31 Days of Christmas

[Spark Of Spirit]

Doug Walker's critiques always get weird when he tries to explain why other people like things he doesn't. It's a strange habit he has to talk down other people's tastes. His Toy Story 3 rant was something quite bizarre, for instance.

That said, I actually didn't care too much for them as a kid compared to now. They're cute little specials that hit the exact mark they're aiming for. Not perfect, but well done.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

DAY 22:


The Twilight Zone- Night of the Meek

DAY 23:



DAY 24:



That TW episode is probably one of the more underrated ones, and it's one of the few to actually have a positive message to it, really showing you how heartwarming Christmas specials can be when even a show as notoriously cynical as this one would show some sincere compassion, here.

As for Home Alone, call them guilty pleasures of you wish, but I have a lot of nostalgic love for the first two movies. And true, the sequel was just a retread of the first movie, but it was the first Home Alone movie that I watched, so I'm especially attached to it. While not necessarily classics in any regard, I will still come back to these movies because on top of just being fun movies that bring me back to my youth, they can be genuinely heartwarming as well.

Scrooges is a really underrated take on and parody of A Christmas Carol, IMO. Admittedly, without Bill Murray's ingenious, trademark sarcastic humor, it'd probably be a really forgettable film, but his performance alone makes it worth watching every Christmas, and he really brings out the laughs as he carries the film the entire way through. I also just love the set-up since he is a modern day TV channel executive, and he also KNOWS the story of A Christmas Carol, so his synicism and witty remarks to everything that happens in the story just adds to the type of humor of this film.

[LumRanmaYasha]

That TZ episode is a good one, and it's a shame it's often overlooked.

Home Alone was a movie I loved as a kid, but doesn't quite do as much for me now. But the emotional center of the movie is quite strong and the ending is truly heartwarming. The sequels on the other hand...

I haven't watched Scrooged, but it's on Netflix last I checked, so I'll try to hit it up sometime.

[Daikun]

I haven't seen that Twilight Zone episode, regrettably.

Home Alone is just an okay movie, in my opinion. It's cute, but not great.

Scrooged is my favorite adaptation of the story. I watch that one every year.

[talonmalon333]

Great Twilight Zone episode.

Also, I still think Home Alone is a Christmas classic.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

As for Home Alone, a big factor of what makes it enjoyable is nostalgia. Growing up watching that movie every year was just something that has stuck with me until now. Of course, neither the first or second film will hold up as good when you're an adult, but when I ended up watching it with my kid sister last year, a rush of really fond memories came streaming back to me, and I just couldn't help but smile. Also, on the subject of Home Alone 2, whether you care for the movie itself or not, you just can't deny that all of Tim Curry's scenes are absolute gold.

[talonmalon333]

I wish I nominated Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. That has to be my favorite Christmas special alongside The Snowman.

[gunswordfist]

it is a classic. anyone who disagrees is soulless.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Making up for lost time here:

DAY 25



DAY 26:



DAY 27:


Urusei Yatsura- The House Of Mendou-Summer Christmas

DAY 28:


Maison Ikkoku- Love Takes Guts! Godai's Part Time Job Ploy! & A Bittersweet Favor! Budding Christmas Love!?

DAY 29:

FOX:


The Simpsons - Marge Be Not Proud


American Dad! - Minstrel Krampus

DAY 30:

FOX:


Futurama- A Tale Of Two Santas


American Dad- Rapture's Delight

[LumRanmaYasha]

E-K, that UY pic you've got isn't from that episode. Use this one instead:

Spoiler

[close]

Anyways:

Miracle on 34th Street - Haven't seen this one yet. I should, I know.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Hands down the funniest christmas-themed movie I've ever seen, personally. Cracks me up every time.

Urusei Yatsura- The House Of Mendou - Summer X-Mas - There are two UY christmas episodes. The first one is one of the early episodes in the series and is generally a favorite among a lot of people for being one of the first real good Ataru-Lum relationship episodes (in the series-end top episodes poll, audiences rated it as the 4th best episode in the series). I also like it quite a bit, but between the two, I like this episode much more. Whereas that episode tried to have a lot of emotional drama, this one is just straight up hilarious beginning to end and involves a lot more of the main cast. It's one of many episodes from the series can rewatch it over and over again even if I've just seen it again recently. My favorite bits in the episode are Mendou's shooting training at the beginning, Shinobu's whole monologue where she's thinking about who she should go with to the party, and Ryuunosuke's flashback to her christmas-less childhood. Overall, one of the most fun and funniest anime christmas episodes I've ever seen. Here's a link for anyone who wants to watch it: http://kissanime.com/Anime/Urusei-Yatsura/Episode-079?id=10727

Maison Ikkoku - Love Takes Guts! Godai's Part Time Job Ploy! & A Bittersweet Favor! Budding Christmas Love!? - These are a touching set of episodes that actually apply a christmas-related theme and christmas-related problems to the situation instead of just using the imagery as a set-piece, which is something you don't see often in most anime christmas episodes. Easily the best christmas episodes in the series, and probably my favorite set from any anime series too.

The Simpsons - Marge Be Not Proud - The best Simpsons christmas episode by a landslide. It's hard not to feel for Bart as he tries to make amends for the guilt he feels and make things up to Marge, and the ending is one of the most heartwarming in the series.

American Dad! - Minstrel Krampus - I love American Dad!'s christmas episode and it's musical episodes. What do you get when you put both together? A friggen awesome episode, that's what! I still have the songs from this one stuck in my head.

Futurama - A Tale of Two Santas - My favorite christmas special between the two, since this one is more comedy focused throughout while the first one had a more drama aspect to part of it, which was still great stuff, but I just get more out of this one, especially since there's more Robot Santa madness in it.

American Dad! - Rapture's Delight - This episode is on every AD fan's favorite episodes list and is unanimously considered it's best christmas episode as well. You need only watch it to know why.