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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/its_a_spongebob_christmas_art_6.jpg]]
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3'''Original air date''': 10/30/2012 (DVD), 11/23/2012 (CBS), 12/6/2012 (Nickelodeon) ''(produced in 2011)''
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5''It's a [=SpongeBob=] Christmas!'' is the second ChristmasEpisode from Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. It was released DirectToVideo on October 30, 2012, and made its television premiere on Creator/{{CBS}} on November 23rd, before its Nickelodeon debut on December 6th, where, in a rare achievement for cable television, it ''outperformed'' the CBS airing. Unlike its predecessor, "WesternAnimation/ChristmasWho", this one was animated in stop-motion animation in the spirit of many of the Creator/{{Rankin Bass|Productions}} holiday specials.
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7The special finds Bikini Bottom once again celebrating Christmas, but Sheldon J. Plankton has other plans. Because SantaClaus is always giving him coal every Christmas due to him being the biggest jerk in town, Plankton has come up with a scheme to make himself look nice and finally get his dream gift (the Krabby Patty formula, of course). His plan is to feed a special kind of fruitcake to all of Bikini Bottom's citizens; the fruitcake in question contains an element called jerktonium, which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin makes anyone who consumes it turn nasty]]. Plankton gets the innocently naive [=SpongeBob=] (whose love of Christmas makes him immune to jerktonium) to go around town giving these fruitcakes to everyone else, so soon almost everyone in Bikini Bottom has turned into detestable jerks. It's up to [=SpongeBob=] to restore the holiday spirit to his hometown.
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9!!Tropes present:
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11* AllThereInTheScript: The evil robot that Plankton sends out to frame [=SpongeBob=] is named [=ToyBob=], according to the end credits.
12* ArtisticLicenseMusic: The sheet music that Sandy's machine prints out has a few errors with it:
13** There are six lines per staff, instead of the proper five.
14** A few of the measures have incomplete (and in the seventh measure, too many) beat values.
15** The flags of the notes with stems facing down are facing the wrong direction; they should still be facing to the right, regardless of stem direction.
16** The measures at the beginning of each line have an unnecessary measure line preceding them.
17* ArtShift: As mentioned above, this special was done in stop-motion animation instead of the series' traditional animation with some occasional use of puppetry.
18* BadSanta: While Santa isn't bad, he does steal Mr. Krabs' Krabby Patty Secret Formula and give it to Plankton, because he thought Plankton was the only Bikini Bottomite who wasn't being a total jerk. He lampshades it when asked how he got it by smiling coyly and saying "I have my ways." It turns out his elves stole the formula and they also tried to make off with Mr Krabs' wallet.
19* BearsAreBadNews: Happens to Patchy near the ending.
20* BigBadEnsemble: Sort of, Plankton is the real villain, but both Patchy & Patrick have schemes of their own. Patchy kidnaps The Mailman, and steals his truck because he wants to deliver his letter to Santa Claus himself. Patrick wants to kidnap Santa Claus & keep him locked up so it will always be Christmas every day of the year. In the end Plankton gets a bag of coal dumped on him, Patchy gets chased around by a polar bear, and who knows what happens to Patrick?
21* BigOlEyebrows: Everybody who eats the jerktonium gets extremely bushy eyebrows.
22* BorrowedCatchphrase: [=ToyBob=] has its own take on [=SpongeBob=]'s catchphrase:
23--> I AM READY. I AM READY. READY TO DESTROY CHRISTMAS.
24* BoxAndStickTrap: Patrick makes one to trap Santa. He traps himself instead trying to get the bait cookie.
25* BrickJoke: Patrick's several attempts of catching Santa fail [[spoiler:but he succeeds by catching him with a jellyfishing net before the last Patchy plot]]. However Patrick's scheme to kidnap Santa is thwarted during an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome, because Santa appears at the end and revels in Patchy's stupid scheme alongside Potty before wishing the audience a Merry Christmas
26* ChristmasSongs: Three - "Santa Has His Eye on Me", "Hot Fruitcake", and most notably, "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)" (written several years before this special was produced).
27* CutawayGag: "How can I be jerky when my tastebuds are swimming in holiday joy?" (cut to a shower of fruitcake crumbs raining down on [=SpongeBob=]'s anthropomorphic taste buds)
28* DragonWithAnAgenda: [=ToyBob=]'s sole motivation is to "DESTROY CHRISTMAS!" He does not care about Plankton's ambition to steal the secret formula.
29* DragonInChief: [=ToyBob=] is much more dangerous and destructive than Plankton, and at the end when he shows up to destroy Santa, Plankton is clearly worried and has an OhCrap moment.
30* ExhaustedEyeBags: One of the end results of a victim of Jerktonium gives them huge, dark bags under their eyes.
31* EveryoneHatesFruitCakes: Completely Averted. Everybody in this special loves Fruit Cake. Plankton who is usually depicted as being a LethalChef makes absolutely delicious fruitcake. Lacing the fruit cake with Jerktonium apparently didn't alter it's taste at all. It's made even more humorous when The Last [=SpongeBob=] Christmas Special WesternAnimation/ChristmasWho Went out of its way to show off how everybody does hate Fruitcake. In one scene [=SpongeBob=] tells Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs that "Everyone pretends to like The Fruitcake!" And in another a garbage can is full of them. Mr Krabs even gives one to Plankton as a gift and Plankton blatantly throws it away right afterwards.
32* EvilEyebrows: A by-product of eating jerktonium.
33* EvilPlan: Plankton, Patrick, and Patchy The Pirate all have schemes they try to hatch during Christmas. Plankton's scheme is the worst, Patrick comes in second, & Patchy's scheme is in third place.
34* ExpressLaneLimit: In the song "Don't Be a Jerk, It's Christmas," Spongebob lists various little behaviors you should not engage in because they're [[FelonyMisdemeanor Felony Misdemeanors]]. Among them is using the express lane when you have more than ten items.
35* FailedASpotCheck:
36** Even without noticing the jerkish transformation everyone at the parade was undergoing, [=SpongeBob=] was completely oblivious to the chaos that was happening around him.
37** Moreso, the Bikini Bottomites act like they can't tell the difference between real and fake, as they don't even realize that the robotic lookalike is not the real [=SpongeBob=].
38** Despite [=SpongeBob=] saying in the opening song that Santa sees everything, Santa somehow fails to see Plankton creating Jerktonium and the evil [=SpongeBob=] robot, and that both [=SpongeBob=] and the robot were separate entities. It's only when he sees the [=SpongeBob=] robot show up does he realize the truth.
39* FallGuy: Because Plankton couldn't turn [=SpongeBob=] into a jerk, he went to Plan B and used a robotic version of [=SpongeBob=] to go on a destructive rampage and destroy [=SpongeBob=]'s good name.
40* ForTheEvulz: [=ToyBob=]'s sole reason for existence is to "DESTROY CHRISTMAS!" He was designed and programmed by Plankton so that figures. He tries to accomplish this by going around and committing random cartoonish acts of violence and property destruction against The Citizens of Bikini Bottom. Once [[AccidentalPun Santa Clause comes to town,]] he tries to kill him
41* FramingDevice:
42** During the story, we also see a storyline in which Patchy steals a mail truck in an attempt to bring his own letter to Santa.
43** "Santa Has His Eye On Me". It's actually longer than it seems in the trailers. It's probably just in case this is someone's first Christmas special.
44** It also gets most of {{The Cameo}}s from the main cast out of the way.
45* FreezeFrameBonus: Plankton's naughty deed list includes, but is not limited to, Littering, Larceny, Puppy Taunting, and World Destruction.
46* GoneHorriblyRight: Plankton's "Mechanical Agent of Naughtiness" or [=ToyBob=] is what ultimately foils Plankton's plan to get SantaClaus to steal The Krabby Patty Secret Formula for him. [=ToyBob=] shows up right at Plankton's moment of victory to destroy Santa Claus, which ends up vindicating [=SpongeBob=] whom everyone thought was on a rampage of destruction. [=SpongeBob=] ends up saving the day, by destroying his robotic doppelganger, rescuing Santa Claus, and saving Christmas.
47* TheGrinch: Plankton. Also, to a lesser extent, Squidward (he ''does'' believe Santa exists this time, but he just wants Santa to leave him alone).
48* HatePlague: The element of Jerktonium has this effect on people if ingested.
49* HoistByHisOwnPetard: See above, also nobody would have realized that Plankton was the creator of [=ToyBob=] if he hadn't put the message "If found please return to The Chum Bucket" on [=ToyBob=]'s windup key.
50* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Santa, of all people, believes that Plankton is nicer than everyone who has eaten the tainted fruitcake despite the evil schemes he's pulled over the show.
51* TheImmune: Jerktonium has no effect on [=SpongeBob=].
52* IncorruptiblePurePureness: [=SpongeBob=] is immune to [[BigBad Plankton's]] fruitcake because of his [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower pure heart]]. Also goes hand-to-hand with TooDumbToFool.
53* InkSuitActor: Creator/TomKenny (in his Patchy the Pirate guise).
54* {{Jerkass}}: What everyone turns into after eating Plankton's fruitcake.
55* KarmaHoudini:
56** Potty The Parrot is the biggest one, he knew about and was involved with Patchy The Pirate's plot to kidnap the mailman & steal his mail truck, and nothing happened to him. He even has a laugh with Santa himself at Patchy's expense while Patchy is being chased by a hungry and ferocious polar bear.
57** Santa has some extremely light fingered elves in his employ, and aside from being shouted at by Mr. Krabs, after trying to steal his wallet, nothing happens to them. Santa knows about their thievery, and sometimes condones and even orders them to engage in theft. Santa invokes an extreme case of HypocriticalHumor when he rhetorically asks Potty if stealing a mail truck is naughty, while laughing at Patchy The Pirate, while Patchy is in mortal danger from a polar bear.
58* LaserGuidedKarma:
59** Plankton gets an entire bag of coal dumped on him.
60** Patchy gets put on the naughty list for impersonating the mailman and stealing his truck, and also gets chased by a polar bear too.
61* LiteralMetaphor: A fork in the road!
62* MagicMusic: The song Sandy makes turns out to be the antidote for Jerktonium; as [=SpongeBob=] sings it, anyone around him turns back to normal.
63* MakeMyMonsterGrow: Robot [=SpongeBob=] gets bigger as it attacks Santa.
64* MeaningfulEcho: "Hot from the oven, full of lovin'!" Said first by Plankton when he gives [=SpongeBob=] the fruitcake filled with jerktonium, and said next by [=SpongeBob=] when he destroys the killer robot with fruitcake.
65* MeatOVision: Happens to Patchy and Potty in the FramingDevice.
66* MusicalNod:
67** Patrick does a WithLyrics for "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" in a part of "Santa Has His Eye on Me"
68--->'''Patrick:''' (singing) I will trap Santa [[BoobyTrap in my box]], locked up like Fort Knox, and make him [[TimeMaster stop the clocks]]. A-a-and we'll have Christmas all... year... Lo-o-o-o-o-ong!
69** [=SpongeBob=] and Plankton singing "Santa Has His Eye on Me" is reminiscent of "Santa Claus is coming to town."
70* NearVillainVictory: Plankton almost got away with stealing the Krabby Patty formula and demolishing Christmas had it not been for [=ToyBob=] he constructed.
71* NoFourthWall: This special like every other [=SpongeBob=] Special with Patchy The Pirate is hinged on this. Actually only the segments with Patchy and Potty have no fourth wall. The [=SpongeBob=] story that Patchy intermittently narrates does have the fourth wall, and the only character to appear in The [=SpongeBob=] story and Patchy The Pirate Segments is Santa Claus
72* NoSell: The Jerktonium turns the Bikini Bottomites into naughty jerks; it, however, does not work on [=SpongeBob=], because of his innocence and deep love of Christmas.
73* NotBrainwashed: Squidward never ingests any Jerktonium. Naturally, he acts no different from everybody who ''did''.
74* PaperThinDisguise: The [=ToyBob=] that Plankton unleashes to frame [=SpongeBob=]. It looks nothing like the real deal but everyone, ''including Santa'', falls for it anyway.
75* PermaStubble: Another jerktonium side effect. Even the ''female'' characters get it.
76* PitTrap: Patrick builds one for his second Santa trap.
77* ThePowerOfRock: "The song is the antidote!"
78* RobotMe: Plankton builds an evil robot [=SpongeBob=] after the real [=SpongeBob=] proves immune to jerktonium.
79* SantaClaus: He's depicted as an anthropomorphic "sea pig" this time around, voiced by John Goodman.
80* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Said by The Bikini Bottom Santa Claus Float Driver after [=SpongeBob=] turns him into a jerk. He bails out just before the float runs off a cliff. Santa Claus also says this when [=ToyBob=] shows up to kill him, he tries hiding in The Krusty Krab only to have [=ToyBob=] drag him out.
81* ShoutOut: The whole Tom Kenny FramingDevice is basically a Shout Out to Creator/FredAstaire's narrator in ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown''.
82* SignatureSoundEffect: When anybody eats the fruitcake laced with Jerktonium there is always a farting sound when they turn into a jerk. When [=SpongeBob=] sings The "Don't be a jerk, it's Christmas" song the sound of a chicken crowing is always played when they turn back to normal.
83* SpecialEditionTitle: Not only is the theme song sung by Christmas carolers again (in fact, it was done by a kid choir this time), but we also see some Christmas themes in the animation ([=SpongeBob=] being dressed by an arm wearing a Santa suit and the realistic fish wearing a Santa hat).
84* SpecialGuest: Creator/JohnGoodman as Santa Claus.
85* SpiritualSuccessor: To the first [=SpongeBob=] Christmas special "Christmas Who".
86* TimeForPlanB: Plankton says this when he realizes [=SpongeBob=] is immune to Jerktonium.
87* TooDumbToLive: Giving food from the BigBad to others is ''not'' a wise idea, as Sandy [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]:
88-->'''Sandy:''' You took food from Plankton and fed it to everyone in town?\
89'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Uh huh.\
90'''Sandy:''' You're an idiot.\
91'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Uh huh.
92* TookALevelInJerkass: Thanks to the Jerktonium-laced fruitcake, Plankton is able to invoke this trope on the entire town.
93* UnintentionalBackUpPlan: Plankton never intended for [=SpongeBob=] to hand out the Jerktonium Fruitcake to everyone in Bikini Bottom, but [=SpongeBob=] does anyway, because he thinks he's spreading Christmas cheer.
94* UnwittingPawn: Plankton turns both [=SpongeBob=] and Santa Claus into this, turning [=SpongeBob=] into a pawn was an accident, Plankton was trying to turn him into a jerk, which failed, but [=SpongeBob=] took it on himself to give everyone in Bikini Bottom Plankton's fruitcake which turned everybody into jerks. Santa Claus actually believed that Plankton had been good, (in comparison to everybody else), and stole The Krabby Patty Secret Formula for him.
95* VillainBall: Had Plankton not included the "If found, please return to the Chum Bucket" on [=ToyBob's=] windup key, Santa wouldn't have discovered that he was behind the whole plot.
96* VillainExitStageLeft: Right after [=SpongeBob=] defeats [=ToyBob=] and its discovered who built "this destructive, wind-up monstrosity." Plankton attempts a retreat and is caught by none other than Mr. Krabs and punished by Santa Claus.

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