Alien Xmas is a 45-minute special which first released on Netflix on November 20th, 2020. Based on the 2006 book of the same name, it concerns an alien called X, who comes from a race of greedy aliens called the Klepts. When the Klepts come across Earth, X volunteers to go down to the planet to set up the Gyroton, which would remove Earth's gravity and allow the Klepts to take off with Earth's stuff. However, X ends up in Christmas Town at the North Pole, where he ends up taken in by a young elf named Holly and begins to learn the gift of giving.
Tropes in this special:
- Alien Invasion: The Klepts come to Earth to plunder the planet of its resources.
- All of the Other Reindeer: X's small size means that he isn't taken seriously by any of the other Klepts. Part of the reason he decides to go to Earth to set up the machine is that he hopes it will cause the others to respect him.
- Amazing Technicolour Population: The Klepts turn out to come in a variety of colours when they're not motivated by greed, coming in shades of pink, green, blue, and red.
- Babies Ever After: The movie ends with X being seen with a smaller Klept in his lap, which is identified as his daughter in the book.
- Badass Santa: Santa puts up a good fight during the Alien Invasion, threatening several Klepts with candy cane nunchuks.
- Berate and Switch: When Z shows up, she loudly yells X's name, and points out he deviated from the plan. She then immediately names X her second-in-command and lists his accomplishments: building the gyrotron, gaining the trust of the locals, and leading the Klepts to the best stuff they've ever seen.
- Big Ball of Violence: X manages to trick several Klepts into a big ball of violence whilst trying to flee with his stolen goods. He tries to get away from it, only to be pulled into the ball.
- Christmas Town: X ends up in a place called Christmas Town, situated in the North Pole. It resembles a typical village, complete with elves and talking snowmen, but it does have some modern touches, such as Santa introducing a modernized Super Sleigh.
- Descriptively-Named Species: As their species name suggests, the Klepts have a habit of stealing from planets.
- Framing Device: The entire movie is framed as a story that Santa is telling to a group of elf children.
- Freeze Ray: One of the technology used by the Klepts is that of a Freeze Ray, which is shown used on another Klept and an Elf.
- Greed: The Klepts represent this as a species, plundering planets for resources and only desiring for more. It's even shown that they'll steal from one another to satisfy their desires.
- The Greys: The Klepts have enormous heads with black eyes and are short and humanoid, just like the typical grey alien. They differ by normally being quite colorful, although their greediness causes them to take on the grey coloration normal to Greys.
- Greyscale of Evil: The Klepts were originally quite colorful, but become grey-coloured when they turn greedy, only reverting back to their original colours after renouncing their evil ways.
- The Film of the Book: This special is based upon the 2006 book of the same name by Stephen Chiodo and Jim Strain.
- Heel–Face Turn: X starts out planning to help rob the Earth of its resources and only acts out of greed, but time spent with Holly and being given the gift of a puppy causes him to turn a new leaf and denounce his race's ways.
- Heel–Race Turn: The Klepts start out as a race intent on plundering planets for resources. However, X, who had undergone a Heel–Face Turn earlier in the movie, gives Z a puppy, encouraging the other denizens of Christmas Town to give them stuff. This act of kindness is what causes the rest of the Klepts to turn over a new leaf and encourage them to save Christmas.
- Heroic Mime: Unlike the book, X is not shown to speak at all. The closest we get is X mimicking a doll which says “Mama!” and “Papa!”.
- One-Letter Name: The Klepts have a thing for this type of naming convention. The alien we follow is simply called X, and their leader is called Z.
- Playing Possum: When a Klept runs out of options, they usually resort to playing dead, which we see X do after he is scared by the variety of weapons that SAMTU has gotten. This actually turns out to be how he comes to meet Holly, as his fear of being seen causes him to play possum again and be mistaken for a toy by Obie.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Z, the Klept leader, notes that X is on the short side but allows him to take the mission and when the Klepts arrive, she notes that X deviated from the plan but got such great results, and promotes X to her second-in-command.
- Robot Buddy: X is given a Semi-Automatic-Multi-Tasking-Unit (or SAMTU) to assist him in his mission on Earth, a robot that proves to be rather helpful to him.
- Saving Christmas: Christmas is threatened both by a malfunctioning sleigh and by the Klepts engineering an Alien Invasion of Christmas Town. Even though said aliens pull off a Heel–Race Turn, it does leave little time to deliver gifts. Thankfully, the Klepts are able to use their spacecrafts to ensure that everyone gets the stuff they wanted for Christmas.
- Villain Protagonist: X is the main protagonist and seeks to destroy Earth's gravity so that he and his race can plunder its resources. He also has a strong kleptomaniac tendency, goofing off his mission so that he can steal from Christmas Town. Luckily, he has a Heel–Face Turn by the end.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Klepts do not have a concept or even a word for love, only feeling greed. So it's therefore a surprise to X when he feels a warm feeling whilst being hugged by Holly in bed.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Holly is rather disappointed by the fact that her father Obie is away working on Santa's malfunctioning sleigh, especially since he has to work over Christmas.
