A Christmas Mikey
| "A Christmas Mikey" |
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A Christmas Mikey is the holiday special of the first season of Kappa Mikey. Though it was produced as the season finale, it aired as the eighteenth episode, in time for Christmas. Its title and part of the plot is inspired by Charles Dickens' short story A Christmas Carol, with other parts of the episode parodying the 1943 film It's A Wonderful Life. It had its premiere on Nickelodeon on December 7th, 2006, and then on Nicktoons Network two days later. It is cited as the favorite episode of Larry Schwarz and the staff of Animation Collective, who produced it. It is also the first episode that does not end in a LilyMu sequence.
Summary
It's Christmastime, and the LilyMu crew successfully completes a scene without a hitch for the first time. Ozu is planning a company party, but he is in the midst of his annual holiday depression. Mikey doesn't realize it is not the right time to convince Ozu to renew his contract, but does so anyway. The second Mikey mentions his family, Ozu shouts out that Mikey was hired on the show because he won a contest, and that he is not a great actor. Devastated, he retreats to his room, and doesn't join in preparing the festivities with his friends. He decides to leave for Ohio, when he bumps into Lawrence, his guardian angel, on his way to the airport. Lawrence, who is based off of the character Clarence from the film, here is depicted as a young bishonen in contrast to the older age of the original, and wishes for a pair of golden wings with "triple-pumping action". Lawrence shows Mikey what things would've been like if he had NOT won the contest with the snap of a finger, and Mikey witnesses the depressing and disturbing fate of his friends. In this alternate timeline, Speed Racer wins the lottery instead of Mikey, but fails to raise the ratings high enough, so the show is canceled.
The fates of his other castmates are as follows:
- Guano is now a British-accented chimney sweep (based on Bert from Mary Poppins) with a horrible coughing problem, and only a lone canary named Jacquie in a cage for company.
- Gonard is still playing his LilyMu role in real life. When the show was canceled, it was during a scene and nobody yelled "cut", so Gonard has literally never stopped acting as his evil character.
- Lily winds up marrying Yoshi the cameraman, having many kids, and getting fat.
- Mitsuki is now a washed-up out-of-work actress living as a castle-dwelling recluse.
Mikey, seeing his friends' horrible fate, realizes he was wrong. He declares that he changed his mind and that he really does love Ozu, his cast mates, the show, and Japan, regardless of what happens. Lawrence suddenly disappears, leaving Mikey back in the present timeline. Mikey dashes off to the company party, where his friends are relieved to see him. He finds himself under the mistletoe with Mitsuki and kisses her on the cheek. The camera then pans upward to Lawrence, with his new wings, flying toward a twinkling star.
Subplot
Shortly after the meeting with Mikey, Ozu is confronted with the Ghosts of Japanese Christmas Past, Present, and Future, to make him understand where his holiday depression came from. The Ghost of the Past takes him to his old home in Kutaguro, where he witnesses his wife and son missing when he returns, leaving him bitter for the rest of his life. By the time the Ghost of the Present arrives, Ozu shares his story with both Ghosts before Present has a chance to act. Ozu eventually convinces them that Christmas is ridiculous, and leads them into sabotaging the Christmas party late in the night at LilyMu Studios. The Ghost of the Future appears, and puts the other two Ghosts back in their place (he fires them soon after). He also reveals to Ozu that he should be happy this time of the year, as it will be on a Christmas Day that he'll find his son. Taking his words to heart, Ozu vows to be full of spirit from now on, and the next day, he grants everyone their gifts at the party, along with an apology and a renewed contract for Mikey. Later that evening, an emotional Guano reveals to Ozu that he is in fact his son. He unzips his suit, and shows his face, which is not shown in the frame for the audience to see.
Reception
Nicktoons Network reported that the premiere gave them the highest ratings that week. The show wouldn't see ratings that high until The Karaoke Episode. Nicktoons has aired A Christmas Mikey every year since.
Trivia
- Nicktoons Network aired a second version of the same episode, with about a minute and a half of footage that was not seen on Nickelodeon. Gonard eating the decorations and the joke about voice-over work were among the scenes omitted in its premiere.
- The Super Gonard balloon from Ship of Fools can be seen above LilyMu studios at the very end.
- Mitsuki's alternate situation (living in a delusional state alone in a mansion) is an allusion to the 1950 feature film Sunset Boulevard, about a former silent film star who slips into madness after fading into obscurity. [1]
- Ozu's plot to wreck the cast's Christmas party is similar to How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.