Scrooge U : Part XL — “Bah, Humduck ! ” tries to toon up this classic holiday tale

Jim Hill

18 years ago

I have to tell you that "Bah, Humduck ! A Looney Tunes Christmas" caused a considerable rift in the Hill household this holiday season.

My daughter Alice just hated this Christmas special. After catching "Bah, Humduck !" after it originally aired on Cartoon Network back on December 1st, Alice said that the main problem with "A Looney Tunes Christmas" was that …

" … It had no heart. Plus the animators kept hitting Daffy Duck with stuff. Which wasn't really all that funny a gag the first time they did it. But by the 25th time they recycled that "Hit Daffy" joke, you just wanted to change the channel.

Where was the wit? I know that the Looney Tunes characters aren't all warm & fuzzy like the Disney characters. But shouldn't they at least be funny?"

Me? I have to admit that I thought that it was kind of ballsy for the folks at Warner Home Entertainment to let this "Looney Tunes Christmas" DVD take such deliberate swipes at Wal-Mart. I mean, sure. The Big Box store that Daffy owns & operates is called "Lucky Duck." But check out that blue vest that Porky Pig is wearing as he hustles after his boss. Doesn't that look an awful lot like the vest that all Wal-Mart employees are forced to wear?

Anyway … As is usually the case in all of this "Christmas Carol" adaptations, the Scrooge character is a slave driver who refuses to acknowledge the holiday. Which is why Daffy is ordering all of his employees (Who worked a full day on December 24th) to return to his store at 5 a.m. on December 25th. So that they can then begin prepping "Lucky Duck" for the after-Christmas sales.

Porky (who's the assistant manager of the store) tries to reason with the boss. He reminds Daffy that many of his employees have families that they haven't see in quite a while because of all the hours that they've been working at the store over the holiday season. Take — for example — Marvin Martian. Who hasn't been back to Mars in light-years.

After listening to this heart-felt plea, Daffy immediately demotes Porky. Thereby making the pig the assistant-assistant manager. Bugs Bunny (Who's shopping in "Lucky Duck" as all of this is happening) then warns the Duck that it's not wise to treat people badly around Christmas. For there are spirits who are wandering about this time of year, eager to get the attention of those who won't celebrate the season.

Brushing off Bug's word of warning, Daffy retreats to his office. Only to encounter the ghost of Sylvester the Cat. Who — just like the Duck is now — was once the owner of a Big Box store. But Sylvester treated his employees so poorly that they eventually ran him over with a forklift nine times. Thereby consigning that greedy feline to Cat Heaven.

Sylvester now warns Daffy that three ghosts will soon be arriving to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. The Duck then decides that the easiest way to dodge these holiday spirits is to hide in his in-store vault. (Which — to be blunt — looks an awful lot like some other duck's money bin).

Anywho … Daffy has just settled in for the night when Bugs awakens him by saying that " … There are two Ghosts of Christmas Past here to see you, Doc. Shall I show them in?"

Mind you, the Duck doesn't take this news lying down. He immediately leaps to his feet and begins battling these holiday spirits (Who have taken the form of Tweety Bird & Granny).

But these Ghosts of Christmas Past soon overpower Daffy. These two then whisk the Duck back to the past, where this trio then observes Young Daffy alone & unloved at the "Lucky Duck" orphanage. Which is where (supposedly) the Duck learned to hate Christmas.

After that interlude is over, Yosemite Sam steps in as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Sam then takes Daffy to Porky Pig's house. Where the Duck learns that — because of the miserable low wages that he pays all of his employees — Porky can't afford to purchase the one item that his daughter, Priscilla, really wanted for Xmas. Which was a Pretty Pudgy Princess Piggy doll.

Of course, what's really ironic about all this is that — given how badly Daffy treated Porky — the Pig is the one person to come visit the Duck's grave after he's dead. As Porky explains to Priscilla, he still feels sorry for his old boss. Given that Daffy never knew what it was like to have a family.

From here … We pretty much follow the established path for every adaptation of "A Christmas Carol." With the miser now reforming. In this case, Daffy demonstrates his newly generous spirit by first giving Priscilla her very own Pretty Pudgy Princess Piggy doll plus a boatload of Pretty Pudgy Princess Piggy accessories.

As for his loyal "Lucky Duck" employees … Again the writers of this particular holiday special seem to be making some pretty pointed comments at Wal-Mart's expense. Given that — as a belated holiday bonus — Daffy promises to raise all of their salaries, provide health insurance, even give these poor slobs a week of paid vacation.

So the making-fun-of-the-Big-Box-stores portion of this program, I liked. Likewise the smooth & skillful animation that's featured in this holiday special. Which does a pretty good job of recreating the classic look of all these Warner Brothers characters. And let's not forget about those cameos by obscure WB characters as Gossamer, Bertie & Hubie and Beaky Buzzard.

But — in the end — I have to admit that my daughter, Alice is right. The basic flaw with this holiday special is that "Bah, Humduck ! A Looney Tunes Christmas" isn't all that funny. Sure, there are a few jokes that actually land. Like when Daffy says that the only things that he truly fears are " … missing quarterly earnings projections and personal intimacy."

But — you know — this historically seems to be a problem with the Warner Brothers characters. That they just aren't able to sustain a story that runs longer than 7 minutes. As long as Bugs, Daffy et al were confined to animated shorts, they were the tops in toons. But as soon as WB started moving these beloved cartoon characters into longer form productions (EX: "Space Jam," "Looney Tunes: Back in Action"), they lost a lot of their fizz & fun.

Which — when you get right down to it — is what "Bah, Humduck ! " is missing. Those great big belly laughs that made all of those classic Warner Brothers cartoon so much fun to watch. Again quoting from my daughter here:

"I never laughed out loud at this holiday special. I cracked a smile a couple of times. But most of the time, I found myself blankly staring at 'Bah, Humduck ! ' Wondering when it was finally going to be over."

So if you find yourself in need of some "Looney Tunes" -related laughs next holiday season, might I suggest that you take a pass on "Bah, Humduck !" and pick up the latest "Looney Tunes — Golden Collection" instead? You're sure to find plenty of yucks in these 4-disc sets.

And speaking of things that are finally over … Would you believe that this is the 40th & final (for this holiday season, anyway) installment of JHM's "Scrooge U" series? Th-th-th-that's all, folks !

I will probably revive this series for the 2007 holiday season. Though in a much abbreviated form. Maybe post 12 more stories about other adaptations of "A Christmas Carol." You know, to both freshen up the "Scrooge U" archives as well as celebrate the 12 days of Christmas.

Anyway … I hope you folks enjoyed this experiment in specialized holiday content on JHM. I know that a lot of you were just chomping at the bit for me to abandon the "Scrooge U" project & get back to writing full-time about the Walt Disney Company. But me? I thought that it was important that I first tackle a project of this size and then actually deliver on what I had promised. Completing all 40 installments by the date that I actually said that I'd wrap up this series on.

Here's hoping that this is the start of a new trend here at JHM … Now — if you'll excuse me — I've got to get to work on tomorrow's "Toon Tuesday" column. Which has to deal with the Walt Disney Company's concerns about a certain CG film.

Your thoughts?