AVAHS – Fairly Oddparents: Merry Wishmas Review

Plot: When Timmy discovers that many people didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas, he decides to share his magic with everyone in Dimmsdale – he wishes that Cosmo and Wanda would deliver a special coupon worth one wish to everyone. This new ‘Wishmas’ is a big hit – a little too big. Vicky uses her wish to ask for one million wishes, which everyone nabs up. The excessive wishing overloads the Big Wand, causing a shut down.

When Jorgen receives happy reception from children, he takes this opportunity to take Christmas away from Santa, disliking that he gets credit for giving toys to children by using fairy magic every year. No one cares about Christmas anymore – they just want Wishmas.

Meanwhile, Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves move into Timmy’s house now that he’s out of a job. They drive everyone, particularly Timmy’s mom, nuts because of their crazy behavior and constantly eating milk and cookies.

Jorgen blocks every attempt to return Santa back to his former Christmas glory, wanting to keep Christmas for himself. Is there any way Timmy can get Christmas back and end this Wishmas nightmare?

Breakdown: Welcome to this year’s A Very Animated Holiday Special, everyone! We’ve got a lot of holiday cheer to go over this year, so let’s dive in!

This Christmas special aired right after I starting paying much less attention to FOP, which I like to call the Post-Poof era. I don’t really have much against Poof, but his appearance definitely felt like the first instance of jumping the shark – something everyone pretty much deduced. Introduce a baby if you want to make no secret of your shark-jumping. It’s a shame FOP had to undergo about three more jumps of the shark before someone finally put it out of its misery.

But I digress.

Christmas Everyday, the FOP Christmas special that precedes this one, is a beloved Christmas Nicktoon classic. I love it, and I watch it every year. I said as much when I reviewed it for 2017’s AVAHS. The main issue I had with that episode was the ending. The main conflict of the special was the other holidays looking to basically snuff Santa so they could take over the year with their own celebrations because they felt overlooked and underappreciated while standing forever in Santa’s shadow.

Timmy talks them down by…confirming that they’re nowhere near as good as Christmas but they like them just fine, even though the song earlier spent a whole verse talking about how crappy the other holidays are (“New Year’s Eve’s for Mom and Dad. The Easter Bunny’s eggs smell really bad! Valentine’s Day always makes me sad…” “Cuz Timmy just can’t get a girlfriend!”) and greatly contradicts that sentiment. He makes no effort to talk about their good points….and it works.

The other holidays realize they were wrong or something, Santa’s returned to normal and they’re able to unwish the constant Christmas wish. The only real lesson of the special is that Christmas is something really special that should only be celebrated once a year, otherwise it’s not special anymore.

With Merry Wishmas, we have a pretty good setup, but it is the part of the episode that makes the least amount of sense. Timmy doesn’t get the sled he asked for, so he celebrates ‘Wishmas’ which seems to be a holiday he made up to wish for everything on his list that he didn’t get, starting with the sled. The message is already kinda in your face because Timmy literally has a mountain of presents and he’s bitching about not getting a sled. If the message wasn’t already in your face, Wanda has to straight out tell Timmy that he shouldn’t focus on the stuff he didn’t get and should just be thankful for the things he did get.

He goes off sledding with his friends only to find them sledding on their crappy gifts, like Chester riding on a trash can and AJ riding on a printer. I had to pause here because, really Santa? You gave Chester, the dirt-poor kid in town, a trash can for Christmas? While Timmy gets a mountain of stuff AND fairies? What is wrong with you?

Also, I thought AJ was rich. Why is he complaining about anything?

It seems no one in town, not even Timmy’s dad, got what they asked for this Christmas – so much so that the song of the special is the kids singing about the weird gifts they got in place of the stuff they asked for. The song is called ‘Not on the List’ and even though ‘I Wish Everyday Could Be Christmas’ is better, I still really enjoyed this song. It’s very catchy and easy to sing along with. However, given the more negative sentiment, I’d be hardpressed to want to sing it during the holidays.

Also, some of the presents make sense and are things kids sometimes get in place of the stuff they actually wanted for Christmas, like the wrong toys, educational toys, books and underwear, but who is giving these kids cheese, a backhair trimmer, self-help books, tickets to a golf invitational and beef jerky?…..And why did Chester get a damn trash can!? I’m not letting that go.

Why was Santa doing this? Some kids, like Vicky, just don’t deserve what they asked for, but it seems like no one got what they wanted this year. The ending might imply that he planned for this to happen, but we’ll cross that bridge in a bit.

Timmy wishes that everyone in Dimmsdale had their own ‘Wishmas’ by having Cosmo and Wanda dress up like holiday mailmen and deliver a coupon to everyone that was worth one wish each. Timmy’s heart is in the right place here, but like every episode, it backfires on him.

Of course, everyone wishes for ridiculous stuff, and Vicky nabs the most obvious wish loophole and wishes for a million wishes. I first thought Vicky would be the main villain of the special after that, but she isn’t. The massive magic needed to use these coupons overloads the Big Wand back in Fairy World, but, shockingly, Jorgen isn’t upset about it.

Since everyone in the world now loves Wishmas, Jorgen jumps at the chance to take Christmas for himself since he views Santa as a glory hog for getting all the love and attention on Christmas when he uses all of the fairies’ magic to give the gifts. He won’t allow Timmy to unwish the wish or wish away Wishmas because he’s loving the fame and attention now. Yes, believe it or not, Jorgen is technically the baddie in this special, though the focus really isn’t on combating him.

It’s strange. You’d think Jorgen wouldn’t be on board with this because obviously giving one or unlimited wishes to everyone in world, even just for one day, would be a bad idea and a huge strain on their magic supply, but I guess we’re just working on the honor system that no one will wish for world conquest or for time and space to fall apart or for this godforsaken series to last ten seasons.

Santa, who is still in his fat and jolly form even though continuity would dictate that once he no longer had fairy magic he’d revert back to his other more ‘normal’ businessman-esque form, but whatever, for some reason needs to move in with Timmy now that he’s out of a job, taking his wife and elves with him. This twist doesn’t make full sense to me, but I’m choosing to ignore it.

Timmy spends the bulk of the year hoping Santa will get up the heart to fight for Christmas, but it takes him until Christmas rolls back around for Timmy to take matters into his own hands. He captures Cosmo and Wanda in a butterfly net and traps Jorgen in a magic cell, forcing Wishmas to not come and Christmas to return.

Timmy and every other kid realizes that they should share their gifts with those less fortunate and be thankful for what they have. Christmas returns, and the kids start giving away a bunch of the stuff they asked for to other kids who aren’t as privileged, and Santa even kinda encourages the viewer to do the same.

During the entire episode, Timmy has been following an eerily accurate Christmas storybook about the current events. It’s not dictating his actions, it’s kinda predicting how everything goes and narrates as the story goes on. It’s not constant, though, so it’s never annoying. However, the ending reveals that Santa wrote the book and left it under the tree for Cosmo to find and read, probably after he heard Timmy being ungrateful for what he had, which….raises a massive load of questions.

Assuming Santa didn’t purposefully not give everyone what they wanted for Christmas, he decided to put the entire world at risk by leading Timmy into wishing for Wishmas, allowing everyone at least one wish (Jorgen does shut down the magic when they wish too much, so there’s a cap here, but still) Santa maybe intentionally crashed with Timmy even though, logically, he should have a place to live even without a job, just to further this story. He tormented Timmy’s poor parents for a full year, practically destroyed their house, and all because Timmy made the misguided wish to help everyone get what they wanted for Christmas and he wanted to teach Timmy a lesson about appreciating what you got and focusing more on giving, not receiving.

That’s uhm…..Ya know, Timmy wasn’t even one of the people singing the ‘Not on the List’ song. Though, maybe that’s because he just wished for the sled he didn’t get. I have to wonder how Timmy even has stuff to wish for on Christmas. He has fairies all year round. Why wouldn’t he wish for a sled before now?

Timmy was ungrateful, sure, but he didn’t really act bratty about it. Also, how does getting a buttload of wishes and then getting them taken away the next year teach the populace that giving is better than receiving? I would have put an addendum on the coupon that said ‘you must use this wish for the sake of another person’ or something. People are pissed because they want to use the coupons for themselves, but they find using the wishes for the good of others is great. Giving away gifts when the wishes are taken away is the next best thing.

Despite there being a lot of logistic issues in the writing, I have no problem saying this episode is about as good as Christmas Everyday. The overall plot may have a lot of wrinkles, but the dialogue and pacing are very snappy. I found myself smiling several times and even laughing and rewinding to re-hear jokes because they were that good.

I’d say that the smaller overarching plot problems spanning the entire episode, collectively, are about as bad as the resolution in Christmas Everyday. I might even say that Merry Wishmas is funnier than Christmas Everyday and has an actual message to it that’s beneficial, even if it takes some mental gymnastics to get there.

The only thing that might keep notching it down to the same level as Christmas Everyday is the fact that Santa went way overboard with this, and his plan doesn’t really make a lot of sense, at least the way he framed it.

He built it like this. Make Wishmas – everyone’s happy – loves Wishmas – No longer needs Christmas – take Wishmas away – People appreciate what they get for Christmas more and want to give not receive.

However, when you really think about it, this is what would logically happen. Make Wishmas – everyone’s happy – loves Wishmas – No longer needs Christmas – Take Wishmas away – Greedy people no longer get stuff they want – must beg Santa to return to keep getting stuff.

Nowhere along that path can I really see where Timmy and the other kids would suddenly start gaining an appreciation for what they have and feel compelled to share their things with those less fortunate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that the message is in there, but the plot didn’t properly set the stage for the actual revelation. It was moreso setup and divebomb into payoff.

That and Jorgen’s acting really out of character in this episode. He initially gets angry, sure, and he does love the spotlight, yeah, but putting the entire world at risk by giving literally everyone at least one wish (maybe even Crocker!) is not something he’d do for a little attention once a year. The fact that he wants to take down Santa when he makes his return is even worse.

Overall, despite my problems with the plot’s writing, this is a very funny, sweet and enjoyable FOP Christmas special that I would be glad to add to the annual Christmas special watch list. It’s certainly on par with Christmas Everyday, I can safely say that much. I didn’t even notice Poof was there most of the time, which is weird, because at this point he hasn’t even been in the series long enough to warrant changing the theme song animation. You’d think he’d get a little more focus. It’s even Poof’s first Christmas, so that’s a bit of a missed opportunity there.

Side-note: This episode really makes me miss Timmy’s dad. He’s such a hilarious character when they actually take advantage of Daran Norris’ voice acting properly. His antics as ‘Nogman’ here were definitely a major highlight and a great way to build upon the running joke from Christmas Everyday.

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Cartoons Step-by-Step: Rugrats S01 Ep01

Plot: It’s Tommy’s first birthday, and his parents have pulled all the stops to make it great. Didi has plenty of entertainment and food setup while Stu is inventing a gift. However, Tommy’s much more interested in trying some of Spike’s dog food, believing that it will turn him into a dog.

Breakdown: I don’t think I need to reiterate how much Rugrats means to me. It was a huge part of my childhood, and spawned my love of all things Nickelodeon (back in the good ol’ days when the execs weren’t braindead dimwits…Er were slightly less braindead I suppose.) I was obsessed with Rugrats for well over a decade, and I cherish the show to this day.

That being said, this pilot was always boring as hell to me.

To me, this first episode seems a lot more like it’s made for parents than it is children. One of the great things about Rugrats is, due to the premise, it is very easy for children and parents/adults alike to enjoy it, but this episode does seem focused more on the parents.

It takes a quarter of the episode before any of the babies even speak, and rarely is there a joke to be had until the climax.

Instead we have to watch the human paradox that is Didi have a fit over this birthday party. I swear, she will obsess over everything related to parenthood because her ultimate goal in life is to be a good mother (“like the ones on TV” ~Didi) but even this early on she is completely oblivious to what Tommy wants, needs or is doing most of the time.

Instead, she’d rather bow down to the glory of the almighty Dr. Lipschitz books, to the point where her catchphrase is ‘Dr. Lipschitz says…’, causing her to actually be a less effective mother. (I can’t find info on this, but is Lipschitz’ name a joke? Like everything he says is bull shit?)

Not to say she is competent without him. Didi let Tommy slide off of her lap and wander into the kitchen (which is closed off by it’s own door by the way, for anyone who might argue that she can still watch him), which was about his fifth time attempting to get in there without anyone noticing. She is always losing track of where the kids are, which has become one of the most well-known tropes of this series. (Even though all of the parents are negligent in their own right).

At least I can say Tommy was always picked up and brought somewhere else shortly after these attempts, before the climax of course. But let’s address that later.

Stu is up to his goofball inventor tricks, but he’s mostly babbling about his Hover-rama, a flying remote controlled spaceship thing, that he made for Tommy. Though he never gets it working purely because he forgot the batteries. Maybe that’s supposed to be funny because he’s brought up how impressive his gift is because it takes like four different kinds of batteries about five times at this point, but he seriously ends up crying because he forgot the batteries for the remote. He barely looks for any, either. He checks his pockets, gets a sullen look, then sits down and cries.

There are three shining lights in the adult section, though. Betty is usually always funny in the early seasons. In the later seasons, she becomes more of a bitch and an idiot. She’s in direct contrast to Didi. While she is fairly negligent of her children’s activities in her own right, she definitely knows more about children than Didi does. Even small observations like the fact that the party hats Didi puts on them will be quickly discarded are made a little funny because of the stark contrast. When you think about it, both Didi and Betty are realistic parents, it’s just that Betty is more relatable and funny.

Next, Grandpa Lou also brings some grounding reality to the household with some of his comments, along with Grandpa Boris and Grandma Minka.

Finally, the puppet show is the funniest part of the episode. Stu and his brother, Drew, father of Tommy’s famously horrible cousin, Angelica, put on a puppet show after Didi messes up the scheduling for the puppeteers. Their bickering is pretty funny and just gets increasingly entertaining.

At the climax, all of the kids go into the kitchen while the adults are focused on the bicker-fest of Stu and Drew, who never break out from behind the stage and fight as puppets the whole time.

Spike has eaten all of his food, so Tommy and Angelica try to reach a can of it on the top of the shelves by them both standing on the counter balanced on a bunch of bowls and colanders while Tommy balances on Angelica’s shoulders. See why many people grew to be outraged at the Rugrats’ parents over time? If they bothered to pay a modicum of attention to their kids, they’d realize that Angelica and Tommy were in a situation where they could easily both smash their heads in on the tile.

They can’t reach it, so Chuckie, resident scaredy cat and Tommy’s best friend, decides to use the Hover-rama to knock it down. Chuckie has batteries in his pocket for some reason, and he’s able to instantly put the batteries in correctly, meaning he has better battery skills than most adults I know.

Chuckie, amazingly, pilots the Hover-rama perfectly from the living room into the kitchen, despite not being able to see it, and, with the skill of a surgeon, is able to position and maneuver the Hover-rama to the shelf right by the dog food and starts nudging it over.

Phil and Lil, Betty and her husband, Howard’s, twins, known for being more gross than most of the kids, ruin it by grabbing the remote and start trying to do the job better than Chuckie, which turns out like you’d expect. They accidentally grab Tommy with the Hover-rama and fly him all over the kitchen, knocking Angelica into a bag of flour, knocking the stack of bowls and stuff that they were standing on over, spraying the room with water from the hand nozzle from the sink, knocking over a stack of plates and all without any of the adults ever hearing a thing.

They even fly Tommy into the living room, where the parents are, and they still don’t notice a thing until the Hover-rama is crashed into the cake.

Chuckie was really funny when he was flying the Hover-rama, though. Not only does he have the skills, he also knows some pilot lingo.

In the end, Didi simultaneously shows us the insanity of a regular family and the insanity of trying to mediate one by pacifying everyone who is arguing by telling Drew and Stu they’re both wrong for what they did to each other as kids and telling both of her parents that they’re right on their opposing sides of what cake they should’ve had at the party (Boris was right, though. It should always be chocolate.)

And the babies did indeed get some dog food, which they promptly spat out. Which is weird, because they eat worms and bugs and stuff.

All in all, this episode is really boring, but it’s somewhat salvageable. The periods of no music don’t really help. I’m not saying every scene needs music, otherwise I’d have to apologize to 4Kids. But there are scenes that are just too quiet to keep your attention.

The funny moments are sporadic, but the ending is somewhat solid.

Just for fun, let’s have two running tallies, because, trust me, this will be interesting to keep track of at each season’s end.

Parenting Fails

I didn’t count exactly, but let’s go with about eight times the kids sneaked away with no one noticing. (Let’s also include an ‘at blame’ counter, to see who comes out looking better as parents. In this case, though, while Didi and Stu technically have more, all of the parents are guilty. Stu, Didi, Drew, Betty, Howard, and even the grandparents, Boris, Minka, and Lou. Chas and Charlotte are innocent because they simply weren’t here.)

The entirety of the climax, which will count as three.

Stu thinking it’s not unsafe for babies to have a complicated flying machine as a toy, especially with tons of batteries. Also note that the battery compartment for the remote is not secured with a screw or anything. You push the door and it opens.

No one noticing that Chuckie had batteries.

No one noticing that Tommy has a real screwdriver (his later one is a toy).

Tally – 14

What the…They’re babies! (This category is for odd details that seemingly make no logical sense given these are babies, but this tally is mostly for fun considering some liberties have to be taken for humor.)

How did Tommy tape his screwdriver to the underside of his high chair?

How DID Chuckie know how to fly that thing so well? Especially considering that the controls look like crap.

How did Tommy and Angelica even get up on the counter like that?

Next episode, the Pickles hold a barbecue, and Tommy is brought along with his parents to a dinner with Stu’s newest investor prospect.

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AVAHS – Rugrats: A Rugrats Kwanzaa

Plot: Suzie’s Great Aunt T comes to visit after Christmas and makes plans to celebrate Kwanzaa with the family. After learning that part of Kwanzaa is about celebrating the great people in your family, Suzie laments that she has done nothing great like her siblings and parents have done. Wanting to partake in Kwanzaa, Suzie tries to do great things with the help of the babies, but continuously falters. Will Suzie really be left out of Kwanzaa or is she greater than she thinks?

Breakdown: So we’re at the second of two of the seemingly only animated Kwanzaa specials in existence with Rugrats. I praised Rugrats very highly for their venture into another seldom explored-on-screen holiday, Hanukkah, and I was disappointed to say the least with The Proud Family’s version. Does Rugrats bring some light to the kinara this year?

Yes and no.

While this rendition is definitely miles above what The Proud Family spewed out, I’d still be a bit hard-pressed to say it’s really all that great as a true Kwanzaa special.

Like I mentioned in The Proud Family’s Kwanzaa special review, there are seven days of Kwanzaa to cover, each with their own meanings and particular celebrations. You can’t just shove all of that to the wayside for something else and think it will still give the same weight.

Rugrats gives Kwanzaa more respect as a holiday, giving us more insight into its true meaning and a slight look into its history, but the whole Kwanzaa aspect is again shoved to the side for a plot about Suzie trying her best to be a great person. Not only that, but later on they delve into why Suzie’s ancestors, despite not having awards or fame, are great in their own right, such as her Great Uncle Charles being a very sweet man whose kindness actually led him and Aunt T into meeting Martin Luther King Jr., Suzie’s mother Lucy braving her stage fright to sing at church, and Aunt T giving Lucy her college tuition for Harvard Medical School when her financial aid fell through.

It’s true that part of Kwanzaa is celebrating your ancestors in various ways, and Suzie trying to find what’s great about her is a realistic way a three-year-old might approach this. This plot, as a whole, is solid enough. Not particularly great episode material, but good. My problem is that is takes up nearly the whole episode, once again pushing the Kwanzaa festivities aside.

Probably the worst aspect of this is that the special treats Kwanzaa like it is indeed a one-day event. They only cover the first day, Umoja, without even mentioning the fact that it’s a seven day event with six other principles to cover. And the special doesn’t even focus on that, really. It focuses more on being great in your own way and recognizing greatness in others in various ways. That’s a great lesson to learn, but it has little to do with unity.

If I wanted to go the extra mile, I might even say this special wasn’t even intending on being a Kwanzaa special at the start. You could almost take all of the Kwanzaa stuff out and the episode would not really be all that different.

It’s just really disappointing because they did such a phenomenal job on their Hanukkah special that I was expecting something at least nearing such quality for their Kwanzaa special.

There are also weird parts of this episode like….what are the babies even doing there? Why are they at the Carmichaels the day after Christmas? I wouldn’t be so bothered by this if any of their parents were there, but they’re not. The only parents who make an appearance besides Suzie’s are Phil and Lil’s and they only make a brief cameo.

Another weird thing is where the hell is Dil? This is season seven, and Kimi is there. Why would Tommy be babysat by the Carmichaels but not Dil? Angelica is also noticeably (and thankfully) absent, but she might have an excuse to not be present whereas I can’t think of a damn thing for Dil.

I love how Mrs. Carmichael is so flippant about leaving a house full of children. She doesn’t even mention that she’s leaving to anyone and no one notices that she’s gone either. Oh yeah, a parent in Rugrats not being irresponsible. Silly me.

I guess I appreciate that they didn’t end the episode with Suzie revealing some great hidden talent, even though it has been established that she’s a fantastic singer like her mother (send up to Cree Summer.) They just appreciate what she tried to do out of the kindness of her heart (making a gift for Aunt T, which ended up getting ruined.)

I also like how they included all of the babies in the festivities for Kwanzaa instead of making this a purely Suzie and the Carmichaels episode. I would’ve liked it a little better if they included all of the parents too, though, but I understand if budget or story constraints would prevent that, though.

I could make an argument that this episode does, subtly, include all of the principles of Kwanzaa.

Umoja, unity, is shown in all of the family finally getting together at the end during the power outage and spending time together.

Kujichagulia or self-determination is reflected in Suzie’s determination to do something great to be a part of Kwanzaa. Lucy also shows this in her determination to get over her fear and sing in the choir.

Ujima, collective work and responsibility, is reflected in the babies doing everything they can to help Suzie achieve something great. Additionally, Charles stops to help MLK Jr. with car troubles.

Ujamaa or cooperative economics is shown when Aunt T uses the money she and her husband have saved over the years for the tuition money to help Lucy become a great doctor.

Nia or purpose was touched upon when Aunt T was talking with Suzie about discovering what truly makes her great as she grows up.

Kuumba or creativity was shown when Suzie tried to hand-make a gift for Aunt T.

Finally, Imani or faith may be a difficult one, but it could be reflected in Aunt T telling Suzie to always be proud of who she is and where she came from. I could also make the stretch in merely the fact that there’s a scene in the church with Lucy singing ‘This Little Light of Mine’.

I’m basically reading something into nothing, but I find it kind of neat that you can apply all of the principles of Kwanzaa to the episode, more or less, even if they don’t even mention the others.

This special certainly did more things right than The Proud Family did. They weren’t talking down to anyone, bad-mouthing Christmas for no reason, making you feel like crap or giving mixed messages that contradicted themselves or were bad messages anyway. They were respectful of their audience, didn’t even mention Christmas outside of showing the tree and some gifts, made you feel fairly good for having watched it, and gave a clear and concise message that was actually good.

I really like Suzie as a character anyway. She’s always been a great foil for Angelica, which just makes it weirder that Angelica’s not here. Though, I guess, she really couldn’t have been given a decent spot in the plot.

She’s not being greedy for gifts, though she doesn’t understand the significance of her scrapbook gift when she gets it and is disappointed that it’s not something she can play with, at least she’s not slamming it on the floor and making a sarcastic comment about how it’s not a better gift like some Pennys I can think of. She’s just trying to be a part of the holiday and wants to make her family proud. Hehehhehehe, Proud Family. Hehehe, that’s funny for some reason.

All in all, this is a good episode, but just an okay Kwanzaa special. I just don’t think they had the same direction, inspiration and drive for this special as they did for the Hanukkah special.

Happy Kwanzaa everyone!

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