‘Tis
the season to be jolly…
Christmas
is a spiritual holiday in the Christian faith, celebrating the birth of Jesus.
In
modern American culture, Christmas is more than that broad religious
description entails as well.
Christmas
is a time of forgiveness, and a time of redemption. It is a season of second
chances, unexplained grace, and fellowship with loved ones.
Christmas
is a time of the year represented by many symbols, including that great
gift-giver, Santa Claus, the Nativity, Christmas trees, and even snow-fall.
The
“Christmas episode” is a mainstay of cult television too. Throughout history,
many series feature a holiday-themed story that can be rerun across the years.
One
of the most famous Christmas stories is “Night of the Meek” on The
Twilight Zone (1959 – 1964). In this tale, a drunk man, played by Art
Carney, through a night of strife and redemption ascends to the positions of
Santa Claus. The story was remade for
the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone as well.
On
Millennium
(1996 – 1999), the second season episode “Midnight of the Century” is also a
tale for the season, and concerns, explicitly family, particularly Frank
Black’s (Lance Henriksen) family. This
episode introduces Darren McGavin as Frank’s father. While Frank plans a
Christmas for his daughter, Jordan (Brittany Tiplady), he also remembers
holidays from his childhood.
On
Buffy
the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003), the episode “Amends” concerns the
topic of forgiveness and redemption as it pertains to Angel (David Boreanaz),
the vampire with a soul. The First Evil (a villain who would recur in the
seventh season) taunts Angel with the presence of all the people he has killed
over the years, including Jenny Calendar. Buffy helps Angel, and at the end of
the episode, an unexpected snowfall in Sunnydale acts as a kind of cleansing or
catharsis for him.
The
X-Files (1993
– 2002) also features a Christmas episode, “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas,” in
which Scully and Mulder enter a haunted house and meet two ghosts (Lily Tomlin
and Ed Asner), who help them contextualize their own relationship in a new
way. The episode ends with Scully and
Mulder exchanging presents in Mulder’s apartment.
Other
series, such as The Six-Million Dollar Man (1973 – 1978), and even Doctor
Who (2005 - ) have featured Christmas stories that explicitly reference
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Merry
Christmas, 2015, and Happy Holidays to all!
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