"The Gift" is an episode of Wander Over Yonder.
Plot[]
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 on 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 and the first series 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!", in the UK, this was replaced with Bucks Fizz performing their 1981 hit "The Land of Make-Believe" live
Cast[]
- Jack McBrayer as Wander
- April Winchell as Sylvia
- John Hodgman as Lord of Illumination
- Keith Ferguson as Lord Hater, Cashier
- Tom Kenny as Commander Peepers
Goofs[]
- 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.
Trivia[]
- 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 a different point of view.
- 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.
- Remixed versions of Christmas carols play throughout the episode, including "Jingle Bells", "Joy to the World", "The Twelve Days of Christmas", "Deck The Halls", and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".
- Wander gives gifts to most of the characters from the past season, including
- There are a few 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.
- 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).
- A few scenes in this episode are played differently than its 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.
- 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.
- 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".
- Wander suspects giving Hater a gift will cause his heart to grow three sizes, a rather obvious reference to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The village at the end of the episode is also similar to how Whoville appears in the TV special.
Gallery[]
