Stave 896: Welcome Back to Christmas

Welcome to year 13 of Mainlining Christmas, the best Christmas media review site on the internet. No, no, that just doesn't sound arrogant enough. How about the best site on the internet? Yeah, that sets expectations right where I want them: on the precipice of infinite disappointment.

Regardless, this year we brought a theme: A Christmas Carol. See, in the past we kind of breezed by the seemingly endless sea of adaptations, remakes, and re-imaginings of adaptations of Dickens's classic, reasoning if we'd seen one, we'd pretty much seen them all. But by that logic and the property of identity, we'd also have to acknowledge if we hadn't seen them all, we really haven't even watched one. So I figured I should probably sit down and watch through every adaptation that's been made.

Unfortunately, that's not actually possible, as countless versions have been lost, are out of circulation, etc., and we have jobs and a child we need to raise. So I figured I'd just pare it back to the essentials: the five or six versions that really matter. Yup, once I survived that, I'd have a solid grasp of how the work has evolved through film.

God, I was so naïve. It soon became apparent there were at least a dozen versions I'd have to watch just to check off the most significant. And the more I explored, the more I realized there were other versions which, while not as influential or well-known, sounded interesting. But I really didn't know if I'd be able to handle that many adaptations of the same story without losing my mind.

Fortunately, I decided my mind was expendable, so I'm pleased to announce I'll be posting a review of an adaptation of A Christmas Carol every day from now through the Christmas holidays. Actually, that's not quite right: I'll be posting one review a day as part of this project. I actually have a handful of extras, so you'll see two-a-day on occasion. I'll also be posting a few articles about the experience.

And, just so we're clear, this is in addition to the reviews of Christmas movies and other media you'd expect to see from us. It's not like we're only watching adaptations of A Christmas Carol this year. We've also got romcoms, specials new and old, and a bunch of classic Christmas films to discuss. We're finally going to get around to talking about the two "honorary Christmas movies" we've long held off on, as well as the earliest surviving feature-length Christmas movie recorded with sound (at least as far as I can tell).

Yes, we're back for another year of Christmas and all that entails.

Expect the first review of A Christmas Carol when the clock strikes one tonight.

Actually, expect the first six, because, well... the first write-up's a bit of a doozy.

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