Famous N.S. talking Christmas tree’s fresh face gets nod from Fallon

DARTMOUTH -

It's been less than one week since the big reveal – re-introducing Woody the Talking Christmas Tree to a legion of fans – old and new.

“I’m very happy I’m back at Mic Mac Mall too,” Woody told one visitor to his snowy corner of the mall Wednesday.

Joe Voudrau, 46, spent a few nostalgic moments talking to the towering tree.

“I remember I was here, must have been 2001, it was a long time ago,” he recalls.

Anne Shea brought her young granddaughter Isla out for her very first outing at a mall – and to see Woody for the first time as well.

“I think it's fantastic,” said Shea. “Lots of memories from our childhood and from our children's childhood.”

Emily Shea says one is never too old for the experience.

“I’m 22 and I love Woody,” she exclaims.

Young Kinsley Rhodenhizer needed her dad’s help to reach the microphone to talk to Woody.

When asked what she thought of the talking tree, she said, “I never saw one before, and I never talked to one before.”

Seeing Woody back again has brought forth a flurry of social media posts, tributes, and memes.

Some call the tree “creepy," while others reflect on fond memories of seeing Woody when they were children back in the 1980s. It’s been 15 years since Woody was at the mall, after he made a departure from public appearances in 2006.

Tuesday night, the conversational conifer reached the peak of popularity - with a mention from late-night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon.

“Some people think it's pretty cute, while others think it's pretty creepy, check it out,” said Fallon.

In an exclusive interview with CTV News, Woody said he was “excited” to see himself on TV and said he had sent Jimmy a “thank you note.”

“I'm an iconic Christmas tree, and there's something floating around on the internet that shows he's an iconic Christmas tree too, so I’d like him to come talk to me,” said Woody. "Maybe we can have a dance-off."

The chatter about Woody's re-appearance has some folks remembering what he used to look like back in the day.

It turns out when Woody decided to make his comeback - he wanted to do it in style.

“It was pretty cool to be able to work on a project like this,” says Mohammed Issa, founder of a 3-D printing and laser engraving “workshop” called Eurekatec in Lower Sackville, N.S.

“We wanted to make sure that a lot of people from when they remember old Woody from the past, they get to see a new fresh face,” says Issa.

The refresh took a team of six three weeks to complete, with workers often hand-applying finishes with the finest attention to detail.

Catlyn Smith is one of the people who worked on Woody’s makeover.

“I remember Woody from when I was a teenager, so I was really excited when we heard he was coming back,” Smith says.

Their favorite part of Woody's new look?

“Definitely the eyes, those lashes are really, really nice,” laughs team member Adrian Georgescu.

“We've had some pretty tough years,” says Issa, “and (now) we’ve put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces on a lot of people.”

“Kids were a little creeped out,” he laughs. “But that’s part of Woody.”