15 unexpected Christmas specials you have to see to believe

Babes in Toyland (1986)

I cheated a little with this entry, but I think you’ll agree it deserves a spot on this list when I go into more detail. Babes in Toyland was a made-for-TV movie back that first aired on NBC in December 1986 and subsequently released on VHS — but an edited down version. The movie is based on the operetta of the same name, and it is all kinds of weird, in the cheesiest way.

Babes in Toyland starts out with Lisa Piper — played by a young Drew Barrymore — cooking dinner for her family and taking care of her siblings. It’s Christmas Eve, but she has no time to play with toys like most kids would be doing. When a blizzard hits, she gets transported to Toyland, a whole new world filled with strange characters. She quickly learns that the town is in trouble, because Mary Contrary is set to marry the evil Barnaby Barnacle

Mary doesn’t love Barnaby; she loves Jack Nimble (played by Keanu Reeves — seriously). After her new friends explain the situation, Lisa stops the wedding and finds out Barnaby plans on taking over Toyland! They go to the Toymaster for help, but he tells them he can’t help them unless Lisa truly believes in toys.

Barnaby finds out what they’re up to and leaves them to be eaten by a vulture-like monster known as a Troller. He reveals that he’s creating an army of trolls to take over Toyland and wants to turn them into his servants, thanks to a flask of “distilled evil” that he stole from the Toymaster.

As you might expect, Lisa and the whole gang save the day, Barnaby is banished from Toyland, Jack and Mary get married, and Lisa gets taken home by the Toymaster, who turns out to be — gasp — Santa Claus! He brings Lisa back to Cincinnati in his sleigh, until she wakes up and thinks it was all a dream.

It may not be super Christmas-y, but you have to admit, it’s adorable to see a young Berrymore and Reeves having an adventure with a bunch of life-sized talking toys!