Rankin/Bass: The Brady Bunch Cartoon Special
By Joe
Summary: The Bradys and Alice transform into cartoon characters and seek to restore the spirit of Christmas in the midst of the 1973 oil crisis. This story was requested by retro mania.
Author Notes: I do not own The Brady Bunch, its characters, or any other copyrighted material. I wrote this solely for entertainment purposes and not to make a profit.
Also, I respectfully ask that users not ask me to work on requests or commissions for fanfics. Although this particular story is a request, it is more or less the last one that I intend to publish. Thank you.
Chapter 1
A brown station wagon passed by several houses with no soul in sight. If the dark-haired driver hadn't known any better, he would have thought that he were driving through a ghost town. Unfortunately, he knew quite well that his neighbors were still living in these houses. Normally, this was a happy time of year for the architect. The Christmas season was such a wonderful time of year. His family and he enjoyed the lights, nativities, and other such displays in their neighbors' yards. The architect glanced left and right as he drove past empty yards – his frown deepening. Virtually no yard had any decorations.
This should have been a happy time of year, but unfortunately, as much as he hated to feel that way, the architect couldn't help but agree that times had not been good lately. It seemed that things started getting particularly bad months earlier – due to the Yom Kippur War that broke out in the Middle East. Although the war ended after a few weeks, problems seemed to be only just beginning. OPEC launched an oil embargo, and as a result, prices for oil and gasoline skyrocketed, and long lines for gasoline formed at gas stations. The negative economic effects dampened the spirits of people who normally would have been outside putting up strings of Christmas lights or out shopping for presents. Unfortunately, people were having to save every penny and felt quite impoverished – and had to refuel their cars at inconvenient times. The embargo seemed like it would go on forever, and with such grim headlines in the news and long waits at gas pumps, it was understandable that nobody was in the mood to celebrate Christmas.
At last, the architect pulled into the driveway next to a split-level house surrounded by AstroTurf. It seemed that not even the Brady residence was observing Christmas. As he loosened the red necktie under the white collar of his blue shirt, the architect smiled a little. At least it was Friday afternoon, which marked the beginning of a long vacation with his wife, three sons, three daughters, and housekeeper.
After getting out of the station wagon, the architect walked across the yard and through the sliding glass doors leading to the family room. There he found his youngest kids, Bobby and Cindy, watching TV. His mood brightened almost immediately when they smiled broadly upon seeing him.
"Dad! You're home!" exclaimed Cindy – her blonde, braided hair bouncing as the eleven-year-old jumped off the sofa and skipped over to hug her father. Bobby's shaggy dark hair swayed as the twelve-year-old also ran over and hugged his dad.
"Hi, kids! It's great to see ya!" the architect said – grinning broadly as he hugged his two kids. However, his smile faded when he remembered that the kids weren't wearing anything fitting for the Christmas season. Normally, a party was held at Clinton Avenue Elementary on the last day of school before Christmas, and the kids would normally wear Christmas-themed clothes – typically consisting of the colors red, white, and green. Now, Bobby was wearing a blue shirt with brown sleeves and blue jeans, and Cindy was wearing a yellow turtleneck and blue plaid pants.
The architect noticed that Bobby and Cindy started to frown themselves, but their attention was diverted when a blonde-haired woman entered. A smile spread across her face as she saw her husband. "Hi, Mike! Welcome home!" She leaned forward and hugged the architect.
Mike briefly smiled again as he kissed his wife on the lips. "Hello, Carol," he greeted. He frowned again as he remembered that Carol was wearing a dark blue turtleneck under her purple vest and skirt. Apparently, there were going to be no Christmas Carols in the Brady residence this year.
Then, Mike, Carol, Bobby, and Cindy turned their heads upon hearing footsteps in the kitchen. Three more of the Brady kids – Marcia, Peter, and Jan – entered the family room with smiles on their faces.
"Merry Christmas, Dad!" said Marcia – the eldest blonde girl wrapping her arms around Mike. The middle children, dark-haired Peter and blonde Jan, similarly wrapped their arms around Mike.
"Merry Christmas, Marcia, but isn't it a few days early for that?" Mike laughed a little. The other kids laughed a little as well, but then, Mike frowned yet again. His fifteen-year-old daughter was wearing dark blue pants and a dark blue sweater over a blue blouse with long sleeves, his fourteen-year-old son was wearing a plain blue shirt and black pants, and his thirteen-year-old daughter was wearing a gray dress with pink buttons.
Then, Mike's eldest son, Greg, entered the family room – his arms spread wide and his dark perm bouncing slightly as he walked toward his father. "All right, Dad's home!"
"Great to see you, too, Greg!" Mike said – giving the seventeen-year-old a tight hug. As Mike released his son, he noticed, yet again, that nobody in the household was dressed for Christmas. Greg was wearing a dark blue shirt and black jeans. Mike had thought that his son looked like a thunderstorm floating through the undecorated family room.
"I hear Mr. Brady's home!" cried a joyful female voice from the living room. Mike grinned as he watched Alice walking out of the living room, through the kitchen, and into the family room – her arms wide as she smiled brightly. "Welcome home, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Brady!" greeted Alice – giving the architect a hug.
"Merry Christmas, Alice," the architect said – wrapping his arms around the housekeeper's blue dress and white apron. He then looked around at the eight other people in the family room and sighed before sinking into the sofa.
"Are you okay, Mr. Brady?" Alice asked – scratching her short, gray hair. The other members of Mike's family frowned as they stared at him in concern.
Mike briefly flashed a smile. "Don't get the wrong idea – I'm really happy to be back home with you all!" A frown returned to his face as he sighed, "It's just that…things just aren't the same this year. You know…considering the high gas prices and long lines for gas."
The frowns of the other family members deepened. "I know how you feel," Alice said. "I normally wear a red and white Santa outfit during this time of year, but the economy just looks too bleak now. It's sad, though, that none of the neighbors want to even bother putting up decorations." A few of the Brady kids nodded and voiced their agreement.
"It's sad," Carol said, "but I can't exactly blame them. Electricity is so expensive now, and we can't really afford to light up the house."
"And it's too bad that it doesn't snow in Santa Monica," Cindy added.
"Apparently, it did snow in the Los Angeles area once…in 1949…" Greg said – scoffing slightly.
Mike smiled slightly and said, "Well, at least we can be glad that we have each other." With that, the Bradys and Alice all gathered together for one big group hug in the middle of the family room.