Orange Beard the Pirate and Odie the Stupid

We love Garfield in my household. From regularly watching his channel on Pluto TV to the army of plushies in our bedroom. So of course his holiday specials are required viewing. Garfield's Halloween Adventure/Garfield in Disguise is one of my favorite Halloween specials that's so good it gets regular viewings all year long! It's Halloween and Garfield wants some candy. Along with Odie (where's Lyman?), he goes trick or treating and gets the scare of his life! It's the ideal Halloween night!

Who Spooked Rodney?

Rodney is a a big old fraidy cat. If there's a superstition, Rodney is scared of it. Which one begs to reason... why does he even go trick or treating? Or even to a haunted house? Does he just relish is pooping his pants or something? And what's up with that one kid while they're in the haunted house? Is he ok?

Originally Posted 10/25/2023

Phyllis Diller Spends Halloween At Disneyland

Disney does Halloween right. They do Halloween specials right. Somebody behind the scenes of The Mouse Factory did drugs wrong. I don't know if Phillis Diller did drugs, but I do know her name is slang for cocaine. Which I'm sure there was a mountain of offstage on this episode.

Spooks and Magic, the Halloween episode of The Mouse Factory features Phyllis Diller as the guest star going absolutely insane with Disney characters. At one point she's breaking into the Haunted Mansion and harassing the ghosts, the next minute she's having a Halloween costume party with Donald Duck. Said costume party doesn't sound bad until she shows them her batshit family slides then runs them off by singing.

The whole thing ends with her forming a witches coven with King Louie, Goofy, and Witch Hazel. The later is sent to Donald Duck's (who just left) house as a set up to the classic Disney 'Trick or Treat' short. In the end, Phyllis uses her evil witch powers to steal Snow Whites identity and... it just ends. That means she's still out there.

Originally Posted 10/02/2020

Jerry Van Dyke joins a Cult

I'll be honest, I've never seen or heard of this show before I found their Halloween episode. From what I gather, it was a sitcom from the late 60's that got canceled after one season. Probably because it's terrible, as most sitcoms about single parent roommates are. The show was based on an entertainer named Sandy raising his son with his manager, who was raising her daughter together at a farm. In this Halloween episode, Sandy's son want's to join a neighborhood club called the... junior gargoyles... whose leader looks like Anton LaVey... and dresses like the devil... So, Sandy's son wants to join the local satanic cult.

However joining the local satanic cult isn't easy, first you have to host a Halloween party. Fortunately Sandy works in showbiz in the 60's, so he was used to appeasing cults. So Sandy and Sue (the aforementioned manager) throw the kids a Halloween party that's just the worse. Not to mention Sandy ruins their trick or treating... or as they used to call it for no apparent reason on Halloween specials, tricks or treats. Basically, Sandy is a piece of garbage and you'll want to kick his ass before long. Thankfully Sue saves the party and Halloween and the cult accepts their new member!

I... don't think it's cursed…

Originally Posted 10/29/2019

Arcee and the Ghost

The Canterville Ghost is a classic ghost story about an American family that moves into a haunted house. Like most classic stories, it was made into an animated special. Specifically in 1988 with quite a notable voice cast. I could list them all here, but instead will point out that Virginia Otis (the heroine of the story) is voiced by none other than Sue Blu! Sue Blu (Arcee, duh) has done a ton of work, so it's not completely surprising she'd show up here. I really don't have any jokes about this cartoon... it's pretty dang good.

Fear And Loathing In Funkytown

Nothing say's Halloween like a haunted house. That's exactly what Skeeter has in mind for Halloween night. Blood Stone Manor just opened at Funky Town just in time for some spooky fun. Doug's pretty scared to go and gets Skeeter to do a little trick or treating before circumstances lead to bravery and a trip to Funkytown! Of course that circumstance is a mix of running into Patty Mayonnaise and being to old to trick or treat. Despite their best intentions, the park closes before Doug and Skeeter can get in the ride leading to Roger convincing them to sneak into the ride anyway. All hell breaks loose and did you hear that?

Ghosts.

Halloween Is Not Canceled, Thanks To Dracula

I've been hearing it all year. Halloween is canceled. Yet here we are celebrating the spooky shit out of it. Pandemic be damned, we all flew over the moon and rang in the best season of the year. 

It's not Halloween yet, at least not until we all watch my favorite Halloween Special of all time- The Halloween That Almost Wasn't! Seems a little more fitting this year huh? The video attached above is a pretty good copy of the VHS release (with alternate 'The Night Dracula Saved The World' title).

I'm not ashamed to admit I watch it throughout the year. Just like old Halloween commercials and a few other choice specials, it's some of my favorite things to watch. I love it so. 

The season is winding down, I know. Soon I'll have to pack the pumpkins away and wait another year for... who am I kidding? Everyday is Halloween on Zone Base. They'll be spooky shit all year. It's even in the sites description. It's a site about robots AND monsters. Duh.

If you watch the video from my site, or later on TV, enjoy Dracula and the gang saving Halloween. They had to save it from a fed up Witch. We had to save it from a freaking pandemic. Admittedly he probably had an easier job.

Maybe They Didn't See Us

Garfield's Halloween Adventure is a spooky season institution. It's one of the best specials of the holiday that's unfortunately been swept under the rug by time. Because time is an asshole. We get to see Garfield and Odie go trick or treating which leads to a scary run in with some pirate ghosts. All the ingredients for a perfect Halloween cartoon!

I don't know about you, but I remember always being slightly worried that we'd run across some actual ghosts while out on Halloween night back then. With all the spooky shit going on and being the hey day of Satanic Panic, there was the real possibility of running into a real monster. Like a real monster, not that old guy who won't take off his wolfman mask. Jerk.

I think that's one of the things that makes this special so... special. I didn't want to be that corny, but there's not any other words for what I was trying to say. It combines everything about Halloween night into a 22 minute cartoon. There's not a lot of Halloween specials that manage to do that and let's face it, I'll post those that do here. Either during the season or in January.

Tim Burton's Hansel and Gretel (1983)

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I love Halloween. By proxy, I'm a big fan of Halloween specials as well. Some people follow the NFL, I follow the Great Pumpkin. While various Halloween specials are produced every year... I prefer the old ones. Because nostalgia? Maybe, but also because they were vastly different. The gloves were off, obviously too much fun being had behind the scenes, or maybe it was a good opportunity to try something different. The more obscure the special, the more out there, the better. Such is the case with today's post.

The video above is a Disney Channel Halloween special from 1983. At the time a young Tim Burton was a Disney employee and made this short for the company. It was literally only shown once, on Halloween in 1983. Even as a Halloween special it was a little too dark. Even for Tim Burton. It might be cursed.

I've used the term fever dream often to describe things here and... that's a nice way of putting it. We have a retelling of Hansel and Gretel which is a pretty good story for Halloween. You know, they get lost in the woods and find a witches house. In this telling, their step mother tries to get rid of them by getting them lost in the woods (involving a robot duck), which leads to the witches house and some of the weirdest hellscape I've ever seen on film. You'll have to pause it occasionally.

Enjoy!