the last time we covered the grim adventures of billy and mandy here on the channel it was for
the halloween special billy and manny's jacked up halloween so what better way to revisit this
series than with another special billy and mandy save christmas another christmas special in the
cartoon series that sticks out for me in a major way from my childhood so for this year's fringe
miss i wanted to make sure i cover it since i wanted to give it a re-watch for the season
anyway speaking of christmas welcome back or hello for the first time to the 25 days of fringe miss
where i cover something interesting nostalgic or holiday related every day from the 1st of december
to the 25th in order to find that holiday spirit i lost nearly a decade ago so if you want to
be a part of this daily journey and help me find that good old jolly joy subscribe and come aboard
we start the episode with grim telling us a tale about the night before christmas as santa is
gearing up for delivering presents but something dastardly may be going down at the north pole
also santa wears a thong now back in endsville at a local mall billy mandy and grim are waiting in
line for what billy thinks is the bathroom but is really just the line to meet santa brim here has a
hamburger on a stick like he's tebow from icarly as mandy talks about santa not being real and
not having any christmas spirit well i can't say i don't relate but i'm trying my best here with this
whole french mist thing aside from that billy rushes to the front of the line to tell santa
what he wants and oh boy is it a lot and boy is it weird pretty sure i heard him say a fourth nipple
so that's great oh and he pees on him treating maul santa like the bathroom he thought he was
waiting in line for causing santa to literally try and murder him before being exposed as a fake
santa and really just general reginald peter scar so now everyone starts a riot knocks down the big
christmas tree and cheers when it combusts into flames now that's what i call a holiday party okay
dang maybe i am really jaded in an effort to prove santa is real to mandy grimm opens a portal to the
north pole leading them right to santa's house and factory we get a little star wars reference that
mauls off billy's face nice or that good old jolly joy we keep speaking about but something feels
a bit off santa's sleigh is found to be running and left unattended with no one in sight making
it feel like the north pole is a ghost town they head to the front door of the house with no answer
so once they break in they find mrs claus voiced by carol kane and the elves hiding in fear like
something truly bad had happened she tells them about an accident that happened to santa as she
walks them into the basement dungeon with a mystery coffin-shaped box a dramatic unveiling
proceeds to jump-scare the audience with a now greenish-skinned sharp-toothed monster version
of santa who was bitten by a vampire and voiced by gilbert godfrey causing him to now be chained up
and locked within the basement now mandy may not have believed in the whole santa thing well she
sure does believe in vampires and immediately wants to kill the head vampire in charge to
revert the bite's effects so mandy and grimm get totally this crazy long perilous journey to get
where the head vampire lives and we just skip off that anyway as they automatically end up
right where the vampire's place is billy however stayed behind to help out miss claus who is just
grateful because no one has ever offered to help her they break inside baron van gaalish's place
that's the name of the head vampire voiced by malcolm mcdowell wow they sure shield out
some big money to get some big voices in this special when confronting him he is shown to be
a complete neat freak and then is immediately killed by mandy santa and christmas are saved
tonight what up chip and skip this party stinks you're telling me okay not really he puts on
the theatrics a vacuum saved his life same here once but that's a story for my tell-all book one
day in a weird turn of events while he is the head vampire they need to find the head head
vampire that is really the top vampire in charge it's because of some shifting around
in the vampire organization some positions were changed and it's a clerical nightmare oddly enough
he wants to join them on their journey to find the head-head vampire as he's always wanted to
save christmas and grim has always wanted to save christmas with a vampire there's this whole double
flashback cutaway that's pretty funny with them as kids in class wishing for these specific things
kind of a charming bit and i enjoyed it a lot so they pile it up and break into song on their
continued journey mandy keeps cutting them off thanks mandy it was getting too christmas vibey
for my liking there's always gotta be some sort of music right billy while helping around the place
is mopey and is sad because santa is not okay and that christmas could be no longer happening mandy
grim and baron returned to the house as that's where the journey has led them and we start seeing
things not adding up for miss claus she convinces them to head into the basement once more and takes
grim scythe as she says it's dirty so grim hands it to her just before heading down
now trapped down there with billy none the wiser still upstairs to anything about what's going on
just yet the rest of the gang realized that santa was let loose and they are now trapped down there
with him and that mrs claus is the head head vampire in an attempt to bring out the santa
in santa mandy breaks out into song to bring some good old jolly joy in the most
monotone of ways briefly stalling him as grim calls for his scythe right through the ceiling
like it's thor's hammer or something and then make a break for it back upstairs they confront
mrs claus who reveals to them that she's the head head vampire which is anticlimactic because
we already found that out mandy even calls that fact out as well very lackluster but funny and
different in execution baron hides in a tree because he wants no part of this confrontation
he was also loosely working for her as again this whole vampire thing is a lucrative operation
401ks stock options healthcare benefits the whole nine yards she then goes into the backstory of
her relationship with santa about how it started and how quickly it turned into her always taking
care of everything around the house while he works one day a year and is constantly checking his list
not once not twice i don't know how many times but enough for them to rewrite the whole song
is all i know mandy retorts unveiling her true plans to turn everyone into vampires by going
through their chimneys instead of santa doing it and leaving presents well she just actually wanted
a break in general but then randomly gets more evil and says that's a pretty good plan to do oh
yeah billy by the way sneaks into santa's office and does billy things like why why and why he does
break open the most randomly specific breaking case of emergency vampire glass which projects
another star wars reference that explains what to do in this situation to billy as best as it
can we then see one of the most fun fight scenes that i truly enjoy the complexity creativity and
surprisingly christmasy of it all with mandy and grimm taking on vampire elves to the toy workshop
fighting on conveyor belts there's this whole bit with a trampoline and yeah grim just beats the
crap out of them with a scythe at one point it reminds me of fight scenes in christmas
films like jingle all the way with all the fake santas best christmas movie ever i swear i don't
know i can already hear all the opinions on my opinions coming into the comment section no stop
the spirit is out there i'm hearing voices again she gets some sleep
what in the world your journey isn't ove yet oh over your journey isn't over yet see that
makes a lot more sense but how did this okay things are getting just a little too weird
[ __ ] on dude mandy now heads to literally stab mrs claus with a barbie doll odd choice but i
support it miss claus then turns even more into a horrifying monstrosity but before anything happens
billy runs by and heads to see santa with the antidote which turns out to be cookies and milk
shocker santa turns back to normal billy talks about what the meaning of christmas means to
him and santa apologizes for the neglect he has shown her she listens and turns back to human
and they just suck face dude as billy and mandy and even grim he helped save christmas baron comes
out of hiding and with the mess of a place starts up his cleanly tendencies to clean up the place
we also find out that santa has always known she's a vampire and that this has happened before which
explains the break in case of vampire emergency case from earlier santa tells mandy the meaning
of christmas they hold hands and holiday cheer all while the kid who was throwing snowballs at them
from off screen the entire episode is attacked by vampire elves oh and in the end credits mandy
doesn't have the christmas spirit even after all that do you believe in the christmas spirit now
no now this episode is extremely well written to tie everything in nicely
having the emergency glass not just be a random joke but an actual functional problem solver
for the scenario miss claw is thanking billy for actually asking to help because she never truly
had it before and that's why she was this mad in the first place and even baron who was shown to
be a clean freak for a reason later on to be shown now maybe helping out mrs claus around the house
everything had a reason to happen yeah there's still that billion mandy randomness crudeness
and mean-spirited violence but that's all baked into what the show had built throughout the years
these characters while doing a good thing overall are not truly great people i mean one of them
literally is a death but at the same time it's so charming i think when it came to specials
grim adventures is extremely underrated in that category it told a fun and interesting
story for the holiday without the holiday being the real thing tackled but instead used just as
the backdrop it's not super ingrained with a major holiday message either but it makes the
holiday themes bend to the way the show works and that's why i think it's a unique and great special
while not being my favorite show of all time or even my favorite holiday special it captures my
attention from how it handled it with now in my life a relatable character and mandy for her lack
of spirit for the season i genuinely am trying this year to find that joy it's not something that
just poof it's here it's something i am actively digging for within my love for cartoons and what
makes me at peace with my feelings exploring my past and what it all means to me but overall
how do you feel about this holiday special was it something unique and fun in your opinion or
something too mean-spirited and slightly grotesque for your liking let me know in the comments thanks
so much for hanging out with me today make sure to hit the like button and subscribe
for more content like this follow me on twitter or else i'll see you tomorrow with another video for
my next day of fringims check out the playlist to keep up with the month but until then later
so