SpongeBobs Weihnachten

Vorlage:Infobox television episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" is a SpongeBob SquarePants special from season eight. It aired on November 23, 2012 on CBS, becoming the first episode in the series to premiere on a channel other than Nickelodeon. (Nickelodeon and CBS are both owned by National Amusements but have operated as independent companies since a 2006 corporate reorganization.) This is the second SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas based episode next to "Christmas Who?" which premiered in December 2000. The episode, which was animated in stop motion, was inspired by the classic TV Rankin/Bass specials, The Little Drummer Boy (TV special), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special). Actor John Goodman guest stars as Santa Claus.

Plot

It's Christmas, and SpongeBob is the happiest creature in Bikini Bottom. Squidward remains grumpy, and Patrick attempts to capture Santa Claus. Plankton, however, is miserable, having committed so many naughty acts that he is on the naughty list and won't receive his Christmas wish: the Krabby Patty formula. However, he reveals to Karen his latest discovery: jerktonium, a substance that will turn anyone into a jerk. Using his discovery, he cooks it into fruitcake he intends to spread around Bikini Bottom. First, he gives the fruitcake to SpongeBob to test it, but Spongebob is resistant to the jerktonium. Upset that his plan seemingly failed, Plankton gives his fruitcake dispenser to SpongeBob, who promptly distributes the fruitcake to all of Bikini Bottom and turns all the residents into jerks, like Plankton intended. Plankton realizes that SpongeBob is so full of Christmas spirit that he is immune to jerktonium, so Plankton sends out an evil wind-up robotic version of SpongeBob to commit naughty deeds to defame the real SpongeBob. SpongeBob begins to suspect something is up when everyone is acting like jerks, so he goes to Sandy, who realizes what is happening. They discover the antidote happens to be song. SpongeBob begins singing and cures everyone from their jerktonium trance, bringing back their Christmas spirit. However, it is too late, as when Santa Claus arrives he declares everyone is on the naughty list, sans Plankton, who gets the Krabby Patty formula. Santa also says that SpongeBob is the worst of all when the robot SpongeBob comes to kill Santa and destroy Christmas. SpongeBob fights and destroys the robot SpongeBob with the fruitcake dispenser. Meanwhile, one of Santa's elves finds the wind-up key that proves Plankton was behind the naughtiness, and Plankton gets piled under coal. Santa leaves Bikini Bottom, only for Patrick to put him in a jellyfish net when Santa is flying by the moon.

Cast

• Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, Robot SpongeBob, Gary, and Patchy the Pirate
• Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star
• Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles
• Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs
• Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks
• Mr. Lawrence as Sheldon Plankton
• Lori Alan as Pearl Krabs
• Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff
• Jill Talley as Karen the Computer Wife
• Paul Tibbitt as Potty the Parrot
• John Goodman as Santa Claus

Trailer

A sneak-peak trailer for "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" was released in mid-2012 for a preview of the episode.

Release

The episode was released on DVD October 30, 2012 in Canada, November 6, 2012 in the United States. A Blu-ray release was also announced simultaneously with the DVD, but was cancelled a week afterward for unknown reasons. It was released on Nickelodeon on December 6, 2012 and was advertised as the world premiere, although it premiered on December 2, 2012 on Nickelodeon (UK & Ireland)

Reviews of the special have been positive with some fans calling it SpongeBob's comeback or the best thing to come out of the series in a while. Robert Lloyd of The Los Angeles Times gave it a very positive review saying "I felt I'd been somewhere, watching this. When it ended, I was not ready to leave."