This week, we kick off the holiday season with a review of the 2017 biographical Christmas film, "The Man Who Invented Christmas."  We've all heard or seen the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, but this movie takes a different approach and depicts the author, Charles Dickens, in his conceptualization, writing, and publishing of his famous novella, "A Christmas Carol."

 - Which co-host is the big Charles Dickens fan?

 - Which co-host couldn't join us because he was sick?  And, did we go ahead without him at least partially because it sounds like he didn't enjoy the movie anyway?

 - Which co-host eventually liked the movie but had some issues with the pacing, especially in the beginning?

 - Which co-host(s) considered the focus on the author instead of Scrooge to be a refreshing change?

 - Which co-host most appreciated the depiction of the writing and brainstorming process?

 - Which co-host(s) believe in the importance of grammar lessons in school and which one(s) don't?

 - This one's not hard...  Which co-host found a way of comparing the movie's version of Charles Dickens to J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 (the best TV show ever).

 - Which co-host got us on a tangent talking about creating & playing characters in role playing games?

 - Which co-hosts are distantly related to each other?

 - Which co-host felt another co-host's lightning round was the worst lightning round ever?

 - Which co-host has four Christmas trees, and why?

Listen now to find out the answers to these and other festive questions.

Grab your parchment, quill, inkwell, and Christmas tree, as well we celebrate and get inspired by...The Man Who Invented Christmas.

If you're a fan of Charles Dickens and "A Christmas Carol," we reviewed the stellar family film "Muppet Christmas Carol" last year.  That's episode #028.  We also played a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot that ended up being an adaptation of the Scrooge story.  That's a three-parter across episodes #034 to #036.   And, while not related to Dickens and not your typical holiday movie, we also reviewed "Gremlins."  That's episode #026.  Stay tuned in December for our reviews of the holiday movies "Klaus" and "Home Alone."  (Note:  Between a few random wheel spins and now the holidays, we may have gone a little "off-genre" recently.  Trust us, there's plenty of science fiction & fantasy topics to explore in 2022.)

Update (Friday 02 December 2022):  Just a couple days ago, Wednesday 30 November 2022, was the one-year anniversary of our review of "The Man Who Invented Christmas," the first of several Christmas-themed episodes we released in 2021.  This episode has now been re-uploaded with slightly improved audio quality.

You can contact us at...

- E-Mail:  DiscerningGeeks@gmail.com

- Twitter:  @DiscerningGeeks

- Facebook:  Discerning Geeks Portal

Please rate or review us wherever you listen to podcasts.  Give us 5 stars if you love us, 4 stars if you hate us.  If you give us 1, 2, or 3 stars, your computer will get a nasty virus.

Public domain intro/outro music is "o-come-all-ye-faithful-herbei-o-ihr-glaubigen-adeste-fideles-classic-flute-christmas-carol-11221" by JuliusH via Pixabay.com/music.  Other music is "Krampus's Workshop" by Kevin MacLeod via FreePD.com.

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/discerninggeeks/message