Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

No, it has not escaped my notice that King Moonracer is a cat. Carry on.
 

OK, OK, incase someone doesn't get the the reference! (I realized today that I own boots that are older than the barkeeps at Tulsa the other night).

Isle of Misfits. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Stop-motion cartoon.
 

How could anyone not get the reference? :)

I grew up at exactly the time all these Rankin and Bass shows came out, so I'm familiar with all of them. In fact, we once dressed as Heat Miser and Cold Miser for Halloween. :)

If anyone has never seen them (I pity their miserable existence) they're out on DVD. King Moonracer orders you to go out and buy the DVD.

(If it makes you feel any better, ER, lions and house cats are in the same family, of course, but a completely different genus.)
 

Well now that makes at least three movies where the "avatar Christ" is depicted as a Lion.
I remember that the Bible refers to Jesus as the good shepherd and the lamb of God. Where did the lion come in? Is it that he came from the descendant loins of the Lion of Judah?
Then is the island heaven and the toys Christians?

Greetings from Manzanita, OR, with a temperature now of 68 degrees.
 

Good question on where the lion image came from.

I see the island not as heaven but as the fold of faith, to go all metaphorical, the community of faithful, the Church universal maybe. The toys are the obviously marginalized, who Jesus reached out to first; those of us who think we are not so obviously marginalized eventually realize that we're all on the same boat. Or island, I mean.
 

I'm with Lobojo in questioning the lion. As far as I can tell, it's from the Lion of Judah reference in Revelation. But the lion was a common symbol of resurrection and kingship before JC's time, so it makes sense that it'd get picked up by biblewriters.

IMO, the lion is really more allegorical for Christianity, not Christ. Allegorically, Jesus' animal would be better as an ass. It's humble.
 

Could be something as simple as "Jesus is Lord." The lion is "lord of the jungle."
 

An interesting reading, but I think it loads a tad on to the back of this cute little TV special. Like Alan, I grew up with all these Rankin & Bass specials, so they are as familiar as old Charmin commercials and the "Oscar Meyer" song.

I am going to offer the odd, radical notion that we can allow King Moonracer to be who he is without saddling him with the additional weight of being a symbol for Jesus. At the same time, if you want to read it this way, I would certainly not stop you from doing so.

Oh, well.
 

The Lion of Judah is first mentioned in Genesis 49. Revelation 5:5 references Jesus as that lion. And as He is a descendant of Judah....
 

Ah, thank you, EL.


Hey Babalon: Actually, asses aren't humble. People who *ride* asses might be seen as such. Or not. Festus rose one. I don't see him as humble -- just common, which might be what yer thinkin'. And the AP reporter who rode into battle with Custer, the name of whom, I am ashamed to admit, I cannot immediately recall -- WAIT! Mark Kellog! Ahahahahaa! -- anyway he rode an ass. He definitely wass not humble. Anyhoo ...

Asses are stubborn. Willful. Frisky. Hearty. Jesus *was* -- is, I mean -- all of that, actually.
 

"As a symbol the lion represents both religious and stately power and leadership. The Gita calls Krishna "a lion among wild creatures"; the Buddha is "the Lion of the Shakyas"; and Christ "the Lion of Judah." Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, honored by the Shi'ites, is the Lion of Allah. Many divinities are depicted riding or seated upon lions, and they decorated Solomon's throne as well as the thrones of the King of France and medieval bishops. Also the lion symbolizes Christ as judge and teacher, carrying his book or scroll; and is the emblem of St. Mark. In medieval iconography the forequarters of the lion represented Christ's divine nature, while the hindquarters, deliberately contrasted because of their weakness, symbolized his human nature.

However, the lion's strength is not always effective because infrequently he does not restrain it in order to use it properly. St. John of the Cross noted the lion's "heedless, angry appetite," a symbol of imperious will and uncontrolled strength. This led to the phrase "pot-bellied lion," a symbol of blind greed which Shiva treads down. In Christianity too, where the aspect of controlled strength of the lion symbolized Christ, this aspect of uncontrolled strength represents the Anti-Christ. Even though this is a negative aspect, it might also justify the lion being symbolic of imperial heraldry and medieval bishops, greed is a human failing too."
Copied from Mystica

If Moonracer is not an intentional metaphor, it sure is a Jungian one.
 

Fascinating, Captain, especially this: "In medieval iconography the forequarters of the lion represented Christ's divine nature, while the hindquarters, deliberately contrasted because of their weakness, symbolized his human nature."

Enjoy yer 68-degree weather up in OreGON. It's blazing here.
 

That's 68 degrees during the day.
Got some meaningful and some kitchs for you at Clatsop yesterday.

Compared to previous years this place is not very full. Black bears are so hungry here,after a long heavy winter, that they are coming down to the coast looking for food.
 

Maybe the bears are on recon missions and are gonna take over. Two black bears have visited Sallisaw the past few months.
 

When I was telling my son about the bears getting into the camp grounds along the coast. He asked what kind of bears were they? I said they were probably Black Bears.
He said there you go again, everytime there's trouble you always blame the Black Bears.