The Christmas That Almost Wasn't is an animated holiday special that released for the holiday season at Pizza Time Theatre restaurants in 1983.[1] After its initial debut, the special also played on the Canadian radio station, CFAC, in 1986. The special was produced by Kadabrascope, a company founded by Nolan Bushnell.
This holiday special was the first attempt at a full-length CEC special. The next attempt at this would come over 42 years later, with the Christmas special, "A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas", which debuted in 2025.
Synopsis[]
The story begins with Chuck E. Cheese and Jasper T. Jowls setting out to the North Pole to deliver Jasper's Christmas list to Santa. Before beginning their journey, Chuck asks Jasper if he has his list, to which Jasper is confused before retrieving it from the inside of his jacket, which he deems his "special place". He returns the list to the inside of his coat before hopping into the sleigh with Chuck, which is being driven by robots.
At Santa's Workshop, An elf is on the roof of a snowed-in Workshop directing an unknown flying object above on where to drop the last bag of mail for Santa. He then calls out to the object to not deliver another bag of mail so that the elves can get some work done. As he begins walking with the sack in his grasp, an even larger sack falls on his head, almost killing him. The elf tosses the smaller sack into the Workshop's chimney as he struggles to carry the larger one, which he then throws down the chimney. Inside the Workshop, two elves watch as the sacks of mail fall down the chimney. One of the elves worries that with more mail, the elves won't be able to create enough toys for all the children around the world, but the other elf tells him that they will as they're technically screwed if they don't. Shortly afterwards, the elves walk up to the firebox of the chimney and try to catch the mail, but upon falling under it and the elf on the roof who fell down the chimney's weight, they both realize that they probably won't make enough toys in time.
Rest of the story TBA
Cast[]
- John Widelock as Chuck E. Cheese
- Scott Wilson as Chuck E. Cheese (singing voice)
- Scott Paulin as Jasper T. Jowls
- Lucille Bliss as Mrs. Claus, Paint Girl
- Joe Conti as Santa Claus, Elves
- Mark Dodson as Elves, Stormy the Cloud
- E.B. Moss as Elves
- Duncan Robertson as Elves
- Ben Thumb as Elves
Songs[]
- "Yes We Can!" - Sung by: Elves
- "Paint Girl's Lament" - Sung by: Paint Girl
- "Teamwork" - Sung by: Scott Wilson
Trivia[]
- For unknown reasons, apart from Chuck E. and Jasper, the rest of the Pizza Time Players do not appear in this special. However, an elf that appears in the special bears a resemblance to Pasqually.
- Due to John Widelock not being able to sing the third and final number in the special, Scott Wilson provided Chuck E.'s singing voice in the number.
- According to an interview with Scott, he sung the number in one take.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Transcript[]
The Christmas That Almost Wasn't/Transcript
External links[]
References[]
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| Films |
 Chuck E. Cheese Galaxy 5000  Untitled Film |
| TV Shows |
 Chuck E. and Friends! Untitled Gameshow |
| Specials |
 Christmas That Almost Wasn't  Bella's Garden Party  Summer Road Trip  Halloween Hijinks  A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas |
| Compilations |
 Video Hits #1  Best of Boo-Tacular |