Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and these are five Christmas specials which have stuck with me through the years.
The First Celebration
Welcome to the first true Christmas celebration on this blog!
Last holiday season, this blog was just getting started. I was too focused on setting my standard tone to get all that jolly.
This year, things are more established, and I’m good to take in the season. And what better way to celebrate than by mirroring one of my Halloween posts this year?
Around Halloween, I listed three cartoon episodes which scared me away. Why not balance that with some Christmas specials that truly embody the season?
In fact, let’s do better than balance. Halloween featured three scary cartoons. I say Christmas deserves five memorable specials.
Now, keep in mind, this is a list of memorable specials for me. My list focused mainly on personal impact. These are the stories which come to my mind when I think of Christmas.
Frosty the Red-Nosed Cheat Comes to Town
I’m going to cheat a bit for this first one. Special number one is the entire catalog of Rankin-Bass Christmas specials.
That’s right. I’m counting Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Clause Comes to Town, Year Without a Santa Claus, and more all as one item.
There’s a few reasons for this cheat.
For one, I don’t want to fill this list with classic Rankin-Bass specials. There are many held dear in my heart, and choosing only one would feel unfair.
Biggest reason would be how these specials all blend together in my mind. Rudolph and Frosty are the most distinct since I’ve watched them the most.
Most of the specials share an unmistakable stop-motion style. Frosty the Snowman is an exception, being a more traditional hand-drawn cartoon.
All in all, these specials are a simple joy for me. I enjoy the simple songs and the loving warmth.
Rudolph is a simple story of outcasts finding community. Frosty is a sappy story of friendship. The Year Without a Santa Claus is an excuse for supernatural brothers Snow Miser and Heat Miser to sing songs bragging about their powers.
These specials are a nice, easy way to get into the Holiday spirit. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need around this time of year.
Can There Be a Christmas Under the Sea
Now for a special which actually premiered in my lifetime. This would be legendary undersea Nicktoon SpongeBob SquarePants’ first Christmas special, “Christmas Who?”
SpongeBob learns of Christmas from his land squirrel friend Sandy Cheeks. He actually tries to save her at first when he thinks Christmas lights mean her tree dome is on fire.
Excited after hearing about Santa Claus, SpongeBob sweeps the whole town of Bikini Bottom into the Christmas spirit. Almost everyone writes a letter to Santa. SpongeBob even builds a device to send these letters to the surface.
Only exception is SpongeBob’s neighbor Squidward. He sees Santa as a “jolly prowler who breaks into your house.” He refuses to get swept in any of SpongeBob’s antics.
Squidward seems to be proven right when Santa doesn’t come to Bikini Bottom. Apparently, SpongeBob’s device just left everyone’s letters floating in the waves.
Squidward tries to rub this whole thing in SpongeBob’s miserable face. Even to the point of donkey sound effects playing.
Thing is, SpongeBob made Squidward a gift. The poor guy didn’t want his neighbor to be left out on Christmas. Squidward winds up getting the town’s only Christmas gift, a personally engraved hand-crafted clarinet.
Realizing SpongeBob just wanted to spread joy, Squidward proceeds to dress as Santa and bring some cheer. Others see Squidward’s Santa act soon enough, and everyone gets carried away in the spirit of the season. Squidward even empties his home to get everyone a gift.
First half of this special does a great job showing the joy preparing for Christmas together. Second half brings in a heartful display of giving. It really is something to behold.
The Eds Ring Some Bells
Ed, Edd, n Eddy can be a cruel show to its main characters.
Sure, Eddy tries to scam kids out of their allowances to get money for jawbreakers. Sure, Ed and Double D sometimes act as muscle and brains even when they know a scam is wrong.
Still, you watch enough stories of these kids, and they start to grow on you. You see them get their come-uppance for scams so many times that you want them to win just once.
That moment doesn’t come until the series’ finale movie, but it sure comes close to happening in the series’ second Christmas special “Jingle, Jingle, Jangle.”
The special begins when Eddy sneaks a peak at his Christmas presents. When he discovers his parents only got him clothes, Eddy storms out of the house.
Eddy decides to forsake his family and seek adoption from one of his neighbors. Maybe that way he can get a decent present for once.
Ed and Double D follow along to talk Eddy out of this latest scheme.
As they always do, hijinks soon ensue.
Eddy slides out of a house turned into an ice castle. He gets kicked out of another for eating a prized gingerbread village. To top it all off, he even spits eggnog all over the most popular girl in the neighborhood.
Feeling dejected from his failed scheme, Eddy wanders along the edge of the neighborhood. Here he discovers a Christmas tree with a busted bulb and remembers a light Ed stored in his pocket earlier.
So, Eddy crawls through the snow and replaces the broken bulb. This kindness allows the tree to shine brighter than ever before.
Ed and Double D run out to embrace Eddy for giving of his heart and creating a grand display for everyone.
Soon all the neighbors come out to marvel at the tree too. The Eds are finally having their big moment in the sun on Christmas Eve.
Then Santa drops a sack of presents right on Eddy’s head.
Getting greedy, Eddy runs off with everyone’s gifts. Ed and Double D give chase only for the group to wind up trapped in a shed in a bizarre Nativity Scene.
Don’t get me wrong. This ending packs plenty of laughs, but I have to wonder how the special would’ve felt with a more heartwarming ending.
Ah well, like I said, that moment comes with the finale movie.
The Scroogiest Scrooge to Ever Scrooge
Seems fitting to include at least one version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. As Bart Simpson once said, TV writers have been milking this story for years.
So, which version of this tale will I feature here? The Muppets? The Jetsons? The Animaniacs?
No, I go for a simpler choice. I speak here of Disney’s very own Mickey’s Christmas Carol.
There aren’t many major twists and turns to this one.
Setting remains a traditional early industrial England. Many lines are repeated directly from the original story.
Most characters play the roles you’d expect. Mickey and Minnie are the Cratchits with three little mice as their kids. Scrooge McDuck is Ebenezer Scrooge, and Donald remains his nephew.
Ghosts have a few notable standouts. Goofy does surprisingly well as a stern Jacob Marley commanding Scrooge to change his ways. Jiminy Cricket crosses over from Pinocchio to be the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Ultimately, this is the classic story with few bells and whistles beyond Disney cameos.
Mickey Mouse provides a simple, heartwarming Christmas Carol. Plenty other versions of the story offer smart parodies and interesting angles, but Mickey Mouse gives you something genuine and meaningful.
The Realest Tearjerker
Time to finish this post with a special like no other.
This one achieves feelings which no other Christmas special has ever matched for me. This is classic Nicktoon Hey Arnold’s greatest episode “Arnold’s Christmas.”
For those not in the know, Hey Arnold! Stars Arnold. He’s an average football-headed fourth-grade miracle worker who lives in a boarding house run by his grandparents.
The special begins with everyone in the boarding house drawing names for Secret Santa. Arnold winds up pulling Mr. Hyunh. (Pronounced in the show as “win”)
Normally, Mr. Hyunh is a pretty cheerful guy. He never has much to say, but he’s a great presence around the house. For some reason though, he gets a bit distant during holidays.
Arnold think that maybe he can give Mr. Hyunh the best Christmas ever and cure his seasonal funk.
Then Arnold stumbles on more than he bargained for.
Mr. Hyunh reveals he once had an infant daughter. They lived together in a small village.
War came to their village. Mr. Hyunh realized his home was no place for a child. So, he gave his daughter to a solider who could give her a better life raising her in America.
Mr. Hyunh spent twenty years finding his way to America, to the city where the soldier lived. Unfortunately, Mr. Hyunh remained unable to find his daughter there. The city was a big, sprawling place. She could be anywhere.
Holidays soon became a time when Mr. Hyunh would see families gathered together and feel the weight of everything all over again.
There are many stories of families reuniting and reconciling at Christmas. Thing is, most of those stories deal with people who chose to leave each other then chose to mend years later.
War wasn’t something many realistic cartoons were willing to cover. Cartoons especially didn’t want to cover it at a cheery time like Christmas.
This special was different. Hey Arnold! was different. These writers never once talked down to the kids in the audience. The result is a Christmas story which brings tears to my eyes every single time.
I don’t want to spoil too much about the rest of the special.
For now, I’ll just say Arnold did everything he could to find Mai Hyunh. His efforts were nearly wasted until one of his classmates decided to be his Christmas angel. She gave up her own Christmas gift to help the Hyunh family get back together.
No other special better illustrates the importance of family on Christmas.
And a Happy New Year!
And there you have it. Five memorable Christmas specials.
There’s plenty more to say about each of them. Still, I feel there’s value in looking at them together this way.
There’s a lot to Christmas. Treasured traditions, inspired classics, simple pleasures, storied histories. All of it comes together in creating the happiest time of the year.
I wish merry Christmas, joyous New Year, and happy holidays to all of you!
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