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Christmas Specials Wiki

"The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" (originally titled "Holiday Val-U-Pak") is the third Christmas-themed episode of the 20th Century Fox animated series Futurama, and the only Christmas-themed episode to premiere during the series' run on Comedy Central.

Synopsis[]

The episode features three holiday-themed segments, following the same structure as the episodes "Anthology of Interest I" and "Anthology of Interest II". However, unlike those episodes, this episode does not feature the What If Machine. The three segments are based around Christmas Xmas, Kwanzaa and Robanukah (the holiday Bender made up to get out of work in the episode "Fear of a Bot Planet"). Coolio reprised his guest-starring role of Kwanzaabot in the Kwanzaa segment, and Al Gore makes an appearance as himself in a wrap-around segment where he introduces each story. The episode had an environmental theme and has musical numbers in each segment.

In each story, all the earthlings die, with exceptions made for the Robanukah segment, in which Bender survives, and the Kwanzaa segment, in which only the Planet Express crew is shown to die. This kind of disregard of continuity was never before experienced in Futurama, except in the stories in the "Anthology of Interest" episodes, from which this episode also takes the three-stories format.

First story (Xmas)[]

Fry is gloomy because he still didn't understand the Xmas holiday, therefore Santa explains it in a song. The crew realizes they do not own a pine tree, as Xmas tradition would require they want to get one. Pine trees are extinct, therefore they go to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, right next to the Germ Welfare Repository. They then are able to obtain a seed for the pine tree, which appears to be contaminated with germs, and Fry plants it in front of the Planet Express Building. One year later it is grown not more than six feet, and Nixon steals it in order to replant it in front of the white house to celebrate the annual White House Xmas tree lighting. And right after the lighting, the tree starts growing huge and shooting pinecones on the ground, reforestating the world. This brings very high levels of oxygen. This is when Bender says: "I don't recall doing anything for a while, but I still think I deserve a smoke!" When he lights his cigar, the oxygen in the air catches on fire transforming the whole earth in a ball of fire.

Second story (Robanukah)[]

Bender is upset because everyone gets exited about holidays but not about Robanukah. When he is accused to have invented Robanukah himself just to skip days of work, he makes up a song in which he describes Robanukah traditions. One of these is to watch two fem-bots wrestling in petroleum oil. Unfortunately there is no petroleum left on earth. Professor Farnsworth states there should be some petroleum deep down towards the center of the earth. They therefore modify the Planet Express Ship in order to dig through ground. They finally go too deep and all the crew but Bender is crushed. Bender then sits singing "Bender is great" for 500 million years. When he looks back to the crew he finds out they finally turned into petroleum oil ("I thought they were selfish, but in the end, it turns out it was I that thought they were selfish!"), so he climbs back to surface and celebrates Robanukah with the two fem-bots wrestling in lots of petroleum oil, generated from the whole population of earth being extinct, and the planet being now a desert.

Third story (Kwanzaa)[]

The crew gathers at Hermes' home to celebrate Kwanzaa. This is when they want to know more about Kwanzaa, so Kwanzaabot sings a song about it and its traditions. They therefore find out they have to light some candles, which have to be made 100% out of bee wax. All bees on earth are attacked by parasites and cannot produce any bee wax. Fry then suggests to go on the planet of the space bees, and so they do. Once there they see how all the bees are crushing against walls and floors and exploding. The queen bee then explains that they have been attacked by parasites themselves, and can't do anything but just talk smack to each other. Hermes wants to stop this bee on bee conflict and decides to africanamericanize the space bees. He tells them about the values of Kwanzaa, about unity. Hermes' speech about Kwanzaa brings back the Kwanzaa spirit, which kills all the parasites. Now the space bees are united again and turn against the crew, killing Kwanzaabot and making them into candles to celebrate Kwanzaa.

Availability[]

The episode was made available on the Futurama: Volume Five DVD set, released on December 21, 2010.

Cast[]

Voice actor/actress Character(s)
Billy West Philip J. Fry
Professor Hubert Farnsworth
Dr. Zoidberg
Katey Sagal Turanga Leela
John DiMaggio Bender
Robot Santa
Phil LaMarr Hermes Conrad
Lauren Tom Amy Wong
Dawnn Lewis LaBarbara Conrad
Bumper Robinson Dwight Conrad
Coolio Kwanzaabot

See also[]

External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad • "O C'mon All Ye Faithful"
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)" • "Gift of the White Guy"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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