Eureka ’s Christmas special took the show into the land of liveliness , with incredible results . The episode was a minor masterpiece , a thrill drive that was adequate parts exciting , excited , and hilarious . And we ’ve got the best parting to share !
Carter ’s blab theater S.A.R.A.H. narrate a perchance non - continuity tale of a past Christmas , fudge the radioactive dust of the large time of year - ending cliffhanger . Carter , Allison , and their kids are spending Christmas together , and in an elbow grease to make the holidays thoroughgoing for Allison , Carter has teamed up with Henry and Fargo to furnish Eureka with a white Christmas .
However , because this is Eureka , everything goes horribly wrong , and thanks to some super - photons interacting with an interactive holobook Allison ’s girl Jenna got for Christmas … well , everyone end up as animated versions of themselves . The race is on to get everything back to normal before reality whole fall aside , all while battling giant ninja snowmen and jumping through dissimilar invigoration fashion . That ’s really all you ask to sleep with about the plot .
“ Do You See What I See ” reminds me of last year ’s two serious Christmas specials , Doctor Who ’s ” A Christmas Carol ” and the Community installment “ Abed ’s Uncontrollable Christmas . ” Like the former , this episode occupy the show ’s normal sci - fi indulgence and ramps it up to ridiculous levels , swear on the viewer ’s Christmas sunshine and the infective sport of the instalment itself to paper over the fact that the story does n’t really make any sense . And , like the latter , this episode is a sustained court to liven up Christmas special , pure with characters discourse the thematic meaning of their claymation doppelgangers .
While last year ’s special , “ O Little Town ” , was maybe a little too obsessed with Christmas for its own good , “ Do You See What I See ” is all about make the most of the show ’s new repair format , and it does not disappoint . The initial electronic computer animation sequence is mostly just there to serve as a transition between the springy - action and what ’s to fall , but everything that come after is pretty much one large victory .
The very next succession , in which they plow into old - school , 60 - style animated quality , fully bosom the format , complete with four - finger workforce , toon aperient , and anthropomorphic everything , admit Carter ’s long - suffering landrover – vocalize quite excellently by The Big Bang Theory ’s Jim Parsons – who make the most of this rarified opportunity to give the sheriff a piece of his mind . Also , his name is Carl . Check it out :
After Carl ’s Festivus - style dissemination of grievances , Carter and Andy are forget to fight a bunch of snowman ninjas , otherwise known as sninjas . It ’s about at this detail that it becomes clear this instalment is n’t primarily concerned with Christmas – this is more about having a goofy playfulness time that cast off away all the rule and structure that Eureka usually stick to to so intimately . This is officially the sort of Eureka episode where a sninja combat succession cease with them hang off a talk helicopter , complete one by one as they repeatedly hit a caboodle of tree diagram . I am so fine with that .
The episode just by and large go for broke , set about the right-down most out of its toon , claymation , and anime episode . They are all distinctly the work of people who both bed and understand the various word form , and Eureka ’s transition from springy - action to animated is surprisingly unlined . It is n’t necessarily assure that live - natural process worker are competent voice performers , but the cast of characters all exculpate themselves well , with Colin Ferguson proving he can be just as uproariously pissed off in animated form . And , as an added incentive , the sequence sticks in quick glimpses of a bunch of other iconic vivification elan , include Peanuts , The Simpsons , South Park , and Scooby - Doo . All they needed was Bruce Timm ’s DC animate style to complete the set :
If this special had decide to just be a full - on romp , filled with crazy fight sequences and meta laugh about the different styles of animation , then the episode would still be a excite success . But the installment also include some real worked up stakes , specially with Jo . Initially irritate by her “ Jo White ” Disney princess getup and cell of sear birds , she becomes truly disordered when the late animation shift makes the birds disappear , wonder whether these most likely imaginary birds will make it south for the winter .
Her erstwhile friend , Matt Frewer ’s Taggart – who , it should be pointed out , is now a giant polar bear – ease her about both the birds and her brother , who are all deployed overseas , telling her it ’s still OK for her to enjoy the holidays and from time to time need to feel like a princess . It ’s a sweet bit that ’s helped along by the expressiveness of their claymation counterparts , and it tackles some of the likely melancholy of the holidays without become down quite as treacly a route as last year ’s especial .
Much like Community did with its claymation sequence , the characters take some time to ruminate on the significance of their animated incarnations . Henry ’s pullstring is ab initio just a cognise joke about his proclivity for farseeing technobabble explanation , while Fargo ’s transmutation into a bobblehead seems like just the universe ’s latest jab at his easy bruised self . Fargo tries to get into the deeper thematic mental object of all this , but Henry is n’t buy it :
Admittedly , this year ’s special does n’t completely jettison the more saccharine elements of the show ’s old efforts , which is most plainly seen in Chris Parnell ’s Dr. Drummer , who almost sure as shooting is the genuine , actual Santa Claus . While I did n’t exactly dislike that aspect of last year ’s sequence , it was fairly ridiculously syrupy , and I ’d say his abbreviated appearance is handled a picayune more graciously here , even if it does n’t give Parnell too many opportunities for his usual comic awesomeness .
What it does provide , for some understanding , is an opportunity for Edward James Olmos to play a talking sleigh Canis familiaris , who gives Andy some sage advice on why it ’s near to be an individual and not always part of a pack . It ’s kind of a random moment – Andy ’s desolation is alluded to before , but I was n’t gestate an total scene accost it – but it ’s a nice little vignette , and I appreciate the general lunacy of this episode that it can pivot from Carter and Allison talk over how to bring through the day with a scientist who is belike Santa to a golem receive a pep talk of the town on individuation from a sing dog sound by Admiral Adama . Besides , it ’s still a way more consistent , dramatically fertile character reference for Olmos to play than whatever the hell he was doing on this season of Dexter .
So yes , “ Do You See What I See ” is all over the place , but that ’s all right since everywhere it conk is so much playfulness . The boastful flood tide takes us into anime territorial dominion , as Carter , Jo , and their now flying landrover ( which I can only assume is called C.A.R.L. ) take on a mammoth ninja snowman who is terrorizing the town . The sequence is played much more straightforward than Futurama ’s late takedown of Nipponese animation , but there ’s still peck of cry - out and homages , and you’re able to distinguish everyone involved had a blast making it . Besides , they even form in a brief balancing between Carter and his jeep :
This is one of Eureka ’s finest efforts , a giddy thrill drive that I would love to see become a Christmas staple in future years . It ’s a reminder of how exhilirating a procedural show can be when it breaks out of its format , and this one absolutely shatters it . If you have n’t seen this episode , go watch it . If you have , go watch it again , preferably when it ’s in reality somewhat close to Christmas , as I still can not quite savvy how December 6 is really part of the holiday time of year . This is a marvelous capstone to the broadly speaking stellar quaternary season , and a bully indication that as Eureka heads into its fifth and final time of year , this show will be pass away out on one hell of a high note .
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