Scrooge teams up with his archrival, Santa Claus, to save Christmas, while Webby discovers the true history behind their infamous feud.
Tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal:
- Scrooge calls Santa a "Present Peddling Prowler" and a "Sanctimonious Solstice Swindler".
- Webby calls Santa a "Stocking-Stuffing Stooge". Scrooge even high fives her after that.
- Santa returns the favor and calls Scrooge a "Greedy Glaswegian Grinch".
- An Aesop:
- For Webby: It’s important to get both sides of the story before you jump to choosing one. Even if someone is your hero, that doesn’t mean that person can’t be wrong.
- For Scrooge: Practicality is one thing, but giving and generosity offer a warm and incredible feeling that can’t be beat- not just for the person you’re giving to, but for yourself as well!
- Applied Phlebotinum: The artifact that allows Santa to deliver presents around the world in one night is a huge, star-shaped gemstone known as the Feliz Navidiamond. It has the power to drastically slow down the flow of time for one day a year. When Santa first touches it, it freezes the snow monster, but for some reason not Scrooge or his reindeer, despite being farther away.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Della tries telling Huey, Dewey & Louie that "[Santa] knows what he did" to earn Scrooge's fury, they ask what exactly it was he did. When Della deflects with her answer, Louie realizes that she doesn't know, either.Louie: You don’t know, do you?
(Della’s eyes widen and dart back and forth) - Artistic License – Biology:
- Webby refers to reindeer antlers as horns though possibly justified since she's a child.
- Reindeer sound nothing like horses.
- Artistic License – History: Scrooge is old, but he's not "before Santa got started" old; Santa's been doing this since the Middle Ages.note
- Bear Hug: Literally, whenever Santa hugs Scrooge.
- Beary Friendly: This version of Santa Claus is revealed to be a polar bear, though this was already hinted at with a decoration of the character in "Last Christmas!". Needless to say, he's a very nice guy.
- Boring, but Practical: Deconstructed in the episode; see An Aesop for more imformation.
- Big Word Shout: "AGAIN?!" by Huey when it's revealed that Santa's convinced Scrooge to help him one more time.
- Brick Joke: When Scrooge notices the boys are unthankful for his present of woolen hats, he rhetorically asks if they'd rather have had something unnecessary like a cellphone they don't need, a trampoline, or a "video-graphical game" (yes, they would have). Guess what Santa gets them?
- The Bus Came Back: This is the first appearance of the Beagle Boys in the season. Not counting production ordersnote , it's also the first time Launchpad is seen with the McDuck family since he left for St. Canard.
- Call-Back: It only makes sense that Bouncer Beagle would be on the "nice list." We saw back in "Day of the Only Child" how quickly he's willing to abandon his criminality when (what seems like) a better opportunity shows itself.
- The Cameo: Lena, Violet, Fenton, Manny and L'il Bulb are all seen sleeping as Scrooge drops off presents. He, Santa and Webby also deliver a gift to the one good Beagle Boy, Bouncer. Launchpad and Beakley also appear at the very end to help Santa deliver the presents around the world.
- Christmas Elves: The villagers Scrooge was trying to sell coal to turn out to be this.
- Christmas Episode: The second one in the series (third if you count "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!").
- Christmas Light Chaos: Donald, yet again.
- Clothes for Christmas Cringe: Scrooge is disdainful of people giving Christmas gifts that aren't practical, so he gives the nephews and Webby wool hats to keep them warm in the winter. While Webby appreciates it, the nephews complain about how itchy the hats are.
- Companion Cube: Jennifer, the poor little girl, immediately grows attached to the lump of coal, naming it "Coal-ette".
- Continuity Nod: Scrooge's hatred for Santa Claus is brought up again after "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!" and "Last Christmas!"
- Creative Closing Credits: An original Christmas-y song plays over the closing credits.
- Creator's Culture Carryover: In the third act, even though it's well past midnight and all the real presents are still undelivered, Scrooge says there's still enough time to deliver all of them without anyone noticing. By the end of the episode, he seems to have been proven right... Except that in some countries, Santa Claus doesn't deliver presents during the night, when the kids are asleep; instead, he delivers them in the evening of December 24th, when the children are still awake. So in those countries, the kids would have already opened their presents and discovered Scrooge's lumps of coal.
- Didn't Think This Through: As Webby points out in her callout of Scrooge, not only does nobody use coal anymore but getting it on Christmas will be interpreted as them being deemed naughty. Scrooge sincerely believed coal was a better gift than a toy that would likely be quickly forgotten, mostly due to how valuable coal was to people during his childhood.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Because Santa chose to make Christmas into a charity rather than a business, even when Scrooge told him to decide between it and their friendship, Scrooge cut off all contact with him and went so far as to booby trap McDuck Manor to keep him from ever visiting him.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: Scrooge and Webby carefully step around several sleeping Beagle Boys in order to deliver a present to the one that made the nice list. Bouncer wakes up upon receiving his gift, and excitedly yells for the other Beagle Boys to wake up, believing they're getting presents too. They immediately turn to attack Scrooge, attempting to steal all the presents from him instead of being given only the ones meant for them.
- Driving Question: What was the cause of the feud between Santa & Scrooge?
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Near the end of the night, Santa and Webby find that the toy sack is still full even after they've already traveled to everyone around the world who needed a gift except for Scrooge, which is the point they realize Scrooge duped them.Santa: Wait, if the sack is still full—
Webby: ...what have we been delivering all night?
Santa: Oh no! No, no, NO! - Eye Am Watching You: The head elf gives this gesture to Scrooge (she doesn't trust him because he is a rude door-to-door salesman selling coal) after Santa convinces her to let him in as well.
- Faux Horrific: Turns out the reason Scrooge hates Santa is that the man chose to turn Christmas into a holiday of giving everyone gifts for free instead of the part business venture their partnership started as. Scrooge saw it as a betrayal, especially since Santa was one of his few friends, and took the whole conflict unreasonably badly by outright demanding Santa choose between the version of Christmas Santa wanted to start and their friendship.
- Foreshadowing:
- Louie's Armor-Piercing Question to Della hints early on that Santa isn't as bad as Scrooge makes him out to be. Since it's made clear that nobody but Scrooge actually knows what Santa allegedly "did" to make him unwelcome, it means we only have Scrooge's word that he ever did anything bad.
- When first using The Feliz Navidiamond, Santa Claus didn't just slow down time for himself, but also for Scrooge and the reindeer despite not being close to him; this proves that the diamond doesn't just work for the user but for those he/she chooses. Later, when they need to deliver all the gifts with just a few minutes to spare, Scrooge has the idea of calling for reinforcements to cover several places at once, the diamond's magic working for them all despite being spread all over the world.
- When Scrooge gives the nephews and Webby the wool hats, he gets annoyed at them for wanting something like a video game rather then something practical like the hats, which the nephews didn't really like. This foreshadows one of the major reasons for Scrooge and Santa's falling out: namely, that Scrooge didn't think Santa giving the gifts away rather then charging for them was practical, misunderstanding Santa's point.
- At the last house, Webby hands Scrooge a present, only for Scrooge to state that he has the actual present himself. If this is the last house, it's rather suspicious that they would have any presents left over. It turns out rather soon after that it was far from the only left over present, and that they hadn't delivered a single present throughout the entire night. Scrooge was delivering fake presents with coal in them instead of Santa's actual presents.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: In the past, Scrooge forced Santa into choosing between his friendship with him or his Christmas toy delivery. Santa chose Christmas, thus starting the feud between them.
- Friend to All Living Things: Santa is able to tame the flying reindeer instantly with jingle bells.
- Full Moon Silhouette: The episode ends with Scrooge, Santa, and company riding the flying reindeer across the full moon over McDuck Manor and Scrooge wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a good night.
- Funny Background Event: Whilst Della tells the boys her version of "The Night Before Christmas", Donald gets himself tangled up in some Christmas lights. He is still tangled up when Della drags him away to check the Santa traps.
- Gift Shake: Webby shakes a bunch of presents in Santa's sleigh and is able to accurately guess what is inside each one.
- Good All Along: Santa turns out to be the jolly old bear the public views him as. Scrooge's grudge against him was because the latter wanted to stop selling coal and instead give away toys for free, against the former's wishes.
- Got Volunteered: Santa does this to Scrooge by telling everyone that he can deliver his coal to everyone anywhere in the world by Christmas morning. They thus have to go on a adventure to find a way to make this possible.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Perhaps not gratuitous, but the pair seek out the Feliz Navidiamond. It is hidden in Cascabel Cavern, "cascabel" being Spanish for "jingle bell". The map, traded from a Spanish explorer, also warned of "los renos voladores" (flying reindeer).
- Greed: Played with. Scrooge displays his greediness here in Christmas by trying to give everyone coal for Christmas and is partly in it for the money he will receive. Downplayed in that he sincerely believes what he offers will be more helpful and lining his own pockets is barely a factor.
- Homemade Sweater from Hell: Woolen hats, in this case. Webby argues the itching makes it practical.Webby: [impressed] Ooooh!
Louie: [NOT impressed] Eugh, you could NOT have found an itchier fabric! - How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: Huey outright asks Santa this. It turns out the Feliz Navidiamond allows time to be slowed one night a year.
- How the Character Stole Christmas / The Grinch: The title of the episode is a play on the Grinch-title. However, in the episode itself it is Scrooge who almost ruins Christmas because instead of delivering presents to the children as he is asked to by Santa he gifts everyone a piece of coal. It turns out he feels wronged by Santa and wants to teach the children a lesson that resources like coal are more practical and important than toys. Of course, in Grinch-like manner it is Scrooge who learns his lesson that a warmed heart helps you through the coldness. He and his family help Santa to undo his mistake and give every child his present.
- Incorrect Animal Noise: The flying reindeer make horse neighs and snorts rather than actual deer sounds.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: When Scrooge points out that Santa was faking a leg injury, Santa initially reaches for the wrong leg to say how much it hurts.
- Insistent Terminology: Huey finally calls Scrooge on his repeated use of the term "video-graphical games".
- Irrational Hatred:
- Webby and Della are hostile to Santa simply because Scrooge hates him, not because they have any personal reason. Webby begins changing her tune when she finds Santa's present for her (a state-of-the-art compound crossbow with titanium arrows) and completely changes her mind once she learns the truth about Scrooge's hatred for him, while Della admits it's much more fun helping to deliver the presents than trying to trap him.
- Scrooge himself hates Santa because Santa committed the horrible crime of deciding to give everyone toys for Christmas and to abandon the coal selling aspect it started with.
- It Will Never Catch On: Scrooge says this about Santa's idea for Christmas when he ends their partnership. It's strongly implied that Scrooge being proven wrong is why his hatred of Santa sustained over so many decades.
- Jerkass Realization: By the end of the episode, Scrooge realizes what he's done, regrets his misguided decision to give everyone coal and helps to fix things, with a bit of help.
- Literary Allusion Title: To Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Macguffin: In the flashback, Scrooge and Santa go after the Feliz Navidiamond, which is kept in a cave and is guarded by flying reindeer and a monstrous snowman.
- Makes Us Even: Santa says this to Scrooge after saving Scrooge from the Beagle Boys. The very next flashback reveals that Scrooge had saved Santa from a Snowman Monster.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Santa managed to acquire his flying reindeer, who were initially vicious monsters guarding the Feliz Navidiamond, by using a pair of jingling bells which calms them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Scrooge keeps believing coal is a much better gift than a toy because it has a practical use, until he meets a poor girl living in a cold home who is merely overjoyed to finally have a toy and refuses his attempts to show her how to use it by burning it to warm her house. Seeing this, he finally realizes that Santa was right and that he made a terrible mistake secretly gifting the entire world coal instead of the presents they were supposed to get.
- Mythology Gag:
- Scrooge realizes the error of his ways on the night before Christmas. Sound familiar?Scrooge: Bah, humbug.
- The little pig girl whom Scrooge meets is named Jennifer. This is an homage to the Uncle Scrooge Christmas comic Tis the Season by Bob Foster & Mike Peraza.
- The triplets expressing their disappointment in getting woolen hats as Christmas presents was taken from "Dear Santa" in Disney Sing-Along Songs, where they beg Santa not to give them wool sweaters. Louie even complains about the wool's itchiness, like they did in the song.
- The snowman monster is based on the (literal) Abominable Snowman from the Mouseworks short "Donald on Ice".
- Scrooge realizes the error of his ways on the night before Christmas. Sound familiar?
- Never My Fault: Scrooge blames Santa for betraying him when actually his own greed made him distance himself from the polar bear. He realizes how much he’s to blame for their falling-out after his experience with the poor little girl.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Scrooge decides this is a good time to try and prove he was right about coal being a better thing to get on Christmas, replacing all the toy gifts with lumps of coal.
- Noodle Incident: Santa mentions Scrooge once talked the Sphinx into making a multiple-choice riddle.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Scrooge's insistence on giving everyone a practical gift rather than something wasteful would be reasonable were it not for the fact that the coal he gives is not as practical as it was in the 19th century and he wants everyone to pay him for it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For most of the episode, Santa’s a cheerful old polar bear who’s at worst dismayed and sad over his falling out with Scrooge. But when Santa finds out that Scrooge had been delivering coal instead of gifts, he’s absolutely furious. When he goes to confront Scrooge, Santa's voice is a low, furious growl.
- Origin Story: For Santa Claus, explaining several major aspects of the character in this story.
- Papa Wolf: Santa was not happy when he found out Scrooge had been giving out coal to the children instead of the presents.
- Pie in the Face: Scrooge gets a fruitcake in the face while trying to deliver a present to Fenton.
- Platonic Kissing: Webby gives Violet and Lena a goodnight kiss after giving them their presents.
- Playing Sick: Turns out Santa faked his leg injury so he could convince Scrooge to help him and try to finally patch up their relationship.
- Present Peeking: Louie, of course, which is how both he and the audience discover the presents are actually coal.
- Race Against the Clock:
- Santa, Scrooge, and Webby must deliver all the world's presents in one night. Downplayed in that the Feliz Navidiamond slows down time to a degree that they can take as much time as they need. Played straight later when Santa discovers that Scrooge had been delivering coal instead of the gifts, and they need to deliver the real presents in a matter of minutes.
- In the flashback, Santa and Scrooge must figure out a way to make their coal and present deliveries by Christmas, leading them to trying to obtain the Feliz Navidiamond.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: This episode shows the contrast between Scrooge and Santa, with the latter being kind and altruistic, which helps gets the elves and reindeer on his side, but failing to convince the monster snowman to let them pass, and the former being a realist who cares about the money, practicality and efficiency, and is willing to fight dirty such as using flaming coal to fight the snowman.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: One of the episode's plots is about Webby learning why Santa and Scrooge have such a large feud in the first place.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder:
- Scrooge's present to the three boys and Webby are woolen hats. When Louie complains how itchy it is, Scrooge defends the choice of gift, asking if they'd rather have something like a cellphone you don't need, a trampoline, or a "video-graphical game". Louie and Dewey reply with "YES!".
- When Santa suggests giving away their coal in order to warm their hearts, Scrooge asks "Who cares about their hearts"? Santa bluntly answers that he does.
- Saving Christmas: The main plot. It's not even the first time Scrooge has done it. However it ends up subverted because Christmas was never really in danger, Santa only pretended it was to convince Scrooge to come along. It ends up being double-subverted because Scrooge was giving everyone coal (with an invoice, no less) instead of presents throughout the night, so now they have to rush back to give out the actual presents before the sun comes out.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Scrooge left Santa and the elves after it became clear that the bear had put his foot down on making Christmas be for free.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Given his and Scrooge's bitter feud, Webby suspects Santa's altruistic nature to be an act. But it becomes clear as the two former friends-turned-rivals' history is established that Santa’s being genuine.
- Shout-Out:
- The flying reindeer all bear a resemblance to Sven.
- Scrooge comes across a little girl who confuses him for Santa.
- Shown Their Work:
- Reindeer in the episode are depicted with long facial fur, which reindeer or caribou develop during the winter for insulation. They also resemble real-life caribou rather than white-tailed deer like in many Christmas specials, although a previous Disney work got this one right.
- The episode remembers that female reindeer possess antlers like the males, with Dewey referring to one of Santa's reindeer as a "she".
- Reindeer harnesses are drawn with the burden on the animal's shoulders, as opposed to the neck commonly seen in Christmas works (putting the burden on the neck would strangle the animal).
- Snowlems: The guardian of the Feliz Navidiamond is a monstrous snowman.
- Special Edition Title: The opening used in "Last Christmas!" is used once again (although with Della added in).
- Spit Take: Scrooge spits out his cocoa right into Santa's face when he suggests giving away all their coal for free.
- Subbing for Santa: Scrooge and Webby, although Santa is still on the sleigh with them. Towards the end, when they need to replace the coal Scrooge delivered with the actual presents, Donald, Della, the boys, Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley also join them.
- Talking the Monster to Death: Santa attempts to reason with the guardian of the Feliz Navidiamond into trading the gem with one of his toys. When Scrooge teases him for it, Santa points out that Scrooge once talked the Sphinx into a multiple-choice riddle.
- Technology Marches On: Invoked. Webby calls Scrooge out for trying to give people coal in the 21st century.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Scrooge reluctantly agrees to help Santa at the triplets' begging and for the sake of saving Christmas. Only Webby is invited along, since she doesn't immediately swoon over Santa.
- Time Stands Still: The Feliz Navidiamond slows down time giving Santa all the time he needs to deliver all the presents in one night.
- Token Good Teammate: Bouncer Beagle is the only member of the Beagle Boys to be on Santa's "nice" list, and therefore the only one who gets a present.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Played with. Scrooge's hatred of Santa seems to have passed on to Della and Webby, as the latter is more rude and hostile towards the jolly bear.
- Two Decades Behind: Scrooge insists on giving everyone coal for Christmas, considering it a practical gift he would have killed for when he was a child. Webby points out nobody in the 21st century uses coal to warm their homes and that coal is considered to be a symbol of a bad person on Christmas now.
- Visual Pun: The Feliz Navidiamond is protected by a Snowman Monster, or more appropriately, an abominable snowman.
- Wallpaper Camouflage: Webby applies some camouflage in order to blend in with the chimney on Scrooge's rooftop.
- Waxing Lyrical:
- To "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer"Santa: Scroogy, with your belt so tight, won't you fly my sleigh tonight?
- When the flying reindeer attack Scrooge and Santa:Scrooge: How are you [petting the reindeer]?
Santa: Jingle bells.
Scrooge: Jingle bells!?
Santa: Jingle all the way. - Santa also uses different carol lyrics in lieu of expletives. Like "Deck the halls", "Oh, Tannenbaum" and, a bit more obscure, the line "By gosh, by golly" from the Frank Sinatra song "Mistletoe & Holly"
- To "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
- We Used to Be Friends: Scrooge and Santa were partners and friends until Santa decided to give away toys on Christmas Eve instead of coal, and do it free of charge.
- Wham Line:
- When Scrooge agrees to help Santa, he mentions this is not the first time he's done so.Scrooge: I cannae believe you talked me in to this AGAIN!
Huey: "Again"?! - Another when Santa asks Webby to take a look at the last gift in his sack, reserved for Scrooge.Webby: Is it under all these other toys or...?
- When Scrooge agrees to help Santa, he mentions this is not the first time he's done so.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Scrooge gets the receiving end of this from both Santa and Webby when they find out he has been giving everyone coal the entire night, which puts the whole world in the naughty list unintentionally.Webby: Who even uses coal anymore except to tell kids they've been bad? How could you ruin Christmas!?
- White-Tailed Reindeer: Averted with Santa's flying reindeer which are accurately drawn as resembling real-life caribou and possess antlers as females. They also make horse-like noises, as opposed to deer-like ones.
