MovieChat Forums > The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Discussion > Fred...

Fred...

posted 15 years ago by JustEs
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Although I loved the way just about every character in this version was portrayed, Fred was an exception. Although I loved the scene at the beginning, when the Ghost of Christmas Present brings Scrooge to Fred's house, in every other version I've seen, Fred always sticks up for Scrooge, reminding Scrooge of Fred's mother, Scrooge's sister. This is the only version where despite what he did at Scrooge and Marley's, during the party, Fred really seems to hate Scrooge.

It's why I wasn't surprised when this is the only version where Scrooge hands presents to Fred and Clara but doesn't ask if he can come to dinner nor do Fred and Clara offer him an invite. If anything, it seemed a bit strange to see Fred at the Cratchits' at the end.

Did anyone else feel this way?

[–] redxherring 15 years ago

I see where you're coming from, but I've never gotten the impression that Fred hates Scrooge. Fred clearly demonstrates his good nature toward his uncle in his first scene, but that doesn't stop him from making the absent Scrooge the butt of a joke. I think he does this just to get a laugh, not because he harbors any malice toward Scrooge. For the sake of time the backstory about Scrooge's sister has been cut out and additional characterization of Fred is necessarily sacrificed along with that. Fred is too baffled to say anything when Scrooge delivers presents to him and Clara--and as for the lack of an invitation at that point, he'd already invited his uncle the day before!

Since the real stars of this movie (it is after all a muppet movie) are back at the Cratchit household, the final scene takes place there instead of Fred's Christmas party. If Scrooge had stayed at his nephew's house on Christmas day we'd never have seen Miss Piggy and Tiny Tim on screen again! Seeing Fred enjoying the big turkey along with Scrooge and the rest of the muppets just tells us that everything's alright now between uncle and nephew, and maybe we can guess that Scrooge will head over there after he's finished eating with Kermit and Co.

[–] jschillig 14 years ago

The thing is, in the original novel and many other film versions, Fred's poking fun at his uncle doesn't seem malicious in the slightest--and Scrooge even manages to laugh at himself at that point.

So yes, this is one moment that falls a little flat for me. My favorite Freds are Roger Rees in the Scott version and Dominic West in the Stewart version. (I get a kick out of the fact that in both these version, the actor playing Fred does the ending narration, only in the Stewart version, it makes it even clearer that Fred's doing the talking: "My uncle was as good as his word.")