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.

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.

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!

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.

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, 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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.