Title: Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh Content: Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (previously under the working title as Drake and Josh: Best Christmas Ever) is a television movie, and the first new program that came out of the Drake & Josh franchise in over a year. Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Miranda Cosgrove, Nancy Sullivan and Jonathan Goldstein reprise their roles as Drake Parker, Josh Nichols, Megan Parker, Aubrey Parker, and Walter Nichols respectively; several recurring characters from the TV series also reappeared. The film aired on December 5, 2008 as a Nickelodeon Original Movie. == Production == A brand new Drake & Josh TV movie tentatively entitled "Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh" began production in July 2008, and premiered December 5, 2008. Creator Dan Schneider returned as executive producer, with Marjorie Cohn and Lauren Levine co-executive producing. Michael Grossman directed the feature. Unlike earlier Drake & Josh film Drake & Josh Go Hollywood, this film is presented in High Definition. == Plot == The film starts off with Josh saying goodbye to Walter and Audrey as they leave for a tropical vacation. Drake and Megan come back home since they were out and Josh shows them his Snowman Air Ballon Decoration. Megan takes her knife and cuts the string leading to Josh running after it.The scene goes to Drake and Josh going to the mall together. Drake tells Josh that he will be throwing a Christmas party on the roof of the premiere, which Josh doesn't approve of first because he isn't sure that Helen would allow it. Drake tells him that he has already talked to Helen about it and that its alright as long as she is invited and they serve churros. Drake also mentions that the party's theme is "Bad Holiday Sweater Party" and tells Josh that the sweater he is wearing is perfect for the theme. This of course offends Josh and the scene goes to Crazy Steve measuring a corn dog. A little boy comes and asks him when Santa will come to the premiere and when Crazy Steve assures him Santa will come, a lady interupts Steve which leads to him yelling at the elderly women. The little boy's mother is frighted and carries her son away from him. Drake and Josh enter the premiere says hello to Steve. Steve high-fives Drake but turns away when Josh greets him. Helen arrives and tells them she was late because a snowman was causing traffic. Josh tells her that it was his and she chokes him. Then Helen reveals that, after 5 weeks of marriage, she is divorcing her husband after they started to have problems 3 weeks into the marriage. Helen hands Drake a Santa Costume to wear in the mall. Josh is upset because Helen told him that he could be Santa, but Helen gives him a costume as a sack of Christmas presents. When they take their place, Santa (Drake) asks a little boy if he's got an older sister. Meanwhile, Audrey and Walter make it to their Island, but they didn't expected it to be terrible. Back at the mall, Drake makes out with a teenage girl named Sandy (played by Sara Flecter). Josh is annoyed and yells at them both which leads to Sandy leaving. One of the other people waiting in line for Santa was Janet (Rakefet Abergel), who wants a kiss from Santa (Drake), starts chasing him until she gets one. When Drake hides from the lady stalker, he meets a little girl named Mary Alice. He asks what she wants for Christmas. She says she and her family want the best Christmas ever. He makes a rushed Christmas promise to her by saying he will do so. Then, Drake continues to be chased by the lady. Then, Drake's Christmas party on the roof of the premiere begins, singing "Jingle Bells". At the party, Mindy has to leave with her parents to go to her grandparents, leaving Josh upset, because he wanted to spend Christmas with her. She tells Josh she'll try and make it back, then they both give a kiss goodbye. Steve shows up in front of Drake and Josh, and shows them a woodchipper called Sally on his cellphone. Josh sarcastically says that he hopes they have a nice relationship. Steve is pleased, then regularly slaps him on the cheek. Craig anf Eric come and tells Drake that the last song was great and he should perform it in the Christmas Parade. Drake revales that hes going to Las Vegas for the holidays, which makes Josh feel more sad because he believes that Christmas should be a family time. Later on,a few party crashers come to the party, wrecking the tables and bowls. When Josh calls the police, he is mistaken for one of the party crashers. Josh falls off the roof after being handcuffed, and lands in the back of a truck. The truck drivers, not knowing that Josh is in the back of their truck, drive off with the cops on their tail. When the truck drivers veer around a intersection, Josh flies out, making the cops grab him, thinking he was trying to get away. After Josh is arrested and sent to jail, he meets his prison roommate, Bludge (played by Kimbo Slice). At first, Bludge tried to beat him up, until Josh entertains Bludge with magic tricks. This makes Bludge change his mind, but he says he claims he has to beat him up, so he can protect his reputation in jail. Bludge and Josh bang on the walls with Josh pretending to shout in pain, to get others to believe Josh is getting beat up. Meanwhile, Drake, who has to find Josh a lawyer and collect his life savings, get scammed by a fake lawyer (his license plate read "FAKELWYR"). After, Mary Alice (recognizing Drake from his eyes and voice) meets Drake again, and tells him shes excited for Drake to give her the best Christmas ever. Mary Alice brings up a story of how she has a sick foster mom and a busy foster dad, and Helen reminds Drake that he must keep a Christmas promise. Once she finishes her story, Helen and Drake are left crying and hugged Mary Alice. Her older foster brother, Luke, told her it was time to go, leaving them both crying and soon Crazy Steve started to cry as well. Drake then knew he had to fulfill that promise. Drake attempts to break an unwilling Josh out (by knocking out a brick from the stone wall in the cell), so Bludge knocks Josh out. Bludge pushes more bricks out to get Josh through the hole, but Drake is caught immediately after, landing both Drake and Josh in trouble (even though Josh was unconscious). Then, Drake and Josh are sent to court with Judge Newman (played by Henry Winkler). Soon after, Helen comes in as their lawyer. Helen confronts Judge Newman that Drake has made a promise to Mary Alice that he'd give her the best Christmas ever. This leads the judge that he won't send them to jail (which shows some respect out of the judge), as long as they fulfill that promise. If they fail to fulfill the promise, they'll be going back to jail "with the key melted down himself". Then, the two meet their parole officer, Officer Perry Gilbert,(Drake starts to laugh when Officer Gilbert introduces himself because he thinks that the name Perry sounds British and starts mocking him, leading Josh to start hitting Drake which only brings more trouble) says that he will take a vote from Mary Alice's family on Christmas asking them if they had the best Christmas ever. If one of them says no, or if Drake and Josh told them about the vote, as it may influence them to vote "yes", they must go to jail. Officer Gilbert tried to mess it up in several ways to keep them from giving the "Best Christmas Ever", so Megan agreed to help remove their tracking devices under condition that she would be given a Smith Royal oboe from Trevor, so she attaches the tracking devices to a toy helicopter, drawing Officer Gilbert in the opposite direction. After an attempted day of fun, Megan puts their tracking devices back on after she realizes that Trevor has no oboe. When they finally found a way to give Mary Alice's family the best Christmas ever (by making a parade), Officer Gilbert tricked Crazy Steve into "reminding" the two in front of everyone that they were only being kind to her so that they wouldn't go to prison. This made Mary Alice's family think that Drake and Josh were using them, which made them angry. They went home and threatened to vote "no" when the courthouse asks them to vote. In the meantime, Drake felt bad and decided to keep his promise no matter what, so they sent Officer Gilbert a sweet baby monkey as a Christmas present (Officer Gilbert's mother told them that he always hated Christmas and wanted to ruin everybody else's because of a baby monkey he got when he was eight that went crazy). That night, they tried to use Crazy Steve's wood chipper, Sally, to make it snow in front of Mary Alice's house. The wood chipper shot large chunks of hail through the neighborhood where Mary Alice lived in and caused more trouble. The chipper injured Drake and Josh, and the now-kind Officer Gilbert and other officers took them home. The next morning, Officer Gilbert explained to Mary Alice and her family what really happened, and that Drake and Josh weren't really trying to use them to stay out of prison. They decided to decorate Drake and Josh's living room, and had Officer Gilbert and other officers "arrest" them and brought them to the living room, where Mary Alice's family and other people surprised them. They then had the vote, and everyone voted "yes." Josh's former cell mate, Bludge, dressed as Santa, "slid" down their chimney, and delivered gifts to Mary Alice's family, and a Smith Royal oboe to Megan. Mindy heard that Josh was injured and that he was sent to prison, and decided to come back to make sure he was okay. She arrived then. Crazy Steve got "Sally" to make snow by using 7 thousand pounds of "hard cheese", saying that "Sally loves it", and Mary Alice and her family-who longed to see snow-and all the other people enjoyed it. Drake and Josh's parents arrived home then. At the end of the movie, the camera zooms out with the family and friends playing in the cheese snow. Then, the screen turns into a Snow Globe, then the words, "The End", finally going black. == Cast == === From the original series === The vast majority of recurring characters will return for the series, all played by their original actors. * Drake Bell as Drake Parker * Josh Peck as Josh Nichols * Miranda Cosgrove as Megan Parker * Nancy Sullivan as Audrey Parker-Nichols * Jonathan Goldstein as Walter Nichols * Allison Scagliotti-Smith as Mindy Crenshaw * Scott Halberstadt as Eric Blonnowitz * Alec Medlock as Craig Ramirez * Yvette Nicole Brown as Helen Ophelia Dubois * Jerry Trainor as Crazy Steve * Jake Farrow as Gavin * Julia Duffy as Mrs. Hayfer (cameo) === Movie only === * Kimbo Slice as Bludge * Bailee Madison as Mary Alice * Devon Graye as Luke * Henry Winkler as Judge Newman * David Pressman as Officer Perry J. Gilbert * Robin Sydney as Jackie * Skoti Collins as News stand owner * Tanner Blaze as Little Perry Gilbert * Rakefet Abergel as Janet * Cosette Goldstein as Lily * Camille Goldstein as Violet * David Gore as Zigfee * Christian Roberts as Boomer * Jason Seitz as Mustang rider * Sara Fletcher as Sandy * Tim Haldeman as Parade Captain * Kenneth Moskow as Greg * Ty O'Neil as Johnny Jackson * Carl Middlebrooks as Baliff * Michael Corcoran (Backhouse Mike) as Guitarist * Britt Hysen as Bass Player == Nielsen ratings ==  == DVD Release == After the movie's premiere, Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh will be released to DVD on December 19, 2008.