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Christmas with Superman

One of the annual Christmas traditions that my mom and I have is to watch the three Christmas episodes of the show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman together near Christmas. We most often do this on Christmas Eve, but sometimes we pick another day if we are busy on Christmas Eve. This tradition started one Christmas Eve years ago when the two of us came home from having dinner out and watched a couple of episodes of the show that I had taped off of TNT. The episodes, due to the proximity of Christmas day, were two of the show's three Christmas episodes. By the next year, I had taped all three of the Christmas episodes off of TNT, and the annual tradition of watching these three episodes that I had recorded on VHS tapes had begun. We still do it to this day, though now we've managed to upgrade from VHS tapes to the officially released DVDs of the show.

For this article, I thought it would be fun to do a look at each of the Christmas episodes, providing a quick summary of each and possibly providing some trivia when applicable.

Season's Greedings


This episode is noteworthy due to the fact that it was actually written by the star of the show, Superman himself - Dean Cain. If you're unaware, Dean Cain is actually a huge Christmas lover who has appeared in over a dozen Christmas movies, so it's no surprise that he chose to devote his first writing credit to a story about Christmas. The villain of the week for this episode was of one of Superman's classic villains from the comic books, the Toyman, who in this episode created a toy that makes adults act like greedy children. The Toyman was played by a retro television icon, Sherman Hemsley, who you no doubt remember for playing George Jefferson on The Jeffersons. Even cooler for fans of The Jeffersons is the fact that his assistant was played by Isabel Sanford, making this a Jefferson reunion or sorts.

Home Is Where the Hurt Is


This episode was less cheerful than the one that preceded it but still enjoyable. It was a bit more serious, revolving around Superman falling victim to a Kryptonian virus and almost dying. The villain of the week, Mindy Church, a devious blonde who pretended to be much dumber than she was, was original to the series, making this the only Christmas episode of the series that did not revolve around a villain from the comic books.

'Twas the Night Before Mxymas


As you might be able to guess from the title of this episode, it revolved around the Superman comic book villain Mxyzptlk, played here by Howie Mandel. The Mxyzptlk in this show looked quite different from his comic book counterpart but was otherwise much more faithful to the comic books than the one that would later appear on Smallville. In this episode, Mxyzptlk's evil plot involved creating a time loop to keep the world from ever seeing Christmas and thereby causing the world to lose hope as a result.

And there you have it - a quick look at each of the Christmas episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. These are by far my favorite Christmas episodes of any television show. What are your favorites?
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Superman Posted on Dec 23, 2016 at 05:39 AM

@massreality - Yes! Christmas episodes of my favorite shows can be so much fun to watch! I find myself disappointed whenever a show I like doesn't have at least one episode devoted to Christmas.

massreality Posted on Dec 22, 2016 at 04:34 AM

It’s nice to see someone else who appreciates the non-traditional Christmas television episodes. As I’ve gotten older, I actually prefer to watch Christmas episodes of some of my favorite TV shows over Christmas movies. My personal favorite is Home Improvement, but I also like to watch episodes from Just Shoot Me and other 90’s sitcoms.

Superman Posted on Dec 22, 2016 at 12:40 AM

@Vaporman - Yeah, it is pretty neat to have a tradition that revolves around my favorite show. I look forward to watching those episodes every Christmas, and I know my mom does, too, because she always reminds me that we need to maintain our annual tradition whenever Christmas starts approaching.

@jkatz - Gilbert Gottfried did do a pretty excellent job. I'm not sure if I have a favorite between the two of them, though. They're very neck and neck for me.

jkatz Posted on Dec 20, 2016 at 09:36 PM

I still think Gilbert Gottfried's Mr. Mxyzptlk (from the cartoon) is my favorite.

And I bet Howie went home and washed his hands a dozen times after holding that clock.

Vaporman87 Posted on Dec 20, 2016 at 09:08 AM

It's weird to see Howey Mandel as that character, but that casting actually makes sense to me. He is good at that sort of manic, off beat weirdo. It's kind of neat that you have made a tradition out of your favorite show.

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