Scrooge: There's more of gravy than of grave about you, sir!
Marley: That's bold talk for a man who ate me earlier this evening.
Marley: That's bold talk for a man who ate me earlier this evening.
Soylent Scrooge; or, Christmas Is Made of People is a podcast parody of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Made by fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000, it's a Black Comedy inspired by Soylent Green and A Modest Proposal while including many references to the original work, and other Dickens novels.
It's 1893, and London is prosperous and well-fed. And yet, something sinister is afoot at the Soylent Scrooge Canning Manufactory. When Christmas Eve production grinds to a halt after captain of industry Jacob Marley falls victim to the spinning gears, it's up to intrepid Food Inspector Bucket to get to the bottom of things. Meanwhile, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost and the three Spirits of Christmas in an effort to make him change, but the outcome is quite different than the original tale...
It can be heard here
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This work contains examples of:
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: Scrooge dismisses Marley as this at first, which Marley is quick to call him out on given the nature of what was done with his remains.
- Actually Not a Vampire: Scrooge thinks Christians are vampires and must be staked, preferably with holly. No one he attacks supports this description.
- Adaptational Villainy: Jacob Marley is responsible for corrupting Scrooge and convincing him to kill and eat the poor. He's also completely oblivious to why what he did is bad.
- Anachronism Stew: At one point, Scrooge makes a comment about Thomas Edison electrocuting elephants again. The story takes place in 1893, whereas the infamous "Topsy the Elephant" electrocution would not take place for another ten years.
- Black Comedy: Much is made of people dying, being eaten, and being hurt for laughs.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Inspector Bucket's final visit to Scrooge's home is the only thing not played for laughs, as he goes into detail over what he found in his investigations and tries to have him arrested, but Scrooge has more power than he does and has him killed.
- Double Entendre: Commercials for Dugan's corsets are full of innuendo about whale bones.
- Dramatically Missing the Point:
- Marley just didn't get that A Modest Proposal wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and based his business model on it.
- Scrooge takes the Ghosts' lessons to mean he needs to make even more slurry.
- Ground by Gears: Jacob Marley dies this way. What's left of him gets rinsed down the drain.
- Have a Gay Old Time: Frequently lampshaded by the narrator, except for one instance where it was intentional.
- Hope Spot: It seems like Inspector Bucket will be able to arrest Scrooge, but he has the law in his pocket and all of Bucket's efforts are for naught.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Surprising absolutely no one, Soylent Scrooge is made out of people. Scrooge also helps himself to a tin of Marley early on.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Fred's cheeriness and asking why anyone would be miserable on Christmas is answered by Bob Cratchit crying over his ill son and miserable life.
- Kill the Poor: Scrooge and Marley's business is built on killing and eating the poor.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After making a meal of Marley's remains, Scrooge finds it gave him killer food poisoning.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator frequently comments on the characters and what they're doing, and is insistent that characters don't die despite all evidence to the contrary.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Many characters from Dickens' other works are heard from or interact with the cast. Miss Havisham is the Ghost of Christmas Past, Vincent Crummles is the Ghost of Christmas Present, Uriah Heep is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and Scrooge dodges Inspector Bucket's investigations.
- Never Say "Die": The narrator is insistent that characters don't die despite all evidence to the contrary.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Several actors don't bother faking an English accent, which the narrator lampshades.
- Parody Commercial: Several fake commercials are heard in between segments, most of which feature other Dickens characters, like Fagin.
- Setting Update: The action is moved from 1843 to 1893 to coincide with the Industrial Revolution.
- Shout-Out:
- Scrooge's main competition in the food industry is Mrs. Lovett and her pie factory.
- Scrooge says Merry Christmas to the Bailey Building & Loan after waking up from his visits.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Uriah Heep says the real Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come's name is Gordon.
- Villain Protagonist: Scrooge is even more of one than in the original story, since his business revolves around eating the poor.
