Alternative Character Interpretation: Is the Ghost of Christmas Future (portrayed by Pete) really a sadistic asshole? Or is he just acting like one to further scare Scrooge?
Evil Is Cool: Pete's Adaptational Villainy version of the Ghost of Christmas Future ends up being one of the memorable portrayals of the Ghost due to just how much Pete oozes in evilness with that role.
Harsher in Hindsight: At the start of the featurette, Scrooge boasts about having Jacob Marley buried at sea. Alan Young himself would be buried at sea following his death in 2016 (though in Young's case it was intentional, due to his service in the Royal Canadian Navy).
Goofy plays the ghost of Jacob Marley in his attempt to warn Scrooge about what will happen if he keeps being greedy. In one episode of Goof Troop ("Wrecks, Lies, and Videotape"), Goofy poses as a ghost to warn Pete about what will happen if he doesn't change his ways. Sound familiar?
Another The Great Mouse Detective hilarity bit: in the end of Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooge delivers a bundle of toys to Bob Crachit's children. In The Great Mouse Detective, Alan Young's character Mr. Flaversham is a toymaker by trade.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: Some people wish that Disney didn't try to cram the story into 26 minutes and made it a full-length feature instead.
Magnificent Bastard: The Ghost of Christ Yet to Come, portrayed here by Pete, is a menacing, cigar-smoking specter from the future who takes the harshest role in scaring Scrooge McDuck straight. Showing Scrooge the glimpse of a possible future in which the Cratchett family lose Tiny Tim and Scrooge himself dies with no one to remember or care about him, the Ghost gleefully shoves Scrooge into his own grave while dubbing him the "richest man in the cemetery!" The Ghost's more brutal methods drive home that Scrooge must change his ways, something that Scrooge takes to heart.
This was largely credited as Alan Young's debut for his role as Scrooge McDuck, but he first voiced Scrooge back in 1974 for the vinyl album An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, where he also voiced Cratchit/Mickey and Merlin.
Regarding the short itself, kids who grew up in the 90's and early 2000s might assume this short was from Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, since it was the final short film showcased in the special, not knowing that its actual debut was decades earlier.
Goofy as Jacob Marley. Who can imagine sweet, lovable Goofy as a man who once embezzled from the less fortunate? Some could excuse that with the Rule of Funny that scene applies though. Besides, Goofy shorts like Motor Mania and several of the sports-themed entries back in The '50s proved that 'nasty' Goofy could work as a concept. It also works from a metaphorical standpoint—when he robbed the widows and swindled the poor (his words) in life, he done goofed!
Daisy Duck as Scrooge's past love is also a little odd, given the age difference between the actual characters, unless you take into account that Young Scrooge's design is based off of Donald's appearance from the 1950 short Crazy Over Daisy.
Donald Duck as Fred Honeywell. Granted, Donald is Scrooge's nephew, but there's something odd about seeing Donald as such a cheery character that doesn't get angry. Though, when he's in a good mood, Donald can be pretty cheery, and this Fred does get angry, so it's not as unfitting as the others.
Honest John and Gideon as the charity collectors in the earlier Disney book adaptation An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players. Both scoundrels are infamous for scamming people in their appearances and many readers familiar with the duo's antics would suspect they are scamming people on Christmas eve, siding immediately with Scrooge when he kicks them out of his business. Due to this, the animated special decided to replace them with Rat and Mole, a much more fitting pair of "actors" to play the charity collectors.
Bob Cratchit and his family visiting Tiny Tim’s grave in the Bad Future, notable as one of the very few times Mickey Mouse has ever been shown to be legitimately heartbroken.
Following immediately afterward is Scrooge seeing his own grave and nearly being sent to Hell in all but name at the hands of The Ghost of Christmas Future.
Squick: Daisy Duck being the ex-girlfriend of Donald Duck's uncle may strike some as being a bit skeevy.
, one of them being Mickey's Christmas Carol, becomes hilarious a decade later, when he ended up starring in The Muppet Christmas Carol.