Well, I'm done with Finals, so I can finally blog again!

As we're in the Christmas Season, there is the advent of Holiday Specials playing at the right time for once. This brand new edition of "Galileo's Unecessary Lists" chronicles my favorite Xmas Cartoons, with Youtube'd goodness! In no particular order:

1) A Charlie Brown Christmas

Ahh, the old classic. It's amazing to think that back in 1964, Charlie Brown was concerned about Commercialism of Christmas then, and I can only imagine what the special would be like if this was made today! Wait a sec...there were 2 sequels to this made in the last 6 years...and they both sucked! If that wasn't enough, Urban Outfitters started selling real Charlie Brown Trees at $25 a pop. If buying it wasn't a sheer definition of Irony, I don't want to know what is.

My favorite moments in the entire special include the moment where CB says "I've killed it!" to the tree, the infamous "Linus & Lucy" dance sequence, Linus telling us the true meaning of Christmas, and of course, the song that ends the cartoon that gives me goosebumps no matter how many times I hear it. The vid below is a rare find, because it is the whole special in its entirety!

2) A Garfield Christmas Special

What better follow-up to the first item would be it's natural follow-up in its old-timey tv schedule, the Garfield Christmas Special! This 1987 adventure is one of the more recent classics that just isn't run anymore. Jon takes Garfield & Odie to his family's farm for Christmas to meet up with his parents, his crazed grandma, and his brother Doc Boy. There's a few sweet moments in here such as when Garfield gives his "gift" to Grandma as well as Odie building and giving Garfield his present. The vid below is only part 1, you'll have to go to youtube to find the other 2 parts.

3) Santa Claus is Comin' To Town

Ok, I'll admit it, I couldn't find any videos on youtube or google video of this special! What the hell is wrong with you people?! This is my favorite of the "Rankin-Bass Big 4" Christmas Specials mostly because compared to most of the other R-B specials, Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney) is a total hero and friend to everyone, and is not a dick at all! He turns the Winter Warlock to good, gets Bergermesiter Meisterberger to admit defeat to allow toys in the town, and nails the very hot Jessica. The stil pic below is of the narrator, S.D. Kluger, voiced by Fred Astaire.

4) Olive, The Other Reindeer

Now this special is the most recent on our list, premiring in 1999. This cartoon, created by Simpsons & Futurama creator Matt Groening, is about a dog who doesn't seem to act like normal dogs, who realizes at Christmastime that she is a reindeer when she mishears a statement by Santa that he needs "all of the other reindeer" if his Christmas voyage will go off as planned when one of his main reindeer breaks his leg. Olive then travels to the North Pole with her friend Martini the penguin to save Christmas from a Christmas-hating Postman. With a voice cast of Drew Barrymore as the title character, Joe Pantoliano, Ed Asner, Jay Mohr, Tim Meadows, Tress MacNeille, Ed Asner, and Dan Castellaneta as The Postman how can you go wrong? The brief promo below basically sums up what I just said, because it is the only youtube video I could find.

5) A Claymation Christmas Celebration

Now THIS special is incredibly obscure. It was made in the late 80s by Will Vinton, and was reran on CBS throughout the early 90s. The main special's wraparound segments consisted of 2 dinosaurs introducing various skits set to Christmas music while trying to decipher how to pronounce "Wassailing" in the carol "Here We Come A'Wassailin." Such sketches include a chorus of anthromorphic bells playing "Carol of The Bells" conducted by Quasimodo, a humorous scene with 2 Walruses ice-skating to the dismay of onlooking penguins, a performance of "We 3 Kings" with the chrorus sung blues-style by 3 camels, and a very creepy sequence of shifting Christian images set to "Joy To The World." The vid below is my personal favorite, and agruably best part of the entire special:

6) The Star Wars Holiday Special cartoon

Ok, yes I saw the infamous Holiday Special just last week, and yes, it's the worst thing I ever saw. But the only exception of the suckiness was the cartoon that was shown halfway through, even though this has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas or Life Day. Watch and be amazed as R2D2 is rubbery, Han Solo's head looks like a chin with hair, everyone reprising their roles, and the introduction to the world to Boba Fett.

7) South Park

Now we come to South Park, which is famous for their Christmas episodes. Hell, even the original pilots for the show were Xmas-themed! There have been so many, It's been hard to choose which one is my favorite! We have an episode that introduced Mr, Hankey, one with Charlie Manson learning the true meaning of Christmas, one that introduces Mr. Hankey's Family, an episode dedicated to Christmas songs, Santa trying to bring Christmas to Iraq which leads to the death of Jesus and the rebirth of Kenny, the boys venturing through Canada on Christmas Eve to get the New Prime Minister to let Ike go back with Kyle, and a dark tale involving Satan-worshipping forest creatures. Below is one of my favorite songs from the "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" episode and CD.

8) Simpsons

We end our list with The Simpsons, my favorite show ever. Like South Park, thiso ne's also famous for its Christmas episodes, and its first 1/2 hour pilot was a Christmas episode! So far there have been 8 Christmas episodes counting last night's "Kill Gil Volumes 1&2". There is also this brief Christmas Greeting by Marge from Channel 4 in the UK in 2004:

And those are my favorite Xmas Cartoons. And to justify the blog's title: