The Ice Queen Returns

The Ice Queen Returns is a 2011 Holiday Comedy-Thriller film, and is the second installment to the True Meaning of Christmas Trilogy. The Film was directed by Jonathan Peel and starred Dylan Foster in the recurring role of Tony Crochet. Avery Taylor starred alongside Foster in the movie as the infamous Ice Queen.

Synopsis
The sequel to The True Meaning of Christmas, now flashing forward, one year later on Christmas Eve. Tony Crochet, now a strong believer in Christmas is ready for Santa to come to town. Meanwhile, the Ice Queen rises from her poisoning, only to reassure that she will destroy Christmas for good. But as the seasons change in to summer, the Ice Queen turns into the Fire Queen, the Snow Angel turns into the Sun Angel, and the Teddy Bear turns into the Grizzly Bear. The Fire Queen has a new strength: Fire Power, along with a new weakness: Water. As soon as Tony and the Heart of Christmas escape the forest fire, they are temporarily safe. But soon, winter comes again, and the Snow Angel and Santa are trapped in the Ice Queen’s Lair. How will Tony and the Teddy Bear possibly kill off the Ice Queen for good?

Plot
The film opens with a compliation of images of characters, or objects used to resemble the characters. It ends with a shot of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree being lit up in New York City, NY.

The Ice queen (resuming from the end of the previous film) awakens from her unconciousness, and terrorizes the Teddy bear, Snow Angel, Tony Crochet, and Santa Clause by provoking them with insults and mean language.

Later, after winter turns to summer, the Teddy Bear (Grizzly Bear) and Tony Crochet wander about trails located in the Forbidden Forest in the Dark Mountains. Tony reported that he woke up to find himself on the mountain, and Grizzly said that he is trying to find the Ice Queen. Soon, the two run into each other, and continue their journey. After they start to walk, they see the frozen rivers start to melt, causing a river. The two cross the river, only to find a mysterious figure on the other side who happens to be the Fire Queen (Ice Queen). She lights her fire staff, and throws it at Tony and Grizzy as they run away. But soon, as they are walking, they start to feel a burn on their legs, and turn around to see the forest catching fire. The Fire Queen had lit the forest on fire with her powers. As the two run, they call the Sun Angel's (Snow Angel) name. But then they hit crossroads, and become in serious trouble. Luckly, the Sun Angel is there to rescue them, and she tells them to follow her back through the fire. The Fire Queen walks out of the forest to confront them on the trail, but they outrun her. The group races out of the forest fire, and cross the bridge right before it explodes. The Fire Queen shocks them with her electrical power, and can no longer get them (as she cannot cross water without dying). As the group runs away through the burnt forest, the Sun Angel tells them that she can explain why this is happening. Tony drives them to his summer house, and talk about what happened and what they can do to stop the Fire Queen. But as soon as they try to come up with a plan, the Sun Angel leaves because she says she has important things to do. Tony researches the Fire Queen and comes up with a plan. He says to Grizzly that he needs his help to steal the Fire Queen's fire staff. That is her main power, and she can only be killed if it is used on herself. Meanwhile, trouble comes as the Fire Queen locks up the Sun Angel and Santa Clause in her lair. But soon, Grizzly finds the Fire Queen, and they fight a long and intense battle. She makes Grizzly go unconcious, and he falls to the ground. Then Tony shows up and grabs her only weapon and makes the Fire Queen disinigrate. He rescues Grizzly and they go to release the Sun Angel and Santa. Tony has never seen Santa Clause, so it is to his surprise that he is not actually an old guy with a beard, but a progressively younger man who claims he will die as a senile cateractal infant. The film ends with scrolling credits as bloopers play to the side.

Cast
Dylan Foster as Tony Crochet

Avery Taylor as The Ice Queen / Fire Queen

Sam Aposhian as The Teddy Bear / Grizzly Bear

Mia Foster as The Snow Angel / Sun Angel

Jonathan Peel as Santa Clause

Production
The Ice Queen Returns was filmed primarily in two different locations. The first being the suburban neighborhood of Gem Heights in Puyallup, Washington, which was the same set used in the previous film. The second filming location was near the rural Dalles Campground in Mt. Rainier National Park. The Ranger Creek trail near the campground was used for the forest fire scene. The White River was used for the river in the film, which traveled along side the trails. There was also a 700 year old douglas fir tree on the trail, pictured below. During pre-production, the original shoot was planned to be done at Ohanepecosh campground, in which the crew visited a couple years before. But due to a full reservation list, they were forced to use a different campground near the

same location. This was the first ever off-site location in which a Foster Film was shot. Later, off-site locations such as the Dalles would be used much more prominently in Foster Films, as seen primarily in the 2013 film The Travel Through Time. The cameras used to film The Ice Queen Returns were, both of which belonging to Foster and Peel at that time. The use of CGI special effects were seen for the very first time in this movie. The cameras were manned by Jonathan Peel and Dylan Foster at the time of production. Overall editing and addition of computer graphics took a total of two to three days, and was promptly uploaded to the internet in August 2011 for public viewing. Avery Taylor acted as an executive producer, contributing many of the conceptual ideas featured in the film, including the use of fire. In 2012, The Ice Queen Returns was Remastered, with an upgraded introduction, color cortrection, and sound effects, and also featured lost footage not used in the original version. It is yet to have been released.

Trivia & Goofs
Trivia: Goofs (Original Version):
 * The Dalles campground used for filming is home to a 700 year old douglas fir tree.
 * The river used was the White River in Mt. Rainier National park, while in the next film, the river featured was of the same name in the movie, but used the Alsea River in Lincoln County, Oregon. It runs through the coastal range, and ends at Waldport.
 * The forest fire scene was thought up on the hike through the trails, and shot without warning. There were many others on the trail, which resulted in harsh editing and cropping.
 * The entire amount of fire effects were got off of youtube. The clips were up against a black background, and were luma-keyed to be matted over the original clips shot on location.
 * Post production was completed within five days after finishing filming. However, the film was remastered as a result of bad quality editing.
 * The letters 'vhhfhf' were accidentaly included within the credits' beginning.
 * A red flash that casted over the snowflakes, shown at the beginning of the clips, appeared whenever snowflake effects were used over a clip.
 * When Samantha is flying, some black blotches were shown around her body. This may have been because the green screen material used was temporary, and was made by a wall of shrubery. The texture of the green was uneven.