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Have Yourself A Goofy Little Christmas Special
Reviewed: 12/23/2013
Only Goofy Could Create A Dance For Reindeers!
Welcome to our Christmas Special for 2013 kiddies after the threat the freezing rain plagued Canada over the last three days or so. Our next DTVA Christmas special is focused on December 5th, 1992 during the Goof Troop era as Goofy's Christmas Special was all about three things: (1) Goofy tries too hard, (2) Pete being a justified jerk and (3) A song that makes "Spin It" earworm look reasonable. I realize Platypus Comix has reviewed this episode under it's "Misfit Christmas Special" section. Strangely; this episode was available on DVD in October of 2008 through the Disney Movie Club as a standalone; despite that the VHS version included "It's A Wonderful Leaf" which was the Darkwing Duck's Christmas episode which was released in November of 1993. The original broadcast featured the special; two classic Disney shorts and a behind the scenes look at the Aladdin WDFA movie. Just weird overall (I'll be ranting on the Family Channel Canada version). How does this episode fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written and I believe was story edited by Jymn Magon. The animation is done by Walt Disney Animation France S.A.
Opening Moment #1: Title card shows a window with a Christmas wreath snowing outside. It has the Goof Troop logo and Christmas written below said logo. There are bells jiggling as well. Not much to say about this; other than the whiplash effect I get seeing art from 1992 compared to 2013.
We begin this one as it is dark and not stormy with a pan shot of houses and Goofy is singing "Deck The Halls". We then pan over to Goofy Goof's house as Goofy is putting up lights and Goofy is just like Tim Taylor in the sense that he has to overkill the outdoor Christmas displays. I know this because there is a crane outside which Max is sitting in the basket arm of the crane about 20 feet in the air; and Max is complaining about the freezing cold. Hey Max; at least there is no freezing rain where you are right now and you have no power in every way. Goofy is bringing up one of the reindeer and having problems with it because Cupid is being stubborn. It's always the love reindeer that won't stay in it's place. Max complains about time; like all kids his age. Then Goofy is so confused that he wonders which reindeer it is while looking directly at the hard camera. Max yells at him while trying to keep warm; so Goofy finally hooks the reindeer in place as he tells Max to come down and turn on the light while he finished putting the head of Santa on the Santa model. Max uses the levers to come down and then panics because Goofy has the head stuffed on him and cannot see because bumping blindly for 10,000 guys is his gimmick. So somehow Goofy falls into the sleigh and the entire reindeer/sleigh model on the roof slingshots into the air just as Pistol arrives to notice the moon and Santa's sleigh with eight tiny reindeer flying in the distance. It cannot be Santa Pistol; it's way too early for him to arrive. So the sleigh rides around and somehow Goofy gets thrown off and he gets stuffed into the chimney which we discover is Pete's house since we see Pete reading the newspaper on the couch while having to bump a few times just as Santa's head is in the fireplace. So Pistol runs in with the platter of cookies speaking at 100 miles per hour talking about more food as there is only ash; but otherwise, not much damage. And then we fade to black and we see the actual title of the episode "Have Yourself A Goofy Little Christmas" which has candy cane like properties. So we head to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) with the decorations on the front lawn still being on the ground for no reason as we zoom into Pete's house and then to the living room as Pete is putting up the fake tree which is whiter than he will ever be.
Pistol is still talking in rapid fire about bathrooms and brushes as Pete is ignoring here while putting the christmas lights up. Chainsaw (the family dog with the blue bow on his head proving that people have been dressing up dogs since 1992 at least) pulls on the wires and ties up Pete; which leads to the tug of war. The guise of this is Pistol wants a real tree; but Pete blows it off because if he got a real tree; then he would be stooping to the Goofs level of celebrating Christmas. Geez; what a prick this Pete fellow is? Pistol than leaves telling him to not have a cowbell man. I should note that Pistol cuts a varation Bart Simpson's promo here and Nancy Cartwright provided voices for both Bart and Pistol. I was half expecting Pete to chase Pistol out of the room like Homer Simpson; but thankfully, that doesn't happen here. She runs to Peg as Peg wants Pete to be more festive. I would like to Peg; but this freezing rain if giving me a bad back and cowbell, man! Peg offers Pistol to come with her to help since Pete hates Christmas...allegedly. Pete blows her off because he doesn't hate Christmas. Of course not Pete; you just hate a Goofy Christmas. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Chainsaw and Pete continue their tug of war and Pete loses and falls into the decorations; thus proving that he hates them. He references the twinkle light fiasco of 1989; which would be one for the ages. Doorbell rings and Pete goes over to answer and it's clearly Goofy disguised as a snowman. The Bill Farmer voice gives it clear away. Oh wait; he isn't disguised as a snowman. That's really lame. Pete is now wearing a wreath as Goofy greets him as Pete is not amused as usual. So we see PJ and Max in the background pleading for him not to make Pete angry as I discover Whaffles is wearing reindeer antlers. Ummmm; yeah. So Goofy offers to plug in the SNOWMAN OF DEATH and Pete gets shocked when it's plugged in; but not much as Whaffles gives Pete the SCROOGE RASPBERRY OF DOOM in response. Pete calls Whaffles a rat with horns and Max actually agrees with Pete on that one. Why would you want Pete's spirit there Maxie?! I hear that it can lead to kill your hearing via super feminists yelling and screaming....allegedly. Goofy asks if he loves to deck the halls with bows of Harleys. Geez; if I were Pete; that would be insulting since he wants Pete to fill the halls with motorcycles.
Max leaves on cue as Goofy walks out of the house with Whaffles as Pete yells at him to do Falala somewhere else. Yeap; he hates Christmas, go figure. So Pete goes inside and we see Chainsaw eating the cord as Pete touches the snowman again and gets fried and completely blacks out the house. Pete has this look of shock on him while smelling like burned cookies as Pistol runs in and wants Pete to do it again in the same sense of Molly wanting to free fall and be saved by Kit and his air foil. Pete is pissed off and he ain't taking it anymore as he demands....wait for it...a family meeting. UH OH! You know Pete is truly serious when that happens. So we fade to black to turn Michael Eisner on and return to the living room which is completely messed up as Pistol, Peg and P.J. are sitting on the couch; which is the only thing that is not messy at the moment. Basically; he blows off Goofy for ruining Christmas for him and sucking up all his electricty; so he tells them to pack up their long johns because they are leaving town. So we head outside as Peg is throwing stuff on the ground when we pan up to see the car is already packed up. Max and PJ exchange notes as PJ is inside Pete's car. We discover that Pete is headed to Aspen, Colorado for a family Christams vacation which includes getting the hell away from any Goofs. Captialization intentional. Max has the Gruffi pose on because he considers PJ lucky since he has to stay with Goofy and play with a caroling Elvis doll. Oh sod off Max Goof! No one disses the caroling Elvis doll! Not even Kit Cloudkicker! (Kit: Who's Elvis?) PJ blurts out that he thinks Goofy will have Max come with him to Aspen; just as Pete is in the car and drives out of the driveway and drives away. Pete mocks Max despite saying no offense, like a dickish heel would. Max runs onto the street; and then mopes back towards his house stage left. So then we jump cut to Max inside the living room as Goofy is tending to the head of the model Santa on the green couch. Max sits down next to Goofy while Goofy is patching up Santa's head with band aids. HAHA! Max is hating the old days when they put stuff up and burn a turkey; as Goofy talks about Max creating a reindeer dance of some sort.
Now you don't suppose that this will somehow play into the finish? Nah; it cannot be. That would mean that this show actually would pay off an angle that Max calls "legally stupid" because he was five at the time. Which is laughable since Max is age ten at this point; so that would make him only "legally half stupid". AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm... So Max pleas for Goofy to take him to "Asperin", Colorado to do something different as Goofy asks about missing the lights and caroling. Max claims that he would; but he wants Goofy to feel a lot less distracted and have a good time for a change that doesn't involve bumping. Okay; I made that one up. Goofy proclaims that he'll do because it means so much to Max and Max embraces him and is so happy to be doing this. Actually; this is a good idea because it gives us more time for Goofy to bring the funny at the expense of Pete. After all; this is the show's strength after all. So we head to Aspirin, Colorado. Oh wait; I made somewhere in Aspen, Colorado as it's dark and there is a lot of snow on the ground along with some spruce trees. We pan over to a wooden log lodge covered in snow; which is #42. We then see....Humprey the ONE JOKE BEAR OF DOOM arrive out of nowhere for the first time since Bearing Up Baby in Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers. We also discover as we see Pete's car in the background (although when they are singing Jingle Bells (as heard in Jolly Molly Christmas); we seem to hear Max singing on the ADR) riding up that Humprey has turned evil as he gets wicked and walks over to behind the tree. This scene of him jumping out and getting snow sprayed in his face which buries him in a tomb is so contrived and forced that it looks hilariously awkward. Just what we need; two dickish heels in a Christmas special. It's ironic that Pete is the Scrooge in this one; when he was playing the Ghost of Christmas Future in Mickey's Christmas Carol. Sadly; the GOCF was better for Pete because he threw Scrooge into an open casket which had a portal leading straight to hell. I'm serious about that spot too! Then we discover that it is actually Max singing because Goofy is driving the car. That was awfully awkward in more ways than one. So apparently the original shot had the cabin in front and the both goofs saw it; but the next shot had them backing up and forcing Evil Humprey to bail as the car smashes backwards into the same spruce tree that buried Humprey in snow. Humprey bounces into the air and does the exact same spot as Goofy did in the beginning of the episode by falling into the chimney. Both Goofs gasp for air; only their moods in doing it are different. I don't know what the heck Whaffles is doing; and I really don't care at this point. So Max is shivering cold while Goofy is enjoying this.
They walk to the front door and open it and the cabin is stereotypically redneckish in nature. I know this because Max claims that he had die and gone to Montana. That has to be a rib on Montana Max from Tiny Toons. Goofy turns on the lights so Max is an idiot because this cabin probably has running water, electricty and probably has cable television too. Goofy is giddy as we discover that Humprey is on the floor disguised as an almost perfect bearskin rug. Which Goofy proceeds to sit on with glee. So Max shakes his head as we waste time with Goofy beating up the rug to get the lumps out which he is struggling with. Goofy lies down and Humprey wakes up and of course; he doesn't like that. HA! So Humprey pushes Goofy off as Goofy sticks his head in the bear's mouth and calls his teeth fake. That is a huge no-no Goofy Goof! Goofy backs off and then bails as Max hides underneath a bunch of drawers (NOT THOSE ONES!); as Humprey chases him onto the bed and Goofy bounces up and wraps his legs on the ceiling beams. Goofy spins and lands above the fireplace riding the moosehead. Now that is just asking for a crack from me; but Humprey runs in to ruin the effect. Goofy kicks the bear in the face (I think) as Max is yelling for Goofy to grab the damn gun. Sadly; BS&P is in full force here because Goofy is bringing out the SHANE DOUGLAS MOP OF DOOM and threatening to shoot Humprey with it. Sadly; there is no soapy water present; because seeing Goofy channel Ammonia Pine would be hilarious as an one off joke. Humprey giggles and mocks him before eating the mop end of the mop. Geez; talk about being the symbolism of The Clique cutting Shane Douglas at the knees there. But Dean Douglas was AWESOME Shane; remember that. At least your "Shawn Michaels held me down" cracks made sense. And you can tell that BS&P was behind this because when he chomps on it; there is a boom explosion inside Humprey's head as if they did the Looney Tunes gun spot. You couldn't just book a different spot guys? One that doesn't involve a fake gun? Humprey pants and wheezes before running out of the lodge in pain. He runs out of sight as Max is as confused and shocked as I am; but he hugs Goofy anyway as Goofy wants him to start a fire in the fireplace. Yeah; he wants a ten year old using matches and making a fire. Just wait until Toon Disney starts getting pissy about it. Goofy tells him not to peek as he is going to unload the stuff. Max thinks that it's presents; but Goofy claims that it's something better. So Goofy replaces the door and runs onto the roof of his car and uncovers the big brown cloth to reveal that he brought all the outdoor Christmas lights and decorations. Yeap; he's Tim "The Toolman" Taylor from Home Improvement. And folks are SHOCKED when this show didn't quite get over?
So Goofy unravels the wire getting all giddy about Max being surprised at this. Oh; he will be surprised Goofy; just not in the positive way you are thinking of. It will be the defintion of SHOCKED AND APPALLED. In that order. So we zoom in northeast to another lodge about half a mile away and we head into the lodge's bedroom with Pete and Peg in bed in their night gear. Peg is sleeping while Pete is watching B&W television as he is clearly watching an Western while eating chicken legs as seen on the FPS shot of Pete eating. He claims that the chicken is cold, that he has unlimited cable television and a stack of ice fishing magazines. Okay; that made me laugh for no reason whatsoever. Pete clicks the zapper and tries to go asleep; but Goofy sings "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in the background. Pete wakes up and gets out of bed to put his slippers on. He walks over to the window with the WOODEN DUCK OF DOOM; and opens it proclaiming that he is going to teach that rabble rouser the new meaning of "Silent Night". He throws the wooden duck yelling that this is no Osmond special. That was really dated guys! Dated references are TaleSpin's gimmick! Peter then loses his balance and slides out of the log cabin and makes himself into a giant snowball and goes off the ramp. He lands right down on the trash can Goofy had set up. Sadly; Pete is such a unlucky guy that he hates his life so much that he misses Goofy completely and doesn't have any sense to bump off the trash can (he landed as if there was no trash can there at all). Goofy turns around and looks so happy to see him while Pete sees both stars and lit birthday candles; which would have been hilarious if there was a birthday cake inside the trash can. Goofy places the lid on Pete's head so excited that he is being a neighbour again as Max walks out and then is SHOCKED AND APPALLED seeing the giant lit Santa as I expected. I'm SHOCKED and somewhat appalled that he was able to pull this off without taking a single bump. Max turns around and of course there are outdoor lights and decorations on the house. Max sulks in defeat because he did not want to see this and that ends the segment almost nine minutes in. A decent episode thus far; but some of the jokes aren't catching fire because some of them are so dated and BS&P's fingers are in the pie again. They hate funny Xmas specials it seems.
After the commerical break; we head inside Pete's lodge (I think) as the tree is up and there is a lot of cheese colored decorations on it. Pete is sitting in the green loveseat soaking his feet and wearing a brown blanket on his back and head. He's cold see. Pete is sneezing as the doorbell rings and Peg answers it to reveal Goofy and Max as Max has a red sled and Goofy of course has no clue that Christmas Eve and "day before Christmas" are basically the same thing. I don't think Pete really cares which is which; only that the "goof" is loose and he's screwed. And apparently; the blanket is purple instead of brown. My error as usual as Pete sulks. Peg greets them claiming that Pete told her that she was here. So I'm guessing Pete had the case of "Freezing Eardrum". AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Apparently; Whaffles and Chainsaw hate each other which is kind of pointless since the Goofs are dog anthros while the Pete family are a bunch of cats. Plus the Whaffles is a cat while Chainsaw is a dog. That's called jackhammering the point home and thinking that it's subtle. Whaffles and Chainsaw chase each other up the stairs just as PJ comes down; and I realize that this place looks similar to Higher For Hire; only Higher For Hire is much more creative than this lodge will ever be. PJ shows that his shirt doesn't fit since his belly is naked and he's happy to see Max Goof in the flesh. They walk towards each other and they do this bumping handshake of doom which they call themselves rude dudes. And Max is suddenly surprised when the Pharoh called him a dweeb and wouldn't allow him on his turf. Kit Cloudkicker would never be caught dead doing this spot. Then Max noogles PJ with hair scratching sounds as Goofy stands in front of the couch and has the red sled of doom in his hands. Pete is not amused that Goofy is claiming that they are together again. This is where a funny version of the Teddy Ruxpin "Together Again" would have been hilarious; but copyright prevents it from happening...for the moment.
So Goofy offers a sled ride and Peg calls this a swell idea; and asks Pete if he wants to come. Pete no sells because he is safe in the lodge; so Goofy MURDERS him unintentionally with the red seld in response. HAHA! Yeah; it's safe in there Pete, sure. The rest of the babyfaces get their coats as Peg is more pinkified than Rebecca Cunningham was. Goofy doesn't want to wake him as Peg thinks this is so cute as we see Pete looks like he was murdered legit. HAHA! Great spot from Pete. That look is priceless, man. So everyone walks out and Goofy closes the door as the Rock-A-Bye Baby music is playing in the background; which has nothing to do with Christmas. So we fade to black for the fourth time (minus commercials) and head to the top of the hill as everyone has something to slide on. Max has a wooden sled with rails, Goof has the red sled of murderous intent (HA!), Peg has an patched up inner tube; Pistol has a green circular sled, and PJ has the same sled Max does. Bunch of uncreative dweebs sezs I. So they all slide down the hill together as Max does some stunts on the sled to try to make him like Kit Cloudkicker; but it fails because Max has forgotten that Kit's character is more than just surfing the clouds; and clouds are much more dangerous than snow. PJ tries to join; but he gets buried and his wipeout is lame as usual. So we see Max, Pistol and Peg bump off of their sleds and onto the red sled behind Goofy. PJ makes attempt #2; but gets buried again and then rushes off the trip and gets WARNERED~! He free falls and lands behind the sled. They go through a cave and then chase Humprey out of his cave; leading to the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE SLED EDITION~! He gets flatten and then the sled turns around and Humprey bails stage left; and runs himself off a cliff; and gets WARNERED~! He is about to free fall; but somehow, the sled comes to him in midair and he grabs it and makes it to the other side. He lands behind PJ and sits down as we get the dead tree in the way spot. The babyfaces all panic and try to lean to the left; but it fails because Humprey leans in the opposite direction. They try again; but no dice either.
Somehow they manage to get it slightly to the left and everyone but Humprey ducks as this is the point where the babyfaces realize that the bear trying to eat them and panic. So they get flicked off the convenienly placed spruce tree and bounce back towards the branch and they grab it and bail stage left before Humprey can eat them. Humprey chases them (I think) and then trips and turns into a giant snowball; which is the second time in this episode that they have done this spot. Humprey rolls and breaks into the ski jump house of pain and bounces off a Goofy like ski jumper wearing a pink sweater. That was interesting to say the least. So Humprey's ski jumping skill and form sucks eggs as the sled plows through the back door and goes down the ski jump itself behind Humprey. Sadly; the sled doesn't jump the lodge as we cut back to the living room as Pete is still soaking his feet while completing a puzzle with a yellow sky on it. He wants to impress Peg with this; but since the sled failed to jump the lodge; it crashes through the roof and takes a MAN-SIZED bump into the table and breaks it; proving that the table was not made in Japan. Pistol of course wants to do this again. Like I said before; Pistol is Molly Cunningham; only a lot less mature and doesn't have Rebecca's sense. Pete is pissed off and is about to throw a piece of the wooden table in Goofy's direction; but Peg runs in to yell at him to stop it. I agree with her; but not because Goofy doesn't deserve it. My reason is because he might throw it and have it bounce off Pistol or PJ or even Max. That would not be a good thing. She wants Pete to be festive. Ummm; Peg, this spot is in a way; Goofy's fault because he did slingshot from the branches and the sled didn't jump the lodge successfully like it should of. If Humprey had crashed through and then Goofy came tumbling after, then your anger would be justified. Goofy warns Pete that Santa is watching (which surprises Peg a little) and Pete grumbles like he wants to kill him; but cannot. So Pete simply grinds the wooden table into his face while shaking his head. Don't ask me what he was trying to do here; because I don't think even he knows.
So we head outside AFTER HAPPY HOUR as Goofy is leading a march with all the babyfaces having their eyes covered. So BS&P has officially declared blindfolds to be inapporos after Jolly Molly Christmas? Goofy tells them not to peak as Pete is wearing a green furry coat blowing off all this; which PJ tells Pete to chill out. I think he's well beyond chilled at this point PJ; trust me on that one. So Goofy tells them to stop and walks off as he tells them that they can look now; as the babyfaces finally let go and they are in awe as there is a large christmas tree decorated with a star on top and according to Goofy; 639 strings worth of lights. Judging by the artwork; even if Goofy meant 639 red lights; he would off by at least 500 lights. Counting is clearly not Goofy's strong suit as Goofy walks over and gives Pete a joybuzzer like device which has curly thin black wire. This tree has to blow up because if it doesn't; then Jymn Magon has lost a perfect payoff to this joke. And actually; Magon makes it better because instead of the tree exploding; the lights come on, then all the bulbs burst on cue; causing a blackout and the joybuzzer to spark blue bolts on cue. Then the lights come back on and that leads to the tree being set on fire. Max calls this cool. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Sometimes; everyone had a psychopathic moment; and this will do it quite nicely; along side car crashes and NASCAR races in general. Then the tree falls down and lands right on Goofy's lodge and it get set on fire; much to the horror of PJ. Huh? Should they be switched here with PJ claiming that it looks cool and Max being in horror? Then the sled flies and lands on the car and that is enough for Goofy to panic and run in with a log to open the back trunk as Goofy manages to save Max's Christmas present and he does successfully. That was funny and Max has no right to blow off Goofy for anything even if he would have a point about the car being murdered by the flames into a wooden car frame. Pete walks over and does the subtle mock sympathy spot on Goofy and smacks him around thanking Goofy for cheering him up while he laughs. Sadly for Pete; because Pete was responsible for pushing the button of doom despite being all Goofy's fault for doing a crappy job of wiring the tree in the first place, you know that Peg's response to this is to invite Goofy to the lodge for Christmas just to spite Pete for being unfestive. I check the video...well; not yet because Max proclaims that Christmas is gone as the segment ends 14 minutes in. It's getting better; but the real treat of this episode is yet to come.
After the commerical break; we see Max and Goofy being glum as Pete mocks him and then walks off. Goofy feels so bad that he promises to make it up for Max and even gives Max his Christmas present as a start. Max is so unhappy because there is no cabin, food nor car left to enjoy Christmas with. Peg calls this a bunch of fiddlesticks and damn I am so good. Max loves this and Pete is forced to turn around and is shocked and appalled in that order. Is anyone really surprised by this?! Really guys?! I called it two minutes before it happened. Not only that; I was even right about Peg pointing out that Pete pushed the damn button; thus it is no longer Goofy's fault; which is stupid because it was GOOFY who wired the tree in the first place. Pete grumbles and is so flustered that even Max and PJ slap skin for fun and spiteting. Goofy is so happy to Peg's offer as Pete tells Goofy to go stuff himself; and Goofy takes it as an offer to actually cook dinner for Christmas Eve. Oh; this is going to end badly for Goofy and this will be all Pete's fault for telling him to go stuff himself. Peg appears to be warming up to the offer; which causes Pete to get on his hands and knees to beg for mercy. Mercy? From Peg? From Goofy? Peg as usual accepts the offer cart blanche as Pete fears that he'll be in the hospital and we segueway to Goofy in the kitchen with a turkey and a chef's hat on. Max is shifting flour into a bowl on the counter and cautions Goofy not to over do it. Why Max? Him overdoing his singing or the turkey? If it's the later; then I agree, but the former? You can sod off! Goofy proclaims that this is the perfect time to overdo it and pokes the turkey, so it's the later. Goofy goes outside to the back and asks if Pete like yams. Max decides to ask him and then runs out and slides in safe calling it freedom. Pete takes this as the big goof getting under the little goof's skin as he is reading the newspaper on the love seat. So we head to the back as we get a really dumb logic break: If you recall; Goofy's car was destroyed by fire earlier on. Well; now he's opening the trunk to a similar looking car. That better be Pete's car; or that is a huge logic break in both senses of the word.
So Goofy is bringing out the boxes of stuff; so I assume that it's Pete's car as Humprey is hiding behind logs licking his chops. We then cut to PJ and Pistol trimming the tree while Max thanks Peg for taking them in and apologizes for Goofy's over the top feastive mood. Oh please Max; his hyper festive mood is what makes these specials so worth watching, much to the disdain of Pete of course. So Humprey follows Goofy into the kitchen as there is dough in a bowl on the middle island. Goofy puts the stuff down as Humprey tries to get a nibble from the bowl; but Goofy whacks his finger with the spoon thinking that it's Pete because he's trying to screw him over. Sadly; it's not Pete getting it as Humprey is mad and stalks Goofy from behind and his growling is confusing Goofy into thinking that it's Pete's stomach. Goofy opens a pickle jar and stuffs a dill pickle into Humprey's mouth to shut him up. So Humprey tries to get close with his face; but Goofy opens the cupboard and it MURDERS Humprey's face. Humprey is in tears as his nose is likely broken; and he sniffles. Goofy mistakes it as Pete's cold getting worse; and then we jump cut to Pete in his coat going to the icebox which is mighty convenient of him considering that there is a BEAR in the damn kitchen. Nice to see Pete was on the ball here eh? Goofy finally turns around as Pete panics while stuffing cookies in his mouth. Goofy sticks his head in Humprey's mouth and screams before popping out and bailing stage left. So Goofy and Pete stuff themselves into the fridge and that gets batted around as Pete and Goofy dodge swipes from Humprey. We cut back to Peg wearing pink overalls and a white shirt; and apparently likes Max so much that she has a pair of Max's purple pants. Peg is trimming the top of a pink stocking and she hears the bumping and mocks Pete for "helping" Goofy. HA! If only Peg, if only. Goofy and Pete run into the living room and barricade the door as Pete complains about a bear in the kitchen. Goofy thinks everything will be all right as long as the bear eats all the food like Baloo and then goes away. Pete is relieved and then he catches himself and sulks. HA!
Goofy has a pressure cooker which he explains that it's cranberries as he puts it on the fire in the fireplace. That is not smart Mr. Goof as Peter sits down on the green loveseat as he is eating a container of chocolate ice cream. Pete throws down the ice cream container and blows off this holiday as Goofy agrees that it's time to buck the F up so to speak. My words; not his of course. So he offers to sing songs; which every babyface joins in to no sell the deal like a bunch of smug 13 year olds. I can understand Pete doing this and maybe even Max/PJ; but Pistol and Peg? FACKING BULLSHEET! So Goofy decides to bring out his secret weapon which is Max's five year old moment and I know this because Max panics right on the damn spot; pleading for mercy here. Goofy turns on the cassette/LP player and we have finally come to the real reason why this episode was so awesome. It's the dreaded Reindeer Dance Song~! Oh goody! Also known as the Reindeer Rumba. This song is so goofy; it's no wonder Max doesn't want to join in as he covers his eyes the moment Goofy puts on the reindeer antlers. Max is so embarrassed that the pets hide underneath the coffee table and Max runs in to try to stop this; but he is forced to dance with Goofy. Goofy doing this dance makes it all worth while. However; Goofy's stupidty of putting the cranberries in the pressure cooker on the fire is going to cost him as the pressure cooker gets pressurized so much that it explodes and this causes the entire lodge to get splattered in cranberry sauce on screen; while the explosion off-screen causes the trees to literally lose their needles and are filled with soot. So we head back inside and I should note that before the cooker exploded; Peg, Pistol and Pete were actually loving the Reindeer Dance song. So what happens now? Pete forgets the joy of that song and absolutely blows off Goofy for runining Christams for everyone and even calls Max "his dumb kid". Great heel heat for Pete here as Goofy stammers and then asks Max if he really ruined it and Max doesn't say anything and looks defeated.
Goofy takes that as a hint and grabs his red stocking hat and Whaffles; and then walks out of the lodge claiming that he wants some air; and tells them not to catch up with him; an indication that Goofy's heart has been crushed. Sadly; this explosion was all Goofy's fault this time around; so Pete does have a point. Then we get a really stupid logic break: Pete proclaims that he wants to open presents (as if this is going to save Christmas; and as a means to spite Goofy further); and then when we go into the next shot; we are at the living room and not only is the scene completely cleared up and the living room looks like nothing had happened; but power is also restored despite the explosion causing a complete black out. This is so Darkwing Duck level logic breaking that it only strengthens my point that going the TaleSpin route with Goofy Troopers was a better bet. So they open presents and Max is sitting on the couch sulking as Pistol loves her Viking hat and she cuts a Norse promo which she speaks so fast that I have no idea what reference she is making. Pistol also apologizes that all of Max's gifts have burnt up. In other words; Goofy destroyed the presents Max was going to get from the Pete family! Which is hilarious considering that everyone else got their presents without a problem. Logic break is such a selective logic break. So PJ points out that Goofy's present to Max is still intact as Max takes it and opens it. It turns out to be a picture frame with a photo of Goofy and Max doing the Reindeer Dance song. Now; this would have been more believable; if it wasn't a still photo of the footage we saw before the cranberries exploded in the pressure cooker. I note this because Max looks like he's ten years old in the photo instead of age five when he did the dance in the first place. Max then walks over and takes his coat because he is leaving to find Goofy and be with his family. He puts on his coat and hat and walks out as the side of the lodge is still destroyed and everyone treats it as if there is a wall; even the door opens and closes as if nothing had happened.
Why didn't they just have the lodge rebuilt? It's not like the censors didn't try to make the SeaDuck look brand new before Wildcat fixed it in the syndie version of Plunder and Lightning part two. And that was animated by Walt Disney France. Idiots! PJ then notices that the winds and blowing snow are picking up and he basically sezs "F*** logic!" and goes through the door outright instead of opening and closing it. Whatever guys. PJ thinks that they are heading to the cliff; which is a sign that Goofy might commit suicide. So we cut to Goofy who is down in the dumps; blaming himself for making everyone hate him. Huh? Everyone? Including your millions of fans Goofy? That's false on it's ear. It was only Pete that truly hates you as Goofy goes through the snowy cliff and freefalls complete with the YAH-OOE sound he always makes in every Goofy production ever. So we cut back to the babyfaces hearing it in the blinding blizzard; as Pete blows them off and gets in front because he's taking charge of this operation to save Goofy. Already? I thought he would have to be dragged kicking and screaming here. That would have been hilarious actually. Pete walks about ten feet and proclaims that everyone should follow him; and they get WARNERED off the cliff. Pete bounces on the ground as all the other babyfaces bounce off his belly and onto the snow safely while Pete is in pain and gets buried in a tomb. Peg dusts herself off and then they notice Goofy has his head and body in the snow with only his legs sticking out; and that leads to a fade to black almost 21 minutes in. So we head inside a cave as the babyfaces are circling a lit fire; while Goofy sulks and feels so bad for ruining Christmas. Max snuggles up to him and claims that while he might be grown up; but still loves Christmas anyway. Peg is snuggling up with Pete as Goofy realizes that it's love and family that makes Christmas; not materialistic decorations, and then he panics because apparently; there is a bear. Max is confused; so Goofy turns Max's head around and we see Humprey the bear growling as he walks into the cave. This is when I find out that my version of this came from the Family Channel Canada cut of the show.
So the babyfaces all panic and run inside the mini cave to hide as Humprey traps them inside; and Pete whines about being too handsome to die; and then presents Goofy to let him get eaten. You just knew the "Pete doesn't hate Goofy" spot wouldn't last as Peg marches in and blows off the bear; and orders him to get the hell out. PJ then points out to her that this is Humprey's cave. HAHA! Peg recoils and backs up; which is a great spot. Not even a super feminist can withstand the power of "trepassing". So then we discover that Max is not with the babyface as he is at the exit of the cave; and has the reindeer antlers on and he calls out as Mr. Bear. UH OH! You know where this is going now don't you? Welcome to the Reindeer Rumbra BABEE! This is so absurd only a Goof could pull it off. This final segment was AWESOME and WD-France's scene setup is absolutely perfect here. Goofy join in and it's time for the Reindeer Dance (written by Randy Petersen and Peter Quinn. Randy is mostly a DTVA/Disney live action music composer; with non Disney credits being Sister Sister, Gravedale High, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, Tales of The Tooth Fairies. The Zoo Gang was his debut; Goof Troop his DTVA debut. Sharpey's Fabulous Adventures is his most recent credit. I have nothing on Peter though.) as Pete blows the whistle and the bear is so impressed; he joins in with all the cats and dogs as they do the dance. Sadly; no one has the full lyrics for this thing but I do know now that Pistol was referring Conan The Barbarian when she was wearing the viking helmet. Platypus Comix does have the chorus though which is: Ayyyy Carumba, doin' the Reindeer Rhumba! Ayyyy Carumba, doin' the Reindeer DANCE! And that is ALL you need to know as to why this is a bigger earworm than Spin It! This song was awesome!
Now this is how the episode should have ended; but we still have a minute and a half to go in this (and showing Pistol on the shoulders of the bear is classic), so we cut to a barren tree in the cave with jewelry on as decorations; and they just sing Silent Night. Okay; this makes no sense at all. If you are going to do this; sing the song at the beginning of the big ending scene and only Goofy doesn't sing as he is depressed. That would give it the pathos the episode needed. Doing this AFTER a comedy song like Reindeer Dance is asking for trouble. Max and Goofy embrace each other near the fire and we get the standard Merry Christmas as we get a shot outside the cave as Pete wants to go to the Bahamas and then sneezes on cue to end the episode at 22:44. Wow the ending was messed up here. It should start with Silent Night without Goofy singing, then Max and Goofy have their pathos moment and embrace; Goofy does the speech, bear arrives, then we do the Reindeer Dance, then Goofy and Max say their Merry Christmas; and then go outside and have Pete sneeze. In fact; this had to be BS&P ruining things because the producer knew doing what they did was stupid; so they basically repeat the entire Reindeer Dance number in the ending credits. And then they screw that up by showing Silent Night in the ED. Yeah; what a dumb decision. This is why Jolly Molly Christmas was so perfect: Every spot meant something; it was built up and then had one of the most killer finishes and ending in DTVA history; and they ended it without screwing it up big time. As much as I love the Reindeer Dance which is damn awesome to watch (and the shading by WD-France made it worth their while); the pathos scene was ruined and there were several logic breaks near the climax. This felt like they went through the motions for most of this special just to get to the big Reindeer Dance number. I mean; even if you don't use kids for the child characters; it's still messed up for that reason. It's too bad; because the Reindeer Dance was creative, original, and wins the award for DTVA earworm music. Good luck getting that dance out of your freakin head. You'll need it. **** 1/4 (85%). Half of that is for the Reindeer Dance alone.
THE REVIEW LINE
I wondered why I felt that this Christmas Special was only second best to Jolly Molly Christmas; and now I have figured out why: It was messed up by BS&P and dumb booking. The setup and build was actually wonderful and it felt like what it was supposed to be; but the pathos just are not there because you cannot take Goofy seriously as a pathos character. So it was basically going through the motions to the big finish; and it made it not memorable. To be fair to Max and Goofy; even if they could have been taken seriously and Max was voiced by a child; there is still the problem with the ending scene because they played the pathos "Silent Night" song AFTER the Reindeer Dance; not before the bear arrived which would have given Max/Goofy's embrace a lot more meaning and emotion. So I didn't care about the fact that Max was forgiving Goofy for screwing up both lodges. Then there were some logic breaks that looked so Darkwing Duck level that it wasn't funny. They treated the burned out wall entrance to the lodge as if there is wall; when there is not, and then PJ basically broke that logic to pieces. They also messed up Max seeing the photo because Max still looked like age ten in the photo when earlier; we thought he did this at age five, so he should have been smaller and more childish rather than his normal look. Dumb! Humprey was good as a one shot deal and Peg was on her best behaviour. Pistol was good and PJ was good. Pete was a dick; although the final blow off before Goofy left the lodge was justified in every way since Goofy did put the pressure cooker of cranberries on the fire; which was really stupid on his part. I was more surprised that Pete loved the Reindeer Dance song; and really this song is the only reason to watch this special because it is hilarious and the dance number with Humprey was comedy diamond to say the least. Sadly; without the song, this is barely a ** 1/2 special; and par for the Goof Troop course. I'm sorry Jymn; but when it comes to Christmas specials; Libby Hinson does a better job than you. Then again; Libby didn't have BS&P problems like this episode. Seriously; a broom gun? I don't get it unless it was a BS&P decision to do a Looney Tunes spot of eating the gun and then a bullet blows up inside him. That has to be the spot. Otherwise; Jymn has lost his mind. Overall; this special was okay, but nowhere near It's A Wonderful Leaf in terms of amusement for me; unless you count the Reindeer Dance. Then it's only a step down from Jolly Molly Christmas. A really abyss like step down; but Libby is a pathos god and no one can top her in DTVA; what can you do? And Goofy is not going to be the pathos guy anytime soon. So starting on Boxing Day; I'll finish the remaining Fish Hooks episodes and then after that; January 2nd is the beginning of Phineas & Ferb. YAY! So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.