There may have been no creatures stirring in my house last night, but a few folks were stirred to vote for A Christmas Story whilst I slept and Scrooged has been knocked out of this here tournament. 

Speaking of creatures, today I bring you a faceoff filled with them.  We have the all-time gift gone wrong plot and a character who wants all the presents for himself.  We’re going with Gremlins vs. How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

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I could just throw that matchup on the floor and walk away, but this is eduClaytion and I haven’t blown your minds with knowledge much this week so let’s try some of that, a little Wiki Wednesday omage if you will.

One of the top all-time grossing creature features (behind the Jurassic Parks), Gremlins did it on half as many screens.  Imagine how much money that flick would grab today.  Gremlins set the standard for film merchandising and franchising and also led (along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating.  The film was also pioneering in the newer combination of horror and comedy (which I love).  On top of all that we have an early Corey Feldman appearance.

But the man I really want to talk about is Frank Welker.  Who’s that you ask?  Well, he may be the richest actor in history.  You won’t recognize his face but billions of people know his voice, or should I say voices?  No, he was not the voice of the Mogwai Gizmo, that was Howie Mandel.  Welker was the voice of the villainous Spike. 

Let’s see, who else has Welker voiced?  Oh yeah, how about Scooby-Doo, Scooby’s pal Fred (since 1969), Garfield, and most of the Transformers in the 1980s.  Don’t forget Slimer from Ghostbusters and a couple of the Smurfs.  You can also add the monkey Abu from Aladdin, Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, and Darkseid from Super Friends.  And those are only some of his roles.  Are you kidding me?  Frank Welker spent more time in my childhood than all my teachers combined!

I’ve gone out of my way to avoid campaigning for any particular film here, and I don’t want to break that trend now.  Anyone who knows me can tell you how I feel about Jim Carrey.  When the announcement was made that he would play the Grinch I immediately received phone calls.  I have never enjoyed Dr. Seuss more than during the 2000 film How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  The movie smashed the box office and made me laugh.

Believe me, if I was confused about how yesterday’s matchup would go I am downright clueless as to what might happen here.  Dispute my choices if you will, but I feel pretty confident placing these two picks into an elite field, especially when you consider cultural impact.  Maybe I’m just not a Miracle on 34th Street type guy (a problematic film since there are two versions).  Maybe you’ll see that pick tomorrow during for the final go of these quarter finals.  I guess my life is just a lot more Frank Welker than Bing Crosby.

So there’s your “bet you didn’t know” portion of the week.  One thing you can be sure of though is how you will vote.  And you click right now.