Today our countdown enters the top 50 when it comes to Christmas specials. If it wasn’t apparent before, it should be now, that we’re well into the cream of the crop. The best of the best. And this collection of specials comes almost entirely from the world of kids or general audience television shows. There’s one outlier which gave me pause on just where to rank that one. If I were to bump it to the next big chunk then it would just be the same situation then as it is today. At any rate, it’s not a big issue as I don’t think it’s a particularly “adult” television show or one that’s raunchy or anything. And when it comes to Christmas episodes of this show it’s one of the most family friendly episodes anyway. We’ll get to that one as I’m actually going to place it at the end of this post, but first we’re going to start things off with a cartoon I tend to forget was part of the Disney Afternoon, but stars a character who is pretty damn popular these days.
This is the kind of chaos one expects out of Stitch.
Lilo & Stitch is a pretty fantastic movie and modern day classic. 2025 also brought with it a live-action remake that’s…fine, but it’s not nearly as good as the original. Stitch proved to be a popular character, and I’m sure kids like Lilo well enough too, so the movie was extended as both an animated series and via direct-to-DVD sequels. The format of the show was like an alien of the week via the many experiments the character Jumba created which have a tendency to get set loose on the world. In this one, Stitch gets introduced to the Christmas holiday, but things go awry when Stitch sees one of these experiments get placed in a Christmas present. This causes him to undertake a Grinch-like plot to round up all of the gifts in town in an effort to find the one with the experiment in it. Even though Stitch was revealed to be able to speak at the end of the movie, he’s not very adept at it in the series. The show also has to find ways to essentially silence him to work around this detail. Things do work out in the end, as they so often do, and the charm of this one comes largely from the characters. They’re just so well developed in the film and the series gives them a chance to go even further with some of the side ones and villains. Plus we get lots of Christmas attire for the regulars and I just found the whole thing pretty charming. It’s a show that came well after I lost interest in the Disney Afternoon and it’s one that makes me feel like I might have missed out on something.
This image of Angelica with a ninja turtle-like smile is the most enduring image from this episode for me.
Rugrats was a pretty big hit for Nickelodeon as one of the original three Nicktoons. Aside from SpongeBob, I would guess it’s been the most successful Nicktoon of all time leading to movies, spin-offs, and even a modern update (that has apparently been wiped from existence in one of those oh so popular tax write-off moves). Since it’s a show that centers around an adolescent cast, it’s no surprise that the subject of Christmas was tackled. And since the protagonists are all babies, it meant they could partake in the festivities while also being pretty ignorant of the whole thing. “The Santa Experience” sees the main cast of families all take a trip into the mountains for a holiday getaway. There, Tommy and Chuckie try to figure out a way to capture this Santa guy, Phil and Lil struggle to come up with a gift for each other, while noted brat Angelica finds herself on Santa’s Naughty List and needs to get off – pronto! There are some small plots in the adult world as well, though the most notable is Chaz and Drew both trying to inject some Santa into the festivities which is what the title refers to. I know I’ve been hard on episodes of children’s shows that play it pretty loose with the whole Santa thing, but with Rugrats I’m less bothered since there’s a clear distinction between the adult and the kid world in the show. And they do fix things with the ending, as so many cartoons often do.
A Nicktoon that came well after Rugrats is Invader Zim and the two could not be further from each other in terms of tone. Invader Zim centers on an alien, Zim, sent by his home world to conquer Earth, only he’s supremely incompetent. He is poorly disguised as a human child, but no one notices save for one boy by the name of Dib. It’s a very cynical show and the Christmas episode puts that on full display by having Zim disguise himself as Santa, poorly, and use his influence to get society to board prison ships where they’ll be sent off to be slaves or something. Only what undoes his scheme is, per usual, his own incompetence. Or I suppose in this instance, his hyper-competence? The Santa suit was built too well and it basically turns Zim into the real deal and Santa isn’t going to enslave all of humanity now is he? The best episodes of Invader Zim show Zim get close to achieving his goals only for things to blow up in his face which helps to make this Christmas installment not just an interesting and offbeat Christmas special, but also a pretty good encapsulation of the larger show.
The original prime time animated sitcom also delivered what is perhaps the origin of what I call The Santa Clause plot. This episode has Fred Flintstone take a part time job as a mall Santa in order to earn more money for the holidays, only he winds up being so good in the role that he attracts the attention of the real deal. Santa doesn’t fall off the roof and die in this one, but he is sick and needs a replacement. Fred is up to the task and together with a pair of elves helps to make sure that the people of the world have a merry Christmas even without Santa. Like a lot of episodes of The Flintstones, it’s a little slow and there’s a liberal use of the old laugh track, but I find the plot so enjoyable that I don’t mind. I was tempted to rank this ahead of the pseudo remake that would follow years later because this one is a bit more tidy, but it also lacks the bells and whistles that make A Flintstone Christmas feel a bit more special.
The rare episode that solves mysteries and rewrites history.
The 2017 edition of DuckTales delivered not one, but two Christmas episodes during its run. This one happens to be the second and sets out to explain why Scrooge McDuck has a vendetta against Santa Claus. He hates the big guy so much that he arms his mansion with numerous traps to keep him out which just confuses his nephews. His surrogate niece, Webby, on the other hand is all-in on the Santa hate. When Santa shows up injured at McDuck Manor it falls on Scrooge and Webby to help the big guy with his deliveries, even if they don’t want to. And during that night we’re treated to numerous flashbacks to show us just why Scrooge dislikes him so much and the revelation is not shocking because it makes perfect sense. Scrooge, a savvy business man who believes in the value of hard work, can’t wrap his head around a guy who just wants to give stuff away for free. Santa’s generosity blows up a business plan they concocted where Scrooge would utilize Santa’s transportation to deliver coal and thus make money. He agrees to help him in the present only because he intends to sabotage him. It’s a particularly villainous look at Scrooge, but things find a way to a happy resolution because a children’s show can’t have its protagonist be at odds with freakin’ Santa Claus. There is a bit of a “lore gone wild” element to this one, as in, did we really need this story told? It doesn’t work in my head, but every time I come back to it I walk away impressed. It’s not as good as “Last Christmas!,” but this is a damn fine entry into the pantheon of Christmas specials which is why it gets the honor of being just inside the top 50 on my list.
Every one is out to steal Christmas these days, though having Brain of Pinky and the Brain fame be involved is hardly much of a surprise. It’s actually not really one at all which is why I had a hard time ranking this one. This episode from the Hulu run of Animaniacs has Brain invent a toy based on Pinky that he intends to use to take over the world in a roundabout way only for the magic of the holiday to cause him to change his mind. It’s very entertaining on its own and there’s some great banter with Pinky, but it doesn’t exist all on its own. The main takeaway for me is this is way too much like the first Christmas special. Even that one involved the use of a Trojan Horse toy that was modeled after the Brain and the magic of Christmas caused him to basically abort his plan. It’s basically the exact same plot save for the toy Brain was a direct way to take over the world while this one was to ruin Christmas and thus make the world more susceptible to Brain’s efforts. The good news is that first Pinky and the Brain Christmas episode is fantastic which is why we haven’t encountered it yet on this countdown. If you’re going to rip yourself off then it makes sense to rip-off one of your best efforts. Sandwiched in the middle is a musical segment where the Warner siblings visit a roided-out Santa to encourage him to do his thing. It’s amusing and probably the best Christmas segment starring the trio going back to the original series, but the majority of this episode centers on Pinky and the Brain. If the original A Pinky and the Brain Christmas didn’t exist, I’d probably have this one ranked higher.
This brat needs to learn the true meaning of Christmas.
Hanna-Barbera has made many contributions to the world of Christmas, but one of the most overlooked is the 90s production The Town Santa Forgot. This one is about a spoiled, selfish, kid by the name of Jeremy Creek who sends Santa a list so long that he assumes the name Jeremy Creek belongs to a town and not some kid. Turns out, there is an actual town by that name that Santa has somehow overlooked all these years so he’s able to visit for the first time and deliver presents. Jeremy ends up with nothing which ticks him off, but when a news broadcast relays what happened he finally has a realization that maybe it is better to give than receive. The special has a fun way of telling the story that helps the rather simple message of the standalone special land a little harder. And it’s narrated by Dick Van Dyke who just turned 100 so happy birthday, Dick! The animation isn’t amazing, but there’s an energy to it that I enjoy. It feels like a precursor to the What a Cartoon era for Hanna-Barbera as it doesn’t really resemble any of their preceding cartoons. It arrived a little late to feel like a true Hanna-Barbera original, but if we’re considering it one then I do have it ranked higher than a lot of their other stuff and that feels appropriate.
The holidays sometime bring about a need to navigate awkward social situations.
We Bare Bears is a fairly lowkey cartoon about cultural assimilation. Driving the point home is we have a group of actual bears trying to fit in with society and the awkwardness that arrives from making social commitments. The bears basically spread themselves too thin at Christmas trying to make it to everyone’s Christmas party, only they prioritize attending the big, popular, one being thrown by someone they don’t even like while spending little time with the people that actually matter to them. Even though there’s an obvious message here and the bears are acting in a semi-selfish manner, it is relatable to find yourself with many social obligations all at the same time. How does one politely decline an invitation? It can happen where you make plans only for a better opportunity to surface later leading to a temptation to break those plans in favor of something else. I know it’s happened to me, though I can’t recall ever going through with breaking my original plans. I have been on the other side and even when the situation is understandable it still really sucks to have a friend basically tell you “I’d rather do something else than spend time with you.” Even though we’re dealing with bears, this one is extremely relatable and it’s also really sweet. The show handles these social settings really well so that even a kid understands what’s going on and it never makes its characters appear unlikable. That’s a hard trick to pull-off with this type of plot, but We Bare Bears manages it very well.
Sam & Max seemed like a bit of an odd fit for Saturday morning TV, but The Adventures of Sam & Max did a fine job of adapting this odd pair for television. Sure, they couldn’t have their guns, but that didn’t stop the cartoon from being able to make prison rape jokes! This is a pretty offbeat Christmas special where the titular duo infiltrate a prison to basically stop a prisoner revolt at Christmas. The Sam & Max brand of humor is on display and surprisingly intact with this show aimed at children. I probably didn’t laugh out loud when I watched this for the first time, but I think it was a chucklefest which took me by surprise. It’s a genuinely funny episode even if it’s meant for kids and if you’re someone who dismissed this version of Sam & Max because it was made for Fox Kids then maybe reconsider that stance.
Bob and his dad have some issues to sort out this Christmas.
Our lone entrant today from the world of adult animation comes courtesy of Bob’s Burgers. Unlike an episode like “Christmas in the Car,” there’s no worry about the Santa thing being spoiled for your kids if you choose to watch this one with them. This is a pretty simple tale about Bob being uncomfortable around his dad as he’s never felt much affection from the guy. Each Christmas brings a Christmas party thrown by Big Bob that Little Bob dreads, but he sucks it up and attends after getting wife Linda to agree on a short visit. Only that goes out the window when it’s apparent that Big Bob is shorthanded at his own restaurant which is where the party is being held forcing Bob into the kitchen with his dad – the last place he wants to be. There’s flashbacks in this one to show us just what happened between the two when Bob refused to be a partner with his dad at the restaurant because their ideas for how to run a restaurant just don’t work well together. All the while, the kids get into all kinds of stuff in the basement trying to find a present for their dad. It’s definitely more of a Christmas episode that just happens to take place at Christmas without necessarily needing it to be Christmas. Since Christmas does sometimes bring about awkward encounters with relatives though, it works. There’s also a really nice portrayal of gay culture in this one that I appreciate. The show didn’t have to include it, but I like that it did. This one is not as funny as other Bob’s Burgers Christmas episodes, but it’s a bit more introspective which makes it more satisfying than some of the other ones. Don’t sleep on it this Christmas.
That does it for today. The next installment of the countdown is coming your way on December 21st which means tomorrow is another traditional installment of an all new (to this website) Christmas special! And it’s one that I think has a lot of fans, and since I’m ranking it at number 43, obviously I think pretty highly of it as well. Just what is it? Well, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out!
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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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…
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Today should be a day of 90s cartoons because we’re taking it all the way to 64 – Nintendo 64! The Christmas gods do not agree for not only does today not include any 90s properties, but it doesn’t even include a Nintendo one. It does include a video game turned cartoon and there are some 90’s adjacent stuff, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s also a bit of a mix in terms of demographic. There’s stuff here that’s definitely intended for kids and some stuff that most certainly is not. In fact, I would say this may be the darkest installment yet of the countdown and the lead-off special is doing quite a bit of the heavy lifting there as it just may be the darkest Christmas special I’ve ever taken in.
Moral Orel is a stop-motion animated show that aired on Adult Swim about a good-natured boy named Orel and his quest to live life in God’s image. It’s very much a subversive take on Davey and Goliath, just minus the talking dog. Orel, being a young kid, is completely oblivious to his surroundings in which all of the adults in his life are selfish and miserable and there basically isn’t one genuine person in his life. His father is an abusive alcoholic, his mother a bitter adulterer, and even his priest is a sexual deviant. “The Best Christmas Ever” was actually the show’s premiere, though it was never intended to be. If you caught it in the proper order, the episodes started off as a Davey and Goliath parody with Orel misunderstanding some church teaching and doing the wrong thing leading to a trip to his dad’s study to get taught a lesson. Physically. By the time the show reached this season finale, it just got depressing as his dad slipped further into the bottle and was forced to confront the fact that one of his children isn’t even his. And since Orel overhears the discussion between his parents, he gets the idea that his little brother was conceived immaculately and is actually the second coming of Jesus. In reality, the kid is terrible and his own parents regret not getting an abortion. It all ends with Orel and his brother smashing a nativity scene, because he thinks his Christ-brother is bringing about the Apocalypse, only for his mom to tell him that: He’s right that his dad isn’t his brother’s father, and they’re getting a divorce. Orel tracks his dad down at the local bar where his track coach is hitting on him and Orel comes to the conclusion that this is not the best Christmas ever. He notes there’s still two minutes left though and he has faith in the Lord to turn things around! And that’s how the episode ends which just feels even more bleak. This is definitely a very cynical look at the idyllic Protestant family and not the sort of special that’s for everyone. There’s a bit of an “edgelord” vibe to the humor, but the audacity of it all worked on me and it’s one of those specials I return to just to see if it’s as dark as I remember. And, yeah, it pretty much is. The only thing missing is a suicide joke.
This episode of American Dad! pairs rather well with Moral Orel as it’s another cynical take on Christmas with some sacrilegious displays of violence. It’s also far more lighter in tone due to the more slapstick nature of the show when compared with Moral Orel. In this one, Stan gets passed over as Jesus for his church’s play only for Roger to get the part. When Stan loses it and beats up Roger on camera over the alien’s disrespect towards his religion, he finds himself excommunicated from his church. Lucky for him though, his daughter and her husband just so happened to adopt the antichrist and if Stan can just kill his toddler grandson it will get him back into God’s good graces! It’s quite the farcical Christmas plot with numerous funny moments and some pretty strong animation from the show. It doesn’t advance the overarching Christmas plot the show has with the Smith family and Santa Claus, but it’s fun.
Smiling Friends is a much celebrated animated show in the circles I frequent mostly for its brand of humor and rough animation. It’s the latest in what appears to be cheaply produced animation for Adult Swim that turns into a hit. I confess it’s not as big of a hit with me as it is others. I don’t think it’s bad, but the show is just so damn ugly. I feel like I’ve hit my limit with ugly adult animation – why can’t we get stuff that looks nice? This is another Christmas episode from Adult Swim that’s not exactly packed with feels. Charlie dies while out looking for a Christmas tree with his friends and co-workers only to wander through Hell and find himself face-to-face with Satan. If he helps the guy out, he can go back, and since he’s one of the main characters I don’t think it’s a spoiler to acknowledge that the title of this one is a bald-faced lie. The humor is mostly dark, and even though I called this show ugly, there are some spots in Hell that are pretty inventive and surprised me. As I think about it, I probably should have switched this with Moral Orel, but it hardly matters when we’re talking two positions on a 200 episode countdown. This one fits in with a lot of the other subversive Adult Swim Christmas specials so if that’s something you like then you can easily make yourself a solid marathon of content.
Second Christmas looks pretty sweet, but of course Robin hates it. He’s no fun.
Here’s one that’s a bit more lighthearted. Our second installment of Teen Titans Go! just confronts what we all hate about the holiday – it’s end. To stave off those post Christmas blues, the Titans invent Second Christmas complete with its own Second Santa and customs. It’s basically just good-natured fun, though at the expense of Starfire who is ignorant of Christmas, and no one really learns a lesson or anything. Instead, they all fall victim to a horrible accident when Starfire is denied a Second Christmas miracle and they get to spend much of the following year in a coma which is actually a happy ending because they get to basically skip right to Christmas again! Take that, Arbor Day!
Spectacular Spider-Man was a short-lived animated series that really did an excellent job of condensing a lot of Spider-Man material into something new and fun. Unfortunately, the Marvel acquisition by Disney seemed to kill it as the House of Mouse wasn’t interested in boosting characters it didn’t have film rights to or that were animated on deals outside of their usual reach. Disney would make its own Spider-Man shows and none of them could hold a candle to Spectacular Spider-Man. In this one, Peter tries his luck at courting not one, not two, but three different women and kind of strikes out with all three (Pete, it’s never a good idea to let a woman feel like she’s not your first choice, pal). It ends up being the least of his worries as he’s soon set upon by the show’s version of the Sinister Six. It’s a lot for Peter to deal with, but he’s Spider-Man so you know he’ll figure it out. It’s basically an episode full of action and holiday puns from our hero and it’s pretty entertaining, just not really a self-contained Christmas special. You definitely won’t get as much out of it if you haven’t watched the episodes leading up to it, but even if you haven’t, it’s still the best Christmas episode any Spider-Man show has had up until now.
Chuckie and his dad do not see eye to eye when it comes to Christmas trees.
This Rugrats spin-off arrived when I stopped caring about the franchise. I wish it had come earlier as I think I would have enjoyed it in those early teen years where I was still kind of watching Nickelodeon, but not sure if I should still be. The show surprised me in the little bit of time I spent on it as it took Rugrats, a show about babies going on wacky adventures, and made it a teen drama. I wasn’t sure that could work, but what do you know? It kind of does. And the result isn’t a show as reliant on Tommy. He almost feels like an afterthought, but this is a Chuckie centric episode as he mistakenly steals a Christmas tree and feels horrible about it. There are some inconsequential B-plots as well, but the meat and potatoes is Chuckie trying to do the right thing and finding it difficult. It mostly works out in the end and Chuckie gets to learn a lesson about the importance of family or something and it will leave you feeling pretty good about things. It’s sweet and I was charmed by the conflict between Chuckie and his dad. I considered ranking this one ahead of the Rugrats Christmas episode, but nostalgia kind of won out there.
We already looked at the Christmas episode from the better, more popular X-Men animated series. Now, we’re looking at the better Christmas episode. That other X-Men special is a “so bad it’s good” kind of special while this one is mostly just plain good. It’s a more grounded episode even though it’s all about a guy with actual wings and dudes with laser eyes and such. It’s more teen drama with the orphaned Cyclops and Rogue being left behind by their peers at the X-Mansion for Christmas. While that does kind of suck, it forces them to bond a bit which is good for Rogue who has a crush on Summers that’s unlikely to go anywhere since he’s all about Jean. Since Wolverine was too old in this show to shoehorn into that love triangle I guess Rogue is a decent consolation. The two end up in the city investigating tales of an actual Angel, which is of course just another mutant. It turns into something of an arm’s race as Magneto wants to recruit him, but so do the X-Men, and the two battle over the reluctant mutant until finally he’s allowed to have a say of his own. It’s just a good-natured Christmas special with some nice action tossed in. It’s not as reliant as Spectacular Spider-Man on the audience being up to date on what is happening in the show and basically all you need to know is contained in this one. It also mostly avoids the slapstick elements of the show and plays it straight. There’s a nice little montage at the end showing how the others spend Christmas and there’s that nice touch of melancholy present in so many Christmas episodes and it’s just the right amount. If you thought the older X-Men Christmas episode was just too silly, this one will likely please you more.
It just wouldn’t be Xmas without a brutal rampage!
Enough of that sentimental bull crap, let’s cause some mayhem! Futurama is unique in that it turned Santa into a villain. Well, it was unique until American Dad! and Teen Titans Go! came along, but their murderous robot Santa is still his own brand. In the follow-up to the first Xmas special, the Planet Express crew is tasked with finally putting an end to Santa’s murderous rampage and they’re actually successful! A problem arises when they take it one step further and have Bender serve as a new Santa, one that will actually deliver presents to all the good girls and boys. After generations of growing up with an evil Santa, the people of Earth aren’t so willing to accept this reformed Santa and Bender is put through the ringer. He’s eventually jailed and sentenced to death for being Santa and the only way to save him is to free the real Robot Santa whom the crew trapped in the ice of Neptune. Do you believe in Xmas miracles? Well your faith is rewarded! Robot Santa is freed and saves Bender and the two are able to inflict carnage and mayhem on the world just as Jesus intended. Merry Xmas everyone!
Who could forget such classic characters as these?
If you’re a show that likes to do an annual Christmas episode and you’re on for many seasons, chances are you’ll eventually wind up doing a musical. I wouldn’t call this episode of American Dad! a full blown musical, but it has multiple musical numbers most of which are pretty damn fun (Haley’s is not though, that one sucks). In this episode, we get to further the plot of Santa and the Smiths by having Stan accidentally free the demon of Christmas, Krampus, whom his father had trapped in a copper pot many years ago. Krampus immediately kidnaps Stan’s bratty son, Steve, and demands he send his father to save him. Stan’s dad is a jerk though and ditches him so Stan has to seek the aid of Santa himself. The two form an unlikely alliance and go after Steve who is basically in a parody of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast where he gradually warms up to Krampus and becomes a better kid. There’s a wild battle to end things and a new part of the lore is established in the process. It’s a rewarding episode in that respect for longtime viewers of American Dad!, but for anyone else it’s just an absurd Christmas story that will probably elicit some laughter.
Is it possible for the Devil himself to get on Santa’s Nice List?
This second Christmas episode of The Cuphead Show! dares to ask the question “What does Satan want for Christmas?” Turns out it’s a choo choo as this show’s version of the Devil tries to get onto Santa’s Nice List in order to get what he wants, but the only way for him to do so is to make a deal with the big man and take his place! The Devil as Santa? That’s a worthwhile spin on what is essentially a take on The Santa Clause and the end result is pretty funny. It barely features the titular character of Cuphead, but that’s okay because the Devil is a great character on his own. It’s also really well animated and just looks fantastic for a modern piece of animation. It’s also much longer than a typical episode of The Cuphead Show!, but it doesn’t feel bloated. I was really entertained by it and it’s snuck onto my annual viewing list as a result.
If you can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
If you watched a lot of cartoons in the 80s and 90s then you probably remember Nelvana. Their cartoons, like many others, would end with their own production logo which was a polar bear, I think. It was all one color and white and since Nelvana is Canadian it would certainly make a lot of…
This year, I’ve taken some time out to watch Christmas episodes of shows I’m pretty unfamiliar with. This is yet another one of those posts, only with this show I did make an attempt to get into it. A mild one. We Bare Bears is a show created by Daniel Chong that aired on Cartoon…
Hugh Harman was one of the early stars in the field of animation. In fact, we talked about one of his shorts already this year, but perhaps his most famous and most celebrated is the 1939 anti-war film Peace on Earth. According to Harman, the short subject was nominated for The Nobel Peace Prize, but…
In 2001, Rugrats had the honor of being the first Nicktoon to make it 10 years. The path to that honor was not a smooth one as the show had effectively been cancelled in 1993 with the third season. That appeared to not be performance related, but more strategic on the part of Nickelodeon as the Nicktoons brand was a constantly changing block of cartoons. It was only when the network realized that reruns of Rugrats were not only their highest rated program, but one of the highest rated cable programs in general did it finally decide that maybe keeping the show in production was a good idea. The show would end up lasting for 9 seasons with the final, new, episode airing in 2004. A new series has since been launched that returned some of the original cast and it would appear that Rugrats is not going anywhere anytime soon.
For that tenth anniversary episode the show aired the two-part special “All Growed Up.” The episode was a flash-forward and fans of the show got to see what the babies would be like as pre-teens. It’s one of the last Rugrats episodes I can remember watching. I did not come back to the show when it resumed in 1995 and I didn’t see any of the movies it spawned, but I was curious enough about “All Growed Up” to give it a look. I really don’t remember anything about the episode, but I do recall my number one takeaway from it was that this special was destined to become a series of its own. And it did! The special was a massive success scoring a 7.2 rating when it originally aired making it the number one cable show that week. It’s estimated that 70% of children in the show’s target demographic tuned in and those were numbers that Nickelodeon could not ignore. They almost immediately ordered 35 episodes of the show and on April 12, 2003 All Grown Up! debuted.
It’s probably a stretch to call them all grown up, but they’re definitely not babies anymore.
All Grown Up! returned basically all of the cast members who were still alive from the original show. At that point, Nancy Cartwright had replaced Christine Cavanaugh as the voice of Chuckie while David Doyle, voice of Grandpa Lou, had passed away in 1997. The show would run for five seasons totaling 55 episodes and aired its final episode on August 17, 2008. The show’s third season (which was part of that initial 35 episode order so we’re talking broadcast seasons) premiered on December 7, 2004 with the Christmas episode “The Finster Who Stole Christmas.” Rugrats had become known for its holiday specials as it was one of the few to dedicate full episodes to Jewish holidays. It was also no stranger to Christian holidays like Christmas thanks to the main character’s family being a mixed household. It’s easy to look back on that decision as one of genius since it creates easy opportunities for holiday episodes, but back in the 90s Jewish holidays were not thought of as marketable. Rugrats blew that preconception to dust as its Passover and Chanukah specials did big ratings proving that audiences just like to see their favorite characters celebrating their chosen holidays.
All of the regulars are back, except Anjelica who isn’t in this episode. Plus Dill, whom I’m too old to think of as a regular.
The show begins with this very generic alternative rock song performed by Cree Summer on vocals. I don’t particularly care for it and I miss the more whimsical charm of the original series’ intro. When it’s done, we find ourselves at a school. It’s pretty well decorated for Christmas and the bell has rung to release a horde of preteens upon the world. Dill Pickles (Tara Strong) is walking with his brother Tommy (E.G. Daily) and explaining to him how he believes that Christmas gets all of the best songs as he compares it to Chanukah. Tommy tries to offer up “The Dreidel Song” as a counterpoint, but seems to concede that yes, it’s not a particularly good song. They’re walking along with Chuckie (Cartwright), Susie (Cree Summer), and the twins Phil and Lil (Kath Soucie). Phil informs the group that his mom just burnt a whole bunch of angel cookies so they’re up for grabs. It would seem this is the show’s way of retaining how Phil, the baby, was always interested in eating gross items. This leads to a brief discussion about how the gang plans to spend the holidays with Susie mentioning she landed a big role in her church’s choir. All of the kids are really supportive of her and let her know they’ll be sure to attend her performance which is really sweet. One kid is conspicuously quiet though and that’s Chuckie.
This is pretty much how I expected Chuckie to turn out.
As the gang heads home, Chuckie lags in the back with his head down. Dill starts explaining to his brother how he has plans to create the world’s best Chanukah song and wants his brother’s help. Tommy thinks this is actually a pretty good idea considering the dearth of quality Chanukah songs. Dill is pretty sure of himself pointing out how he believes he’s an excellent singer in the shower and he makes up songs in there every day! Susie then recaps everyone’s holiday plans for us and in the process informs the audience that Anjelica is away on a ski trip, and then turns to Chuckie to ask what he’s got going on for the holidays. Chuckie just sighs and says, “Oh, the usual – high expectations met by crushing disappointment.”
Chuckie doesn’t have a lot of happy Christmas memories. Or really any.
We cut to what I assume is Chuckie’s bedroom. He and Tommy are watching a video on the television that’s apparently Chuckie’s Christmas gift to his dad: 20 years of Christmas home movies compiled on one DVD. We get to see glimpses of the many Finster Christmases and they’re all pretty terrible. There’s often a tree falling over, Chuckie crying (the tape begins before Chuckie is born, hence why it can total more years than Chuckie’s been alive), and Chuckie’s dad running out of frame due to some catastrophe. Chuckie is longing for a nice Christmas, one that’s more celebratory, but concedes that his dad’s mantra is “Christmas starts with family and ends with family.” He’s not really into the flashy stuff. When Tommy points out how the tree in every scene on the tape is pretty sickly looking it gives Chuckie an idea. If he can get a nice tree this year then that will be the way to setting the proper mood for his holiday.
Braving the cold to get the Finster Family Christmas tree!
The scene transitions to one of Chas (Michael Bell) leading his son Chuckie through the snow apparently in search of a tree. When the camera zooms out we see they’re actually just at a tree lot and the snow is being created by a snow machine. They’re still dressed rather warmly, but I do think this show is meant to take place somewhere in the southwest where there probably isn’t typically snow and frigid weather. The tree lot attendant shows Chas a nice looking tree that he seems to be in awe of. And that’s the problem. Chas Finster is a simple man and doesn’t like flashy items. He’s also probably very pragmatic when it comes to expenses, but Chuckie tries to tell him that buying a big tree is sort of like buying in bulk which is something his dad is prone to do. Chas reminds him that he only buys corn dogs and eyedrops in bulk, which apparently explains the added girth Chas possesses when compared to his character in Rugrats.
Chas and Clark Griswold have very different takes on what the family tree should look like.
Chas then comes across the perfect tree! It’s actually in the kindling section and the tree attendant is surprised that anyone would show interest in what are essentially needle-less sticks. He also positions himself in front of the kindling sign to conceal it from Chas’s view so that he can extract a little more money out of him since he’s committed the cardinal sin as a consumer in letting a salesman know that he’s very interested. The person not interested is Chuckie. When Chas asks for a price, he’s given 20 bucks though a small amount of snow falls on the tree and snaps the top off so the salesman immediately changes the price to 15. Chuckie can only hang his head in embarrassment when his dad tells him they’ll come back tomorrow for by then it will likely only be ten!
Now if you saw this while out for a walk how would you interpret the situation for the tree?
We next find Chuckie sullenly walking up a sloping sidewalk kicking a pinecone in frustration. He kicks it a bit too hard and it manages to knock someone’s Santa Claus decoration from their roof. Chuckie runs over to pick Mr. Claus up, but when he does he notices a Christmas tree bound with twine left leaning on someone’s garbage bin. Chuckie runs over in disbelief that someone would be throwing out a perfectly good tree, but gives it no further thought since fortune has apparently smiled upon him this day. As he drags the tree out of sight, some guy emerges from the house with a puzzled look on his face as he calls to his offscreen wife asking where’s the tree?
Chuckie went at this all wrong, he should have focused on the fire hazard the other tree would have presented. This one is much safer.
Chuckie struggles to get the tree home, but he manages to pull it off with only a minor concussion. He then has his dad cover his eyes so he can lead him into the living room to see what he brought home. When Chas opens his eyes his reaction is actually rather positive. I guess it’s pretty much in-line with how he responded to the resplendent tree at the lot, which is also why he shifts gears pretty quickly and remarks it’s not really a Finster tree. Chuckie points out that’s because it’s green, but then hangs his head once more and tells his dad they can get rid of it if he doesn’t like it. Chas immediately starts reassuring his son that it’s fine and he likes the tree. He gives him a concerned smile while Chuckie returns a more genuine one of his own as his Christmas wish is coming together nicely.
I guess these kids hang out at a coffee shop, because coffee is good for 10 year olds.
Our next scene takes place at the Java Lava Cyber Cafe. When did we stop calling cafes with internet access “Cyber” cafes and just went back to calling them cafes since they basically all have wi-fi now? A mall Santa comes walking out somewhat nervously ready to sip his hot coffee while inside Phil appears to be decorating. Dill and Tommy are rocking out on some keyboard while Chuckie and Susie just hang out eating popcorn. My guess is, since Phil and Lil’s mother Betty was always big into coffee in the original show, this is her place of business and the kids help out. It’s also probably a frequent hang out spot for them in the show (I’ve never watched a single episode until now).
Yup, looks like everything is falling into place and Chuckie is going to have the best damn Christmas ever!
Dill and Tommy’s song sounds pretty terrible and the two seem to know it as Tommy proposes they take a break. Dill seems less aware, but is in agreement on account that he’s creatively spent. Betty (Soucie) and Lil come walking in with trays of holiday themed beverages. They sound pretty awful with names like honey baked java, yam latte, and figgy pudding macchiato. Everyone is reluctant to partake, all except Chuckie who downs a cup of one of the likely terrible concoctions. Lil points out that it’s not like Chuckie to be the brave one, but he’s rather content at the moment and chalks it up to an abundance of holiday spirit. Phil sees this as an opening to bring up that someone in the neighborhood recently had their Christmas tree stolen. Chuckie does a spit-take when he hears about it while everyone has some rather choice words to share about the thief. Chuckie, growing visibly sick at the realization he likely stole someone’s tree, runs off to the bathroom clutching his stomach. Betty just assumes it’s related to her drinks, “Looks like that’s a big ‘No’ on the fig latte,” is the punch line used to go out on.
Or not…
After the break, we find Chuckie outside hyperventilating into a paper bag while Tommy exclaims “You stole a Christmas tree!” Chuckie apparently used the act break to explain partly what happened, though we get to hear him tell Tommy he thought they were throwing it away. He’s quite worried about getting run out of town while Tommy tries to calm him down. Since it was a simple misunderstanding, Tommy sees no reason why Chuckie can’t just tell his dad what happened and return the tree. Chuckie perks up at the idea, and this seems like a pretty simple solution to the episode’s plot. Now what are we going to do for the remaining 15 minutes or so?
Chuckie’s tree has apparently ignited the Christmas spirit deep within his father.
Tommy and Chuckie return to Chuckie’s house where the two are happy to find the tree just standing there undecorated. This seems to affirm in Chuckie’s mind that his dad didn’t even like the tree anyway, which is an assumption that’s about to be shattered. I knew we couldn’t just wrap this thing up so neatly! Chas comes waltzing into the house with his arms full of Christmas ornaments. Chuckie is surprised to see his dad bought new ones, and then Betty enters in behind him to inform him he bought more than just that. Apparently, Chuckie’s tree really pointed out to his dad how shoddy their Christmases were and the old guy has gone Christmas crazy! He’s even got gingerbread cooking in the oven so he can construct an entire gingerbread village right down to the emergency call boxes. Chuckie had initially told his dad he needed to tell him something before he saw all of this Christmas stuff, but now he has literal Christmas stars in his eyes and can’t bring himself to tell him the truth. Instead, he just says he wishes his step mother and step sister could be here, but Chas tells him not to worry as they should be boarding their plane home right about now. Earlier, we learned the two were in Japan and coming home on Christmas Eve so we’re basically right up against the holiday at this point. We then get a quick check on the two as Kira (Julia Kato) and Kimi (Dionne Quan) are being informed by a ticket agent that they’ve been bumped from their flight home. Looks like we’re going to need to order a Christmas miracle.
That truck driver was an asshole.
Chuckie and Tommy are outside the Finster home where Chuckie confesses to a somewhat disinterested Tommy that he just couldn’t bring himself to tell his dad what happened. Chuckie sort of rambles on while Tommy can’t get over how good the gingerbread is that Chuckie’s dad made. Chuckie then gets the idea that to solve his problem he just needs to buy a new tree for the family he stole from. Tommy points out how expensive that tree was, but Chuckie brushes aside his concern as he’s been schooled in the Finster art of tree shopping! We cut to the tree lot where only one, scraggly, tree remains and the attendant wants 50 bucks for it. Chuckie literally drops to his knees begging for a better deal, but he’s just met with a “Supply and demand” explanation. We then cut to Tommy and Chuckie carrying the tree with Tommy pointing out how Chuckie had saved all year for that money. Chuckie must have given in, but he’s at least comforted by the fact that he still has a little over 3 bucks left. He pauses to scratch his nose and in doing so lets go of the tree. Tommy does as well, for some reason, and it flops into the street and is predictably run over by a passing truck leaving it in shambles. Chuckie sadly picks up what’s left of it which at least kind of resembles a Christmas tree, albeit at only 9 inches tall. Tommy tries to cheer him up by saying maybe it will look nice with some tinsel or something, but there’s no fixing this mess.
One Christmas tree goes missing and Betty starts reevaluating her security measures. She’s definitely one of those parents that will accidentally shoot one of her kids when they get caught sneaking back into the house after a night out.
A close-up of Betty installing a security camera takes us back into the Java Lava. Susie is working the register while Dill is apparently still working on that song. He asks her what rhymes with dreidel, but Susie just tells him nothing does (how about ladle?) and supposes that’s why there’s so few Chanukah songs. Tommy and Chuckie come walking in and Lil immediately notes that Chuckie has a case of the holiday blues. Betty then draws attention to her new surveillance system and blames the tree thief for the holiday blues going around. Susie reassures everyone not to worry about that and when Chuckie asks why she theorizes that “the big man upstairs” will take notice. I wasn’t sure if she meant Santa or God, but then suggests a smiting shall be upon them which answers that. This freaks Chuckie out and as Betty turns on her camera she tells Chuckie to “Say cheese,” but finds the kid has run off. You would think they would start to piece some things together at this point.
You know Chas, there is such a thing as too much Christmas spirit.
Chuckie heads home only to find his dad rehearsing Christmas carols with a group of authentic looking carolers. Chuckie is bewildered at this continued outpouring of Christmas spirit from his father and is further surprised when he finds out they’re rehearsing for the Christmas party Chas intends to host. He even declares that from now on the name Finster will be associated with Christmas fun! This turn is so intense on the part of Chas that I’m starting to think this is all a dream, but I don’t think so. Chuckie declines the invitation to join in on the fun and tells his dad he’s off to bed instead. Chas doesn’t pick up on any distress in his son, and in his defense I’m guessing Chuckie is frequently mopey, and instead just has everyone whisper their song instead.
This is how Chuckie tortures himself when he sleeps. You know, that family bought an expensive tree, they’re probably not hurting for money.
With Chuckie in bed, it is time for a dream sequence. Chuckie dreams himself outside the home of the family he stole from while the sound of sobbing can be heard coming from inside. He peers through the window and finds a rather Dickensian looking family seated at the table. They appear to be very poor as a young boy consoles his sobbing mother. The daughter curses the one who stole from them while the father instructs her to essentially turn the other cheek. As they prepare to say grace, Chuckie runs off into the woods where he encounters a new creature: the Christmas tree! It speaks to him, and when Chuckie questions who he is, the tree responds rhetorically and turns into a burning bush. Chuckie wakes up with a startle in his bed repeating to himself that he’s going to be smited, wicked smited. I find it weird that he sleeps with his glasses on.
I’ve never known anyone to get upset about getting stuck in Hawaii.
Time to check in with Kimi and Kira who are now in Hawaii. Kira is on the phone with Chas while an airline employee claims to have good news for them. She thinks it’s about their luggage, which has gone missing, but he just wants to offer some macadamia nuts to them. Kira is trying to keep it together, but Kimi attempts to leap across the counter and grab the guy. Kira informs her daughter that he’s probably doing everything he can to locate their luggage, but rather than confirm that assumption the man just keeps waving the little bag of nuts in her face. She sighs and accepts the meager offering. I suspect she’s going to explode next time we check-in on these two.
Back in 2004, the mall was still clinging to life.
Chuckie, Phil, and Lil are next seen strolling through the mall. It must be Christmas Eve at this point and they’re basically exactly where I wouldn’t want to be. Tommy and Dill are there too and Dill is still trying to come up with a song. Tommy points out they only have two days until Christmas, so I guess my assumption was off. As was Chuckie’s earlier explanation that his mother and sister were coming home on Christmas Eve, unless they were planning on all of these travel nightmares they’re going through.
Chuckie, you’re already in enough trouble, you don’t need to go picking a fight with Santa.
It’s at this point that everyone has basically taken notice of Chuckie’s mood, and it becomes harder to ignore when he stops dead in his tracks to basically curse out a display Christmas tree. It’s located where the mall Santa has taken his perch and Chuckie confronts him to share his opinion that the holiday has turned into a sham. He points out a tacky holiday advertisement to support his claim, but the Santa doesn’t really seem to care. Tommy tries to pull his friend away and Chuckie agrees to back down, but not without one of Santa’s freebie candy canes! He lunges for it and at this point a bunch of helpers emerge to the sound of alarms to pry the Finster away.
The smiting has begun!
Tommy and the others lead Chuckie to a bench. He apparently got to keep the candy cane and I would say he’s rather fortunate to not be tossed out of the mall at this point. I’m betting that sly Tommy was able to talk him out of any further punishment. Lil asks Chuckie what’s gotten into him and then confesses that it’s kind of attractive. I’m guessing that normally such a declaration from Lil, or any girl, would knock Chuckie off of his feet, but he’s too far down in the dumps now. No longer able to take it, he tells the rest of his friends that he’s the sicko who stole the tree! Tommy quickly jumps to the defense of his bestie telling the others it was an honest mistake. Chuckie insists he’s in real trouble with the man upstairs, but Lil assures him that God won’t smite him. I thought they were purposely avoiding the mention of God until Lil jumped in there. Chuckie disagrees pointing out that he even has elves on his case now. He suspects a smiting is in order and tells his friends they should keep their distance. Right on cue, sparks start raining down on Chuckie, but it’s from someone welding a banister above them (pretty odd to do while the mall is open). Chuckie is beyond consoling and begins to leave and then has to move faster when more sparks start showering him.
The party is our chance to see how time has treated the other adults. Not so well. Lil looks like she’s had a bit too much eggnog. Howard appears to be near death.
It’s party time at the Finster residence! Not only are those carolers present, but Chas hired a full, live-action, nativity scene as well. He really has gone all out. We also get to see all of the adults we’ve been denied up until now. Howard, Phil and Lil’s dad, is looking rather feeble while Didi and Stu have aged more gracefully. The entire Pickels clan decided to wear formal attire, but Chas is doing the same so maybe that was encouraged? One person not in a suit is Chuckie and Tommy finds him sulking in a corner thoroughly miserable. He points out that this is the Christmas he’s always wanted and he couldn’t be more unhappy. The phone rings and it’s Kira and Chas has the Christmas wind knocked out of him when he finds out the two are stuck in Mexico. Chuckie blames himself and feels he’s essentially cursed his family’s Christmas by stealing that tree. Tommy points out that he could potentially fix this since he’s the one who stole it. When Chuckie asks how Tommy replies, “By stealing it.”
It’s nice to see they still go on adventures, just now they’re crimes.
We then find the crew dressed like ninjas and lurking outside the Finster house later that night. Stealing a Christmas tree is clearly a five kid job. They come to the window where Tommy whips out old reliable – his screwdriver, and uses it to break into the house. Chuckie points out that they can go through the door, but the others seem really invested in this ninja stuff. At least Tommy is, and as he makes various hand gestures to the others they just return them with confused looks. He then just tells them to get the tree. They try to shove it out the window, ornaments and all, but it’s a tight fit prompting Chuckie to remind them that the door is still an option.
The “cool” has evaporated.
In Mexico, we find Kira and Kimi on the streets. The good news is they appear to have all of their luggage, the bad news is they’re going to miss Christmas. Kira seems a little frazzled as well with the mariachi playing in her ear and street vendors repeatedly trying to sell her items. Kimi tells her mom she’s proud of her, and when Kira asks why, it’s because she’s managed to keep her cool throughout all of this. That means she’s about to lose it and does when some rando tries to swipe the cab she hailed. She grabs the man by the collar and throws him to the ground while recounting her misadventures up until now in case we needed a quick recap.
Chuckie is the only kid to ever wake up happy to find his Christmas tree stolen.
With that out of the way, we can return to the tree plot. The kids place the tree on the stoop of its rightful home and ring the bell. Then, for some reason, they stand around a moment until a light comes on inside and at that point they finally run. We cut to the next morning and Chas is discovering the missing tree. He apologizes to Chuckie, but the son is happy to just curse those tree thieves that have been making the rounds. As Chuckie dramatically cries out “Why?” Chas concludes that he should have listened to Betty’s warning and given Chuckie “that dog early.” Chuckie then excitedly asks if he’s getting a dog, but Chas just says “No.” He then wonders why someone would steal a Christmas tree, but leave behind “a Kid-Vid X-Game?” In this universe Kid-Vid must have broken free from the Burger King Kid’s Club. Chuckie then repeats the previous gag by asking if he’s getting such a game and Chas deadpans, “No,” once more. Does he know what really happened and is just torturing his son at this point?
Oh look, the family is all together at Christmas. Who could have predicted that?
Chas concludes that Christmas is ruined and draws his son in close and is puzzled at the presence of pine needles in Chuckie’s hair. That’s it, Chuckie is done keeping things from his dad and confesses to stealing the tree not once, not twice, but three times! He then concedes that he’s confused about how many times he stole it (I think it was just twice, Chuckie) and Chas just calmly tells him to explain what happened. And he…doesn’t? He just tells his dad that he wanted a big Christmas like everyone else and that’s it. Before Chas can ask a presumed follow-up question, the door opens and Kira and Kimi come waltzing in. The family embraces and Chas gets to give his son a lesson by showing him they don’t have nothing and repeats the mantra about family and Christmas. Kira is pretty amazed to see how festive the house is, but then asks about the lack of a tree. Chuckie suggests he tell them about that over breakfast. Kira then pulls out a bonsai tree and declares that anything is better than one of Chas’s trees and hands him what I assume is a little gift she brought back from Japan. They place it in the spot vacated by the Christmas tree and the sound of Susie singing “The First Noel” fills our ears.
Here’s that Susie solo we were promised.
As Susie sings we get to see the camera pan over the town and its festive decorations. I thought we were going to check-in on the other families, but no, instead we are taken to the church as the sun goes down. Inside, Susie is singing and all of her friends and their families are gathered just as they promised. When Susie finishes her song she announces that their Jewish friends have something to share as well. This is Tommy and Dill’s cue to launch into this Chanukah song they’ve been working on. It’s an ode to latkes, and most of the audience seems amused by it. Didi, surprisingly, does not. I also notice a lack of Grandpa Lou in attendance which had me running to a wiki to see if he was dead. He’s not supposed to be so I guess he’s just asleep in front of the TV.
And, of course, the Chanukah song as well. I’m guessing Dill is one of those characters that always wears a hat.
That’s it though as the episode ends with a pan up and out of the church as the audience applauds the silly song about latkes. That wasn’t bad and I was surprised at how effortlessly these characters just sort of slip into teenagers. I thought they might have felt forced into these somewhat new personas, but it all felt natural. The episode also didn’t feel like it had to get everyone into it. The cast is rather large now and likely a tad cumbersome, but I was surprised we didn’t get a quick cut to see what Anjelica was doing. Only Betty and Chas of the adult characters had any lines, not that we needed to hear from anyone else, but I was still surprised. Usually these holiday episodes feel the need to get everyone involved, but not All Grown Up!
The only plot in this one that mattered was Chuckie’s. The bit with his step mother and sister only existed to make Chuckie feel bad and that God was out to get him for stealing a Christmas tree. Even so, it was a rather low stakes plot considering it was a misunderstanding. A rational person would have righted the wrong fairly quickly, but that wouldn’t be very dramatic. We had to wait until the last minute for everything to be set right, though Chuckie really didn’t have any comeuppance. I guess his torture was all the comeuppance he needed. The subplot about the song was unnecessary, though I liked that the episode did end at the church since it was mentioned by Susie early on and I like that her friends are all supportive of her. It’s also somewhat quaint to see a church-going community on television in 2004. The Simpsons has been doing it for awhile, but even with that show it feels like a throwback to a bygone era.
There are a couple of subplots, but the only that matters is Chuckie’s.
And speaking of, the “villain” of the episode being God was pretty interesting. Well, I suppose technically the villain was Chuckie, but he feared God’s retribution and the almighty was even named. That’s definitely rare for a kid’s show, but it did make sense here considering we’re dealing with tweens. It would have felt really silly for Chuckie to fear getting coal in his stocking or something. If the show were Not Quite Grown Up and the kids were in elementary school then sure. They don’t outright say anything about Santa not being real, but it’s implied with Chuckie asking his dad what he got him for Christmas. I suppose Chuckie could have feared the police or another threat instead, but God works.
As for the production, this is still very much a Klasky-Csupo show. Character models are still pretty weird and almost purposefully ugly. The aged-up babies actually all look a lot less monstrous now, maybe it’s simply the hair? If it weren’t for the purple hair, Tommy would look fairly normal. Chuckie looks about the same, while I really dug Lil’s updated design. She has some flair, Phil as well, and I don’t know that I would have predicted that out of the twins. There’s a lot of wardrobe changes too for an animated show and I certainly appreciated the variety. The show is almost mean to the adults though. They all look like they aged 20 years, not 10 or whatever it’s supposed to be. Poor Howard looked the worst, but at least he’s still with Betty. I thought she would have left him for another woman by now. Mark Mothersbaugh is still the composer for the show, but his score is not really evocative at all of the one in place for Rugrats. I’m guessing that was tailor-made for a show about babies and this one needs to be about tweens, but in doing so it lost a lot of personality. Nothing about it stood out to me. At least the character voices all sound great. I’m not sure if they had to modulate Daily and Strong in post at all, but I was impressed with how low they were able to go with their voices. Soucie’s Phil and Lil were left mostly unchanged and same for Summer’s Susie. I actually don’t have much exposure to Cartwright’s Chuckie, but I think it’s basically the same between the two shows with maybe just a bit more confidence in the delivery since he’s no longer a baby stumbling over words.
At least the kid got to experience some fleeting moments of Christmas bliss.
I don’t know that I’ll ever get around to it, but I am curious about the rest of the show. I also wonder if Nickelodeon will ever bring these characters back as high school aged kids. The original audience of the show is approaching 40 at this point, so maybe that ship has sailed. Do those kids want to see them as adults? I was only a casual Rugrats viewer back in the day and I can safely say the idea of adult Rugrats doesn’t interest me. Maybe as a special, but what would I want from it? Can Rugrats be cynical or will everyone be leading happy, healthy, adult lives? I don’t know, but considering these characters are babies once again in the new show, that seems like something pretty far off.
If you want to spend Christmas in agony with Chuckie, All Grown Up! can be found streaming on Paramount+. There, this episode is listed as the seventh in the third season for some reason, but it’s there for you if you wish to view it. I doubt that Nick will air it, but I suppose you never know. You might as well pair it with the other Rugrats holiday specials, they’re all pretty good (the secret best one is actually the Mother’s Day episode), and you’re likely to have a good time whether you’re a kid, adult, or just a kid at heart.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
Yesterday, we took a look at the 1992 Christmas special from the third Nickelodeon Nicktoon The Ren & Stimpy Show. Today, we’re basically working backwards and talking about the second Nicktoon to premiere: Rugrats. The Ren & Stimpy Show is probably the most celebrated of the original Nicktoons when it comes to animation circles, but…
For today’s subject, we’re going all the way back to 1937 to talk about the Columbia Pictures Gifts from the Air. This particular cartoon comes from an era dominated by Disney, Warner Bros, and MGM with a tip of the cap to Noveltoons. The Color Rhapsody Theatrical Cartoon Series is not particularly well-remembered outside of…
It was a couple of years ago we looked at the first Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas episode because it contained Danzig. I was basically required to talk about it! This year we’re coming back to it, and wouldn’t you know, there is a musical component to this one as well. If you’re unfamiliar with…
Yesterday, we took a look at the 1992 Christmas special from the third Nickelodeon Nicktoon The Ren & Stimpy Show. Today, we’re basically working backwards and talking about the second Nicktoon to premiere: Rugrats. The Ren & Stimpy Show is probably the most celebrated of the original Nicktoons when it comes to animation circles, but I don’t think there’s much of an argument to be made as to which was the most commercially successful. That honor fell to Rugrats, the Klasky-Csupo original that is still relevant even today. Like Ren & Stimpy and Doug, Rugrats was a show in production basically until Nickelodeon had enough episodes to fill an entire calendar. And it did, because Rugrats aired seemingly all of the time on the network in the early to mid 90s to the point where I feel like I’ve seen each episode from that run a hundred times, and Rugrats wasn’t even a favorite of mine! It was solid though and rarely failed to entertain me as an adolescent, and even as an adult now that has watched the series more than once with my children, I can still say it’s pretty charming. Unlike the other Nicktoons, the success of Rugrats could not be ignored by Nickelodeon and the show returned to production in 1996 followed by a movie in 1998. That film would receive sequels and the show even got a spin-off in 2001 in the form of All Growed Up. And it’s still going today as Nickelodeon airs a new CG version of the series on its network and Paramount+.
Following a successful first season for each Nicktoon, Nickelodeon brought back all three seemingly with the mandate of making a Christmas episode. Two shows debuted a Christmas episode in 1992, though as we saw yesterday, The Ren & Stimpy Show Christmas episode was booted to MTV. Doug would follow with its Christmas episode in 1993. In the years following this episode, Rugrats would become somewhat famous for shining a light on non-Christian holidays. Lead baby Tommy Pickles lives in a mixed-religion household with his mother being Jewish and father some form of Christian. During the show’s hiatus, Nickelodeon would commission two Jewish themed specials for Passover and Chanukah, which was pretty cool. I had some cousins on my mother’s side who were Jewish as the result of my uncle marrying a Jewish woman and I remember my mom actually making it a point for my sister and I to get an understanding of the Jewish religion. Well, the holidays anyways as she bought us a kid’s book or two and even made us watch those specials. I think we even tried to add the Rugrats Chanukah special to our treasured Christmas Tape, but it didn’t record. Probably because we forgot to remove the piece of Scotch tape from the VHS that prevented it from ever getting recorded over. Or, the spirit of The Christmas Tape struck and decided only Christmas specials may appear on it. It’s probably the latter.
Anyway, before that could happen Nickelodeon apparently wanted Christmas to occur so we have “The Santa Experience.” This is one of those rare episodes of the show where both segments are combined into one. Like many cartoons of the era, Rugrats aired in half hour blocks and consisted of two roughly 11 minute cartoons that were unrelated to each other. It often felt like one segment would try to contain the whole ensemble, while the second would focus on just a baby or two with Tommy almost always included. And if you happened to have made it this far in your life without ever experiencing Rugrats, it’s a show about babies. Tommy Pickles (E.G. Daily) is the de-facto alpha baby and most of the episodes seem to occur at his house. He lives with his mom Didi (Melanie Chartoff), dad Stu (Jack Riley), and grandpa Lou (David Doyle). Lou, being a retiree, is seemingly counted on to watch the babies often (despite his narcoleptic tendencies) thus explaining why they always end up at Tommy’s house. The other babies are fraternal twins Phil and Lil (Kath Soucie for both), the cowardly Chuckie (Christine Cavanaugh), and 3-year old Angelica (Cheryl Chase), Tommy’s bully of an older cousin. The babies often go on adventures where they’re relying on their imagination to create the show’s visuals, sort of like Muppet Babies. Often their adventures stem from them misunderstanding something from the adult world with Angelica often pushing them along into a situation likely to get them into trouble or in one where she can take advantage of them.
“The Santa Experience,” revolving around Christmas and all the weird stuff that goes along with the holiday, seems ripe for a Rugrats plot. Tommy, being the youngest, has never really experienced Christmas and his buddy Chuckie, who is 2 and afraid of everything, has some stuff to share about Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the spoiled Angelica is going to see Christmas as the perfect opportunity to get more stuff and if she can ruin things for the babies then that will make her happy too. And for the parents, Didi is pretty obsessed with marking milestones with Tommy and it can be expected that she wants to make sure one of his earliest Christmases is a memorable one. It’s so easy that it’s no wonder why they wrote it!
Tommy has to set his friend straight on this Santa guy.
The episode begins following a normal version of the credits (they did change-up the music, but not really for the better) with an image of snow falling. It’s fake snow because we’re at a mall, and Tommy and Chuckie are waiting in-line with their dads to see Santa Claus. Chuckie is describing Christmas in grave tones and seemingly doesn’t like that the grown-ups all smile more during the holidays. He’s working towards the worst part though: Santa Claus! Tommy, who seemed concerned during Chuckie’s big explainer, laughs when he gets to Santa and tells him that Santa is good because he’s big and fat and brings presents. The kid’s only 1 and he already figured this stuff out.
Angelica is the type of kid mall Santas dread.
The next child is then summoned to meet Santa and Angelica declares it’s her, whether it was or wasn’t I can’t tell. She runs into this makeshift Santa’s village and jumps into the big guy’s lap. We get a closeup of his face as he grimaces indicating that Angelica must have landed on a sensitive area. The Santa (sounds like Michael Bell, who voices Angelica’s dad Drew) then goes into the usual routine and asks Angelica what she wants for Christmas. She tells him that she wants a Luxurious Hair Cynthia doll, which is kind of funny because the defining characteristic of her beloved Cynthia doll is that most of her hair has been pulled out. The Santa seems agreeable to this, but Angelica stops him because she has more. She then lists off a bunch of stuff she wants that’s all designed to sound insane. Something about a nuclear fission game and a real surgical kit are the highlights. As the Santa starts to pushback by telling her that’s a lot, she raises her voice to yell “I’m not finished yet!” You see, the big item she desires is a Deluxe Cynthia Beach House with real working hot tub, satellite dish, entertainment center, and attached garage.
She just shoved that poor elf aside.
She ends her list with a smile while leaving the Santa stammering and unsure of what to say. Obviously, this guy is pretty good at his job and doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on the kid’s parents as he tries to tell her that’s a very long list of presents. Angelica pushes back and questions why he doesn’t already know this stuff already. He stutters and stammers some more and then Angelic lays a harsh accusation upon him: You’re not the real Santa! She goes for the beard and it’s a fake, a rookie mistake by the department store, and she runs screaming out of the little hut “Santa is a fake! Run for your lives!”
Terrific off-model shot right here. This is the type of thing Klasky-Csupo wouldn’t have been allowed to do on The Simpsons.
We then dissolve on a Happy Holidays banner and find ourselves in the Pickles’ living room. Angelica is opening a “Thanks for Shopping” box that’s apparently full of toys. Phil and Lil ask where she got it and she tells them from Santa Claus. They respond with confusion since it isn’t Christmas yet, but Angelica tells them you just have to know how to work him. Stu, Drew, and Chuckie’s dad Chas (Bell) enter carrying boxes and Drew is concerned for his daughter’s well-being following the incident at the mall. Stu tells him she looks pretty happy to him as we cut to Angelica gleefully ripping open another box and Chas confirms that the store gave her practically every toy they had. Drew is still worried that she’ll be traumatized by the ordeal and it’s not hard to see how Angelica came to be as spoiled as she is with a father like Drew.
The adults just completely ignore the two scared toddlers.
The fathers continue doing dad stuff while Angelica continues rummaging through boxes. She’s extremely dissatisfied with the toys gifted to her and refers to it as a bunch of junk since none of it came from her list. Phil and Lil try to take a peek in one of the boxes and she swipes at them sending them running scared into the kitchen. The boys are seated at the table while Didi appears to be helping Betty (Soucie), the mother of Phil and Lil, with some plumbing under the sink. This is supposed to be a bit of gender humor where the men are just gabbing while the masculine Betty does the manual work. It’s dated.
Best character on the show, right here.
Drew is still fussing over Angelica’s experience while Chas tries to tell him she’ll be fine. He had horrible Christmases growing up and states the best gift he ever got was a rubber glove and tongue depressor. He’s worried for Chuckie and doesn’t want him to have as lame a Christmas as he did. Drew states he wishes he could reaffirm Angelica’s faith in Santa and it’s Betty who chimes in with the idea to rent a cabin up north and have a good old-fashioned family Christmas. Well, not her words exactly, but they sound good to me. Everyone seems enthusiastic at the idea, which is always weird for me since my Christmases always involved going to the homes of grandparents and the idea of just dropping everything to do something else is completely foreign. Didi runs to call a travel agent (and renting a cabin should probably be an impossible task given their proximity to Christmas ) while Stu, who is a bit of a techie, declares he’ll get some lights while Grandpa Lou vows to drink a couple of quarts of eggnog and fall asleep in front of the TV. Now that’s my idea of Christmas!
Angelica is an ungrateful brat, but she is right to complain about getting a Reptar Space Helmet and no Reptar doll.
We return to the living room where Angelica is still upset with the quality of the toys she was given for free. She draws particular attention to a pack of crayons and a Reptar Space Helmet, an accessory for a Reptar doll and not a role play toy, which she tosses aside. In the playpen, Chuckie is playing with some blocks and Tommy his favorite ball while the two resume their Santa conversation. Chuckie stacks the blocks up and then knocks them over to punctuate his description of Santa as someone who breaks into your house while you’re sleeping. Sadly, the blocks do not appear to contain any hidden messages via their orientation. Tommy is still firmly in camp “Santa is Good” and the camera pans over to a dejected looking Phil.
Angelica is so cruel here.
Angelica comes along dragging a massive box of toys and asks Phil what’s up with him? He says he can’t figure out what to get his sister Lil for Christmas, which is a lot of pressure for a toddler. Angelica suggests he get her some crayons for her favorite coloring book which strikes me as a dumb suggestion since I’m sure they already have crayons, but we need this to happen for plot purposes. Phil thinks that’s a great idea, but then gets sad again because he doesn’t know how he can get ahold of a new box of crayons. Angelica is there to wave the box she just got form the store, but when Phil comes running over to grab them she pulls a “Not so fast!” on him. If Phil wants the crayons, he’s going to have to trade his Reptar doll to her for them. He resists at first, but when Angelica declares no crayons for him then, he relents and hands over the doll.
There’s a lot of mopey faces in this episode so far. Didn’t they ever hear “You better not pout”?
Now, you may have thought Angelica just wanted a Reptar doll for that new Reptar Space Helmet she just got, but Angelica is a very cruel child and has other ideas as she spies Lil. In the kitchen, Didi is on the phone with a travel agent and having little luck finding a cabin, which as I pointed out, makes sense. Outside, Drew and Chas are moping on a picnic table as both try to find solutions for their anxiety, Drew wants to restore Angelica’s faith in Santa while Chas just wants Chuckie to have a nice, memorable, Christmas. The two jump up at the same time declaring they have an idea and the gag is they’re supposed to have come to the same conclusion. And they did! Sort of. Chas goes first and says he can dress up like Santa to surprise the kids on Christmas. Drew enthusiastically declares he was thinking the same thing, only when a surprised Chas asks “You were?!” he shoots down the part about Chas playing Santa in favor of hiring a professional actor. Chas seems hurt by this and reminds Drew he played the lead role in their fourth grade rendition of The Wind in the Willows. Drew deadpans, “Chas, you were a tree,” and he points out “I was the willow!” I guess they’re both right.
Not only does she know that she’s a bad kid, she revels in it. Hard to come back from this one, Angelica.
In the living room, Angelica comes upon an unsuspecting Lil and asks her what she’s doing. She’s just sitting on the floor with that coloring book she apparently loves looking a little sad. Angelica confirms that she’s thinking about what to get Phil for Christmas, and Angelica tries to help her think of something by asking what his favorite toy is? Lil then lists off a series of three items starting with blocks and ending with a stuffed alligator that has a missing eye. Angelica says “No” to each one and yells at her after the third suggestion that his favorite toy is his Reptar doll and Lil just smiles and says “Oh yeah!” She’s adorable. Angelica then asks Lil what she could get Phil to go with his doll and we go into the same routine again ending with Angelica calling her a dummy for suggesting a bunch of other things and telling her a Reptar Space Helmet is what she needs. Lil, completely unphased, just smiles and thanks Angelica for the suggestion. We skip the bargaining routine this time and we just see Lil hand over the coloring book in exchange for the space helmet. As Lil walks off, Angelica grabs her Cynthia doll to fill her in on her doings. She outlines this Gift of the Magi scenario and punctuates it with a villainous laugh before confirming out loud “I’m bad, Cynthia, real bad!”
It’s story time with Grandpa!
This is then carried over to Chuckie who insists “He’s bad, Tommy, real bad,” as they’re apparently still debating the merits of Santa Claus. Tommy still insists he’s nice, then Chuckie wishes that he could catch him and show Tommy how bad he is. Tommy thinks that’s a great idea and declares they’ll simply catch him, but Chuckie doesn’t actually want to catch him because that would be scary. They’re interrupted by Grandpa who gathers the kids to tell them about Santa. He gives them the usual rundown, but ends with a dramatic description of what happens to the bad kids: a great, big, lump of coal! He then dismisses it by declaring none of the kids present have anything to worry about, but Angelica looks a bit distressed. Didi then shouts out they got a cabin!
Now she’s having second thoughts.
Later that night, Drew is tucking Angelica into bed, but as he walks out of the bedroom she asks him if it’s true that Santa brings coal to bad kids on Christmas. Drew confirms that’s the case for her without much of a thought as to why she’s asking as he turns off the light and walks out. Alone in her bed, Angelica pulls out Cynthia and tells her she doesn’t care what the grownups say and tries to reassure herself that there’s no way Santa could possibly know about the trick she played on Phil and Lil. Insisting it was a great trick, she drifts off to sleep.
Here comes the coal!
Smash cut to Angelica waking up in the morning. It’s Christmas! She bolts from her bed and runs down the stairs to find her tree loaded with gifts. Her dad appears and assures her they’re all for her and she dives in, but as she rips open the first one she finds a box with a lump of coal in it. She rips open another one: coal! And another: coal! Coal! Coal! Coal! Nothing but coal in each box! Angelica insists that this is impossible and that Santa can’t know about her trick because he’s just a smelly old guy in red pajamas! Santa (Tony Jay) then appears, laughing, but we only see him from a low angle never getting a good look at his face. He tells her that he knows everything and then details that Phil got a new Reptar doll and Lil a new coloring book, and for her he dumps a sack of coal over her. This causes Angelica to wake up from her nightmare screaming. Drew enters to check what’s wrong and she demands he tell her if it’s Christmas. It’s not, obviously, and when she says she needs to see Phil and Lil he sleepily tells her she’ll see them later on at the cabin and urges her to go back to sleep. He shuts off the light and Angelica confesses to Cynthia that she needs to trade Phil and Lil their presents back before it’s too late!
Not pictured are Chas and Charlotte, so are they driving up together with the rest of the kids? That’s an interesting pairing.
That’s normally where the first segment for an episode of Rugrats would end, but since this is a double episode our story continues. They didn’t want it to feel too different though so we get another title card that this time reads: Later That Day. We get a shot of the clan driving up to the mountains. I think this show is supposed to take place in Arizona so I have no idea where they’re actually going or how long of a ride it is. Geography is not my strong suit, but I feel like the implication is they’re heading to Colorado? If so, that’s quite the ride! The adults are singing “Jingle Bells,” and in a sign of the times Tommy is in the front seat of his parents’ mini van. Seemingly all of the adults are in the back, including Phil and Lil’s dad Howard who is making his first appearance of this episode. Missing are the other kids who apparently had to hitch hike their way to the cabin.
No one in their right mind would come down a chimney? Hah! Stupid babies.
Everyone enters the cabin and it sure looks pretty. Angelica immediately goes for Phil and Lil, but before they can talk Betty scoops them up to tell them they’re going to go cut down their first Christmas tree. Grandpa is shown hanging a wreath and manages to strike his thumb with a hammer, which only seems to happen in cartoons, while the dog, Spike, runs past him causing him to fall off a stepladder. Chuckie is still fretting about Tommy’s plan to trap Santa and Tommy reassures him it will work. They then survey their new surroundings to check for all of the places Santa could enter. As Tommy calls them out, like door or window, Chuckie responds with a “Check.” He gets to “chimly” (sic) and Chuckie responds “Chimly?!” and, for once, Tommy agrees with his friend and says “Yeah, no one in their right mind would try to come down a chimly.”
That looks like a standard cordless phone meaning it likely belongs to the cabin. Charlotte must be racking up a massive long distance bill then!
In the kitchen, Chas is show preparing a turkey while we hear the unmistakable voice of Charlotte, Angelica’s mom (voiced by Tress MacNeille) as she’s on the phone with her assistant Jonathan while apparently making cranberry sauce. Angelica interrupts her to ask if it’s okay for her to go chop down a tree with Aunt Didi and Charlotte pauses her conversation to tell her it is before getting right back into it. Stu then interrupts her by saying it’s nice she could join them for Christmas and Charlotte remarks how she loves Christmas for being the season of hope before returning to the phone to shout in a stern voice “We have to crush the competition! Crush them now!” She’s a bit intense.
This sudden sense of conservation on the part of Didi kind of came out of no where.
Betty is shown helping Angelica get dressed for the cold with Phil and Lil as Didi shows up with the axe. Betty confirms she has the permit to cut down a tree while Angelica assures Phil and Lil they’ll have time to talk on the sleigh. We smash cut to Angelica on the sleigh and her scarf has been wrapped around her mouth preventing her from speaking. Betty points out trees to Didi who shoots them down for one reason or another before enthusiastically pointing one out as the perfect tree. When Betty goes to chop it down, Didi jumps in the way as she seemingly has had a change of heart about tree slaughter. Angelica uses this as an opportunity to explain the concept of gift-giving to Phil and Lil with a phony history of how the whole tradition started. As she starts to ramble about the Easter Bunny getting slapped with a lawsuit by Santa over the whole thing, the sleigh she’s standing on starts to slide backwards slowly. Soon it’s soaring down a hill with Angelica screaming, her plans foiled again.
They either got a terrific deal on that tree or were raked over the coals with likely no in-between.
We cut again quickly to a new shot inside the cabin of Stu and Betty setting up a fake tree. It would seem Betty was unable to convince Didi to permit her to chop down a tree, but they all look pretty happy so I guess it’s not a big deal. We then see Tommy and Chucky pushing a log in front of the doggy door, seemingly to thwart Santa, while we see other shots of Didi and Chas decorating the tree. It’s sort of a montage in that the characters are speechless save for the low murmur of Charlotte talking on her cell phone. Angelica approaches the twins, but Betty intercepts them and scoops the pair up. Tommy and Chuckie wrap popcorn garland around a doorknob as another trap and seemingly no adults take notice, while Angelica continues to pursue the twins, who are now in jammies. It’s all broken by the sound of Grandpa howling in pain, for as he went to hang a stocking, Spike barked causing him to strike his finger once again with a hammer. Didi then can be heard calling out “Dinner!”
This looks unsafe.
At the dinner table, all of the adults are chatting and it’s like a dull, indecipherable, roar. Tommy and Chuckie are seated together on a chair and further boosted by a pile of newspapers. Apparently, there was no room in the car for high chairs. Chuckie asks Tommy if he thinks the traps will work while Tommy just tells him that he worries too much. Spike barks at Grandpa, who scowls at him likely still angry about the hammer incident. Spike lowers his head submissively while Grandpa smiles and hands the dog a big hunk of turkey. Charlotte is still on the phone and has a fun slip-up where she instructs Jonathan to add a “Santa clause” to a legal document, but catches herself as she meant to say “Sanity clause.” Angelica asks her Aunt Didi if a hypothetical child tried to make up for a bad thing, but was unable to do so in time for Christmas, if Santa would still bring her coal. Didi just dismisses the concern Angelica has by wondering why she’s so consumed with asking about bad kids when she’s such a good girl. She sounds genuine, which just makes it extra sweet since you know she and Stu probably talk about how spoiled that kid is when she’s not around. Stu then points out that Tommy and Chucky are yawning and Betty declares it’s time to put the “young’ens” to bed which causes Angelica to look dejected and say “Oh no!”
Deck the Malls?!
The parents put the kids in cribs, Tommy and Chuckie in one, Phil and Lil in the other, and leave them. Right as they do, Tommy reminds Chuckie that they have to stay awake. Chuckie clearly would prefer to go to sleep and Phil and Lil already have. As he lays back down, Tommy decides he can rest a little while as he waits for Santa to spring one of their traps and he too falls asleep. In the living room, the adults are singing “Joy to the World” and that’s probably the last thing a group of adults in my family would do after putting the kids to bed, but it’s their party, who am I to judge? Charlotte is still on the phone and she’s basically just boasting at this point about her accomplishments and I question if she’s doing any real work. Chas slips away and goes into another room with a Santa suit as Angelica just walks by without even noticing him because she’s still upset about what she did to Phil and Lil. Chas them emerges giddy and dressed as Santa as he takes off somewhere.
I feel like that is supposed to be a Coke can, but they made it coffee for some reason.
Drew is shown on the phone calling The Santa Experience (how did he get Charlotte off of the phone to make a call, there’s no way this cabin has two lines) which is apparently a company that specializes in doing the whole Santa thing. He’s able to confirm that the Santa act he booked is still on. We then find Grandpa doing what Grandpa does best: sleeping in front of the TV. Angelica is there as well, but she snaps out of her funk when she hears a commercial for a seasonal depression hotline encouraging folks to call-in to talk to someone who cares. Angelica draws an odd conclusion from this and dials a number, the wrong one as she just presses “5” over and over, which gets her connected with Cogs Unlimited which is some guy with what looks like a bunch of film canisters behind him, but I assume they’re supposed to be cogs. Angelica demands to speak with Santa Claus, because apparently he’s someone who cares, which confuses the man on the other end. He tries to tell her she has the wrong number, but Angelica being Angelica, screams and demands he let her speak with Santa. The guy then decides to pretend he’s Santa and asks Angelica what she wants. She says that she’s just calling to confirm whether or not she’s on The Good List or The Bad List this year. The fellow, seemingly still a little salty about her screaming at him decides to tell her she’s on The Bad List before thanking her for calling. Angelica buys it and declares her future as a kid is over, which seems rather dark.
It’s not that Santa is in good shape Chas, it’s that you’re in bad shape. You’re climbing up a ladder, for God’s sake! Not a rock wall!
Outside, Chas is struggling to climb onto the roof, but he gets there and remarks that Santa must be in good shape. The background music seems to play this off like a joke on Chas since everyone knows Santa is a fat guy. Is he actually going to go down the chimney? Hasn’t he seen Gremlins?! Stu is then shown opening the front door with a stack of presents in his arms which causes him to not see one of his son’s traps. He trips over the popcorn string and tumbles over the sound of which causes Tommy to wake up and call to the other babies “Our traps!” They effortlessly free themselves from their confines and race out into the living room, but are disappointed to see it’s just Tommy’s dad.
That would make me scream too. I’m surprised the other adults are so nonchalant about Chas’ little stunt.
Chuckie is relieved to find it wasn’t Santa as the four stand around the fireplace. That’s the cue for Chas to come down the chimney and the sight of him in his Santa costume covered in soot causes Chuckie to scream. Tommy reacts quickly by grabbing a fire poker and laying it across the glass door on the fireplace effectively trapping his buddy’s dad who is now screaming in a panic. This is going well. Stu comes over and frees his misguided friend which causes the babies to all run away screaming. Chas comes out calling to Chuckie that he’s not Santa before sadly adding “It’s just me,” as he removes the hat and beard. Chuckie then stops cowering in the corner to look at him, smiles, and runs over to him embracing his leg. Chas picks him up and now a smile crosses his face as the other adults all say “Aww.” I’ll always have a soft spot for old Chas the single dad just trying to get things right and often screwing up.
Well look who showed up. Why doesn’t this ever happen at any of the Christmas parties I go to?
The other babies then come out of their hiding spots relived it was only Chuckie’s dad. Angelica declares there is no Santa and that she’s saved! You know we can’t leave it at that right? Of course not, which is why the doorbell rings. Grandpa answers it and it’s Santa (Neil Ross) who informs the crew there’s a problem with the chimney. Angelica gulps while Drew comes over to welcome Santa into their cabin, clearly thinking this is the guy he hired, but is it?
What a good shot, the wholesomeness here is causing me to melt!
Santa immediately walks over to Tommy and calls him by his name handing him a present. He does the same for Phil and Lil, but when he gets to Chuckie he asks him “Still think I’m so scary?” Which brings him to Angelica, who greets him with a wide smile and thumb’s up. He hands her a pretty large box and she tares into it to find a Deluxe Cynthia Beach House with real working hot tub, satellite dish, entertainment center, and attached garage! She shouts “I didn’t get a lump of coal!” and Santa responds with a chuckle, then adds “Sometimes trying to be good is as important as being good in the first place.”
I don’t know how I feel about Angelica getting a happy ending, but I am glad Phil and Lil got one.
His task done, Santa bids them all farewell as he exits through the front door. Didi declares it’s almost morning and suggests they all open gifts. I’m guessing she means it’s almost midnight, because it would be pretty ludicrous if they all had stayed up all night singing carols. This also only needs to be said so that Phil and Lil have a reason to exchange gifts. How they got them up there wrapped and all is a mystery that still confounds us all to this day. They’re obviously disappointed when they open their gifts for each other, but once the realization hits what each gave up in order to get the present for the other, they smile and hug. It’s at this point Angelica enters the picture with presents of her own. It seems she finally figured out that trading back with Phil and Lil was pretty stupid and still selfish on her part, so she just gifted them back the things she took. They run over and give her a big hug, and even though Angelica cries out “Eww, baby germs!” she does it while looking pretty happy.
Well, on the bright side Barney, I don’t think you have to suffer through many more Christmases given how you live.
Chuckie then finally admits to Tommy that he was right all along and that Santa was a nice guy. At the same time, Chas admits to Drew that he too was right to hire a professional. Drew agrees and is more than willing to give himself credit for the idea, but a phone call interrupts him. It’s some gray-bearded guy named Barney (Tony Jay) and we see he’s in a bathrobe in his home fetching himself some milk and cookies (he lives his gimmick). He says he’s calling from a car phone and tells Drew his vehicle skidded off the road and asks if they can reschedule the Santa thing? We just hear indecipherable screaming on Drew’s part from the other end as Barney hangs up the phone and says “I hate Christmas,” as he sinks into a lounge chair.
It’s impossible to draw a lump of coal and not have it look like a turd.
Drew angrily hangs up the phone as Chas asks him who that was. He starts to complain that the guy he hired to play Santa just cancelled, but as he says it out loud he realizes just what that means and looks shocked. Chas then asks “…who was that?!” as the two look confused on the couch and we hear the sound of sleigh bells in the background. We then find Angelica seated on the floor gushing over her new toy. She wonders aloud if there’s a car in the attached garage. She opens it and there’s something in there all right: coal! Didi even walks over and asks, “Angelica, is that a lump of coal?” Which just leaves Angelica to look stunned.
We then move to an exterior shot of the cabin and pan up into the sky as Santa flies by, with all eight reindeer, laughing “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” and the trail of stardust he leaves in the sky actually spells out the words “Merry Christmas.” And that’s the end of this one. Of course he’s real!
I’m actually a little surprised that Rugrats went full “It’s Santa!” I suppose they had to given they made it seem like he was fake all episode.
“The Santa Experience” is a bit of an odd episode of Rugrats because it’s light on babies, heavy on Angelica. Angelica has other episodes centered around her, but it’s a little surprising that a big double episode like this one would choose to follow her. And in a way, it makes sense that Angelica, who is famously spoiled, would play a big role in an episode about a holiday known for toys. She’s not the nicest kid, and even Arlene Klasky kind of hated the character, and most probably would just assume she’s going on The Naughty List. That would seem a bit mean-spirited for a cartoon though, so we need to get the full Angelica experience here so we can see what makes her bad, but also what makes he redeemable. Placing her in the center of The Gift of the Magi as the reason for why the sympathetic characters are in the predicament they wind up in and giving her the power to make it right is a rather creative solution. Though I don’t know about that conclusion from Santa. Is simply trying to be good equivalent to just being good? Especially when the good deed Angelica is trying to do is really just corrective action for something awful she did. In that, the episode tries to have its cake and eat it too by giving Angelica what she wants, but slipping in a lump of coal that’s really inconsequential.
Chuckie and his dad are so likable, maybe they should have leaned more into this relationship at the expense of some of the other stuff? As an aside, have you seen the Mother’s Day special? That’s a real grab the tissues watch.
The angle with the adults plays about as big of a role as Tommy and Chuckie’s quest to trap Santa. Neither is that interesting as the Angelica plot takes center stage, but it at least leads to the satisfying conclusion with Santa. The cabin was basically just the easiest way to get everyone under the same roof, and honestly, it’s kind of sweet to see this group of friends be so close that they want to spend Christmas together. It’s also rare to see adults openly talk about Santa as if he isn’t real in a show that is unquestionably meant for young children. This episode might have caught some kids in that sweet spot where they still believe, but are also questioning things, and that ending feels like a reassurance. On the other hand, it probably found just as many kids who weren’t yet in that questioning stage and now suddenly are. If I sound a bit obsessive or nitpicky here, it’s because this is the type of stuff I’m careful to avoid with my kids, especially my youngest. I guess what I’m asking is does it make it okay for a kid’s show to present Santa as fake, only to reveal he’s real in the end? That’s something I personally grapple with, but I could be in the minority.
As for other Christmas stuff, there actually isn’t a lot. Most of the adults just sport their regular attire and the same is true for the kids. It would have been nice to see the babies in some ugly sweaters, but I guess they blew the budget on the new backgrounds for the cabin, mall, etc. I like that the episode’s title ties into The Santa Experience of the show and the final reveal of Barney is pretty comical, and also pitiful. Barney’s not long for this world. The bit with Angelica calling the fake help line feels almost cruel, and yet a touch satisfying since for once it’s Angelica who is having the tables turned on her. How much you enjoy that scene of the guy telling her she’s on The Bad List might be a litmus test for how you’ll respond to her actually getting a present in the end. As for that guy, man is he something. Even if a kid was rude to me on the phone, I don’t think I’d have the heart to play Santa and tell them they’re not getting any presents this year.
Note that there’s only one car, the mystery of how the babies got here deepens!
“The Santa Experience” ends up being a solid episode of Rugrats. I don’t think it’s the classic it could have been though. Klasky-Csupo was right to dedicate a full 22 minutes here, but it still feels a little too unfocused. There’s little riding on the non-Angelica stuff, and while I love the Chas/Chucky embrace and the Santa payoff is nice, getting there just seems to take longer than it should. It just needed a jolt of excitement and that’s really obvious when doing a write-up like this as we keep just returning to Tommy and Chuckie having the same conversation scene after scene. Those two never even talk to Phil or Lil in this episode, or Angelica, which is bizarre. Still, if you like Rugrats and you like Christmas shows then this is probably worth watching each year and it’s pretty easy to come by. It’s streaming on both Hulu and Paramount+ and it’s been released on DVD several times which are probably fairly cheap at this point. And you might as well pair it with the other Nicktoons Christmas specials from the 90s. I guess that means I’ll have to do Doug some day.
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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