When Johnny mistakes Santa for a burglar and puts him down for the count, it's up to him to make sure Christmas still comes to the world.
Narration from the late, great Adam West takes us to Aron City on Christmas Eve, as Johnny prepares for bed.
He stops Mama's earthquake-level snowing and heads to his room, but hears noises outside and climbs to the roof. Johnny spots Santa but mistakes him for a crook, realizing his mistake only after he leaps into action and kicks Santa in the face. Although angry, Santa knows Johnny was just protecting his mama, and declares that, as he's out of commission, the brainless Johnny will have to take over. Johnny dons Santa's hat and coat and takes off in the sleigh, calling out all the wrong names for the reindeer and wondering where Rudolph is. As it turns out, Rudolph is still at the North Pole, fighting off soldiers trying to ruin Christmas under the Grinch's command. The mayor gets a quick visit and a pair of underwear, then Johnny goes to Little Suzy's and inhales the milk and cookies, admitting she's cute when not babbling. As the night goes on, Santa Johnny has some strange encounters, and discovers he's made a terrible error while giving out gifts. Wrongly states what Santa's supplies are, can i pick up babes/pinhead, Rudolph laser nose, mostly coal/senators with reference names, Butch Hartman Wanda hair,
I really did things out of order this time since this is the first Christmas special Johnny got, but oh well, I got to it!
I always watched the other Christmas special more, and a lot of it holds a more special place for me than this one, but what a lot of fun this was! The inciting of this incident, with Johnny karate-kicking Santa in the face, is a perfect example of the truth about Johnny: he's not malicious, but we all know he's an oaf. Johnny's first thought while hearing someone on the roof, despite it being Christmas Eve, is that a burglar is trying to break in. Now anyone who would've gotten to the roof like Johnny did would've immediately known what was really going on upon seeing Santa, but Johnny, of course, doesn't. In his goofy head, Johnny interprets Santa as having a fake beard and a bag to steal toys, with reindeer attached to a "getaway sleigh." Asis typical for Johnny, he then makes his decision based on only a single thought, which our narrator states comes without pause, and only after giving more though upon seeing Santa up close does Johnny realize his mistake. Santa understands Johnny's actions as well, knowing the young man had no ill intent, just wanting to save his mama. Despite this, Santa in this world has his fair share of angry moments, and orders the "pinhead" Johnny to take his place for the night. I always enjoy this take on Santa, who, rather than always being jolly and kind, is perfectly fine tossing out insults and shaking his fist.
ohnny's trip around the world only lasts a few minutes for the episode, but is full of both obvious and subtle jokes, including references, as I expected to find.
Kicking things off is Sant's list, which mostly consists of people getting coal, which is especially entertaining now that I'm older since a lot of what we see are senators. When Johnny first checks the list, we begin with the president, who gets a gift, then just a flood of senators' names, almost all marked with "coal." A lot of the names are also references, with some being McGraw, Ceasar, Hanna, Barbera, Warner, Yogi, Booboo, Jetson, and Puffnstuff. The mayor feels like a slight nod to former president Bill Clinton, sounding like him at one point and with a wife who constantly accuses him of "cavorting." His wife also reminded me of a popular character everyone knows, from a writer of the episode who many might not realize worked on this show: Butch Hartman. Most know Hartman as a cartoon heavy hitter formerly from Nickelodeon, who created shows like Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, and Tuff Puppy. Obviously at this point Hartman hadn't hit Nickdelodeon with Timmy and his fairies yet, but his style can be seen with the mayor's wife, who has pink hair that ends in a swirl, much like godparent Wanda. One of the wackier moments of the episode fitting Johnny Bravo's strange nature comes when he wonders where Rudolph is. We immediately cut to the North Pole, classic cartoon henchmen are firing lasers at Rudolph, on orders from the Grinch. We get past this wonderful Christmas reference and see Rudolph taking cover behind a snow mound, wanting to get to Santa and firing back with lasers from his nose.
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Once he's given Little Suzy her present, Johnny visits Jungle Boy and his friends, providing a new loincloth, makeup for the lady gorillas, and coal for King Ray, whom Johnny calls "Magilla" as another reference.
Johnny then heads to another repeated character from his own show, Chronos the Bear, to leave the master of time an incredibly precise alarm clock. Set to track down to the millisecond, the gift is perfect for the beast, and almost a bad idea for Johnny, who gets out of the cave just as the alarm goes off. After this comes another Hanna/Barbera classic, with Johnny taking a trip to Scooby Doo, giving an offer for 10 free weeks of speech therapy. I find this joke to be a strange one in a way, because it looks like Johnny just made it up at the last second; it appears to be handwritten with crayon, and there are errors. Adding to the joke of giving Scooby speech therapy, the writer apparently suffers from their own issue, as all the "s" words seem to be written to be read with a lisp.
Hopping around the world, Johnny faces a small dilemma as the narrator mentions he's trying hard to get each gift to the right person, wondering if he did so after leaving toy vehicles with a pair of twins.
He travels from Asia to England and everywhere, and after dropping off every gift, he discovers to his horror that he accidentally gave someone mama's gift. We see he in fact left it early on, having given it to the mayor and his wife, who immediately accuses him of "cavorting" with someone named Bunny. Heartbroken, Johnny returns home, only to discover Santa left mama a diamond ring, though she's certain it's from Johnny. For his own gift, Johnny received a pair of boxing gloves of a mouth guard, with Santa warning as he flies off that round two will be next year. As we know, Santa kept that promise, presenting Johnny in the next special with a present that reveals a spring-activated boxing glove. Something I love with both of these specials is that in the end, you get to see Johnny's kindness despite him usually being self-absorbed. In the second special, he learns his mama asked for gifts for him, and as a result asks that any extra room be used to get her presents. In this one, he realizes his mistake and becomes upset, thinking about how his mama will feel waking up on Christmas to find nothing. It's nice to see that, like Santa thinks and our narrator points out, Johnny doesn't mean any harm with his attitude; he's kindhearted, but incredibly dense.
To be honest, this wasn't exactly what I was expecting from the first Johnny Bravo Christmas special, as I'd thought the Johnny/Santa fight would take more time.
I guess I was thinking of the Dexter's Laboratory special, where the whole focus is on the young scientist fighting the man in red and proving he's the kids' disguised dad. Instead, the fight is really the starting point for the episode only, leading into the terrible-sounding idea of Johnny being responsible for the world's Christmas. The episode isn't long, being the third in a 30-minute bunch, and as such makes use of its short time with quick situation-setup and jokes. Much of the time is spent showing key moments in Johnny's trip around the world, then reaches a tender Christmas moment where he worries about his mama. In a way, Johnny's love for his mama is present throughout the episode, as it kicks things off as he tries to defend her from a burglar, and ends with him thinking he's ruined her Christmas. Of course we do end on a joke that excellently sets up a joke for the next special, but what can you expect from Johnny Bravo? The episode is seven minutes of Christmas fun, with the wacky style of Johnny Bravo adding some great fun and references.
1 Comment
Joel
11/22/2023 10:25:10
Really wished they would've done a follow up to this episode were Santa comes back to fight Johnny.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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