Welcome back, to those who’ve been reading my reviews!
To conclude my set on cartoon TV series’ Christmas specials, I’ll be looking at the Christmas special for those lovable morons Beavis and Butt- Head. Their humor is an acquired taste, but I always liked them, and their Christmas special is tons of fun.
The Christmas special is divided into three segments. The first, called “Huh Huh Humbug,†is a parody of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ In it, the boys have to work late on Christmas Eve in their jobs at Burger World. Beavis nods off, and starts to dream that he’s the Scrooge- like manager of Burger World, bossing around and mistreating his employee MacVicker (Who’s normally the boys’ high school principal on the show). He decides to leave work early while the employees stay, and goes home to try and watch a porno tape called ‘Ebenezer Screw,’ but keeps getting interrupted by the Christmas ghosts that show up, starting with Butt- Head as the Jacob Marley character. Then, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Played by the boys’ senile neighbor Tom Anderson) shows Beavis how much he’s wasted his life just watching TV. Next, the Ghost of Christmas Present, played by their hippy teacher Mr. Van Driessen, shows Beavis how MacVicker’s family is celebrating their Christmas Eve (The sight of his wife and kids is actually quite funny, as they are precisely like him in terms of how they look and talk). Lastly, their ex- marine gym teacher Coach Buzzcut appears as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and shows Beavis the horrible fate that awaits him unless he changes his way (What’s written on Beavis’ gravestone is freaking hilarious, and something no man would want to have written on his gravestone). Beavis wakes up, and finds himself looking forward to the future.
Second, as kind of a filler between that segment and the next one, there’s a segment called “Letters to Santa Butt- Head.†See, in real life, MTV viewers were given an address to mail their letters to write for “Santa Butt- Head†to read on the show, with Beavis standing in front of the sleigh dressed as a reindeer (Butt- Head would periodically smack Beavis with the sleigh- driving whip every couple minutes or so). The letters are all quite funny, especially the letters from women who say they want him to bring them Beavis for Christmas.
The third and final segment, “It’s a Miserable Life,†is a parody of “It’s a Wonderful Life†that centers around Butt- Head. It opens with everyone who knows B & B praying that they would just go away. The angels discuss this, including B & B’s guardian angel, Charlie, make the reluctant decision to kill them for the good of all. Back on Earth, on Christmas Eve, Beavis and Butt- Head are feeling more depressed than usual. When they cross a bridge over a raging river, Charlie tries to kill them by summoning enough of a gust of wind to make them fall off, but it doesn’t work. He then tries to convince the boys to deliberately jump, but Butt- Head is hesitant because he doesn’t want to die. So, as Clarence did to George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,†Charlie shows Butt- Head what the world would be like if he were never born, to demonstrate how happy everyone is without him.
In this version of Highland, Tom Anderson’s house is well- maintained because Butt- Head was never there to ruin all his home improvement projects, Principal MacVicker has a full head of hair because Butt- Head was never around to make him go bald from stress, Burger World is a popular eatery filled with customers because Butt- Head was never an employee there to drive them away with his rude behavior and poor personal hygiene, and as for what Beavis and their dorky friend Stewart are both like if Butt- Head were never born… Well, just watch it for yourselves and see. Ultimately, Butt- Head asks Charlie to let him have been born again, because he can’t stand how cheery everyone is. It ends on a surprisingly happy/ optimistic note for the show, as Butt- Head observes “It’s like, even though the world sucks, it would probably suck even worse without us.â€
About the only problem I have with this special is that in 'It's a Miserable Life,' I thought they could have done a bit more with what Burger World was like without him. As is, it was just Charlie and Butt- Head briefly commenting on it from the outside of it, they should have gone inside to show the place as being clean, full of happy customers, and with the boss/ manager happy and prosperous.
Although Beavis & Butt- Head are an acquired taste, they’re definitely in their element in this special. Both of the specials are hilarious (Especially ‘It’s a Miserable Life’), and it’s become traditional Christmastime viewing for me. Now that B & B are back on MTV, I hope they’ll make another Christmas special soon.
So, that wraps up the series on animated TV shows' Christmas special, come back tomorrow for the next theme!
