Dexter vs. Santa's Claws (Dexter's Laboratory)

Dexter vs. Santa's Claws
The late 90s equivalent to "The True Meaning of Christmas" episode of Teen Titans Go!.
Series: Dexter's Laboratory Part of Season: 2 Episode Number: 37 Air Date: April 29, 1998 Writer: Jason Rote Director: Rumen Petkov Genndy Tartakovsky Previous episode: Dexter & Computress Get Mandark! Next episode: Dyno-might

Dexter vs. Santa's Claws is the Christmas episode of Dexter's Laboratory and is the thirty-seventh episode overall. In this episode, Dexter tries to convince Dee Dee that Santa Claus doesn't exist.

Summary

Dexter wants to prove to Dee Dee that Santa Claus doesn't exist, so he sets up a monitoring system on the roof. A man in red finally shows up and when he enters the living room, Dexter tries to take a picture to prove that it's just his Dad in a Santa costume. When Santa resists, Dexter decides that more drastic measures must be taken, taking the chase from the bedroom to the rooftop to the skies.

Why It Doesn't Deserve Presents

1. Just like Babysitter Blues, Dexter is very out-of-character here as he tortures Santa Claws to prove to Dee Dee that he isn't real because he is supposed to be a super boy genius.
2. Despite being a super genius, Dexter somehow thinks that the reindeer is his mom in a costume, Santa Claws is his dad and Santa’s sleigh is a minivan (even though it’s flying in the sky).
3. For some reason, Santa just says "Ho, Ho, Ho" throughout the episode, and nothing else, as if it were his language, until the end of the episode where he says Christmas is about presents.
4. Just like the episode from Teen Titans Go! "The True Meaning of Christmas", the episode states that Christmas isn't about family, love, giving, being kind to everyone, joy, or sharing. It states that it's all about the presents, which is not what Christmas is all about. Not to mention, this statement can make anybody just as selfish and spoiled as possible.
   • Not only that but it's also an illogical and immoral statement of Christmas being about presents being taken as a life lesson rather than being thought into being made as a simple joke. The logic of that makes sense in South Park as the way South Park says it, it's not meant to be taken seriously as this statement was taken for satire. But here, this doesn't come off as satirical, it comes off as sadistic.
5. The episode was aired on April 29, 1998, which is way too very, VERY early to air a Christmas special and it aired in Spring instead of Winter. How can you air it this early at this time? Luckily the reruns fixed the date.
   • On top of that, it was rushed in April rather than December because Easter falls in this month. Talk about poor scheduling.
6. Misleading Title: Despite the title being called Dexter vs. Santa's Claws, Santa doesn't have claws in the episode. The most he did to defend himself was to sacrifice some gifts to explode with Dexter's launched rockets.
7. The scene where Dexter rips off the reindeer's antlers is very mean-spirited, not to mention very painful and disturbing to look at.
8. Unlike "Babysitter Blues", Dexter doesn't get his comeuppance for all the problems he caused.
9. Bad Ending: Dexter destroys the house and ruins Christmas for everyone. He apologizes for the incident and tries to cover it up with him saying what Christmas is truly about, but gets chewed out for the message about Christmas being about love and sharing by Dee Dee.

Qualities That Deserve Presents

1. Dee Dee and The Parents are all likable.
2. Dexter's rap music is very catchy.
3. Santa speaking in "ho-ho-ho" language may be somewhat funny.
4. As mentioned before, the reruns of the episode, aired during the Christmas season.
5. Despite the episode conveying a bad lesson where Christmas is all about the presents, it is not the main focus of the entire episode, unlike a certain Christmas episode, as it is only brought up in the ending.
6. Despite his idiocy, Dexter is sorta right when he says that Christmas is about love, family, and sharing (and not about presents, as Dee Dee thinks it is) - so at least he knows about the true meaning of Christmas. Still this does not excuse what he did in this episode.

Reception

This episode received negative feedback and backlash from fans and was regarded as one of the worst episodes made in the series along with "Dexter's Detention", "Jeepers Creepers Where Is Peepers?", and "Sore Eyes". WatchMojo, however, puts this episode in their number 10 spot for best CN Christmas Specials.