Several predictive references may appear in the first 5 minutes of 1966 animated TV special How The Grinch Stole Christmas. These connect actor Jim Carrey who played the character in the year 2000 adaptation of the 1957 Dr. Seuss children's story & Sonic The Hedgehog, the video game series by SEGA which debuted in 1991. Carrey later played Doctor Robotnik in 3 live action / CG films based on Sonic from 2020+.
- At 1 minute 13 seconds a homophone reference to Carrey's name may appear by what is shown visually on screen: The Whos transport (or CARRY) the village Christmas tree.
- The Who on the far right of the screen in the above scene wears red / yellow and black clothes, I thought this similar to the dress of Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) in the Sonic The Hedgehog games.
- The design of the Grinch characters may also be similar (rounded) to those in the original Sonic videogames.
- At 3 minutes 49 seconds there may be some Sonic references in the original Grinch special: note the blue ball with the white star, I thought this similar to some of the bumpers in the stages of the Sonic games. The character can turn into a ball and bounce around the screen similar to a pinball machine.
- The Grinch famously complains about THE NOISE of the Whos in Whoville as they prepare Christmas in the town. Sonic is also a term related to sound.
- At 4 minutes 45 seconds check out the musical instrument which resembles a series of tubes. A blue ball flies through the air and goes through the tubes. Sonic, is of course blue in color and does a very similar routine in the first level of the original game where he enters a winding tunnel.
