We Wish You a Turtle Christmas is a live-action Christmas special based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It is one of two Turtles musical specials produced by Christopher Films. It was released direct-to-video in 1994, and has not seen any additional releases outside of VHS.
In the special, the Turtles are in the sewers on Christmas Eve getting ready for the big day tomorrow. In the midst of their preparations, however, the four of them realize that none of them bought a gift for their Master Splinter. With only a few hours left, they head up to the streets of New York in order to find something.
The video has some ties to the Coming Out of Their Shells concert tour. The character costumes were developed by Controlled Entropy, a company that worked on the costumes from the concerts, and the costume for Splinter is the same one from that show. Additionally, Donatello's voice actor from the concerts, Eric Anzalo, reprises his role in this tape, while also providing the voices for Raphael and Splinter. Michaelangelo and Leonardo are voiced by Alfredo Miller, who appeared as a Foot soldier in the concert.
We Wish You a Turtle Christmas contains examples of the following:
- Christmas Episode: Curiously, the original cartoon never had a Christmas special, making this the closest the series would ever get to one.
- Creative Closing Credits: The end credits feature the turtles and Splinter talking about all the things they did in the special offscreen.
- Excuse Plot: The special is mostly focused on the various songs, and the turtles' venture to find a gift for Splinter serves as a framing device that ties the songs together.
- Flat Character: The individual character traits the Turtles are usually known for don't show much in this special, and all four of them have roughly the same personality.
- Informed Flaw: During the "Gotta Get a Gift" song, the Turtles turn down the idea of getting Splinter a set of golf clubs, because "Splinter's not athletic". Given that Splinter is a ninja master, golf shouldn't be too athletic for him to handle.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: As the Turtles argue over whose responsibility it was to get a gift for Splinter, Raphael comes to the conclusion that none of them actually did it.
- Lighter and Softer: This special completely omits the action and combat elements typical to the Turtles franchise, and is instead focused on singing and dancing.
- No Antagonist: No villains appear to tussle with the Turtles this time, so the conflict is entirely based around finding a gift for Splinter in time for Christmas.
- Noodle Incident: During their search for a present, Mikey gets ready to sing an opera ballad, prompting the others to express annoyance that "he's turning into that opera guy again". Any prior incidents involving Mikey turning into "that opera guy" must have happened offscreen.
- NOT!: Mikey suggests that he could sing an opera song for Splinter, but his brothers don't want to go through that again and react with "NOT!"
- Pun-Based Title: The song "Wrap Rap" is a rap song about the Turtles wrapping their presents.
- Race Lift: The turtles speak with heavy Jamaican accents in this special, particularly when singing, despite not being depicted as such in most versions.
- Recursive Canon: Among the gifts that the Turtles get for Splinter are some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books.
- The Twelve Spoofs of Christmas: After the turtles give Splinter his gifts, Splinter sings a version of the Twelve Days of Christmas about everything they gave him. The items include a pizza with pepperoni, two comic books, three skateboards, and more.
- Title Drop: The final song of the tape shares its name with the tape itself, and is a spoof of the classic "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" song.
- Trash-Can Band: On the surface, the turtles encounter a group of kids making music with various garbage, and they provide backing for their "Gotta Get a Gift" song.
