Christmas Specials Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Christmas Specials Wiki

Pinky's_Letter_To_Santa_-_Pinky_And_The_Brain_-_Hulu

Pinky's Letter To Santa - Pinky And The Brain - Hulu

Brain: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
Pinky: Well, I think so, Brain, but 'apply North Pole' to what?

"A Pinky and the Brain Christmas" is a special half-hour Christmas episode of the WB animated series Pinky and the Brain. Produced as the ninth episode of the show's first season, it originally aired as a prime-time special on December 13, 1995.

Synopsis

Brain introduces Noodle Noggin

Brain introduces his new world domination device - the Noodle Noggin doll.

At Acme Labs, Pinky is busy writing a letter to Santa Claus, when Brain tries out his new invention on him - a doll in Brain's likeness, which broadcasts hypnotic orders from him. After finishing the demonstration, Brain explains that the doll, which he has named "Noodle Noggin", is part of his current scheme for world domination. Despite Pinky questioning him if it is really a good idea to try to take over the world at Christmas time, Brain explains that he plans to distribute a Noodle Noggin doll into every home on the planet. Then, once everyone has gotten the dolls, he will broadcast a hypnotic suggestion to everyone, telling them that he should be their ruler. However, the plan requires to have 1,000,000,000 Noodle Noggin dolls built, a task that would take 137 years for the mice to accomplish on their own, so Brain needs to find a huge group of workers who can make that many dolls in a short amount of time. Brain then notices a want ad in the newspaper, saying that Santa is looking to employ new elves. He explains to Pinky that they shall get jobs at the North Pole and get Santa's elves to make the Noodle Noggin dolls, and then Santa will distribute the dolls to everyone. Pinky is especially pleased by this plan, because it means he will be able to bring his letter to Santa in person.

Pinky and Brain get transportation by building a humanoid dummy, disguising it as someone who is trying to get to the North Pole, bringing along a cage with them in it. While on the private charter plane, Pinky continues working on his letter to Santa. However, when the pilot gets up to go to the back of the plane, Pinky and Brain's dummy is unable to take the wheel, and when the pilot tries to get the plane back on track, the mice and their dummy accidentally unlock the door and fall out. Pinky and Brain manage to parachute down using the dummy's now-loose head, and then continue onward using a sled and dog team.

Pinky wants to give his letter to Santa

As Brain works on adding Noodle Noggin dolls to all of the wish lists, Pinky wants to bring his letter to Santa.

Upon finally reaching Santa's workshop, Pinky and the Brain put on their elf costumes. They go inside for their job interview, conducted by an elf named Schotzie, who assigns them to work in the mail room. Once there, Brain adds a Noodle Noggin doll to everyone's wish lists. When Santa is given a spreadsheet listing what all the kids in the world want, he is curious as to what Noodle Noggin is and tells Schotzie to go look for the blueprints. Pinky, meanwhile, wants to process his own letter, but Brain tells him that there is no time for them to do that, since now they have to secretly place the Noodle Noggin blueprints in the design office. However, while trying to sneak there, Schotzie catches them in the act and then chases after them, during which he pulls off their fake elf ears and beards.

Schotzie interrogates Pinky and Brain

Schotzie the elf interrogates the mice when he thinks they're stealing the Noodle Noggin blueprints.

After catching them, Schotzie begins to interrogate Pinky and Brain when one of the other elves takes a look at the Noodle Noggin blueprints Brain was carrying. Although Schotzie suspects Pinky and Brain of being spies sent by another holiday spirit to steal the blueprints, Brain goes along with Schotzie's accusation and says that the elves should get started on making the dolls. He and Pinky then escape while Schotzie is not looking and hide in the elves' toy manufacturing plant, where they see that the elves have already begun working on the Noodle Noggin dolls.

After making it out of the toy manufacturing plant, Pinky and Brain see that Santa is getting ready to take off in his sleigh. Pinky still wants to bring his letter to Santa, but again Brain exasperatedly stops him from doing so. They disguise themselves as two of Santa's reindeer and fly alongside the actual reindeer until they fly over Acme Labs, at which point they detach themselves and crash-land through the roof, accidentally breaking Brain's hypnotic transmitting equipment. While Santa continues distributing the Noodle Noggin dolls all over the world, Brain frantically gets to work repairing his device. But as he is doing so, Pinky finds his letter to Santa in his backpack and realizes he never got the chance to give it to him. He cries about this to Brain, but his companion is still too occupied with getting his transmitter fixed to care much about his problem.

Pinky crying

Pinky crying that he failed to give his letter to Santa, unaware that Brain has just read it himself.

After he has finished fixing his hypnotic transmitter, Brain orders Pinky, who is still sobbing about having failed to give his letter to Santa, to activate the power switch when the meter hits the red level. While waiting for the meter to go up, Brain takes a look at Pinky's letter and reads it:

Dear Santa,

Hello. Ha-ha, narf! This year, Santa, I ask for nothing, but I wish to tell you about my dear friend, the Brain. He is honest and very hard-working, and only wants what's best for the world. But he gets no reward. He's only greeted with defeat. He never gives up, but I know it must be very hard. So, please, take anything that you have for me and give it to my best friend in the whole world, the Brain.

Love,
Pinky

P.S. By any chance, do you have in that big old bag of yours, the world?

Upon reading these touching words, Brain is overwhelmed with remorse for his behavior towards his best pal; he breaks down in silent tears and, when the time comes to broadcast his hypnotic message, simply commands everyone in the world to have a merry Christmas, and afterwards destroys his broadcasting machine. Later that day, Pinky and the Brain exchange gifts; Brain gives Pinky a spellchecker, and Pinky gives Brain a key chain with a small globe attached to it.

Songs

Broadcast history

Following its 1995 premiere, the special continued to be annually broadcast on The WB, usually on the Kids' WB! programming block, through 1999. Afterwards, it was aired on Nickelodeon in 2000 and 2001, the NickToons network from 2002 to 2004, and then on Toon Disney's Jetix programming block in 2007 and 2008.

Availability

Pinky and the Brain Christmas VHS

The cover to the VHS release.

The special was made available on VHS by Warner Home Video on August 13, 1996. The VHS release also included another episode from the show's first season, "That Smarts". The special was later included on the Pinky and the Brain: Volume 1 DVD set, released by Warner Home Video on July 25, 2006. The DVD set will be re-released as part of the show's Complete Series collection, which will be released on September 26, 2023. The episode has also been made available on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Video.

Accolades

In September 1996, the episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)".

Trivia

  • This is the only episode of Pinky and the Brain that was animated by the Japanese animation studio TMS Entertainment.
  • Brain's doll being named "Noodle Noggin" is likely a call-back to one of the Pinky and the Brain segments on Animaniacs, titled "Puppet Rulers"; in that episode, Pinky and the Brain starred as characters on a Beany and Cecil parody, with Brain's character being called Noodle Noggin.
  • Pinky has a flashback to a previous plan of Brain's in which they tried marketing themselves as popular toys that could be attached to car windows with suction cups. This is a reference to the Garfield plush toys that were often seen placed on car windows in the 1980s.
  • Pinky telling Brain that he wants to be a dentist instead of an elf is a reference to Hermey from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
  • When Santa is delivering the Noodle Noggin dolls, one of the houses he visits has a framed sign in the background that reads "Tree sweet tree", indicating that he is in Slappy Squirrel's tree.
  • Pinky and Brain's voice actors, Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, said that they were in tears while recording the scene where Brain reads Pinky's letter.
  • Earl Boen, who voiced Santa Claus in this episode, would reprise the role in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command episode "Holiday Time" and the Johnny Bravo episode "A Johnny Bravo Christmas".

Cast

Voice actor/actress Character
Maurice LaMarche The Brain
Rob Paulsen Pinky
Tress MacNeille Dave Burl
Frank Welker Bill Clinton
Jeff Bennett Schotzie
Earl Boen Santa Claus

Gallery

See also

External links

Warner Bros.
Movies
Warner Bros. Pictures Christmas in ConnecticutGremlinsLethal WeaponNational Lampoon's Christmas VacationBatman ReturnsJack FrostThe Polar ExpressKiss Kiss Bang BangFred Claus
New Line Cinema The Long Kiss GoodnightElfThe Nativity StoryFour ChristmasesA Very Harold & Kumar 3D ChristmasThe Conjuring 2Collateral BeautyShazam!8-Bit Christmas
Blue Ribbon Content A Christmas Story 2A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish
Warner Bros. Television National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island AdventureThe Year Without a Santa ClausChristmas on the Square
Live-action television episodes
Friends and Joey "The One With the Monkey" • "The One With Phoebe's Dad" • "The One Where Rachel Quits" • "The One With the Girl from Poughkeepsie" • "The One With the Inappropriate Sister" • "The One With the Routine" • "The One With All the Candy" • "The One With the Holiday Armadillo" • "The One With Monica's Boots" • "The One with Ross's Step Forward" • "The One With the Creepy Holiday Card" • "The One With Christmas in Tulsa" • "Joey and the Plot Twist" • "Joey and the Christmas Party"
DC Comics "Season's Greedings" • "Home is Where the Hurt Is" • "Twas the Night Before Mxymas" • "Lexmas" • "Gemini" • "Year's End" • "Three Ghosts"
Other shows "A Semi-Merry Christmas" • "Mel, the Magi" • "Mel's Christmas Carol" • "'Tis the Season to Be Jealous" • "A Christmas Story" (Growing Pains) • "The Kid" • "It's Not Easy Being Green" • "A Christmas Story" (Just the Ten of Us) • "Santa Goes Downtown" • "Let It Snow" • "The Night Court Before Christmas" • "Santa on the Lam" • "Have Yourself a Merry Winslow Christmas" • "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Urkel" • "Christmas is Where the Heart is" • "Miracle on Elm Street" • "Fa La La La Laagghh!" • "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" • "Deck the Malls" • "The Christmas Show" • "The Man Who Canceled Christmas" • "Christmas Day-Ja Vu" • "A Country Christmas" • "The Gift" • "A Miracle Happens Here" • "Homeless for the Holidays" • "Do You See What I See" • "The Miracle Worker" • "How the Finch Stole Christmas" • "The Greatest of Gifts" • "I'll Be Home For Christmas" • "Hindsight" • "Twas the Night" • "All About Christmas Eve" • "City of Mercy" • "Meet the Cuban Parents" • "Christmas Punch" • "A Clear and Presentless Danger" • "George is Being Elfish and Christ-Misses His Family" • "Santa's Secret Stuff" • "A Very Supernatural Christmas" • "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" • "The Maternal Congruence" • "The Santa Simulation" • "The Cooper Extraction" • "The Clean Room Infiltration" • "Christmas" (The Middle) • "A Simple Christmas" • "A Christmas Gift" • "Christmas Help" • "The Christmas Tree" • "The Christmas Wall" • "Not So Silent Night" • "A Very Marry Christmas" • "The Christmas Miracle" • "It's Beginning to Stink a Lot Like Christmas" • "Jolly Red Elf" • "The World Ain't Over 'Till It's Over" • "Santa's Village of the Damned" • "Walnuts and Demerol" • "Warning, It's Dirty" • "One False Move, Zimbabwe!" • "Give Santa a Tail-Hole" • "On Vodka, On Soda, On Blender, On Mixer" • "Family, Bublé, Deep-Fried Turkey" • "Home for Christmas" • "Jingle Bell Glock" • "The Walk-Out" • "Yule Never Know" • "Merry Ex-Mas" • "A Very Carrie Christmas" • "Veronica's Christmas Song" • "Veronica's Secret Santa" • "An Echolls Family Christmas" • "One Angry Veronica"
Animated productions
Looney Tunes and related shows The Shanty Where Santy Claus LivesBedtime for SnifflesGift WrappedBugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales • "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special" • "'Twas the Day Before Christmas" • "Jingle Boo" • "The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert" • "A Christmas Plotz" • "Little Drummer Warners" • "No Time for Christmas" • "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas" • "It Happened One Night Before Christmas" • "In Arms Way" • "The Twelve Days of Christmas" • Christmas Eve with Yakko, Wakko & Dot • "Noel" • "The Christmas Tree" • "The Banks of the Delaware River" • "Feather Christmas" • "Yule Be Sorry" • "Christmas in July" • Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas • "A Christmas Carol" • "Tis the Seasoning" • "Winter Blunderland" • "The Legend of Burrito Monday" • Bugs Bunny's 24-Carrot Holiday Special • "Looneyburg Lights" • "How the Brain Thieved Christmas" • "Santamaniacs"
DC Comics "Christmas With the Joker" • "Holiday Knights" • "Frozen Out" • "Comfort and Joy" • "Storybook Holiday" • "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" • "Second Christmas" • "The True Meaning of Christmas" • "Halloween v Christmas" • "Teen Titans Save Christmas" • "Party Animal" • "Beast Boy on a Shelf" / "Christmas Crusaders" • "A Holiday Story"
Hanna-Barbera co-productions "A Dickens of a Christmas" • A Scooby-Doo! Christmas • "Ho Ho Horrors" • Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker TaleScooby-Doo! Haunted HolidaysTom and Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "Scary Christmas" • "Scroogey Doo" • "It's a Wacky Life" • "Dashing Thru the Snow" • "Signed, Sealed and Wacky" • "The Spirit of Frostnos" • Tom and Jerry: Snowman's Land
Other cartoons "Yuletide and Redtide" • A Cool Like That Christmas • "Santa Mask" • The Polar Express • "The Match Before Xmas" • A Miser Brothers' Christmas • "Da Grinchy Code / Duck" • "FROST / Undercover Claus" • "Fantastic Four Christmases / Red and White Collar" • Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas • "Christmas in Oz" • "Top of the Naughty List" • "Mandora Saves Christmas" • Beebo Saves Christmas
Albums
Have Yourself a Looney Tunes ChristmasA Hip-Hopera ChristmasMerry Christmas: Animaniacs & Looney TunesThe Looney Tunes Kwazy ChristmasA Looney Tunes Sing-A-Long Christmas
Advertisement