Now that Christmas season is upon us, I have the awesome task to watch every single Christmas Special that I have ever taped. And considering the amount of shows that I taped in the mid to late 90s, and my recent tape trading adventures, there are lots to watch. I always begin on American Thanksgiving, as that is technically when the Holiday season starts. Kinda like how the Royal Rumble is where the Road to WrestleMania starts. Up here in Canada, there really isn’t any “official” start date to speak of, so the American one will do. This year I have also been able to track down Thanksgiving Day Parades from the 80s, so they automatically become the first specials that I watch.
Anyway, there are some specials that have priority over others. Most years I run out of time before I run out of specials, so these ones are brought to the front of the line. There is a pecking order here, and if I don’t see these, Christmas is officially cancelled. Lucky for you that’s never happened, or you wouldn’t have gotten that Video Game System or ugly sweater from that Aunt that doesn’t see very well.
So pour yourself a glass of egg nog, and grab a seat by the fireplace as I present my Must-Watch List of Christmas Specials!
G.I. Joe
Now here’s an action packed special to say the least. Cobra shrinks a massive army and places themselves in Children’s toys that the Joes were to deliver. Their Trojan Horse play works and the capture the Joes in their own headquarters. Cobra then decides to use to Joes equipment to attack Keystone City. Its up to the Joes to escape their captors and stop Cobra before they sully their good name. Now there’s a Christmas Special! I’d say its worth it just for hearing Cobra Commander saying “Sssssseasonsss Greetingssss”.
Hey Arnold
Of the entire list, this special is easily the most touching of all. The tenants draw names for a Secret Santa, and Arnold draws Mr. Whin’s name. Not knowing what to buy him, Arnold speaks with Mr. Whin, and learns that he had a daughter that he gave up when his nation was at war. He had tracked her to this city, but had yet to find her. Arnold sets out to find Mr. Whin’s missing daughter. Along the way, Helga looks for the perfect gift to anonymously buy Arnold. In the end, it comes down to Helga selflessly giving away her Nancy Spimoni Snowboots in order to help Arnold. And he never finds out! It’s a modern day classic that I watch with Ma every year.
Bump In The Night
This feature length special features Mr. Bumpy and Squishy traveling to the North Pole to steal Santa’s legendary sack. Along the way, they are aided by others, who in turn would like something from Santa’s sack. This baby is worth it for the North Pole scenes alone.
Pee-Wee’s Christmas Special
Make your jokes, but Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was one hell of a show. In fact, screw that, don’t make any jokes. In this special, Pee-Wee gives all of his friends awesome gifts while he in return is plagued by fruitcakes. In addition, Santa is unable to fill Pee-Wee’s gigantic list. But with help from tons of celebrities of the day, including Magic Johnson, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, Pee-Wee still has an incredible Christmas. Plus a ride in Santa’s sleigh to boot.
X-Men
In this special, several of the X-Men find themselves in the Morlock tunnels. It seems that young Leech is sick, and there is little that can be done, without the X-Men’s help. Jubilee learns the true meaning of Christmas as she sees that even Morlocks can have a great Christmas with what little they have. And the battle between Gambit and Jean Grey in the kitchen is priceless!
Brand Spanking New Doug
Doug’s deals with Christmas being overshadowed by the eminent arrival of a new baby to the Funnie family. So he decided to have a “secret” Christmas with Porkchop in his room. In the end, Christmas arrives, if not a few days late, and Doug has a new sister, Cleopatra Dirkbike Funnie. Kinda sad because as I recall, they had a contest to determine the new name, and THAT was the BEST they could do?
Christmas With The Joker
I have watched this special every year since it came out in 1992. Batman’s greatest foe, The Joker, escapes from Arkham Asylum, and kidnaps Commissioner Gordon, Summer Gleeson, and Detective Bullock. And if that wasn’t enough, he sets up his own Christmas Special to mock Batman! It’s the show that nobody wants to see, but everyone will watch! I can’t tell you how many times I reenacted the train scene with my Batmobile and our train set. And that scene where Batman gets the pie in the face! So Funny! I gotta watch that soon.
Garfield’s Christmas
It’s a good on fashion Christmas down on the farm. A little overeating never did you any harm. Basically Garfield stumbles upon some old letters to Jon’s Grandmother, while Odie builds a backscratcher for Garfield. Hmmm, I wonder why Dok never did that. And after all of those treats I gave him.
The Tick
A criminal dressed as Santa Claus escapes from police, but becomes electrocuted and gains the ability to multiply, setting off a Christmas crime spree the likes of which have never been matched by other teams of Santas. The Tick and the gang try to stop them, but Tick just can’t find it in his heart to punch Jolly Old Saint Nick. Somehow he has to overcome this issue, or Christmas could be in trouble. I can’t tell you how many times I missed taping this special, before finally getting it in 2001.
Super Mario World
In their new home of Dinosaur Land, the Mario Brothers decide to hold Christmas in August, so the Cave People will be nicer to each other. Koopa learns of this and decides to steal all of the presents for his own Koopa Kids for Koopa Christmas. Santa Claus (Mario) and Yoshi journey to Neon Castle to get the presents and a certain stowaway back to safety. I gotta say, I don’t understand why the Koopa Kids were never brought back for the newer Mario games. They were great!
Wow, just talking about these fills me with Christmas Spirit! I’m really interested to see how many specials I can get through this year. Confidence is high! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some specials to watch. Christmas just might depend on it.
