The 12 Days of Muppet Christmas are over for the 2018-2019 season, and because comparisons are apparently meaningless without arbitrary value judgments, it’s time to tally the results:
Muppet Christmas Carol: 6
A Christmas Carol (1999): 5
Draw: 1
So, Muppet Christmas Carol wins, right? Well…sort of. Things are a bit more complicated than that.
At long last, it is the twelfth day of Muppet Christmas, and not a moment too soon because my brain has more or less turned into guacamole. But before we wrap up, we must take a look at the narrators in Muppet Christmas Carol and Christmas Carol ’99.
Dominic West (in his role as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred) provides voice-over narration at the end of Christmas Carol ’99
Gonzo the Great as Charles Dickens and Rizzo the Rat as himself provide narration throughout Muppet Christmas Carol (Gonzo and Rizzo are performed by Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire, respectively)
We’re in the home stretch now! It’s day eleven of the 12 Days of Muppet Christmas, and we’re looking at the two gentlemen in each production who attempt to persuade Scrooge to donate to charity
Edward Petherbridge as Foster and Jeremy Swift as Williams, the charity collectors in Christmas Carol ’99
Beaker and Bunsen as the charity collectors in Muppet Christmas Carol, with Michael Caine and Kermit. (Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker are performed by Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire, respectively)
It’s the tenth of 12 Days of Muppet Christmas, and I find myself running out of introductory comments to make. This is about the point where I started getting tired and uninspired when I did 12 Days last year as well. Maybe it would work out better for me if I limited myself to ten days of Muppet Christmas, even though there’s not a song about that. While I contemplate that possibility, let’s look at the role of Mrs. Cratchit, Bob’s wife and Tiny Tim’s mother.
Saskia Reeves as Mrs. Cratchit (no first name given) in Christmas Carol ’99
Well, it’s day 9 of the 12 Days of Muppet Christmas. I’ve put it off as long as I can, but it’s time to address the elephant in the room: the character of Belle, Scrooge’s one-time fianceé whom he meets again as one of the shadows shown him by the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Laura Fraser as Belle in Christmas Carol ’99
Meredith Braun as Belle in Muppet Christmas Carol
In Muppet Christmas Carol, Belle sings a dull, depressing song. In Christmas Carol ’99, Belle does no singing at all, dull or otherwise.
Advantage: Christmas Carol ’99
Well, that was easy!
Depending on the interpretation, Scrooge’s nephew Fred can either be the most admirable character in the story or an even more despicable character than Scrooge. Find out how on this, the eighth day of the 12 Days of Muppet Christmas.
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Dominic West as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, in Christmas Carol ’99
Steven Mackintosh as Nephew Fred in Muppet Christmas Carol
One small but significant difference right off the bat between Muppet Christmas Carol and the 1999 TV movie starring Patrick Stewart is that Christmas Carol ’99 includes Fred’s backstory: he’s the son of Scrooge’s deceased sister (called Fran in Christmas Carol ’99, although the original story has her name as “Fan”). In MCC, Fred is also Scrooge’s nephew, but no mention is made of his parents one way or the other. This is similar to the approach taken in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” (the first “Christmas Carol” adaptation I ever saw and the one by which I judge all others, for better or worse), and perhaps that’s not surprising because nephewism is prominent in both franchises. (Which is fine, by the way; if our choices are nephewism and “cross-promoting,” I’ll take nephewism any day.)
Day seven of the 12 days of Muppet Christmas is Kid-Appeal Character Day with a look at the small but significant character of Tiny Tim as portrayed in Muppet Christmas Carol and the 1999 TV movie starring Patrick Stewart.
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Ben Tibber as Tiny Tim in Christmas Carol ’99
Robin the Frog (Jerry Nelson) perched atop Kermit’s shoulder as Tiny Tim in Muppet Christmas Carol
The 12 Days of Muppet Christmas have reached the halfway point, which means it’s time to take a look at the Ghosts of Christmas Yet To Come from Muppet Christmas Carol and the 1999 TV movie starring Patrick Stewart.
Composite of Tim Potter as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come in Christmas Carol ’99
Donald Austen (body) and Rob Tygner (puppetry) as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come in Muppet Christmas Carol
At the present time, it is day 5 of the 12 days of Muppet Christmas, and the time is ripe to consider the Ghost of Christmas Present as he appeared in The Muppet Christmas Carol as well as Christmas Carol ’99.
Desmond Barrit as the Ghost of Christmas Present in Christmas Carol ’99
Jerry Nelson (voice and puppetry) and Don Austen (body) as the Ghost of Christmas Present in Muppet Christmas Carol
On the fourth of 12 Days of Muppet Christmas, I question whether a puppet floating in a tank of fluid or an Oscar winner in a blond wig makes a better guide through Scrooge’s memories.
Joel Grey as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Christmas Carol ’99
The Ghost of Christmas Past from Muppet Christmas Carol is probably the depiction that comes closest to how Dickens described the character in the original novella. Though not explicitly stated, Dickens’ description is meant to evoke the idea of a candle flame come to life, and one can sort of tell how the team behind MCC took that as a jumping-off point in constructing a rod puppet meant to float in oil or water to give an ethereal effect (almost literally).
Oscar winner and one-time Muppet Show guest star Joel Grey plays the Ghost of Christmas Past in Christmas Carol ’99 as an androgynous but humanoid figure with an otherworldly glow, an unnatural skin tone, and a blond wig that he may have borrowed from Martin Short’s character Flik in Merlin, a TV special that also aired in 1999. (By the way, that’s not intended as a disparagement; I LOVE Martin Short in that blond wig in Merlin!)
One of the few departures Muppet Christmas Carol made from the source material is that it added another Marley ghost to the mix. But do two Marleys make for a better adaptation than the 1999 TV version starring Patrick Stewart? Find out on this, the third day of the 12 Days of Muppet Christmas.
Statler (Jerry Nelson) and Waldorf (Dave Goelz) as Jacob and Robert Marley in Muppet Christmas Carol (Yes, I flipped the image so that my captions would match up; deal with it)
Bernard Lloyd as Jacob Marley in Christmas Carol ’99 (Only one ghost, but three different scenes)
On this, the second day of my 12-day quest to discover how The Muppet Christmas Carol measures up to my favorite non-Muppet version, the 1999 TV movie starring Patrick Stewart, I take a look at Scrooge’s employee and foil, Bob Cratchit.
Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire) as Bob Cratchit in Muppet Christmas Carol
Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit in Christmas Carol ’99
Joyeux Noel, friends and readers, and thank you for joining me for the 2018-2019 installment of 12 Days of Muppet Christmas!
Because I’m a Muppet heretic, I can admit without hesitation or shame that Muppet Christmas Carol is not my favorite adaptation of the story. For nearly 20 years now, my favorite adaptation has been the 1999 made-for-TV movie starring Patrick Stewart and airing originally on TNT.
However, given my relatively new appreciation of Muppet Christmas Carol, I want to see how the two versions measure up to one another. So for the next 12 days, coinciding with the traditional twelve days of Christmas, I’ll be comparing and contrasting the individual elements of these two different adaptations of the classic story and assigning an advantage to one or the other each day, because what’s the fun of comparing and contrasting without arbitrary value judgments? Then I’ll share the final results on January 6th (Epiphany).
Without further ado, let’s start by taking a closer look at our protagonist:
Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge in Muppet Christmas Carol
Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge in Christmas Carol ’99
Michael Caine and Patrick Stewart are both actors renowned for their vast talent. Though playing the same character, each has his own unique interpretation. It’s not a question of right or wrong, good or bad. Though different from one another, each actor’s take on the character is completely valid, which makes it interesting to see how each approaches the same character from an entirely different angle.
DANNY HORN: Hey, did I ever tell you about my theory that Mew’s death is a metaphor for AIDS? It’s 1986, and gay men are dying all over the place. The creators are TV puppet people from New York and LA, so obviously a lot of their friends are dying. So in this special, you get Mew — the despised, unfairly judged cat-toy — dying suddenly. Rugby realizes how precious Mew is… but he figures it out too late. […] Then the fantasy is that the dead loved one can be resurrected and vindicated, just through the power of love and Christmas. You can see how this was an appealing fantasy for artsy people in 1986.
KYNAN BARKER: Did I ever tell you MY theory that sometimes a kids’ TV special is just a kids’ TV special?–ToughPigs.com, “My Week with Another Christmas – Day Two: Doll Be Home for Christmas,” December 24, 2003.
Today is Epiphany, so I wanted to do not only a Christmas-themed article but one with some real substance to it, and this 14-year-old conversation about The Christmas Toy is a good jumping-off point for a discussion of allegory versus applicability.
An allegory is a detailed, in-depth metaphor that represents a situation or event in the real world. Authors who write allegory are usually not very subtle about the point they’re trying to get across. For example, I would consider A Christmas Carol to be an allegory: There’s not much to speculate about what the three spirits represent; it’s right there in their names.
On the other hand, a work has applicability if it can support multiple interpretations, regardless of what the author’s intention may have been. As J.R.R. Tolkien explained it, “I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other resides in the purposed domination of the author.” Tolkien ran up against this attitude often when Lord of the Rings fans would ask him questions about the allegorical meaning of the novels, to which he would respond that there was none, but that it was applicable to many real-life situations or events.
Today I want to talk about It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, or “VMX” for short.
Now, VMX is not my favorite Muppet thing ever, not by a long shot. But I would forgive anybody just about anything for the sake of “Everyone Matters,” a beautiful song from the special:
I love this song, partially because it gives such good Sad-Gonzo. Sad-Gonzo is my favorite Gonzo. As far as I’m concerned, the worst thing that ever happened to Gonzo’s character is when his eyelids became mobile and he could change expressions.
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