Review: Beebo Saves Christmas

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Beloved in-universe toy Beebo tries to save Christmas when someone decides to remove Santa from the equation.

OUR TAKE

So, this thing’s existence is pretty weird. For those not in the know, Beebo is actually a fictitious Elmo expy within the CW series “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”, part of the Arrowverse that stemmed from the 2012 Green Arrow adaptation…well, “Arrow”. I’ve kept up with all of these shows since Arrow’s first season (against the advice of my therapist), including its rare jumps into animation, which I’ve covered on this site, but not even that could prepare me for this. No, Beebo is not some obscure DC Comics character that fans were clamoring to get some screentime on one of their shows, he’s a completely original idea to Legends of Tomorrow, because Legends of Tomorrow has a reputation among the other still ongoing Arrowverse shows for being utterly bonkers (although they’ve actually gotten a bit better this season). So much so that they got a spin-off Christmas special for a recurring gag character and managed to not have any references or plugs to the show it came from, almost as if it would be an actual Beebo special the characters would watch when they’re not molesting the space time continuum.

As for how it is AS a Christmas Special? Well, it’s perfectly fine. Even though I’m Jewish myself, there are a lot of Christmas specials I remember fondly, like Olive the Other Reindeer, or the Billy and Mandy special, or Fairly Oddparents: Christmas Every Day, and so on, and it seems that the team that made this know their specials as well. Despite its incredibly niche (or possibly surprisingly broad?) appeal, I think Beebo Saves Christmas does its best to fit into the mold of holiday specials of Christmases past. It approaches the holiday from the view of someone living in the 2020’s (minus the ever encroaching death plague) and fills out its main cast with that in mind. Beebo (Ben Diskin) is the holder of Christmas spirit that infects others around him, Turbo (Yvette Nicole Brown) is the exasperated mom who wants to get everything her kids want, Tweebo (Kimiko Glen) is…basically playing her character from Close Enough, being obsessed with social media clout, and Fleabo (Keith Ferguson) is the cynic who probably can’t wait to tell people about how Christmas is a co-opted Pagan holiday. Add to that a fun take on Santa by Ernie Hudson (who at least got more to do here than in Ghostbusters Afterlife) and it’s not a bad way to spend an hour. Whether you’ve seen any Arrowverse or not, I’d say it’s worth a watch.