Episode #456: Tranquility Base Gets Scrooged: Part #2 - Marley and Me

[Episode 456]
Episode #456: Tranquility Base Gets Scrooged: Part #2 - Marley and Me
Volume V / Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Episode Notes

Part #2 of "Tranquility Base Gets Scrooged!" (Part #1 here) and stuff starts getting weird with self-aware holograms (the sci-fi equivalent of "spirits"). Marley's face on the computer screen is my homage to the scene depicting his face in the door knocker.

"And then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change--not a knocker, but Marley's face."

A Christmas Carol, Stave 1: Marley's Ghost, by Charles Dickens

I'm rather proud of my Marley figure -- there is no recolouring done on him, he's an actual all-grey (bley) minifigure! His transparency is, of course, an effect done in post-production.

There have been lots of adaptations of A Christmas Carol on stage and screen - which version is your favourite?

Transcript

Panel 1: A ghostly face appears on the computer screen on Scrooge's desk.
Caption:
Christmas Eve Night, still at the office
Marley:
Scrooooooooooge.
Ebenezer Scrooooooge.
Scrooge:
Who is there?
Marley:
Don't you recognise me?
Scrooge:
M… Marley?
Panel 2: The ghostly figure now stands before Scrooge.
Scrooge:
But you died years ago.
I'm hallucinating… I must have eaten some bad marmite!
Marley:
You're not hallucinating, I'm a ghost in the machine, a holographic projection.
I'm here to warn you to mend your ways or be cursed to share my digital fate.
Panel 3:
Marley:
For the life I led, I must now bear the weight of these chains for eternity.
All because I was a cruel, miserly mean-spirited, joyless party-pooper.
Does that sound like anybody you know?
Scrooge:
No, not really.
Marley:
Ebenezer, it's not too late for you to change.
Panel 4: Marley's form grows larger and looms over Scrooge. Scrooge leans back and covers his face in fear.
Marley:
Tonight you will be visited by three more holograms...
Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet-to-Come
Scrooge (in fear):
Humbug, I tell you!
{{gulp}}
Panel 5: Marley vanishes, his voice trailing off.
Marley:
Heed them well, Scrooge
SFX:
Vanish
Scrooge:
Humbug
Panel 6: Scrooge has fallen asleep at his desk.
Caption:
Later that night…
SFX:
Zzz Zzz zzz
Off-screen Voice:
Ebenezer Scrooge.
Hey, wake up!