Hey gang, Valkor here. Though the sting of Hurricane Sandy still lingers, it's time to set my spirits in a more "positive" and "uplifting" light. Yup, the holidays are just around the corner. And while I've already kicked off the Christmas coverage with… well "The First Christmas", it's time to take things undersea and pay a visit with TOV fav SpongeBob Squarepants in "It's a SpongeBob Christmas".

"It's a SpongeBob Christmas" takes the popular Nick show and its characters to a whole new level, stepping away from the traditional animation in favor of full-on stop motion action. So it would appear Plankton has devised a scheme involving handing out fruit cake and a new element he discovered called "Jerktonium". His plan is to lace the cake with this new element and feed it to all the citizens in Bikini Bottom, making them all jerks. Why? He figures if everyone else is bad, then maybe Santa Claus won't think he's all that bad and he'll get the gift he really wants – the secret Krabby Patty formula. But the formula doesn't work on one citizen – SpongeBob. And it's up to the yellow sponge to rescue Bikini Bottom before Santa skips their town completely. Plus he'll to contend with Plankton's other creation – MechaSpongeBob.

"It's a SpongeBob Christmas" is 22 minutes of holiday chuckles featured on a single disc DVD. Extras include two behind the scene animatics and two MP3s that you can play on your PC or MAC computers. It's a short one so let's dive right into the TOV Breakdown.

The Good:
Now this is an impressive DVD filled with all the laughs you've come to love from a SpongeBob episode. Plus it's done up in stop motion animation so you get to see the yellow sponge in a whole new light. And it really looks good too! I didn't know what to think about this particular disc at first, but in the end I thought the concept was pretty cool and the overall experience to be rather entertaining.

The Bad:
Only 22 minutes? You guys at Paramount Home couldn't toss in a few extra episodes to, you know, pad this out?

The Ugly:
N/A

It's a SpongeBob Christmas is available now and it's sure to please this holiday season… even if it's only 22 minutes long. I don't think the little TOVers will mind, but those of the adult crowd, who enjoy SpongeBob's antic my be turned off by the brevity. However, if you're really interested, I'm sure you can get the disc cheaper than the suggest retail. And out of TOV 5 stars, I'm giving "It's a SpongeBob Christmas" DVD 3.5.

