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101 Dalmatians: The Series

A Christmas Cruella

Season 1, Episode 12, Aired Dec 20, 1997

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Cruella turns into Scrooge on Christmas and fires Anita. However, when Cruella hits her head, she dreams that the Dalmatians take her on a trip through time. She goes to the past, present, and future and sees what trouble she has caused, but will she change her ways?moreless

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Cast & Crew

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Pamela Adlon

voice of Lucky
Pat Corley

Ahab
Jim Cummings

Colonel, Ed Pig
Cree Summer

Various Voices including Princess
Frank Welker

Thunerbolt/Steven/Scorch/Cynde
Charlotte Rae

Nanny

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Best Disney TV series ever!...Worst Christmas special ever!

0.0

"None"

By aquabomber37, Dec 27, 2010

Okay, let's get a grip here. I am a huge fan of 101 Dalmatians, but mostly the TV series. I was hoping there will be a memorable Christmas Special to this series. When I saw the Christmas special, I was totally ticked off. It's basically just a parody on "A Christmas Carol".

When Cruella comes home from work on Christmas Eve, she gets a greeting from the ghosts of Horace and Jasper (who were apparantley still alive just a couple hours earlier) accompanied by heavy chains and stuff. That's when I knew right away that this was going to be a parody on "A Christmas Carol". I don't mind the cultural reference, but come on, even I can see this coming! Every episode of 101 Dalmatians brings an exciting, fresh and original idea, but this episode lacks originality making it a very predictable episode.

I wasn't too surprised to find that the main pups played the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas. I must admit, Cadpig was a very appropriate character to portray the Ghost of Christmas Past, and who else besides Rolly can be the Ghost of Christmas Present? Spot, I'm not too sure about. While she is the one of the main four who seems to have the most common sense, she's too much of a comic relief to provide enough serious matter into such events.

Lucky didn't have any lines in this episode, and he was supposedly playing the role of Tiny Tim due to his crutch. I thought it was kind of disturbing at the end when Cruella gave everyone office supplies as Christmas presents. However, I did find the very end to be very memorable when Cruella hugs Wizzer and gets herself wet! Still, this is overall one of the worst episodes of the series. If the plot was just a little more original, then I would have considered it to be one of the best or at least appreciated it a little more.

"So, what did you do today, son?" "Oh, you know...let a mad man make a cute little TV series and torment the resting soul of Charles Dickens."moreless
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Lucky, Cadpig, Rolly and Spot tackle Cruella DeVil and a familiar Charles Dickens story in this very special episode.

8.5

"Great"

By Trey_Vore, Jul 01, 2006

I'll admit, the first time I saw 'A Christmas Cruella' was not on Toon Disney, but my Amazon-purchased '101 Dalmatians Christmas' tape. It offers a creative satire on Charles Dickens' classic 'A Christmas Carol' and I've made it a personal tradition of mine to start watching it sometime before Christmas in December.

'A Christmas Cruella'--Cruella is being a royal pain to her employees on Christmas Eve, and Anita only wants to spend a nice Christmas at home with her family. Once Roger stands up to her, Cruella fires Anita. After taking a blow to the head, Cruella starts taking a look at her Christmas Past, Present and Future, courtesy of Cadpig, Rolly and Spot.

I have been familiar with the story of 'A Christmas Carol' since I was in grade school. Many forms of media cropped up to satirize it, including The Muppets, The Flintstones, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and so forth. They vary in terms of quality, but 'A Christmas Cruella' is something important in my upcoming Christmas, and it's not simple blind fanboyism. In a way, I may prefer this holiday episode to some of the others due to the fact I really like the writing in this episode.

Cruella is cast in the Ebenezer Scrooge role, who, in this episode, we learn that she had been wanting her parents to be with her for Christmas, while pining for a puppy that she never got. This gives Cruella a little background, indicating that she wasn't born evil. This makes her more believeable a character, because no one is evil for the sake of being evil.

As the Main Pups go, Cadpig is cute as a button (like always) and in my opinion, she got the best bit part as Cruella's Ghost of Christmas Past. Rolly, as usual, got the least interesting part as the Ghost of Christmas Present, but it was helped by establishing the miserable Christmas the Dearlys were having (No thanks to Cruella firing Anita on Christmas Eve). Tripod, Wizzer and Two-Tone established that their Christmas was a bust though the presents that no one would be able to keep. Spot was a little better as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and got one terrific line.

One immediate thing I did not like was, while Cadpig, Rolly and Spot all got a major speaking part in this episode, Lucky took the role of Tiny Tim and...he said nothing. Beyond a grunt, he had no lines at all in this episode. Just like his character in the original animated movie...little characterization. That's the only thing that made me dock this episode's score by a few points.

Beyond that, 'A Christmas Cruella' is a wonderful holiday themed episode of the series that would make anyone's Christmas. The writing made it quite humorous and heartwarming at the same time. Watching it before Christmas morning has been a personal tradition of mine since I first got my tape.

"Don't make me use special effects."
--Cadpig toying with Cruella's imagination...yipes, 'A Christmas Cruella'moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (10)
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- Curella's Memos: Orchastrate hostile takeover of North Pole./Buy up Earth's atmosphere and charge loser fee.
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- Rolly: It's Dickens! Cruella: Dickens my derriere!!
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- Cadpig: (as the Ghost of Christmas Past) Don't make me use special effects!
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- Spot: You know, I had a great song and dance number here; they cut it!
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- Roger: Well, I wouldn't waste my breath wishing Cruella a Merry Christmas. She'd charge us for the air we breath if she could get away with it.
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- Cadpig (as the ghost of Christmas past): Cruella, you have to see things from the point of view of other people. Cruella: Who cares about other people? What about me, me, me?!
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- Jasper: Merry Christmas Miss DeVil. Cruella: Don't start with me!
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- Cruella: You people don't have any Christmas spirit. Christmas is about giving, giving me more designs, more things to sell, more of your time!
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- Cadpig: Rolly, you really shouldn't be guessing people's gifts, it'll ruin the surprise. What I get? Rolly: Same as last year, chew toy. Cadpig: Oh well, it's the thought that counts. Besides, I can always return it.
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- Cruella: But how can you be the ghost of Christmas past? You're just a puppy! Cadpig (As the Ghost of Christmas Past): It's called "multi-tasking." I can be a cute puppy, and the ghost of Christmas past, just like you can be a fashion designer, and pure evil!
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NOTES (5)
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- During Cruella's dream, Cadpig was the Ghost of Christmas Past.
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- During Cruella's dream, Spot was the Ghost of Christmas Future.
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- During Cruella's dream, Rolly was the Ghost of Christmas Present.
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- Lucky did not have a speaking role throughout the entire episode.
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- In this episode, Cruella reveals that she always wanted a Dalmatian puppy.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- This episode is a parody of the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
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