The 25 Days of Christmas Episodes – Day 20 – The Tick “The Tick Loves Santa”
The Tick and Arthur are unaware of this, and the Tick is miserable because he “killed Santa”. Arthur tries to explain the whole thing about Santa not being real, but the Tick is having none of it. Even at the big superhero Christmas party, he’s inconsolable. And when they go out caroling, Multiple Santa attacks. The Santa clones make short work of the heroes (including Four-Legged Man, whose power is having four legs). The Tick, known for his mightiness, is powerless to hit Santa, so all he can do is watch his friends get stomped.
Returning to their apartment after the humiliating defeat, Arthur and the Tick are greeted by the real Santa Claus and Santa’s Little Secret Service. Santa’s touched by the Tick’s devotion, but upset that Multiple Santa is ruining his reputation. So it’s a good old-fashioned team-up, Santa Claus and the Tick! Santa leads his allies to the hydroelectric dam, where Multiple Santa is tapping into the electricity to power up even further.
Pitted against thousands of evil Santa clones, Tick still finds himself powerless to punch that jolly face. Attempting to incapacitate without violence, he gives a Santa a fierce head-rub, which causes the evil clone to disappear. Apparently, static electricity dissipates the electrical clones. “Their Achilles heel is the noogie!” And thus, Christmas is saved. And the City, as well. It’s all very merry.
Best Line – The Tick: “Like a big blue salmon of justice, the Tick courses upstream to the very spawning ground of evil!” I love when the Tick provides his own narration.
Christmas Tropes:
Santa Claus – This episode is the clear favorite for sheer number of Clauses. Besides Multiple Santa and his hundreds of duplicates, the real deal plays a major role in the episode. It’s a Santa-fest!
Gifts – Compulsive gift-giver Santa Claus gives the Tick an “In-the-egg” egg scrambler and an orange. He gives Arthur a travel alarm clock and a pencil set. This is a very practical Santa.
Musical number – The superheroes go caroling, much to the consternation of the citizenry.
Celebrity Guests – Voice legend and Disney mainstay Jim Cummings plays Multiple Santa. Seriously, check out his IMDB page – he’s done everything!
Learning a lesson – As the Tick himself put it, “Not all Santas are nice. In fact, some are downright…. Naughty.”
Cheer-o-meter Score: The Tick is rewarded for his childish crazy-guy beliefs, and brings some Christmas joy to the entire City. Of course, there’s also the little matter of hundreds of evil Santas wreaking havoc. Let’s call it a draw and give it a 5.
