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| "Lock the door, and hit the floor! Cause Santa Claus comes tonight!!!" |
Synopsis: It's XMAS! Like Christmas, but with more X! Fry and Leela are the loneliest people in New New York, however. After reminding Leela of her constant loneliness, Fry goes out to buy her a present. This does not end well, especially when Robot Santa arrives... and threatens to blow them all to kingdom come.
Review: Ah, the Christmas special. Started with A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, these specials are just a bundle of heartwarming... or at least cheese. These episodes and specials often have something extra put in them to get the viewer into the Christmas cheer, and makes you enjoy the Winter season... until February, when the third snowstorm comes, and you're tired of classes being cancelled all the damn time!
Sorry.
Normally, these Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza/insanely-politically-correct-celebration-of-the-winter-solstice episodes are just full of joy and optimism. This episode manages to combine that heartwarming schmaltz we all love with one of the most disturbing environments in Christmas special history.
Let's be honest with ourselves - Fry and Leela are actually pretty depressing characters. In a good way, but still. One's been thrown from his environment with such force that the impact is only now hitting him. The other, an orphan from a mysterious land who's spent her entire life alone, often in decrepit conditions in a society full of ignored orphans.
To see them have something of a callous to each other isn't surprising, given the show's track record of it's characters. Here, they do more than rescue each other out of obligation, however - it genuinely seems like they're friends/lovers. Fry and Leela truly do care for each other.
In ultimately pulling together and caring for each other, they seem to represent the true spirit of X-mas. And isn't that what this episode is about?
Actually, it's about Robot Santa.
Robot Santa represents everything nihilistic about the Futurama universe - where things that bring a lot of us joy are cruel, tragic icons in this show. Robot Santa is ultimately very tragic - not only are his standards high, but he feels like he wants to purify the world by taking out anybody that is undeserving of his standards. His high, high standards.
I have a feeling that the high standards of Robot Santa might not have been an accident as we are led on. I mean, while Mom's Robot Company hadn't been established yet, what makes you think that it's predecessor was any less callous and cynical... or at least, fed up with the materialism of Xmas? Whether it was a noble attempt to bring joy to the world, an attempt to sully the materialistic aspects of the season, or just a cruel, cruel trick, we may never know.
Of course, that's factoring in the idea that robots have no free will... something which we will get to in Season 7.
Granted, Robot Santa is actually pretty cool. John Goodman's voice acting is terrifying, and yet he manages to add a bit of dark comedy in his delivery when need be. ("You're mistletoe is no match for my TOW missile!")
If Fry and Leela represent all that's good with X-Mas, then Bender represents the most cynical, cruel aspects of the season - he takes advantage of charity just to fill his hedonistic pleasures, and tries to corrupt an orphan into following his own selfish, hedonistic footsteps. We wouldn't have him any other way... character-wise.
What does that say about us as viewers? Are we really that sick?
No - we just like a bit of dark comedy, that's all. And, boy, does this episode provide it by the truckload. Among the most overlooked Christmas specials ever, it's dark twist makes the episode all the better.
Tidbits:
- Yeah... College sorta got in the way of updates. Sorry.
- I love the fact that Palm Trees have replaced Pines as the Christmas Tree... and that they grow in the mountains. Genetic engineering, or evolution? Pick one!
- Glad to see that Zoidberg finally got some respect in this episode.
- Oh, and the mistletoe. What is this, the second time Fry and Leela almost kissed? How many more times till it happens?
- Loved the three-way "Gift of the Magi" sendup.
- Also, one of the pets for sale at the pet shop? Bongo, from Matt Groening's Life in Hell.
Favorite Scene: Everything involving Robot Santa is awesomely dark.
Least Favorite Scene: Did we need Conan O'Brien to do a brief stand-up bit? I like him, but it felt a bit unnecessary. At least it was a bit funny.
Memorable Quote: "I feel like a rat. Here I am, whining like a pig, while all along, Leela was as lonely as a frog!" - Fry. I just love his use of idioms there. Totally characteristic of him.
Score: 8.5
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