The 60th episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and the series' only Christmas Episode, in which Buzz and the gang must help Santa save the holiday from the Evil Emperor Zurg.
Tropes associated with this episode include:
- Actor Allusion:
- In a roundabout way; Buzz dressing up as Santa may be a reference to the fact that Tim Allen, who voiced him in the Toy Story movies, also starred in The Santa Clause and its sequels.
- It's more apparent with Santa, who's voiced by the late Earl Boen, who had previously voiced Santa in "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas", and would later reprise his role in the Christmas Episode of Johnny Bravo.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Buzz admits he stopped believing in Santa when he was nine and didn't get the present he had wanted most. Santa remembers, saying it was a working laser. Him balking at giving such a thing to a child is how Buzz realizes the guy really is Santa.Buzz: Why not?
Santa: Why not? Why don't you ask your cat, Fluffy? - An Ass-Kicking Christmas: It's a generic "villain steals Christmas" plot with an awesome fight scene between Zurg and Buzz Lightyear featuring Bullet Time and backed by a pounding techno track.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Buzz is horrified to learn what nefarious deeds Zurg is planning to do.Buzz: Sabotage our fleet, bust out the prisoners on PC-7, and steal my newspaper!
- Bullet Time: This effect is used when Zurg and Buzz are fighting while time is frozen.
- Christmas Elves: Instead of LGMs, Elf-GMs work for Santa.
- Christmas Episode: Though it’s only ever referred to as “the holiday”.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Due to Zurg’s meddling, Santa has to use his old sleigh which runs on belief to deliver gifts. Star Command’s belief gets it in the air, but XR finally admitting that he believes is what gets it to full capacity.
- Clothes for Christmas Cringe: Santa threatens Buzz with this to keep him quiet about the location of his workshop.Santa: And if you ever tell anyone where it is, you’ll never get anything from me but socks and underwear!
- Cuckoo Finger Twirl: Buzz does this when telling the man trying to convince him he’s Santa that he helps all citizens no matter how crazy they are.
- Evil Is Petty: In addition to more grandiose feats, Zurg uses the ability to stop time to steal Buzz's newspaper just to be a dick. He even waits for Buzz to reach for it before acting.
- Faux Affably Evil: After getting a hold of Buzz's newspaper, Zurg mockingly greets him.Zurg: Morning.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Despite his insistence he doesn't believe in Santa or care about the holiday, XR looks saddened over Zurg saying every child in the galaxy is going to be disappointed this year. He's also the one to ask how Santa delivered toys before all these sci-fi gadgets came along.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: XR spends most of the episode insisting he doesn't get the point of the holiday or believe Santa is the real deal. He's insistent on that even when the only thing that can save the day is an old sleigh powered by belief. Santa reveals XR actually believes more than anyone else in the room; he just doesn't want to admit to others or even himself.
- How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: A kid asks Buzz, dressed as Santa, this question, which he fails to produce a good answer for.
- The episode ends up answering this question later by introducing a magical device owned by Santa that is able to stop time.
Buzz: So that’s how you can deliver all those gifts in one night! - How the Character Stole Christmas: Zurg uses Santa’s device that stops time to rob every planet in the galaxy of any symbol of the holiday.
- Hypocritical Humor: Right after telling Mira that XR has to decide to believe in the holiday on his own, Buzz, as his captain, tries to order him to believe.
- Mythology Gag:Buzz: Okay, so you're the real Santa Claus?Santa: You're mocking me, aren't you?
- Near-Villain Victory: It looks at first like Zurg succeeded in ruining the holiday when not only is the time-stopping device destroyed, but the high-speed accelerator is as well which means that Santa won’t be able to deliver all the presents in time. However, with the help of Star Command, Santa uses his old sleigh to save the holiday.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Buzz has one during his battle with Zurg: "I'm sending you home for the holidays!"
- Santa Claus: Santa himself asks Buzz for help after his time-control device was stolen by Zurg.
- Saving Christmas: When Zurg steals Christmas from the entire galaxy, Buzz has to help Santa bring back the holiday spirit.
- Shout-Out:
- Santa's line "You're mocking me, aren't you?", to which Buzz responds with a Rapid-Fire "No!", is a reference to a similar exchange between Buzz and Woody in the first Toy Story movie.
- To How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, not only with Zurg's plot to steal the holiday, but also with Mira sliding a candy cane into the fins of a sleeping Bathyosian in a similar manner to the Grinch taking the candy canes out of the hands of the sleeping Whos.
- Skewed Priorities: Santa scoffs at Buzz's insistence that Zurg is only out to harm Star Command, saying the true goal is eliminating the holiday itself to crush everyone's hopes.
- Snowball Fight:
- Kids pelt Booster with snowballs after accusing him of not being the real Santa.
- Buzz also launches snowballs at Zurg during their battle.
- That's an Order!: With XR insisting he doesn't believe, Buzz orders him to so that Santa's old sleigh can get moving.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After seeing the tree and other decorations disappear on Capital Planet, Buzz receives an alert from Commander Nebula. He knows this is going to be bad.Buzz: [wincing] Uh, Lightyear here.
- Time Stands Still: Santa has a device that allows him to stop time in order to deliver all his presents. Zurg steals it and he and Buzz have an epic showdown while time is frozen.
- You Mean "Xmas": Throughout the episode, Christmas is simply referred to as "the holiday".
