The Gift 2: The Giftening

When mysterious gifts begin appearing on Lord Hater's ship due to the courtesy of Wander, the Watchdogs end up turning into happy, gift-loving zombies. Lord Hater has to avoid the gift spree and find a way to escape before he ends up becoming zombified as well.

Episode Summary
The episode begins with a pair of Watchdogs piloting Lord Hater's ship, and accidentally running the thunder-like thing on top through the floor of another ship. They decide to move backwards and leave, but then crash with another, bigger spaceship.

It's then revealed that this is Lord Hater showing an audience about the recent mistakes made by the two watchdogs. He then continues to the next mistakes, which include: crashing into a dead-end and allowing the guy they were chasing to flee, let a wizard and two robots continue on their path, failing to destroy a planet with two lasers, and one of them putting a Wander picture on their wall. Once the lights turn on, it turns out that the only Watchdog in the room is Commander Peepers, who says that the Watchdogs went to the wrong conference room.

Lord Hater, furious, punishes most of them until he sees one of them staring at a wall. After unsuccessfully trying to get his attention, Peepers turns him around to reveal his single eye has turned heart-shaped and he's holding a gift box. After the sight, the Watchdog is taking into a quarantine room and Peepers investigates him, soon discovering a shocking reveal: he's happy.

Lord Hater and Peepers watch some security camera footage to see, but it's far too fast for them to see who it is. When slowed down, Wander is revealed to be the one delivering the gifts, so Peepers assembles a team with Teddy and Pete to go catch him.

However, the two get their gifts, and Wander then tries to give Peepers his gift, only for the Watchdog to run for help. Peepers is caught and Wander, seeing that Lord Hater is the only one without a gift, gets out a gift. Hater promptly screams shortly afterwards and shuts the door.

Hater soon finds Sylvia in the room with him, and he goes to a small escape pod shaped like a miniature version of his ship. For every planet he goes to, Wander and Sylvia are already there to deliver his gift. He finally arrives on an ice planet and hides inside a cottage. He soon attacks a snowflake when he believes Wander and Sylvia are there, but he soon calms down and sees what it is.

After a short while, Wander and Sylvia burst through the chimney and are ready to give Lord Hater his gift. However, the Watchdogs, now back to normal, arrive and tie the duo up while they secure Lord Hater, giving him a blanket and some hot cocoa. They explain that they were overjoyed about getting their gifts and that it was the least they could do. Lord Hater compliments them shortly afterwards.

However, he sees a gift on the floor and walks to it, opening and finding a note from Wander saying "You're Welcome. ♥ Wander" inside. Lord Hater screams "NOOOOOO!!" as Wander and Sylvia leave the planet, ending the episode.

Songs

 * "Commander Peepers' Theme" (instrumental)

End Credits
Lord Hater crazily attempts to escape Wander, but gets caught in a traffic jam.

Background Information

 * Second episode to premiere on a Saturday. ("The Party Animal")
 * Although both Wander and Sylvia appear in this episode, neither of them have any lines, except for an audible "Whoa!" when the Watchdogs tie them up.
 * The credits are completely mute, however if you turn the audio to Latin American Spanish, you can hear the audio.
 * Lord Hater has a mini ship inside his own ship.

Trivia

 * 2nd Halloween-themed episode ("The Pet").
 * Second episode to premiere on October 4th ("The Pet").
 * Third episode where a Watchdog besides Peepers is named. ("The Little Guy", "The Brainstorm")
 * This is the first episode where Wander appears but has no dialogue, and the second episode where Sylvia appears but doesn't speak as well ("The Brainstorm").
 * When this episode aired by itself, the credits were muted. However, the audio could be heard with SAP on.
 * Third episode that is from the point of view of someone other than Wander and Sylvia for the majority of the time. ("The Bounty", "The Brainstorm")
 * Second episode to begin with a fake-out opening. ("The Brainstorm").
 * Third episode where Sylvia appears but her name is not said ("The Bad Guy", "The Ball").
 * This is the second time where the title card doesn't all show up at once (It first shows "the Gift 2:" before it shows "THE GIFTENING"). ("The Epic Quest of Unfathomable Difficulty!!!")

Continuity

 * The episode is played from Wander's perspective in the prequel "The Gift", though this episode comes after it in production order. In other words, this episode takes place at the same time as "The Gift", but from Lord Hater's point of view.

Errors

 * This episode was listed as "The Gift II: the Giftening" on TV Guides when it aired by itself or with "The Void". This was fixed after "The Gift" premiered.
 * At various points in the episode, one of Peepers's legs has a blue outline instead of a black one.
 * Right before Lord Hater screams no, the pink blanket he was covered with is suddenly gone.
 * On the monitor showing the security footage of Wander giving a gift to the third Watchdog, he runs around the Watchdog, but when played in slow motion, he runs up to the Watchdog.
 * In this episode and "The Gift", the Watchdogs give Lord Hater a pink blanket and a hot chocolate to calm him down about Wander and Sylvia. He later uses this blanket in "The Funk", suggesting the latter comes after this episode. However, early in "The Gift", the Mooplexians are seen getting a gift, suggesting "The Funk" comes before this episode, creating a plot hole. However, it could be that Hater owned the blanket beforehand, and it his is "comfort blanket", seeing how he uses it in this episode and "The Funk".

Allusions

 * The title is a pun on "The Shining".
 * Droopy - The scene where Hater moves from different locations only for Wander and Sylvia to be there with Hater's present and his reactions is simular to Droopy cartoons such as "Dumb Hounded" and "Northwest Hounded Police."
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - During the montage of the various failures of two Watchdogs, one of them is how they allowed a wizard and two robots to continue on their path. This is a reference to the movie when, surrounded by sandtroopers, Obi-Wan uses the jedi mind trick so they let them go. The robots in question also look like C-3PO and R2-D2.
 * Santa Claus - When Wander and Sylvia come down the chimney, their snow coverings make them resemble this jolly figure associated with Christmas and one of his reindeer, respectively.
 * The plot of the Watchdogs becoming happy zombies borrows an element from the Jimmy Neutron episode, "One Of Us".
 * The Amazing World of Gumball - This episode is similar to the episode "The Joy". The scene where the Watchdogs are infected with joy is just like how the students of Elmore Jr. High become infected with joy.

Production Information

 * Craig McCracken confirmed there would be another Halloween and Christmas episode in Season 1.
 * He also confirmed to Suruki it would be called "The Gift II: the Giftening".
 * This is the first episode to premiere on Disney Channel first since "The Bounty".
 * This is one of the Disney Halloween special episodes that aired on October 4th as part of Disney Channel's "Monstober" programming block, along with the Gravity Falls episode "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" and the 1-hour Phineas and Ferb special "Night of the Living Pharmacists".
 * This is the first episode to air on Disney Channel with the shortened theme song and credits.
 * When this episode and "The Gift" aired in Russia, when "The Gift 2: The Giftening" ended, it simply cut to the first part of "The Gift" without any break inbetween.
 * This episode was nominated for a 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Programming.

International premieres

 * October 26, 2014 (Disney XD Brazil and Latin America)
 * December 13, 2014 (Disney Channel Japan)

Cast

 * Jack McBrayer as Wander
 * April Winchell as Sylvia
 * Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater, Pete, Watchdogs
 * Tom Kenny as Commander Peepers, Teddy Watchdogs
 * Additional voices: Fred Tatasciore, Eddie Trigueros