Merry Madagascar is a Christmas television special spun off from DreamWorks' Madagascar film franchise. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8 PM ET/PT.
Synopsis
From left, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe and those sneaky Penguins replace Santa Claus and his reindeer on his rounds.
As the story (which takes place between the first two Madagascar movies) begins, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are attempting to escape Madagascar and return to New York using a hot air balloon they built, only to be thwarted by the lemur population, led by King Julien, who mistake them for the “red night goblin” that visits every year at this time, the 24th of “Julianuary” (December, really). Immediately after that, the "red night goblin" appears and begins showering the island with coals. Evading the barrage, Alex manages to shoot it down, but the four friends discover that the “red night goblin” was, in fact, Santa Claus. What’s worse, the crash has left Jolly St. Nick with amnesia, unaware of his responsibilities.
Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria huddle together and come up with a plan: deliver all the presents for Santa and then use the sleigh to get them back to New York. Unfortunately, the reindeer only take orders from Santa, and it is revealed that they have a rivalry against the penguins, who claim that Santa used to live at the South Pole and that the reindeer talked him into moving north. Before the two species can fight, Private falls in love with Cupid the reindeer, but Skipper slaps him out of his daze. The reindeer refuse to help the penguins' friends and leave, so the quartet has to rely on the penguins, who use Santa's magic dust, which enables the otherwise flightless birds to take wing. Since Santa is having too good a time partying with the lemurs to help them, they take off without him.
The animals make their first attempt at a delivery and manage to make a mess of everything – getting stuck in chimneys, breaking windows, getting lost, etc. Realizing the full scope of the task at hand, they decide to instead drop the toys off at the post office and make their way back to New York. However, after crashing into an apartment and unintentionally bringing joy to a little girl, they reverse course and continue the deliveries.
Back on Madagascar, the lemurs are presenting gifts for Julien in celebration of Julianuary. As Santa searches for a gift, he discovers his ability to make toys, much to the amazement of the lemurs. He soon crafts gifts for all of them to enjoy, much to Julien's anger since the focus is supposed to be on him, and decrees that all the lemurs' gifts are now his, much to their disappointment. Later, Julien is quietly going through his mound of gifts alone in the crashed plane, feeling depressed. Santa shows up to apologize for his earlier “behavior” and suggests that giving someone a gift might change Julien's mood. After giving one to his friend Amelia, the dead co-pilot on the plane, Julien discovers that is indeed the solution. As a result, he hands out gifts to all the other lemurs.
As the night nears its end, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria find one bag left in Santa's sleigh, and that it contains gifts for all four of them. They then discover that they and the penguins only have enough magic dust to make one last trip, either back to their home in New York or back to Madagascar, where Santa remains stranded. Putting aside their personal wishes, they return to Madagascar, crashing onto the beach and running over Santa by mistake. However, the crash also has the effect of restoring Santa's memory, and he thanks the animals for making his deliveries for him. Santa discovers one last bag meant for Liechtenstein, though, so to make the delivery in time, he switches to a reserve tank of magic dust that the animals had overlooked. He flies away with his reindeer leading the charge before the animals can manage to ask for a ride to New York, in addition to telling Julien that he's off the "naughty list," which angers and also confuses Julien, who asks Maurice what the naughty list is.
Despite still being stranded on Madagascar, the animals, with the holiday spirit filling them, decide to make the best of the situation and create their own Christmas along with the lemurs. However, Julien, wanting to get back on the naughty list, hits Alex with a coconut, causing a large lump on the lion's head. When his friends ask if he's all right, he asks, "Who's Alex?", making Marty, Gloria, and Melman groan in despair. The special ends with Mort yelling "Merry Christmas and Happy Julianuary, everybody!" right before getting hit with a coconut.
Songs
- "Every Woman in the World" - Air Supply
- "Cool Yule" - Louis Armstrong and The Commanders
- "I Like to Move It"
- "As Time Goes By" from Everybody's Welcome
- "Santa Claus Is Coming to Madagascar" - Danny Jacobs
Cast
Much of the original voice cast from the movies returned for this special, with the exception Sasha Baron Cohen, King Julien's original voice actor. In this case, Danny Jacobs, who voiced the lemur leader in The Penguins of Madagascar spinoff series, replaced Cohen. In addition, Santa was voiced by television legend Carl Reiner, veteran voice actor Jim Cummings played Donner the lead reindeer (whose is not identified by name in the special, but is confirmed as such in the "Santa Claus is Coming to Madagascar" music video), and The Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev voiced the lovesick Cupid. Abby, the girl who discovers the Zoo Animals as Santa's helpers, was voiced by Willow Smith, daughter of Jada Pinkett-Smith (the voice of Gloria).
| Voice actor/actress | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| Ben Stiller | Alex |
| Chris Rock | Marty |
| David Schwimmer | Melman |
| Jada Pinkett Smith | Gloria |
| Cedric the Entertainer | Maurice |
| Andy Richter | Mort |
| Carl Reiner | Santa Claus |
| Danny Jacobs | King Julien |
| Tom McGrath | Skipper |
| Chris Miller | Kowalski |
| Christopher Knights | Private |
| Jim Cummings | Donner |
| Nina Dobrev | Cupid |
| Willow Smith | Abby |
| David Soren | Lookout lemur Additional lemurs |
| James Ryan | Additional lemurs |
| Newell Alexander Steve Alterman Mitch Carter Robert Clotworthy David Cowgill Elisa Gabrielli Bridget Hoffman Michelle Ruff |
ADR Group |
Note: Rico the Penguin appears, but John DiMaggio recorded no lines for him.
Broadcast history
After airing on NBC in 2009 and 2010, Merry Madagascar later aired as part of ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas, along with Kung Fu Panda Holiday, in 2011. From 2014 to 2015, Merry Madagascar (along with Kung Fu Panda Holiday) aired on The CW. It then aired on AMC as part of their Best Christmas Ever lineup from 2018 to 2021. It was most recently aired on Nickelodeon in December 2022, and will air there again in December 2023.
Availability
A DVD of the special, distributed by DreamWorks Home Entertainment, was made available exclusively at Walmart stores the day after the special premiered. It was sold as both a stand-alone DVD and in a 2-pack with a separate DVD titled Party with the Penguins (which featured the short The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper). DreamWorks Home Entertainment later reissued the special on DVD on October 11, 2011, this time as a wide retail release; this re-release also included A Christmas Caper as a bonus feature. The special was later featured on the DreamWorks Holiday Collection compilation DVD and Blu-ray in 2012. The 2011 DVD was re-released with new cover art on October 1, 2013, and the special was also featured in the DreamWorks Holiday Collection 2-disc set, released two weeks later. After DreamWorks Animation was acquired by NBCUniversal, the DVD was reissued by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in a Holiday Double Feature set that paired it up with the original Madagacar, released on October 2, 2018. Its latest release was as part of the Madagascar: The Ultimate Collection and DreamWorks Ultimate Holiday Collection DVD and Blu-ray sets, all of which were released on October 15, 2019.
In the United Kingdom, the special was made available on November 23, 2009, at Tesco stores.
November 18, 2009
October 11, 2011
October 30, 2012
October 30, 2012
October 1, 2013
October 2, 2018
October 15, 2019
October 15, 2019
Notes
- Private telling Cupid, "If that sleigh leaves and you're not with Santa, you'll regret it," is a reference to a famous line from the 1942 film Casablanca.
Accolades
The special won the 2009 Annie Award for Best Storyboarding in a Television Special, with the award going to Robert Koo. It was also nominated for the 2009 Annie Awards for Best Animated Television Production, Character Animation in a Television Production, Character Design in a Television Production, Storyboarding in a Television Production, and Voice Acting in a Television Production.
See also
- The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper
- "The All Nighter Before Christmas"
- Madagascar: A Little Wild: Holiday Goose Chase
External links
- Madagascar Wiki: Merry Madagascar
- Merry Madagascar at the Internet Movie Database
- Merry Madagascar at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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