List of A Christmas Carol Adaptations - Pastiches, Continuations, and Other Uses

Pastiches, Continuations, and Other Uses

The basic plot of A Christmas Carol has been put to a variety of different literary and dramatic uses since Dickens' death.

• On December 24, 1949, Richard Diamond, Private Detective adapted the story with characters from the series playing the Dickens characters in the style of the radio series and transplanting the story to New York City, with Dick Powell in character as "Richard Diamond" narrating the story.
• On December 20, 1953, The Six Shooter broadcast "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol", in which the title character Britt Ponset (James Stewart) tells a young boy who's running away from home a western version of A Christmas Carol, with Howard McNear playing the role of "Eben" (the Scrooge character).
• Disney's A Christmas Carol (1972) is an audio musical recording with six original musical numbers, featuring various Disney characters playing the Dickens roles. It was adapted (without the songs) into the animated short Mickey's Christmas Carol in 1983.
• An American Christmas Carol (1979), an adaptation starring Henry Winkler at the height of his fame from the television series Happy Days, where the story is set in Depression era New England, and the Scrooge character is named Benedict Slade.
• Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979), an American country music inspired TV film starring Hoyt Axton as Cyrus Flint.
• X-Mas Marks the Spot (1985), an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, where, on Christmas Eve, Peter Venkman, Ray Stanz, Egon Spangler, and Winston Zeddmore end up traveling back in time to England in 1837. There they unknowingly meet Scrooge and end up "busting" the Three Christmas Ghosts by accident. It is revealed that Peter's childhood was very similar to Scrooge's.
• A Jetson Christmas Carol (1985) Episode sixty-five of The Jetsons animated television series. Spacely orders George to work overtime on Christmas Eve while Astro causes himself to be sick. Three spirits visit Spacely to convince him that Christmas is a time of giving.
• The Odd Couple: In the episode “Scrooge Gets an Oscar”, Felix and the other poker players become Dickens characters in a dream after Oscar refuses to be Scrooge in a children’s play.
• Ebenezer Sanford, an episode of Sanford and Son in which Fred is a Scrooge-like miser. His family and friends try to get him to join into the Christmas spirit, but he rejects the attempts. Fred falls asleep and dreams he’s in “A Christmas Carol”.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: In the episode “Bah Humbug”, Mr. Carlson plans to give the staffers no Christmas bonuses. But after eating one of Johnny Fever’s "special" brownies, the ghosts of Christmas Past (Jennifer), Present (Venus) and Future (Johnny) visit him to show him the error of his ways.
• Family Ties: In the episode “A Keaton Christmas Carol”, Alex finds the spirit of Christmas in a dream when he’s shown visions of the past and future by ghosts of Mallory and Jennifer.
• A Different World: In the episode "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls," Whitley plays the Scrooge role over her mother's plans to visit the French Riviera for Christmas. She receives visits from the ghosts of Christmas Past (Mr. Gaines), Present (Walter) and Future (Jaleesa).
• The Six Million Dollar Man: In the episode “A Bionic Christmas Carol”, When Steve Austin is sent to investigate problems with an OSI project contracted out to Budge Corp., he discovers the problem is that the corporation’s owner is a cheap miser. Steve then uses his bionic powers to emulate the Dickens classic and convince Budge to change his mind.
• Alice: In the episode “Mel’s Christmas Carol”, On Christmas Eve, Mel is haunted by a former partner after he fires the waitresses.
• A Christmas Carol II (1985), an episode of the TV series George Burns Comedy Week in which it's revealed that Scrooge is good-natured to a fault, and all of Camden Town takes advantage of his generosity. Scrooge is so giving of his fortune that the townspeople end up taking all his money. This prompts the spirits to return and make sure Scrooge reaches a median between his past and current behavior. (In the second alternate future, Scrooge has been buried in a pauper's grave, under a headstone marked "Ebenoozer Screege.")
• God Bless Us Every One (Methuen, 1985) by Andrew Angus Dalrymple. An Imagined Sequel to 'A Christmas Carol featuring all the major characters of the original, expanding upon the Cratchit children Tim and Belinda.
• Scrooged (1988), a remake in a contemporary setting with Bill Murray being a misanthropic TV producer who is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas. Directed by Richard Donner.
• A Little Miracle (1990) is an episode of the series Quantum Leap; the protagonist, Sam Beckett, who travels through time by leaping into the lives of others, becomes the valet of a Scrooge-like industrialist, showing the industrialist the error of his ways by reminding him of his past via photographs while taking him on a drive around his future planned development, culminating in his holographic partner from the future, Al Calavicci, showing the industrialist what will happen to him in the future as he poses as the Ghost of Christmas Future.
• The Marley Carol (1993) Christmas Play in Two Acts by Dennis Drake taking place on the Christmas Eve Jacob Marley gives up the ghost.
• Sonic's Christmas Carol (1993) A backup story featured in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #6. It casts Dr. Robotnik as Scrooge, Rotor Walrus as Bob Cratchit, Snively as Jacob Marley and Sonic as all three ghosts.
• Ebbie (1995), a TV movie that brought the first portrayal of Scrooge as a female, with Susan Lucci as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge, owner of a huge department store, and some of her own employees doubling as the three Christmas Spirits.
• Martin' ' (1996), in the episode "Scrooge", Martin was visited by three Christmas spirits, to encourage Christmas spirit and the joy of giving to Martin.
• Ms. Scrooge (1997), a TV movie starring Cicely Tyson as "Ebenita Scrooge", managing director of a loan company, and Katherine Helmond as her deceased business partner Maude Marley.
• Ebenezer (1997), a Western version produced for Canadian TV, starring Jack Palance as Ebenezer Scrooge, a land baron.
• An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998), animated TV movie based on All Dogs Go to Heaven and featuring the villainous Carface as this version's Scrooge analog
• Whatever Happened to Tiny Tim? by John Mortimer (New York Times Book Review, 1992). In this short story, Tim grew up to be a successful businessman and gained a knighthood, but became even more heartless than Scrooge (beginning his career by embezzling funds from Scrooge's Christmas Turkey fund, then buying Scrooge out and pensioning off his own father). On Christmas Night 1894, he is visited by both the ghosts of Scrooge and Christmas Yet-to-Come who force him to see a horrible vision of the world in 1992 in which war, crime, poverty, famine and corruption are rampant. This story was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on January 1, 2003 under the title Not So Tiny Tim and was read by Richard Pasco.

• Timothy Cratchit's Christmas Carol, 1917: A Sequel to the Charles Dickens Classic (Dickens World, 1998) by Dale Powell. In this version, an elderly Tiny Tim is a wealthy immigrant living in America who experiences his own spiritual visitations on Christmas Eve.
• The Spirit of the Season, 1998, by Don Flowers; Paralleling the visitations of the three "spirits" 20 years before, Scrooge prevails on a grown-up Tim Cratchit to help to him try to reconnect with (and win freedom for) Marley's Ghost, during the pair's visits to three "spiritualists" on the last Christmas Eve of Scrooge's earthly life. Later adapted by Flowers and Fred Walton as a musical (Ebenezer Ever After) that premiered in Portland, Oregon in 2010.
• A Christmas Carol (2000), A TV-movie that takes place in the present where Ross Kemp plays Eddie Scrooge, a London loan shark. Jacob Marley (Ray Fearon) not only warns Scrooge of the three impending spirits, but doubles as The Ghost of Christmas Present.
• In 2000, Adventures from the Book of Virtues did an adaptation of A Christmas Carol with Annie in the role of Scrooge, Zack in the role of Bob Cratchit, Plato in the role of Jacob Marley, Aristotle in the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past, Socrates in the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present, Aurora in the role of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and an unnamed blond orphan boy in the role of Tiny Tim. A difference in this adaptation is that Tiny Tim does not die, but rather his feet get so swollen that he can't go outside anymore.
• A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000), TV movie that premiered on VH1, now on Lifetime, portraying Vanessa Williams in the Scrooge role as "Ebony" Scrooge, one third of a late-'80's pop trio called "Desire" and now an egotistical, arrogant, grouchy solo diva.
• Marley's Ghost, (2000), by Mark Hazard Osmun: The prequel to A Christmas Carol. A novel imagining the life and afterlife of Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley and how Marley came to arrange Scrooge's chance at redemption.
• Marley's Ghost (2003) by Jeff Goode is a stage play which is a prequel to A Christmas Carol along similar lines to the novel by Osmun.
• The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge (Ohio State University Press, 2001) by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. A uniquely philosophical take on the Scrooge mythology set in the afterlife with Scrooge on trial to determine if he merits entry into Paradise.
• Scrooge & Cratchit (Scrooge-and-Cratchit, 2002) by Matt McHugh. Bob Cratchit is now Scrooge's partner in business as they both face the wrath of bankers as ruthless as Scrooge in his prime. Reprinted in 2007 as The Index-Journal holiday edition insert. In print and Kindle/iPhone/ebook formats.
• Scrooge Blues was written by Nicholas McInerny and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2002 and re-broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 28 December 2010. This continuation, starring David Hargreaves, takes place one year after the events of A Christmas Carol after the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge.
• A Carol Christmas (2003), another TV movie portraying Scrooge as an arrogant female celebrity, this time as a TV star named "Carol Cartman", played by Tori Spelling, with her own talk show. Having premiered on The Hallmark Channel and then shown on ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas, the movie, currently back on The Hallmark Channel, also featured Dinah Manoff as Marla, Carol's stage-mother type aunt, and two of the three Christmas Spirits portrayed by Gary Coleman (Christmas Past) and William Shatner (Christmas Present).
• The Last Christmas of Ebenezer Scrooge: The Sequel to A Christmas Carol (Wildside Press, 2003) by Marvin Kaye. This sequel picks up right where the original left off, with Scrooge trying to right an unresolved wrong. This version was also adapted for the stage.
• Mr. Timothy (HarperCollins, 2003) by Louis Bayard. Here again is an adult Tiny Tim, only this time as a 23-year-old resident of a London brothel who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. Mr. Timothy was included in the New York Times's list of Notable Fiction for 2003.
• The Haunting Refrain to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (2004 revised 2007) This short novel details the lives of the original characters, plus a few new introductions, 21 years later. It is posted exclusively to the web at his time and is out of print from its original printing run. It is available for free viewing at www.dickensworks.com
• Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) the second Looney Tunes adaptation; this time, it features Daffy Duck as Scrooge.
• Barbie in a Christmas Carol (2008), Barbie stars as the female version of Ebenezer Scrooge.
• Of Christmas Past is a short comic strip by Johnny Lowe and Seaward Tuthill in the literary trade paperback Iconic released in 2009 by members of the Comicbook Artists Guild. It deals with Scrooge's nephew Fred facing the decision of what to do about a criminal who murdered his wife, with the ghost of Scrooge playing the role of the three spirits to try to save him from a path of darkness.
• A Christmas Carol – Scrooge's Ghostly Tale (2006), animated.
• Nan's Christmas Carol (2009)
• I am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas is a novel by Adam Roberts (Gollancz, 2009). It deals with the aftermath of Tiny Tim's parlous health. It turns out that the child was a harbinger of an infectious virus that threatens a zombie apocalypse, and it is left to Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future to rectify the matter. It is scheduled to coincide with Christmas 2009.
• A Klingon Christmas Carol (written c. 2006) is an adaptation set on the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS in the Star Trek fictional universe. The play was co-written and directed by Christopher O. Kidder, and was performed from 2007–2010 by Commedia Beauregard (a Saint Paul, Minnesota theatre company), and also presented in Chicago for 2010.
• Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010) - the 2010 Christmas special episode of Doctor Who is a science fiction story that borrows elements from the original. Dialogue acknowledges the source, and Dickens himself has appeared as a character in two episodes.
• An American Country Christmas Carol (2010) a new stage country musical adaptation with a book and lyrics by Scott Logsdon and music by Rand Bishop, Kent Blazy, Roxie Dean, Tim Finn, Billy Kirsch, J. Fred Knobloch, and Pam Rose. It was presented as a staged reading at the Boiler Room Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee on December 5, 6 and 13 of 2010.
• A London Carol (2010) - the sixty-fourth episode of Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life on Deck. Cody and Bailey collect toys for poor children. When they ask London for donations, she's too selfish to give anything. On the Christmas Eve night, London's mirror takes her to the past, present and future only for her to find out that everyone will loathe her and she will be lonely.
• Christmas Cupid (2010), made-for-TV movie starring Christina Milian as the Scrooge-inspired character Sloane Spencer.
• Batman Noel (2011) A graphic novel written and illustrated by Lee Bermejo, featuring a tale with the caped crusader inspired by A Christmas Carol.
• It's Christmas, Carol! (2012) made-for-TV movie starring Emanuelle Vaugler as an arrogant Chicago-based book publisher whose staff hates her so much they plan a revolt against her; her former boss, Eve (Carrie Fisher) approaches her on Christmas Eve night and functions as all three spirits, Past, Present and Yet To Come, showing her the unhappiness she has caused. Recently premiered on The Hallmark Channel.
• Orange Carol (2012), an episode of The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange where Orange's annoying antics are spoiling everyone's holiday cheer, then a visit from three ghosts appeared and try to make Orange learn about the holiday sprit.
• A Christmas Carol (2012), an episode of The Looney Tunes Show featuring a stage adaptation of the tale.