Merry Madagascar

Merry Madagascar is a Christmas television special spun off from the Madagascar series of films, set between the events of the franchise's first two movies. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8 PM ET/PT. In 2011, ABC Family acquired the broadcast rights, and it aired as a part of the 25 Days of Christmas programming block, along with Kung Fu Panda Holiday.

Synopsis


As the story begins, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are attempting to escape Madagascar and return to New York using a hot air balloon they built, only to be thwarted by the lemur population, led by King Julien, who mistake them for the “red night goblin” that visits every year at this time, the 24th of “Julianuary” (December, really). Immediately after that, the “red night goblin” appears and begins showering the island with coals. Evading the barrage, Alex manages to shoot it down, but the four friends discover that the “red night goblin” was, in fact, Santa Claus; what’s worse, the crash has left Jolly St. Nick with amnesia, unaware of his responsibilities. Julien comments around this time that he has “another hat on,” indicating the large bump on his head.

Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria huddle together and come up with a plan: deliver all the presents for Santa and then use the sleigh to get them back to New York. Unfortunately, the reindeer refuse to take orders from anyone other than Santa, and it is revealed that they have a rivalry against the penguins. Before the two species can fight, Private falls in love with Cupid, a female reindeer. Skipper slaps him out of his daze. The team is then forced to use the penguins, who use Santa’s magic dust to enable the otherwise flightless birds to take wing. They take off and leave Santa behind with the lemurs, who are presenting gifts for Julien in celebration of Merry Julianuary. As Santa searches for a gift, he discovers his ability to make toys, much to the amazement of the lemurs. He soon crafts gifts for all of them to enjoy, much to Julien’s anger since the focus is supposed to be on him.

Meanwhile, the animals make their first attempt at a delivery and manage to make a mess of everything – getting stuck in chimneys, breaking windows, getting lost. Realizing the full scope of the task at hand, they decide to instead drop the toys off at the post office and make their way back to New York. However, after crashing into an apartment and unintentionally bringing joy to a little girl, they reverse course and continue the deliveries.

Back on Madagascar, Julien is quietly going through his mound of gifts alone in the crashed plane, feeling depressed. Santa shows up to apologize for his earlier “behavior” and suggests that giving someone a gift might change Julien’s mood. After giving one to his friend, the dead co-pilot on the plane, Julien discovers that is indeed the solution. As a result, he hands out gifts to all the other lemurs.

As the night nears its end, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria discover that they and the penguins only have enough magic dust to make one last trip, either back to their home in New York or back to Madagascar, where Santa remains stranded. Putting aside their personal wishes, they return to Madagascar, crashing onto the beach and running over Santa by mistake. However, the crash also has the effect of restoring Santa's memory, and he thanks the animals for making his deliveries for him. Santa discovers one last bag meant for Lichtenstein and, to make the delivery in time, switches to a reserve tank of magic dust that the animals had overlooked. He flies away with his reindeer leading the charge before the animals can manage to ask for a ride to New York. With the holiday spirit filling them, the animals decide to make the best of the situation and create their own Christmas along with the lemurs on Madagascar. However, Julien hits Alex with a coconut, causing a large lump on the lion's head. When his friends ask if he's all right, he asks, "Who's Alex?" The special ends with Mort yelling "Merry Christmas And Happy Julianuary, Everybody!"

Availability
A DVD of the special, distributed by DreamWorks Home Entertainment, was made available exclusively at Walmart stores the day after the special premiered, and was sold as a stand-alone copy or paired along with a separate DVD titled "Party with the Penguins" (which features the short The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper). DreamWorks Home Entertainment later reissued the special on DVD on October 11, 2011; this re-release also included A Christmas Caper as a bonus feature. It will also be featured on the DreamWorks Holiday Collection compilation DVD and Blu-ray, to be released on October 30, 2012.

In the, the special was made available on November 23rd at stores.

Trivia

 * Private says to Cupid, "If that sleigh leaves and you're not with Santa, you'll regret it." This is a reference to a famous line from the 1942 film Casablanca.

Awards

 * Annie Award (2009) for Best Storyboarding in a Television Special - Robert Koo

Cast
Much of the original voice cast from the movies returned for this special, except for, King Julien's original voice actor. In this case, Danny Jacobs, who voices the lemur leader in  spinoff series, replaces Cohen. In addition, Santa was voiced by television legend, veteran voice actor played the lead reindeer and  star  voiced the lovesick Cupid.

Note: Rico the Penguin appears, but recorded no lines for him.