History Film / TheMuppetChristmasCarol

* DroneOfDread: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is introduced with a set of notes in a-minor on the tuba and cello.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As is typical with Muppets.

* HatedByAll: TheVillainSucksSong at the beginning showcases how widely despised Scrooge is, with upper and lower class people alike singing their dislike of him.

* ItsQuietTooQuiet: Scrooge's first hint of the Crachits' BadFuture is that there's no sounds of joy coming from their home like there was in Christmas Present.

* TheFilmOfTheBook: {{Lampshaded}} in the end, as noted in the trope's last word quote below.

* KnightOfCerebus: The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. Not only does he look more than a little like the Grim Reaper, Gonzo and Rizzo promptly [[ShooOutTheClowns hightail it out of the movie]] until Scrooge wakes back up.
* LampshadeHanging: Par for the course for a Muppets movie.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In "Marley and Marley", the brothers refer to themselves as "avarice and greed" both of which are the same thing.

** As well as the various extras who are recognisable ''[[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppets]]'' characters, several are from ''Series/FraggleRock''. Sprocket appears briefly at the start and joins the crowd at the end. Murray, Mudwell, and Begoony play a family, peering through a window in the street scenes. Brool (in a dress, now performed by Louise Gold) and Wander Mcmooch are guests at Fred and Clara's party. Aretha (now performed by Karen Prell) sings during the songs "Scrooge" and "It Feels Like Christmas". The small Inkspot creatures can be seen in several places.

** Later in the film Gonzo annoyingly tells Rizzo he is such an idiot. Rizzo who is oblivious he could have just fitted through the bars in the first place instead of jumping from the top has no idea why Gonzo called him that.
* CompositeCharacter: The carolling boy and turkey boy are the same person due to both being played by Bean Bunny.

* DarkIsNotEvil: As with all adaptations of ''A Christmas Carol'', The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. It takes the form of a huge, terrifying, grim reaper, but is just as benevolent as the other spirits.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The movie follows the book very closely, and can be seen as very dark for a Muppet movie. The emotion is often put before the laughter, Gonzo and Rizzo provide more than half of the comic relief, and the part with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is both scary and sad--and Gonzo and Rizzo bail on that sequence out of fear of the Ghost, saying they'll be BackForTheFinale. The Marley scene is one of the biggest PlayedForDrama scenes in the franchise, even though they are portrayed by JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf.

** Emily Cratchit calls Bob "Cratchy" in the same way that Miss Piggy calls Kermit "Kermy".

*** Caine's Scrooge is given a level of ComedicSociopathy in the first act -- throwing a lendee out of his offices, ''literally'', for asking for an extension on his loan with silence and a stone-cold expression, declaring his intent to serve eviction notices on Christmas Day (and when Bob points this out, snarking that he may gift-wrap them), loudly threatening to fire his bookkeepers for asking for coal for the fire and then chuckling at them performing an about-face to placate him, destroying the Christmas wreath his nephew leaves for him and pelting a child beggar (played by Bunny Bean) with it just for singing a Christmas carol outside his door and asking for a penny for it. It works in the context of the film's inclusion of Muppet-style jokes but is a departure from the book, where Scrooge is more about passive-aggressive grumpiness and misery rather than physical violence and outright meanness.

** Statler and Waldorf are usually a pair of elderly hecklers that enjoy taking witty potshots at almost everything around them and then [[SignatureLaugh laughing about it]]. {{Grumpy|OldMan}}, but PlayedForLaughs and largely harmless. Here, they portray the greedy and cruel Jacob Marley ([[DecompositeCharacter split into two characters]], Jacob Marley and Robert Marley, for this purpose). The scene where they warn Scrooge is one of the darkest in the film. They talk about their misdeeds when they were alive (they apparently evicted an orphanage when they could not pay the rent), and are implied to be in {{Hell}} or some sort of deeply unpleasant afterlife. Even their trademark chuckle only helps to make the scene darker, since they're really ''not'' in the mood for laughing and sadly interrupt themselves whenever they do it.

** In the original story, and in most other adaptations, Scrooge grumbles about giving Cratchit a paid day off for Christmas, but relents. In this version, Cratchit argues that all their potential clients would be closed for the day as well, so being open on Christmas would just mean sitting around wasting coal, and it makes a classic Scrooge line ("it's a poor excuse to pick a man's pocket every December the 25th...") work even better. [[note]]This argument is anachronistic, which is why Cratchit doesn't try it in the original novel: at the time, it was not uncommon for businesses to stay open on Christmas Day. The idea of everything closing down for Christmas didn't gain currency until several decades after (and possibly partly thanks to) the publication of ''A Christmas Carol''.[[/note]]
** PlayedForLaughs with the Fozziwig Christmas party scene. Exactly what Fezziwig did for a living is not described in the book (though one presumes he was a moneylender, since he taught Scrooge). Fozziwig makes rubber chickens. [[NoodleImplements Which apparently involves actual chickens.]] The film also posits that young Ebeneezer's job at The Fozziwig Co. was as an accountant (who was a bit concerned about Fozziwig's spending habits).

** Christmas Present is much jollier and continually laughs. In part this is due to the exclusion of Ignorance and Want. In part, it's simply a contrast to other adaptations (in which Christmas Present tends to be impatient with tutoring Scrooge in Christmas).

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Rizzo burns his feet, when he falls down the Cratchits' chimney and lands on the goose that's being cooked for dinner.

** Animal and Rowlf playing a drum kit and a normal piano at Fozziwig's party.
** During the [[VillainSong "Marley and Marley"]] musical number, when Statler and Waldorf bring up when they evicted an entire orphanage, leaving the orphans to freeze outside, Waldorf adds, "With their little frostbitten teddy bears!" Teddy bears didn't exist until the 1900s. [[note]] [[Toys/TeddyBear Teddy bears]] were created in honour of US President [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt Theodore Roosevelt]] (where they also got their name from), who, on a hunting trip in 1902, was offered to shoot a black bear cub tied to a willow tree, [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals but refused as he deemed it unsportsmanlike]]. Morris Michtom, the owner of the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines read about this in the newspaper]], and decided to create plush bears to honour Roosevelt, naming them [[MeaningfulName "Teddy bears"]] after him. Coincidentally, Theodore's son and grandson [[HilariousInHindsight were named Kermit]]. [[/note]]

** At the start of the film the inhabitants sing "Scrooge", a TheVillainSucksSong about how Scrooge is a horrible person that none of them like. In the end, Scrooge himself sings "With a Thankful Heart", a song about his change of heart and how he will work to improve the lives of his fellow man instead of making them miserable.
** In a rare moment a particular scenario starts and ends in the same place, namely the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. In the film, Scrooge's encounter with the ghost starts and ends in the same cemetery. Scrooge even lampshades this. "Must we return to this place?"
** The Ghost Of Christmas Present signals the start and end of his scenes with a similar line. When he first greets Scrooge, he says, "Come in, and know me better, man!" When he leaves him for the Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come, he says, "Go forth, and know ''him'' better, man!"
* BreakUpSong: Belle sings the song "When Love is Gone" as she breaks up with Ebenezer. [[note]]Well, she does in ''some'' versions of the film. See [[Trivia/TheMuppetChristmasCarol the Trivia page]] (specifically the CutSong and ExecutiveMeddling entries) for more details.[[/note]]

* SparedByTheAdaptation: It's all but implied that Fezziwig has since passed on since Scrooge worked for him, and several adaptations have even directly stated it. In this version, an elder Fezziwig, or Fozziwig as he's referred to here, is shown to be still alive in the present when Scrooge visits him during the ending.

* CultureJustifiesEverything: Rizzo wonders if the darker elements of the story would be too frightening for the kids in the audience, but Gonzo-as-Dickens assures him that "This is culture" and therefore perfectly fine.

** Caine's Scrooge is given a level of ComedicSociopathy in the first act -- throwing a lendee out of his offices, ''literally'', for asking for an extension on his loan with silence and a stone-cold expression, declaring his intent to serve eviction notices on Christmas Day (and when Bob points this out, snarking that he may gift-wrap them), loudly threatening to fire his bookkeepers for asking for coal for the fire and then chuckling at them performing an about-face to placate him, destroying the Christmas wreath his nephew leaves for him and pelting a child beggar (played by Bunny Bean) with it just for singing a Christmas carol outside his door and asking for a penny for it. It works in the context of the film's inclusion of Muppet-style jokes but is a departure from the book, where Scrooge is more about passive-aggressive grumpiness and misery rather than physical violence and outright meanness. Scrooge's [[FreudianExcuse extensive tragic backstory]] from the book also gets truncated down to just being lonely as a kid and then getting rejected once, making his bitterness at the world seem considerably less sympathetic.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: It's implied when Scrooge approaches the grave covered with snow, he has already deduced it's his own grave, while most other adaptations have him completely ignorant of this until he actually sees his name written on it.

** A mild case with Mrs. Cratchit. In the novel, while she did begrudgingly agree to drink to Scrooge's health, she did so only after making it aggressively clear that she was doing so only to keep her husband happy and not out of any good will for Scrooge. In the movie, she at least tries to act like she's doing it out of sincere Christian charity.

** A mild case with Mrs. Cratchit. Mrs. Cratchit did begrudgingly agree to drink to Scrooge's health in the novel, she did so only after making it aggressively clear that she was doing so only to keep her husband happy and not out of any good will for Scrooge. In the movie, she at least tries to act like she's doing it out of sincere Christian charity.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Ghost of Christmas Present lacks the children Ignorance and Want and is more passive-aggressive than outright ashamed of Scrooge for his callousness.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: It's implied when Scrooge approaches the grave covered with won that he's already deduced it's his own grave, while most other adaptations have him completely ignorant of this until he actually sees his name written on it.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: While not said outright, it’s subtly implied when he approaches it that Scrooge has already deduced that the grave covered with snow is his own, while most other adaptations have him completely ignorant of this until he actually sees his name written on it.

** Caine's Scrooge is given a level of ComedicSociopathy in the first act -- throwing a lendee out of his offices, ''literally'', for asking for an extension on his loan with silence and a stone-cold expression, declaring his intent to serve eviction notices on Christmas Day (and when Bob points this out, snarking that he may gift-wrap them), loudly threatening to fire his bookkeepers for asking for coal for the fire and then chuckling at them performing an about-face to placate him, destroying the Christmas wreath his nephew leaves for him and pelting a child beggar (played by Bunny Bean) with it just for singing a Christmas carol outside his door and asking for a penny for it. It works in the context of the film's inclusion of Muppet-style jokes but is a departure from the book, where Scrooge is more about passive-aggressive grumpiness and misery rather than physical violence and outright meanness.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Ghost of Christmas Present lacks the children Ignorance and Want and is more passive-aggressive than outright ashamed of Scrooge for his callousness.
** Scrooge has a minor case in terms of his relationship with Fred at the beginning. In this version, he's not quite as hostile and nasty towards his nephew as he was in the original novel. For example, he refers to Fred more than once as his "dear nephew", and when Fred invites him to dinner, he doesn't say "I'd rather see myself in Hell first", he just asks Fred why he got married, indicating that he politely turned down his nephew's offer.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* Rubber chickens don't seem to date to before the early 20th century, and probably couldn't have existed before vulcanised rubber was invented, which was roughly contemporary with the film's present, and therefore decades after Scrooge's apprenticeship at the rubber chicken factory.

* WhatAnIdiot: {{Invoked|Trope}} directly by Gonzo as an InUniverse example: Rizzo was panicking about climbing up a gate and then having to jump down from the top of the gate. After a crash landing on the ground, Rizzo... squeezes through the bars to get back to the other side to retrieve jellybeans, meaning he'd never really needed to climb the gate in the first place!
-->'''Gonzo:''' You are ''such'' an idiot.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Lampshaded below:
-->'''Sam the Eagle:''' Mm, you will love business. It is the ''AMERICAN'' WAY!\\
''(Young Ebenezer looks extremely confused)''\\
'''Gonzo:''' Ack! Uh, Sam... ''(whispers in Sam's ear)''\\
'''Sam the Eagle:''' Oh... It is the ''BRITISH'' WAY!\\
'''Gonzo:''' Good. ''(thumbs up)''\\
'''Young Ebenezer:''' Yes, Headmaster.\\
'''Sam the Eagle:''' Hmm. ''(looks around, confused)''

* CanonForeigner: The character of Jacob Marley is given a brother named Robert, strictly for the purposes of being able to put JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf in the roles ([[Music/BobMarley as well as a]] StealthPun). It works.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: The penguins' Christmas skating party, during Bob Cratchit's first song.

** The caroler at whom Scrooge throws a wreath sings "Good King Wenceslas", the lyrics of which were written in 1853, 10 years after the story's 1843 setting.