The Gift (Wander Over Yonder)

It's a special holiday time of year, and Wander and Sylvia deliver presents to everyone they've met the past season. However, it later gets shook up when Wander decides to sneak onto Lord Hater's ship and give some to he and the Watchdogs as well, hoping to spread happiness to an evildoer's army.

Episode Summary
On a wintry planet, Sylvia is taking a nap, when a box wrapped in a red bow gets her attention. Wander pops out of the box in excitement about "today". Sylvia joins the excitement. Wander explains to her that once every 365 Yuletidian cycles, a cluster of interstellar temporal neutrinos collides with a passing dimensional space vortex, resulting in a massive chronal jet stream, and they use it to travel through the universe in one day by delivering presents to everyone they've met the past season, of their lives.

After delivering presents to practically every incidental character introduced on the show, Sylvia is relieved that their work is done, but Wander then points out they need to deliver gifts to the Watchdogs and Lord Hater, much to Sylvia's annoyance. As they walk onto Hater's ship, Wander tells her that if Hater gets a present, his heart might grow three sizes and he'll be able to spread cheer throughout the galaxy. He also shares with her a Slarnian greeting in a rather unintelligible gibberish, which roughly translates to: "A little nice makes naughty think twice".

The two arrive just in time to see Hater complain to his empty conference room about his army's incompetence. Wander directs a lost Watchdog named Tim to the wrong conference room, and then sneaks a present to him, telling him to read a tag. When he does so, Tim's eyeball becomes a red heart and starts moaning, "Happy..."

After Sylvia reluctantly agrees with Wander's plan and also giving him the gibberish, the two set out delivering presents to the Watchdogs, one by one, causing them to fall prone to them. Meanwhile, Hater and Peepers have already noticed what happened to Tim, the latter pointing out the gift made him happy. As they talk, Wander and Sylvia toss presents to the Watchdogs from the vents, making them happy too. Hater and Peepers see this and run into a room, and Hater announces they need to stop Wander and Sylvia. An alarm starts to go off, and Wander orders Sylvia to find and secure Hater while he takes care of the Watchdogs.

Not very far, Peepers and two other Watchdogs, Pete and Teddy, have already split up. Wander manages to give a diamond ring to Teddy, but while giving Pete's gift, he leaves the ribbon undone, so he fixes it before Pete opens it and gains tap shoes. Immediately though, Peepers comes upon the action and Wander presents his gift, causing him to run away. As he bangs on the door to where Hater is hiding, Wander is shocked he'll ruin the surprise, and quickly tosses the gift to him.

Hater, who is still hiding, ends up backing into Sylvia, who has somewhat joined him. After he runs away screaming, Wander frantically tells Sylvia that Hater is leaving and if he doesn't get his gift, he won't be able to spread cheer, so they have to go after him. As they chase after Hater, Sylvia utters, "I hate today."

They reach a log cabin back on the snowy planet from the beginning of the episode, just as Hater locked himself in. Wander however, manages to get Sylvia and himself inside by stuffing themselves down the chimney. As they start to approach Hater, Sylvia thinks he doesn't want a gift, but Wander points out he's just being polite. A bunch of Watchdogs trap them in a rope at the last second though, and as Hater congratulates them, Wander and Sylvia escape the trap and Wander leaves Hater's present in place.

As the two float away, Sylvia wonders how the Watchdogs could be so awesome, and Wander points out that this was because he printed the words "From Lord Hater" on the other side of the tags the gifts had, so they did something right for him as he wanted. Wander points out that Hater is realizing this now, and hears him scream "NO!" from the cabin. Seconds later, Sylvia suddenly realizes something, and they hear Hater shout "YES!" in turn, followed by him popping their orbble.

As the Watchdogs march past Wander and Sylvia, Hater thanks them for the gift, which he will now use them to conquer the universe, starting with a village decorated for Christmas. Wander tears up, sad that his plan has failed, but Sylvia cheers him up by telling him that she has the perfect gift for him. She cues something, which surprises Wander but shocks Hater.

In the village, the Watchdogs are suddenly getting into the holiday spirit by helping various ornament citizens decorate and give presents. Hater tries to stop this by destroying all the decorations, but the ornaments gather around him and bury him from site. Wander tells Sylvia he knew that being kind to others makes them kind back, and they exchange the alien gibberish in turn.

The final scene of the episode has Wander and Sylvia floating towards a star in the night sky.

End Credits
Hater is still trapped under the dog-pile of ornament-shaped creatures. At one point, he asks them to "stop touching my butt!"

Background Information

 * First time Emperor Awesome is seen with his shirt off. He has an "A" on his chest which is possibly a tattoo.
 * Also the first episode where he appears but does not speak.
 * Fourth wall breaks:
 * Wander mentions the comet that allows them to deliver gifts in one single day will allow them to visit everyone they've met the past season.
 * Wander points over at the cabin to cue Lord Hater's "NO!".
 * Wander and Sylvia smile at the camera as it tilts up into the sky as the episode ends.
 * Strangely, in Latin America (and possibly Brazil), this episode aired after Christmas.
 * From this episode, Lord Hater's reputation is ruined (as the Watchdogs give gifts to villagers, and they claim that Lord Hater is the one to give the gifts), and this continues during the Season 2' opener (The Greater Hater).

Trivia

 * Second Christmas-themed episode, but the first to actually take place around the holiday season . ("The Little Guy")
 * Second appearance of the Lord of Illumination. ("The Box")
 * Fourth appearance of Emperor Awesome. ("The Picnic", "The Fancy Party", "The Party Animal")
 * Also the third appearance of the Fist Fighters ("The Picnic", "The Party Animal").
 * Third special with no songs in it ("The Gift 2: The Giftening", "The Rider").
 * Second appearance of Destructor along with his sock. ("The Epic Quest of Unfathomable Difficulty!!!")
 * First potential fourth wall break of the show. ("Giving gifts to everyone we've met over the past season! OF OUR LIVES!")
 * Wander pulls out a list of the Watchdogs' names. The names listed are all part of the crew that worked on Season 1 of Wander Over Yonder.
 * The episodes without showing a character getting a present are The Pet, The Prisoner, The Hat, The Day, The Night, The Brainstorm, The Void, The Date, and The Enemies.
 * Second episode where the title card is glowing ("The Stray").
 * Wander points out that the comet comes once every 365 Yuletidian cycles. The average length of a single year is 365 days (one extra day is added every leap year).
 * This episode introduces another addition to the show's alien dialect. Multiple times, Wander and Sylvia voice an unintelligible grumbling gibberish, which translates to "A little nice makes naughty think twice".
 * A few scenes in this episode are played differently than It's predecessor, despite the fact that they're supposed to happen at the same time:
 * When Wander and Sylvia see Hater chiding the empty conference room, He is in the middle of the room, and ends his rant with his fists lifted and shouting to the ceiling. However, in "The Giftening", he says the rant while walking back to the middle, and he ends it while looking directly at the seats.
 * When Hater and Peepers find Tim and wonder what the present is, they are separated, and then Hater is pushing Peepers forward in case something happens. In "The Giftening", Hater first pushes Peepers in front of him if anything happens before asking what is it.
 * In "The Giftening" Lord Hater and Peepers lean forward a bit before Tim moves and scares them. In this episode, they don't lean forward.
 * After the Watchdogs apprehend Wander and Sylvia, the Watchdog saying "Bone Daddy is in the nest! Bone Daddy is in the nest!" and the Watchdogs readying their blasters is not seen.
 * After Tim scares Peepers and Hater, Peepers remarks that it has made him happy, which contradicts what he said before that he didn't knew what was wrong with him. This gives another error as well: in "The Giftening", Peepers has to test Tim first before coming to the conclusion that he's happy. Also, Hater says shortly afterwards that "The Watchdogs have never been happy before!", with the exchange of "Happy?" "Happy." cut.
 * When Hater and Peepers share their exchange over Tim being happy, they are in the conference room, but in "The Giftening", they are outside the sick bay.
 * Hater and Peepers freak out and run for their lives the instant they see the joy-ified Watchdogs waiting outside. In "The Giftening", Hater and Peepers take a few steps without getting their attention before panicking.
 * When Peepers, Pete and Teddy separate, it immediately cuts to Pete and Teddy talking, with the part with them running towards the camera removed.
 * Pete tells the Joy-ified Teddy that her girl will love the present and slowly walks away while crying, tumbling on his gift and then getting up and seeing it unwrap itself, looking inside and saying "my dream" in The Giftening. In The Gift, Pete tells Teddy the same without walking backwards nor crying, and he is already looking at the present when Wander wraps it. Pete is also dancing, when he's not supposed to do it until Peepers arrives.
 * When Peepers says that Pete has succumbed to the dance, he look like he's panicking when in The Giftening he remained still as he said so. Also, when he turns to see Wander, he has a shocked look and Wander also has a wide-eyed look, but in The Giftening, Peepers frowns until he turns to see Wander, who is also frowning.
 * In "The Giftening", Hater opens the door, sees Peepers with his gift and then sees Wander taking out a gift for Hater, who screams and shuts the door. In The Gift, this scene skips to when Hater walks backwards until he hits Sylvia.
 * When Hater backs into Sylvia, she says "Boo". In "The Giftening", she just snorts.
 * When Hater reaches the snow planet, he is screaming when he enters the cabin and blocks the door. In "The Giftening", he isn't screaming, and the scene where he barricades the door is removed.
 * When Wander and Sylvia are going to give Hater his present, they do a brief argument as they walk towards him. They don't talk in "The Giftening".
 * In "The Giftening" the chase between Wander and Peepers is shown while in "The Gift" this scene were dropped, However it is proven to this episode that Wander tossed the gift to Peepers making to its Interquel to be skipped to the part when Peepers is joy-ified.
 * It is likely that this was done to make room for the extra scenes taking place after "The Giftening's" events.

Continuity

 * Essentially, this is the episode "The Gift 2: The Giftening" from Wander's point of view. However, both episodes take place at more or less the exact same time, just with different point of views.
 * Wander gives gifts to most of the characters from the past season, including, in order of appearance:
 * The Rock Lady, the red and blue ants, and the Balloon Guy from "The Fugitives"
 * Princess Demurra and King Draykor, who also appear to already have a family of their own, from "The Hero"
 * The Binglebops from "The Greatest"
 * The Lords of Illumination from "The Box"
 * Buster from "The Ball"
 * Emperor Awesome and the Fist Fighters, first introduced in "The Picnic"
 * The birds from "The Liar"
 * The Mooplexians from "The Funk"
 * Westley from "The Little Guy"
 * Huckleberry Knucklehead and his parents from "The Toddler"
 * Trudi Traveler and her clones from "The Tourist"
 * Destructor and his sock from "The Epic Quest of Unfathomable Difficulty!!!"
 * Fleeblebort, Marsha, the rabbit and the feuding families also from "The Good Deed"
 * The Cashier from "The Nice Guy"
 * Beeza also from "The Ball"
 * The baby from "The Egg"
 * Sir Brad Starlight, first introduced in "The Hero"
 * Little Bits from "The Stray"
 * Thrax and the thugs from "The Buddies"
 * A Doom Dragon first introduced in "The Egg"
 * Harvax from "The Time Bomb"
 * Planet Janet from "The Lonely Planet"
 * Rongruffle from "The Bounty"
 * One of the villagers from "The Helper"
 * The Troll from the episode of the same name
 * The Hufflerumples from "The Good Deed"
 * The Pit Monster from "The Birthday Boy"
 * Badlands Dan from "The Bad Guy"
 * Prince Cashmere from "The Troll"
 * The Evil Sandwich from "The Fancy Party"
 * General Outrage from "The Big Job"
 * Killbot 86 from "The Bounty"
 * Clipper from "The Big Job"
 * Oink from "The Bad Guy"
 * Stok from "The Time Bomb"
 * The Potted Plant from "The Bounty"
 * Rider from "The Rider"

Errors

 * In this episode and "The Gift 2: The Giftening", 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 episode, 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".
 * It was clear Wander already knew the Mooplexians, the ones who didn´t were Peepers and Hater.
 * At some points, Wander's small hairs on his head are not drawn and his third hair strand is missing.
 * During the time when Wander and Sylvia leave the snow planet, Wander's hat suddenly duplicated making the other hat is fully loaded of gifts and not being carried by either of them.
 * When Wander gives the Cashier his from "The Nice Guy" the lid outline is missing.
 * After the shot of Sylvia wearing sleigh bells and reindeer antlers, we see a shot of she and Wander flying through space before it cuts to Trudi and a clone getting presents. If examined closely, Wander's hat is missing, and Sylvia is not wearing the antlers and bells. They reappear shortly afterward.
 * When Wander and Sylvia fly over Fleeblebort, Marsha, the starving rabbit and the feuding families to give them their gifts, Sylvia's arms and legs do not have sleigh bells.
 * Several watchdogs are missing from Wander's list.

Allusions

 * The events in this episode, mostly the decorations, present giving are heavily based on and obviously point out it's Christmas, but it is never referred to by name throughout the episode.
 * How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - Wander suspects giving Hater a gift will cause his heart to grow three sizes, a rather obvious reference to this Dr. Seuss book and the Chuck Jones Christmas special. The village at the end of the episode is also similar to how Whoville appears in the TV special.
 * The Living Nativity - The final shot of the episode, which shows a big star as Wander and Sylvia float towards it, references the star that shines over the stable where Baby Jesus was born.
 * Remixed versions of Christmas carols play throughout the episode:
 * "Jingle Bells" - Plays when Wander greets Sylvia, and again when Pete and Teddy are talking.
 * "Joy to the World" - Plays while Wander and Sylvia are delivering gifts.
 * "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - Plays when Wander and Sylvia enter Lord Hater's ship, before Wander gives Tim a present, and when he and Sylvia discuss outside the conference room.
 * "Deck The Halls" - Plays while Wander gives gifts to the Watchdogs.
 * "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - Plays when Wander and Sylvia leave the cabin and during the animatic.
 * Finding Nemo - The superhighway used by Wander and Sylvia in transportation to send gifts is similar to the Eastern Australian Current that appears in the movie where Marlin and Dory meet Crush and Squirt along with the sea turtles.

Production Information

 * The first images were shown in promos for "The Gift 2: The Giftening", the episode that this is paired with and takes place during.
 * This episode is a part of Season 1 but oddly airs after the season finale. This was likely unintended but required as this is a Christmas-themed episode.
 * Craig McCracken later confirmed on Twitter that The Rider is the official season finale, and The Gift simply airs last as a Christmas special.
 * However, Rider has made a brief appearance in the episode.
 * This is the last episode aired in Season 1.
 * This is the last episode to premiere in 2014.
 * This episode aired as part of Disney XD's "Holiday Log Jam".
 * Unlike most episodes, which can be seen at any point in the year, this episode, along with its partner episode, only airs during Christmastime (hence taking place during that time), making it extremely rare to watch.
 * Originally, the animatic would show Captain Tim sleeping in Lord Hater's bed, and Wander would give him a gift and kiss Lord Hater on the head. This was replaced due to being unable to shorten it to 15 seconds.
 * When this episode and "The Gift 2: The Giftening" aired in Russia, when "The Gift 2: The Giftening" ended, it simply cut to the first part of "The Gift" without any break inbetween. Sylvia's line "There's just one thing I don't get." is also cut for an unknown reason.
 * This is the final episode animated at Mercury Filmworks. From Season 2 onward, episodes are animated at Boulder Media.

International premieres

 * December 7, 2014 (Disney XD Canada)
 * December 12, 2014 (Disney XD Latin America and Brazil)
 * December 13, 2014 (Disney Channel Japan)
 * December 21, 2014 (Disney XD Spain)
 * TBA December 2014? (Disney Channel Portugal)

Cast

 * Jack McBrayer as Wander
 * April Winchell as Sylvia
 * John Hodgeman as Lord of Illumination
 * Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater, Cashier, Additional Voices
 * Tom Kenny as Commander Peepers, Additional Voices
 * Additional Voices: Fred Tatasciore, Eddie Trigueros
 * Owen Faust as Huckleberry Knucklehead (archive recording) (uncredited)