Top 10 Nerdy Holiday Specials That Don’t Suck

If you’re like me you enjoy the holidays but can’t stand the cheesy Christmas shows and cliched “very special” episodes that run around this time of year. Well, to combat the “holy-shit-absolutely-everyone-has-done-a-wonderful-life-parody” blues, I bring you ten nerdy holiday episodes that don’t actually suck.

 

10. Roswell – “A Roswell Christmas Carol”

Despite having the laziest title of all time, the Roswell Christmas episode manages to put an interesting spin on the old adage that “Christmas is a time for giving” which has a whole other meaning when you’re an alien that can heal people from pretty much anything. After Max watches a father die in a car accident he’s haunted by the man’s ghost demanding to know why he didn’t use his alien mojo jojo to save him. The answer of course is because that would reveal his secret, but a guilt-ridden Max still makes his way to a Children’s Hospital to go on a healing spree that could kill him. If that isn’t the true meaning of Christmas I don’t know what is.

 

9. Supernatural – “A Very Supernatural Christmas”

This Christmas episode of Supernatural is great because it’s about family and being together at the holidays, but also about Pagan gods that drag people up chimneys to kill and eat them. Classic holiday fare. If you’re a fan of Supernatural you know this is the episode where, after 3 seasons, we finally learn why Dean wears his scarab necklace, and if you’re a fan of stabbings with Christmas trees, you’ll also like this episode in general.

8. Smallville – “Lexmas”

Again, as much as I like all these picks, Christmas specials have the worst titles. “Lexmas” – it sounds like a Lexus with a lisp.

 

Anyway, this is the only It’s a Wonderful Life parody I’ve allowed on this list, because I like that this episode isn’t just a throwaway where a hero decides he’s going to keep heroing after he sees the good he’s doing. Instead, we actually learn a lot about our villain-in-training Lex who dreams he has a perfect life with a pregnant Lana, but only because he left Lexcorp. In the dream his life is utterly fantastic but Lana dies in childbirth on Christmas. When Lex wakes up he remains with his father and Lexcorp, showing that Lex’s decisions are possibly motivated more by self-sacrifice than greed, and there’s nothing I love more than a complex villain.

 

7. Hercules – “A Star to Guide Them”

Yeah, Hercules, I said it, and you know why? Because this show is super fun, and that’s what the holidays are about. Also because this is the only Christmas special I know of that revolves around the actual Jesus Christ, though he’s never mentioned by name. But the story’s pretty familiar when Herc and Iolaus travel to a town to stop an evil king who’s ordered all the baby boys murdered in case they steal his throne some day. At the end we’re even treated to a shining star over a glowing manger. Oh, who could that be?

 

6. Batman: The Animated Series – “Christmas with the Joker”

This classic episode of B:TAS has everything you could ever want in both a Christmas special, and a Batman adventure: the Joker singing Jingle Bells and escaping prison on a rocket Christmas tree, Harvey Bullock dressed up like a baby, Joker traps, Batman getting pied and the Dynamic Duo sitting down to watch It’s A Wonderful Life instead of parodying the story like every other Christmas show does. It’s a perfect Batman experience.

 

5. Quantum Leap – “A Little Miracle”

Quantum Leap was an amazing show so it should be no surprise that for their Christmas episode they were able to put together a story that managed to be fun, hilarious and yet genuinely touching without being sappy. The basic plot is a rip off of a Christmas Carol with Sam having to convince a Scrooge-like character not to demolish a Salvation Army mission, there’s even a fun ploy of using holographic Al to play a ghost. They just don’t make ‘em like this any more kids.

 

4. Big Bang Theory – “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”

 

Guys, I know, I know, Big Bang Theory is not a great show, especially of late, and a lot of us nerdy folk despise it but this season 2 episode is not only a great Christmas episode, it’s a great episode of anything, ever. We’ve all felt Sheldon’s frustration at the obligation to reciprocate a gift and the difficulty of figuring out how much to spend on it. We’ve all spent hours wandering the mall judging our relationship status by our gift purchase. It’s universal! Also, I’ve watched the gift exchange scene about 8 times and I still laugh every time. If that isn’t classic I don’t know what is.

 

3. Sliders – “Season’s Greedings”

Wow, no one can come up with good Christmas titles, huh? Anyway, this episode of long-gone but much beloved Sliders is about landing on an Earth that’s let consumerism get pretty out of hand and now the planet is basically one big mall in the sky. This episode has a lot going on like credit card debt, obsessive consumerism, child abandonment and family issues galore, but it all works somehow. The central story involves the Sliders missing their families at Christmas, trying to reunite a baby with its mother and Wade having to deal with meeting her family only to find out she doesn’t exist in this world but it all works out in the end and they even get supper for once instead of sliding away just as they save the day.

2. Community – “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”

For anyone rolling their eyes at Community being on a list of nerdy shows, I would argue that most episodes of this show are entirely fantasy, and also, this episode is claymation, come on, that’s awesome.

 

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” lives up to its name and is about Abed imagining a Christmas Special in his head to avoid emotional holiday trauma he doesn’t know how to handle. It’s a half hour of singing, dancing, laughs and Lost DVDs that should be on its way to being considered a Christmas classic.

 

1. Doctor Who – “The Christmas Invasion”

It’s hard to pick just one Doctor Who Christmas special to include on this list but after careful consideration I had to go with “The Christmas Invasion” because it’s not just heart-warming, it’s also badass. Tennant spends his first full episode as the Doctor mostly asleep, but even unconscious he manages to save the Tylers from a killer Christmas tree, then has one of the greatest introductions of all time, sword fights with a Sycorax and saves the world, all in time for supper.

 

This planet is defended, indeed.

 

 

 

Dishonorable Mention – “Star Wars Holiday Special”

Just an obligatory note for the special to end all specials. At least this show proved how easy it is to make a good holiday special, just do the exact opposite of what the Star Wars Christmas special did. The. Exact. Opposite. It even managed to screw up Bea Arthur singing in a Star Wars cantina. How? How is that possible?

 

Did your favorite episode make the list? Tell me what I missed in the comments, I’ll admit when I’m wrong.