Kids In Mysteryland

Began today with breakfast and "A Nutcracker Scoob." Fred joins Shaggy, Daphne, Scooby, and Scrappy in the early 80's show for the first of three Christmas stories done for this franchise. The gang is helping a group of orphans with their big holiday show...but the show may not go on when an old miser threatens to shut down the orphanage, then the Ghost of Christmas attacks the production! The kids try to keep rehearsing while they figure out what the "Ghost" is really after.

Worked on my story for the next few hours. Rey can't sleep. Her mind is on everything that happened at the ball, her parents and Snoke and Ben and Finn and the Nutcracker. She creeps downstairs with Bee Bee to take another look at her newest toy. She's just almost fallen asleep when the wooden owl on the top of the grandfather clock suddenly comes to life, swoops down, and turns into her Uncle Luke. Her uncle is dressed very differently now, in a simple black cloak and uniform. A tiny ball of light flutters down, insisting that Luke has to help them out. The light's gruff voice sounds an awful lot like Rey's father...

Continued with winter-themed Scooby Doo while eating lunch and getting ready for work. "A Scary Night With a Snow Beast Fright" is from the third season of Scooby Doo, Where are You? that aired in the mid-70's. The gang heads up north to visit a professor studying the Inuit. When they arrive, the professor is gone, supposedly captured by a huge snow dinosaur. While the kids try to figure out where the professor went, Scooby woos an attractive female husky.

Work was actually pretty busy for the middle of the week and the middle of the month. A lot of people are probably starting to get ready for Thanksgiving next week. I spent the first half of my shift alternating between bagging and scrubbing the registers and the railing and woodwork by the back exit, and the second half returning carts after the other bagger went home. It started to shower lightly while I was doing carts, but it didn't last long. It was gone before I went home.

Put on the 1955 Babes In Toyland while eating leftovers for dinner and making Cranberry Muffins. This is the second of three live TV adaptations of the Victor Herbert operetta done in the 50's. Here, the story is told by a department store Santa (Dave Garroway) to a young girl who is waiting for her mother to taker her home. Dennis Day and Barbara Cook are the lovers, Tommy Tucker and Jane Piper. Wally Cox is Grumio, the timid toymaker who is in charge of puppets that come to life (the Bill and Cora Baird Marionettes). Barnaby is determined to marry Jane...so determined, he first lures her siblings, then kidnaps Tucker. Grumio and the puppets eventually come to their rescue. Cute if you like older operettas or are a fan of Day, Cox, Cook, or TV musicals.

Continued Lego Star Wars after the muffins came out of the oven. I did manage to get one more piece and the red brick on "Bounty Hunter Pursuit" and the last piece for "Hoth Battle." Still can't get the last piece on "Battle of Endor" or "Betrayal at Bespin."

Tried something different. Along with "Free Play," every round has a "Challenge" listed that'll get blue pieces. You only have ten minutes to gather all the blue pieces - with no extras allowed and no studs to gather. This isn't as easy as it sounds! I ran out of time only half-way through "Secret Plans" in New Hope, and it's one of the less-complicated levels.

Moved to another early TV musical as I got settled down with the laptop. Fredric March appeared in a semi-musical live version of A Christmas Carol in 1954. Evidently, this was popular enough to be re-done the next year and have a soundtrack album released. I think it's in the public domain - I found it on a random video I got from YouTube. Fascinating if you like early television or March.

Finished the night with another 90's animated movie on YouTube. MGM's Babes In Toyland came out in 1997. While it does use a few elements of the original story (including kids in peril, Barnaby, Mother Goose lovers - Tom Piper and Mary Had a Little Lamb here - and the demon finale), it mostly goes for an original story that's closer to the Disney animated musicals that were popular at the time. It's ok, fun for what it is, nothing special other than a decent voice cast that includes Charles Nelson Reilly (as narrator Humpty Dumpty) and Bronson Pinchot (as one of the goofy henchmen).

Babes In Toyland 1997 (Animated)