Happy Back to the Future Day! Set your time circuits to 1845 by way of 1991 for a special Christmas in July episode of the Back to the Future Saturday morning cartoon, featuring hologram clothes, the hoverboard equivalent to texting while driving, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The actually animated segments of the animated series feature Dan Castelleneta as Doc, plus the return of Thomas F. Wilson (Batman: The Animated Series) as various Tannens throughout history, and Christmas movie all-star Mary Steenburgen (Elf, One Magic Christmas) as Clara.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/back-to-the-future-dickens-of-a-christmas

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), leaving greasy footprints all over the ceiling.

• Joey O. (@ImGonnaDJ24), whom I’d entrust with the keys to my DeLorean anytime, from Y-Not Radio.

• Joseph Wade, the hoverboarding ghost of Christmas All of the Above, from Christmas Creeps and The O/S/T Party.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Mary Steenburgen playing Informer on the accordion in Last Man on Earth.

• Series art director James S. Baker storyboards his own blog.

• The Back to the Future pinball game and its random movie quotes.

• Futurepedia on how Doc’s clothing converter camera works.

• Weird things we did as kids to show our parents we were responsible.

• Some toys in Fedgewick’s shop shouldn’t be there yet in 1845.

• Did We Wish You a Merry Christmas exist in 1845? Possibly, but not the version we know.

• Doc’s wad of cash vs. England’s bank notes circa 1845.

• Wilkins’s dog looks like 1980s T-shirt icon Rude Dog.

• My Back to the Future-themed Good Friday and Easter Sunday tweets.

• The closest thing we could find to a Kaiju Christmas movie is 1962’s Gorath.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida (1996).

• Hi-C Ecto Cooler Commercial, starring David Kaufmann, the voice of Marty (1989).

“Back to the Future,” the Animated Series, and “Dickens of a Christmas” © 1991 Universal Cartoon Studios / Amblin Television.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found hoverboarding while distracted on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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Hop, hop, hop with us back to 1981 for our first trip to Bear Country, which it turns out was built on top of the Easter Bunny’s industrial nightmare factory.

Find full show notes and links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/berenstain-bears-easter-surprise

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), a giant vat of chocolate shaped like an enormous baby chick.

• Alan Johnson (@AlanJ), about to hook up his candy conveyor belt to an old car and knock us all off the Skype call, from Two Bad Neighbors – A Simpsons Podcast and Talespin Trivia.

• Emily Rowley (@mlerowley), TV’s sassiest Easter Bunny.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise on the official YouTube channel.

• Yes, we all collectively mispronounced “Berenstain.”

• The VHS cover, for reference.

• The Berenstain Bears: The Very First Easter, being the story of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, who is also a bear.

• Inside the Berenstain Bears’ Tree House.

• The widest tree in the world, for comparison.

• Things this special has in common with Steel Magnolias: Knowl Johnson and dozens of broken Easter eggs.

• An ode to the Bear Family’s tiny, antique, circular porthole TV set.

• Today’s TV Trope: Packed Hero.

• Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, featuring young Zachary Danziger (Bill Bunny) and a host of way more familiar names.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Kellogg’s Raisin Bran: Morgan the Mockingbird Commercial (1981), preserved from the original airing of this special.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Mike on the Two Bad Neighbors podcast for Marge Be Not Proud and Monty Can’t Buy Me Love.

• Jingle Jank.

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“The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise” © 1981 Joseph Cates Co., Inc.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found daydreaming about jellybeans on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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By special request, this episode of the official podcast of teaching aliens about Christmas takes you on a domesticated goose chase back to 1977 through the first fully animated feature by Canadian studio Nelvana.

Full show notes with links at: https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/a-cosmic-christmas

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), excitable mayor shouting at everyone else to remain calm.

• Jeff Fox (@chrspecials), the Internet’s foremost expert on this special, from Name That Christmas  Special.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Jeff’s collection of A Cosmic Christmas music and scanned promotional items.

• Joanna Wilson’s Christmas TV History.

• This special got George Lucas’s attention and led to Nelvana producing the animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

• The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years.

• Today’s TV Trope: Big Ball of Violence.

• Jellybean looks like the red-eyed Pac-Man on the side of the arcade cabinet.

• Duncan Regehr (Amalthor) as Dracula in The Monster Squad.

• Marian Waldman, Mrs. Mac from Black Christmas, also has a quick line or two.

• The Castle Thunder stock sound effect.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Burger King Doll Christmas Commercial (1977).

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Weird Christmas.

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“A Cosmic Christmas” © 1977 Nelvana Enterprises, Inc.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found tap-dancing with geese on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re walking through a ring of fire back to the Year of Our Lord 1982 to dance along with “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special.”

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), my dear mother’s recipe for making life miserable.
2. Thom Crowe (@thomcrowe), a very wise man with a beard who won’t outright say he’s not Santa, from Tis the Podcast.
3. Gerry Davila (@ RadChristmas), who would have made a heck of a Christmas pudding if only he hadn’t eaten the last walnut, from Totally Rad Christmas.

Topics and Tangents:

1. Watch “The Smurfs Christmas Special” on the official Smurfs YouTube channel.
2. The great debate over VHS recordings with vs. without commercials.
3. We want to try Greedy Smurf’s giant cauldron of pink Christmas pudding.
4. My son thinks the king of Hyrule is Santa.
5. I am just now learning about Watergate salad.
6. The Smurfs in theme parks, including Hanna-Barbera Land in Texas and Kings Dominion in Virginia.
7. Danny Goldman (Brainy Smurf) played a similarly know-it-all-ish student in “Young Frankenstein.”
8. Paul Winchell (Gargamel) designed and patented an artificial heart.
9. Papa Smurf Jedi-mind-tricks a pack of wolves.
10. The mysterious, unnamed Stranger may or may not be the actual Devil.
11. Teaser for The Smurfs’ new animated series coming in 2021.

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• Frosty the Snowman (Season 1, Episode 1)
• A Rugrats Chanukah (Season 1, Episode 6)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Season 2, Episode 1)
• A Garfield Christmas Special (Season 2, Episode 6)
• He-Man/She-Ra: A Christmas Special (Season 2, Episode 18)
• A Wish for Wings That Work (Season 3, Episode 3)
• Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (Season 4, Episode 2)
• G.I. Joe: Cobra CLAWS Are Coming to Town (Season 4, Episode 11)
• The Little Drummer Boy (Season 5, Episode 8)

Commercial Break:

• The Smurfs Are Coming to Kings Dominion, 1984

Podcast Promos:

• Tis the Podcast, dedicated to keeping the Christmas spirit alive all year long.
• Totally Rad Christmas, dedicated to all things Christmas in the ’80s.

“The Smurfs” and “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special” © 1982 Hanna-Barbera Productions.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

On this Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House, we venture into the uncanny valley on a trip back to 2009 to rewatch Disney’s motion capture nightmare version of “A Christmas Carol,” starring 4 Jim Carreys, 3 Gary Oldmans, 2 Robin Wrights, and a Cary Elwes in a pear shape.

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), a touch cross-eyed and mysteriously shrinking for no reason.
2. Matt Weiland (@DinnahDawg), chasing me through the streets of the future in a phantom hearse, and a fee-free Disney Vacation Planner at Matt’s Dream Destinations.

Topics and Tangents:

1. Watch “A Christmas Carol’ on Disney+ while it’s still there for the Christmas season.
2. Respect to a Disney movie that jumps from a storybook opening to a corpse’s face.
3. Despite being the 5th highest grossing Christmas movie as of 2020, this is also considered one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time.
4. Coins on a corpse’s eyes in 19th century England had less to do with paying the ferryman’s toll and more to do with keeping their eyes closed.
5. Cary Elwes, who plays one of the “portly” solicitors, is a descendant of John Elwes, a real-life inspiration for the character Scrooge.
6. Christopher Walken as Captain Hook in “Peter Pan Live” and forgetting his lines.
7. Whoever updates Disney’s Movies website accidentally credited Gary Oldman as both Kermit the Frog and Robin the Frog. No one tell them. I think it’s funny, and I hope it stays like that for a bit.
8. Macy’s Dickens Village in Philadelphia.
9. The Ghost of Christmas Present’s whatever-he’s-doing with turning Scrooge’s floor transparent and flying the entire room around London is some weird mix between Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Soarin’ rides.
10. Jim Carrey on his various accents for Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present.
11. Playing Want, of the usually cut for time Ignorance and Want, is Julene Renee, whom I remember from Nickelodeon’s “Roundhouse.”
12. Christmas Yet to Come and the 6-minute chase scene we never knew we were missing.
13. It’s a Robert Zemeckis movie, so of course we get Scrooge hitching a ride on the back of a moving vehicle.

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• A Christmas Carol Cast Draft (Season 1, Episode 8)
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol (Season 3, Episode 1)
• The Stingiest Man in Town (Season 4, Episode 10)

Other Previous Scrooge Sunday Episodes

• Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (Season 4, Episode 8)
• The Real Ghostbusters: Xmas Marks the Spot (Season 4, Episode 3)
• BraveStarr: Tex’s Terrible Night (Season 5, Episode 3)

Commercial Break:

• McDonald’s “Scrooge’s Party” Chicken McNuggets Commercial, 1984, as preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

Podcast Promos:

• Merry Britsmas, exploring Christmas music, TV, film, and traditions from a British perspective.
• Yuletide TV, a quest to try and find the best Christmas TV episodes ever made.

“Disney’s A Christmas Carol” © 2009 Disney.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

On this episode of the official holiday podcast for people who hate all humans — which, in 2020, is most of us — we dance to the beat of our own drum back to 1968 and back into the Rankin/Bass universe for the story of “The Little Drummer Boy.”

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), cross-eyed juggling stereotype.
2. Brandon Medley (@brandmed), king of the desert showmen, from the Star Weirdos podcast.
3. Michael May (@michaelmaycomix), one of the wise men, but I forget which one, because they all sound the same to me, of MichaelMay.online, Sleigh Bell Cinema, AfterLUNCH, and Mystery Movie Night.

Topics and Tangents:

1. This was Romeo Muller’s favorite Christmas special he wrote for Rankin/Bass. Also, that link on Rankin/Bass’s website is from 2003 and looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2003. There are tags in the code, y’all.
2. Podcast favorite Paul Frees provides the voice of 8 different characters in this special, if you count animal noises. Also, Frees following Mel Blanc and Rich Little in the last two episodes completes a “Man of a Thousand Voices” hat trick!
3. The song, originally called “Carol of the Drum,” was written more recently than I’d thought, in 1941, and first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the family that inspired “The Sound of Music.”
4. Aaron’s origin story is the same as Conan the Barbarian’s.
5. Here’s an isolated version of the song, “One Star in the Night,” without the narration over it.
6. Burl Ives wouldn’t have felt out of place narrating this special, since he’d go on to narrate one about another caravan later in life.
7. There are way more shepherds here than in any Nativity scene I’ve ever seen.
8. The special also mixes up its kings, at least as they’re traditionally named.
9. The offering of a gift of music in the song becomes transactional here, as Aaron begs for someone to save his injured lamb.
10. Our definitive versions of the song.
11. Young Brandon insists on adding the Little Drummer Boy to a church Nativity pageant.

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• Frosty the Snowman (Season 1, Episode 1)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Season 2, Episode 1)
• Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (Season 2, Episode 12)
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Season 3, Episode 12)
• Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (Season 4, Episode 2)
• The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold (Season 4, Episode 9)
• The Christmas Raccoons (Season 5, Episode 6)
• The Jack Benny Program: Jack Goes Christmas Shopping (Season 5, Episode 7)

Commercial Break:

• Kentucky Fried Chicken “Christmas Carol” Commercial, 1989

Podcast Promos:

• NetfliXmas, lampooning Christmas original romantic comedies across streaming networks.
• Feliz Christmas, Merry Navidad, a bilingual Christmas podcast.

“The Little Drummer Boy” © 1968 Rankin/Bass Productions.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

In this very environmentally aware edition of the official holiday podcast for people who make hockey sweaters for vermin, we’re responsibly deforesting our way back to 1980 to dig up “The Christmas Raccoons,” the first appearance of early Disney Channel imports The Raccoons and the greedy Cyril Sneer.

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), generous married couple’s permanent houseguest in a tree that’s clearly bigger on the inside.
2. Michael DiGiovanni (@theatomicgeeks), the barely clothed college graduate son of a lumber baron, from The Atomic Geeks, Pop Culture Retrofit, and Classic Film Jerks.
3. Christian Nielsen (@hunkburger), whom I may or may not have completely dreamed up, from The Atomic Geeks and Pop Culture Retrofit.

Topics and Tangents:

1. This special and an accompanying story album were narrated by Rich Little, a “Man of a Thousand Voices,” in his own, regular voice.
2. The voice of Forest Ranger Dan is Rupert Holmes, the singer/songwriter behind “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).”
3. Tammy Bourne (Julie) and Hadley Kay (Tommy) were both in other movies in 1980 as children who fall from a great height.
4. The Raccoons’ tree is clearly a lot bigger on the inside.
5. The classic tropes of rolling down a snowy hill into a giant snowball and the big dust ball of violence.
6. Much of this special is contained in an identical dream by both kids and possibly also their dog. From there, it’s hard to tell what parts were the dream and what parts weren’t. Maybe it’s all in St. Elsewhere’s Snow Globe Universe of Tommy Westphall (no relation).

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Season 3, Episode 12)

Commercial Break:

• Canadian Tire’s “Scrooge Approved” Prices, 1987

Podcast Promo:

• Christmas Creeps, keeping the Christmas spirit alive all year round through the magic of terrible holiday films.

“The Christmas Raccoons” ©1980 PFS Christmas Raccoons / PFS Pooled Film Services, Inc.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

It’s time to catch a last-minute flight to the North Pole and do the monkey with me back to 2001 for an out-of-order dive into “A Johnny Bravo Christmas,” a well-deserved punch in the face that’s a little bit rock ’n’ roll.

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), former blond pompadour-haver until my wife said she liked my hair better short.
2. James Riley (@yourbuddyspooky), flying through the skies above the Arctic with his magic umbrella.

Topics and Tangents:

1. “’Twas the Night,” a 1997 segment of “Johnny Bravo” which this special accounts for in the show’s continuity… sort of.
2. “Larry & Steve,” Seth MacFarlane’s short film for the “What a Cartoon!” show which would become a rough template for “Family Guy.” After this short, Seth worked as a staff writer for “Johnny Bravo.”
3. The Bravos appear to be of a dying breed of people who wait till Christmas Eve or a few days before to start decorating.
4. This special first aired less than 3 months after 9/11, on Pearl Harbor Day, and opens with Johnny unnecessarily calling the fire department to tell them he’s “the bomb.”
5. Homer Simpson’s sandwich.
6. The worst things we’ve found in our couches.
7. The latest you can mail something to guarantee arrival before Christmas, according to the U.S. Postal Service’s Holiday Shipping Deadlines.
8. A rare “true meaning of Christmas” monologue in a cartoon that begins with baby Jesus.
9. The voice of the truck driver is Vanessa Marshall, who may or may have provided the scream of Samus dying in the Metroid Prime games.
10. Santa’s village is hidden behind a fake mountain acting as a Wakanda-like cloaking device, and also looks like the Wicked Witch’s castle from “The Wizard of Oz.”

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Season 2, Episode 5)
• Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (Season 2, Episode 12)
• A Pinky and the Brain Christmas (Season 2, Episode 17)
• Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (Season 2, Episode 19)
• Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (Season 2, Episode 20)
• Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (Season 4, Episode 6)

Commercial Break:

• American Online Keyword eBay Holiday Shopping Commercial, 2001

Podcast Promos:

• Season’s Eatings, exploring the history of your favorite Christmas foods.
• The Retro Network Podcast, a weekly show devoted to pop culture past and present.

“A Johnny Bravo Christmas” ©2001 Cartoon Network.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

It’s time to meet the Advent Calendar House’s seasonal Muppets quota as we secretly stroll down Jim Henson’s dark nightmare hall to 1986 to rewatch “The Christmas Toy,” an idea no one has repeated since.

On This Episode:

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), not dressed right at all.
2. Beth Cieslik (@BethTheObscure), Queen of the Asteroids.
3. Adam Jurotich, a wise old bear who’s here to teach us about Christmas, as soon as he’s able to climb to the top of a very large dollhouse, from The Hourchive.
4. Donnie Storms (@boxcar45), the world’s smartest cat toy, from Bronwen’s Ghost.

Topics and Tangents:

1. The DVD release cut Kermit dressed in a Santa suit from the intro and outro, but he’s back in the version streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
2. Rugby crashing his skateboard into a block tower is the 1980s Muppet version of WWE’s Titus O’Neil tripping and sliding underneath the ring.
3. “Teacup Furby,” as named by Donnie.
4. The pink-haired doll playing the drums during “Toys Love to Play” reminds Beth of a similar song from “Mother Goose Rock ’n’ Rhyme.”
5. Apple is closer to a female version of My Buddy than Kid Sister, the actual female version of My Buddy.
6. The inevitable “How much did ‘Toy Story’ take from this?” conversation.
7. Somehow we worked in a Christmas Shoes joke. I don’t have a link for that. I just wanted to let you know.
8. Apple riding down the staircase on the back of Cruiser’s taxi beat Thelma and Louise by 5 years.
9. A quick shout-out to “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
10. Why the humans heard Meteora fighting chess pieces in the living room, but not every toy throwing a party in the playroom with the lights on across the hall.
11. The family cat’s name is pronounced like “Ouija,” but the DVD’s captioning spells it “Weegie.”
12. “The Secret Life of Toys,” the short-lived 1994 sequel series featuring Rugby, Mew, and a few others in a new home with new friends.

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

• A Muppet Family Christmas (Season 1, Episode 2)
• A Rugrats Chanukah (Season 1, Episode 6)
• The Tale of the Bunny Picnic (Season 4, Episode 4)
• The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (Season 4, Episode 7)

Commercial Break:

• Kraft Holiday Recipes featuring “The Christmas Toy” poster, 1986, as preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.
• Crispy Critters Cereal Commercial, 1987.

Podcast Promo:

• Snow in Southtown, reviewing holiday TV specials, movies, music, and more.

“The Christmas Toy” ©1986 Henson Associates, Inc.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Instagram @adventcalendarhouse, and on Twitter @adventcalhouse.