The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
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 This is indeed the Christmas that almost wasn't...
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Chuck E. Cheese In: The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (usually abbreviated to The Christmas That Almost Wasn't) is a 1983 adventure Christmas special produced by Atari and Pizza Time Theater Inc. through an animation division known as Kadabrascope. The initial intent of the film was to test new animation technology that they had developed, which involved every keyframe being hand drawn and digitally generating the in-between frames (this concept would later be implemented in animation tools such as Adobe Flash). However, both companies faced major financial issues due to the Video Game Crash of 1983; as a result, the special was released unfinished at Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre stores, and a planned NBC airing was cancelled.
Plot
Chuck E. Cheese and Jasper T. Jowls try to get to the North Pole to send Santa their Christmas letter, while the elves try out robots at their workshop.
Why It's The Christmas That Should've Never Been
- The story feels like a first draft. The pacing is far too fast in the special, resulting in major plot holes. For example, it begins with Chuck and Jasper taking off for the North Pole with zero exposition on how Jasper convinced Chuck to go on the journey or how they got the robots.
- The elves are said to have not been particularly fond of the robots taking their place; this is barely shown in the special. As a result, the surprise moral "sometimes it's better to learn things on your own" that is brought up in the last 7 minutes of the special is completely unexpected and seems more like an afterthought.
- As a result of the financial issues its producers were experiencing, the special's animation (if you can even call it that) consists entirely of key-frames.
- The sound mixing is particularly bad and the character's voices can barely be heard at times.
- Wouldn't the house being buried in snow cause major working climate issues?
- Chuck and Jasper don't feel properly established as characters due to how little screen time they receive.
- Chuck and Jasper are the only Chuck E. Cheese characters in this special, with Helen Henny, Mr. Munch and Pasqually the Chef being absent.
- This special would kill the notion of giving Chuck E. Cheese a fully animated product for almost FORTY years until Chuck E. Cheese announced an animated show in 2020, slated for release in late 2025.
Redeeming Qualities
- Had the special been completed as intended, it most likely would have much better pacing and animation.
- The voice acting is pretty good for the most part.
- The background music is pretty cool sounding.
- A few of the characters actually have distinctive designs to them.
Trivia
- This was one of Scott Wilson's earliest roles as Chuck E. Cheese (He only does Chuck's musical number in the special).