RJ Writing Ink

Now I know what you’re thinking: this is not a Christmas Special, it’s DragonBall Z. Normally, that would be correct, but this is DragonBall Z Abridged, a popular, fan-based parody done by a group of fans in Texas. Known as Team Four Star, they do a hilarious re-dub of the original DBZ, keeping the story intact. The characters and even some of the events, though, are greatly changed. Goku’s even dumber, Krillin has his own “own’d counter”, and Vegeta’s ego is bigger than ever. Oh, and Nappa comes back as a ghost.

DBZ Abridged Is Awesome

Fans love DBZ Abridged, and even the cast of the official dub like the show. They even managed to sneak themselves onto the Abridged series in guest roles. The cast has even been invited to provide voices for official DBZ games, plus this.

But then they couldn’t air it, because of legal reasons. And some companies don’t understand the concept of “fan-based” parody.

So, they retooled the movie The Tree of Might into a Christmas Special. Here, you can watch it for yourself, and then come back afterwards. One more thing: they have these captions called “English “Canada”” which are way funnier than normal captions. Turn them on:

I really liked how they made Shenron incredibly frustrated with the Z-Warriors. Not only with the fact that they’re the only ones who usually summon him, and the ridiculous wish. And that song: “Yamcha The Scar-Faced Bandit” is so hilarious. A running gag is that they always make fun of Yamcha for how weak he is. He doesn’t deserve it, though. At any rate, here’s part two:

A Team Four Star Christmas

That wasn’t a traditional Christmas Special, but I like it because I think it shows just how creative people can be with abridged series. All it takes is the use of old clips and new voice acting and Team Four Star was able to make this fun re-imagining of a DBZ film. 

The jokes were pretty spot-on, too. Remember Icarus, that little dragon that is sometimes Gohan’s pet? Team Four Star hates him apparently, as they keep killing him in the films he’s in. Same with Maron. 

This was made early in the series’ run, and in hindsight, it shows how imaginative TeamFourStar is able to get with such a beloved anime. Now, they have connections to FUNimation, Screwattack, and RoosterTeeth, among others things. They even got Kyle Herbert to play Santa. How awesome is that?

Yeah, this wasn’t a regular Christmas special, but I liked it nonetheless. TeamFourStar, I hope you guys keep making amazing stories! Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Before we start, I would just like to say that I do not, repeat, DO NOT consider Nickelodeon’s idea of “Spongebob Merrypants” to be a Christmas Special. Including Santa Claus in an episode does not make it a Christmas Special by default.

Now, today as a tribute to Stephen Hillenburg, the man who created their most popular cartoon, Nickelodeon ran an 8-hour marathon of SpongeBob. Some of the best episodes from the first three seasons of SpongeBob (AKA what fans call “The Golden Age”) running from noon to 8. Since I hadn’t watched a holiday special yet today, I decided to cap off the night with a SpongeBob Christmas special. 

I was tempted to do the first special, “Christmas Who?”, but I wanted to save that for another day. So instead, I did the more recent one, “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!”

I had always loved SpongeBob, but once I reached a certain age, I moved on to new shows. Plus I had to worry about school more. I kept up with the show, but it didn’t entertain me as much as before. Then I saw the stop-motion SpongeBob Christmas Special and fell in love all over again!

Just Like The Old Days

This special has all the trappings of the legendary stop-motion Christmas Specials of the 1960s and 70s. Several songs about Christmas? Check. A problem that threatened to ruin Christmas? Check. An appearance by Santa Claus himself as Christmas is saved? Check! And as an added bonus, Patchy the Pirate even plays a mailman delivering mail to Santa. Well, more like he steals a mailman’s truck to get his letter to Santa

The whole special revolves around Plankton’s attempts to ensure that he finally gets on Santa’s nice list. Rather than be nice, though, he decides to turn everyone else in Bikini Bottom into jerks using a convenient new element called Jerktonium. It turns everyone who ingests it into jerks, so he laces fruitcake with it, and tricks SpongeBob into feeding it to everyone in Bikini Bottom.

Pretty soon everyone in town is mean and grumpy. Except for SpongeBob, whose love of the holidays makes him immune. It also means he’s the only one who can save Christmas. One Christmas Song later…

It works, though Santa nearly writes off the whole town as naughty. Thankfully, Plankton’s Plan B (release a robot SpongeBob to ruin his good name) backfires when tries to kill Santa.

SpongeBob ends up saving Santa and everyone gets back on their rightful place on Santa’s list, but I’m confused at how Plankton thought this would work. It was two days before Christmas. How could everyone being jerks in two days put them on the naughty list so easily, or get Plankton off it? 

Thank You, Spongebob Christmas

Well, it doesn’t really matter. I liked this special. It was original, it captures the spirit of the original SpongeBob Christmas Special, and it hearkens back to some of the specials that my parents grew up on. It was an excellent way to cap off a day dedicated to the memory of the man who helped make my childhood. RIP Stephen Hillenburg! And to all of my readers, happy holidays!

Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts!