In the first Xmas episode of the series, depression hits Fry when he realizes that the future changed a lot of 20th century Christmas customs, and this is his first Xmas without his loved ones. He makes his complaints heard, which leaves Leela in tears due to the fact that she's never celebrated Xmas with her family. Desperate to make up for what he did, Fry searches for the perfect Xmas present for her, but must hurry before a robotic, homicidal Santa Claus finds him, cuts his head off and stuffs his neck full of toys from his sack of horror.
Tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Poor programming made Robot Santa have improbably high standards of morality.
- All Crimes Are Equal: If you're on Santa's Naughty List (and everyone is, except Zoidberg, due to faulty programing), he considers you naughty enough to kill off.
- Almost Kiss: Fry and Leela almost kiss under the mistletoe, but they're interrupted by an actual missile.
- Amusingly Short List: Zoidberg is the only person from planet Earth on Santa's "nice" list... at least this Xmas.
- Ass Shove: When Fry tries to placate a homicidal Santa robot with milk and cookies:Santa: You dare bribe Santa? I'm gonna shove coal so far up your stocking you'll be coughing up diamonds!
- Ax-Crazy: Santa Claus. Due to faulty programming, his Naughty and Nice list has everyone listed as Naughty (besides Zoidberg)
- Bad Santa: Santa Claus again, this time as a homicidal robot that judges everyone (except Zoidberg) as naughty because his morality standards were set too high.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Robot Santa accuses Fry and Leela of ignoring their other coworkers, he asks "Did you ever stop to consider... Dr. Zoidberg's feelings?"
- While the Professor, Hermes and Amy are watching Santa chasing down Fry, Leela and Bender:Professor Farnsworth: Dear God, they'll be killed on our doorstep! And there's no trash pick-up until January 3rd.
- While the Professor, Hermes and Amy are watching Santa chasing down Fry, Leela and Bender:
- Big Damn Heroes: Leela saving Fry via Take My Hand!.
- Bribe Backfire: Santa doesn't take Fry's attempt of bribing lightly.Fry: Please let us live! We'll put out milk and cookies for you!Santa: You dare bribe Santa?! I'm gonna shove coal so far up your stocking you'll be coughing up diamonds!
- Celebrity Cameo: Conan O'Brien performs some comedy at the beginning.
- Chimney Entry: How Santa gets into the house.
- Christmas Episode: Xmas Episode. Fry gets depressed because old Christmas traditions changed too much and he misses his family. Leela is depressed because she never had a family. The crew celebrates Xmas together, which means they must hide from evil murderous robot Santa. They are all brought closer by their shared fear and the fact they survived Santa's rampage.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Inverted and then Subverted. Bender tries to get rid of evil Santa by encouraging everyone to stop believing in him to invoke Cessation of Existence, only for Santa to prove that belief is not required.Bender: Yeah? Well I don't believe in Santa Claus. Come on, everybody. If you don't believe in him, he can't hurt you. (Robot Santa hits Bender with his toy sack) Oh, God, the pain!
- Comically Missing the Point: When Santa demands to know if Fry and Leela ever considered Zoidberg’s feelings, Fry has this to say:Fry: No! I swear!
- Contrived Coincidence: Leela and Fry are saved from Santa's TOW missile when the parrot Fry bought earlier flies into the way.
- Didn't Think This Through: Fry's plan to get some mercy from Santa.Fry: Please let us live! We'll put out milk and cookies for you!Santa: You dare bribe Santa?! I'm gonna shove coal so far up your stocking you'll be coughing up diamonds!
- Disproportionate Retribution: Robot Santa rewards everyone on the Naughty list (no matter how slight the infraction) with a gruesome death, or at the very least, great bodily harm.
- The Dog Bites Back: After being insulted by Hermes several times beforehand, Zoidberg takes glee in pushing him down the bobsled course after his bobsled flips upside down.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This is the only episode where Robot Santa is voiced by John Goodman. In all subsequent appearances, he's voiced by John DiMaggio instead.
- It's also the only time his trait of having overly high standards is played straight, instead of being Flanderized into being a psychopath that sees literally everyone as naughty rather than almost everyone.
- Easy Road to Hell: Something went wrong with Santa Claus's programming when he was built, which led to his standards being set too high, putting everyone except Dr. Zoidberg on the naughty list.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even the Ax-Crazy Bad Santa thinks Bender trying to pass the buck onto an orphan is abhorrent.Robot Santa: My God, Bender! Framing an orphan? That's so naughty I'll have to add it to my list right now.
- Extinct in the Future: According to the Professor, pine trees went extinct in 2200 and palm trees replaced them as Christmas trees. Poodles are also extinct.
- Fan Disservice: This episode starts a running gag of the ancient Professor and fat Hermes getting naked or dressed in skimpy clothes for little to no reason, aside from proving the future's left behind such primitive concepts as "modesty"."Ah, brisk."
- Gift of the Magi Plot: Parodied. Zoidberg gave combs to Amy, who sold her hair to buy combs for Hermes, who sold his hair to buy combs for Zoidberg. Zoidberg thanks him, saying this will go great with his new hair—then removes his hat to reveal Hermes' and Amy's hair.
- Groin Attack: While skiing, Leela uses a verbal command to have a grove of trees retract into the snow. Fry decides to test whether they can stand up again while skiing through them. Cue Groin Attack.
- Hanging by the Fingers: Fry falls off a clocktower and hangs on for dear life. In an update of the old cliche, the clock is digital and Fry is hanging on to the actual LCD display, losing his hold as the digits change.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The parrot Fry originally got for Leela stops Santa's missile from hitting them. Probably inadvertently, but it still counts.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Robot Santa gives Dr. Zoidberg a pogo stick. Once Santa slips into self-destruct mode, Zoidberg uses the pogo stick to hop up to cut a wire, electrocuting and disabiling Santa long enough to force him into the chimney.
- Hypocritical Humor:Farnsworth: You should be ashamed of yourself, Fry. You'd have to be blind not to notice Leela's a cyclops.(zoom out to reveal Hermes)Hermes: Fry's over there, mon.Farnsworth: Oh? (adjusts glasses)
- I Shall Return: Despite being beaten, Santa promises he'll come back.Robot Santa: I'll be back, back when you least expect it... NEXT XMAS!
- Incompetence, Inc.: The Professor mentions the Friendly Robot Company were the ones who made Robot Santa. What relation, if any, they have to Mom's Friendly Robot Company is unclear, but they've got the same success rate.
- Language Drift: Although the show uses Eternal English, this episode establishes that in the 31st Century, Christmas is referred to as Xmas, and "ask" is now pronounced "aks/axe".
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bender is told he's going off course and ignores the man telling him so. He promptly skies off a cliff.
- Lonely Together: The episode that coined the term. Fry misses his family and Leela never even had a family. Their friendship deepens as they realize they can share these feelings.Leela: It's okay. You're lonely and I'm lonely. But together, we're lonely together.
- Loud Gulp: Fry gulps when Amy warns him that Santa might decapitate him, and again when he drops the birdcage from the top of the clock tower.
- Mood-Swinger: When Santa corners the rest of the crew:Robot Santa (Threateningly): You've all been very naughty, VERY naughty indeed! (Cheerfully) Except for you, Dr. Zoidberg. This is for you. (Hands Zoidberg a pogo stick)
- Morality Pet: Zoidberg is the only person Robot Santa is nice to, giving him a pogo stick and citing Fry and Leela not thinking about him as a reason to kill them.
- Murderous Malfunctioning Machine: Santa becomes one due to some malfunctioning in his circuits.
- Noodle Incident: What exactly did Zoidberg do (or avoided doing) that was enough to meet Robot Santa's ridiculous standards?
- Not Helping Your Case: After Robot Santa menacingly asks if Fry or Leela ever stopped to think about Dr. Zoidberg's feelings, Fry responds by swearing he didn't, not understanding this trope.
- Obstacle Ski Course: The professor has some mad skiing skills... when he's asleep. He wakes up confused, wearing a bronze medal.
- Pet the Dog: The only one on Santa's nice list was Dr. Zoidberg, who was awarded with a pogo stick.
- Plummet Perspective: The birdcage falling off the clock tower ledge. The sight elicits a Loud Gulp from Fry.
- The Precarious Ledge: Fry on the clock tower trying to catch the parrot.
- Shout-Out:
- To Peanuts, when Bender crashes into the kids skating on a frozen pond.
- Bongo from Life in Hell is among the animals Fry considers buying Leela.
- The clocktower scene spoofs Safety Last!.
- The gift trio of Hermes, Zoidberg, and Amy is a direct reference to The Gift of the Magi.
- Ski-Resort Episode: The beginning of the episode happens in a ski resort. Fry is delighted to see some snow and he's glad global warming never happened (actually it did, but nuclear winter evened it out). They all ski or enjoy other winter sports. Fry gets injured by some artificial pine trees.
- Song Parody: At the end of the episode, of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"; a variation in that, in-universe, this may be the actual version of this song in the 31st century, but from a meta-standpoint, it's this.Amy: He knows when you are sleeping,
Farnsworth: He knows when you're on the can,
Leela: He'll hunt you down and blast your ass from here to Pakistan!
Zoidberg: Oh,
Hermes: You better not breathe, you better not move,
Bender: You're better off dead, I'm telling you, dude,
Fry: Santa Claus is gunning you down!
Everyone: Yayyyyyyy! - Special Guest: John Goodman as Robot Santa. Subsequent appearances of Santa are voiced by John DiMaggio.
- Spit Take: Bender when laughing about Conan O'Brien's first joke.
- Stock Clock Hand Hang: Parodied. Fry ends up hanging from a number on a giant digital clock. He's fine until the time changes.
- The Twelve Spoofs of Christmas: Bender and the homeless robots sing this afternoon robbing an old lady.Bender: On the fourth day of Xmas, I stole from that lady,
Robot 1: Four family photos,
Tinny Tim: Three jars of pennies,
Robot 2: Two former husbands,
Bender:And a slipper of a shoe tree. - Under the Mistletoe: Fry and Leela almost had a kiss under the mistletoe, until Robot Santa interfered.Robot Santa: Your mistletoe is no match for my T.O.W. missile!
- Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: Sure, Santa's evil now, but was his original design really that creepy?
- Villain Has a Point: While obviously taking the punishment too far, and there's obvious hypocrisy considering his actions are worse than anybody else', when Santa brings up a reason for somebody being on his naughty list, it's perfectly valid, pointing out how Fry and Leela never did anything nice for Zoidberg, Bender's actions speak for themselves, and he tries to weasel out of it by framing an orphan.
- Waxing Lyrical: "I am telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town!"
- Weakness Turns Her On: Amy is smitten with injured men.
- You Mean "Xmas": The Trope Namer. When Fry mentions Christmas, the others correct him by telling him it's now Xmas; he must be using an archaic term.
