1. A Christmas Carol
There's no debating that Charles Dickens is one of the greatest authors of all time. It really doesn't even need to be said as his work speaks for him. One of the most popular and well-renowned of those works is A Christmas Carol. If you don't know the general plot of this novella then you obviously haven't seen many Christmas specials as its the absolutely most overused of all plots in Christmas programming. Movies, specials, live-action and cartoon episodes have all used this trope in one way or another and we really can't blame them. It's the greatest Christmas story of all time. The tale has been adapted into numerous films as early as 1901 fifty-eight years after the original publication. Some of the more popular films include an Oscar-winning animated short from 1971, and two animated films one from 1997 starring the voices of Tim Curry and Whoopi Goldberg and another from 2001 starring the voices of Kate Winslet and Nicolas Cage. The Muppets put Kermit the Frog in the role of Bob Cratchit with Michael Caine playing Scrooge. Most recently the film was adapted into a 3-D animated film by Disney starring Jim Carrey and, surprisingly, staying true to the original novella. Mickey Mouse, Mr. Magoo, and Bugs Bunny have all done A Christmas Carol with Scrooge McDuck, Magoo, and Yosemite Sam as Scrooge respectively. Other adaptations include episodes of the Real Ghostbusters, The Jetsons, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Family Ties, Quantum Leap, Sonic the Hedgehog, and more. An All Dogs Christmas Carol is a feature length film that tells the tale through the eyes of the characters of All Dogs Go to Heaven. Even The Flintstones did their own adaptation with Fred playing Scrooge - literally, he plays him in a play the town is putting on. While Fred isn't visited by any real ghosts he does learn a lesson in selflessness from the play. Even Rankin-Bass - well known for their many Christmas specials - jumped on the bandwagon and adapted the story into The Stingiest Man in Town. A Christmas Carol truly is the most adapted Christmas story of all time as well as the most used Christmas trope. But as many have said before tropes are not necessarily a bad thing as without them - and without Dickens - we'd have far less Christmas specials to enjoy every December. What are some of your favorite Christmas specials? Tell us in the comment section.