"Virtually Christmas" is the 29th episode of Season 3 (2nd chronologically) and the 145th episode of Big City Greens overall, and the second Christmas special of the show.
Synopsis
Set before the Greens' move back to the country, when Cricket gets snowed in at the Remingtons’ on Christmas Eve, he attempts to recreate the Greens' Christmas Eve traditions in a virtual reality video game but must hide the game's true nature from his family.
Plot
Prologue
It's a snowy Christmas Eve for the Greens as they're excited to continue their Green family Christmas traditions - baking cookies, finding a fruit cake, and putting the Christmas star on the tree after a brief moment of singing (That last one is a Cricket job). However, Cricket declines to continue these traditions in favor of going over to Remington Manor to play a new virtual reality game named Outpost Infinity with his best bud, Remy. After a brief period of convincing his father, Cricket is soon out the door and on his way to the Remingtons'.
He arrives to see the Remingtons set up decoration (with a few mistakes being made to their Santa and reindeer display courtesy of Vasquez). He meets with Remy and his parents and shares a hug; Rashida shows concern for Cricket's arrival despite the worsening conditions, though he doesn't show concern as he runs off with Remy to the latter's room, where Cricket experiences the eye-popping graphics of Outpost Infinity for the first time!
Act One
Cricket is entranced after viewing the opening video of Outpost Infinity, though as he and Remy traversed the game's infinite world, the drizzle turned into a blizzard and the snow began to pile up, snowing them in! Now knowing the wrong in his plan, Cricket receives a brief scolding from Bill for abandoning his family to play video games with Remy... but when push comes to shove, ideas pop into Cricket's head. Since he can't be at home physically, Cricket will perform the traditions in-game, thanks to Remy's generous gift to him of a VR headset set ("You should really lock your doors" says Vasquez). Cricket is able to convince his father and family into strapping on the headsets for the first time.
As the Greens log into the virtual world for the first time, they all express their surprise at the vastness of the land, which is indeed very vast. They're soon joined by a maxed-out Remy who has obtained all the upgrades. Bill expresses his concern about their ability to do the traditions in the game world, but Cricket shows him the ability to materialize objects out of an in-game building wheel. Soon, the others discover that they have weapons! Gramma discovers that her cane is actually a flamethrower; Nancy has an electrified spear; Tilly has literally a giant axe; and Bill has a hammer bigger than what he's used to. Bill almost catches on to the game's true genre as Remy explains to him what Outpost Infinity is actually about but is interrupted by Cricket, who claims the world is rather "peaceful". Outside the framework of the house, Cricket tells Remy to keep a lookout for threats so Bill doesn't find out what really goes on in the game.
Sometime later, the house is done!... but it's unpainted, so Cricket pulls up the wheel again to paint it to its usual colors. This is when the in-game character Mr. Extras comes into the scene and pesters the Greens to giving up money for in-game cosmetics. Cricket tries to shoot him down, but Tilly saves him before he gets wiped off the face of Outpost Infinity, offering him a lesson on the true meaning of Christmas... but to Mr. Extras, everything is money. The Greens then hear Remy screaming in the background! As Cricket puts up a masquerade, claiming it's just Remy's stomach speaking, he runs off to see Remy engaged in battle against a group of in-game mobs. However, Remy is able to dispatch of all of them as Cricket runs in. Remy has locked down the situation but as time passes the difficulty increases and reveals that Outpost Infinity is actually a defense game! Now seeing what he's gotten his family into, Cricket realizes he has to fast-track these traditions, or the fam is toast! ("Mistle-toast," according to him.)
Act Two
As the recreation of the house continues, Cricket returns so the family can enact Tradition One: Decorating cookies. ...if only they can. What would be a harmless tradition in the real world quickly turns into a quick spat between Gramma and Nancy, which also quickly puts a hamper on the deco. Cricket endeavors Bill to move on quickly to Tradition Two: finding the fruitcake.
Bill takes pride in using the invisible paint for the fruitcake as he kicks off the activity. Cricket notices that Bill is now accustomed to the virtual world as he tells his dad that VR isn't as bad as he made it out to be. As Bill helps the others find it, Cricket finds an abominable snowman mob sneaking up on Gramma; he quickly dispatches of it. A weary Remy, worn-out after a huge wave of mobs attacked, also comes into view covered in the remains of enemies (which in this Christmas patch is actually confetti and tinsel). Thing is... some got through. As Gramma teases Nancy into thinking the fruitcake is above her, melting the snow instead, she notices some of the smaller snowman mobs but has no time to react as Nancy gives her payback with a ranged attack from her spear. Nancy runs off as Cricket dispatches of the small mobs and Remy tells him to tell his family to pick up the pace, for they won't have sufficient time to complete the traditions before the mobs arrive.
With a tip from Remy, Cricket materializes a fruitcake and runs on over to Tradition Three. Before it begins Bill decides to play around with the lights on the tree (it lands on multicolor as Cricket pushes him away) Mr. Extras decides to advertise some Christmas armaments as Cricket tackles him to the ground; Tilly notices this and has a quick chat with Mr. Extras which ends with the two of them parting with each other; as Mr. Extras leaves the house, a big big BIG abominable snowman mob pops on over the hill overlooking the house, ready to destroy! Back inside, the Greens are ready for Tradition Three! Bill expresses his amazement that they were all able to recreate their traditions in-game as they begin to sing; Cricket is misty that he's actually pulled this off, admitting that the traditions are starting to grow on him!
As he starts to put the star on the tree, Remy alerts the family to "a Christmas CATASTROPHE!!!!!" Hearing this, the jig is up... Cricket breaks the news that Outpost Infinity isn't a "peaceful" game by any means... as the aforementioned abominable snowman mob starts to tear the house apart!
Act Three
The Greens are terrified by the sight! They take cover as Remy holds off the large wave of mobs. A disappointed Bill confronts his son, telling him that the real reality is that Cricket actually didn't want to do these traditions, thus he ran off. Fed up, Bill offers himself to the snowman, but Cricket saves him in the nick of time and apologizes, now realizing that bailing on his family was selfish and while he was getting bored by doing traditions every year, said traditions wouldn't be the same without family; and if it comes down to destroying a group of mobs to celebrate, he'll do it to the end of the day. He rallies the family into fighting and join the battle outside, where they initially gain the upper hand, but soon find themselves at a disadvantage. The snowman advances toward the house!
However, enter Mr. Extras, who offers them a candy-cane cannon (one-shot per cooldown); a desperate Remy decides to feed all his XP to him, and obtain the gun which Cricket accidentally fires into the horizon. Now on a cooldown, the gun has to be protected, ending up with Remy, Tilly, and Cricket; it eventually ends up inside the house. Gramma runs out of ammo and Nancy helps her; the former stumbles upon Bill's invisible fruitcake which she adds on to Nancy's spear, which she uses to destroy the mobs (the last was dealt with by Gramma) Cricket rushes into the house to find the recharged cannon, but is quickly swarmed by the mobs. However, Bill finishes them off and fires a shot at the big boss, destroying it. But it ends up at the house, totaling it!
The Greens return to the destroyed house as Cricket finds the destroyed star. In despair, Cricket decides to give up. Bill tries to get him back in spirit by rebuilding, but Remy tells him more mobs will continue to try to destroy the house again. Bill offers to add destroying monsters to the tradition, which the others like... but Cricket's response is rather muted. The family and Remy charge forward into another battle, but Cricket stays back, deciding to ditch the headset and run back home.
However, he's greeted by a lot of snow. Realizing that walking won't work, he decides to traverse to the rooftop and hijack the Santa's sleigh deco for himself, using it as a sled through Big City! Even with the Santa deco on the sled now headless, Cricket manages to make it back to his family to perform Tradition Three properly... joined by Vasquez (who looks like an abominable snowman due to the raging snowstorm) and the Remingtons, too, inviting them over to the house! The sled, crashed onto the rooftop, falls into the house as Bill lets out one last "CRICKET!!".
Cast
| Main article: Virtually Christmas/Credits |
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Artemis Pebdani as Alice Green
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Nancy Green
- Zeno Robinson as Remy Remington
- Lorraine Toussaint as Rashida Remington
- Colton Dunn as Russell Remington
- Danny Trejo as Vasquez
- Alfonso Ribeiro as Mr. Extras
- Luke Lowe as Benny
Additional Voices
- Shane Houghton as Glass Delivery Man
Titles in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 German
|
Virtuelle Weihnacht | Virtual Christmas | |
 Spanish
|
Virtualmente navidad | Virtually Christmas |
Videos
