Children’s cartoons often take to Christmas when the season rolls around. The holiday is usually ripe for parody or just direct adaptations so it’s easy for the writers to kind of phone it in. What’s not customary is for a cartoon series to feature two dedicated Christmas episodes in a single season! That’s what Animaniacs did in 1993 airing the episode we’re about to talk about one week, followed by the episode which featured “A Christmas Plotz” the next week. I’m not sure why this approach was undertaken. Maybe they had too many ideas to settle on? “A Christmas Plotz” is the sort of special I dread as it’s just a re-telling of A Christmas Carol. It’s not bad, but it’s a bit that was stale even come 1993 unless the writers found a way to really upend it, which the show did not. This episode, which features “‘Twas the Day Before Christmas” and is the segment I consider the meat of the episode, is more a scatter-shot type of episode. None of the segments are particularly long, but most tie into Christmas in some way. And they’re a bit more original than a parody of A Christmas Carol, though there’s some DNA from other Christmas specials to speak of.

The episode begins with a short segment called “Slippin’ on the Ice.” The Warners, Yakko (Rob Paulsen), Wakko (Jess Harnell) and Dot (Tress MacNeille) are literally slipping on some ice as they sing about it. It’s very brief and feels like a time-filler, but it’s well animated. It takes us into the opening credits which are the standard ones, only they’ve added falling snow over them. It’s a simple, but effective, way to make the episode feel more special. When the credits end (the credit joke is Yakko singing “Citizen Kaney”) we launch right into the intro for Slappy the Squirrel, only this time, there are no Christmas accents. We then get a title card for the main attraction “‘Twas the Day Before Christmas.”

When the cartoon begins we find Skippy (Nate Ruegger) in his room by the window when his aunt Slappy (Sherri Stoner) enters. Skippy is in his pajamas, and Slappy too, and she’s wondering why he isn’t asleep. It’s Christmas Eve, and the kid keeps hearing the sound of Santa’s sleigh bells outside and can’t sleep (Oh, do I know the feeling). Slappy tells him he’s just hearing the LAPD choppers and throws him over her shoulder to dump into bed. Skippy then tells her he can’t sleep and would welcome a story. Slappy remarks “For the love of Al Gore,” which certainly dates this one a bit (the main failing of this show and Tiny Toon Adventures is they both relied on topical references that don’t always age well), but then agrees to provide one story to send Skippy off into Dreamland. He agrees to the proposal, which is followed up with Slappy asking if he wants to hear about the time she stuffed live piranhas down the pants of Sonny Tufts? I had to look up who Sonny Tufts was. Apparently, he’s an actor who did most of his work for Paramount and starred in the film Cat-Women of the Moon. Also, by the time this episode aired he had been dead for 33 years.

Skippy is not interested in hearing about some dead actor’s piranha troubles and insists on Slappy telling him a Christmas story. She still tries to sell him on the Tufts story by saying he was drinking eggnog at the time, but Skippy just hands her a book. Slappy agrees and takes the book, but before she can start reading she has to noisily clear her throat which Skippy responds to with his catchphrase, “spew!” The title of the book is The Day Before Christmas and it’s basically A Visit from Saint Nicholas, or ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, only it’s going to be about some characters we all know and love: the Warners!

Slappy begins reading it, but her narration is only going to be used to get us into the story. From there, the characters present will speak their own lines without the aid of a narrator, but they’ll speak in a cadence reminiscent of the source book. It’s a little annoying, but not overly so. As the story begins, it’s the day before Christmas (as the title implied) and it’s 90 degrees in Burbank, CA. The Warners are busy decorating their water tower so Santa knows just where to deliver the presents. Elsewhere, some characters are fretting though. And those characters are Mr. Plotz (Frank Welker), Dr. Scratchensniff (Paulsen), and Hello Nurse (MacNeille). Plotz is fretting because he needs to find someone to deliver presents to the Warners, but he doesn’t know who is stupid enough to do so. He turns to the doctor first, who refuses on account that he did it last year. They drove him bonkers and kissed him a lot then made him stay up late singing carols and he apparently got creamed in a pillow fight.

Hello Nurse, and I forgot just how absurdly curvaceous this character was drawn until now, asks Plotz why bother when they can just leave the job for Santa? He informs her it’s because they have a clause in their contract that mandates it and if they don’t they can sue. Plotz understandably doesn’t want to deal with that, but wonders aloud where he can find someone stupid enough to do it? Right on cue, he spins in his chair and spies the security guard, Ralph (Welker), who certainly qualifies as stupid enough. Ralph is one of those characters that I don’t think children’s shows do anymore as he’s one of those “Dahh, okie dokie,” kind of morons that could be read as being an insensitive take on someone with an actual genetic condition.

When we’re taken to Ralph, he’s basically closing down the Warner lot and saying goodbye to celebrities as they drive on out. The first to go is apparently Kevin Costner in a limo. The next is a station wagon and when Ralph wishes the vehicle a “Merry Christmas” the window rolls down to reveal it’s Buttons (Welker) and Mindy (Nancy Cartwright). She gets to utter her catchphrase, “Okay, I love you buh bye!” while Buttons has pain inflicted upon him when the car window goes up and catches his snout. It feels almost too cruel and looks especially painful for the poor dog. The hippo characters then walk out with Flavio (Welker) shown following his wife while carrying a mountain of wrapped gifts. He looks exhausted, but his wife Marita (MacNeille) calls out for him to come along as they have more shopping to do. Behind them is the mime character and as Flavio moves along an anvil tumbles out of a gift box from his pile and crushes the hapless mime.

Off to the side, Rita (Bernadette Peters) and Runt (Welker) are lurking and seeking a way onto the lot as Rita reasons they may be able to find some unguarded dumpsters. Runt is just along for the ride and by pairing him with the Ralph character it becomes quite apparent that Frank Welker’s voice for each character is essentially the same. Only Runt is doing a Rain Man impression to Ralph’s moron voice. Anyway, they slip in undetected as Ralph waves bye to the next guy to pull up, Michael Keaton, who is driving the ’89 Batmobile which Ralph refers to as a “lovely sedan.” Plotz, from his office, is able to build off of this rhyme by declaring “Give him a Santa suit, Ralph is our man!” as he and Dr. Scratchensniff shake on it.

We cut to later that night and the Warner tower is plastered with signs welcoming Santa and instructing him where to deposit their gifts. Yakko’s voice then comes in reading the start of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” with Dot picking up the line about creatures stirring, only she points out there was a mouse stirring. This is our cue for Pinky (Paulsen) and The Brain (Maurice LaMarche) to enter. Brain is dressed as Santa and Pinky an elf and they apparently have a Christmassy plan to take over the world tonight which involves stealing Santa’s sleigh. Pinky responds by saying “Brain, you’re a genius, you simply astound me,” and as he does he whirls around and knocks Brain off of the water tower. As he goes screaming towards the ground, Pinky looks down and exclaims, “Narf! Brain’s gonna pound me!”

With Brain a pile of goo on the ground, we head inside the water tower. It’s looking rather festive including a giant tree in the middle. The Warners are gathered at the fireplace hanging their stockings and Wakko’s is the one that’s unusually large. Dot explains, “The stockings all hung so our name’s clearly showed,” and Wakko finishes the line by saying, “In hopes that old Santa would leave a big load.” That sounds gross. Yakko then blows us a kiss and says “Goodnight everybody!” as the three hop into bed. They continue with the poem and Wakko gets the part about sugar plums which appear in a thought cloud that he promptly eats. Yakko continues by saying “We were all feeling tired when we turned out the light,” then clicks the light back on to admit, “Forget it! There’s no way I’m sleeping tonight!”

We then go to the part about the kids hearing a sound. They jump from their beds, take a tumble, and throw open the door to the water tower. And lo and behold they spy…a cat and a dog in the garbage – P-yew! It’s Rita and Runt again and they’re nosing around for some grub. Then the Warners hear a different sound – a miniature sleigh and eight pigeons with antlers! It’s Ralph Claus and he’s flying through the air being pulled by, as Yakko just told us, eight pigeons with antlers! This allows the Goodfeathers to sneak in as we see Squit (LaMarche), Bobby (John Mariano) and Pesto (Chick Vennera) struggling along with the other five pigeons to keep the rather large Ralph and his sleigh airborne. Despite his appearance, the Warners still refer to him as a little old driver and we get to see Ralph call out to his pigeons, “Duh, now, Bobby. Now, Squit. Now, Pesto. Now, Vixen. On, Comet. On, Cupid. On Richard and Nixon!”

The little sleigh gets tugged up to the top of the tower where Santa is hurled with Brain (now back on the tower) declaring “As soon as it lands we’ll take over the world!” Only the sleigh lands on the two mice and it’s not a pretty sight. They yank themselves out from under the runner of the sleigh, only for Santa Ralph to step on them as he exits it. Brain remarks, “Pinky, I am in considerable pain,” but Pinky is only able to reply in nonsense words of “Narf! Zoit! Poit! Gake!” before finishing with “I’m with you, Brain.” Inside the tower, the Warners are preparing for Santa’s imminent arrival, but before he can do that Squit has to tell Pesto his antlers look cute so the hot-headed pigeon has an excuse to whack him. With that out of the way, Santa makes his grand entrance by dropping through the ceiling like a sack full of bricks. The Warners inform us he’s likely concussed, and Ralph confirms it by wishing “Happy Easter, you guys!”

The Warners haul him to his feet so that Yakko can make fun of his appearance before Ralph heads over to the tree to unload all the presents. Then it’s time for him to make his exit, but since this is a 90s cartoon he can’t lay his finger beside his nose, but inside it! Yakko tells us the dear network censor finds it totally gross so we don’t actually see him go three knuckles deep and instead we just see him climb the Christmas tree and out the hole in the roof. There Ralph hops back into his sleigh to signal the flock, but when they take off they drop like a rock. Ralph and the pigeons look rather worse for ware on the ground below, but what’s this? Up in the sky! Could it be?!

Yes, it is! It’s Santa! The real Santa who bellows out “Season’s greetings to all,” as he flies by the moon with all eight reindeer. Rita and Runt are then shown shouting out their thanks as Santa apparently left them some food that didn’t come from the garbage. Santa then circles back to make another pass before the moon while shouting out, “Merry Christmas to Yakko, Wakko, and Dot!” The Warners are shown waving from their tower at the departing Saint Nick as the cover from the book we’ve been reading from closes upon them.

We’re back in Skippy’s room and his aunt Slappy has apparently fallen asleep. Skippy closes the book and sets it aside and says “And Merry Christmas Aunt Slappy and to you girls and boys. As for me,” he curls up under his covers and closes his eyes. Then they snap open and the little squirrel leaps high in the air to add, “I’m going downstairs to open my toys!” And the little scamp races off while an iris shot closes out the scene.

That’s the end of the main cartoon I want to talk about, but it’s not the end of the episode. A “Good Idea/Bad Idea” segment follows juxtaposing singing Christmas carols at Christmas with doing the same thing on the Fourth of July. The skeleton family gets blown up for their holiday mix-up which seems rather harsh. After that, we go into another cartoon: Jingle Boo. It’s a Chicken Boo sketch with a holiday theme, though it foregoes the usual opening. If you’ve never seen one of these, Chicken Boo is just an oversized chicken masquerading as a man, only he’s really not personified at all. He’s just a chicken. Most of the people in his orbit don’t seem to notice, but sometimes there is one person who does making it feel like a goofy Twilight Zone bit sometimes, which is how this one is going to go.

The short begins with a shot of a Christmas tree positioned on top of a building. “Oh Tannenbaum” plays in the background which is soon replaced with an instrumental version of “Jingle Bells” as the camera pans down to reveal we’re outside of a store named Marcy’s. Inside we find a mall setting and there’s a massive line of children and parents waiting to see Santa Claus. One woman (Gail Matthius) remarks he’s the most convincing Santa she’s ever seen. The other adults, another mom (MacNeille) and a dad (Paulsen) seem to agree as the first woman’s child runs up and jumps on Santa’s lap. She seems to be credited as Sabina (MacNeille) in the credits and she has a real Pistol energy from Goof Troop which makes me wish they had Nancy Cartwright voice her. Anyway, she jumps onto Santa’s lap and we see that it’s clearly Chicken Boo in the suit. Sabina wants a Baby-Go-Burp doll for Christmas and one comes down a chute beside Santa and he hands it to her. It does a very exaggerated burp which the child is happy to show off to her mother by having it belch in her face.

Another kid (sounds like Nate Ruegger again) follows and he asks for a Mr. Dude action figure complete with polyester power suit and dude accessories. The kid gets handed a figure of a man in a business suit with a cell phone and he seems pleased as he cries out “He is the real Santa!” before departing. Santa’s attention then turns to the next kid, Colin (Colin Wells). He has the same design as the little boy who is used in quick-hitting segments where he comes out of his house to tell the audience a story about some kid named Randy Beemer which always ends with him saying, “K – bye.” Only here, the little kid is terrified and it’s because he’s seemingly the only one who knows that Santa is actually a chicken. The two moms, who are still lingering despite their kids running off, derisively ask the boy’s father “Isn’t he a little old to be afraid of Santa Claus?” The dad seems embarrassed by his son’s behaviour and encourages him to go see Santa, but the kid refuses. There’s a rising hysteria in his voice as he says “He’ll peck my eyes out!” which sounds great.

The rest of the patrons in line laugh at the kid for thinking Santa is a chicken which doesn’t seem to phase his dad. The other moms remark the kid needs therapy, but the dad just takes him by the hand and leads him to Santa. I’m surprised at the gentle touch being employed by dad here as I was expecting him to get angry, grab the kid, and slam him on Santa’s lap. The kid basically goes willingly, but with some hesitation, and the dad reassures him once he’s seated on Santa’s knee that it’s just jolly old Saint Nick. The kid remarks, “More like jolly old Saint Chick,” and begins tugging on Santa’s beard. It doesn’t come off initially, but a more forceful second tug causes it to come free and the whole stage area basically collapses. When the boy pops his head out, so too does Chicken Boo. The boy screams, Chicken Boo (Welker) clucks a return scream, and the dad finally realizes that Santa was, indeed, a chicken.

The dad grabs his kid and runs off while Chicken Boo emerges from the rubble and shakes off some of the holiday ornaments stuck to his leg. The manager of the store (Welker) then comes storming over while the children scream and demands to know what’s going on. The angry moms then storm off with their kids threatening to never come back to this store again leaving the manager to direct his anger towards Chicken Boo. He fires the chicken on the spot, and then takes a jab at Arkansas by suggesting they may let chickens play Santa down there, but they don’t up here in New York City. He then boots Chicken Boo like a placekicker would a football and he goes crashing through the ceiling of the store and soaring into the air.

Because it’s Christmas, there’s someone flying high above to catch the soaring chicken: Santa Claus (Harnell)! Chicken Boo lands in his sleigh and the jolly old elf gives out a hearty laugh and informs Chicken Boo that since it’s Christmas, they’re going to give him a happy ending for a change. Some elves then emerge from Santa’s sack and start singing “Jingle Bells,” but they change the lyrics to better describe the present situation. They soar through the night sky and head for a full moon, and as the elves finish their “Jingle Boo” song, Chicken Boo looks at the camera and clucks before an iris shot signals the end.

Our next segment is “The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert” and it’s Wakko just belching the melody to “Jingle Bells.” There’s not much to say about it, but my kids think it’s one of the funniest things they’ve ever seen. It’s followed by yet another “Good Idea/Bad Idea” and this time it’s finding Easter eggs on Easter compared with finding Easter eggs on Christmas. Then we get another short starring the Warners titled “Toy Shop Terror.” It’s a strictly visual short that’s also not really Christmas themed. The Warners don’t speak until the very end, but it’s basically them causing mischief in a toy shop after the old toy maker goes to sleep. They get into a chase sequence with a security robot, which they end up destroying and returning to the old man. It’s okay. Following that is one of Yakko’s song sequences, this one “Yakko’s Universe,” which had been used in a prior episode. They clearly had some time to fill and since it begins with a snowy scene it must have felt appropriate to toss it in.

Following that, the episode is over. It’s a bit interesting for a Christmas episode of Animaniacs because it starts out very centered on the holiday, and then it sort of just peters out. It’s a bit of a shame that the main cartoon, “‘Twas the Day Before Christmas,” wasn’t simply longer. It felt like there was more that could have been done with that one which may have allowed for some of the other stuff to get cut. Not that anything that follows is bad, it’s just not entirely onbrand with a Christmas episode. “Jingle Boo” is a solid edition of Chicken Boo so if you like that character you’ll probably enjoy it. I’m a sucker anytime a character that usually just has misery inflicted upon it gets a happy ending, sort of like Barney Rubble finally getting some Fruity Pebbles in the classic holiday commercial. The toy store sequence doesn’t do much for me and belching Wakko makes me feel ill to my stomach. The final segment is pleasant enough though and that line about being tiny specs the size of Mickey Rooney has been stuck in my head for almost 30 years now.

Animaniacs has its own style of humor, sort of a modernized golden age toon, and it either works for you or it does not. I’m mostly charmed by it, but I know some people just can’t get into it. If I had to pick one Christmas themed episode of the show to watch, I’d go with this one as it’s superior to yet another version of Dickens even if it’s less focused as a result. If you would like to check it out, Animaniacs has been made available on DVD over the years and I still see it in big box stores when I’m in them. The show used to be streaming on Hulu, but their agreement with Warner has since expired leaving Yakko, Wakko, and Dot without a streaming home at present. Hopefully, that won’t be forever.