Elmo Saves Christmas
Elmo Saves Christmas is a 60-minute television special and home video that was released and aired on PBS in 1996. In the story, Elmo learns that Christmas cannot occur every day. The special was shot at Sesame Street's usual home, the Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City.
Synopsis
Elmo stays up till midnight on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus. He eventually falls asleep, but is awakened when Santa gets lodged halfway up his chimney. Santa tells him that when he pulled him out of the chimney, he saved Christmas for children all over the world. To thank him, he lets him choose a special Christmas present. Either a pink teddy bear or a magic snow globe. Elmo chooses the snow globe and gets three wishes. He uses his first wish for a glass of water, which was wasteful, but Santa warns him not to waste the other two wishes.
On Christmas morning, Elmo, excited by all the joy and cheer, wishes for it to be Christmas every day as his second wish, which turns out to be a huge mistake. At first, everyone is excited, but Santa arrives, explaining to Elmo that Christmas cannot occur everyday because it wouldn't be special. To that, he has Lightning the reindeer take him on a sleigh ride to the future to see what happened when Elmo made the wish, seeing what Christmas is like in the spring and summer. Big Bird is upset because his friend, Snuffy, went to celebrate Christmas with his grandmother in Cincinnati and promised him that he'd return the day after Christmas, but since Elmo made the wish, Snuffy never came back, the elves haven't gotten a vacation in months and Easter and Independence Day aren't the same, but Oscar enjoys it since his trash can is surrounded by wrapping paper and worn-out Christmas trees, broken toasters piled up outside the Fix-It Shop, and nothing playing on television but It's a Wonderful Life, declaring it a "bah, humbug" kind of Christmas every day.
Elmo and Lightning then travel to next winter at Christmastime, only to find Sesame Street in ruins, the Count "all Christmassed out" from all the Christmases he's counted these last few months, the carolers lose their voices from singing so much, Christmas trees are an endangered species, Big Bird is crying because Snuffy has been gone for a whole year, the Fix-It Shop goes out of business, and Santa has decided to retire and move to Florida.
Guilty and realizing the wish was all his fault, Elmo realizes he can fix it all with his last wish from the snow globe, wishing that everything would go back to the way it was when Christmas was only once a year. However, the snow globe flies out of his hands and breaks, but luckily, he and Lightning go back in time to the Christmas Eve where it all began when Elmo pulled Santa out of the chimney. This time, Elmo chooses a new gift, the Moo Bunny, a plush toy which is a cross between a cow and a rabbit. The next morning, a lonely Big Bird is standing outside the Fix-It Shop when Snuffy arrives. Instead of spending Christmas with his grandmother in Cincinnati, she came to Sesame Street instead. Afterwards, Elmo learns that although Christmas can't be every day, it's always good to keep the spirit of Christmas every day and every year in your heart.
Cast
- Maya Angelou as Herself/Narrator
- Emilio Delgado as Luis
- Sonia Manzano as Maria
- Bob McGrath as Bob
- Roscoe Orman as Gordon
- David Smyrl as Mr. Handford
- Carlo Alban as Carlo
- Charles Durning as Santa Claus
- Harvey Fierstein as Easter Bunny
- 14 Karat Soul as Themselves
Muppet performers
- Kevin Clash as Elmo, Baby Natasha, Benny Rabbit
- Joey Mazzarino as Lightning
- Fran Brill as Zoe
- Jerry Nelson as Count von Count, Mr. Johnson, News Flash Announcer
- Carmen Osbahr as Rosita
- Frank Oz as Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert
- Martin P. Robinson as Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster
- David Rudman as Baby Bear, Humphrey
- Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch
- Bryant Young as Rear End of Mr. Snuffleupagus
- Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog, Ernie
Additional Muppets performed by Alice Dinnean, Peter Linz, Noel MacNeal, Pam Arciero, Jim Martin, John Tartaglia, and Matt Vogel.
Songs and sketches
- Christmas Story Begins
- It's Christmas Again Number One
- Cookie Monster and Elmo Get Your Cookies, and Big Bird and Snuffy Go To Cincinnati
- It's Christmas Again Number Two, Christmas Story Continues, Christmas Story Continued, and Sesame Street News Flash
- It's Christmas Again Number Three
- Every Day Can't Be Christmas
- It's Christmas Again Number Four
- Give Your Friend an Easter Egg for Christmas
- It's Christmas Again Number Five
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
- It's Christmas Again Hoarsely
- Every Day Can't Be Christmas (Reprise)
- Keep Christmas with You (All Through The Year)
External links
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Elmo Saves Christmas at IMDb
- Elmo Saves Christmas at Muppet Wiki
