Halloween Special #7: Garfield's Halloween Adventure

I had to save one of the best for last! It was a hard decision coming up with just 7 specials to talk about, but there is always next year.

I grew up loving Garfield even before he had a Saturday morning cartoon show.  My Mom used to read the Garfield comic to me in its heyday, and I can remember she also would tape the specials that would come on tv since they were on past my bedtime.  Many of the specials also had comic books released, which my Mom fully used to her advantage to get me to read.  They were super easy, kept my attention and the specials were mostly based off the books so it was easy to figure out what was going on even before I could read fluently.  This is one special where you can introduce kids to Garfield because you don't need to know any backstory.  However, with this one there are some pirate ghosts that can be scary for young viewers (Jim Davis wanted it to at least scare 4 year olds) so use your discretion.  Other than that, this is another safe Halloween special that can be great for the whole family.  It's also worth noting that this special won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 1986 (the other nominee being Garfield in Paradise, another great special.)

The movie starts out with Garfield having fallen asleep in front of the television and being woken up by Binky the Clown (a running joke throughout the cartoons, since he's very loud) who announces that it's Halloween and kids have to get in shape to be able to get lots of candy.  After falling back asleep, Garfield then has breakfast and decides what to be for Halloween with his buddy, Odie.  After dinner they go out trick or treating and Garfield shows Odie there's nothing to be afraid of, or is there?  The duo come to a body of water and a boat sitting at a dock, and Garfield thinks surely the people there have tons of candy and no trick or treaters!  Due to Odie's stupidity, they drift along to a house down river.  The house is inhabited by a little old man who tells them a ghost story where the ghosts promised to come back that very night.  Frightened, they decide its time to go and find out that the man has taken their boat and their candy!  Garfield and Odie have no choice but to hide from the ghosts.  Want to find out what happens?  Watch below!

2015 Edit:  U.S. Copyright Office strikes again!  This is another that's been removed due to copyright violations, including its related videos.  However, it is available for digital purchase on Amazon!

Halloween Special #6: The Worst Witch

The Worst Witch is another classic in my book, and it tells a great story with a good message at its heart.  This one was actually originally a children's book that was the start of a series written by Jill Murphy (and is available in paperback and kindle <editions!)  I personally have never read any of the books out of fear of the movie being forever ruined since I saw the movie first (enough that I can pretty much recite it word for word.)  But I at least have had a sample sent to my kindle just for my own curiosity.

The stars are some of the 80s staples:  Charlotte Rae (from Facts of Life), Diana Rigg (from the Great Muppet Caper), Fairuza Balk (from the Craft and Waterboy), and of course, Tim Curry as the Grand Wizard (which has to be his best role ever!)

The movie focuses on Fairuza Balk's character, Mildred Hubble, who has just started witch's school and it isn't going well.  She's very clumsy and wonders if she is cut out to be a witch.  Fortunately, her sidekick Maud helps keep her in good spirits and assures her that it's just her first year and things will get easier.  The movie starts out by showing an exam where the students have to create a laughter potion, and it is less than successful for Mildred and Maud and their teacher, Miss Hardbroom sends Mildred to Miss Cackle's office to be punished for failing their exam.  Soon the students find out that the Grand Wizard has chosen their school for their Halloween celebration.  The school is busy with preparations for the arrival of the Grand Wizard, including trying out for the broomstick display.  Mildred manages to get on the team, but between trying out and getting on the team her broomstick gets broken.  Mildred's archenemy, Ethel, offers up her broom which she curses to ruin the display for everybody and Mildred gets blamed for it.  She is threatened to be expelled, so the next morning she decides to run away but makes a startling discovery.

To me, the movie's message is to do your best despite what others may think.  You may even surprise yourself!  Definitely a family friendly movie, although there may need to be some explanation in regards to the school being an all girls academy.

To find out what happens, watch the movie I've posted below!  (I do not own the rights to it or the video I posted above.  I am simply posting what I have found on YouTube.)

Halloween Special #5: Halloween is Grinch Night

"It's a wonderful night for eye brows!"

Love.  Love.  LOVE this movie.  It's definitely one of Dr. Seuss's more obscure movies, and is considered to some to be a prequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  (However, I am unsure of where it fits in the timeline because of a fairly large plot point at the end.)  This special won a Primetime Emmy in 1978 for Outstanding Animated Program, and once you see it you can see why.  The story is so creative, and the animation is fantastic.  The sequence in the Grinch's wagon is beautiful and very Seussian (but may be frightening to some younger children.)

So we start in Whoville, a quiet little town where families are outside and life is carrying on as usual.  Soon though the weather starts to change, signaling the possible return of the Grinch sending everybody inside for cover.  The movie focuses on Euchariah, a brave little Who boy who ducks out during the storm to use the outhouse and gets blown away.  He then has to find his way home, and comes across the Grinch.  Euchariah knows the best thing he can do now to save the town from the Grinch is to stall for time, so when the Grinch essentially calls him a wimp he dares the Grinch to scare him with his best monsters in the wagon.

To find out what happens, watch the embedded video below!  (Which I do not own the rights to, I have simply found this on YouTube.)

Halloween Special #4: Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile

So onto Halloween Special #4:  Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile!

I grew up watching a few Raggedy Ann and Andy specials:  the musical (which I rediscovered a few months ago and seriously questioned why I used to think it was so great) and the Great Santa Claus Caper.  This one was one of my favorites, although watching it now I still wonder:  "What on earth were these creators thinking?!"  Still a great cartoon for kids, and is definitely family friendly.

The story opens on a pumpkin lamenting the fact that it's Halloween and no little child has picked him for their very own.  Then Raggedy Ann and Andy notice a little boy (Ralph) next door whose Aunt Agatha won't let him go out trick or treating or even allow him to have a pumpkin for the holiday.  The dolls along with their dog, Arthur, set out to find a pumpkin for their neighbor.  Enter:  The Pumpkin that Couldn't Smile.  Ann and Andy set out to bring the two together, and convince Agatha to let him go trick or treating and have a pumpkin.  (She tries to make up for it "Tomorrow we'll go to the museum and look at the rocks!"  I took a geology class in college that I loved, but Agatha's enthusiasm even made me sarcastically think "yay....")  

To see what happens, watch the movie below!  As always, I do not own the rights to this movie.  I am simply posting what I am able to find on YouTube.

Halloween Special #3: Disney's Halloween Treat

This is one of my all time favorites.  There are actually two versions floating around out there, one of which is hosted by a talking pumpkin, the other by the magic mirror from Snow White.  Both are for the most part the same.  

The special shows clips from different films that have a spooky theme.  The opening itself shows scenes from one of my favorite rides at the Magic Kingdom, the Haunted Mansion, and clips to expect during the show.  It also shows many classic Disney cartoons showing Mickey, Donald and Goofy.  

This is one special that is timeless, and I wish Disney would revive it.  It shows clips from many obscure and recognizable movies (like Sword in the Stone, the Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians to name a few) as well as the cartoon shorts that made the classic Disney characters famous.  The special has yet to find its way to DVD, and old VHS versions can go for quite a bit, assuming you can find it!

As always, I do not own the rights to this movie.  I am simply linking to a version of the special that I found on YouTube.

You can watch the movie HERE!

Halloween Special #2: Frankenweenie (1984)

So while I was writing my last post about Witch's Night Out, I came across some information about Frankenweenie I thought was really interesting that I could cover in more than just a couple sentences.  So, for my next Halloween special post I'm going to talk about the original Frankenweenie released in 1984 and directed by Tim Burton.

Frankenweenie is not your typical kid's Halloween special (or at least I classify it as distinctly Halloween because of the Frankenstein elements.)  The run time is only It's about a young boy named Victor who is an aspiring filmmaker, and his usual actor is his dog, Sparky.  Very early on (considering how the movie is a 30 minute short) while Victor is playing with Sparky, the dog is hit by a car and dies.  Naturally, Victor is heartbroken and brings Sparky back to life a la .  Then Victor and his parents have to re-introduce Sparky to the neighbors so they aren't scared, but naturally they are.  Sparky eventually wins the trust back of the neighbors by performing a heroic act.

The behind the scenes story of the original short is sort of interesting.  Tim Burton directed this film while he worked for Disney (he actually worked on the Fox and the Hound, the Black Cauldron, and Tron.) While he was there he also created a short called Vincent (about a little boy who wants to be just like Vincent Price.)

The film was originally planned to be released with a re-release of Pinocchio.  When Disney test screened Burton's film, children were upset and the MPAA gave the movie a PG rating. (Which is obvious why, it's very dark considering how the dog dies in the first 5 minutes!)  Soon afterwards, Burton was fired and the movie was shelved.  It would not see the light of day until Burton became famous in the early 90s for other films (including Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Batman and Beetlejuice) and Nightmare Before Christmas was released on VHS, albeit a censored version.  The uncensored version finally was released on the DVD version of Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993, where it has been available on every re-release of the DVD (and the release of the stop motion animation version of Frankenweenie.)

2015 Edit:  This is yet another movie that has been removed due to copyright violations.  So instead here's the trailer!

Halloween Special #1: Witch's Night Out

So in the spirit of Halloween, I'm going to start a series of obscure Halloween Special reviews.  First on the list?  Witch's Night Out!

This is a special the Disney channel used to play every year when I was a kid, back when it was a premium channel that you had to pay extra for on your cable bill.  They used to play a bunch of older (even for back then!) specials that were made by other companies.  This includes:  Witch's Night Out, Halloween is Grinch Night, Raggedy Ann and Andy in the Pumpkin that Couldn't Smile, and the Worst Witch.  They also had The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (which was part of the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), Frankweenie (the original Tim Burton directed version released in 1984), and a collection of clips and cartoons called Disney's Halloween Treat.

The cartoon itself is VERY 70s, and is stylized as such.  It stars some familiar names like Gilda Radnor as the witch, and Catherine O'Hara as Malicious.  The cartoon is still family friendly and I feel the story is timeless.

The special starts with two children, Small and Tender, talking about how they want to scare everybody on Halloween with their costumes.  They find out that their costumes are not so scary, and go home disappointed.  Meanwhile the grown up start to plan a Halloween party at an old house that they think is abandoned.  Soon the witch who lives in the abandoned house makes herself known when she hears the pleading of Small and Tender to their babysitter, Bazooey, to be a real wolfman and a ghost.  The witch passes herself off as a Fairy Godmother and changes them into their favorite monster.  They then all show up at the Halloween party and scare everybody.  

Edit:  I just found out this special is now available on DVD for the first time ever!!!  If you're interested in a hard copy to enjoy forever, click here.

2015 Edit:  So, this special has magically disappeared (see what I did there?) all because of the DVD release. 

I'm back!

So I've been gone for awhile--sorry about that!  I've been trying to figure out a good way to keep writing, but at the same time not get burned out.  Writing every day without having much to say or direction is definitely difficult, and I'm still working on finding my voice for this blog.  I've definitely been keeping busy with running, volunteering, thrifting and being a domestic goddess.

I plan on keeping up with race reviews, thrifting finds and Coach rehabs.  I've been working on stocking up bags to sell on Etsy, since they allow for vintage bags to be listed on their website.  That being said, I've been working on a LOT of rehabs as of late.  Last week I had three going--two I was touching up, and another I was waiting on for replacement hardware to arrive from Coach.  (That's a lot for me, even with just a one day a week volunteer job!)  Fortunately, with Halloween coming I've been able to have some great background noise while working on my bags.

This time of year I love bringing out the old Halloween movies I watched as a kid, and I plan on going more in depth into them in future posts, but here are a few that I still adore all these years later:  The Worst Witch, Witch's Night Out, Halloween is Grinch Night, Disney's Halloween Treat, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Garfield's Halloween Adventure, the Pumpkin that Couldn't Smile, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Claymation Comedy of Horrors, Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus.  I plan on talking about most of these, since many of them are very obscure and have been long since forgotten.