Monday, December 24, 2007

Mickey's Christmas Carol: Bah Humbug!

Mickey's Christmas Carol was produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released in the United Kingdom on October 20, 1983 by Buena Vista Distribution. The film was released in the United States on December 16, 1983 as an accompaniment to a re-release of The Rescuers.

It is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, featuring Scrooge McDuck as his namesake and inspiration Ebenezer Scrooge and Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit. This film was based on a 1972 audio musical entitled Disney's A Christmas Carol.

Mickey's Christmas Carol was the first new Mickey Mouse cartoon made in 30 years after The Simple Things.

In 1997, Walt Disney Classics Collection released three (3) ornaments from this film, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse (as Mrs. Cratchit) and Ebenezer Scrooge. In 1998, they were joined by Jiminy Cricket, the Ghost of Christmas Past (pictured above). All sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons, were retired in July, 1999.

In 2000, Parkwest/NALED released a full-size figurine of Ebenezer Scrooge. A Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) of 2,000 sculpted by Blaise Gauba. At the time of its release, it was rumored to be the first of a five-part series that never materialized.

What is Parkwest/Naled you ask? The National Association of Limited Edition Dealers is an organization that provides its member stores with exclusives to certain pieces. A store can belong to NALED and not sell the special editions. Their catalogs are produced by Parkwest, so you'll often hear pieces referred to as either a NALED or Parkwest exclusive.

Trivia: Most of the cast remained unchanged; however, in the audio version, the Blue Fairy (from Pinocchio) and the Queen (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in her hag guise) portrayed the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Future, respectively (the Present Ghost, like in the film version, was portrayed by Willie the Giant).

For your Christmas Eve viewing pleasure, below is a Mickey's Christmas Carol, courtesy of YouTube.com shown in three parts.

Part 1 of 3:



Part 2 of 3:



Part 3 of 3:



Mickey's Christmas Carol is a Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Cartoon ©Disney

3 comments:

Herc said...

Dear Santa or the elves at WDCC: please make the full size sculptures from this movie. I love all the characters. What a great series to start another Holiday Series.
Please please please.

luv,
Tiny Tim

DC Pop Fanatic said...

Tiny Tim,

Couldn't agree more. You need to join our discussion at the Duckburg Internet Cafe regarding wanting full-size sculptures from this film released.

God Bless Us Everyone :)

Daniel said...

The Blue Fairy? I thought it was Merlin? What version is it? Where can i get it?