A Thanksgiving Carol

A Thanksgiving Carol
	Season 4, Episode 22
	Episode guide
Previous; Lonely Lyon	Next; A Whole Zoo World

A Thanksgiving Carol is the twenty second episode of season four and the Thanksgiving special.

Synopsis[]

Adam wonders why none of his animal friends share his hype about Thanksgiving. That night, he is visited by three (technically four) ghosts, who teach him why the holiday has such a scary reputation.

Plot[]

It's the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, and Adam Lyon's very excited for it, since Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday. The animals at Charles Darwin Middle School don't care for Thanksgiving, and Adam doesn't get why the animals wouldn't love a holiday like Thanksgiving, and no one will explain to him why.

That night, Adam's visited by three---technically four---ghosts: Ingrid, the Ghost of Thanksgiving Past, Windsor and Slips are the Ghosts of Thanksgiving Present, and finally Jake, the Ghost of Thanksgiving Yet to Come (Adam was also visited by the "ghost" of Principal Pixiefrog, who had told him that he'd be visited by three spirits). They all try to get Adam to hate Thanksgiving, but Adam ends up loving Thanksgiving even more and even his friends end up loving it. However, during Jake's turn to "haunt" Adam, they're at the grocery store and the last thing Adam has to buy is a turkey, but all the turkeys are gone. This ultimately leads to Adam thinking (quite logically) that the reason animals hate Thanksgiving is because of the whole "humans eating turkey" thing.

To remedy this, Adam gets a tofu turkey from the local health food store and presents it to his animal friends -- but they're disgusted by it and explain to their human friend that they honestly don't have a problem with humans eating turkey on Thanksgiving. Adam's confused by this and questions his animal friends on the real reason they hate Thanksgiving. Jake (speaking for himself and the others) explains that the real reason animals hate Thanksgiving is actually because of all the parades held on the holiday.

Hearing this, Adam then takes his animal friends to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving feast with him.

Characters[]

Major Roles[]

Minor Roles[]

Mr. Hornbill
Mr. Mandrill
Mrs. Warthog
Miss Chameleon
Coach Gills
Horace Ferret
Kerry Anderson (As a Baby)
Henry Armadillo (Cameo)
Bull Sharkowski (Cameo)
Donna Dorsal (Cameo)
Mr. Lyon (Mentioned)
Mrs. Lyon (Mentioned)
Aunt Halle (Mentioned)
Aunt Shanaynay (Mentioned)
Ghost of Mrs. Warthog (Mentioned)
Principal Pixiefrog's Mother (Mentioned)

Production Music[]

Bush Trail (B) – Sam Sklair (title card)
A Hymn Of Thanksgiving [#3] – Eugene Cines (opening)
Big Ed’s March – Sam Spence (Adam’s Thanksgiving report)
Please Take Me (B) – Sy Gorieb (in art class)
Play Ball (B) – Mike James (Adam and Jake speak in rhyme)
Garba – Yasotha Somasundram (in Mr. Mandrill’s office)
A Short Intermission – Dick Walter (in the principal’s office)
Samba Wamba – Steve Race (“Seriously, Jake…”)
Ghost Story (A) – John Devereaux (the “ghost” of Principal Pixiefrog)
Victoriana – John Leach (Ingrid, the Ghost of Thanksgiving Past)
Alice Where Art Thou – Douglas Rogers, Richard Myhill (Adam’s Thanksgiving past)
Dreaming All Day – Joseph Aldenzee, Lambertus Damink (Baby Adam and Baby Kerry)
Ghost Are You There – Robert Viger (Windsor and Slips, the Ghosts of Thanksgiving Present)
Potato Chips – Wade Denning (Windsor, Slips and Adam’s flight)
Captain Pugwash – Johnny Pearson (“Ladies and Gentlemen…”)
Young Maiden Let Us Elope – Martin Price, Lee Pomeroy (a dramatic recreation of an average modern Thanksgiving day)
How Do You Do? – Denny Motion (Jake, the Ghost of Thanksgiving Yet to Be)
Sao Salvador Da Bahia – Armando Canfora, Joss Baselli (at the supermarket)
Closet Monsters [#36.02] – Kevin Hiatt (Jake tries to scare the baby…)
Sao Salvador Da Bahia – Armando Canfora, Joss Baselli (…and fails)
Happy-Go-Lively – Laurie Johnson (a Thanksgiving shopping spree)
Drama Eight – Barry Morgan, Herbie Flowers (in the frozen foods section)
? (Jake points to the frozen turkeys)
Waltz Scherzo – Jack Shaindlin (“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!”)
A Hymn Of Thanksgiving [#4] – Eugene Cines (Thanksgiving at the zoo)
Night on a Bare Mountain – Modest Mussorgsky (tofurkey)
A Hymn Of Thanksgiving [#3] – Eugene Cines (ending)

Trivia[]

This is the Thanksgiving special.
This episode first aired four months after "A Whole Zoo World", the series finale.
A number of newly mentioned Lyon Family members are brought up by Adam, although, like Adam's parents, they never physically appear. Such family members are Aunt Shanaynay and Aunt Halle.
This episode reveals that Adam and Kerry Anderson have known each other their entire lives, and that Adam's family spent their first Thanksgiving at Kerry's house.
Adam and Kerry kiss in this episode, though it's learned that they've already kissed years ago, back when they were only babies.
The fourth wall is subtly broken, when The Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past tell Adam that the show's about to start, when sitting in the auditorium. Adam responds, saying the show had already started 15 minutes ago. At this point, the episode had been going on for 15 minutes.
One of the rare times Coach Gills appeared, without being accompanied by Horace.
All of the animals unanimously agree that they hate Thanksgiving. While it's initially implied that the reason they do is because of (as Adam puts it) the whole "humans eating turkey" thing, which would seem like the most obvious reason -- but Jake ultimately reveals that it's really just because they're afraid of parades.
Lupe Toucan, one of Adam's animal friends, only makes a minor cameo at the end of this episode and her only quote is her screaming.
- She's also the only one of Adam's animal friends who doesn't appear as Thanksgiving ghost, although when Jake first came into Adam's room as the Ghost of Thanksgiving Yet to Come, Jake claims that Lupe would've been terrible as the Ghost of Thanksgiving Yet to Come, which is especially ironic, considering her lack of dialogue in this episode.
This episode features no ending credits gag, simply having normal credits play on the backdrop of a chalkboard, while an instrumental version of the theme song played. A subtle reference to the show’s impending conclusion.

Continuity[]

The billboard says "The End is Near", a sign to the impending conclusion of the series, due to this episode being the last one before the series finale, "A Whole Zoo World", despite the odd airing schedule (it aired a few months after the series finale).
Adam is shown to be a football fan in this episode, probably becoming interested in it, after becoming the school football team's quarterback in "Lyon of Scrimmage".

Cultural References[]

The title and plot obviously parody A Christmas Carol.
Adam puts the Yule Log channel on in his room, to warm him up.
Jake makes a reference to the episode's parody on A Christmas Carol, saying that Adam "Really went to town on the Dickens themed bedroom thing." This is a nod to Charles Dickens, the writer of A Christmas Carol, and how Adam's room has been remodeled in this episode, to fit the room of Scrooge's, as shown in the story.
The "parades" that the animals refer to in this episode are mostly in reference to the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades.

Errors[]

In "The Notorious Windsor Gorilla", it was established that the school had no art class. However, this episode clearly showed a class with "Art Class" explicitly printed on the door, where Adam and Jake were spinning clay. This episode could have taken place afterwards, though.
The aura of Ingrid's Ghost disappears as soon as they travel back in time and is never seen again since. Additionally, none of the future ghosts have auras.
- In fact, The Ghost of Principal Pixiefrog appeared at the very end of the episode, also lacking his ghostly aura or pale while color, that he had before.
Mr. Mandrill said he didn't even know what Thanksgiving was, when Adam and Jake first talked to him, but when The Ghosts of Thanksgiving Present took Adam to see the school play, Mr. Mandrill was an actor, lamenting about Thanksgiving.