Original Air Date: December 2, 2005
It's Christmas in Endsville, and Billy has dragged Grim and Mandy to see Santa Claus at the Endsville Mall, only to find that it’s just Mr. Skarr in a costume. When Mandy expresses her disbelief in Saint Nick, Grim takes the kids to the North Pole to prove his existence. But once they get there, they soon find a much bigger problem on their hands...
This episode has an online game based on it, The Fright Before Christmas.
"Billy & Mandy Save Christmas" contains examples of...
- Actor Allusion: Malcolm McDowell's character, Baron Von Ghoulish, croons a bit of "Singing in The Rain" while filing his fangs. This is a reference to A Clockwork Orange, which McDowell famously starred in.
- Actually a Good Idea: Mrs. Claus initially only turned Santa into a vampire due to wanting a break from working so much but when Mandy says her theory is that it was part of a plan to use Santa to turn the rest of the world into vampires, she decides to go with it.
- And This Is for...: During the mall riot:Man: This is for making me believe! [throws a gift through a window]
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: To get to Von Ghoulish's lair, Mandy and Grim must face Dead Man's Path, the Crag of Endless Stabbing Pain, the Tree of Evisceration, the Cave of Horrible Smells, and Lovable Pony Meadow. Grim later mentions that the ponies were actually the toughest to deal with.
- Aside Comment: After Mrs. Claus undergoes her One-Winged Angel transformation.Mandy: And I thought she was ugly before.
- An Asskicking Christmas: In this holiday special, Grim, Billy, and Mandy head to the North Pole to fight off ravenous vampires.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Mrs. Claus is deeply appreciative of Billy offering to help her.
- Big Bad: Mrs. Claus turns out to be the main villain.
- Bring It: Mandy when challenging Mrs. Claus to a one-on-one fight.
- Butt-Monkey: Surprisingly enough, it's Mandy this time around. She's proven wrong about Santa Claus being real, is terrified and forced to do a humiliating song and dance to stop Santa from killing her, ends up giving Mrs. Claus the idea to use Christmas to turn everyone into vampires, has to watch as Billy is the one who saves the day, and ends up getting coal. All in all, the episode's a total 180 from how she's usually in control and unflappable.
- Continuity Snarl: Despite The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy taking place in the same continuity as Evil Con Carne, the version of Santa here is different than the version in the Evil Con Carne episode "Christmas Con Carne."
- Crazy-Prepared: Santa has an "In Case of Vampire, Break Glass" case in his office. Turns out his wife has done this often.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The mall riot occurs because the customers learned that Skarr wasn't the real Santa Claus.Woman: THIS MALL LIED TO US! LET'S GET 'EM!
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The vampire behind Santa's vampirization turns out to be Mrs. Claus.
- Evil Is Hammy: Vampire Santa is loud as can be, for an obvious reason.Santa: I HUNGER FOR BLOOD!
- Flashback:
- Parodied when Von Ghoulish says he's always wanted to save Christmas ever since he was a child. Grim then says he's always wanted to save Christmas with a vampire. Both flashbacks consist of a young version of them drawing at a table before commenting what they wanted completely unprompted and adding nothing more.
- Played straight when Mrs. Claus explains how she met Santa and eventually got saddled with a massive workload.
- Foreshadowing: The "In case of vampire attack, break glass" device and the scene in Mrs. Claus's flashback showing her and Santa in a blood bank heavily hint that Santa always knew his wife was a vampire.
- Happy Dance: The Billy Was Right Dance, which he does in celebration of being right about Santa existing.
- Heel Realization: Billy helps Santa realize that he doesn't appreciate the work his wife does in maintaining their home and resolves to help out more, which causes Mrs. Claus to turn face and calm down.
- Ignored Expert: Mandy scoffs at Grim's assertion that Santa's real, even when he states they went to college together. She is thus very shocked when Mrs. Claus not only knows Grim, he refers to her by her first name like they're old friends.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Cornered by Vampire Santa, Mandy manages to temporarily snap him back into his old self by (begrudgingly) singing “Up on the House Top”. It works just long enough for her, Grim, and Von Ghoulish to get the hell out of dodge.
- Improbable Antidote: The cure for Santa's vampirism? Milk and cookies.
- Karma Houdini: Mrs. Claus faces no punishment for vampirizing her husband and almost ruining Christmas, but since her husband forgave her (and the other six and seven times) and knew what he was getting into by marrying her, its justified.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Grim's attempted puns keep getting him a snowball in the face.
- Leaving Food for Santa: Used as a plot device; it turns out that the only things that can turn Santa back to normal are fresh cookies and milk. Billy whips some up and ultimately restores Santa.
- Long List: Billy rapidly lists out everything he wants for Christmas to Santa Skarr.
- Loophole Abuse: Grim happily opens presents after midnight, saying that it's technically Christmas Day.
- Mall Santa: Skarr gets a job working as one; once the crowd finds out that he's not the real Santa, they start a riot and set fire to the mall.
- Mirthless Laughter: Von Ghoulish in response to Mrs. Claus berating him.
- Morality Pet: Billy to Mrs. Claus, to the point he gets her to stand down from her rampage and gets Santa to apologize for taking advantage of her.
- Neat Freak: Baron Von Ghoulish tends to focus more on how messy a place is more than what's actually going on around him. Such as when Mandy manages to use a Wooden Stake on him, when he revives, he's more worried about how he'll be spending the rest of eternity cleaning the ash out of the carpet rather than the fact that he was nearly killed.
- Never My Fault: Billy blames the mall riot on the economy.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mandy believes Mrs. Claus wanted to get rid of Santa as a plot to use Christmas to take over the world by turning everyone in vampires. Mrs. Claus admits she honestly wanted a break from work, but thinks Mandy's idea is great.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
- Skarr is subjected to one, during the mall riot.
- After being revealed as the one throwing snowballs, Sperg gets mauled by bat elves.
- Noodle Incident:
- Grim knows Santa exists because they went to college together.
- In the end, Santa says this is actually the sixth or seventh time he's been turned into a vampire by Mrs. Claus, but he's always found a way to return to normal.
- Not in the Face!: Grim in response to the bat elves biting him.
- Oh, Crap!: Mandy and Grim's reaction when the foppish vampire they just staked suddenly revives in a pillar of hellfire, looking incredibly pissed off.Baron Von Ghoulish: WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE?!Grim: She did it!
- One-Winged Angel: Mrs. Claus takes the form of an enormous bat monster to fight Mandy.
- Potty Failure: Billy initially had to use the bathroom really badly before he got sidetracked by "Santa." After rambling off his list, Skarr has this to ask:General Skarr: Have you been relieving yourself on me this whole time?Billy: Ehhhh 'tis the season for giving.
- The Power of Love: Once the truth is out, Mrs. Claus asserts that she truly loves Santa. He had always known Mrs. Claus was a vampire but didn't care.
- Real After All: Mandy is legitimately astonished when she's shown that Santa Claus does in fact exist like Grim said, leaving her looking foolish as Billy gets to gloat about being right for once.
- Red Herring: The Head Vampire, Baron Von Ghoulish, appears to be the culprit at first, but it turns out that the Head Head Vampire is the real villain. And who's the Head Head Vampire? None other than Mrs. Claus herself.
- Running Gag: A person offscreen throwing snowballs at the other characters, who turns out to be Sperg.
- Saving Christmas: Duh. It's up to Billy, Mandy, and Grim to fight off the vampire threat and save the holiday.
- Shout-Out:
- During Mandy's speech about the commercialization of Christmas, we get a glimpse of some video games that are clear parodies of Halo, Grand Theft Auto, and World of Warcraft.
- While at the North Pole, Billy finds a cave with a large Wampa-like monster holding a Luke Skywalker look-alike captive.
- Vampire Santa's first victim was a little elf who wanted to be a dentist.
- The ponies of Lovable Pony Meadow look exactly like the ones from My Little Pony.
- The first thing the vampirized Santa shouts down in the cellar is, "I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL!"
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The special wraps up with the cast joining hands to hum a sweet little holiday song. While this is happening, Sperg gets mauled by a swarm of bat elves.
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Billy interacts with a hologram recording of Santa Claus that gives instructions on how to cure his vampirization. At one point, he sneezes and the hologram says "Gesundheit".
- Vampire Monarch: Von Ghoulish is the primary suspect, due to being the Head Vampire. He says they want the Head Head Vampire, a position he says was the result of a restructuring a couple centuries ago.
- Villain Has a Point: As Mrs. Claus points out, she just wanted some help around the workshop and everything happening was due to Santa eventually spending all of his time outside of Christmas Eve looking at his list despite the two initially agreeing to split the work 50/50.
- Vocal Dissonance: The big, jolly Santa Claus speaks with the iconic voice of the late Gilbert Gottfried.
- Wham Line: Mrs. Claus's declaration of thanks towards Billy for helping her when she needed it ends on a rather ominous note to establish she's the Big Bad.
- Would Hurt a Child: Skarr assaults Billy for the above mentioned Potty Failure. The mall elves desperately try to restrain him.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Nancy Claus constantly sobs over her husband's fate, hiding the fact that she was the one who vampirized him in the first place.
