The Soulmates, Orion (right) and Orillia (left)
The Soulmates in "The Gift of Light", also known as The Christmas Gift of Light, is a Canadian animated Christmas special that first aired on CBC in 1991.Santa Claus retires, believing no one believes in the Christmas spirit anymore. The Soulmates, Orion and Orillia, are called in to bring him back. Meanwhile, the evil Angris McBragg takes over Santa's workshop and plans to ruin Christmas.
Not to be confused with The Christmas Light.
The special provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: The man who almost runs Ella over doesn't even so much as check if she's okay and Ella's mother isn't shown comforting her or helping her find Truman after he runs away.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Orion has orange hair and blue skin, Orillia has pink hair and yellow(?)note skin, and Angris McBragg has blue skin.
- Ambiguously Human: While there's no mistaking Angris McBragg for a human with his blue skin, Thomas has the appearance of a short Caucasian human.
- Ball of Light Transformation: Orion and Orillia turn into balls of light as they follow Good Soul to Earth.
- Becoming the Mask: After Thomas is turned good and he defects from Angris McBragg it's implied he stays working at Santa's workshop.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Good Soul has big bushy eyebrows.
- Birdcaged: Angris McBragg imprisons Orillia in a small cage after capturing her.
- Blind Without 'Em: Santa can't see a thing after losing his glasses in the sled crash, needing guide dog Truman's help to get back to the North Pole.
- Break the Cutie:
- Orillia is briefly drained of all hope by one of Angris McBragg's Doubting Thomas dolls.
- Ella has a dejected look on her face when typing her letter asking Santa to find Truman.
- Children Are Innocent: Ella isn't shown to have a single bad bone in her body and ends up being the one ray of hope who convinces Santa to return.
- Cigar Chomper: Thomas is constantly shown smoking a cigar until he's turned good.
- Cosmic Deadline: There are several moments where you can tell the story was rushed, such as Orillia's very brief turn to evil.
- Cosmic Entity: Good Soul, a giant ball of light with a face who can sense spikes in negative energy on Earth and gives the Soulmates their assignments.
- Deer in the Headlights: Ella stops dead in her tracks when she hears an oncoming car, only being saved because the driver swerves and stops at the last second.
- Depraved Dwarf: Doubting Thomas, until he's turned good.
- Despair Event Horizon: Santa quits his job after seeing what a sad state the world is in.
- Deus ex Machina: Soulmate power frees Orillia from Angris McBragg's spell, fixes her hoverboard, and turns Thomas and the dolls good.
- Dull Surprise: Orion only reacts with mild surprise when Orillia is abducted right in front of him and quickly moves on when Comet spots Santa's sled.
- Evil Redhead: When Orillia is turned evil her hair changes from pink to red.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Doubting Thomas and Evil!Orillia both have these.
- Face–Heel Turn: Orillia is turned evil when Angris McBragg uses one of his dolls on her. She gets better.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: After Thomas is turned good he literally forgets all about the evil dolls and when Angris McBragg reminds him about the plan Thomas questions the morality of it.
- Gratuitous French: Orion greets Orillia with "salut" in their first scene.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Angris McBragg says he wants to spread negative energy all over the world, but it's never elaborated on whether there's a specific end goal or it's just For the Evulz.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Pops hires Doubting Thomas based on forged references and fails to notice anything off about him until Angris McBragg reveals Thomas is working for him.Pops: Doubting Thomas? He told me the D stood for Dwayne.
- Insane Troll Logic: With all the reindeer out searching for Santa, Angris McBragg demands the elves be hooked up to the sled instead.
- Invisible Parents: Ella's parents are never shown. Only her mother's voice can be heard in one scene.
- "Just Joking" Justification: When Doubting Thomas is heard saying "Break a leg" to the reindeer search party he claims he meant it in the showbiz sense of wishing someone good luck.
- Karma Houdini: The muggers who steal donations from a street corner Santa are never seen getting any comeuppance.
- Kick the Dog:
- Within the first few minutes of the special Angris McBragg uses his scepter to leave a cat stranded up a tree, pull a kid's hat over his head and push him into the snow, and temporarily stuns a guide dog. He doesn't even stick around to see what happens after that last one.
- Santa witnesses a pair of thieves robbing a street corner Santa collecting for charity. This is the final straw that makes him quit.
- Leitmotif: A guitar riff plays whenever Angris McBragg makes an entrance or uses his scepter.
- Little People: Doubting Thomas is short enough to pass as an elf.
- Magitek: Santa has a computer that can detect where an unsigned letter came from, even if there's no handwriting and it was typed.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Truman gets them when Angris McBragg temporarily stuns him and later Orillia gets them when Angris McBragg uses one of his dolls on her.
- The Mole: Angris McBragg has his minion Doubting Thomas hired at Santa's workshop.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Evil!Orillia manages to punch Doubting Thomas clear across the room despite being a fraction of his size.
- Odd Name Out: While Orion's name is fittingly space-themed, Orillia is named after a city in Ontario.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Truman fails to recognise Santa in plain clothes despite him looking like Santa, going by the name Claus and having the ability to talk to animals.
- Perma-Stubble: Doubting Thomas has perpetual five-o'clock shadow. It disappears when he's turned good.
- A Pet into the Wild: Truman runs away from home after his owner Ella is almost run over, believing he's getting too old to look after her.
- Plot Hole: Angris McBragg demands the reindeer be harnessed up to the sled, and then the elves when he's told the reindeer aren't there, despite having a Flying Car.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Doubting Thomas's name comes from another name for Thomas the Apostle.
- Riddle for the Ages:
- What is Good Soul supposed to be?
- How did the Soulmates come into existence? What planet are they from, if any?
- What is Angris McBragg? Why does he want to spread negative energy over the world?
- Is Thomas a human or something else? How did he meet Angris McBragg?
- Was Ella born blind or did she become blind somehow? If it's the latter, how did she become blind?
- Who forged the references that got Thomas hired at Santa's workshop? How did they do it? What did the references say?
- How was Angris McBragg expecting the elves to pull the sled?
- Running Gag: Angris McBragg keeps bumping his head in Santa's workshop because he's so tall.
- Saving Christmas: Orion and Orillia are assigned to help Santa regain hope.
- The Scream: Orion, Orilla and Comet all scream when they run into each other.
- Sinister Schnoz: Angris McBragg has a long hooked nose.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Ella's letter to Santa ends up restoring hope in him, and also leads to Truman regaining hope in himself when Santa needs his help getting back to the North Pole.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Orion, Orillia, Santa and the elves can all communicate with animals.
- Story-Breaker Power: The power of magic imagining can do pretty much anything and just requires concentration and belief in oneself.
- Subbing for Santa: A villainous example. Angris McBragg takes over Santa's workshop and has the elves make dolls that mind control people into doubting themselves.
- Surfer Dude: Orion has shades of this, as he and Orillia ride on hoverboards and he uses some surfer lingo.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Angris McBragg flees in his Flying Car after his plans are foiled.
- What You Are in the Dark: Ella's letter to Santa doesn't include her or Truman's names, nor does it mention that her best friend who ran away is a dog, so Truman has no idea that the child he and Santa are on their way to help is her.
- Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Comet and Orion when they first run into each other.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Orillia gains yellow irises when she's turned evil.
