Jackie Chan Adventures features an animated take on Jackie Chan’s usual characters in a setting where Chan is an archaeologist dragged into different magical adventures…despite how little magic shows up in most Jackie Chan movies because American cartoon makers can’t seem to realize not every martial arts show needs magic! The “Armor or God” movies are an exception, not a rule. See also every adaptation of the Double Dragon game franchise ever, including live-action and comics.
In season three the enemy is Daolon Wong, who is obsessed with absorbing chi energy. This Christmas he has targeted Santa Claus, meaning that Jackie and his friends, whom his niece, Jade, refers to as the “J-Team” better grab their long johns to help save Christmas.
I know, Hanukkah isn’t the same as Christmas, just celebrated around the same time. However, I’m not against teaching about the holiday so non-Jewish kids at least know what their non-Messianic Jewish friends are celebrating. Of course for this one to work we have to play a bit with the lore.
Elena Of Avalor is a sequel to Sophia The First, a show set in a fairy tale kingdom (and thus based on European folklore as well as the Disney princesses early on). This show instead borrows from Mexican folklore and is an example of a strong action female done right. Elena isn’t perfect. When she’s right, she’s right and the show treats her as such, but when she’s wrong she’s able to learn from her mistakes in the hopes of being a good queen when she comes of age. Until then the council advises the teen princess as she gains the wisdom to go with her good heart and become the rule that Avalor deserves.
In this episode we have visitors from a country based on Israel to teach kids about Hanukkah. I’m not sure why not-actually-Israel still has Hanukkah since that’s as tied to Israeli history as it is Jewish custom, and I can accept Avalor having their own Day Of The Dead celebration in another episode. Still, the story works as so it goes on the playlist.
This one is not as Christmas-y as the others, which is why I’m starting with it. However, it is based on a song played at Christmas every year, which I actually reviewed for Sing Me A Story to find out why. As I said, there isn’t a lot of Christmas in the song or the story and if you read my review of the song the history is way off, but it’s still an interesting special on its own.
I’m starting to think Nickelodeon insisted Saban Brands had to do Power Ranger Christmas episodes. Dino Super Charge had access to a Sentai episode with a Christmas theme. Granted, Japan has so few Christians that their take on Christmas is…different, but you still make a clip show? And yet because of the number of episodes Nickelodeon allowed them to make the Christmas episode is basically an epilogue to the “Dino Charge” storyline, set after history was altered in the Dino Charge universe (yes, there’s been a Power Rangers multiverse since RPM, as shown in the Samurai crossover) to where dinosaurs still exist. At least we get a T-Rex in a Santa hat! 😀
“Here Comes Heximus” at least follows the previous Christmas episode’s tradition of using the holiday in a story that happens to have clips instead of vaguely tying them to the season to force an episode. A surviving monster returns to Earth to turn Santa’s coal into a mind control conduit and the Rangers have to come out of retirement to stop them. Except some of the Rangers are hit with the anti-festive whammy. Luckily Keeper has brought the time-displaced Rangers back to the present to help celebrate the season (just go with…all of it) to remind everyone who they are.
Personally I would have used Kendall to awaken Shelby, as a coda to their relationship to show how both of them changed, not just Shelby, though having her boyfriend awaken her makes sense as well. Unfortunately this is where our Christmas Rangerfest ends. “Secret Santa, the most recent Christmas episode as of this writing, isn’t available on YouTube, possibly due to whatever arrangement has with Hasbro that doesn’t include past Ranger shows, as the series is slowly appearing on their regular official channel and on home video in the US through Shout Factory. It’s also the only one that isn’t a clip show vaguely set at Christmas.
Ninja Steel gave us “Past, Presents, And Future”, which has Santa taking Sarah back through time to temporarily borrow the Ninja Power Stars from their past self, which is at least different as clip shows go, and “The Poisy Show” is only Christmas due to decorations and Santa saving them again. Interesting to have Santa save the Rangers for a change…and it’s the same team both times. Not a good showing, folks.
Beast Morphers gives us “Scrozzle’s Revenge”, but outside of Scrozzle trapping the Beast Morpher Rangers in Christmas ornaments it seems Hasbro is following Saban Brand’s lead. I guess the writers for Dino Charge were the only ones putting effort in the Christmas side of the Christmas special, and yet still doing a clip show epilogue. Dino Fury‘s “Secret Santa” sounds promising but again not available. Santa’s magic sketchbook is stolen by Mucus and Slyther, who also traps Javi and Solon. They have to escape using the other Rangers’ secret Santa presents. Sadly that one isn’t available, either.
So I hoped you enjoyed the Power Rangers Christmas eve. Christmas day specials will be a bit more open in where they came from.
Well, this will be a little easier than I thought. The episodes from Power Rangers Samurai (“Christmas Together, Friends Forever”, and Super Samurai‘s “Stuck On Christmas”) and Power Rangers Megaforce (“The Robo Knight Before Christmas”) are glorified clip shows where Christmas is just a framing device. There are nice moments like Master Ji allowing Bulk and Spike to hang out on Christmas Ever or Robo Knight visiting Africa and using the adventures of the Rangers to explain Christmas (poorly, given his frame of reference, or lack thereof), but for the most part Christmas is hardly even important to the story. Plus none of them come from the official YouTube channels (yes, there’s more than one for some reason) so I don’t feel right using them anyway.
Admittedly Power Rangers Dino Charge has the same problem with “Race To Rescue Christmas” but rather than simple reminiscing the Rangers are actually part of a Christmas adventure. Upset that she’s on Santa Claus’s naughty list, Poisandra takes his computer that keeps track of all the good and bad kids in the world…which for some reason Santa brought outdoors with him during a visit with kids…and the Rangers have to track it down before she can use it to find their base. It’s still a clip show but one that at least tries to wrap a Christmas Rangers tale around it, as Chase tries to get home for Christmas and everyone tries to save Christmas by rescuing Santa’s database. Plus it’s on an official channel, just one of the alternate channels. I’ll take it.
Taking place during King Mondo’s attack on Earth, the Zeo Rangers must deal with the Machine Empire as they attempt to pit the various holidays around December 25, and the different ways we celebrate them, to divide the people of Angel Grove. And this was before social media. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are in their “private investigator” period while an amnesiac Goldar and Rito acted as their secret houseboys. It’s…a long story.
It would be the last Power Rangers Christmas episode until the “Neo Saban” and current Hasbro eras, which means we don’t get to see any other Ranger teams celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah for the rest of the original Saban or Disney runs.
Adding a whole lot of Power Rangers Christmas episodes to the playlist. Don’t worry, I’ll scatter them around the list somehow but that gives me a theme for this Christmas Eve. That will lead into other Christmas episodes and specials on Christmas Day.
I’m bypassing “Alpha’s Magical Christmas”, the home video Christmas episode from season two because there isn’t a whole lot to it even if it was on the official Power Rangers YouTube channels (and none of them have it). Instead we jump to season three’s “I’m Dreaming Of A White Ranger”. The second combination of the original Mighty Morphers have to stop Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd from blocking Santa Claus’s Christmas Eve run, and not the last time St. Nick will get Ranger help. However, you can’t break out weapons in Santa’s workshop, or even morph, so the Rangers will have to get clever.
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