Directed by: Lauren Faust (supervising) Written by: Lauren Faust (story)

Craig Lewis (story)

Craig McCracken (creator/story/EP)

Amy Keating Rodgers (story) Release date: October 7, 2003 Running time: 44 minutes Rating: TV-Y7 Available on: VHS

DVD

HBO Max

“ The point, Princess, is that you better change your ways or all you're ever gonna get from Santa is a big, fat lump of coal in your stocking! ” — Blossom

The Powerpuff Girls: Twas the Fight Before Christmas is an hour-length direct-to-video Christmas special based on the Cartoon Network original series The Powerpuff Girls, produced during the show's fifth season. It was originally released on VHS and DVD on October 7, 2003, before making its broadcast debut on Cartoon Network on December 12th of the same year. The special was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More); however, it lost to the network's short-form microseries Star Wars: Clone Wars.

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Synopsis

It is the day before Christmas Eve in Townsville, and the students at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, including the Powerpuff Girls, are all anxiously awaiting Santa Claus's annual trek. When the Powerpuff Girls start discussing their requests to Santa, Princess Morbucks comes upon them and declares that, since her father is rich and can buy her any material goods, her desire to be a Powerpuff Girl is what she has requested from Santa. The Girls, however, tell Princess that she will not be getting that from Santa, since she is most definitely naughty, citing her overall personality and her actions in previous episodes as proof. Princess furiously refuses to believe that, but when her servants refuse to answer her asking if it is true, she decides to investigate.

That night, while everyone else in Townsville (even Mojo Jojo) is getting their houses prepared for Christmas Eve, Princess flies her private jet to the North Pole and sneaks into Santa's workshop. When she finds his documents, to her dismay, she finds out that she is the only kid in the world who is on the Naughty List (which is a Post-It note). She erases the headlines of the lists and switches them around, making it now look like she is the world's only nice kid, and that everyone else is naughty.

On Christmas Eve, Bubbles wakes up after hearing Santa come and goes downstairs to get an early look at the presents, but is devastated when she finds a lump of coal in her stocking. She then gets suspicious when she finds coal in Blossom and Buttercup's stockings as well, and then, using her x-ray vision, sees that all the other kids in Townsville have received coal too. Worried and fearful, she wakes up her sisters and tells them of this strange occurrence. The Girls decide to go confront Santa, believing that he must have made a mistake. As soon as they get outside, though, they are suddenly attacked by a now super-powered Princess, who gloats over the fact that she has now gotten what she wanted from Santa. She then says that she is going to go tell Santa that the Girls are coming to destroy his workshop because he branded them as being naughty.

The Girls chase Princess all the way to the North Pole, trying to deter her progress on the way at every chance they can get, until they eventually crash through the roof of Santa's workshop, their fight wrecking the place, including breaking Santa's sleigh and spooking the reindeer. Santa, who is disheartened by the delusion of all the kids in the world being naughty, comes in on their fight. At first, he looks to be on Princess' side and refuses to let the Powerpuff Girls speak up, considering them naughty like all the other kids. But when Princess tries to convince him not to listen to the Girls when they finally get a chance to talk to him, he has a hard time believing he should not, since he knows that the Powerpuff Girls are really good people. Princess throws a tantrum in front of Santa, insulting him and threatening to have her dad build a parking lot over the workshop. This leads Santa to realize that Princess has deceived him, so he places her name on the Permanent Naughty Plaque and strips her of her superpowers when she tries to escape. He then says that he shall rectify his mistake of giving all the kids coal, but since his reindeer are still in shock and his sleigh is still broken from the fight, he realizes he may not be able to do that. Fortunately, since the Girls can fly so quickly, he asks them to deliver the presents. The Girls agree to do so, dropping Princess off in jail on the way. After finishing the job, the Girls return home to bed, but they do not stay asleep for long because it is now Christmas morning.

Trivia

Buttercup's choice of gift request ("What if I don't get my official Red Raider carbine-action two-hundred-shot range-model air rifle?") and Princess's response ("Who would want a stupid old BB gun? Besides, you'll shoot your eye out!") are a reference to A Christmas Story .

. The episodes mentioned by the Girls when pointing out Princess's naughtiness are "Bought and Scold" ("You bought the city and legalized crime!"), "Mo Job" ("You hired Mojo to try and destroy us!"), "Birthday Bash" ("You gave us a bomb for our birthday!"), "Meet the Beat Alls" ("You teamed up with three felons and went on a crime spree!"), and "Superfriends" ("You tricked our friend Robin into stealing, and then you tattled on her!").

In his brief cameo, the Mayor is shown wishing for a My Little Horsie toy, an obvious parody of the My Little Pony toyline. Notably, Lauren Faust, who directed and co-wrote the special, would later go on to develop My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic , which would gain a large fan following of male adults.

toy, an obvious parody of the toyline. Notably, Lauren Faust, who directed and co-wrote the special, would later go on to develop , which would gain a large fan following of male adults. Princess's mouth does not move when she says "That's right! You can't deny me [as a Powerpuff Girl] any longer!"

The other names on the Permanently Naughty Plaque are Bill McCracken (named after Craig McCracken), Ryan Faust (after Lauren Faust), Adolph Schickelgruber (the name that Adolf Hitler would have had if his father had kept his old name), and Stephen Fonti (the storyboard artist for the episode "Catastrophe").

Availability

Warner Home Video originally released the special on VHS and DVD on October 7, 2003. The DVD contained two music videos and the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Dexter Vs. Santa's Claws" as bonus features. The special itself was later included on The Powerpuff Girls: The Complete Series - 10th Anniversary Collection DVD set, released on January 20, 2009.

Cast

Note: The Mayor of Townsville, Ms. Bellum, Mitch Mitchelson, and Mojo Jojo appear, but do not have speaking parts.