Line #8 WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grandeer1_2733.jpg]]
7	->''"It's the Christmas season. A time for telling colorful holiday stories. And my favorite story of all time is about my grandma. She had this encounter with a reindeer."''
8	-->-- '''Jake Spankenheimer (Adult)'''
9
10	''Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer'' is a 2000 ChristmasSpecial adapted from the eponymous Elmo Shropshire novelty song, and incorporating some of his other Christmas songs into the mix.
11
12	Grandma Spankenheimer is a kindly old woman who loves to spread Christmas joy in Cityville. She also owns the only piece of property in town not owned by the Own-All Corporation... but she refuses to sell, to the chagrin of [[BigBad Cousin Mel]], [[MoneyDearBoy who just wants the money]]. Meanwhile, Jake, the film's main character, still fervently believes in Santa though his parents are trying to find a way to tell him the "truth." Of course, Grandma inevitably gets run over by a reindeer then vanishes. As the only two witnesses are Jake and his senile Grandpa, [[CassandraTruth nobody believes them]]. During Grandma's disappearance, Cousin Mel finally claims the store, leaving only Jake to save the store by proving Santa's existence. By the climax of the special, Santa is on trial for his crimes against Grandma and Cousin Mel is on the verge of getting both the store and (she assumes) the millions of dollars Santa must have by suing the crap out of him. Will Christmas prevail over evil? Will Grandma be safe? Will the villains get their comeuppance?
13
14	The special premiered on what was once The WB network and airs several times annually during the holiday season on its successor network, Creator/TheCW. However, it is mostly known for its more frequent airings on Creator/CartoonNetwork, during both the actual Christmas holiday and their Christmas in July events. Since 2017, it's been aired on Creator/{{Freeform}}.
15	----
16	!!''Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer'' contains examples of:
17	* AcmeProducts: Cityville Own-All Corporation, which sells inflatable Christmas trees.
18	* AdaptationalVillainy: In the song, Cousin Mel is only given a brief mention as playing cards with Grandpa after Grandma's death and doesn't seem particularly malicious.
19	* AdaptationExpansion: The song only describes Grandma being run over and the family being depressed at her death with a sequel song that described a lawsuit being filed against Santa Claus. The special throws in a plot to buy out Grandma's store and even upgrades Cousin Mel, a minor character in the song who only gets mentioned once, to villain status.
20	* AnachronismStew: Due to the presence of e-mail, it is assumed the story takes place sometime around 1993-1999.
21	** A weird example. Jake is narrating the story years after it occurred. So why does Jake sound so old? He's only about twelve in the story, so unless the narration is coming from the far future, Jake should be somewhere in his late teens/early twenties (in 2000, the year the special was released, that is).
22	** The Spankenheimer family has a rotary dial telephone, which went out of fashion in the 1980s.
23	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: After Cousin Mel admits to framing Santa, they arrest her for the orchestrating the events leading to the disappearance of Grandma, framing Santa, [[AndThatsTerrible and almost ruining Christmas]].
24	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Looking at the map of the United States during "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake", one notices that the animator apparently thought Minnesota and Wisconsin are one state; same for Iowa and Missouri, and Louisiana and Arkansas. Also, there is no Rhode Island or Long Island, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is apparently its own state.
25	* AmoralAttorney:
26	** Cousin Mel's lawyer, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast I.M. Slime]], who's just as greedy and conniving as her partner-in-crime.
27	** Subverted with the prosecution lawyer during Santa's trial, who admits he doesn't want to see Santa convicted but also states that he has to do his job and that the evidence is not in Santa's favor. Notably, ''he'' is the one who demands Mel's arrest when her guilt is proven.
28	* AscendedExtra: Cousin Mel is mentioned offhandedly in the song as someone who plays cards with Grandpa; in the special, she's the main villain.
29	* BigBad: Cousin Mel, who wants Grandma to sell the store solely for the money it would bring. After Grandma's disappearance, Mel orchestrates a scheme to both claim the store and sue Santa Claus. Noticeable as the song really didn't ''have'' a villain, and she was just an extra.
30	* {{Bowdlerise}}: For some reason, The CW's broadcasts of this special cut out a few scenes. One of them is the scene where the Spankenheimers are dressed in black.
31	* ChekhovsGun: There's a song about fruitcake, and Cousin Mel tries to sabotage a fruitcake. [[spoiler:Not only does Jake use fruitcake to revive Grandma's memories, but he also used the same fruitcake Mel spiked against the court to drop the charges against Santa after someone brings up his hit-and-run with Grandma]].
32	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Grandpa is either senile or just weird -- either way, it becomes a problem when Mel uses his mental state to gain power of attorney over him.
33	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Subverted. Austin Bucks owns the whole city except Grandma's store, which he wants to acquire; he's depicted as more misguided than malicious, becoming Cousin Mel's UnwittingPawn instead of a villain.
34	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Taking Grandma to the North Pole rather than just a local hospital did more harm than good. Santa claims he didn't do that because he didn't know who she was or where she came from.
35	* CreatorCameo: Elmo Shropshire, who sang the eponymous song, as Grandpa Spankenheimer and the narration from Jake's perspective.
36	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The story takes place in a community called ''Cityville''.
37	* DisneyAcidSequence:
38	** Grandpa's song "Grandma's Spending Christmas with the Superstars", which he sings after mishearing the word ''sign'' as ''sing''.
39	** Mel and Slime's song "Grandpa's Gonna Sue the Pants Off Of Santa" also counts since they're dressed in sexy hula outfits and singing against a tropical-esque background.
40	* {{Disneyfication}}:
41	** In the original song, Grandma is clearly killed. In this version, she is merely knocked out, suffers from amnesia, and is carried away to the North Pole for medical attention (though the characters mostly assume she is dead).
42	** She also got completely drunk before leaving and dying (eggnog is traditionally made with liquor). In the movie, she's merely ''allergic'', and the "medication" is for her allergy as opposed to being a sign of senility.
43	* DontExplainTheJoke: The police code for sleigh hit-and-run is 12-24. One of the police officers just has to point out that it's a reference to the date of Christmas Eve.
44	* TheDragon: I.M. Slime to Cousin Mel, as the attorney is very much on board with Mel's evil plan and trial.
45	* EasyAmnesia: Grandma suffers this after getting hit, leaving Santa and his elves clueless as to who she is (and thus unable to return her to the family).
46	* EveryoneHatesFruitCakes: Inverted. Grandma's fruitcakes are actually popular enough to be a cornerstone of her business, [[spoiler:and Mel's attempt at sabotaging them to drive profits down in the hopes that she'll sell unintentionally attracts Santa's reindeer, which is why Grandma got run over]]. This trope does get referenced, however, at the trial: when the jurors are told to eat some fruitcake, they're reluctant to do so, even though [[IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam they turn out to like it]].
47	* EvilRedhead: Cousin Mel is red haired and tries to get all of Santa's money in the lawsuit because she hates happiness.
48	* FaceOnAMilkCarton: One of the ways they try to find Grandma is by placing her photo on a milk carton missing persons ad.
49	* FourFingeredHands: All of the characters are this...which is really odd seeing how they are drawn in a semi-realistic style. Let's just say that this didn't have a high budget, and we must assume part of the budget meant all of the characters lost a finger on each hand.
50	* FrivolousLawsuit: Mel and Slime are the orchestrators of the attempt to sue Santa Claus and they get to use "Grandpa's Gonna Sue The Pants Off Santa" as their VillainSong.
51	* GenderBlenderName: Cousin Mel[[note]](probably short for Melanie or Melody)[[/note]] - depicted as a shapely woman in the film, though in the song itself, it was never clear if Mel was a man or a woman, or even an adult (the original music video also depicted Cousin Mel as female, for the record; Elmo Shropshire's then-wife/bandmate Patsy portrayed her).
52	* GRatedDrug: When Jake explains Mel's attempt to contaminate Grandma's fruitcake. "What she didn't know was that the combined concoction had the exact effects of [[spoiler:reindeer-nip]]!"
53	* GoldDigger: Cousin Mel is explicitly described as one by Grandma since Mel only wants Grandma to sell her store for the large amount of money it would bring.
54	* GoodLawyersGoodClients: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with the D.A., who counts as a good guy despite trying to get Santa thrown in jail.
55	* {{Goth}}: Though Daphne Spankenheimer (Jake's older sister) behaves more like a typical mainstream girl throughout the film, the scene that depicts the family wearing black around Christmas time while Grandma's missing shows Daphne wearing a very gothic looking outfit and black lipstick (though [[PerkyGoth she's smiling]] in the scene).
56	* TheGrinch: Mel, who openly admits to hating the "goody-goody feelings of Christmas." More specifically, it's because she feels everybody makes a big deal out of it being "old-fashioned" and only enjoys a Christmas season that is over-commercialized and easy.
57	* HateSink: ''Mel'', right down to her permanently fixed scowl, with virtually no redeeming qualities to speak of.
58	* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler:After all the conflict is resolved, Grandma accidentally opens up the box of fruitcake with the reindeer nip in it. Guess what happens a second time?]]
59	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Slime and Mel, who get along a lot better than you'd expect from a pair of greedy, dishonest, treacherous crooks. Their VillainSong is perhaps the best example of this.
60	* HollywoodLaw:
61	** In real life, Jake's evidence would have been thrown out of court because it was a fruitcake they had just made, not the same one from the scene of the accident.
62	** Then there's the note that Santa left at the scene of the accident. It too would be inadmissible because there was no way to prove that it was left at the scene of the crime. The only thing they could prove is that Santa wrote it, but that wouldn't do jack. Then on top of that, Grandpa suggests dusting the note for fingerprints (which supposedly would've implicated Mel) but Doofus had the note in his mouth, and Grandpa was holding it without gloves, so even if they had proved Santa had left it behind, they still wouldn't have been able to implicate Mel and her attorney, making her confession all the more baffling.
63	* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: "Reindeer-nip." Reindeer (and apparently no other ungulates of any sort) will drop everything and come running at the slightest whiff of this stuff, and if an old lady happens to be between them and the goods, well, you've got yourself a novelty holiday song!
64	* InformedAttribute: The whole [[StockYuck "disgustingness"]] surrounding Grandma's fruitcake. In the song "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake", we're told that her fruitcake is "harder than the head of Uncle Bucky", "dryer than a drought in Albuquerque", and "enough to give the whole state of Kentucky a great big bellyache", giving the impression that Grandma is a LethalChef and her fruitcake is considered gross. However, it's also stated to be a famous recipe and during the courtroom scene, people are shown eating and visibly enjoying the fruitcake that wasn't tainted by reindeer-nip.
65	* ItsAllAboutMe: Cousin Mel's motivations come down to this. She wants to be filthy rich, even if it comes at the expense of selling Grandma's store and wrongfully sending Santa Claus to jail. Never mind that it could ruin Christmas: if it benefits her, she has absolutely no qualms about it.
66	* JukeboxMusical: The special uses Elmo Shropshire's Christmas novelty songs in this manner.
67	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: I.M. Slime, Cousin Mel's attorney and partner-in-crime.
68	* NarrationEcho: A whole conversation of it happens during one verse of the main song.
69	--> ''She'd been drinking too much eggnog''\
70	'''Dad:''' You've been drinking too much eggnog.\
71	''And we begged her not to go''\
72	'''Grandpa:''' Please, don't go!\
73	'''Mom:''' We're begging!\
74	''But she forgot her medication''\
75	'''Grandma:''' Besides, I left my medication at the store.\
76	''And she staggered out the door into the snow''
77	* NearVillainVictory: Cousin Mel's plan almost goes off without a hitch as she (easily) convinces Grandpa Spankenheimer to sign over his rights to the store and goes to sell it for millions to Austin Bucks. Had she not gotten greedy and tried to sue Santa Claus, she would've gotten away with everything.
78	* NoNameGiven: ''Everyone'', even the people who aren't related to them, simply refer to the elder Spankenheimers as "Grandma" and "Grandpa".
79	* PunchClockVillain: Pretty much anyone involved in Santa's trial other than Cousin Mel and I.M. Slime. Heck, the prosecutor admits that he doesn't want Santa to go to jail ''during his closing statement'', but he's still obligated to do his job to the best of his ability.
80	* PunnyName: Austin ''Bucks'' is rich, ''I.M. Slime'' is...[[EvilLawyerJoke a lawyer]].
81	* PutOnAPrisonBus: [[spoiler:Cousin Mel]] is last seen being led away in handcuffs after [[spoiler:she confesses to the entire scheme to take over the Spankenheimer store and arrest and sue Santa Claus.]]
82	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
83	** The Judge [[spoiler:presiding over Santa's court case]]. She's willing to hear Jake out and take his evidence and testimony seriously, despite the objections of the prosecution.
84	--->'''Judge:''' Alright then! In the name of justice, [[ItMakesSenseInContext we eat fruitcake]]!
85	** Austin Bucks, who gives Jake an extra week to find Grandma Spankenheimer before Cousin Mel buys her store.
86	* RichBitch: Cousin Mel, who not only attempts to buy Grandma's store, but also tries to convince Grandpa to file a lawsuit against Santa, which would result in her being the prime beneficiary.
87	* RunningGag: People complaining about [[StockYuck fruitcake]].
88	* RunningOverThePlot: The titular vehicular accident caused by Santa is what puts the plot into high gear.
89	* SavingTheOrphanage: Saving Grandma's store is a critical plot point to the film. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it's saved by the restoration and rescue of Grandma and Austin Bucks having a change of heart; instead of trying to buy the store, he offers Grandma a more beneficial franchising deal that would allow her store to remain open and also spread more stores of the same type across the country.]]
90	* TheScrooge: Cousin Mel, who attempts to prevent a woman named Martha from buying a gingerbread house on layaway credit, only for Grandma Spankenheimer to recognize her as a trustworthy customer and okay the purchase.
91	* ShoutOut:
92	** At one point, Grandma is reading a story about [[Music/StevieWonder a little Christmas tree]].
93	** "So, in conclusion, [[Creator/OJSimpson if the mitt fits, you must acquit]]!"
94	** The female cop looks and sounds a lot like [[Film/{{Fargo}} Marge Gunderson]].
95	* SmokingGun: Type 2. [[spoiler:Jake manages to get Santa cleared of charges by bringing a fruitcake into the court case and exposing that Mel poisoned the fruit cakes. She admits her guilt and is arrested.]] As with all Type 2 examples, the new evidence is presented by someone bursting into the courtroom and presenting it without anyone questioning the legality.
96	* SparedByTheAdaptation:
97	** Unlike the original song, Grandma doesn't ''die'' in this one. [[spoiler:She does get run over twice, though.]]
98	** In a bit of OlderThanTheyThink, the original music video revealed Grandma was alright in the end, suggesting the characters are just supposed to have assumed the worst...[[invoked]]
99	* StillBelievesInSanta: Both Grandma Spankenheimer and her grandson, Jake, believe the big Christmas man is real despite the cynical nature of the rest of the family (the grandpa is implied to believe too, but his senility make it hard to tell). This ends up helping Jake find his grandmother since his letter to Santa the following year asking to find her shows Santa someone in Citiville still believes in him. And coincidentally enough, it allows them to finally put a name to said Grandmother who lost her memory after, well, Santa accidentally ran her over and Santa had to take her to the North Pole to treat her injuries.
100	* TheStinger: There are three of these at the end of the credits on home video releases (TV versions leave these out):
101	-->[[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed No reindeer were harmed during the production of this motion picture.]]\
102	Santa Claus performed all of his own stunts.\
103	The portrayal of fruitcake represented in this story is not necessarily the opinion of the producers.
104	* StupidEvil: After spending so much time with an AmoralAttorney, you'd think Cousin Mel would know better than to just suddenly confess everything, or at least when they still can't actually prove she was connected to the evidence found.
105	* TalkingAnimal: Santa's reindeer. Surprisingly, nobody finds this weird, although it could be handwaved as Santa's reindeer being magical.
106	* ThatRemindsMeOfASong:
107	** A whole song is dedicated to how bad fruitcake is.
108	** As Mel tries getting Grandpa to sign her papers, he mishears "sign" as "sing", and goes off from there.
109	* TitleDrop: Jake and his grandpa both say the title of the special at least once each.
110	* UndisclosedFunds: I.M. Slime's estimate for how much Cousin Mel would get if they win the trial isn't revealed to the viewer, but it's implied to be a ''lot''.
111	-->'''Slime:''' ''(typing on a calculator)'' Your share as Grandpa's financial advisor is... ''woof.''\
112	'''Mel:''' "Woof"? ''(cue "Grandma's Gonna Sue the Pants Off of Santa")''
113	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Where Cousin Mel hides Austin's phone number and Santa's letter.
114	* VillainSong: "Grandpa's Gonna Sue The Pants Off Of Santa", about how Mel and Slime are gonna get Santa Claus thrown in jail just to get rich.
115	* VillainousFriendship: Mel and I.M. Slime get along a lot better than you'd expect from a pair of greedy, dishonest, treacherous crooks.
116	* WingdingEyes: Cousin Mel exhibits the dollar sign variant when Austin Bucks mentions selling the store in the beginning.

Context WesternAnimation / GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer