Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh
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Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (previously under the working title as Drake and Josh: Best Christmas Ever) is a television movie, and the first new program that came out of the Drake & Josh franchise in over a year.[1][2] Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Miranda Cosgrove, Nancy Sullivan and Jonathan Goldstein reprise their roles as Drake Parker, Josh Nichols, Megan Parker, Audrey Parker, and Walter Nichols respectively; with several recurring characters from the TV series also reappearing.
The film premiered on December 5, 2008 as a Nickelodeon Original Movie.[3] It was the third most viewed TV movie on cable behind High School Musical 2 and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, both owned by Disney Channel. [citation needed]
The film was made fifteen months after the end of the original Drake & Josh series.
Production
A brand new Drake & Josh TV movie tentatively entitled "Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh" began production on July 7, 2008, and wrapped up production on August 15, 2008. It premiered on December 5, 2008.
Series creator Dan Schneider returned as writer and executive producer, with Lauren Levine executive producing. Michael Grossman (Zoey 101) directed the feature.
Unlike the earlier Drake & Josh film, Drake & Josh Go Hollywood, this film was presented in High Definition.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (October 2010) |
The film starts off with Walter (Jonathan Goldstein) and Audrey (Nancy Sullivan) as they leave for a tropical vacation. Drake (Drake Bell) and Megan (Miranda Cosgrove) return home and Josh (Josh Peck) shows them his snowman air balloon decoration. Megan cuts the string, making the snowman glide away leading to Josh running after it. The scene shifts to Drake and Josh going to the Premiere. Drake tells Josh that he will be throwing a Christmas party on the roof of the Premiere, which Josh doesn't approve of at first because he isn't sure that Helen (Yvette Nicole Brown) would allow it. Drake tells him that he has already talked to Helen about it and that its alright as long as she is invited (and if there's churros).
Helen hands Drake a Santa Costume to wear in the mall. Josh is upset because Helen told him that he couldn't be Santa (since he lost weight over the years). Meanwhile Audrey and Walter make it to their island, which turns out to be a disaster. Back at the mall, Drake makes out with a teenage girl. Josh is annoyed and yells at them both which leads to the girl leaving. One of the other people, which happens be to an overweight woman, waiting in line for Santa wants a kiss from Drake, starts chasing him until she gets one. He hides and he meets a little girl named Mary Alice Johansson (Bailee Madison). She says she and her family want the best Christmas ever. He made a Christmas promise he will do so; but it is said in the film that "you can't break a Christmas promise", and Drake doesn't realize he will have to give her family the "best Christmas ever".
Next they're at Drake's Christmas party on the roof of the Premiere at the party, Mindy (Allison Scagliotti) has to leave to go and visit her grandparent's leaving Josh upset. Crazy Steve (Jerry Trainor) shows up in front of Drake and Josh, and shows them a wood chipper called Sally on his cell phone. Craig (Alec Medlock) and Eric (Scott Halberstadt) come and tell Drake that the last song was great and he should perform it in the Christmas parade, but Drake says that he is going to Las Vegas for Christmas to hear a band play, and Josh gets upset. Later on, a few party crashers come to the party, wrecking the tables and food bowls. When Josh calls the police, they inadvertently mistake him for one of the party crashers and arrest him. Not watching Drake, Josh falls off the roof and lands in the back of a pickup truck. The truck drivers drive off with the cops on their tail (in the truck, the Miranda Cosgrove song Christmas Wrapping plays).
When the truck drivers drive around an intersection, Josh flies out, making the cops grab him. After Josh is arrested and sent to jail, he meets his prison roommate, Bludge (Kimbo Slice). At first, Bludge tries to beat him up, until Josh entertains Bludge with magic tricks. This makes Bludge change his mind about Josh. However, he says he claims he has to beat him up, so he can protect his reputation in jail. Bludge and Josh bang on the walls with Josh pretending to shout in pain, to get others to believe Josh is getting beat up.
Mary Alice brings up a story of how she has a sick foster mom and a busy foster dad, Once she finishes her story. Drake knowing he has to fulfill that promise, attempts to break Josh out to help him. But Drake is caught immediately after, landing both Drake and Josh in trouble. Drake and Josh are sent to court. Helen comes in as their lawyer. Helen tells Judge Newman (Henry Winkler) that Drake has made a promise to Mary Alice that he'd give her the best Christmas ever. Then the judge says that he won't send them to jail as long as they fulfill that promise.
They meet the cruel and embittered Officer Perry Gilbert (David Pressman), who says that he will take a vote from Mary Alice's family on Christmas asking them if they had the best Christmas ever. If one of them says no they must go to jail for a long time. The duo soon meet Mary Alice's foster family, which include Lily and Violet (Camille and Cosette Goldstein), two consist pounding-on-each-other twins, Zigfee (David Gore) a foreign guy who speaks an unknown language, Trey (Daven Wilson),a know-it-all, and Luke (Devon Graye) a grumpy teenager who is often lonely. They find many ways to give Mary Alice's family the best Christmas ever, but their attempts are foiled by much interference from Officer Gilbert. Drake and Josh confront their sister, Megan, asking her to sabotage Officer Gilbert's doings by bribing her with a rare vintage oboe. However, after hearing that the oboe does not exist, Megan gives up her promise to Drake and Josh.
Josh goes to visit Officer Gilbert's mother and claims he must hate him and Drake somehow for making his life miserable. His mother remarks Officer Gilbert does not hate them; he hates Christmas. Then, she tells Josh how Officer Gilbert always wanted a pet chimpanzee for Christmas when he was eight, how on Christmas morning, in a cage, a monkey is sitting there right by the tree, how the monkey goes berserk after he lets the monkey out, how it attacks him, smashes the presents, knocks down the tree, destroying the ornaments, and pees on him, and how he has hated Christmas ever since. Drake and Josh realize since Christmas was ruined for him, he wants to ruin it for everyone else.
At the Christmas parade, Officer Gilbert tricks Crazy Steve (who arrives in a DeLorean with the license plate CRAZY 1) into "reminding" the two in front of Mary Alice that they were only being kind to her so that they wouldn't go to prison. Mary Alice and her family leave and threaten to vote "no" when the courthouse asks them to vote, thinking jail as punishment for Drake and Josh for tricking the family. Crazy Steve then left in his DeLorean, and as he did, his licence plate fell off and spun around before falling down flat on the road, which was a reference to the movie Back to the Future.
So the duo sends Officer Gilbert a sweet baby chimpanzee as a Christmas present, completely changing him in personality. They try to use Crazy Steve's wood chipper, Sally, to make it snow in front of Mary Alice's house. The wood chipper shoots large chunks of ice through the neighborhood where Mary Alice lives and causes more trouble as it destroys everything and nearly kills Mary Alice and her family. During the disaster, Drake manages to carry Mary Alice out of the way of the flying ice chunks and puts her safely behind a nearby car before returning to help his brother turn off the out-of-control wood chipper.The chipper knocks out Drake and Josh and the now-kind Officer Gilbert and other officers take them home. The next morning, Officer Gilbert explained to Mary Alice and her family what really happened, and that Drake and Josh weren't really trying to use them to stay out of prison.
They have Officer Gilbert and other officers "arrest" them and bring them to the living room, where Mary Alice's family and other people surprised them. They then have the vote on whether they all had the best Christmas ever or not, and everyone votes "yes". Josh's former cell mate Bludge comes dressed as Santa Claus to deliver gifts to Mary Alice's family, including a Smith Royal oboe for Megan. Then Mindy arrives too. Crazy Steve gets "Sally" to make snow by using 7 thousand pounds of "hard cheese" and Mary Alice and her family and all the other people enjoyed it. Drake and Josh's parents then arrive home from their troubled vacation at their "bungalow", which blew away in a tropical storm. As everybody plays in the "cheese snow", the film ends with the camera backing up and entire scenery becomes a snowglobe showing the words "The End" in the candy cane version.
Main/Recurring Cast of Merry Christmas Drake and Josh
From the original series
The show's vast majority of recurring characters returned for the special, all played by their original actors.
| Character | Actor/Actress |
|---|---|
| Drake Parker | Drake Bell |
| Josh Nichols | Josh Peck |
| Megan Parker | Miranda Cosgrove |
| Audrey Parker | Nancy Sullivan |
| Walter Nichols | Jonathan Goldstein |
| Mindy Crenshaw | Allison Scagliotti |
| Eric Blonnowitz | Scott Halberstadt |
| Craig Ramirez | Alec Medlock |
| Helen | Yvette Nicole Brown |
| Crazy Steve | Jerry Trainor |
Movie only
| Character | Actor/Actress |
|---|---|
| Mary Alice Johansson | Bailee Madison |
| Luke | Devon Graye |
| Lily | Cosette Goldstein |
| Violet | Camille Goldstein |
| Trey | John Lipari |
| Zigfee | Joseph Lipari |
| Officer Perry J. Gilbert | David Pressman |
| Judge Newman | Henry Winkler |
| Bludge | Kimbo Slice |
Special Appearances By
| Character | Actor/Actress |
|---|---|
| Gavin | Jake Farrow |
| Mrs. Hayfer | Julia Duffy |
| Bludge Claus | Kimbo Slice |
| Crazy Steve | Jerry Trainor |
| Audrey Parker | Nancy Sullivan |
| Walter Nichols | Jonathan Goldstein |
| Mindy Crenshaw | Allison Scagliotti |
Music
The opening theme for the movie entitled "Christmas Promise" was composed and performed by Drake & Josh series composer Backhouse Mike. Miranda Cosgrove did a cover of "Christmas Wrapping", and the song became the single of the movie, but no soundtrack was released. Drake Bell made a music video for his cover of "Jingle Bells" which promoted the movie and can be seen on the DVD.
Nielsen ratings
The premiere of Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh broke the record of most viewers for the premiere of a Nickelodeon Movie with 8.09 million viewers,[4] a title previously held by iGo to Japan.
| Nickelodeon | Date & Time (Eastern) | Viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Showing | December 5, 2008 at 8pm | 8.09 |
| 2nd Showing | December 6, 2008 at 11am | 4.76 |
| 3rd Showing | December 6, 2008 at 7pm | 4.15 |
| 4th Showing | December 7, 2008 at 7pm | 4.31 |
| 5th Showing | December 12, 2008 at 4pm | 4.30 |
| 6th Showing | December 12, 2008 at 7pm | 5.50 |
| 7th Showing | December 13, 2008 at 7pm | 4.19 |
| 8th Showing | December 14, 2008 at 4pm | 5.42 |
| 9th Showing | December 15, 2008 at 7pm | 2.73 |
| 10th Showing | December 20, 2008 at 7pm | 3.24 |
| 11th Showing | December 22, 2008 at 5pm | 3.94 |
| 12th Showing | December 23, 2008 at 7pm | 5.67 |
| 13th Showing | December 24, 2008 at 3pm | 6.47 |
| 14th Showing | December 25, 2008 at 2pm | 8.97 |
| 15th Showing | December 25, 2008 at 4pm | 1.97 |
| 16th Showing | December 25, 2008 at 7pm | 10.97 |
| 17th Showing | December 26, 2008 at 3pm | 5.19 |
| 18th Showing | December 27, 2008 at 7pm | 2.93 |
| 19th Showing | December 28, 2008 at 7pm | 1.19 |
| 20th Showing | November 29, 2009 at 7pm | 9.07 |
| 21st Showing | December 4, 2009 at 8pm | 11.12 |
| 22nd Showing | December 24, 2009 at 8pm | 9.29 |
| 23rd Showing | December 25, 2009 at 8pm | 9.97 |
References
- ^ "Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
- ^ The Telegraph
- ^ "Drake and Josh returning to TV in December 2008 on Nickelodeon". mollyandjake.com. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
- ^ TVbytheNumbers.com