Simpsons Christmas Stories

Well, it wouldn't be my Animation Advent Calendar without a Simpsons Christmas special! One of many specials, this was released back in 2005 during the show's 17th season. So will this be as good as their first Christmas special, or is it as mediocre as the show nowadays? Let's take a look!

Story: This episode follows the Treehouse of Horror formula with an anthology narrative showing 3 separate segments. And like my Mickey's Once/Twice Upon a Christmas reviews, I'll be going over each one separately!
The First (Annoyed Grunt)-el
This first segment is Homer's own rendition of the classic Nativity story with himself as Joseph, Marge as Mary, Bart as baby Jesus, Lisa as Angel Gabriel, Mr Burns as King Herod, Lennie & Carl as the shepherds and Dr Hibbert, Principal Skinner & Professor Frink as the 3 Wise Men. Of course it takes some liberties with the source material thanks to the characters and their 'quirky' personalities, but what works to me is the humour. It's the classic Simpson-style humour we know and it And despite some funny set-ups, I think it's safe to say that some Christians may find it to be a slap in the face to religion. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this segment is bad, but it just feels like it's focusing on making as many puns or ways Homer can get hurt as possible rather than focusing on the plot. Still, it did leave me chuckling by the end at it's probably my favourite segment of the three.

I Saw Grandpa Cussing Santa Claus
This segment follows Grandpa revealing that he wants to kill Santa because back in WWII, he and Mr Burns shot him down This is probably the weakest of the three as it features no relevance to Grandpa and was clumsily handled. To be honest, despite the interesting set-up, the humour isn't what works for me. On top of that, to see this after the Natvity story felt incredibly jarring and distracting because the subject of the holiday itself isn't strong enough to connect the stories together. Also, the introduction of Abe's brother felt weakly handled and the ending...I think I was like Bart & Lisa.

The Nutcracker...Sweet
As the title suggests, this makes references to The Nutcracker throughout as musical numbers, mainly focusing on Homer forgetting to get Marge a present. And this includes a subplot of Moe attempting suicide as part of his yearly Christmas ritual. Why? It's never explained! On top of making suicide insensitively funny when it adds in Dance of the Flutes to juxtapose failing to kill himself. Homer's arc also felt out of place towards the end and to be honest, it was executed clumsily and the musical numbers weren't really that fun or clever. It's not...bad. It's just OK.



I think you can tell with my opinion that this was on the more mediocre side compared to other Simpsons Christmas episodes and the writing just felt weak for the most part. The theme of Christmas itself just isn't enough to connect them together and...this really is no Treehouse of Horror.

Animation: Given that this mid-2000s Simpsons, the animation is definitely an improvement compared to their first Christmas special. On top of looking more polished and smooth, the characters all have much better looking designs and more fluid character animation. The backgrounds all look very nice as it's easy to distinguish which segment we're in on top of being more than just a generic Christmas looking Springfield. Bethlehem and the stable both look nicely done despite looking a bit generic along with the depiction of Fiji in Abe's story going the stereotypical route...Anyway, other parts I liked were the creative uses of various Christmas traditions on the characters in parodies, like Mr Burns as Scrooge, Krusty the Clown and his dad eating Chinese on Christmas, and the side character's roles in the Nativity story. Given that this is a TV episode, for what it is, the animation is actually pretty good!

Characters: In each segment, the characters can just be reduced to their stereotypes. Homer is a slob yet can still have a good heart (as evidenced when he immediately goes out to get a present for Marge when he realises he forgot to get one), Marge is the nagging yet loving mum, Bart is the mischievous son, Lisa's the goody-two-shoes daughter, Maggie's the baby that does nothing and Grandpa Abe is just the crazy conspirator. The side characters like Moe, Mr Burns, Dr Hibbert, Professor Frink, Principal Skinner, Krusty the Clown, Mayor Quimby, Apu and what have you all also appear either as themselves or characters in the Nativity story, keeping their distinct personalities intact. However, Moe's suicide plot, as mentioned before, feels out of character and it's way too dark of a subject matter for what's supposed to be a comedy! I think it's safe to say I don't have much to say on anyone except...it's just them. I'm not expecting massive development from these characters, but they don't have much substance compared to them being the heart of Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.

As a Simpsons Christmas special, it's not too bad. With an anthology which has a disjointed narrative & generic plots, nice animation & the same characters we know & love, it's one of the more forgettable Simpsons Christmas episodes. It's not the worst one, but I can't help but feel like that they thought that the holidays was the only thing to connect the plots, when it should be more than that. Something that Love Actually did really well, actually. But still, I don't regret watching this because it was one of my favourite episodes to watch as a kid during the holidays, despite my opinions differing over time.
Story: 😕
Animation:😊
Characters:😕
Overall:😕