The Fight Before Christmas (The Simpsons)

It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 5, 2010, and consists of four short dream segments that all take place during Christmas.

Bart stays up late on Christmas Eve to murder Santa Claus for not bringing him a dirt bike three Christmases ago.

He eventually falls asleep and dreams that the Polar Express, driven by Otto Mann, lands in front of the house and flies him to the North Pole.

Bart meets Santa (Krusty the Clown) only to find out that he has run out of money, since giving out presents in return for cookies every year is not a sustainable business model.

Marge quickly realizes that it is Homer and the children that make Christmas special for her, so Martha gets rid of all the decorations with a magic wand.

However, only one arrives (represented by a crude sock puppet), since the show has spent its budget on Katy Perry, who appears as herself and Moe's girlfriend.

Touched by this, Burns decides to forgive the Simpsons and allows them to enjoy their trip in Hawaii, and then everyone sings a parody of "Twelve Days of Christmas" which plays during the credits.

"The Fight Before Christmas" was written by Dan Castellaneta (who provides the voice of Homer on The Simpsons) and his wife Deb Lacusta, as part of the show's twenty-second season.

[3][4] The second segment references the plot of the film Inglourious Basterds in that Marge blows up a movie theater with Adolf Hitler and other Nazis in it.

In addition, the propaganda film that is playing in the theater features an evil version of the Disney character Dumbo flying over London and dropping bombs.

Brad Trechak of AOL TV noted that "the plot of the segment was silly and simplistic in line with the style of Sesame Street but had some real adult moments like one would see on The Muppet Show.

[5][10][12] Entertainment Weekly author Dan Snierson noted that this dress "probably wouldn’t have been Street-approved either",[5] and a writer for Metro commented that "the Simpsons' producers were certainly not worried about Katy looking too raunchy".

The Simpsons became the highest rated program in Fox's "Animation Domination" lineup that night, beating The Cleveland Show and American Dad!.

AOL TV's Brad Trechak wrote that it "showed a level of imagination that the recent Halloween episodes have been lacking" and that it "started good and got progressively better [...]".

Trechak thought Stewart "really shone in [Marge's dream], playing some sort of parody of herself crossed with Mary Poppins and Satan," and singled out the live-action sequence as his favorite because he is a fan of Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets.

[3] VanDerWerff commented that "Marge's visit from Martha Stewart was one joke stretched too far, and the final segment with the Muppet Simpsons was far too stilted.

Mediaite's Tommy Christopher wrote in a column that the episode was "capped off by a pitch-perfect parody of The Muppet Show, but veered into adult humor that would make the Muppet-inspired pottymouths of Avenue Q blush.

"[8] He commented that the part where Moe thinks he is kissing Perry's bellybutton and she tells him not to stop "has got to be a first on network television, breaking the dual taboos of oral sex and puppet-on-human conjugal bliss.