Capsule Review: This ep has the usual laughs, emotion, and imagination, but not as much. The evil Santa, who inspires some exciting, well-animated action scenes, is too broad a concept; after his one-sentence description there are no surprises. The humor is mostly as good as ever (Fry on the digital clock, the bird, "I'm so hungry"), but sags in a latter-day Simpsons way when jokes repeat too often (nudism, "Xmas"). Things seem whittled down to a formula, with an unrelated intro, various Y3K cultural updates, some sentiment, an antisocial Bender side plot, and a climactic action scene. All are good, but none stand out or successfully tie it all together. More emotion and less action would have made a better mix. (B)
Alternate titles: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Xmas Hell's Santas Rudolph, the Rabid Reindeer Homicide on 34th Street Santa Claus Conquers the Robots It's a Wonderful Death Xmas Story 2: Judgment Day
References: This episode features some flat-out uncanny parallels to the late, lamented NBC sitcom Newsradio...
Both were the 17th episodes to air of their respective series. Both were the first Christmas-themed episodes of their respective series. Both aired on December 19th (four years apart). Both share the identical title "Xmas Story". Both have plots involving a homicidal Santa Claus character. Newsradio/Futurama writer/producer Lewis Morton wrote Newsradio's "Xmas Story".
-Eric S. ([email] or [email] or [email])
"I've been wasting my life. I'm going to do what I always dreamed of. I'm going to write that sitcom about the sassy robot!" -Matt Groening creates Futurama?