The Energy Carol (1975)

• 71%
• 1975
• Animation
• Les Drew
• Grant Munro
• George Geertsen
• Gerald Budner

An unconventional version of The Christmas Carol. In this one, Ebenezer Stooge runs a power company, and he's actually nice to his employee, Bob Scratchet. But he's also incredibly wasteful of all kinds of energy. Eb goes home on Christmas Eve and turns in, leaving the lights on but when he closes the electric drapes on his bed, the lights go out, and the ghosts visit. Jacob Morelights enters, chained to a giant toaster as penance for his wasteful ways. Energy past (a candle) shows grandpa's turnip farm, bristling with oil wells. Energy present shows off his various bits of profligacy. Energy future shows a dark, empty city, with no more fossil fuel. On the hill, the cemetery, where Stooge is in deep freeze, but the power goes out and he won't be able to be thawed out. He changes: when he visits the Scratchets, instead of the usual energy-wasting presents, he brings some rather excessively frugal gifts, like a porcupine-fur coat for Bob and turkey flavored gruel.