Balladeer’s Blogs Fourteenth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with reviews of multiple versions of A Christmas Carol, both new reviews AND old favorites mixed in.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2006) – This computer-animation version of the Dickens classic was produced by BKN and distributed by Genius Entertainment, Kidtoon Films and Image Entertainment. Ric Machin directed. The 48 minute film had a brief theatrical run in November of 2006 before being released on home video.
If you’re in the mood for a shallow, “just going through the motions” rendition of A Christmas Carol then THIS is the version for you! The target audience seems to have been very, very young children so all strong emotional content has been removed, leaving the shell of the actual story.
The computer animation, though dated by today’s standards, was very good for 2006 and probably delighted children. Anthropomorphic animals play the characters, with skunks as Ebenezer Scrooge and his nephew Fred, rabbits as Bob Cratchit and his family, an anteater as Jacob Marley and so on.
Taking the story beat by beat:
OPENING AT SCROOGE AND MARLEY’S – Mrs Cratchit and Tiny Tim, bum leg and all, are outside in the streets waiting to walk Bob Cratchit home when his workday is over. Inside the office, Ebenezer Scrooge is trying to blame the timid Bob Cratchit for the loss of a shilling from his fortune.
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ROUND TWO: GAME ONE – This shootout saw the COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES visit the UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA-WESTERN BULLDOGS. The Coyotes owned the opening Half, leading 28-7 by the break. From there the Bulldogs mounted a rally, pulling to within 35-21 in the 3rd Quarter before College of Idaho held on in the 4th for a 49-42 win. 
ROUND TWO: GAME TWO – The defending national champions – the NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS – hosted the DORDT UNIVERSITY DEFENDERS yesterday. The 1st Quarter ended in a 7-0 Red Raiders lead. And then … the defenses dominated so thoroughly that no more points were scored the rest of the way, making 7-0 the final – if flukish – tally. 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #44 (November 1965) 
Through a comic book coincidence, the Human Torch gets caught in the middle of a fight between the super villainess called Medusa and her fellow Inhuman called Gorgon. 
If it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving, then regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know it’s the day when I kick off my annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon in which I review several versions of A Christmas Carol. I look at movies, television shows, radio shows and books which adapt the Dickens classic. Every year I present new reviews with a few old classics mixed in since newer readers will have missed them. 
THE PASSION OF SCROOGE (2018) – This 62-minute offering which is out on video is one of the opera versions of A Christmas Carol, NOT the x-rated version which is titled The Passions of Carol. I want to avoid any confusion, right off the bat. 
NUMBER NINETY-NINE – Yesterday was the 99th Turkey Day Classic, the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between the NCAA Division Two TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY GOLDEN TIGERS and the home standing NCAA Division One ALABAMA STATE HORNETS. 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy this holiday and the hope for peaceful coexistence represented by the possibly mythic meal that it commemorates. The kind of self-righteous killjoys who bash Thanksgiving are the type of sanctimonious idiots that are fun to laugh at since they have no identity outside of their ephemeral political concerns. 
SUPERSONIC SAUCER (1956) – In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday Balladeer’s Blog presents a look at another harmless, all-ages sci-fi turkey, this one from England. Supersonic Saucer was produced by our old friends in Great Britain’s Children’s Film Foundation, the same group behind 
Top-billed actress Marcia Manolescue, an English actress of Asian descent, plays Sumac, one of the students whose family could not pay travel fare home and back. Another such student is Greta (Gillian Harrison) and rounding things out is Adolphus (Andrew Mette-Harrison), the tubby youngest character. 
We viewers know the kids are in the right, and the spaceship/ flying saucer is really a Venusian youngster. That alien entity used its race’s ability to morph from Muppet-like form to amoeboid form to flying saucer form fit for interplanetary travel. 
The goofy looking Venusian resembles a thick, tall worm in a white hijab in its “normal” form but is hilariously rendered as a cartoon flying saucer with eyes for its airborne and spacefaring form. The “special” effect is as laughable as the cartoon spaceships in American movies like Invaders from Mars.
THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE! ONE OF THE GREATEST HOLIDAYS OF THE YEAR! In the midst of the travails that inevitably complicate our lives it’s a great time for taking stock of the positives that we can find. 
METROPOLIS – Volumes have been written about Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent movie sci-fi masterpiece. I love the film myself but rather than write the 9,899,974th glowing review of the 1927 original I will instead take a look at the 1984 re-issue, produced by Giorgio Moroder, who also did soundtracks for movies like Scarface, Midnight Express, and later Top Gun.
Rather than have the usual classical or similar music play as accompaniment to a silent movie, composer Giorgio Moroder wrote a rock and pop music score to attract a generation of filmgoers who might otherwise have never sat through a silent movie in their lives. Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant and Billy Squier were among those performing Moroder’s score.
Not only 1984 audiences but all subsequent generations of viewers which were drawn to silent movies in general thanks to airings of Metropolis (1984) may never have brought the new blood and passion to the early cinematic artform if not for Moroder. 
ROUND ONE: GAME ONE – The DICKINSON STATE BLUE HAWKS took it on the road against the MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS. This tightest game of the day was knotted up at 21-21 come Halftime. In the 3rd Quarter the Blue Hawks went up 28-21 and in the 4th each team added another Touchdown as Dickinson State beat the Orediggers 35-28. 
ROUND ONE: GAME TWO – This game pitted the DORDT UNIVERSITY DEFENDERS against the visiting OTTAWA UNIVERSITY BRAVES. Though the 1st Quarter ended in a 7-7 tie, the Defenders shut out the Braves the rest of the way. All the while, Dordt University added 14 points before the break and 14 more in the 2nd Half for a 35-7 beatdown. 
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