How the (Muppets) Christmas Carol Saves Christmas

As is well documented I am not a big fan of the so-called holiday season. I could go into it but I'm trying to avoid things that needlessly raise my blood pressure as well as my urge to burn things so let me tell you about my favorite Christmas movie: The Muppets Christmas Carol.

And yes, The Nightmare Before Christmas is an extremely close second, but only because I usually watch that one on Halloween. 

Humbug

I actually love The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in all its various iterations. For me it's more of a cautionary horror story with Christmas as more of a backdrop. Scrooge needs to learn to change his ways and Christmas is the best time to show him what is truly worth living for (More on that later) but remember Scrooge was a jerk all year, not just at Christmas. 

The Muppets portrayal is my favorite Scrooge, and that's saying something considering other titans who have taken the role like Alistair Sim, Sir Patrick Stewart, and Scrooge McDuck to name a few. Muppets Christmas Carol has Michael Caine, the charming British actor that stole our hearts as Alfred Pennyworth in the Nolan Batman franchise. Here not only does he portray a great Scrooge, despite seemingly to be absolutely delightful in real life, but he plays a hard no-nonsenses Scrooge around the Muppets. He has no problem flinging some poor Muppet man out his door while he's begging for an extension on his mortgage or nailing Bean Bunny with a Christmas wreath. 

Juxtapose this with Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island (Seriously why aren't they making more Muppet movies based on classic literature?!). In it you can tell Curry is having a wonderful time playing with the Muppets, and it's a joy to watch, but he's also the villain and any tone of threat from him is completely lost as he hams it up. 

Tiny Frog

Here's the part of the film that for me seals the deal and warms my own Scroogy heart: Tiny Tim. I will argue that the lynch pin in Scrooge's conversion is when he sees the Cratchit's youngest son and how hard he has it in life yet never lets his hardships get him down. As opposed to Scrooges, Tiny Tims for me are hit-and-miss, as they are usually healthy looking kids handed a crutch and a flat cap and told to smile (Except in Scrooged where Tiny Tim is emotionally traumatized and doesn't talk, an interesting take since the film takes place in contemporary times).

Here Tiny Tim is played by Robin the Frog (Bet you didn't know he had a name--read a book!) who is physically smaller than most of the other Muppets, including his three siblings who were made for the film. Tim's size and the persistent cough make him look especially vulnerable, but the part that guts me is when he starts coughing. Now of course in this film Bob Cratchit is Kermit the Frog and thus of course his wife Emily is the Supermodel of the World Miss Piggy. They didn't really change Piggy's personality in the film, making her just as loud and extra as she usually is (She wears her purple satin gloves with her poor Londoner dress and threatens to punch Scrooge off her porch--note to self, make fan post about Miss Piggy) but when Tiny Tim starts to cough she immediately softens and helps him to his chair. There's something about the loud boisterous takes no-nonsense character softening so fast for another character that breaks my heart because it shows how much the character loves them to let down their guards and show genuine love. This happens twice, first when Tiny Tim comes home and gets overexcited about Christmas dinner and second after his adorable song (We haven't even talked about the music in this thing which is pure FIRE). Before this, we see Scrooge kind of getting into the spirit of Christmas with the Ghost of Christmas Present but that was more of seeing the fun he'd been missing out on, but seeing Tiny Tim and hearing his song Caine visibly softens as he realizes that a majority of this child's suffering has been caused by him treating Bob Cratchit like garbage. 

The real icing on the emotional cake that is the Tiny Tim scene is when he asks the Ghost if Tiny Tim will live, to which the Ghost replies "...If these shadows remain unaltered, the child will die. But if he's going to die then he better do it-and decrease the surplus population!" Here the Ghost throws Scrooge's words right back in his face, making the miser realize that this child is one of the people he so callously dismissed and condemned to death earlier that day. 

The emotions reach their lowest with the Ghost of Christmas Future where they show the family mourning the loss of Tiny Tim. Miss Piggy is actually shown crying in this scene. Now I've watched every Muppet thing ever created and I don't think in any other time in history Miss Piggy has ever once cried over anything, so there's a gut punch if ever there was one. All the light and happiness that used to be in this household is dimmed and Scrooge gets to see exactly where his actions will lead him if he stays on his course. The tombstone scene is nothing compared to seeing Miss Piggy cry. 

Carols from The Christmas Carol

Okay now that I'm out of my emotions and have stopped crying over a frog puppet let me end this with one last note about the music: It's amazing. The Muppets are famous for their big bombastic musical numbers culminating in kick lines, but here the songs are different. They're still fun but they're more subtle, honoring Christmas and the story without distracting from the flow. A number like Cabin Fever from Muppets Treasure Island or Happiness Hotel from The Great Muppet Caper just wouldn't work in the story of the Christmas Carol. 

I don't have the vocabulary to describe why I love the songs so much, so what I will do is post my favorite Muppets Christmas Carol songs below and hopefully the songs themselves can be enough to get my point across. 

-JOE

My Favorite Christmas Episodes

(Guest post by TJ)

If you know me, you know my birthday is Christmas Eve. Also, you’d know that I love the Christmas season and Christmas movies are some of my favorite things. But a good Christmas episode is equally compelling to me. Today, I’m going to share seven of my favorites from some of my favorite TV shows (along with honorable mentions.)

I Love Lucy - The I Love Lucy Christmas Show: Season 6 - Episode 11
Another thing you may wish to note about me is that I deem I Love Lucy one of the greatest television series of all time. Unfortunately, I think they only have this one Christmas episode. Unfortunately, this is a clip episode, which are sometimes full of nostalgia. The goal for the main four characters is to make a good Christmas for Little Ricky. This leads Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred dressing up as Santa Claus. At the very end, they dance around the tree and suddenly there are five people in the room…This is just a fun episode and hits a strong classic tone. But it’s also a reminder that Christmas is definitely about sharing what’s special with others.

The Simpsons – Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire: Season 1 – Episode 1
This is one of those moments where I get to say, “I was there.” I watched this episode with my brothers and cousin when it aired the first time. This hooked me to the Simpsons, a show that changed many times over the years while being the same. There’s an anti-Gift of the Magi theme going on here where both Homer and Marge believe the other has Christmas money saved up. But of course, a series of events leads them to not having any money, a sign of the show that this is about a family who struggles financially. In the end, Homer ends up bringing home a dog, saving the dog from being abandoned. Something that everyone loves. As much as Christmas is about presents for everyone, sometimes it’s about doing what you can for those you love. 

Friends - The One with the Holiday Armadillo: Season 7 – Episode 10
First of all, this is the episode where Monica says, “…Santa, the Armadillo man and I will have a talk in the kitchen. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.” But this is a pretty interesting episode. All Ross wants to do is help his son understand a different holiday, one that’s important to him. Being half-Jewish myself, I have appreciated my heritage and have been looking for ways to celebrate Hannukah with my kids to help them understand their heritage as well. But the humor of the random costumes between Santa, the Holiday Armadillo (seriously who came up with that) and Superman is what makes this episode such a holiday joy. 

Community – Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas: Season 2 – Episode 11
Community, at its heart, is such a diverse show, even in its holidays. In season 1 we learn that everyone at the table has a different belief system. But for this season 2 we suddenly have a Claymation episode because Abed has jumped into a delusion. We go through this Winter Wonderland in Abed’s mind as he searches for the true meaning of Christmas. (Gotta be honest, my 6-year-old loves this episode for one specific reason: she loves the Christmas pterodactyl.) Now, while I agree with Shirley’s statement that Christmas is about the Savior, the group does realize that Christmas has another point to it: the longest, coldest, darkest nights can be the warmest and brightest as long as you have those you love around you. This message becomes clearer as the study group sits and watches Rudolph together. 

Doctor Who – The Runaway Bride – Season 3 – Episode 0
This in-between episode that introduces Catherine Tate’s snarky Donna Noble has very little to do with Christmas…or does it? She gets married on Christmas…kind of. It’s the humor that makes this episode so great for me. (See the meme that goes with this.) But I digress. What is interesting in this episode is the Doctor remarks that there is nothing special about Donna, an insult to the fastest temp in Cheswick. But the real point is that Donna is special…not only that, we’ll see how important she is much later. Regardless, Christmas can be a time where we don’t worry about whether or not we’re special. The joy in seeing someone else feel special is part of what the Christmas spirit is.

The Big Bang Theory – The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis: Season 2 – Episode 11
This was Big Bang’s first Christmas episode and honestly is still my favorite. While Penny has gifts for the guys, this causes Sheldon to be extremely Sheldon-like and goes on a rampage at guessing how much Penny’s gift is worth. On the flipside, Leonard loses his new BFF to Penny and shows his jealousy when to the guy who’s attractive and super-intelligent. Of course, that relationship fails quickly. For me, this episode has the strongest chemistry between Penny and Leonard. But of course, when Penny gives her gift to Sheldon, he has a plan to make her go first. Of course, she kindly does and Sheldon is absolutely flabbergasted. He has no idea what to do since the gift that cost the struggling waitress $0 is worth more to Sheldon than the dozen gift baskets he purchased for her. So, he hugs her, showing that Sheldon can exhibit real personable emotions…in this case…gratitude. 

Frasier – Frasier Grinch: Season 3 – Episode 9
The Christmas episode from season 1 is probably one of the best episodes, but the character arc that Frasier goes through is removed by the next episode it seems. And even though this episode starts in a way I don’t necessarily appreciate, it has one scene that makes me cry every time. Frasier fights to get his son a specific toy and fails. Martin tries to cheer Frasier up, but it’s not working. Finally, Martin gives Frasier his Christmas present: the toy Frasier wants to give Freddie. In the end, this episode breaks Frasier’s recurring theme of “let me live my life my way alone and I’ll do what it takes to get there” to “I don’t care about anything else besides making someone I love happy.” Seriously, writing about this moment on Frasier makes me cry a little.

Thanks for reading! Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.

The Enchanting Disenchanted

Even though that I enjoyed this movie the average score I gave this movie is a 4.5/10. Where 1 is an awful movie that I regret watching, 5 is average, and 10 is the best movie I have ever seen. Disenchanted scored below average.

Plot: 5/10

The plot is average. From the trailer we know that Giselle and her family move to a new home and life is not as a fairy tale that Giselle hoped for. After Prince Edward and Nancy gave her, an Andalasia wishing wand she uses it to have a fairy tale life. While everything starts out well for her, she becomes more wicked because no stepmother is nice. The rest of the movie focuses on accepting our circumstances and undoing the spell with so many references to Disney princesses’ films, which was fun to tally.

To me I thought this was an interesting take on a story and would have given it a higher rating, however Robert’s arc is lame. Before Giselle makes the wish, we see the daunting trail that Robert is making for his family, but never becomes resolved. Instead, when the world becomes a fairy tale, he goes through a midlife crisis which came out of nowhere and he never contributed to the main plot. While in the fairy tale era he is hardly ever with Giselle.

Acting: 7/10

The actors did a phenomenal job in this movie. You can tell that most actors were enjoying their roles. I will just highlight a few actors that stood out to me.

James Marsden (Prince Edward): You may know him as the original cyclops in X-Men or you may have seen him in Sonic the Hedgehog movie as Tom. After watching this movie, I realized how underappreciated he is. He played Prince Edwards with such enthusiasm you can tell that he enjoyed playing Prince Edward. The only downside is that I wish he was in the movie more.

Amy Adams (Giselle): Her performance was outstanding. Like James Marsden you can tell that she is enjoying her time playing Giselle. She does a great job being sweet and caring and she makes a believable evil stepmother. She does the squint with her eyes throughout the movie that makes you know that she believes that you are inferior to her when she is evil. I loved watching her perform in this movie.

Maya Rudolph (Malvina Monroe): Princess Disney movies usually have one villain, and, in this movie, there are two Maya being the main antagonist of the movie. In the real world she plays an overbearing mother that likes control and after the wish is made by Giselle, she become the wicked queen. She convinced me that she enjoyed bossing her coworkers around.

Music: 2/10

Usually in musicals you want the tune to be catchy and the lyrics to be understood and repeatable. The catchier the song the more popular they will become. Alan Menken who is known to compose Disney classics like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas composed the music for this movie. Unlike the movies that were previously mentioned the music in this movie was not as great as his other works. Most of the songs were hard to interpret, and the music wasn’t catchy except for one song.

“Badder” was the best song in the movie. The lyrics was memorable by repeating fictious song title “badder”. The song was catchy and Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph did a brilliant job performing and singing this song. By the end of the song, I didn’t know who was badder, but I wouldn’t want to ever get on their bad sides.

Effects: 4/10

I think the effects was below average for Disney meaning the CGI looked not as realistic as it has been in other movies. However, this movie is supposed to be fairy tale, so the cheaper effects played well to allude to the fairy tale setting.

Cutting between scenes were good nothing stood out of place to me. I think the best cutting took place in the song “Badder”. The cutting between Giselle and Malvina in this song helped make this duet to be perfect. Both showing that these two are very similar to each other, but also giving a stark difference between the two by giving one a brighter tone color with the other having a dark tone.

Also, I should mention 90% of the dresses that Amy Adams wore were beautiful. I think my favorite it the peacock dress that she wore in "Badder". Disney should sell those dresses so I can get them for my spouse who would look better in them. 

Conclusion

I enjoyed this movie even though I didn’t give the movie high marks doesn’t mean that it was not fun to watch. Most of the actors seemed to enjoy playing their role. All actors from the first movie returned to be in this movie after 15 years from the first being made. I believe all those that are on the fence about watching this movie will enjoy it especially if you are a Disney fan. I personally enjoyed spotting all Disney references throughout the movie.

Pokemon Nicknames: Narnia

Like with her older sister before her, I've been making a point of reading from The Chronicles of Narnia to my unborn daughter. As I'm reading and watching/playing Pokemon, I've had some thoughts pop into my mind about another series of Pokemon nicknames. This time, we're going through the Poke-Wardrobe to see what we've got in Poke-Narnia.

Raticate as Reepicheep

Rapidash as Bree (or Hwin)

Dragonite as Eustace

Murkrow as Sallowpad

Ursaring as Bulgy Bear

Linoone as Trufflehunter

Lombre as Puddleglum

Gardevoir as Jadis

Jirachi as Ramandu

Yondu Stole Christmas?

Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special follows the same troupes that we enjoy from previous movies but is not memorable. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed what I watched, and it helped me realize that I have forgotten a lot from the previous volumes like Mantis being Peter's sister. Even though I enjoyed that this movie focuses more on two of the funniest characters Mantis and Drax there was nothing special stood out to me like some of the better Marvel movies.

The story starts off with a flash back of Peter in his youth wanting to celebrate Christmas. Yondu, being the grinch, stole his Christmas. Then the special transition to the present to Mantis hearing this story and wants to give her brother his best Christmas ever by bring him his hero; Kevin Bacon. Drax comes along with her as the kidnap Kevin Bacon for Quill.

Comedy:

Like all Guardians of the Galaxy the comedy of the movie is a highlight. I enjoyed Mantis and Drax dynamics. Watching them is like playing with your favorite sibling. You know that they are going to get into trouble, and they are going to enjoy every minute of it until they are caught.

When Drax and Mantis fly to earth everyone is staring at them and Mantis gets upset that Drax did not turn on the cloaking device on the ship that she told him to do. I think I enjoyed this scene because it showed that their relationship is not romantic, but more of a sibling relationship with one being serious while the other one is enjoying pushing buttons.

The best comedic moment was after they captured Kevin Bacon; Mantis and Drax find out that Kevin Bacon is not the hero Quill made him out to be, he has the most abdominal job being an actor. When they find this out, they are disgusted with him, and brain wash him to be the hero that Quill described him as.

Music:

There were a couple of Christmas songs that were made for the special. I liked the first song called “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is” because it’s an interpretation of what skeptical people would deduce if they heard about Santa Claus for the first time. 

He’s a master burglar

A pro at pickin’ locks

If you don’t leave milk and cookies out

He will put dung in your socks

The other song that was sung by Kevin Bacon called “Here it is Christmas time” and it was not as clever as the previous song. It is a more serious song, but it felt out of place due to the comedic nature that this series brings. It’s like taking Netflix’s Daredevil series which has a serious tone and making it into a comedy . . . .

Plot:

The plot of the movie is nothing special. I believe the producers intended it to be this way so nothing substantial is missed if people chose to skip it and watch the the 3rd volume that is coming out next year.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the plot of the movie is Mantis wanting to give Peter Quill a special Christmas. She thinks that Peter would reject her if she told him her secret about being his sibling. So, she sets off to bring him Kevin Bacon for Christmas.

All in all, this was a not a special special. There was one good song and a couple of good laughs, but it is not the best that guardians of the galaxy have shown us. If you have an hour to waste and you want to watch something new, then give this a shot or watch a new show. Watching this made me excited for the next volume to come out next year because I know that it is going to be better than this.

The Thirteenth Doctor

I recently finished rewatching the Thirteenth Doctor’s run before the Centenary Special. As we say goodbye to Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. Her run as the Time Lady was filled with controversy, largely because of the Timeless Child saga (but I covered that in a previous post). All the same, I enjoyed seeing her as the Doctor, so let’s celebrate her three-season run with a little recap. 

Series 11

Top Story: Demons of the Punjab
Sometimes I just really like these stories that have no supernatural villain. The “demons” in question are just there to mourn, which is beautiful. I also appreciated this episode more after watching Ms. Marvel and understanding a little more about Partition. There’s also the time loop version of time travel I love.

Flop Story: Witchfinders
Maybe it’s just hard dealing with impossible people, but I just got so annoyed with the witch hunters. Why couldn’t they just chill out, especially once the Doctor showed up? Granted, that’s discrimination for you… you can’t exactly logic yourself through it. The episode also felt like there were so many moving parts and it was resolved in a snap. A bit anticlimactic.

Honorable Mention: Rosa
As a white man, I have a hard time talking about racial issues, because I feel unqualified. However, even if you’re not a minority, I think the story of Rosa Parks can be inspiring to anyone who feels misunderstood or mistreated. Portrayed in this episode, it was heartbreaking to see how people treated Ryan, Yaz, and Rosa  (makes me reevaluate how I’m treating people around me too). Even more heartbreaking was seeing Graham forced to keep his seat on the bus and make history happen, no matter how wrong it felt to him. 

Series 12

Top Story: Fugitive of the Judoon
Return of the police rhinos from space! I think the last time we'd seen them as an antagonist was The Sarah Jane Adventures, so it's been a while! I loved the mystery of this story, introducing the confusion of who Ruth is and how she plays into the Doctor’s past. I’m probably one of the only people who liked this plot twist of more past Doctors. But we’ll get into that shortly with “The Timeless Children”. 

Flop Story: Praxeus
Not a bad story, per se. But again it had so many moving parts that I didn’t care for it. I can appreciate the message to protect the Earth and treat it right though. At least it wasn’t preachy about its “green” message, like Supergirl (they literally had a trash monster at one point–like something out of Power Rangers).

Honorable Mention: Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children
Unlike many of the more vocal Doctor Who fans, I enjoyed the idea of the Timeless Child. Unfortunately, I didn’t like how it was revealed (but I’ve covered that already). All the same, this story opened the door for so many other possibilities in Doctor Who. With Chibnall leaving and Davies returning, I doubt we’ll revisit it. But who knows? At least we don’t have to revisit the Doctor continually being given more and more regenerations… especially since the Time Lords are gone again…

Series 13

Top Story: The Vanquishers
A satisfying (mostly) way to round out the story of the Flux. While Chris Chibnall had written out UNIT the year before, we had them back again here, albeit very small. But I’ll take any chance to see Kate Stewart back, representing UNIT and her father. While overall I enjoyed this story, two things didn’t sit right with me. One, the Doctor just ditches her fob watch, after all that time searching? Not very satisfying. Two, what happened to the universe after the Flux? Is it back? Is it broken? Is it resetting? We get zero indication.

Flop Story: Eve of the Daleks
The 2022 New Years special left me wanting more. Maybe it’s because so many series have done the Groundhog Day thing already. I liked the Doctor’s scheming and how she had to adapt each time the loop started again, but it just wasn’t engaging for me, being thrown in with two new characters who are both awkward in their own right. And then there was Yaz confessing her feelings for the Doctor, to which I’ll refer you to my feelings about shipping the Doctor, regardless of gender.

Honorable Mention: Once, Upon Time
It was an interesting way to delve into the Doctor’s forgotten past and into the lives of her companions, while still keeping the story moving forward. I really enjoyed getting the Fugitive Doctor back, even just for a flashback (kind of). I hope we get to see more of her in the future stories. I doubt we will, with the change in showrunners, but I can always dream.

Centenary Special: The Power of the Doctor
I did a whole review of this special, but it needed a mention here anyway. We get the return of a number of Classic companions, primarily Ace and Tegan. The return of the Master and the return of various Doctor faces made this story heartwarming too. I would love more stories like this, with returning companions. And then that cliffhanger. Jawdropping.

COMPANIONS:

Yaz The Woman Who Fell to Earth - The Power of the Doctor
Ryan The Woman Who Fell to Earth - Revolution of the Daleks
Graham The Woman Who Fell to Earth - Revolution of the Daleks
Dan The Halloween Apocalypse - The Power of the Doctor

Favorite Companion: I probably liked him for the same reason I loved Donna Noble. The sense of adventure, plus the comedic timing from John Bishop being a professional comedian, lent well to making his character endearing and memorable. So while he was the shortest of the Thirteenth Doctor’s companions, he still outranks the other three to me. Also, he hit a Sontaran with a wok. How can you top that?

Least Favorite Companion: I’ve seen plenty of comments online over the years of people complaining about Yaz; I don’t want to do that. She was my least favorite of Thirteen’s four, but not for lack of character. She had some great growth, reminding me of Clara in a way (though plenty of people didn’t like her). Honestly, the biggest issue I had with her was the reveal of her being in love with the Doctor. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. No prior indication she was a lesbian. But I suppose that’s just how it is with people sometimes, closeted even to themselves.

And now we wait for the Fourteenth Doctor’s adventures in the 60th Anniversary Specials. If you need me, I’ll be watching some Classic Who on Britbox.

One of the great things about a female Doctor is being able to explore sexism in history,

Don’t Watch Pinocchio. Watch Pinocchio Instead!

(Guest post by Kobe)

These days, it feels as if every new movie needs to be connected to some previous film to be successful. Prequels, sequels, remakes, and spinoffs plague the movie theater screen and every single streaming service. So far this year, the top three grossing movies at the box office have been Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Jurassic World Dominion, and in first place, Top Gun Maverick. What do they all have in common? They’re all sequels. Even though these movies are occasionally decent or even good, the industry’s growing dependence on franchise films and remakes and the growing departure from original stories and unique films is enough to make a movie lover, such as myself, very cynical. If you’re anything like me, you get upset every time the next live-action Disney remake gets announced or released. No movie has done that quite like Pinocchio has.

Disney’s Pinocchio (2022) is a bad movie. At this point most, if not all, people can agree on that. It earned an abysmal 27% on rotten tomatoes, with it earning a similar 29% audience score. Critics gave the movie generally unfavorable reviews, with Alex Godfrey from Empire Magazine saying that “[Pinocchio] feels like an exercise. It exists because it can.” I watched the movie to see what all the fuss was about, and yes, the film completely deserves all the negative criticism it’s received. The movie feels lazy and passionless. The CGI looks gross and unpolished, the voice acting is passable at best, and the emotion and meaning of the story falls incredibly flat. You would think that with all this negativity surrounding the movie that nobody would bother watching, but the film did quite well and has a relatively large number of views on Disney Plus. Disney’s iron grasp on the entertainment industry means that they don’t need to be making quality content to be successful. Slap the Disney name on basically anything and people will watch it. This proves to be a big problem in the film industry, especially to movies like Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.

Del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) is destined to be a great movie. It’s also a movie that is predestined to have much less viewers than Disney’s latest version. Esteemed Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro has been working on this passion project, a stop-motion version of Pinocchio, since 2008. Lack of funding delayed the movie inevitably until Netflix decided to acquire the project. This movie, releasing December 9th on Netflix, recently had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and first reactions have been incredible, with the movie currently holding a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The trailer oozes magic. The stop-motion animation and the character and set design looks very charming. The movie also boasts an all-star voice cast including Ewan McGregor, Finn Wolfhard, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton, and Cate Blanchett. So yes, the movie looks great, has an amazing cast, and has great reviews. Comparing it to Disney’s Pinocchio, Del Toro’s version looks to best it in almost every way, but with less advertising and no notable brand name attached, the movie is doomed to have much lower viewership numbers.

Basically, the point of all this is to say that we should be supporting and championing movies like Del Toro’s Pinocchio, not another Disney remake. Disney could make quality content, they have the money and talent, but what incentive do they have to work harder when the low-quality content is already so successful? Time and time again people complain about these remakes that Disney keeps feeding to us on Disney Plus’s conveyer belt, but we watch them anyway. What does that say about us and the media we consume? Are we watching the type of media we want to support? Please, go watch the trailer for this new Pinocchio. Get excited. Get your friends and family excited. Most importantly, watch the movie when it releases. Maybe I hope for too much. Maybe this article is nothing but a Jiminy Cricket acting as a conscience to anyone who reads it. After all, Collodi wrote in his book, Pinocchio, that “a conscience is that still small voice that people won’t listen to.”

Captain Kirk's Enemy Within

Today’s blog post is brought to you by Paramount Plus and Unicorn Doggo.

Recently, after finishing the first season of Strange New Worlds, I started watching the Original Series (logical place to go). It’s cheesy and the effects suck compared to 21st Century special effects. But the storytelling is timeless (I’ve said the same thing about Classic Doctor Who). Working my way through the first season, “The Enemy Within” caught my attention.

If you need a refresher, “The Enemy Within” features Captain Kirk being split in two during a transporter malfunction. We end up with a “good” Kirk and a “bad” Kirk. But naturally as the story progresses, it would be too straightforward for it to be a matter of good and bad. I mean just look at this conversation between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy:

Captain Kirk: What's the matter with me? 

Spock: Judging from my observations, Captain, you're rapidly losing the power of decision.

Dr. McCoy: You have a point, Spock?

Spock: Yes. Always, Doctor. We have here an unusual opportunity to appraise the human mind, or to examine, in Earth terms, the roles of good and evil in a man: his negative side, which you call hostility, lust, violence, and his positive side, which Earth people express as compassion, love, tenderness.

Dr. McCoy: It's the captain's guts you're analyzing. Are you aware of that, Spock?

Spock: Yes, and what is it that makes one man an exceptional leader? We see indications that it is his negative side which makes him strong, that his "evil" side, if you will, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to his strength. Your negative side removed from you, the power of command begins to elude you.

Captain Kirk: What is your point, Mr. Spock?

Spock: If your power of command continues to weaken, you'll soon be unable to function as captain.

I wrote before about there being “grace in our failings” (as Vision put it), but I want to expand on that and relate it to Captain Kirk’s experience. As Alma taught his son Shiblon, “bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love” (Alma 38:12). As noted by Spock, Kirk’s “evil” side was driven, powerful, and passionate. But by reigning these traits in with his “good” side, he’s able to be a stronger leader. In fact, without his “evil” side, he had lost his ability to make decisions and lead the Enterprise.

Similarly, in an Animorphs book, Rachel got split in two and ends up with a “mean” side and a “nice” side. Like Captain Kirk, we’re kind of meant to feel that her “mean” side was evil. However, as the story progresses, it turns out neither side was evil. The “mean” Rachel has unbridled rage, anger, and drive… but she has no ability to act on anything but impulse. On the flip side, “nice” Rachel was too scared and timid to do anything, but she had foresight and was able to plan a battle like a war general. In our biggest vices often lie our strongest virtues. Can't have one without the other.

You can’t have the good without the bad. To quote Father Lehi, “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass” (2 Nephi 2:11). So the drive we have to act, to take care of ourselves (even in unhealthy ways), and to live may feel in conflict with our divine potential. But to wish away our dark side, we just end up with more problems (just ask Regina after she split herself from the Evil Queen). Both sides are needed. By bridling the “dark side”, we’re able to use that drive and those passions (as Alma phrased it) to move forward the work of salvation, to serve our families, and change the world.

It's a good time for some self-compassion.

Wednesday - Mysterious and Spooky

Ugh I needed this. 

Right as everything started growing lights and every speaker started spewing songs with sleigh bells, a black hole of hope lead me through this dreary bright holiday season- and it was lovely. 

The Addams are back. 

New Take

For the uninitiated, The Addams Family franchise reaches back to the first TV series in 1964, where it was a satire on the nuclear family. The show portrayed the Addams as being odd, participating in then unusual practices of tending poisonous plants, keeping insects as house pets, participating in yoga, and training with martial weapons. The joke wasn't that they were weird, but that they were weird and happy about it, able to live in society as strange but harmless weirdos and not care what others thought. 

Fast forward to 1991 where they family is revived with two films, which modernizes the family. Here not only is the family weird but there's an air of slight danger to them, making jokes about bodies being in the house and hinting that murder might be on the table somewhere. This darker Addams family is the version most people are now familiar with, as it solidified Christina Ricci as the daughter Wednesday, Anjelica Huston as the mother Morticia and Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester. 

2019 saw another revision of the Addams in a cartoon movie, once again modernized for the current age. Here they introduced more magic elements like crystal balls, but toned down the murders for a younger audience. Despite it getting mediocre reception a sequel was made which was received with less than positive reviews. 

Okay now we come to Netflix's Wednesday and we need to ask: What are we bringing to the table this time. 

Tim Burton. We're bringing Tim Burton. 

Finally. 

Addams High

Wednesday follows the titular Wednesday Addams as she navigates her new school, Nevermore High (Think of a mix of Monster High and Riverdale). Where we've seen the Addams clan vs the regular world, here Wednesday has to confront the rest of the weird world and learn to find her place in it, all while getting tangled up in a murder mystery worthy of her hero Edgar Allen Poe. 

Wednesday herself is recharacterized as a sort of goth Daria, being an anti-social writer with a penchant for threatening her fellow classmates with violence. Even among the other outcasts she's seen as an outsider because instead of fellowshipping with those that don't fit into the mainstream she chooses to alienate them as well. 

The Daria comparison isn't just for the sarcasm and writing affection, it's with how the show Daria is set up as well. Without spoiling let's just say that despite herself Wednesday finds herself to be wrong, that maybe she does value others more than even she thinks. 

The sarcastic unhappy girl archetype is the voice we need to look at our modern world and call it out on the nonsense that it is. It started with Christina Ricci's Wednesday in 1991, moved onto Daria, then onto the Teen Titans Raven in the good iteration of the series, and now it's back to Wednesday here. We need someone who is willing to call us out on our vapid society, even if we don't change as much as the characters would want us to. 

Death, Violence and Black

Wednesday, unlike its recent family friendly predecessors, is definitely more for adults than for kids. While the blood and guts is not even as close as it could've been (They're are werewolves and yet nobody is disemboweled How disappointing...) and the show has no gratuitous sex or nude scenes. Despite the subject matter and genre the show leans more towards the 1991 films, which is a welcome change from most recent horror shows which I can only recommend to my most gore addicted friends and family. Wednesday is a fun and safe adventure into the darkness without needing to call your bishop about later. 

-JOE