Year Two. Day Seven: "A Christmas Carol" (2000)

For all the modern day retellings of A Christmas Carol to come out of America, there has been a surprising dearth of similar versions in the UK.

This made for ITV 2000 version goes some way to redress the balance, which despite having a fantastic central performance from Ross Kemp, yields only mixed results.

Kemp plays Eddie Scrooge, a ruthless loan shark who preys upon the poor and vulnerable by offering loans with such merciless interest they are almost impossible to pay off. This part of the story works very well and I thought it was both clever and important to show how for so many, many people, Christmas is neither a time of joy or abundance; but an anxious and fearful one where parents worry how they will manage to make ends meet as the financial demands of Christmas take hold.

The ghost of Jacob Marley here is represented by another loan shark who once worked alongside Scrooge and was killed under suspicious circumstances the year before. The tangent into the death of Marley was rather an unwelcome one, but mostly this is owing to me enjoying the story when it is kept as simple as possible.

Marley also plays the Ghost of Christmas Present while Scrooge's father and a silent boy are Past and Future respectively. The roles of "Ignorance" and "Want" are a pair of homeless siblings who play a far larger role in this retelling.

The major flaw in this retelling, and it is a HUGE one, is that after each of his encounters with the ghosts, Scrooge awakens on the same Christmas Eve and must relive the day over and over again, Groundhog Day style. Each day he attempts to make things better and remedy his past mistakes, slowly thawing as Christmas day draws closer.

This change to the text is fundamentally unsatisfying as it robs us of the euphoria of Scrooge's redemption. Watching him become slowly more compassionate may be more believable but a fable such as this does not dwell in the realm of authenticity.

The love story between Scrooge and Belle (or Bella as she is called here) becomes a central part of this adaptation which feels unnecessary, but it's sweetly told and doesn't feel too shoehorned in as it has in other versions I have seen.

The greatest asset this version has in its favour is Ross Kemp, still best known as Grant Mitchell from Eastenders, he's often underrated as an actor, as most soap actors are, but here he offers a compellingly dark portrayal of a man who is gradually learning that he still has a conscience, despite trying to keep it quiet for so long.

Despite the changes to the format and overcomplicating the plot, this version did manage an ending that was both sweet and festive which promised not only hope for the future, but that a time may come when the UK makes a truly great modern day adaptation of the story.

 As gritty as a lump of coal on the fireplace.

"A Christmas Carol" (2000) 3/5

Year Two. Day Six: "The Energy Carol" (1975)

If I have learnt nothing else from two seasons of adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" it is that this simple, almost fairytale like story is so incredibly flexible, it can almost be pulled into any shape or form, provided that enough of the original details remain.

This also means that there are some truly odd adaptations out there, one of the oddest being "The Energy Carol" - a propaganda piece from the Canadian Office of Energy Conservation.

Rather than the selfish miser we have come to see him as, Scrooge here is almost the inverse. He is wasteful and irresponsible, inefficient and thoughtless. Upon Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of his former colleague, Jacob Morelight who has been chained to a giant toaster (yes, I did say this was a weird one!)

Through his interactions with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, he learns the wastefulness of his ways and how his unsustainable behaviour will damage the future.

At this time, most of the world was bereft of worries of global warming and the impact of energy waste upon the future, so this brief film serves as something of an early example of fears being articulated. While this would be a noble cause, it does somewhat fluff the ending because rather than become a beacon of energy saving and responsibility, he turns into something of a lunatic, replacing light bulbs with candles and hurling appliances out of a window, whilst declaring that his work colleague will be working "twice as hard for half the pay."

Such a shame that the ending spoils would could be a unique adaptation of the tale, and a valuable lesson for the future.

As efficient and speedy as Santa's sleigh.

"The Energy Carol." (1975) 2/5

Year Two. Day Five: "All American Christmas Carol" (2013)

The realm of American set adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" is a surprisingly dense one, with two new US versions being released in back-to-back years. As with the other adaptation "It's Christmas, Carol!" (to be reviewed later this December...) - this interpretation of the text has a female "Scrooge" in the lead, a habit which is true of almost every American adaptation, for some strange reason.

The main problem I have had with these female centred adaptations, such as "A Carol Christmas" and "A Diva's Christmas Carol" is that the films so very often are thinly veiled shots at businesswomen. The almost exclusively male writers of these movies seem to be predominantly expressing animosity towards their leads, not for being miserly or wicked but for daring to succeed in a male dominated world. Even "Ebbie's Story" - one of my favourites from last year, spent a fair amount of its brief running time having its protagonist bewail the fact that she had invested too much time in her business, rather than starting a family.

It was this experience that lead me to watch "All American Christmas Carol" with a sense of trepidation, but from the opening scenes, I was to be proven wrong.

This movies' "Scrooge" is Cindy, a trailer park living single mother on a low income job and with two children born of different fathers; the latter of these two fathers, Jake Marley, has recently been killed during an irresponsible round of paintball.

It is just before Christmas, that Jake returns in ghostly form and warns Cindy that she will be visited by three ghosts and... well, we all know the story from here.

One of the more appealing facets of this adaptation is that it does not require us to pity or to judge Cindy (who is played to perfection by Taryn Manning, last seen as the terrifying, religious zealot Pennsatucky in "Orange is the New Black.") In the hands of a different writer or director, Cindy would be an object of laughter, even disgust. However, here she is seen as a product of her world and of a few poor decisions that have left her overwhelmed by her very existence. It would have been so utterly against the spirit of the original to mock the poor, and this film handsomely manages to create sympathy and warmth for her plight, rather than sneering derision.

With the help of a school friend who died one Christmas, many years before, an ageing rockstar and the ghost of her deceased mother, Cindy is lead through her own history, to better understand why she is the way she is and how she can better her future and those of the ones around her.

Her final epiphany is not one of consumerist irresponsibility. I was fearful that the solution to her predicament was going to be that this penniless woman would have to spend, spend, spend to make Christmas better. Instead, a novel and touching approach is written, allowing her to use her talents and her ingenuity to brighten the lives of those around her.

This is a surprisingly well made and moving interpretation of "A Christmas Carol." It has moments of diamond-in-the-rough beauty and a savage sense of humour. I found myself absolutely enchanted.

As surprising and as festive as a kiss beneath the mistletoe.

"All American Christmas Carol." (2013) 5/5

Year Two. Day Four. "A Christmas Carol" (1977)

Despite its richly deserved reputation for lavish and faithful adaptations of classic literature, the BBC has only adapted A Christmas Carol once for television.

This 1977 version stars Michael Hordern - a highly acclaimed actor, who had twice previously played the role of Jacob Marley in earlier adaptations. His Scrooge is a ferocious, barely contained beast with a particularly withering regard for his fellow men, particularly over the Christmas period.

This traditional version is very faithful to the book, and despite running at just under an hour, manages to retain a good deal of the original text, without seeming too rushed or chaotic.

Perhaps this adaptation would be more fondly remembered had it not been so evidently made on the cheap, with the BBC doing its best to keep costs down by utilising tacky looking green screen effects for all exterior scenes, while filming the interior scenes so closely it feels as if the sets aren't large enough to accommodate even the small cast this version features.

It's a real shame that the BBC, already proud of its status as a world leader in period drama, did not lavish this adaptation with a bit more money. Perhaps taking the spirit of Scrooge to heart, the finished product looks very much like it could have greatly used a few pennies more spent upon it, limping onto the screen looking as tired and weary as poor Tiny Tim.

Most of the scenes are filmed in long, static shots to give the whole thing a sense of a stage production, which serve the slender cast and their performances well; allowing interactions to play out naturally, yet at the same time giving the whole thing a rather dull and lifeless air.

Never is there much of a sense that we are in a vibrant, important city. London seems to consist of a handful of people, dashing about between one another's houses, rather than the overpopulated, overwhelming mess of chaos that so many other adaptation have so ably bought to the screen.

Perhaps, one day the BBC will look over its back catalogue of Dickens adaptations and decide that the time has come to give "A Christmas Carol" another go - and that their adaptation will be every bit as polished and exquisite as we have come to expect from them.

As mean as a Christmas present from Scrooge.

"A Christmas Carol." (1977) 3/5

Year Two. Day Three: "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" (2009)

For the first time in two seasons of writing this blog, I have found myself utterly floored by my viewing experience - simply because more so than any other adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" this one is resolutely not aimed at me, at all. Not one bit.

Dora the Explorer is an American educational show aimed at the under fives which attempts to teach basic principals of language, reading and interaction.

Being a thirty-two year old man with no children of my own, this poses something of a quandary for me. How am I to judge the quality of something that has no interest in whether or not I enjoy or understand it? Well the same could be said for many of the previous adaptations and that didn't stop me then, so I shall try my best.

Dora is preparing for Christmas with a Nochebeuna party - a Latin American Christmas Eve celebration. I'm not entirely sure who she is, or what she is doing without parents or guardians at Christmas, nor why her only friends seem to be animals and a talking backpack.

This version's Scrooge is a mischievous creature of indiscernible origin named Swiper, who decides to steal the star from the top of the Christmas tree and in doing so, earns himself a spot on Santa's "Naughty List."

It's up to Dora to travel back in time, and to the future to save her friend from the ire of Father Christmas, with a handful of songs, lessons and cloyingly repetitive interactions.

Young children will probably love this, but as far as Christmas specials go, I can't help but think it is clearly lacking in quality as far as animation or writing are concerned. Shows primarily aimed at a similar audience such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, have consistently proven that just because your primary audience is young girls, it doesn't mean that your product has to be rubbish, cheap looking - or even worse, a cynical cash in for parents to buy in the build up to Christmas.

That said, it's innocent and innocuous enough to while a precious hour of childhood away on and it's just possible that the sickly sweet morals and rudimentary life skills it attempts to instil might somehow be doing some good in the long run.

As repetitive as an advent calender.

"Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure." (2009) 2/5

Year Two. Day Two: "An All Dogs Christmas Carol" (1998)

This sequel to the moderately well remembered 1989 movie "All Dogs go to Heaven" is a made for TV canine retelling of the tale, with each of the roles being filled by one of the original film's characters.

This adaptation begins in heaven, with a bunch of puppies (whose no doubt tragically young deaths are never explained) who are sitting down to be read a story - the perennial seasonal classic which provides the inspiration for this film.

From thereon in, it is clear that this is not a standard retelling of A Christmas Carol, and not simply because it is told through animated dogs, but because it features a witch, spell casting, mass hypnosis, a climactic finale aboard rooftops in a thunderstorm and any number of strange and confusing sub-plots.

It follows a greedy pit bull, Carface, who is gleefully collecting upon his debts on a Christmas Eve in San Francisco. That night he is visited by a series of dogs, the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future, who attempt to appeal to the dog's generosity and to save Timmy, a sickly puppy whose family can no longer afford to look after him.

This is not a good adaptation at all. Aside from featuring some of the most mirthless and unmemorable musical interludes and a story so convoluted as to be almost impenetrable, this version's greatest crime is to inject a rather ugly kick of evangelism towards the end - tedious enough in most stories, but unforgivable in an adaptation of a completely secular fable which is not about generosity for the sake of avoiding hell, but for the sake of it being the right thing to do.

In fact, the only time this movie demonstrates any sense of conviction, is when it is telling its young audience of the realities of hell and reminding them that they shall go there too if they do not learn the same message that Scrooge, or in this case, Carface does. This kind of emotional hostage taking is inexcusable in any adaptation of a book which demonstrates such a sense of generosity of spirit towards all people.


This tedious, preachy and visually grimy adaptation of the great book is in many ways, the worst I have ever seen. Mean in spirit and devoid of any sense of magic, this lifeless version serves only the purpose of indoctrinating young
minds, and making a few grubby bucks on the side.

As joyful as a dead dog in the snow.

"An All Dogs Christmas Carol" (1998) 1/5

Year Two. Day One: "Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol" (2010)

T'is the season, yet again, for my Christmas Carol challenge, and I have returned with 24 more versions of the classic Christmas tale.

I shall warn you, that as most of the well loved and notable versions were covered last year, this time around, things are going to get rather peculiar around here, with some very bizarre adaptations!

For my first day of the challenge, I watched this absolutely splendid version, which is hard to describe as an adaptation, more as a new story inspired by Dickens' tale.

Michael Gambon is the Scrooge-like antagonist of this version, Kazran Sardick; a seemingly heartless miser who harvests the frozen bodies of those who are indebted to him as "collateral," in a huge underground crypt. As one of many nods to the original, he describes these people in stasis as "the excess population."

Meanwhile, a huge spaceship with over 4,000 people aboard, is hurtling towards earth, with only the sympathy of Sardick to save them - that is, if he can ever find his heart.

The Doctor is on hand to lead Sardick back to his childhood, through labyrinths of memories of his cruel father, a vicious flying shark and a beautiful woman who has been frozen for years in an underground capsule.

Amy Pond, appears as a hologram to serve as the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present and she, along with the Doctor, gradually find ways to thaw this unkind man's heart.

To say anymore would be to ruin a genuine Christmas treasure. This story plays homage to its source but is not bound by it (there are no flying sharks in the original, more's the pity!)

With a truly moving ending, that is completely in the spirit of Dickens' book: that anyone, regardless of how wicked they may seem, is capable of redemption and deserving of a second chance. It may not be one of the most faithful adaptations of A Christmas Carol, but it is a haunting, beautiful tale of long lost love and that most overlooked of traits: simple human kindness - and that there is no such thing as an "uninteresting person."

As festive as snow falling on Gallifrey.


"Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol." 5/5