History Main / MerryChristmasInGotham

* Franchise/{{Tsukiuta}} Stage Act 7: Cyber-Dive Connection is this, despite being AnAssKickingChristmas in sexy UsefulNotes/CyberGoth costumes. The main characters, 12 world-hopping boy band members [[MoeAnthropomorphism based on the months of the year]], are asked to enter a digital world to [[SavingChristmas save Santa]] - it's heavy on video game references, light on plot, and more of a playground for the series to experiment with combining technology and live theatre, and it's also the first Tsukista in over two years to not revolve around a character death.

[[folder: Videogames ]]


* ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' averts this trope. It's Christmas Eve night. Batman has a ''50 million'' bounty placed on his head. [[CarnivalOfKillers Eight deadly assassins]], [[DirtyCops crooked cops]] and most of the escapees from Blackgate prison all want to collect. Dozens of dead innocents, Batman's first meeting with the Joker and millions in property damage later, it's a pretty miserable Christmas for Gotham City.

** All three of the Twelfth Doctor's season finales were were bittersweet '''at best''' and inevitably ended miserably for the Doctor himself, so all four of his post-season Christmas episodes (he got an extra one due to a longer-than-usual break between Series 9 and 10) [[ThrowTheDogABone threw him bones]. While the first, "Last Christmas", has straight-up horror content and bittersweet stretches it ''also'' teams him up with SantaClaus and has a joyous ending for the Doctor and Clara. The others are substantially more lighthearted even with melancholy and tense moments -- "The Husbands of River Song" is a RomanticComedy while "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" affectionately spoofs comic book superheroes. And when showrunner Creator/StevenMoffat learned that there wouldn't be any more Christmas episodes if the show skipped a year (because incoming runner Chris Chibnall didn't want to introduce Thirteen in a Christmas show), he extended Twelve's grim GrandFinale storyline "World Enough and Time"/"The Doctor Falls" into the LighterAndSofter "Twice Upon a Time" to end his MythArc on a note of hope instead of sorrow, with a story in which (technically, since it involves regeneration) EverybodyLives and there's [[spoiler: No Antagonist]].

* The MostTriumphantExample may well be ''Marvel Team-Up'' #1, where Spider-Man and the Human Torch discover the Sandman (up to this point a one-dimensional CardCarryingVillain) makes a point of visiting his ill mother every Christmas Eve. Spidey is so touched he even gives Sandman the present originally meant for Gwen Stacy! Awww.

** Paul Dini's "Slayride" (''Detective Comics'' #826) averts this entirely; it's Gotham, it's Christmas Eve, and [[OhCrap the Joker's loose]]. And he's got Robin for a hostage. Murder and mayhem ensue.
** Batman #219, "The Silent Night of the Batman," written by Mike Friedrich and illustrated by Neal Adams, is, however, a leading candidate to be TropeCodifier.
** In the ''DC Comics Holiday Special 2008'', the Gotham P.D. appear in the story "A Day Without Sirens". The principle behind the Day Without Sirens is that over Christmas, nobody in Gotham is going to do anything that requires the police's attention. No-one on the force believes this is going to happen, and the story is Commissioner Gordon getting more on edge, and then checking the phones are working, and finally acknowledging that sometimes miracles do happen. And then it turns out Oracle had all the emergency calls redirected to her system, and has had Supergirl running all over town cleaning things up.
* {{Comicbook/Hitman}} #22: ''The Santa Contract''. Tommy and Nat hunt down a radioactive killer loose in Gotham on Christmas eve. He's wearing a Santa suit and the whole issue is narrated InTheStyleOf ''Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas''.

* There's a {{Punisher}} story where Frank is about to snipe a druglord, when suddenly there's a little girl pulling on his coat telling him she's lost her dad. Frank stares at her and puts the gun away. When they find her dad, he starts to thank him before recognizing his chest emblem and starting to panic. Frank tells him to calm down, that he should really teach his daughter not to talk to strangers, and then leaves.

* ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' averts this trope hard. It's Christmas Eve night. Batman has a ''50 million'' bounty placed on his head. [[CarnivalOfKillers Eight deadly assassins]], [[DirtyCops crooked cops]] and most of the escapees from Blackgate prison all want to collect. Dozens of dead innocents, Batman's first meeting with the Joker and millions in property damage later, it's a pretty miserable Christmas for Gotham City.

Compare MoodWhiplash and LighterAndSofter. Contrast AnAssKickingChristmas and SoaplandChristmas.

* {{Comicbook/Hitman}} #22: ''The Santa Contract''. Tommy and Nat hunt down a radioactive killer loose in Gotham on Christmas eve. He's wearing a Santa suit and the whole issue is narrated InTheStyleOf TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas.

[[AC:Advertising]]

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* ''Anime/TheBigO'''s Christmas special starts out grim as usual. We have a blind girl whose caretaker brother is a garbageman by day, and musician by night. They are starving, barely able to afford food at all. Then a mad scientist leaves a biological weapon in the boy's tip jar and it turns out the "weapon" is a massive self-growing Christmas tree made to teach people to love nature and each other. While the tree grows, everyone hears the boy's music, Roger and Dorothy exchange presents and have an impromptu dance party, and it snows. D'awww.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* There's a {{Punisher}} story where Frank is about to snipe a druglord, when suddenly there's a little girl pulling on his coat telling him she's lost her dad. Frank stares at her and puts the gun away. When they find her dad, he starts to thank him before recognizing his chest emblem and starting to panic. Frank tells him to calm down, that he should really teach his daughter not to talk to strangers, and then leaves.
* [[http://www.leaderslair.com/noexcuses/hulk2-378.html An issue]] of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' dealt with Rhino and Hulk teaming up to be MallSanta and Helper.

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In the middle of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''The Daleks' Master Plan'', the Doctor and companions interrupt their saving [[TheEmpire the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire]] from [[BlackAndGrayMorality the Daleks]] for a ChristmasEpisode (the only missing ''Doctor Who'' episode ''confirmed'' by Creator/TheBBC to have no spare copies hidden in private collectors' hands or a foreign TV station).
* ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' has an episode like this.

[[AC:{{Videogames}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' has the episode "A Bullet for Bullock", where Batman is asked for help by, of all people, Harvey Bullock, and the Aesop is that you should always be helping people, even if they don't like you.

[[AC:RealLife]]

* To commemorate a century from the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne First World War]] and the [[TruthInTelevision Christmas Truce of December 1914]] (see "Real Life" section), British supermarket chain Sainsbury's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM 2014 Christmas advert]] was a short film focusing on two groups of British and German soldiers celebrating the brief moments of Christmas respite in the harsh, snowed-in trenches of the western front. There was also an accompanying [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s1YvnfcFVs featurette]] on the period context of the events and the making of the advert.

--->'''Calendar Man:''' [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ebenezer Scrooge]] was a saint compared to old Judge Harkness. Remember him, Batman? Gotham's HangingJudge, they called him. Even though the state had ruled me insane, Harkness swore he'd send me to the gallows. So you see, it was all a simple act of self-preservation. I could hardly be held responsible for strangling that street corner Santa Claus for his suit. I needed the disguise to sneak into the judge's Christmas Eve party. Harkness thought it was all in fun until "St. Nick'' caught him around the neck with a string of Christmas lights. The cops found him later, hanging from the elaborate light display of his own roof. Judgie almost looked like a cartoon himself alongside the comical reindeer, elves, and snowmen. I call that murder my "ChristmasSpecial".

* To commemorate a century from the beginning of the First World War and the [[TruthInTelevision Christmas Truce of December 1914]] (see "Real Life" section), British supermarket chain Sainsbury's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM 2014 Christmas advert]] was a short film focusing on two groups of British and German soldiers celebrating the brief moments of Christmas respite in the harsh, snowed-in trenches of the western front.

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, a Christmas truce broke out. A Christmas tree was erected in the middle of the battlefield and the Entente and Central Powers forces gathered together to sing Christmas carols. There was music, dancing, hot drinks, and a few friendly games of soccer shared. For one day there were no soldiers, just young men celebrating Christmas. However, the soldiers were under orders to shoot enemy soldiers who tried starting this, and not everyone disobeyed. Even in places where this did happen, some people took the opportunity of taking a closer look at enemy trenches then they usually could.

* ''{{Eureka}}'' has an episode like this.

* In the middle of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''The Daleks' Master Plan'', the Doctor and companions interrupt their saving [[TheEmpire the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire]] from [[BlackAndGrayMorality the Daleks]] for a ChristmasEpisode (the only missing ''Doctor Who'' episode ''confirmed'' by TheBBC to have no spare copies hidden in private collectors' hands or a foreign TV station).

* ''Anime/TheBigO'''s Christmas special starts out grim as usual. We have a blind girl whose caretaker brother is a garbageman by day, and musician by night. They are starving, barely able to afford food at all. Then a mad scientist leaves a biological weapon in the boy's tip jar and it turns out the "weapon" is a massive self-growing Christmas tree made to teach people to love nature and each other. While the tree grows, everyone hears the boy's music and he is discovered. It's implied that they'll never need to worry about money ever again. D'awww.

** The new Batman Adventures had an actual Christmas episode... with Harley and Ivy kidnapping and mind controlling Bruce Wayne, the Joker trying to set off a bomb at New Years, and Clayface turning into multiple pickpockets to steal from holiday shoppers, leading to the line "shoot the Santa!" So instead of going LighterAndSofter they went DenserAndWackier.
** ''BTAS'' also had an actual Christmas special, in which the Joker escapes from Arkham and kidnaps Commissioner Gordon, Summer Gleason, and Harvey Bullock.

* [[{{Comicbook/Hitman}}]] #22: ''The Santa Contract''. Tommy and Nat hunt down a radioactive killer loose in Gotham on Christmas eve. He's wearing a Santa suit and the whole issue is narrated InTheStyleOf TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas.