchy placed only the "Great Creator" above the three Masters of the world) and making him resemble the Nome King as he appeared in Return to Oz, a film for which Ploog was a conceptual artist. He also has a Knook and a Ryl serve as Claus's constant companions. The Gnome King has been omitted from most other adaptations, presumably to avoid confusion with the malevolent character in Return to Oz, though an unidentified figure voiced by Peter Newman appears on the council over immortality in the Rankin-Bass version. Based on the lineup in the book, he could be only the Gnome King, Bo, or Kern, but his stature leads one to guess the Gnome King. Anime Shōnen Santa no Daibôken ran for 24 episodes, airing between April 6 to September 21, 1996. The characters and cast include: Claus: Mifuyu Hiiragi Santa Claus: Masato Yamanouchi Goozzle: Tomohiro Nishimura Beezle: Yuji Ueda Blinky the cat: Hekiru Shiina Mayrie: Megumi Hayashibara May: Mika Kanai Rye: Akio Otsuka Ak: Tōru Shinagawa Flossie (reindeer): Naoki Tatsuta Glossie (reindeer): Fumihiko Tachiki Necile: Nobuko Shinokura Peter the Knook: Hiroshi Masuoka Shiegra (lion): Urara Takano Zurline: Yo Inoue King Awgwa: Takashi Matsuyama Unproduced films An animated feature film, a co-production between Hyde Park Entertainment and Toonz Entertainment as well as the Gang of 7 Animation, was planned for a 2010 holiday theatrical release. The script was written by Tom Tataranowicz and Mark Edward Edens with Tataranowicz also acting as director together with