Regarding Christmas Episodes

M

m1l_ch1d0_d3l_2008

New member
It’s that time of the year again and various networks are showing Christmas episodes of their animated programs; some are new and some are old, but more often than not, they share common themes. I decided to create this thread so that we could discuss those themes and I am going to ask several questions in order to get things started.

(1) While there have been some Christmas episodes that have not made use of Santa Claus, they are quite rare, as most episodes in recent years have made use of Santa Claus or a variation of him. Do you believe that more Christmas episodes should be made without using Santa Claus, or are you fine with him being used as often as he is?

(2) What are your thoughts on animated programs that create their own holiday instead of using Christmas, even though many of them tend to borrow heavily from Christmas? Recent examples of this include Knishmas from “Chowder” and Ha-Woo-Chris-Foo-Nah-Kah-Mas from “Yin Yang Yo!”.

(3) Do you believe that more animated programs should have episodes for other holidays this time of year? An example of this is the episode of “Rugrats” that was about Chanukah.

That’s all of the questions that I have at the moment, but I’ll try to think of some more. In the mean time, I’d appreciate it if you take the time to answer these.
 
1) I think santa claus will always be a worldy figure representing christmas and is one of the most widley known way of sharing and giving, so as long it's not represented to promote something bad, I think he is swell in my book.


2) Kind of a good way to get around the censor, but why not just say "holidays" and get it over with, It's creative, just, older audiences would think there running out of ideas on trying not to offend people.


3) Well, that episode of rugrats was quite a while ago, and I don't see anything CLOSE to that happening soon, but, I did find it rather interesting myself to see them try to teach other things then "XMAS XMAS XMAS" down childrens throughts.
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I STRONGLY believe that more Christmas episodes should be made without using Santa Claus, After all, Xmas is SUPPOSED to be 'bout the birth of Jesus, so much, the better. Shows just how secular people can be when it comes to holidays. That an' money.
 
I agree with as a christian myself, but I think that santa claus is one of the only ways to represent the meaning of christmas as a whole without offending anyone and bringing the "religion" card into play.
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1. I don't mind Santa. I don't care if they make less episodes with him or not

2. I think its creative, but it only makes sense in a fantasy setting

3. I think that they should. It just get some varity in the holiday specials.
 
I agree heavily here, I am not religious by any means but if you make a Christmas special on a kids network a d make it about Jesus then some idiot is going to cry foul and cause a situation...
 
1. Well Santa is the most popular aspect of Christmas, especially for Children. Maybe there could be more Christmas specials about the Birth of Jesus, like The Little Drummer Boy, but that's harder to do nowadays when networks are more afraid than ever with offending other religions or even non-religious people.
2. Don't have much to say on this. Like someone else said, it's creative.
3. I think they should make more specials based on other holidays during this time of the year such as Hannukah and even Kwanzaa. It's only fair, as not everybody celebrates Christmas and it shows a respect for other groups. I'm Catholic, but I definitely enjoyed the Rugrats Hannukah and Kwanzaa specials myself and I even found it interesting learning more about those holidays.
 
1. I like the Santa angle, it less religious for children since as a kid I was more aware of the man in red suit rather than the baby born in the manger.

2. It okay, since I do use Decemberween term in public. Beside if it also mish mash the other holidays into it, then it deserves to be called something else.

3. I am opened to other cartoons doing special for the other holidays. So far only the Rugrats are the only cartoon that I can recalled that did a Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa episodes. I know the Proud Family did a Kwanzaa special.
 
The use of Santa Claus in Xmas specials doesn't bother me that much. Sure, the Jolly One is the embodiment of crass commercialism, and yes, Christmas is supposed to celebrate the birth of Christ, but we must remember that not everyone on the planet is Christian, so the use Claus is just a way for everyone to enjoy the holiday Christian or not. No one wants to hear a sermon outside of church.

I just don't like it when Xmas specials or episodes use that tired old plot line where a character is supposed to dress up as Santa Claus for the kiddies, and then a really convincing Santa comes in bringing joy and presents, and then the person who's supposed to be playing Santa shows up with some reason why they couldn't do it, and everyone goes 'Was that the real Santa...?" Geez, that is so contrived! Every show must have done that at least once.
 
I think people should remember that having a Christmas episode without Santa Cluas doesn?t mean that it has to rely on religion. I?m pretty sure the Christmas episode of ?Hey Arnold!? had nothing to do with Santa Claus; it was actually a rather classy episode, with Arnold trying to reunite Mr. Hyunh with his long-lost daughter so that they could spend the holiday together.
 
Santa's a big lie, created for children. What can other groups do if they get insulted? It's time everyone knew the truth. Besides, outside of St. Nick, Santa's got no biblical connections, just as the easter bunny's got no bible connection with the real meaning of Easter.
 
I'm not a fan of holiday episodes; they're situational and tend to be more or less filler/non-canon. The only time I really care for them is if they're important to the story/characters/plot; like in W.I.T.C.H. (Halloween night being when Earth's magic is at its strongest) or Rugrats (Mother's Day, basically being all about Chuckie's deceased mother)

As well written and nice Hey Arnold's was, I'm disappointed Mr. Hyunh's daughter was never seen or mentioned ever again. Still, it was entertaining, though, and I do prefer it when they don't involve Santa Clause or anything, but about the "meaning of Christmas", like Arnold doing a good deed for Mr. Hyunh.
 
I thought the Kim Possible Christmas special was pretty good though. For one the character doesn't have to learn what the true meaning of Christmas is. And well, Ron's idea for Kim's present is really heartfelt.
 
1) I say without. The aforementioned Hey Arnold episode is a good example of having a Christmas/holiday episode without shoehorning all the secular bullwark about 'the true meaning of Christmas is giving and receiving' into our faces.

2) I strongly advocate using made-up holidays as analouges to ANY Holiday, really. Especially if it doesn't make sense for them to be celebrating holidays that have strong religious roots (Christmas and Channukah)... like say, the Flintstones. Shows that take place in modern times or even the future are an exception, unless for the future it's a series focused on alien races and such. ('Santa Claus Conquers the Martians', anyone?)

It's not that I'm against religion (I'm actually quite a devout Catholic, mind you), I'm just against shoe-horning such holidays into series, shows or comics that are so far grounded away from reality in an attempt to to have a holiday episode for the sake of having one.

3) I don't think it would be a bad idea. I'm not Jewish, but I really enjoyed the Channukah specials that the Rugrats did a few years back.
 
I agree. Fictitious holidays are fun because they allow people to be creative and offer a break from usual sturm and drang that you're expected to do on concrete holiday specials. Plus it would make no sense for the citizens' of Chowder's world to be celebrating a Christian holiday, and it makes even less sense for the Flintstones to celebrate a holiday commemorating the supposed birth of Christ before Christ was born.
 
In the Flintstones' defense, festive holidays involving gift-giving being held at this time of year (often to commemorate the winter solstice, or various deities) were around for well before Christ's birth (Christmas being placed on December 25th was probably either out of the influence of, or an attempt at usurping, such other holidays). Thus, probably isn't *too* big a stretch to see the Flintstones celebrate the (secular) elements of Christmas... though why call it "Christmas" (vs. "Winter Solstice") might be good question. ;-)
 
Yeah, that's a cliche. But I like how they did it in Rugrats's "The Santa Experience": The guy who was supposed to be playing Santa called in to say he wasn't able to make it because his car skidded off the road, but it turns out he's just at home, being lazy and watching TV. :p

"I hate Christmas."
 
(1) While there have been some Christmas episodes that have not made use of Santa Claus, they are quite rare, as most episodes in recent years have made use of Santa Claus or a variation of him. Do you believe that more Christmas episodes should be made without using Santa Claus, or are you fine with him being used as often as he is?

I don't mind either way, Santa is an unavoidable part of Christmas. But I am a little sick of the "It's all about giving, not getting" line that they use a lot in Christmas specials when he shows up. We get it by now, seriously. Blah blah. They can use this message if they want, I won't scream, but try not to shove it in our faces.

(2) What are your thoughts on animated programs that create their own holiday instead of using Christmas, even though many of them tend to borrow heavily from Christmas? Recent examples of this include Knishmas from ?Chowder? and Ha-Woo-Chris-Foo-Nah-Kah-Mas from ?Yin Yang Yo!?.

I guess as long as it's in a universe/place/country/whatever where this makes sense... otherwise I think they should stick to the "mainstream" holidays.

(3) Do you believe that more animated programs should have episodes for other holidays this time of year? An example of this is the episode of ?Rugrats? that was about Chanukah.

Should, as in practically required? I don't know, but it would be interesting :)
 
1. I don't mind Santa showing up in a Christmas episode, but then again I also don't mind religious influences showing up in otherwise secular cartoons. The bit when Linus stops A Charlie Brown Christmas dead for an extended quote from the Bible is one of my favorite moments of TV.

Like Blackstar, I can live without the plot contrivance of, "Who was that red-velvet-suited man?" One of the reasons why I loved the Christmas episode of The Tick was because they presented Santa in their usual off-the-wall kind of way, as a kindly old elf surrounded by a security cordon of elf Secret Service agents.

2. Don't care. Whether some animated cast celebrates Christmas despite it making no sense or changes the words around so they're talking about Christmas without talking about "Christmas," I know what they're talking about and most kids are going to know what they're talking about. There's lots of reasons why you might not want to do this, and if anything, it might even work better to make it not-Christmas. Delivering a message indirectly can often be more powerful than playing it straight.

3. I'm totally cool with fitting alternate holidays into animated programming as long as it can be done without feeling like "A Very Special Episode of Whatever." This is true for just about anything, really, not just for the December holiday window. Ni Hao, Kai-lan did a whole episode about Chinese New Year, and I expect they'll do one for the Mid-Autumn Festival if they haven't already. I'm up for any excuse for a celebration.

For what it's worth, one of my favorite Christmas episodes ever was on Sam & Max, mostly because they just used the holiday like they would any other plot contrivance and sprayed laughing gas all over it. The Tick kind of did the same thing, although it relied a bit more on the conventions of Christmas. Not everyone can get away with that, but I appreciated that both of these shows didn't treat their Christmas episodes with any extra reverence.

-- Ed
 
Now that I think of it, regarding pagan holidays and such, there was that Ren & Stimpy story in which they replaced Xmas with Yaksmas when it came to Stimpy and his red scooter.
 
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