Timmy hates his dull Halloween costume, so things go awry when he wishes that everyone's costumes were real and scary. It's Halloween night, and Timmy Turner is watching Crash Nebula face off against the evil Pumpkinator, failing to stop it from blowing up a planet. As he screams in frustration, the Pumpkinator, how un-merged as four pumpkins, which Timmy excitedly says he wants as his costume. Cosmo mistakenly turns him into a tv, and he and Wanda are surprised to learn he wants to be a villain. Timmy's parents barge in as each other and say that he's going trick-or-treating as they leave. He asks Cosmo and Wanda to make his costume. Their magic fails, because only four costumes were made and they were all won in a contest; by the popular kids, who are at the door. Admitting they bribed the judges, the kids rub all th coll parts of the costumes in Timmy's face, and as his parents don't want to be tricked, they give the kids a bunch of Timmy's stuff. Chester and A.J. then arrive, getting only advice as their treat. He says they won't get much with their lame costumes, claiming he'll be going as "the scariest thing of all:" Vicky, who arrives just then, having been paid to take them around. She wraps up him as a toilet paper mummy, and as they mock him, she demands a 70/30 split on the candy, and they rush off. Timmy stomps around stating he doesn't care how lame his costume is, then gets a surprise when he realizes Cosmo and Wanda are walking with him. They reveal that, because it's Halloween, they can safely walk around, this year as a "floating human janitor" and a "floating human nurse, who floats." Vicky tosses them bags as well, and we see that the Yugopotamians are watching. Angry that the Earthlings seem to be hosting an intergalactic convention without them, King Gripullon decides to pout. Back on Earth, the rich kids brag about their suits providing increased strength to get candy, and Timmy and the others get the "treat" of reflective tape from Principal Waxelplax, prompting Chester to T.P. her house. They then go to Dr. Bender, confused by Timmy's compliments to their "evil dentist" and "tooth fairy" "costumes." They run off after Bender's typical dentist shtick, prompting Wendell to blame him for his not having friends. Gripullon notices Vicky eating candy and decides his Queen is right: the Earthlings are conspiring against them with the sugary treats, so he writes an angry letter. At the Buxaplenty Mansion, the rich kids again get a great haul, including money, and the others simply have pitbulls sent after them, with the tape attracting attention. Timmy gets caught on a branch, and the others happily agree to go on without him, leaving him at the mercy of the dogs. He meets back up with the others later as they give Vicky their candy, and he decides their problem is they're not real or scary, like the rich kids or Vicky, so he wishes for everyone's costumes to be real and scary. He goes into a song with a creative video about wanting things to be real and scary so he can be the feared one, and of course his fairies are forced to oblige. A.J. and Chester immediately turn into the Frankenstein's monster and Dracula, while Timmy ends up a rotting mummy version of himself. Timmy talks excitedly about he success with Cosmo and Wanda, transformed as well, but elsewhere, the rich kids become jack-o-bots, immediately freezing Elmer, who turned into a monstrous Crash Nebula, and plan to form the Pumpkinator. The excited Vicky is surprised to learn Vicky is unchanged, then is shocked when Wanda says everyone was transformed. In space, Mark Chang is happy to learn the Pumpkinator will blow up the Earth until he is reminded that Vicky is down there, and Gripullon agrees to put her in a zoo. Mark and his friends land on the planet, and though their protective suits fail to stop candy, his Vicky detector finds a mass of evil 50,000 Yugopotamian miles away, which is two Earth inches. Vicky mocks their "European costumes," and Mark excitedly greets her, knocking away Timmy's candy bag, which spills candy on his friend. Wanda gets Timmy's arm from the bag and reattaches it. Timmy sees the Yugopotamians and realize they must be real, not costumes. He hears Mark say the planet is doomed and looks up to see the linking jack-o-bots. Realizing they'll destroy the planet and still have better costumes, he wishes that everything was back to normal. Unfortunately, Cosmo and Wanda realize that because they were transformed as well, they are now actually a monstrous janitor and nurse, rather than fairies. Realizing he can do little as a mummy, Timmy then tells Cosmo to distract Mark, and he spends the rest of the episode trying to fix the terrible situation. As would be expected from Butch Hartman, this special is a great example of a creative way to send your characters on an adventure.
There was always a ton of potential in the series that Hartman delivered on just because Timmy has the ability to wish for most things. With this magical element, there are no restraints like in some shows, where staying in the show's realm of reality would prevent too much actually involving monsters and such from happening. The idea of becoming a monster due to a costume seems relatively popular to me. We saw it as kids with R.L. Stine's The Haunted Mask, one of the few Goosebumps stories I'd consider scary, and even in Halloweentown II, with the villain's ultimate plan. There's also a more metaphorical take on this with Spiderman comics, when the title hero struggled with his symbiotic suit that was making him violent. Heck, I myself took a stab at this idea when I was a kid, inspired after wearing a panther ninja costume on Halloween. Here, Timmy retains his humanity, which adds to the comedy as well, since he wanted to become scary and menacing, only to end up as just a rotting version of himself. The idea also compiles onto the running gag about how much of an actual monster Vicky is, as along with not wearing a costume, she was considered already "real and scary" enough that the wish didn't affect her. There are a lot of great visuals in this episode, with the wish affecting almost every character and filling Dimmsdale with Halloween creatures. The humor is entertaining, like the idea of Timmy's parents dressed as each other, though that's also an odd thought considering the wish, as well as Dr. Bender and his son's response to Timmy calling their clothes costumes. Having the Yugopotamians is a nice way of adding more of the typical fantastic stuff possible in this world, as well as, like the joke about Vicky, adding to their established fear/hatred of anything sugary, sweet, and/or adorable. The Yugopotamians blend in, which Vicky shows by assuming they're in costume, and their hatred of candy allows for some comic relief as they act like the world is poison. The jack-o-bots and Pumpkinator are a great edition to the series, as an actual threat that could be considered scary. Facing the actual robots that could come together and destroy the planet is a terrifying and tense idea, especially since in their actual world, a powerful hero was unable to stop them. A classic from my childhood, I don't watch this special every year, but do get the urge to watch it every now and then, and it's still an entertaining blast, pun not intended but enjoyed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|