[PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!]

Tonight, Allison and Carter try to engineer the perfect Christmas, but in the town of Eureka the best plans often go haywire. The new couple’s first Christmas together as a family is disrupted by the super proton generator, a holographic storybook and ninja snowmen.

Allison and her children, Jenna and Kevin, have moved in with Carter. The house is decorated with all the Christmas trimmings. Allison wants their Christmas to be perfect. She wraps presents and realizes one of Jenna’s toys is missing a battery. Kevin, Jenna and Zoe, Carter’s daughter visiting from college, enter. Jenna is having a difficult time staying in bed. Zoe and Kevin agree to try to get her back in bed so Allison can get a battery from the lab and Carter can check on Andy because even an android shouldn’t be alone on Christmas Eve.

But Andy is not alone on Christmas Eve. Andy is part of Operation Ho Ho Ho along with Vincent. The mastermind of Operation Ho Ho Ho is Carter; he wants a winter wonderland in Eureka for Christmas. Andy and Vincent are trying to get a holographic projector to work. The projector will make the town look like a winter playground. Henry and Fargo are also members of Carter’s operation; they are in charge of using the super proton generator to make snow. Since Eureka is located in the Pacific Northwest, snow rarely comes to town.

Jenna still refuses to go to bed. Kevin convinces Zoe to let Jenna open one present since opening a present on Christmas Eve is a Carter family tradition. Jenna opens the present that needs the battery. The present is a holographic storybook. The ingenious Kevin uses the power source of his hoverboard to make the storybook work. Jenna is delighted.

At Global Dynamics, Allison finds the battery and runs into Jo. To give her team the night off, Jo works; she could have had the automatic system monitor security, but Jo, trying to maintain her tough image, decided to do things herself. An alarm alerts them to an incident in another part of GD. Jo and Allison find Henry and Fargo at the super proton generator controls. In order to keep Carter’s surprise from Allison, they lie and say they are working on a top secret project. A surge has caused the system to overload. The controls to the super proton generator are unresponsive.

Carter and Andy, still on Main Street, see the super proton generator start to work. Carter thinks Henry and Fargo are starting the snow early, but the approaching large, colorful wave of energy makes Carter realize that something has gone wrong. The energy wave sweeps across Eureka and alters everyone’s perception of reality. Everyone becomes animated.

Back at Carter’s house, we see the kids are not animated. They are beginning to play with Jenna’s ‘Holotown’ interactive storybook. When they change the world of Holotown, Eureka changes as well. When Jenna makes day suddenly appear and changes it back to night in the book, the same happens outside too. Jenna starts a story, and the animation outside transforms from 3D to a classic 2D style. The animation is bright, colorful and reminiscent of Hanna-Barbera.

The change in animation style alters the world. Carter’s jeep can talk, and it takes the opportunity to vent. The car, Carl, is angry at Carter because of all the times it has been wrecked and blown up. Frustrated, Carl leaves, so Andy and Carter have to walk up the mountain.

At GD, Henry is a pull-string toy, and Fargo is a bobble head. Allison has to pull Henry’s string so they can talk. Allison figures out that a holographic program must be interacting with the protons in the atmosphere. They need to fix the super proton generator and find the source of the holographic program.

Kevin, finding the game boring, decides to add some action. The game needs a Grinch, a villain, so he combines snowmen and ninja.

Ninja snowmen attack Carter and Andy. Andy knocks the head off one snow-ninja, and Carter stretches his legs to avoid another. Snow-ninjas surround the duo when Jo arrives by helicopter. Princess Jo, accompanied by bluebirds, rescues the two, but the helicopter loses control. Jo has them grab her legs, and they jump. Jo’s skirt becomes a parachute, and the trio lands safely.

Carl the car agrees to help Allison find Carter because she says “please.”

Jo, Andy and Carter climb up the mountain. Jo slips, and her bluebirds carry her to the top. Before we can learn Andy’s Christmas wish, another wave of energy sweeps across town. The animation style changes quickly from ‘Peanuts’ to ‘Simpsons’ to ‘South Park’ and finally ‘Scooby-Doo.’ We cut to Kevin who flips through the styles available in the storybook game. He picks a new style, and the outside world becomes Claymation.

Jo, mourning the loss of her birds, whistles to try to call them back, but she causes a small avalanche instead. Andy pushes her out of the way, and the snow sends Andy down the mountain. Jo and Carter find a cave. A polar bear surprises them. The polar bear spits on them then hugs them. It is Taggart! Taggart was studying hunting patterns when the wave hit, so the form fits since he is close to nature. Taggart tells Jo that it is okay for her to have feelings and be a princess from time to time; she does not have be constantly alone and tough.

Henry and Fargo find the source of the signal, Carter’s house. They try to enter, but SARAH’s (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat) force field protected the house from the protons, which is why the kids are not animated.

Jenna picks Santa to be a part of the story.

Carl the car and Allison find Carter. Andy is frozen in a block of ice, so he is strapped to the roof. Jo, Carter and Allison drive to the generator. Instead of Santa, they find Dr. Drummer at the super proton generator. A power surge interfered with the generator. They need an external power source so they can bypass the damaged circuits. Carl is afraid they will use his battery, but Allison uses the battery for Jenna’s toy. This is when Allison realizes that the source for the holographic program must be Jenna’s toy; Kevin must have altered the toy to power it, which caused the power surge that damaged the super proton generator.

Andy is freed from the block of ice. With the help of one of Dr. Drummer’s dogs, Rudy, Andy learns that his Christmas wish of being like everyone else isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Many people want to be different and special, and Andy is special.

The individual snow-ninjas from before combine into one giant snow-ninja. The giant snow-ninja attacks Eureka. Carter and Jo take Carl the car to go fight the snow-ninja. Allison stays so she and Dr. Drummer can fix the generator.

The kids feel the tremors from the giant snow-ninja’s footsteps. Kevin and Zoe open the door and see the animated world. They figure out that Kevin’s supercharged battery has made the game unstable. They can’t just turn off the storybook because they might harm everyone. Kevin decides to alter the game again to give everyone a fighting chance against the giant snow-ninja.

The animation style changes again to anime. Everyone is a butt-kicking anime character, and the soundtrack fits the style. Henry and Fargo try to fight the giant snow-ninja. Carl transforms into a flying car, and Jo is able to toss the Acme bomb she got from Andy into the giant snow-ninja’s mouth. The giant snow-ninja explodes into thousands of snowflakes. Carter gets his white Christmas.

Allison bypasses the circuits. Another energy wave sweeps across Eureka. Everyone is back to normal!

Christmas is enjoyed by all. When everyone arrives at Carter’s home, the day is perfect.

This episode was magical, thrilling, whimsical and inventive. The use of animation was clever and was integrated into the story naturally. I enjoyed seeing various animation styles throughout the show, especially anime. Having anime as the way they could defeat the giant snow-ninja demonstrated that the writers really understand the different types of animation. Tonight’s special holiday episode was ‘Eureka’ at its best—witty dialogue, smart people using logic to solve problems, and tender, character-driven moments like Fargo’s ruminations about why he is a bobble head and Jo’s bonding with the bluebirds she didn’t expect to miss. ‘Do You See What I See?’ reminded me of all the reasons why I love ‘Eureka’ and of all the reasons why I will miss the show.

You can watch ‘Do You See What I See?’ on Syfy’s website.

Season five of ‘Eureka’ will air sometime in 2012.