I would have use the version from the official Veggietales channel on YouTube but for some reason their copy ends at Larry’s Silly Songs segment.
Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
By Charles Dickens
Welcome to the twenty second novel in the Chapter By Chapter review series. Also, while this is usually a weekly offering, for this last week before Christmas I’m doing this book all week, all five chapters (or “staves” as this book calls them), while trying to finish Captain Yuletide. This should be an easy book to track down, being in public domain. If you prefer a physical book there’s the library and it’s probably available in book stories, but a free eBook version can be found on Project Guttenberg, where I’m getting mine from, Google Books, the Internet Archive, and that’s just the sources I know.
This will be my first time reading this book outside of an excerpt in a pamphlet that’s part of my Christmas decorations. Like most of you I have also seen numerous adaptations and homages. I even saw one where Rich Little, a famous impersonator back in my day, played every role as a different celebrity. There’s also an animated version in the Christmas Specials playlist and a riff by Linkara of one of the live-action versions as well. I’ve seen Scrooge be played by Mister Magoo, Michael Cain, the fittingly chosen Scrooge McDuck, and numerous other animated versions over the years, and I think there’s something about the animated ones that really got the ghosts properly spooky, including the one from my youth I’m still hoping to track down someday. With so many adaptations live and animated that’s not an easy task when you’re trying to do other things in your life.
With that, it’s time to start the review, with a line that I find unintentionally amusing as an opening line, which is kind of mean considering the line.
STAVE 1: “Marley’s Ghost”
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First I have to come up with it.
Over at The Clutter Reports it’s time for Christmas break, which means showing off my Christmas decorations. I got to put the Transformers under the tree this year!
Comic reviews will also be taking a break as I focus on finishing Captain Yuletide and reviewing A Christmas Carol all week for Chapter By Chapter. I still want to post Christmas-themed daily quickposts, but otherwise the focus is getting the Christmas comic out by Christmas. I’ll be taking the next week off after Christmas to keep from burn out and get some other projects done. Hope you like the A Christmas Carol review, as I finally read the book the multiple adaptations came from.
Have a great week, everyone!
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“It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of Year” promises scary ghost stories at Christmas, so of course that means Scrooge and his ghostly encounters. And who deals with ghosts? Ghostbusters.
While the Filmation series didn’t have a Christmas special, the one you’d think would have Santa Claus being real, the Ghostbusters based on the movie did. The Real Ghostbusters syndicated run included “X-Mas Marks The Spot”, our happy quartet (except for Peter because he has a reason to be disconnected from the holiday) ends up saving an old man from three ghosts…except thanks to time travel it’s the Ghosts Of Christmas Past, Present, And Future. Without them, Ebenezer Scrooge is able to ruin the holiday for everyone even to present day. To save the future of Christmas they’ll have to return to the past and save Christmas…since they were the ones who wrecked it in the first place. Enjoy.
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It was this or the Mike Mannigan swimsuit cover. You’re welcome, ladies.
The Blue Beetle #38
Fox Feature Syndicate (Summer, 1945)
This won’t matter to the archival readers, but for the folks who show up, this was going to go up yesterday, but to get it out on time for Friday the comic review has to be done on Thursday. I was busy Thursday and just about got the feature article done. “Yesterday’s” Comic will resume next year, which is in a few weeks, because I’m taking Christmas week off. Next week will be the daily posts and my Chapter By Chapter review of A Christmas Carol as I try to finish Captain Yuletide, so this is the last comic review for 2023 AD.
Let’s see if it disappoints or if they got their act together. Read along with me here.
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I was hoping to at least finish the season one guide before the Christmas break. Instead I’m not sure I’ll have the episode synopses done by today, the final day before I take time off. That will depend on the word count but I want a decent intro for anyone coming in on the homepage.
Last time on Beast Machine Hunters, we went over the rest of the worldbuilding for season one, explaining the nature of technorganics, the time measurements of the “Beast Era”, and how this series would differ from the previous one. Today we have episode synopses for the thirteen episodes that make up season one of Beast Machines: Transformers. I haven’t watched this show in years and I don’t have time to rewatch them with the guide so I’m going on memory here. Remember, each synopsis was written BEFORE the script, so this is what Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg wanted to get into the show. This is a bit more detailed than the suggestions seen in the Batman: The Animated Series story bible so this should be interesting. With all that out of the way let’s see how many episodes I can get through before the word count goes too long. Hopefully I do all thirteen, making the first installment of my return shorter.
BW Media Spotlight 