Saturday, December 25, 2010

TVXOHOF - 12/2010: THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Toobworld Central has been running the TV Crossover Hall of Fame since 1999. And in that time I had thought I would have run out of Christmas-themed inductees for the month of December by now - especially with four entries last year to mark the tenth anniversary of the Hall.

Of course, we were able to stretch it out, thanks to some off-beat selections - at least two versions of Santa Claus, for example. And we've got a bit of a stretch this year.

It's because of the nature of the inductee that I held off the announcement until Christmas Day - because Toobworld Central is welcoming the Christmas Spirit into the ranks of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

I don't mean that sappy bleep about keeping Christmas in your heart the whole year through. In Toobworld, the Christmas Spirit was personified in human form, in much the same way as Death, Springtime (both in 'Mulberry'), Guilt, and Love (both in 'Amazing Stories') have been in other TV shows. And as with Death at least, the Spirit of Christmas can assume different appearances. About a week before Christmas in 1973 (although it was first seen on TV screens in 1964), the Seaview submarine picked up a man adrift at sea named Old John. The stranger proved to be the only one who could get through to the Crown Prince of a small country who was about to assume the throne after his father's assassination. But Prince Ang was petulant, immature, and irresponsible - unfit to be a true ruler. Old John was able to guide Ang to becoming more of a man, putting aside his childish ways as it were. Once they reached Ang's nation, Old John mysteriously disappeared. And it was Admiral Nelson who picked up on what Old John's true nature was when he remembered that they found him near Christmas Island......


For a time, the Spirit of Christmas took the form of Max the Christmas Angel, as seen in three TV movies:

"A Town Without Christmas"

"Finding John Christmas"

"When Angels Come To Town"
But it was a guise that would probably not pass muster when the Spirit of Christmas filled the town of Eureka in 2010. As it was founded on the principles of science, the Christmas Spirit took the form of a scientist named Doctor Noel Drummer. Noel Drummer helped the townsfolk - especially a scientist named Taggart - to accept that not everything had to have a scientific explanation. Some things were just meant to be accepted on faith.
Perhaps the Spirit of Christmas has been seen elsewhere in Toobworld before those five appearances; we may yet see it again pop up in some seasonal episode of a sitcom. But in the meantime, we have these five appearances. And even if you don't think the theory is valid, there's still the matter of Max the Christmas Angel appearing three times in Toobworld, thereby satisfying the requirements for membership in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

BCnU!


"Christmas Day will always be,
just as long as we have we."
The Narrator
"How The Grinch Stole Christmas!"

No comments: