Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

On her first holiday without her father, Zoey wants to create a magical Christmas for her family just like the ones Mitch used to do.

A movie to close the series, streaming on the Roku Channel starting on December 1, 2021.

[NeenerNeener]

Damn, Skyler Astin looks good without a shirt. 

I hope Roku can find a way to actually make another season of this.

[formerlyfreedom]

Is that David James Elliott playing Lumber Jack? 

That’s one of the best vocal performances I think Mary Steenburgen has had (Call Me Maybe).

ETA: It WAS David James Elliott! 

[funnygirl]

I'm glad they showed the date on Mitch's tombstone, March 2021, as I've been curious about the show's timeline - especially once the movie was announced and it was said to center on the Clarke's first Christmas without Mitch.

So in Zoeyverse, season 1 ended in March 2021 and season 2 ep 1 was six weeks later and ended two weeks before where the Christmas starts (Zoey tells Santa that "two weeks ago" her boyfriend got her musical powers).

I really hope Roku decides to produce more ZEP. I was kind of bummed that the power left Max at the end. Without a season 3, we were robbed of seeing that fleshed out. But I'll take what I can get and I understand tptb wanting to offer answers and conclusions in case Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas is really the end. 

I'm so glad Bernadette's Deb was a part of this. 

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by funnygirl

[shapeshifter]

Agree with the above posts, especially regarding Skylar Astin/Max.

Definitely not an upbeat movie special, but the acting and production were superb——even more so in the midst of a pandemic.

But if they really did want to continue the series with more specials or whatevers, it seems a little less heart wrenching would be more effective with regards to selling it.

 

I was watching on a Roku TV and had issues with having to restart the show at most of the commercial breaks. 

[formerlyfreedom]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I was watching on a Roku TV and had issues with having to restart the show at most of the commercial breaks. 

Same - it got better during the second half but I was getting really annoyed there for awhile…

[Noneofyourbusiness]

1 hour ago, funnygirl said:

But I'll take what I can get and I understand tptb wanting to offer answers and conclusions in case Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas is really the end.

I don't see why Max losing the powers had to be part of their conclusion.

I also wish we had actually seen the incidents he described instead of just hearing about them.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[memememe76]

I liked it but wished I liked it more. They really went in with Zoey’s self absorption. I wished they did a number that involved the entire cast. The coworkers were not given much to do. Simon had nothing to do. But I have to say I loved JAG, uhm, Lumber Jack. 
 

the Call Me Maybe number was the best of the night. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by memememe76

[phalange]

I think they did a perfect blend of Christmas music and non-Christmas music. Zoey and Max singing two different songs at the same time was hilarious and the choreography during that scene was really well done, especially with Zoey and the background dancers during "We Need A Little Christmas." Apparently they only had like four days to rehearse all of the numbers, so props to them! 

"Bad Blood" and "Call Me Maybe" were really fun, too. I like Maggie and Jack, though she's understandably not quite ready to start a new relationship yet. Maggie talking to Mitch at his gravestone got me misty-eyed.

The letter David wrote was also really touching, but I love that David and Emily decided to send the fake family newsletter anyway. Sometimes you have to be just a little bit petty. 

Shout-out to Leif for calling Zoey and Max "the Clarkemans." Leif is a shipper, confirmed. 

Mo giving Perry's daughter the spotlight at the end was very cute. 

"Time after Time" is definitely in the top three of my favorite performances. I'm actually surprised Max lost the powers so fast, but I guess the universe thought he learned what needed to. And if we get a third season (fingers crossed!) his powers can always come back if need be.

[Bill1978]

Just finished watching this and I now have to do some report writing so will share more thoughts later but I did he Leif correctly when he referred to the bird 'collecting' ex as a 'he' right? 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

15 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

Just finished watching this and I now have to do some report writing so will share more thoughts later but I did he Leif correctly when he referred to the bird 'collecting' ex as a 'he' right? 

That's what the captions say.

17 hours ago, phalange said:

And if we get a third season (fingers crossed!) his powers can always come back if need be.

Hopefully if they see enough people saying they want him to, that's what they'll do.

[bros402]

1. I didn't have commercials - I watched it through my Amazon Fire Stick - did anyone have commercials?

2. I need another season, or at least another movie

3. oh my god they finally found a good song for Mary Steenburgen to sing! Call Me Maybe was a good choice for her!

4. Great music in this movie - Bad Blood, Time After Time, but the best was Wish You Were Here - that one was the best. They know how to pick music on this

5. Them both hearing heartsongs at the same time was amazing.

Only bad part was Mo taking over the kid's pageant imo - that was just a dick move

[funnygirl]

I just realized that we only got one Zoey/Max true heart song duet (not counting A Moment Like This) and that, should we get more ZEP in the future, there won't be more. ☹️

"Time After Time" is such a great song so at least they had that! 

Edited December 4, 2021 by funnygirl

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, bros402 said:

Only bad part was Mo taking over the kid's pageant imo - that was just a dick move

Mo taking over the kid pageant was not necessarily a bad plot point, but the execution of that plot point was awful, IMO.

Why not have Mo get called out on it by a kid half way through?

Maybe that was the original plan but pandemic restrictions caused them to cut back kid roles??

[possibilities]

I wanted to love this, but I really didn't. It just seemed to me like a cookie cutter Christmas movie. You could see every plot point coming, it was really, REALLY formulaic and cliche. And if they were going to make Max Jewish, only to use it as a punchline to show how little it mattered, that's insulting. And I don't even like Max!

Also, Zoey was so unlikable. And for the first time, so was Mo. And Deb sulking at Xmas-- either admit up front that you aren't okay about canceling your vacation plans, or show up and act gracious. And Max's shallow songs about buying cake or whatever were just stupid and made him look stupid, too.

[dubbel zout]

I had some of the same issues with the movie you did, @possibilities, especially with Deb. She was really rude at Christmas Eve. And I didn't like Mo taking over the children's pageant. I'd hoped we see some razzle-dazzle from the kids; instead the only thing Mo did for them was make them sparkly robes. Whoever said they should have had one of the kids call her out was right.

I did love that David and Emily decided to go ahead and send their newsletter. Sometimes you have to be petty.

[chaifan]

On 12/1/2021 at 10:30 PM, shapeshifter said:

Definitely not an upbeat movie special, but the acting and production were superb——even more so in the midst of a pandemic.

Oh, I hate to say this, but I really really disagree.  I almost turned this off after 10 minutes because the acting was so bad.  Especially Jane, Skylar and Alex, and I normally love them.  Who directed Jane to have a crazy wide eyed expression in 90% of her scenes?  Not the best look on her.  The David & Emily scenes were the only ones that sounded like natural conversation, instead of people doing stilted reading off of cue cards.  And while the choreography was great, there was something off on the vocals on almost every number.  So much of this was Hallmark quality to me, and it was really disappointing.  

Highlights were the "Just the Two of Us" and "We Need a Little Christmas" number.  "Call Me Maybe" was cute.  Wish You Were Here was amazingly done.  I did like how they handled Max having Zoey's song powers.  I'm glad they didn't do a swap, and instead let them both have them, with Max's fading away at the end.   So very glad they brought back Deb.  And I liked Emily & David's christmas letter competition.  Why are they doing this?  Spite.  Envy.  Vengeance.  Jealousy.  Loved that.  And I'm glad they figured out a way to bring Mitch into it, and let him sing a little. 

Mo's pageant plot line...  ugh.  They could have so easily done the pageant plot without making him a total dick.  I know Mo's always been self centered, but this was extreme even for him, especially in light of the progress he made by the end of last season. 

I'm all for cutting shows some slack for production in covid times.  But this was essentially a two-episode special and other shows have shot entire seasons in the time they've had to make it. They could have done better. 

 

 

 

[funnygirl]

13 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I'm all for cutting shows some slack for production in covid times.  But this was essentially a two-episode special and other shows have shot entire seasons in the time they've had to make it. They could have done better. 

I think they only had like three weeks to film Zoey's Christmas. 

[Bean421]

This was a fine show and I love how they included Mitch. Zoey acts more like a 16 year-old girl instead of the 30 year-old woman she actually is. 

[bros402]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Mo taking over the kid pageant was not necessarily a bad plot point, but the execution of that plot point was awful, IMO.

Why not have Mo get called out on it by a kid half way through?

Maybe that was the original plan but pandemic restrictions caused them to cut back kid roles??

I was expecting that the entire pageant scene - the kid interrupting Mo and showing her confidence or something

 

 

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

I'm all for cutting shows some slack for production in covid times.  But this was essentially a two-episode special and other shows have shot entire seasons in the time they've had to make it. They could have done better. 

they had 5 weeks to do the story, 2 weeks for pre-production, a few days of prep, then 3 weeks to film, and then a few weeks of post production  https://variety.com/2021/tv/features/zoeys-extraordinary-playlist-season-3-christmas-movie-1235117904/

1 hour ago, funnygirl said:

I think they only had like three weeks to film Zoey's Christmas. 

yeah - I think they had a few weeks to write, then a few weeks to film - and they had to cut a number that they planned for Simon due to filming issues (iirc they had him for 3 days and it wasn't enough time for him to learn the choreography)

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Best song: Max singing "Just the Two of Us". Zoey is one lucky girl.

.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Noneofyourbusiness

[bros402]

22 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Best song: Max singing "Just the Two of Us". Zoey is one lucky girl.

.

The best choreography hands down, was "We Need a Little Christmas"

Max singing Just The Two Of Us was probably the best solo, though

imo the best performance was Wish You Were Here

second was probably the Time After Time duet, though, just for the heartbreakingness of it

[TAG42481]

I watched through an Amazon Fire stick, and I had no commercials.  But gosh, I couldn't go more than 10 minutes without having buffering issues.

I liked it.  I would love to have more of the show, but I understand that's not likely.  If nothing else, at least we got to have a little more time with the characters and while the writers didn't send a lot of time tying up loose ends, at least they were able to produce this knowing it could serve as more of a finale than the final episode did.

[bros402]

14 hours ago, TAG42481 said:

I watched through an Amazon Fire stick, and I had no commercials.  But gosh, I couldn't go more than 10 minutes without having buffering issues.

I liked it.  I would love to have more of the show, but I understand that's not likely.  If nothing else, at least we got to have a little more time with the characters and while the writers didn't send a lot of time tying up loose ends, at least they were able to produce this knowing it could serve as more of a finale than the final episode did.

I had no buffering on my fire stick

I liked that it wasn't tying up loose ends (outside of Max getting Zoey's powers) - that wasn't what we needed, imo

[LaylaGirl]

On 12/4/2021 at 9:31 PM, chaifan said:

And while the choreography was great, there was something off on the vocals on almost every number.

I thought the same thing about the vocals. I watched on a Roku, and the lip syncing was obvious. The words and the lip movements did not match - which I never noticed during the series. I agree, the choreography was wonderful.

 

[Brian Cronin]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:41 AM, Bill1978 said:

Just finished watching this and I now have to do some report writing so will share more thoughts later but I did he Leif correctly when he referred to the bird 'collecting' ex as a 'he' right? 

My first instinct was that it was a bone they threw to the actor with this likely being the finale, but I couldn't find anything about the guy in real life, so yeah, just a little "Leif is bi" bit thrown in there for seemingly no reason. 

Which, hey, fair enough, really.