Film / 'Twas the Night

He's on the naughty list for life.

'Twas The Night is a 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie directed by Nick Castle starring Josh Zuckerman, Bryan Cranston, Brenda Grate and Jefferson Mappin, originally premiering December 7, 2001.

14-year-old Danny Wrigley (Zuckerman), idolizes his adventurous and cool uncle Nick (Cranston), much to the chagrin of his father who sees Nick as a irresponsible con artist. On Christmas Eve, when Nick's latest money-making scheme backfires he's left running from his embittered partners-in-crime and finds himself hiding out with his brother's family. But his attempts at a cyber scam to pay off his partners go awry, going as far as to accidentally knocks out Santa's new computer-operated sleigh as it flies over the house. Nick and Danny find themselves now in possession of the sleigh with Santa's magical powers at their disposal. Danny wants to complete the injured Santa's rounds, while Nick sees an opportunity. Meanwhile Danny's younger sister, Kaitlin (Brenda Grate) and brother Peter soon discover Santa (Jefferson Mappin) passed out in their living room and try to help him set things right before the night is done.

Yes, this is a Disney Channel Original Movie about Walter White, a con man; stealing Santa Claus' powers on Christmas to commit crimes seven years before Breaking Bad would premiere and is directed by Nick Castle, who is famously associated with another holiday.

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'Twas The Night includes examples of the following:

• An Ass-Kicking Christmas: While the movie itself is not particularly action-orientated special mention goes to how Santa defends himself against thugs.
• Broken Pedestal: Nick becomes this to Danny once he discovers that Nick is using Santa's powers to steal for his own gain.
• Children Are Innocent: Of the three Wrigly children, Peter is the wide-eyed innocent one. He still believes in Santa and sees the good in everyone, including the older brother that keeps scamming him.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: Nick is this to John, and it's noted they have a very strained relationship. Danny is already this to Kaitlin, as she repeatedly chastises his behavior.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Nick is scheming Cool Uncle, while John is the mundane, hard-working family man. In this particular case, Nick is actually the older brother.
• Generation Xerox: After John angrily sends Danny to his room, Nick (speaking from experience) lampshades how he is very much like their father.
• How We Got Here: The movie starts on the night of Christmas showing Santa Claus tied up in the Wrigleys' living room, before jumping back to the day before Christmas to establish how things got to this point.
• Insufferable Genius: Kaitlin - in her Establishing Character Moment, she tells Peter that Santa would have to move many times the speed of sound to deliver presents to the whole world in one night.
• Jerkass Realization: Checking the sleigh's database, Danny is perturbed to see he's on Santa's naughty list and that actions he considered to be harmless fun weren't that after all.
• Meaningful Name: Nick Wrigly, usurping Santa Claus, seems to be a play on Saint Nicholas, of whom the figure of Santa Claus originated, the inversion being Nick is himself no saint.
  • It might also reference "Old Nick", a historical nickname for Satan.
• Noodle Incident: Santa is using a new cyber system to deliver presents this year after all the reindeer catch the flu.
• Not So Above It All: To prove he's the real deal, Santa reminds Kaitlin that (for all her criticism of Danny's behavior) she cheated on a spelling test.
• Oh, Crap!: Santa upon learning that Nick has his sleigh.
• Properly Paranoid: Nick claims he dropped by just to be with his favorite nephews and niece. John is openly skeptical about this.
• Saving Christmas: After Santa gets knocked out, Danny and Nick take it upon themselves to finish his deliveries...although Nick has other plans.
• Shadow Archetype:
  • Nick to Danny. Both pull assorted scams and are perceived as bad influences to younger relatives, but Danny sees his hustling antics as harmless fun and genuinely wants to save Christmas. Nick (while having some standards deep down) engages in outright criminal activity and makes things worse while trying to enrich himself. John is openly worried about Danny ending up like Nick, to the point of not wanting them alone unsupervised. Even Santa (despite having put Danny on the naughty list) notes there's still a big difference between nephew and uncle.
    Santa: I mean, Danny... why-why, he's a little naughty from time to time, but Nick Wrigly is incorrigible!
  • John represents what Peter could become. Both are little brothers, but whereas Peter continually idolizes Danny no matter what, John has long since given up seeing any good in Nick. Nick's lifetime of performing scams has made John not want anything to do with him if he can help it.
• Shout-Out: Nick tells Danny that landing the sleigh is "not like Splash Mountain."
• Subbing for Santa: Nick does a criminal inversion of this.
• Time-Freeze Trolling Spree: Nick uses Santa's time-freezing power to steal from wealthy families.
• Time Stands Still: The explanation how Santa is able to deliver all the presents in one night.