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December 8, 2025

Dec. 8 – Darkwing Duck – “It’s a Wonderful Leaf”

By Joe
Original air date November 4, 1991.

When it comes to the Disney Afternoon, my mind doesn’t always go to Christmas. I attribute that to my viewing habits of the legendary programming block to mostly coincide with its earliest days. Then, the block consisted of DuckTales, Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers, and TaleSpin only I tended to just watch DuckTales and Rescue Rangers. Why? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing TaleSpin conflicted with another program I was more invested in (likely The Real Ghostbusters or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). If you’re intimately familiar with Christmas and its association with the Disney Afternoon, then you may know that both DuckTales and Rescue Rangers did not feature a holiday themed episode. I know – it’s crazy. Scrooge McDuck is named after a Christmas icon and his debut occurred in a Christmas story while the Rescue Rangers save Christmas is a story that practically writes itself, but that’s how it was.

Despite my personal viewing habits, it’s not as if I was unfamiliar with what came after the original block. Darkwing Duck is a show I watched some and also liked to a degree. Due to my affection for Batman and other caped heroes, there was a part of me that very much wanted to like Darkwing Duck, though I don’t think it ever came to be. It was a thing that was on and once it started to conflict with shows I preferred, like an actual Batman cartoon, I mostly dropped it. From afar, it feels like Darkwing Duck has a pretty strong reputation these days as a quality children’s cartoon and a high point for the Disney Afternoon. It of course looked great and what essentially amounts to a Batman spoof with ducks is a solid concept for 1991. And that theme song is an absolute banger. Has there been a television block of any kind with as consistently strong theme songs as the Disney Afternoon? Of the first four (and if you want to toss-in legacy cartoon Adventures of the Gummi Bears) only TaleSpin is just kind of okay, though I know even that one has its fans. Goof Troop had a great theme, Gargoyles was awesome, and even Bonkers was okay. Toss-in sister series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and holy cow do you have a strong collection of opening themes.

Darkwing Duck aired from September 1991 – December 1992 totaling 91 episodes.

When it comes to the quality of the show I would say Gargoyles stands head and shoulders above all other Disney Afternoon cartoons. That one is also decidedly different from the rest given that it’s not a comedy. After that though, I won’t fight you if you want to say Darkwing Duck is the best. As such, it would make perfect sense for Darkwing Duck to have the best Christmas episode of them all, but to my surprise I’ve found that isn’t the case. “It’s a Wonderful Leaf” is not a bad episode and if you’re a big fan of this show you probably watch it annually, but is it better than Goof Troop‘s take on the holiday? TaleSpin? Bonkers?! I don’t think so, but maybe after going through it in exhausting fashion as we’re about to do I’ll feel differently.

Before we really get into the nuts and bolts of this thing, allow me to just indulge once again in the theme song. When it comes to Christmas episodes of television shows, I do appreciate when they dress-up the opening title for the holiday. Usually this can be accomplished with some added bells or chimes to the song, maybe an altered lyric here and there, or the addition of falling snow over the animation. Some shows go really far and completely change the performance. Take DuckTales, the reboot, which altered its theme song to that of a crooner performance reminiscent of Sinatra or Crosby. It’s neat, but when I only return to the vast majority of these shows for holiday viewings I tend to enjoy the ones that don’t mess with things if they have a great theme already. Those holiday performances of the DuckTales theme often leaving me wishing I could just hear the regular one instead.

Full disclosure: Disney+ decided it hated my PC when I went to get screens so they’re going to suck for this entry.

Anyway, this one begins with the regular intro with nothing added for Christmas, so that’s both a good and a bad thing. It does have a nice, wintery, title card which dissolves into a snowy scene. Our first location is a mall and it’s quite close to Christmas, by the looks of things. The holiday shoppers are practically ravenous and one guy even gets bit by a little pig girl (I’m not making fun, she is a literal pig). One person out and about today is none other than Bushroot (Tino Insana, who sounds remarkably like Dom DeLuise), the plant-focused villain who is the Poison Ivy stand-in for Darkwing Duck, minus the sexual tension. He’s not exactly happy to be at the mall so close to Christmas, but he put his shopping off until the end. He’s able to avoid the mob by ducking into a plant-focused store. There it’s much quiet, and as he goes over his list of individuals to buy gifts for (they’re all plant-centric names so I don’t think these are people, or ducks, that he’s buying for) he happens upon a display of watering cans. Feeling that will make a suitable gift for someone, Bushroot goes to retrieve one only for the mob to attack the display leaving him with nothing left but a dented watering can.

Bushroot is not your typical villain. He’s pretty easy going and he even takes this in stride, until some yokel (Jim Cummings) yanks it from his hands. Bushroot rather meekly tries to explain that he had the item first, but the guy just whacks him what appears to be a purse (interesting) and sends Bushroot soaring through the air (and out of his trench coat) to land in a barrel. With just his tuft of purple-pink hair sticking out, the young pig girl from earlier mistakes him for a plant and plucks some hair out of his skull. Bushroot objects, though fairly politely, and then the girl (Dana Hill) screams. Her mother (Susan Tolsky) sees Bushroot and does the same crying out that there’s a plant monster in there. Bushroot asks “Where?!” oblivious to the fact that she means him and then he’s forced to retreat as she blasts him repeatedly with a rake. He’s able to avoid the mob that ensues by hiding in a present at an outdoor Christmas tree display. When everyone is gone, he goes into villain mode basically blaming Christmas for his misfortune and deciding that the city of St. Canard shall rue the Christmas it decided to mess with Bushroot!

Gosalyn is your typical excitable kid at Christmas.

At the home of Drake Mallard, we find out hero getting ready to decorate the tree. To do so, Drake (Jim Cummings) offers up a variation on his catchphrase with “Let’s get decorative,” before he aggressively covers the tree with lights. There’s just one problem – Launchpad. Drake’s buddy, sidekick, secret lover?, ended up tied to the tree in the aftermath apparently unable to avoid the speedy Mallard. Once freed, Drake is able to bask in the glory of the season remarking on how peaceful it is, which is just the cue for daughter Gosalyn (Christine Cavanaugh) to come flying down the stairs Kevin McCallister-style on a sleigh. She takes out the tree and most of the family’s living room, but blames it on her excitement at finding the sleigh upstairs. Drake remarks it’s his sled and takes it from her only for it to crumble into dust. Gosalyn is not deterred though as she refers to her rather large Christmas list to confirm she requested a sled this year and assumes there must be one in the mountain of presents before her. Drake has to pry her off the pile to remind her they don’t open gifts until Christmas only for Gosalyn to whine that it’s too far away. Drake tells her it’s tomorrow and she mostly calms down agreeing to wait. Oh, wait, she’s lying as she adds in a “Not!” afterwards! Oh, those plucky 90s kids.

We transition to a new living room scene where apparently everything has been tidied up. Even the tree now stands again with Gosalyn eyeing it from behind the couch via binoculars. She’s joined by Honker Muddlefoot (Katie Leigh) and the two are sporting military-styled helmets as they make their way for the tree. Declaring herself the terror that unwraps in the night, Gosalyn goes to open a gift only for an alarm to sound from the tree. Drake calls from the other room to make sure she’s not peeking and Gosalyn calls back that she was just replacing an ornament. A good save, especially if they have a cat. She’s not giving up though as she stalks over to a present conspicuously far from the tree, only to find her dad hiding inside it (he’s good). She snidely refers to him as a Christmas cop as the scene ends with an iris out in the shape of a star. Interesting choice.

An army of trees – are we scared?

We find Bushroot has descended upon a tree farm. Armed with a star-shaped megaphone of some kind, he puts out the APB “Calling all trees,” which brings the trees to life. I don’t know how his powers work, but I’m guessing he just has an innate ability to command plants. Though these trees were probably already cut so I’m not sure how that works since they should be dead, but it is a cartoon and I probably shouldn’t think about it that much. Bushroot leads the trees out in a marching formation and returns to the mall. There he does the same thing to bring the Christmas trees in the mall under his command. They’re apparently a cheeky lot as one grabs a Darkwing Duck toy from the little pig girl and tosses it into the bag of another shopper. The pig girl cries out to get her mother’s attention who thinks the guy stole it from her (given the behavior of the shoppers we saw earlier, this checks out). She wails on him, and he doesn’t fight back, much to the delight of the little pig girl.

More trees are up to funny business as we find a Santa working a collection pot elsewhere in the mall. As he swings a handheld bell, the Christmas tree behind him snatches it and wallops him over the head with it. Terrible, just terrible. The tree then does like the other one and places the bell in the hand of some old, dog, guy walking the mall. Santa sees it, angrily grabs it, then wallops him with it! Bushroot looks on with satisfaction as we can also see the pig lady is still beating up the other guy too. He remarks it’s time for phase two of his operation. Just what is phase two? It takes place at the Santa’s Workshop location of the mall. A different Santa from before is working this one, but when a kid vacates his lap the trees alongside him basically smother him. It looks like murder, and when the trees pull back we see that Bushroot has taken Santa’s place. Phase Two is apparently all about making Santa look bad as the first kid to sit on his lap asks for a drum for Christmas, so Bushroot tells him to “Beat it,” and boots him away. Time passes and the little pig girl comes running in excitedly waving the Darkwing doll she apparently got back. Bushroot tells her he’s all out of toys and needs her doll for next year. This causes her to run off crying, but it’s revealed that Tank Muddlefoot (Hill) was watching. He’s kind of like the bully character of the show, and he bullies Bushroot by telling him he’s not Santa and yanks on his fake beard, which hurts Bushroot for some reason. The trees give him the boot and we see him soar past his parents, Herb (Cummings) and Binkie (Tolsky).

Herb is a little more than Bushroot expected.

Herb, being a big kid basically, gets all excited at the sight of Santa Claus and practically leaps onto Bushroot’s lap. He is a duck of generous proportions so Bushroot is not exactly appreciative of this display of affection. With Herb inadvertently pinning him down, the angry pig mom storms in to do what she does best and beat up old Santa Root. Bushroot is forced to retreat as a mob forms to start chasing him. He takes refuge underneath a tree only popping his head out after the mob runs past him to deliver a sinister “Ho ho ho,” as he removes his beard. It would seem that sabotaging the good name of Santa Claus was worth the punishment.

Elsewhere, Drake and Launchpad (who he calls D.W. whether Drake is in costume or not, apparently) are doing some last minute shopping of their own. Launchpad has presents piled up in his arms with Drake standing on top of them. When he questions if they’ve gone a little overboard, Drake insists they have not for it is Christmas and it’s the season of giving. Or something. The pair then take notice of the havoc going on around him as many mall-goers complain of stolen items. “This looks like a job for…” is the expected line, only when Drake reemerges he’s dressed as Santa Claus. He seems surprised to not be in his Darkwing attire, but then tries to play it off like he did this on purpose surmising that disguising himself as Santa will help him get the drop on the holiday thief. Only it actually makes him a target as the angry mob looking for Bushroot sees Drake as Santa and immediately goes on the attack!

You gotta get with the season, D.W.

Darkwing, now in his regular attire, and Launchpad are able to give the mob the slip fairly easily setting up for some monologuing. Darkwing speculates that a sinister force is behind all of this, but Bushroot sticks his head out from behind a Christmas tree to correct him that he’s not sinister, just misunderstood. Darkwing immediately seizes upon the moment to declare he should have known Bushroot was behind this! After a few plant-based puns and some alliteration from Darkwing, Bushroot summons his “boys.” A trio of bushy trees back him up which is just too much for Darkwing. He is positively disgusted that Bushroot would use Christmas trees to attack Christmas. It’s a new low. Bushroot isn’t exactly phased by this as he leaves arm and…limb…with a pair of trees leaving three behind to take care of Darkwing and Launchpad. I’m not really sure how this is supposed to work, but Darkwing and Launchpad are certainly playing it up like they’re scared. Darkwing whips out his gas gun and fires unleashing a burst of ornaments and tinsel at the unsuspecting tree. It’s now fully decorated, much to Darkwing’s surprise, and someone even whistles at it like they find it sexy. I don’t know if that came from one of the heroes, or one of the trees. It’s enough of a distraction for Darkwing and Launchpad to beat it forcing the trees to give chase. Once again, Christmas decorations are used as cover as Darkwing and Launchpad hide in some gifts until the trees pass. Once they’re in the clear, Darkwing ponders how they can track Bushroot down while Launchpad helpfully suggests they just follow the pine needles. Is Launchpad the smart one in this relationship? It’s been awhile since I’ve watched this show.

Bushroot is now onto phase three of his plan, Operation Bah Humbug, which involves a flatbed truck and his little intercom/wand thingy. He’s doing his calling all trees bit while driving through a neighborhood and as he does so the trees in the homes come to life. Their objective? Steal all the presents! Bushroot soon sees that he missed a tree so apparently the trees only come to life if they have the star on top of them. I probably should have picked up on that earlier, but I just thought they were decorations. The tree with the missing star is of course Darkwing’s and when Bushroot activates it he also sets off the tree alarm that had been installed to keep Gosalyn at bay. She and Honker come storming in to find the tree snatching gifts, which she naturally does not take kindly to. The tree shoves a wreath around the pair to subdue them, then runs off which only further enrages the small duck.

You better not be messing with presents on Christmas, tree.

The trees all emerge from the various homes with limbs full of presents. As they make for Bushroot’s truck, the plant-duck basks in a plan well-executed. That is, until he spies Darkwing Duck speeding up from behind him! Apparently, Darkwing’s motorcycle can also become something akin to a snowmobile as it has a big ski on the front instead of a tire. He rides up along side Bushroot’s truck and decides to spring into action…right in front of the truck. I’m not sure what the thinking was here, but the predictable happens which is Darkwing gets run over. He gets to mug for the camera with a busted smile singing “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,” clearly concussed. Gosalyn hops over to him, still wrapped up in the wreath with Honker, to inform her dad about the obvious. Launchpad pulls up in the bike to check on his buddy, who is now fine because he’s surprisingly resilient. The three hop onto the bike and Darkwing declares, while brandishing a massive axe, that it’s time to do some Christmas tree chopping!

It’s also time to kill a little time with a chase scene. Well, kill some time for the writers, the animators have to do some heavy lifting here as they chase after Bushroot’s truck which is now loaded with trees. Everyone is safely wearing helmets on the bike, but apparently not seatbelts. Yeah, I know, motorcycles don’t typically include such, but you would think the sidecar might? Regardless, a big hill tosses Darkwing and Launchpad from the bike leaving just the kids behind. No problem for apparently Gosalyn is pretty good with this thing. Darkwing and Launchpad have, painfully, landed on a Santa decoration of Santa in his sleigh with two reindeer leading his team. Gosalyn, in a bid to be helpful, lassos the sleigh and proceeds to pull her father and…uncle?…all through downtown St. Canard in pursuit of Bushroot. Darkwing and Launchpad obviously get the worst of it, and are soon shot into the sky where they pass before the full moon giving us a different take on the whole Santa moon shot thing.

That’s a weird looking Santa.

It sure seemed like they were going to soar right out of the city, but apparently not. Bushroot comes to a stop outside a tree farm, possibly the one from earlier, and remarks how he was finally able to rid himself of Darkwing Duck. Which, in cartoon speak, means he absolutely has not. Darkwing and Launchpad come soaring in and crash into Bushroot’s vacated truck. That is apparently the least of their problems as soon Gosalyn comes racing in on the bike declaring she doesn’t know how to stop. Understandable considering she’s…what? Eight? She crashes into her dad, but everyone seems more or less fine. Plus they’re surrounded by stolen presents which Gosalyn is eager to open, but her father stops her. He tosses the trio (is Honker actually going to speak in this episode?) some Santa beards and informs them that they’re going to return all the presents while he goes after Bushroot. Since he brandished an axe before, now he’s sporting some sinister looking hedge clippers because we have to keep the puns coming.

We catch up with Darkwing as he prowls rooftops with an elaborate looking magnifying glass narrating his search for Bushroot. Unbeknownst to him, Bushroot is well aware and lurking about. He lassos Darkwing’s beak with a string of Christmas lights and pulls him close. At first, it seems like a bad play as he doesn’t have a weapon or anything to face Darkwing with who quickly pulls out his gas gun. He then informs the heroic waterfowl that he best put the weapon away unless he wishes to invoke the wrath of his good pal Douglas. Darkwing naturally asks who Douglas is and he soon meets him. Douglas Fir is Bushroot’s new best friend – a massive Christmas tree one might find in a town square. Darkwing is swatted away, which happens a lot in this show, and lands behind a fire hydrant. Viewing it as some sort of saviour, he actually makes the very poor decision to kiss it. Do duck beaks stick to metal in cold temperatures? Apparently so, for Darkwing is stuck as Bushroot calls in more trees and orders them to “Deck the duck with everything you’ve got!” It’s a lovely little number, but the trees are still only armed with Christmas ornaments and other fixings so it doesn’t seem as bad as Darkwing makes it out to be. Still, he can’t get unstuck as he frantically pulls at his own beak eventually ripping the hydrant from its moorings.

Meet Douglas.

Once again, we find our hero in a pile of snow this time duck butt up. There’s also a snowman beside him so you know that’s going to play a role soon. Darkwing emerges from the snow with the hydrant still attached to his head. It’s an odd piece of animation as he appears to be wearing it like a helmet, but his face is drawn on it. I think something might have been lost in translation here. He removes it and soon finds himself under assault again from the trees. He ducks (heh) behind the snowman for cover. He then basically wears the snowman like armor as he withstands the pummeling from the trees which seems to enrage Bushroot. The snow falls away, but Darkwing is left holding a large snow shovel which the snowman had been posed with. He runs over to the water main which is gushing thanks to the damage done to the hydrant and uses the shovel to direct the spray at the trees. The water basically freezes on contact and Bushroot is soon forced to make a hasty retreat. Only he can’t outrun Darkwing and his directional water and he too becomes a frozen vegetable. Darkwing slaps some cuffs on the now inanimate Bushroot and declares this another sinister plot that’s been nipped in the bud. Clever.

Bushroot is put on ice and we still have several minutes left of this one.

Darkwing returns to the neighborhood and finds Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Honker seated on the flatbed looking rather glum. Darkwing is surprised to see such long faces, but Launchpad informs him they returned all of the presents, but the gifts for Honker’s family were no where to be found. There’s a massive mountain of gifts on the flatbed, but apparently they’re all for Gosalyn. Damn, she’s spoiled. Darkwing doesn’t really know what to do and apologizes to Honker who says “It’s okay,” (he speaks!) and then suggests that the real Santa Claus will surely bring his family something. As he heads into his house, Darkwing remarks, “Poor little guy,” but Gosalyn corrects him to say you can’t be poor when you have friends and she thrusts one of her gifts into his hands with a smile. I see where this is going.

Inside the Muddlefoot residence, the family is sound asleep until the sound of sleigh bells awaken them! Tank is the first downstairs for he has a trap for Santa – a bear trap! It’s in the fireplace so he’s pretty annoyed when Santa enters through the window. He runs over to admonish Santa for this untraditional entrance, but when Santa spins around he accidentally whacks him with his sack full of gifts. Tank ends up landing on his own trap the pain of which causes him to shoot up and get lodged in the top of the chimney. The rest of the Muddlefoots enter the room and Santa, who is obviously Darkwing, dispenses with the gifts. Honker gives him a big hug in return which seems to touch old D.W.

Santa always comes through.

With that task done, the Mallard clan makes the short walk home. Darkwing tells Gosalyn how proud of her he is for giving her gifts to the Muddlefoots and gives her an affectionate noogie to punctuate it. She seems unphased, but is soon delighted when she finds her Christmas present on the stoop of their house: a new sleigh. It has a tag reading “To Gosalyn, From Santa,” which Launchpad reads aloud for our benefit. She grabs the sleigh and dives into the snow leaving Launchpad to ask Darkwing when he found time to get her that. He indicates he thought Launchpad did, and they go into a whole routine you’ve probably seen before until there’s only one solution. Darkwing remarks that “He is a Christmas tradition,” as the pair look up to the sky and we see the real guy fly by with a proper moon shot to boot. Tank, still stuck in the chimney, cries out to Santa for help and promises to be good from now on, but his cries fall on deaf ears as the camera zooms out on a snowy St. Canard to end it.

“It’s a Wonderful Leaf” is far from a bad episode of Darkwing Duck. It has a decent premise with the plant-based Bushroot using Christmas trees to wage ware on the holiday. It also tosses in a materialistic Gosalyn subplot in which she’s forced to do something selfless, it’s just that neither plot really lands beyond that. Bushroot is more annoying than truly disruptive and an army of marching trees isn’t particularly threatening. There are puns galore, as the show often deals in, but few are truly clever. Some of that is by design as Darkwing is like an amateur poet, but the only one I really liked was Bushroot ordering the trees to deck the duck.

When are they going to get him down?

Gosalyn and her plotline just isn’t really given enough time to land. It’s not the best plot anyway as the audience rarely feels anything extensive for a character that has to give up material goods. We don’t see her longing for some specific item that she then in turn gifts to Honker, all of the gifts just exist in the abstract. I feel like the episode wants the ending to land with more of a thump, but it’s a whimper at best. It was a nice attempt at invoking some Christmas feels, but not enough. I also am slightly annoyed with the dismissal of Santa Claus throughout the episode. All of these people just put the gifts under the tree already? They’re just a bit too casual in their disbelief right up until the end. This is a show for kids, and sort of like my feelings on other Disney Afternoon Christmas specials (Bonkers, TaleSpin) they’re too eager to show unbelieving adults. It’s a fantasy world inhabited by talking ducks – can’t Santa just exist? Admittedly, that’s more of a pet peeve I have where I prefer shows aimed at children to not put doubt in the minds of viewers because I want the Santa myth to last as long as possible with children, even if it’s a losing battle.

Since we did get two moon shots in this one I’ll forgive them for only doing six reindeer.

My conclusion here is that it’s not really funny enough to be a classic episode of Darkwing Duck. The Christmas element isn’t clever enough, and there aren’t enough Christmas feels to produce that lump in one’s throat. It’s just kind of okay at everything which is why I’m ranking it back here behind other Disney Afternoon Christmas episodes. And I probably am penalizing it a touch as I didn’t expect much out the likes of Bonkers so I was pleasantly surprised with that one. With Darkwing, I just expected better. The animation is at least still great for the most part so it’s not like I feel as if I waste my time when I watch this one, but I also start to tune it out about halfway through and struggle to get reinvested come the end. If you like it more than me I won’t say you’re wrong or anything, but maybe you love the idea of a Darkwing Duck Christmas episode more than the reality.

Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:

Dec. 8 – Prep & Landing: Operation: Secret Santa

Last year, Prep & Landing was given the prestigious slot at The Christmas Spot of Christmas Day. I try to reserve a really good special for the big day each year and Prep & Landing is one of the best. In fact, I have declared it the 9th best Christmas special of all-time. That’s no…

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by Joe

Dec. 8 – The Looney Tunes Show – “A Christmas Carol”

I’ve been known to be a bit critical of Warner Bros. for not creating more Christmas shorts. The most notable one is Gift Wrapped starring Tweety while Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck basically had to wait until after the Golden Era to give Christmas a whirl. And those weren’t really that great. Low key, the…

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by Joe

Dec. 8 – The Soulmates in The Gift of Light

It was around Labor Day of this year that Will Sloan (@WillSloanEsq) took to Twitter to uncover the origins of an image that had confounded his girlfriend and him for the past five years. It was actually a return plea as he had posted the same image 3 years prior. The image in question was…

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by Joe

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December 19, 2023

Dec. 19 – Aaahh!!! Real Monster – “Gone Shopp’n”

By Joe
Original air date December 11, 1994.

Whenever I approach another year of The Christmas Spot I usually have some kind of goal in mind. Maybe one could even think of it as a theme. The past few years I’ve made it a point to highlight some of the best Christmas specials I covered in the past, but felt I had short-changed the first time around. And that’s kept up, though after this year that task will basically be accomplished. It’s not the only goal I had this year as I also wanted to spotlight a lot of stuff I had just overlooked up until now. That’s why we’ve had some Looney Tunes themed posts this year and you could even count Scooby Doo as part of that. The other big one was to really dive into the Nicktoons.

Some of this drive to highlight more Nicktoons is born out of nostalgia for 90s properties. The Nicktoons were quite popular and there’s probably an appetite among my readers to engage with them at Christmas. There also were a fair amount of holiday specials produced by Nickelodeon for these shows and as someone who loves Christmas I want to make sure I’ve seen them all. Most of them I remember to some degree, while others I’ve completely forgotten about or missed entirely. The other motivating factor here is that now all of these shows are very accessible via Paramount+. That’s certainly a good thing, but as we saw with HBO Max and Disney+ this year, all of that content you see today isn’t guaranteed to be there tomorrow. And if you’re going to do an annual advent calendar of Christmas specials, streaming is the easiest way to interact with such episodes and specials so I do feel a sense of urgency with some of these properties.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is the fifth official Nicktoon and second (but no the last) developed by Klasky-Csupo.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters was the fifth of the Nicktoons and the second created by Klasky-Csupo. It premiered in 1994 and its creation is primarily credited to Gábor Csupó and Peter Gaffney with a lot of input from director Igor Kovalyov. It’s a show about young monsters Oblina (Christine Cavanaugh), Krumm (David Eccles), and Ickis (Charlie Adler) who are all students in monster school just outside New York City. They attend a boarding school located in a dump overseen by The Gromble (Gregg Berger) who is tasked with teaching them how to scare humans and, perhaps more importantly, how to not get caught by said humans. It’s a little bit like Monsters Inc which followed this only there’s no monster world they travel from and the scares don’t power their society. They basically just scare because that’s what monsters do.

The show ran from 1994 through 1997 with reruns following that kept it on the air for quite awhile. It received the standard Nicktoon episode order of 52 which was broken up into multiple broadcast seasons. It was a bit of an odd inclusion to the lineup as, following the creation of Rocko’s Modern Life, the Sunday morning Nicktoons block had been made a whole two hours, but now they had five shows. Nickelodeon by then was premiering a lot of the new The Ren & Stimpy Show episodes during its Saturday night timeslot and fellow Nicktoon Doug wasn’t going to be around much longer so things did kind of work themselves out.

This one isn’t a traditional Christmas episode, but it does have its own version of the Red Ryder BB Gun.

The show does have a very interesting style. It’s undeniably Klasky-Csupo, but with monsters as the main characters those almost intentionally ugly character designs work very well with the show’s setting. All of the monsters are oddly shaped with lots of grotesque details about them. There is a more scatological humor at play in the show, though I would say it’s not as gross as Rocko or Ren and Stimpy. These monsters do live in a landfill and get around the human world by flushing themselves down the toilet. Toenail clippings are their currency and monsters like Krumm rely on their grotesque odor in order to scare humans. Some of the designs though are just really fun. Krumm was always a favorite of mine as he doesn’t have eye sockets. His face basically ends at his nose so he’s forced to carry his eyeballs around over his head. This can cause problems when he needs to use his hands for something else, but he doesn’t mind sticking his eyes in his mouth or even on the ground. They’re surprisingly durable.

If you’re a 90s kid then it’s likely that you’re familiar with Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and it’s also possible you’re saying to yourself, “Wait, I don’t remember that show having a Christmas episode?” And you would be partially correct. This one is a little bit of a cheat, but you know when you have to do 25 of these things every year you’re willing to settle for “close enough.” The sixth episode of season one features the segment “Gone Shopp’n” which places the three main characters in the mall decked out for Christmas. Only, it’s not actually Christmas, but a Christmas in July sale. If you didn’t know that detail then it likely wouldn’t matter as this looks like a Christmas episode. It aired in December, so it sure looks like it was timed as the show’s Christmas episode that year, but maybe they felt that by making it a Christmas in July episode it would give the network more freedom to re-air it as they saw fit? I don’t know, but we’re counting it so let’s go!

The episode begins, as all episodes of the show do, with a spooky, but lively, theme song set mostly to clips from the show. It’s composed by Drew Neumann and the song is punctuated with a stock scream (I don’t think this is another instance of the famous Wilhelm scream) since the show is called Aaahh!!! Real Monsters with the “aaahh” portion meant to be a scream. It’s a clever bit of wordplay that makes the title so much more interesting than if it had been called Real Monsters. It also made things more interesting on the Nickelodeon hype man when doing TV spots for the show.

This is rent-a-cop, Hal, who is going to be a passive participant throughout this one.

“Gone Shopp’n” is the second segment of the episode following “Monsters Don’t Dance.” It’s going to be a single setting segment as it starts and takes place at the Valley View Mall. It’s all decorated for Christmas in July which really makes it no different from just Christmas. I don’t even see a Hawaiian Santa anywhere so I’m puzzled why they even bothered to make this Christmas in July. Maybe someone at the studio was adamant that this show never have a true Christmas episode? There’s a quick cut of the face of a security guard who looks pretty intense, before we see some additional cuts of another gentleman apparently sneaking into the mall. He’s actively avoiding the guard and clearly up to no good. He also seems very interested in a ski sale.

It must have been fun devising ways for Krumm to scare people with his detached eyes.

A voice over the P.A. alerts us to the fact that the mall is closing in five minutes. Inside a store called Crystal Clear, a young woman (Cavanaugh) is scoping out a crystal ball that the clerk is aggressively pushing on her. The voice actor for the clerk (Nick Jameson) is doing an accent of some kind, I think he’s supposed to be middle eastern, and it’s probably not the sort of thing you would see in a modern cartoon. The young lady doesn’t understand why the ball is so expensive, but the clerk encourages her to gaze into it for it will reveal the depths of her soul. When she does, it rotates on its own revealing an eyeball which blinks. The two humans scream and cry out “Monster!” as they run out of the store.

Pay no attention to the man in the ski clothes.

Krumm pops up from under the table as it was his eye that frightened the two humans. As they run through the mall in terror, the security guard (Rodney Saulsberry) from earlier just shouts at them, “Hey! No running in the mall!” He’s soon approached by the mall’s manager (Michael Tucker) who wishes to push the new security system on him. The guard seems put-off and hostile towards his boss and the new system challenging that it couldn’t possibly prevent horseplay on the escalators. The mall manager doesn’t care and just wants the guy to enable the alarm. They’ve been burglarized multiple times this month and he seems desperate to put an end to that. The mall cop agrees to do as he’s requested and vows that no burglar can escape this “Rent-a-cop!” As he says that, we see the shady guy from earlier is watching disguised as a mannequin in ski attire.

If this episode had been made after the Lord of the Rings film franchise got off and running then we certainly would have had a “precious” line in here somewhere.

Ickis, Krumm, and Oblina poke their heads out from behind a corner. Oblina gestures towards a restroom and announces that’s their way out (remember, they travel through toilets) and the three take off. Oblina doesn’t make it very far though before something in a store display window catches her eye. Ickis shouts back at her in confusion over why she stopped, then joins her and becomes transfixed as well. Krumm then strolls up in confusion and sees what all the fuss is over: a lava lamp. The three monsters are completely enraptured by the novelty lamp. They can’t take their eyes off of it and we get a fun little cut of the lamp dancing in their eyes as the camera moves from monster to monster.

No running in the mall!

Nearby, the manager is leaving and passing on some final instructions to the rent-a-cop to remember to enable the alarm after he leaves. He also adds that he should release the dogs. The guard agrees and does that immediately. Two snarling, angry, looking dogs come running out and immediately go for the manager who narrowly avoids them by slipping out of the exit. He then can be heard shouting out “After I leave, you moron!” in response to him letting loose the beasts right away. The guard smiles sort of sheepishly realizing his error, then presses the button on the security box that barricades all of the entrances, even pipes and toilets. Satisfied, the guard turns back around and catches the guard dogs running by which calls for another, “Hey! No running in the mall!” The guard then smiles to himself and…closes his eyes. He falls asleep standing up and in doing so his elbow presses the door button again undoing all of the locks he had just activated.

Our thief is soon going to learn that he’s overprepared for this heist.

With the guard asleep and the security system disabled, our would-be thief jumps out from his disguise and immediately gets to work. He tosses a large rope net on the floor and then baits it with a juicy T-bone steak. He then heads over to a jewelry store with a hole saw to drill through the glass window. He takes a peek at the guard first then turns on the very noisy drill to create a hole in the glass. As he reaches in to grab the loot, the entire window shatters! He immediately looks back at the guard and finds him still snoring so he grabs the loot and moves on.

Behold the lamp’s beauty.

At the lamp, the monsters are still captivated by its warm, glowing, warming, glow. Ickis notes a tag that reads “Lava Lamp $20.00” and mistakenly thinks it’s called a Lava Lamp 2,000. The monsters all try to come up with a word to describe its beauty, but words fail them. Krumm declares it reminds him of his mother which makes him feel warm inside. Their religious moment is soon interrupted though as the dogs have taken notice. Ickis screams when he sees them and the three start running for a vent. Unfortunately for them, the guard is a little unsteady on his feet and his elbow has drifted back and reactivated the security measures which drops a series of bars across all of the exits once again.

That’s using the old noggin! Or, butt?

With their escape routes cut-off, Oblina does the only thing a monster knows to do in this situation -she resorts to scaring! Unfortunately, the dogs aren’t impressed and the three are forced to book-it. They hit a dead-end at a barred up store and appear to be dead in the water. It’s Oblina who has the bright idea to “use her” to break into the store. She is an unusual shape and is similar to a crowbar and that’s essentially how they use her to prop the gate open. Krumm, with his eyes in his mouth, holds the gate up long enough for Ickis and Oblina to slide under it before he joins them, his ass left red and irritated in the process.

The monsters probably shouldn’t feel too safe where they are.

With the threat of the dogs momentarily avoided, Ickis wonders aloud what they’re to do now, but Oblina can only think of “the Lahmp.” She pronounces it by exaggerating the “A” sound which confuses Ickis, but Krumm informs him she means the lamp. They then all get momentarily captivated by the thought of it and seem legitimately depressed about being separated from the lamp. I’m thinking it might not be a good influence on their lives. Oblina vows that they will not be leaving here without it!

What the hell is this thing in Oblina’s mouth?! Is it sentient? Can it speak? I have so many questions!

We get another shot of the wavering security guard who, once again, drifts back into the door release button. As the bars all retract from their various coverings, it would seem the monsters are in trouble. They have a plan though as we smash-cut to the crew crashing through the store display window in a little car. It sounds like it’s a battery-operated car as opposed to a peddle one. Ickis is driving while Krumm and Oblina can only watch as the dogs give chase. Oblina tries in vane to once again scare the dogs away, but nothing appears to be working. Even her weird technique that reveals some little monster living inside her.

They should have just gone all the way and gave him driving gloves and a scarf.

Ickis cries out for someone to do something, and it’s at this point I noticed he’s wearing some old-timey driving goggles, which is pretty cute. Since Oblina has tried every trick she knows, it’s Krumm’s turn to try to stink them out, but they’re dogs. They eat their own poop, smells don’t bother them. Ickis takes the crew up the escalator and as he does the bumper of the car falls off. They drive under a bench and everyone ducks which takes out the windshield. It’s like Smokey and the Bandit! Ickis takes the car back down the escalator and through some Christmas decorations before driving through the central Christmas display and past the sleeping guard. He’s able to make a hard right and send the dogs smashing into some garbage cans granting them a moment’s reprieve.

Saved in the “ick” of time…I’ll see myself out.

It’s going to be a short moment though as the car comes to a stop and then falls apart completely. Ickis has had it, and with the dogs baring down on them once again exits the remains of the vehicle and prepares to unleash his ultimate move. When Ickis needs a scare, his technique is to enlarge himself to gargantuan proportions which usually does the trick, but once again, these dogs prove to be impervious to their monstrous tactics. Ickis seems resigned to his fate, but Oblina spots an advertisement for dog muzzles alongside a lasso sale (it seems like a very interesting store). With Ickis about to meet his end, Oblina and Krumm spring into action lassoing the dogs effortlessly as the muzzles settle over their jaws.

When you’re forced to carry your eyes around in your hands like Krumm does, you learn how to be resourceful.

With the dogs neutralized, Oblina declares it’s time to go retrieve their lamp! With Krumm holding the pair of leashes, Oblina dangles a dog bone from a fishing rod and the monsters commandeer the store display Santa sleigh. Ickis questions how Oblina learned to do that with the lasso and she credits it to once eating a spaghetti western – hardy har har. That doesn’t explain how Krumm was able to do the same, but he can’t really tell us anyway since he has his eyes back in his mouth. Or maybe he can, since he has no trouble saying “Get along, little doggies!” His attempt to spur them on fails though as they just sit on the floor and stare at the bone. Krumm then spies a better motivator – the steak! He pulls the steak from the trap with a ski pole so as not to set it off then attaches it to the fishing rod. That does the trick as the dogs take-off, but without the monsters which was seemingly by design.

We are often most vulnerable at the height of our revelry.

Now that the dogs have been properly dealt with, the real mission to retrieve the lamp can begin. Or it would have if not for the fact that a laughing Krumm, amused by his dog contraption, stumbled onto the net set by the thief and got caught in his trap. Suspended from the ceiling, Krumm calls out for help and informs his friends that he hates heights. Ickis is immediately put into a state of panic at the sight of Krumm high above them and Oblina has to bark at him to “Get a grip!” She then assures Krumm that they’ll get him down. Ickis seems to disagree even though he’s the one monster present who seems to have no trouble growing to gargantuan sizes, but I guess his power doesn’t work in such a way that it would allow him to simply enlarge himself to retrieve Krumm? Instead, he sarcastically asks if Oblina knows any monsters that can fly.

So apparently Oblina can enlarge parts of herself for purposes other than scaring, but Ickis cannot.

Hard cut to the whirling sound of a toy airplane. Ickis is the lucky monster riding in the plane, while Oblina controls it with a remote control. Ickis is screaming the whole time while the dogs go running by with the sound of jingle bells coming from the sleigh – this all feels like a deliberate attempt to show us what a heavy sleeper the guard is even without actually showing us the guard again. Oblina tells Ickis to stop acting like a baby and jump, which indicates to me the plan is for Oblina to basically “buzz” Krumm as Ickis leaps onto the net and cuts him down. Ickis turns to the camera and pauses his screaming long enough to inform us that he’s not having fun. Oblina brings the plane over Krumm and Ickis comes through jumping onto the net which knocks it from the ceiling. The two fall onto the waiting…lips…of Oblina who was able to enlarge her mouth like an inflatable raft to cushion their fall. The plane continues on and flies right past the snoring guard and slams into the wall creating a rather spectacular explosion for such a small toy. The guard doesn’t wake up, but does manage to utter yet another “No running in the mall.”

Ickis is underneath those dogs. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

Free from the net, Krumm simply thanks Oblina while Ickis starts wailing about how he could have been severely hurt. Oblina is not interested in his complaints at this point and tells him he was safer in that plane than he is now. Ickis replies with an, “Oh really?!” and appears poised to go on a rant, but is soon flattened by the dog-pulled sleigh to which Krumm can only remark “Bummer,” at the sight of his flattened friend.

How could he possibly leave such a majestic object behind?

We then get to check-in on our thief. He’s moved onto the crystal store from the beginning and is using his hole saw on the glass door, which just shatters like the window from earlier. He enters and makes for the counter where he goes to use the saw once again, then thinks better of it and simply smashes it to steal…a geode? Far be it for me to judge value for a thief. We cut back to the monsters and Ickis is complaining about losing feeling in his right claw while gesturing to his left arm. I don’t know if this is a joke or an animation error. Oblina tells him that he’ll feel better once he’s back in the presence of the lamp and Ickis concedes as much. They then come upon it as the thief is leaving the store. He heads out, then upon seeing the lamp backtracks, smashes the window, and makes off with the lamp!

I was expecting something more elaborate to get the lamp back, but we are running out of time here.

The monsters aren’t going to let this go as Oblina proposes they scare this man so bad that he sleeps with the lights on for the rest of his life! As they give chase, the guard once again bumps the doors button and all of the bars and shutters return. This gives the monsters precious time as they come upon the thief using a blow torch on the bars over the exit. When he sets the torch aside, he grabs Oblina. I guess he thought she was a crowbar, but upon seeing the monster she screams and pulls a bunch of guts or something out of her mouth. It achieves the desired effect as the thief screams and drops her before running off. The monsters are then able to bask in the glow of the lamp, which is apparently battery-operated or something for it’s still glowing.

So that’s how you wake him up!

The thief (Adler) runs up to the security guard and wraps him in a hug begging for him to save him from the monsters. As the guard is startled awake, his elbow hits the emergency alarm. The shutters then go up and the mall manager is there immediately with a handful of cops as they come storming in. The monsters are forced to dash away to a hiding spot while the manager starts congratulating the guard for catching the crook. The guard is understandably confused, while the thief doesn’t correct the manager since he’s still traumatized from the scaring. The guard then realizes the crook was caught and is happy to take the credit, despite doing nothing all night.

Together at last! Merry Christmas, little monsters.

Hal, that’s the guard’s name, taunts the burglar before the real cops take him away. Then to just sort of add to the dysfunction of the night, the dog-sleigh comes racing by and the manager is forced to duck for cover as Hal shouts out “Hey! No running in the mall!” followed by another “Darn dogs,” once again. The manager then tells him how happy he is the burglar was caught and asks Hal how he did it? As Hal stammers and stalls the manager loses interest and decides to reward his security guard. Since he’s probably a rich guy who doesn’t actually like handing out money, he hands Hal what he feels is a suitable reward: the lava lamp. It had been left on the floor with the other booty and Hal accepts it in a manner that indicates he considers this to be a pretty shitty reward. When the manager presumably turns and walks away, Hal casually tosses the lamp in the trash. And at the bottom of that trash can, are the monsters reunited with their “precious” once again.

That’s how the episode ends. Even though it’s not a true Christmas special, the good guys get the thing they desired most this Christmas in July in the end. This is a very light, silly, sort of episode. There’s a clear goal for our characters and it should be an easy one, but those darn dogs just keep getting in the way. There’s some solid physical comedy and even some subtle stuff at play. The bits with the thief sneaking around even though he really doesn’t have to are quietly amusing and I like how no character points out how useless the guard is. The show is just confident in that its audience will get the joke and with children’s programming that isn’t always the case. The characters, especially Oblina and Ickis, bounce off each other well as their personalities clash. There were no moments that made me laugh out loud, but I was suitably entertained throughout.

Praise be to the sleigh, for without it the Christmas component would have been totally irrelevant.

The Christmas component is understandably muted in a show about monsters. We’re not going to get the usual feels out of this one and that’s fine. Instead, Christmas is merely a prop. It’s a way to decorate the scenery and make the mall a touch more interesting. In truth, you could take all of the Christmas stuff out of this one and it wouldn’t really change much. The only obstacle would be replacing the sleigh the dogs end up attached to. And it’s the presence of that sleigh that helps it pass my Christmas test since there isn’t an obvious replacement for it. It’s not like the dogs could pull one of those cars that are sometimes setup in the mall. Maybe a custodial cart? I don’t know, but there’s just enough Christmas that if it were all deleted the episode wouldn’t work.

All that being said, should you make time for “Gone Shopp’n” this holiday season? In a vacuum, probably not. If you’re marathoning the Nicktoons Christmas specials though, then sure, keep this one in the rotation. It’s brief since it only uses half of the show’s running time which is in contrast to most Nicktoons which dedicate the whole half hour to the holiday. It has it’s own flavor, and shows starring monsters are inherently cool, if you ask me. And should you wish to watch this, you can do so via Paramount+ or by purchasing one of the DVD releases of the show. It’s not particularly hard to come by and was released more than once so you have some options. Happy screaming!

Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:

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We look at a lot of Christmas stuff pulled from every day cartoons, for the most part. On occasion though, I suppose we should throw the Christians a bone and look at something a bit more secular. Yes, I think most people know Christmas was basically co-opted by the church many years ago, but it’s…

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1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in christmas, Television

December 11, 2019

Dec. 11 – A Flintstone Family Christmas

By Joe

BCDB Image


Original air date December 18, 1993

The Flintstones got its start back in 1960 and for many years it was the standard for prime time animation. It was really the only prime time animated show for decades and has now been firmly supplanted by The Simpsons in almost every conceivable fashion. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, being new to sitcoms, treated The Flintstones as if it were just another sitcom in many ways. A lot of the characters and gags were borrowed rather liberally from The Honeymooners (though Joseph Barbera wants us to think that wasn’t intentional) and the show made use of a laugh track. It also followed adult characters navigating social situations, work, and marriage. Really, the only thing making it feel animated was the setting of Bedrock, a stone age location populated with people, dinosaurs, and other creatures long extinct.

The show was pretty stand-alone in terms of approach, but in season three it added a new character:  Pebbles. Like any other sitcom, this meant Wilma had to go through a lengthy pregnancy captured on film before finally having a baby girl. Not long after, neighbors the Rubbles welcomed Bamm-Bamm via adoption, and suddenly the show started to skew young. Sponsor Winston cigarettes was out and in came Welch’s, maker of jelly and grape juice. Ratings began to slide and the show eventually came to an end, but it would find extended life in children’s timeslots for years to come. The 166 episode total may seem minor considering The Simpsons has gone well beyond that mark, but it’s still a healthy total and represents a long run.

In the 1980s the show was resurrected via spin-offs and specials. The brand also remained pervasive in grocery stores via cereal and vitamins which still exist to this day. The franchise was still popular enough in the 1990s to receive a prime time animated Christmas special titled A Flintstone Family Christmas. Airing on December 18, 1993, it depicts Fred and Wilma as grandparents waiting to welcome their family home for the holidays. Pebbles has married and had children with Bamm-Bamm, essentially making Fred and Barney family officially. It made use of a lot of voice actors that had become prevalent in shows of the era, and it’s a bit of a trip to hear them work on The Flintstones.

freds house


Fred is all about Christmas in this one.

The special begins with Fred (Henry Corden) decorating his home for the holidays while Barney (Frank Welker) looks on. Fred is putting lights on his house that just look like rocks that apparently light up. The source of power for these lights is a tank of water with an electric eel inside. When Fred drops the wire into the tank, the eel goes to work lighting up the display. It soon explodes, changing Fred’s holiday greeting to read Fatso’s House. Fred’s neighbor, Mr. Gravelberry (sp?), shares his disapproval of Fred’s light show, but nothing is going to take Fred out of his holly jolly mood. Not even the paper, which contains stories about drive-by stonings and other non-Christmasy happenings.

Betty (BJ Ward) and Wilma (Jean Vander Pyl) are wrapping gifts when Fred and Barney come inside to find out the kids are on their way home from Hollyrock. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm have two little ones and Fred can’t wait for them to see him play Santa in a Christmas parade. Wilma lists off all of the things they have to do before the kids get there and usher the boys out to pick up some stuff.

santa mugger

Well that certainly doesn’t look like a jolly, old, elf.

As Fred and Barney leave a store with a rather large prehistoric turkey, a street Santa gets their attention. He’s soliciting donations, at least that’s what they think when they approach him only to get held up. He takes their belongings, and as he runs away it becomes obvious this Santa is actually two children with one standing on the shoulders of the other. He apparently didn’t get far as Fred and Barney are shown at the police station picking their mugger out of a Santa line-up. Wilma and Betty think it’s rather funny when they see it was just a kid that mugged them, but Fred is insistent that this kid needs the book thrown at him.

A social worker named Stella Stalagmite (Didi Conn) then enters to tell us all about the kid, Stony (Christine Cavanaugh). He’s a cave-less child, which horrifies Wilma. No one wants him, and they’ve tried appealing to all of the major religions too, but no one can get this kid to fly straight. Fred finds out it was a stick and not a gun that the kid was holding when he held them up, and becomes irate when Wilma suggests they bring him home. The two argue, with Fred insisting there’s no way this kid is coming over to his house, which can only mean one thing…

fred tv


Fred is rather protective of his television which appears to be powered by magic.

Stony is indeed brought home to the Flintstone residence and is amazed by what he sees. He’s very polite and complementary, but Fred isn’t buying it. As the Rubbles head off to make dinner, Fred is left alone with the kid who marvels at his big screen TV. Stony rewires it so that Fred can get all of the channels illegally and some all cave girl network pops up on the screen. Unlike most Flintstone gags featuring modern tech in a stone age world, there’s no explanation for how this TV works. As best I can tell, it’s just a regular TV in a stone box. Fred is interested in this racy channel at first, but soon changes the channel insisting they watch what he wants to watch. The remote is at least low tech as a little bird flies out of it to manually change the channel to It’s a Wonderful Stone Age Life. Fred declares it’s his favorite movie, while Stony isn’t impressed. We then get what’s probably going to be the prevailing message of this special when Stony imagines himself entering the movie only to have the main character to tell him to beat it, “We don’t want to think about your kind at Christmas!”

Stony relays his distaste for the holiday to an incredulous Fred. He doesn’t understand how a kid could dislike Christmas and declares him defective. Wilma has to break up the fight, and suggests that they go get a Christmas tree. Fred wants to wait for the grandkids, but when Stony offers to get them a tree for only 20 bucks Wilma insists they should let him do it so that they can demonstrate their trust for him. Fred reluctantly gives Stony a twenty, and he takes off and reappears quickly with a fully-decorated tree. Fred can’t believe it, but then Barney re-enters the picture and immediately recognizes the tree as his own.

pebbles and fam


Will nothing go right for Fred and the gang? Stay tuned!

As Wilma fits Fred for his Santa suit, Pebbles calls with bad news. It seems she and the family are stranded at O’Harestone (this is already like the fifth “joke” that’s just the name of something from the real world with “stone” added onto the end of it) and she isn’t sure when they can make it home. This bums Fred out and Stony tries to cheer him up. They get into a little conversation about Stony not understanding what he did wrong, Fred gave him a 20 and he produced a tree. Wilma reasons the kid is just acting in the only manner he knows how, while even Barney sticks up for him as he apparently hooked him up with the cave girl channel too. Fred then tells Stony he just wants him to try and enjoy Christmas, and it seems like our special is turning hopeful. They then pile into the car to make what Wilma calls their “Christmas rounds.”

The next segment is a montage set to an original song. If I had to guess, I would say it’s titled “It’s a Merry Christmas in Bedrock This Year.” During the montage, the gang is shown caroling while Stony solicits donations to himself which Fred puts a stop to. They then deliver cookies, and we get our shot of Stony looking thoughtful on the kind gesture. Fred tries to show the boy how to figure skate, which ends in pain for Fred, and then they all gather for a picture and Fred puts the kid on his shoulders.

depressed santa


The best character in this special.

When we exit the song, Fred and Wilma are taking Stony to see Santa Claus. Fred expresses to Wilma that he’s getting through to Stony, while Stony sits on Santa’s lap. He tells him how he used to have a red suit like that, until the pants ran away. This sets the Santa into a sad story about his own life. He admits he’s not the real Santa and then adds how he feels like he’s under tremendous pressure to tell the kids who see him that they’ll get what they want for Christmas, even though he’s powerless to make it so. While he tells his story, Stony swipes a handful of candy canes from Santa’s sack. Fred approaches and tells the Santa to brighten up and hands him a homemade ornament. Santa does as he’s told, and Stony is apparently warmed by Fred’s holiday spirit and slips the candy canes back into the sack.

The family then heads to pick out a tree. Wilma eyes an eight-footer, but Fred is scared off by the price. Stony tells him he needs to get a good tree for his grandkids’ first Christmas, but Fred remarks he can’t print money and they walk off. This gives Stony an idea as he tells the salesman to hold the tree. We then see him hosting a table game. He has three turtle shells and is taking money from people to see if their eye is quicker than his hand. When a very large man insists Stony cheated him, he runs off seeking the help of Fred. He insists to Fred, with a tear in his eye, that he didn’t cheat the guy and Fred stands up for him. This doesn’t go so well for Fred as the big guy grabs a Christmas tree and hits Fred over the head with it.

fred hospital


A hospital bed for Fred – what’s next?

The tree did enough damage that Fred needed to be hospitalized. As he lays in a hospital bed with Wilma and the others at his side he openly wonders how this Christmas could get any worse. Mr. Slate (John Stephenson) then enters to tell Fred he’s taking him out of the parade. He can’t risk Fred’s health and have Santa die in the middle of the thing. Fred is heartbroken, and as Stony looks on he starts to feel sorry for himself declaring this is all his fault. He then spies Slate’s car waiting for him outside and a smile crosses his face as he apparently has another idea. When Mr. Slate returns to his car, he orders the driver to head to Flintstone’s house so he can retrieve the Santa suit. As the car drives away we see it’s Stony who is behind the wheel.

Stony brings the suit to Fred’s hospital room, and upon hearing what he did to his boss, Fred flips out. He takes off with Stony in tow and we see that Stony locked Mr. Slate in Fred’s bathroom. As he shouts for help, he gets the attention of the police who soon show up as Fred arrives. When Fred goes to free Mr. Slate from the bathroom, the door falls on him and out comes Mr. Slate. The cops order everyone to put their hands up, and all three do with Fred’s coming from underneath the door.

fred jail


Jail – that’s what’s next. It ends up being a nice time for a heart-to-heart about Christmas though.

Stony and Fred are then shown being taken to a jail cell. They’re in pin-striped suits and Fred looks pretty mopey. Stony tries to cheer him up by telling him it’s not so bad, but it’s not getting through. He imparts some advice to Fred as well, like don’t slow dance with Bubba or play Marie in the prison play. Fred has had enough of Stony and draws a line on the cell they share and orders Stony not to cross it. Stony gets back on Fred’s good side when he produces some crumb cake he smuggled into prison (he doesn’t elaborate on how he snuck it in). When Fred asks why he did that he explains when you live on the street you never know where your next meal is coming from so you always try to save something. He even gives Fred a bigger chunk of the cake which leads into the sappiest moment yet where the two have a heart-to-heart. Stony explains he just wanted to help Fred out since he helped him out with that big guy at the tree lot. Fred explains that Stony’s intentions are good, but his methods are not.

As the two have their happy Christmas moment, which includes the both of them resigning themselves to spending Christmas in jail, the cell door opens and in comes Mr. Slate and the social worker from earlier. Slate has the Santa suit and slams it on Fred. He cleared up the charges and still wants Fred to play Santa in the parade. As Fred struggles to get the beard over his head, the social worker takes Stony out as she assumed the placement with the Flintstones isn’t working out. As he’s lead away, Fred is dragged by Mr. Slate as he calls out for Stony.

santa fred


The Flintstones have had a lot of different reindeer stand-ins over the years.

Fred is at the parade sitting in Santa’ sleigh, which is pulled by six giant birds (why not 8?), when Wilma, Betty, and Barney show up. They’re glad to see him out of jail, but Fred is depressed over Stony being taken away. The parade starts and the birds pull him along and as he heads down the street he realizes something is in his hat. It’s a star-shaped Christmas card that Stony slipped inside his hat, and as Fred wishes the lad a merry Christmas, he sees Stony getting into the social worker’s car. He then snaps the reigns and orders the birds to fly. They sail over the parade and over the mayor’s car (the mayor, by the way, looks just like Fred but with a moustache) which Mr. Slate was riding in. He shouts out “Flintstone!” as he often does at the sight of Fred abandoning the parade.

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Gotta have this shot.

Fred soon catches up to the social worker’s car and reaches down to pluck Stony from the rear seat. He tells the social worker Stony has a home and the two fly off into the required Santa in front of the moon shot. They head home, where Pebbles and the gang are waiting for them. They’re singing a Flintstone’s version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” while Stony shows the babies his turtle shell game. Fred then approaches to tell them it’s time for the family tradition where the newest member of the family puts the star on the tree. Stony hands over the babies thinking that honor falls to them, but Fred hands him the star instead. Bamm-Bamm lifts the boy on his shoulders and Stony places the start on the tree, an amber rock with a firefly inside of it. Fred then remarks to Wilma that this is the best Christmas ever, and everyone sings about wanting chocolate pudding. A “Merry Christmas!” lets us know this one is over.

This is a mostly serviceable Christmas special starring The Flintstones. I don’t have tremendous affection for The Flintstones, but I will say that as a Flintstones special this is rather weak. There aren’t any good puns and the stone age technology isn’t very creative at all. The writers seemed to think just tacking the word “stone” onto the end of everything serves as a joke all by itself. The special at least doesn’t repeat the trope of Fred having to find a new appreciation for Christmas, as we’ve seen him do in other Flintstones Christmas specials (he’d even play Scrooge the following year), but that’s a low bar to clear.

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Can I get a “Looky what he can do?”

As a Christmas special though, this isn’t terrible. Stony coming around to see the good aspects of Christmas and feel accepted by his new family happens pretty quickly and conveniently. Having the Flintstones adopt another kid certainly makes them look good, though I don’t think Stony every shows up again (not that much follows this special). When the gang all return in 1994 for A Flintstone Christmas Carol, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are kids again so it obviously takes place at a different time. Both specials essentially mark the end of The Flintstones as a prime time network attraction and it’s possible they only exist to cross-promote with the film which came around the same time.

Visually, this one looks like a 90s cartoon. It’s in-line with the level of quality that would show up in other Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The characters are on-model, though they have exaggerated 90s flourishes to their actions. It’s actually refreshing since a lot of Flintstones animation was re-purposed and reused often. The sound design is also of a similar quality as most of the voices fans were familiar with were still around to voice these characters. And Frank Welker does a pretty good Mel Blanc impression as Barney Rubble.

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Exit on everyone singing, and that’s a wrap!

If you like The Flintstones then you’ll probably think this is okay, but may also feel let down. The Flintstones premise was never very creative making the only charming aspect of the show often the little gags tossed in which usually revolved around some animal appliance. This special is missing that as what is present just isn’t funny. It’s a heart-warming Christmas special though, so if you’re just looking for some Christmas feels it will probably get the job done. And at only 23 minutes, it’s not like it hangs around too long.

If you want to add this to your viewing this year, your options are a bit limited. The video-on-demand service Boomerang still shows episodes of The Flintstones, but it’s a paid subscription service. The special was sold as a manufacture-on-demand DVD with A Flintstones Christmas through Amazon as A Flintstone Christmas Collection and that might still be the case. That’s how I came upon it. Just taking a look, it appears it’s no longer available from Amazon, but third party sellers have it for less than 5 bucks. Warner Bros. doesn’t appear too protective of the property these days, so if you want to watch it without spending any money it’s not hard to find.

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December 7, 2018

Dec. 7 – Dexter’s Laboratory – “Dexter vs Santa’s Claws”

By Joe

Dexter_vs_Santas_Claws

Original air date April 29, 1998. Yes, you read that right.

After yesterday’s entry ran 3,000 words, it seems like a nice time to slip in one of the shorter specials we’ll be looking at this year. This one comes from the Cartoon Network original Dexter’s Laboratory. Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, Dexter’s Laboratory was one of the inaugural series to be spun-off from the Cartoon Cartoon/What A Cartoon! show which was basically an elaborate testing ground for cartoon pilots. Cartoon Network, which at the time mostly consisted of old Hanna-Barbera shows, would package together three cartoon shorts and air them over a half hour of television. Viewers could call into a hotline and vote for the short they liked best. At the end of the year, Cartoon Network would have a big New Year’s countdown ranking all of the shows in order of what was most beloved and what was not. The network wasn’t beholden to do anything with the results so for all we know they decided on what to promote and what not to, but Dexter’s Laboratory was one of the most well-received and it was the first to get a full production order.

The show is about the title character, Dexter (Christine Cavanaugh), a boy-genius with an elaborate and high-tech laboratory hidden under his parents’ house. They’re unaware of their son’s impressive intellect, but sister Dee Dee (Kathryn Cressida) is not. Despite Dexter’s best efforts, Dee Dee often finds a way into his lab and drives him crazy often times ruining whatever his latest invention is. He also has a rivalry with another boy genius, Mandark, and one of his laboratory monkeys also got to star in his own series of shorts. An episode was usually broken out into three short segments and I have mostly fond memories of it.

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What Dexter thinks happens on Christmas.

“Dexter vs. Santa’s Claws” was the third segment of episode 37 of season 2 which first aired on April 29, 1998. Why did a Christmas episode air in April? I do not know. The show did have some issues with production delays, but that’s not out of the ordinary for a cartoon series. Often when that happens networks will just sit on a holiday episode and air it the next time that holiday comes around, but Cartoon Network apparently didn’t want to do that. The network didn’t even want to wait for Christmas in July. In looking over the episodes from season 2, a Halloween one premiered the prior month so I’m guessing this was supposed to air in 97 or something, or Cartoon Network just didn’t care.

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What really happens on Christmas!

The episode begins with Dee Dee using Dexter’s super computer to make her Christmas list. Dexter is irritated she would be utilizing his computer for such a foolish task and reprimands her. He explains she’s wasting her time for Santa Claus is just make-believe. When Dee Dee counters with a question of who puts the toys under the tree, Dexter explains, through rap, that their father does that. The humor is in how far Dexter thinks his parents carry the ruse insisting that their dad not only dresses up as Santa, but he disguises the car as a sleigh and puts it on the roof. Their mother, dressed as a reindeer, greases him up and sends him down the chimney with all of the toys. Dee Dee insists that’s not what happens, cutting his very poor rap off in the process, and gives the more conventional explanation of elves and magic. Dexter vows to prove her wrong.

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Dexter confronts Santa, who only speaks in “ho’s”

That night, while everyone sleeps, Dexter sits in front of his monitors fighting off sleep hoping to catch their father in the act. When a sleigh and some reindeer go whirling past he thinks he’s got him. He emerges from his lab to find Santa in the living room getting down to business. The Santa model looks almost exactly like the one from A Flintstone Christmas only he seems incapable of speech and just keeps saying “Ho ho.” Dexter accuses him of being his dad in disguise, forcing Santa to magically flee up the chimney. Still not convinced, Dexter heads for the roof as well and confronts Santa once again as he climbs into his sleigh. He manhandles a reindeer, thinking it’s an elaborate costume worn by his mother, and even snaps its antlers off. Santa then takes off leaving Dexter stuck in the chimney.

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Dexter is basically a violent, little, asshole this whole episode.

Dexter was apparently prepared for such a development as the chimney morphs into a high-tech spaceship and detaches from the house. In doing so it takes the side of the house with it leaving Dee Dee’s room without a wall. She awakens due to the frigid air and goes to shut her already closed window when she catches sight of Santa. She watches as her brother pursues him firing missiles which Santa intercepts with gifts (“Those better not be my presents!”). Dexter resorts to laser-fire and eventually he hits Santa causing him to crash into their home.

dee dee mad

When Dee Dee doesn’t have her pigtails in, the flatness of her head makes her look like Hulk Hogan.

Now with Santa incapacitated in the ruined livingroom, Dexter approaches armed with an electric razor. As he shaves off Santa’s beard his father (Jess Bennett) enters the room demanding to know what Dexter is doing. His mom (Kath Soucie) follows, still wearing her rubber cleaning gloves that she always wears, and is horrified to see the Christmas tree and everything else in ruin. Dee Dee then follows and scolds Dexter further demanding to know where her presents are. Dexter is forced to apologize for ruining Christmas, again, and apparently realizing he’s in a Christmas special, implores his family to treasure that they’re together and not fret over the destroyed gifts and decorations. He breaks into a rendition of “Oh Christmas Tree” and Dee Dee puts a stop to that telling him he’s wrong and calling him a block-head. When he asks what Christmas is about then, a beard-less Santa let’s him know, “The presents.”

look out santa

Do you like dog fights in your holiday specials?

“Dexter vs. Santa’s Claws” is a pretty odd entry in the world of Christmas specials. We’ve seen plenty of cynical specials, and some that are just bizarre, but this one has an all-together different feel. Dexter basically beats up Santa Claus. He’s relentless and cruel. Unlike network-mate Johnny Bravo, he didn’t mistake Santa for an intruder or something he’s just trying to beat a confession out of him. And possibly worse, he assaults a reindeer and breaks its antlers off, which just sounds painful. The only really cute aspect of the episode is Dexter’s hypothesis on what really happens on Christmas Eve. Even though he’s super-smart, he’s still a kid and isn’t capable of just assuming his parents stick presents under the tree, they have to make it elaborate. The ending of the episode with the message being that Christmas is about the presents is pretty much the cynical 90s cartoon take. A lot of the comedy shows delighted in upending norms and that’s a pretty logical point for this one to make.

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Ruined Christmas.

Revisiting this series reminded me how flat the design is. The characters are about as flat as those on South Park and they practically slide across the screen rather than trying to create the illusion that they exist in three dimensions. It’s a stylistic choice more than a budget one, I think, but it’s not unique to this show as basically all of the Genndy Tartakovsky shows were animated in this fashion. I really enjoy Christine Cavanaugh (RIP) as Dexter. He’s one part Chuckie from Rugrats (who Cavanaugh also voiced) with an accent that kind of sounds like Ren from Ren & Stimpy, with perhaps a slight Swedish twist? It’s an accent that doesn’t exist in the real world and it’s a funny quirk of Dexter. The show is also very bright and the characters change attires even in this brief little short which is kind of neat. I also definitely liked the homage to the Flintstones Christmas special. I wouldn’t think they were able to actually re-use the model from that special, but this Santa was definitely drawn to look almost exactly like it.

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There is something very unsettling about a beard-less Santa.

“Dexter vs. Santa’s Claws” is not going to make you feel good about Christmas. It might make you uncomfortable to see Santa get his ass handed to him, but it also might make you laugh. It’s certainly different and I don’t regret watching it or anything, but it’s more dark than funny so ultimately I suppose it comes up a bit short. If you’re looking to check it out this year, Dexter’s Laboratory can be found on Hulu and iTunes. The entire series is also available on DVD, but it’s out of print and kind of pricey. This specific episode can also be found on The Powerpuff Girls:  ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas DVD and also on the Cartoon Network:  Christmas Rocks DVD and both are cheaper than getting the entire series. And as usual, if you’re not picky about quality you can probably find this one streaming for free somewhere on the world wide web.

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