The two Christmas Specials from our Green Sweater Vested Friend-DOUG's CHRISTMAS STORY & DOUG's SECRET CHRISTMAS

DOUG,

Both Nickelodeon from August 11 1991 to January 2 1994,

& later Disney from September 7 1996 to June 26 1999.

Spanning 117 Combined episodes. 52 for Nickelodeon, 65 for Disney

and exactly one Theatrical Film DOUG'S 1ST MOVIE in March 1999.

And one hell of a divided Fandom due to issues like Network Ownership, Series superiority, Merchandise Ownership, And a choice between supporting 

BILLY WEST, Original Voice of DOUG FUNNIE,

or DOUG WALKER, The Nostalgia Critic,

(Fellow Youtuber who loathes the franchise and the Nick theme but surprisingly he likes the Disney theme.)

But now is not the time to talk about DOUG FANDOMS, or Billy West, or Nostalgia Critic.

It's Christmas so let's do a double-whammy post:

Talk about the Two Christmas Episodes from DOUG.

That being:  

from Nickelodeon.

&

from  Disney.

These two specials deal with several things that subvert the expectations from what you'd want to see in a broadcasted Christmas special, especially in animation.

Rather than be an episode where the characters are having Christmas dinner, or doing Christmas shopping the entire duration of the episode,

To keep the plot interesting, these two episodes deal with things like

A Dog facing an Injury Lawsuit

and 

A family prioritizing a Baby's Arrival than with setting up for Christmas Festivities.

First, let's start with CHRISTMAS STORY, broadcast December 12 1993.

It all starts with skating at Lucky Duck lake, which would be part of the setting for the later Theatrical Film in 1999.

I did say skating but the characters are playing a game of Pinecone Hockey.

But then...

Uh Oh. Thin Ice is bad.

Now here's the piece of money shot animation from Overseas Animation Studio HANHO HEUNG-UP that caused a major stir from many a NICK Fan back in December 1993.

But wait, it gets..... BETTER.

One of the only times outside of the title card where Doug himself calls out his own dog for bad behavior.

But wait... it gets better..... or not....

The incident is now all over the news.

Mayor White is no longer mayor as he lost an election several episodes prior so he's only here to complete his term before leaving office.

And the election was during the near-end of the Nick era of DOUG so have at it.

It looks like Porkchop is being arrested for rough play on a child... or so what the city thinks.

Prompting Doug to do the deed of making sure his faithful friend of a dog has his name cleared.

This episode from the Nick Era is notable for featuring DOUG FUNNIE with a slightly deeper voice... Still by Billy West by this point but here in 1993, we're starting to hear what may be the first of Fry's Voice from FUTURAMA but that won't be for at least 5 to 6 years after this episode aired.

Another notable thing about this episode is that it also may be the only episode to feature all 3 of his alter-egos in one episode.

Quail Man, his main superhero persona,

Race Canyon, A Parody of Indiana Jones,

(By 1993, only the trilogy existed. No Crystal Skull or Dial of Destiny....YET!!!)

&

Smash Adams, A Parody of James Bond

(Specifically Sean Connery.)

((This was 2 years before Pierce Brosnan became James Bond in 1995's Goldeneye.))

And yes, at one point do all three of his personas get into a fight with each other.

"The three of you, stop fighting!!!"

Caught in the act.... Uh Oh....

All culminating into the famous Court Scenes that defined how dark of a path DOUG was willing to go to in terms of writing and plot points regardless of Networks.

I can picture Ken Rosenberg from Grand Theft Auto being Doug's Lawyer.

"Porkchop walks right now or me and DOUG will sue for deformation!!!"

The irony is that despite people saying they prefer Nickelodeon's DOUG, they still complain about the plotline in CHRISTMAS STORY because they think that Christmas episodes in children's animation should be about dinner, presents, shopping etc. Not threatening dogs with euthanasia. 

To them, they think animal euthanasia doesn't belong in a Christmas episode or that dark subject matter shouldn't be in Children's Animation with their argument being that it's better off being in more adult animated shows like THE SIMPSONS.

THE SIMPSONS wouldn't start touching on dark subject matter during the Holidays until 1995 when they broadcast the episode where Bart gets caught shoplifting.

While Disney's Doug's Christmas episode SECRET CHRISTMAS, broadcast on December 14 1996, has none of the Dog Euthanasia plotlines that plagued it's Nick Predecessor,

(Aside from a TV movie referencing the Nick Version's episode)

it still dealt with subject matter that's not befitting to a traditional special which is the title character's family prioritizing a baby's arrival than with Christmas decorations or festivities.

Plus, it was the one episode to feature a baby who was named by an actual fan.

Yeah, they ran a contest in October 1996 where Disney asked fans of DOUG to submit a name for the baby and they eventually chose CLEOPATRA DIRTBIKE FUNNIE as the name.

And the person who won that Contest was BRET CHATHAM from Blairsville, Georgia.

Another thing that set SECRET CHRISTMAS apart from all the other DOUG episodes was that it was the only episode of DOUG to be broadcast on PRIMETIME, meaning it first broadcast on the night hours instead of it's usual Saturday Morning Slot. 

Specifically 8:30PM when it originally debut.

And thank balls the episode was broadcast on ABC about three weeks before the infamous Snowstorm of 1996 that hit Vancouver pretty hard, otherwise, us Vancouverites would never live it down despite being inside our Cozy homes watching the episode on our Sony Trinitron TVs during that time.

.... More like watching THE SIMPSONS on TV in December 1996 than an episode about DOUG, especially if it's in Primetime. 

Man, they sure don't make Christmas episodes this tense like they used to anymore....

Unless you watch from:

The Simpsons, King of the hill, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, South Park, Futurama, Rick and Morty, etc.

Where to watch these Christmas specials?

For Doug's Christmas Story, I was gonna say PARAMOUNT+ but then I heard of their removal antics. Chillout!!! They're not trying to be like Zaslav.... 

Your best bet is iTunes since the Nick Episodes are still there.

For Doug's Secret Christmas, Disney+ is the way to go since it's still there on the service.

(I applaud you Bob Iger for keeping classic shows on the service.)

For both at the same time and same .mp4 or .mkv files, check for ARCHIVE.ORG.

(Remember to beware for watermarks, especially if it's taped or DVR'd)

With the exception of my SECRET CHRISTMAS screenshots which are obviously from DISNEY+ via my iPhone pointed at my 4k TV,

My Screenshots for CHRISTMAS STORY are from my AMAZON Nick Series DVD.

Not because I prefer my prints without a network or kisscartoon watermark, but because I too feel that that version is better on Physical Media despite the Visual Compression on my DVD.

For now, I'll leave this post with my Nicktoons Screenshots since I had them readily available from my Samsung M.2 SSD via my Amazon DVD as well as VLC Player's screenshot feature.

For the other special, I'll have to set up my iPhone's Camera with my tripod in front of my Hisense 4K TV since I don't have an Avermedia Capture Card and Netflix blocks PrintScreen on both PS5 and PC anyway so..... Once I have all screenshots, I'll update this post.

Until then, see you next Blogpost and Merry Christmas.