Cartoons have an interesting relationship with holiday specials. They tend to coincide with an animation and writing bump, but also have to navigate passing on those good feels without compromising their identity. Though it’s a mixed bag, today we look at three properties - Charlie Brown, Futurama, and Rugrats - to see how they handle the beast that is the Holiday Special.

Ben and Zane were due at the Hex-tech Animation Symposium in Piltover, but a wrong turn sent them to the undercity. Thankfully, a local known only as “Lucky Tim” offered to show them around. The undercity was vibrant, even if it lacked the refinement of the privileged class. All in all, a good detour, topped off with a surprise appearance of Imagine Dragons in The Last Drop.

• Best diss that will ever exist

• Get Jinxed

• Beefy Joker

• Unfortunate attempt at multiculturalism at Hogwart’s

• “Do it for her”

• Blitzcrank

• The least subtle movie in existence

The Cartoncasters were ready for Calvin & Hobbes style imagination zones. They were ready for canned 80’s sitcom laugh lines. They were even ready for flagrant Minnesota accents. But when they showed up to meet Bobby, they realized that Howie Mandell was just a step too far over the line. Never again, folks.

Let’s face it. Ben and Zane had been around the block a few times. There’s almost nothing they haven’t seen. But Alex wouldn’t take no for an answer; he assured the cartoncasters that there was some shit in the sewer they just had to check out. Turns out there’s a computer that transmits your true selves, your very souls, into a digital world where anyone inside can see who you really are. Ben and Zane politely declined - they already had a podcast.

That old Rapscallion Damn Graves hosted this year’s halloween party in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. The masks were spooky, apples were being bobbed - everyone seemed to be having a great time except for a curious pink dog in the corner who screamed with fear at every guest coming in the front door. But there was nothing to worry about, after all - they were just costumes, right? …Right?

When Gene Starwind (yes, that Gene Starwind) offered the Cartoncasters an opportunity to travel in his spaceship, they jumped at the chance. They just had to make sure to follow the rules in order to get to the Galactic Leyline. What’s that? Just a space treasure sought after by the Ctarl Ctarl empire. Who? Oh they’re just lycanthropic fanservice elementals, not unlike the secret order of assassins… Needless to say, Ben and Zane opted out and just went to hang with Fred Luo instead.

Ben and Zane were on the beat again, following up on a lead about a teenage girl who was a little more… chrome than most. They met Jenny, a new kind of robot with more different attachments and extensions than could possibly fit. Her abilities were impressive, but unfortunately her development ran out of funding before they could install that ‘interesting dueteragonist’ upgrade.

Ben and Zane were in a bind. They had to raise a lot of money to fix their microphone’s audio quality, which for some reason kept getting translated into a brooklyn accent. But the only jobs available were all related to an obscure card game with really flimsy rules and blatantly injected melodrama. It was only by wearing ridiculously stiff costumes that they were able to get the creator to listen to their plight. It sure was lucky that he had such an investment in children’s cartoons. This must be what they call the heart of the cartoons, kaiba-boy.

Ben and Zane mixed up their plane tickets and went to the fictional Dakota instead of the real one. There they met a superhero with lightning powers. Initially the Cartoncasters were beside themselves with fanboyism - they’d heard of Static’s exploits for a long time. But as time went on, the superhero descended into speaking in 90’s hip-hop slang and manifested crushing self-doubt. The Cartoncasters didn’t have the heart to tell him that they preferred Soul Power.

Ben and Zane were surveying Midland’s military campaign from the front lines. On order from Guts himself, Ulysses was given the task of teaching them what was going on and how to not get themselves killed. It turns out, the whole of the war effort against Chudor could be summed up in three simple points. One - Always keep your sword clean, and make sure it’s at least as big as you are. Two - if you have dreams, leave them behind - the battlefield is a place of harsh reality. Three - Enya.

Thanks to Ulysses for coming back on the show to discuss the massively influential 1997 anime adaptation of Berserk. Content warning: it is Berserk.

Ben and Zane were over their heads. While in the midst of an innocent-looking carnival ride, they wound up in downtown Manhattan (a totally magical realm). Luckily, a magical being of immense power, a dungeon master (some call him Tim) knew the ropes of this magical world, and was willing to share his wisdom with them. The Cartoncasters had no idea what they were getting into.

Note: Tim’s connectivity was an issue during the episode, so the audio quality is inconsistent. We apologize for the difficulty any listeners may experience.

Note II - The Revenge: This episode is broken into two parts: reminiscing about dnd, and talking about the show. We spend the first 40 minutes reminiscing, so go to 41:06 for our discussion of the show.