Tag Archives: Halloween specials

September 10, 2026

Boss Fight Studio Garfield & Odie Halloween Adventure Set

By Joe
Best be prepared to turn over your candy!

Retail loves having something to sell you and one of the easiest themes for retail to go in on is a seasonal one. That’s why (at least in the United States) when the Fourth of July passes us by out come the Halloween items! Which is why it isn’t really out of the ordinary for a Halloween post to show up on this humble little blog at this time of year. Halloween is the only holiday that can rival Christmas in terms of television specials. If I had to guess, I’d assume that Christmas is still ahead, but there are certainly a lot of episodes of popular shows as well as stand-alone specials designed to air during the Halloween season, more so if you just count anything that has a horror motif. I’ve never gone into Halloween as heavy as I do Christmas here, but I do enjoy a good Halloween special and one of my all-time favorites is Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. Also known as Garfield in Disguise, the television special first showed up on CBS in 1985 and was the fourth in a long line of Garfield television specials. This one arrived even before the much loved A Garfield Christmas and I’d love to say it was an instant classic upon it’s arrival, but I was still in diapers at the time and couldn’t really say either way. I don’t remember my first viewing, but I probably liked it as did pretty much everyone in the 1980s. The cat was huge, and I’m not just talking about his belly.

This line is a larger scale compared with NECA’s interpretation.

Here to capitalize on Garfield and Halloween nostalgia is Boss Fight Studio. The Massachusetts toy maker acquired the license to produce Garfield action figures a few years ago and the first wave arrived around a year ago. Coincidentally, it was around that time this set of action figures based on Garfield’s Halloween Adventure went up for preorder. In fact, I received my set exactly one year after placing my order. It’s a set that features both Garfield and Odie dressed up as pirates from the famous special as they embarked on a quest for candy. Well, Garfield wanted candy, Odie was basically along for the ride and so that Garfield could get even more candy. It went up alongside another two-pack based on their appearance in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles magazine, as in, the very same appearance NECA also made a Garfield and Odie set based on. I thought it odd at the time that Nickelodeon, who controls the Garfield license now, would license out the same basic design to two different toy makers, but now that I have this set I can kind of see why.

Garfield can go hat-less if you prefer, but he’s missing the little tufts of hair at his temples. The hat also left behind some purple on my figure’s ears which I’ll have to try and remove.

Garfield stands at roughly 3.375″ to tip of his ears. He also has his pirate hat which makes him a bit taller while the NECA “Garfello” came in at pretty much an inch shorter. If the NECA one is thought to be something close to 1:12 scale (Garfield’s size kind of changes in print and on television to suit the scene) then this interpretation is more like 1:10 scale. There is a difference, albeit a minor one, but hopefully there’s enough enthusiasm for that one-shot to go around. This set though has no such concerns as Boss Fight Studio is the only one making Halloween Garfield. The figure borrows parts from the regular Garfield (which I don’t have) while mixing in some new. He comes out of the box with a mischievous, almost evil, grin of sharp teeth and frowny eyes. The strap across the torso is a separate piece, but is glued down. The shorts are part of the sculpt and I love how they left holes in the ragged ends. Garfield’s right leg is a normal one while the left is a peg leg. He has his little, wooden, sword to wield and there’s a peg hole on his left hip to holster it, though it’s a bit tough to fit in. Garfield also has his sack of candy which can be placed on a surface or slotted into either hand. The paint is clean and matte. Garfield is mostly orange plastic, but it too is matte in appearance. All of his stripes are where you would expect as well as the little freckles on his cheeks. His little, pink, nose has a hit of gloss to it which makes it stand out. The skull and crossbones on the hat is very clean and crisp and, as I alluded to earlier, it is removable. It fits over the ears, though it did leave behind some purple smudges on those ears. I could probably get it off, but honestly I’ll never display him without the hat. My only critique with the presentation is that Boss Fight Studio doesn’t put any stripes on the cheek area of his face. It’s one of those things that’s kind of a cheat with the character as the stripes appear to only be on the back of the body and head, but from the front and side they’re always visible. I’d have liked to see them included here. I also wonder if it would look better with some black outlining on the teeth. NECA outlined everything which really gave their figure a sharp presentation. This one looks good, but also more like a toy. The more orange and overall rounded features do make me think of the CG Nickelodeon show more than the old animation where Garfield was a bit lumpier, but it’s a pretty subtle distinction.

“Stick with me, Odie, and there will be much candy.”

Garfield is not alone in this set as we also have Odie in his pirate garb. For Odie that means a yellow and green polka-dotted bandana, a gold ring in his left ear, and a red and white striped shirt. By default, Odie has his tongue proudly on display and he is about 3.5″ to the top of his head and 4.75″ to the highest point of his ears. The scaling looks great with Garfield and I think Odie might be the overall better looking figure in terms of being on-model. That’s not to say that Garfield looks off-model, just that Odie looks that damn good. Which is funny because he’s such a wild design. His neck is basically his entire lower jaw. No dog looks like Odie, but somehow Jim Davis made this work and Boss Fight Studio was able to reproduce it in 3D. He has his little whiskers on his face and the yellow plastic for his body is matte. The paint on the head is very clean while the shirt has a small blemish or two, but nothing out of the ordinary. Out of the box, Odie has four standard Odie legs, but he also has an optional peg leg to swap out with his front, left, leg. It pops off pretty easy as Boss Fight just utilizes ball joints for all of the connections. They’re tiny, but sturdy, and once I worked up the courage to actually swap them I found there was really nothing to worry about as far as breakage is concerned.

A trick-or-treating we will go!

Both Garfield and Odie have two expressions to take advantage of. Garfield’s secondary expression is more of a scared one. His eyes are wide and his mouth has basically vanished. Swapping between the two expression is very easy and I imagine both work with the regular release of Garfield so if you have that one you’re getting more options for your display. Odie is a little more involved as he basically has a swap-out neck. The top of his head comes off and out of the box mine was pretty snug. If you handed me the figure without telling me it had another display option I would not have suspected it came off. It did with just a little wiggling and elbow grease and then the neck, or jaw, plugs into the body via another ball joint. It too needed a little force and some courage, but it popped out. It’s very sturdy plastic so I don’t think there’s much risk for breakage, but a wiser person than me might have heated him up first (I was worried about warping either the tongue or ears). The secondary expression is all teeth with an opening in it. That opening is for Odie to hold his candy sack which is a different sculpt from Garfield’s. It works, but it’s hard to turn down Odie and his big, happy, tongue expression. The extra piece plugs into the body of the figure pretty effortlessly, but I have a hard time getting the head onto it. It’s extremely snug and required some heating up to get a seamless fit. Even going back to the default, tongue-out expression needed some heat.

“Tough break, kid.”

Both Garfield and Odie are articulated, but don’t expect these to be the most poseable figures in your collection. For Garfield, we have joints at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, tail, and ankles. The most range is at the head and Garfield has enough range to look up, down, and all around with some tilt. The elbows and knees are a bit tricky since there just isn’t a lot of plastic to work with, but they do work. The ankles are nice, but the hips are pretty limited. He can brandish his sword and be posed walking or running to a point so I think he’ll do enough. I would like a little more out of the tail just to better sell a running pose, but at least the way that it is allows for it to be a suitable tripod. As for Odie, he has a far simpler spread with far less utility. He has articulation where the legs meet his body and at his ankles which includes a hinge and a rocker. The ball joints are very smooth with the front legs bordering on too smooth. Sometimes his legs slide out when I go to stand him, but I can usually adjust it and he stands just fine. And that’s with or without the peg leg in place. He’s not going to really do anything though. He can stand on his hind legs, but since he doesn’t have knees he can’t really do a walk or running pose. I can’t say I mind all that much because he looks great and what do I really want him to do? He’s just going to stand on my shelf looking like the best little pirate boy that he is.

“Hand over the candy, mummy!”
“On second thought, you hang onto that.”

Garfield and Odie as based on their appearance in Garfield’s Halloween Adventure is a layup. This is an easy set to get behind and Boss Fight Studio did a great job of recreating the looks from this infamous Halloween special. If you’re a Garfield fan or just love decorating your house for the season then this is an easy recommend. It’ll set you back $45, which in this day and age is a pretty fair price for a licensed character. You get two figures and some display options for both. About the only thing I wish was included that is not is just a scared expression for Odie to go with Garfield’s. This is pretty great though and it’s been a hit in my house even if it’s still technically summer. It also makes me wonder what else could be on the horizon for Garfield and Boss Fight Studio? The holy trinity of holiday specials is Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, Garfield’s Thanksgiving, and A Garfield Christmas, but those other two don’t have the iconic looks that the Halloween special contains. There’s Jon in his elf attire from the Christmas one and Grandma in her biker gear, but Garfield and Odie pretty much play it straight. I think for Christmas, just Grandma and her rocking chair with a Garfield for her lap would be amazing, but would probably make me cry every time I look at it since that special always makes me think of my own grandmother. And I probably would buy a Thanksgiving grandma because I have too few Thanksgiving toys.

“You know what, Odie? Thanksgiving isn’t so bad, and it’s a lot less scary.”

For more holiday tales from Garfield and toys look no further:

Dec. 5 – A Garfield Christmas

This year, I’m bringing back a feature from last year where I take another look at, what I consider to be, the greatest Christmas specials ever made. I explained my reasoning for doing this in prior posts, but in short, the first time I looked at some of these specials I did just a short…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Garfello

Before they teamed up with the likes of Batman and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had an encounter with an orange cat with a love for Italian food. I am speaking of none other than Garfield, the Jim Davis creation who was everywhere in the 1980s. The two franchises came…

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by Joe

Dec. 20 – The Garfield Show – “Caroling Capers”

Back in the 1980s, Garfield was pretty damn popular. His presence was pervasive in pop culture, so much so that younger people today would probably be surprised. He originated as a comic strip by Jim Davis, but his popularity grew enough to pave the way for some prime time animation specials. These proved popular, and…

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by Joe

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October 29, 2021

Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special

By Joe

One thing I lament a bit is the loss of the shared television experience. And in particular, the thrill of knowing a seasonal favorite was airing on a given night. These things seem to be dying as even Charlie Brown has found himself relegated to PBS. And it’s mostly due to these specials getting gobbled up by streaming platforms. There’s still a few that get seasonal airings, but their numbers are dwindling.

Once upon a time, a seasonal special was a surefire way to get some nice ratings during a holiday. That made them attractive for producers who went out of their way to create a holiday themed cartoon for their popular characters. And when it comes to cartoons, few could argue that the Looney Tunes weren’t near the top of the mountain in terms of popularity, or just sheer greatness. Bugs Bunny is a character that can lay claim to being top dog, or rabbit, in the field of animated characters. Want to argue Donald Duck or Popeye? Sure, they and others can make an argument, but so can Bugs. I’m not concerned with figuring out who is best, but I am reminded that Bugs and the gang once had their own holiday specials you could find on television at the right time of year. Unfortunately, they’re almost all bad. How can this be?! Bugs Bunny is fantastic! Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Sylvester – they practically write themselves! It’s an unfortunate reality though, as we saw with Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales, and the rabbit didn’t just get victimized by Christmas.

Warning, there are few treats ahead.

In 1977, CBS aired Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special. This could have been an annual viewing tradition, and it was for a little while, but fell by the wayside because it’s, well, not great. Come the 70s, Warner’s theatrical shorts division was dead and their vast cast of characters had pivoted to the small screen. The classic Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were now airing in syndication with little in the way of original animation being created aside from wrap-around segments or commercials. Warner and CBS not surprisingly saw an opening to do a Halloween special because the Looney Tunes have dabbled with the macabre before. They could have, and probably should have, just rounded up some popular, spooky, cartoons and aired them in a block. Maybe they could have done some wrap-arounds too, or brought in a live-action host, and people probably would have tuned in. They did not.

What the Hell is this hot garbage?!

Instead, Warner made the decision to take 8 classic (well, mostly classic) shorts and edit them together. Only they didn’t stitch them together with wrap-arounds, instead they tried to make the transition from one toon to the next seamless with new animation. This feels almost sacrilegious to cut up these cartoons like that. Some are even split in half with entire cartoons shoved in the middle. A-Haunting We Will Go is the first toon, and it gets chopped up to have four different cartoons inserted into it before it concludes. Now, maybe if the original directors were making these calls it wouldn’t be so bad, but none of them worked on this special. Hal Geer is the credited executive producer while David Detiege is the credited director who must have overseen the new animation and layouts. I don’t know if they tried to get Chuck Jones or Friz Freleng to do this thing, but presumably that would have cost money and they probably didn’t want to be a part of this.

Witch Hazel faired slightly better than Bugs. Slightly.

If dicing up the cartoons feels bad enough, wait until you see the new animation! Holy Hell is it bad. Now, I don’t want to rag on the animators and artists involved. They probably had a shit budget to work with and Warner animation was a shell of its former self come the late 70s, but they couldn’t even get Bugs Bunny on model. It is immensely distracting to watch the old animation suddenly cut to the new, because Bugs looks about as different as he can. He looks like the bootleg Bugs that adorned VHS covers of public domain cartoons in the 80s. It’s bad. The audio is also noticeably different since Mel Blanc had gotten older. That can’t be helped, but it does just add to that jarring feeling.

It’s a shame what happened here, because most of these cartoons are great on their own like “Hyde and Go Tweet.”

If you can get past all of that, is there something to enjoy here? Yes and no. You get snippets of the old shorts in some cases which just isn’t very satisfying if they’re cartoons you’re familiar with. The pacing is off and most will be left feeling frustrated. Which is a shame, because most of these shorts by themselves are plenty enjoyable:

  • A-Haunting We Will Go
  • Broom-Stick Bunny
  • Hyde and Hare
  • Hyde and Go Tweet
  • A Witch’s Tangled Hare
  • Claws for Alarm
  • Scaredy Cat
  • Transylvania 6-5000
  • Bewitched Bunny

Some of these edits will confuse kids. The special goes right from Hyde and Hare to Hyde and Go Tweet which both feature Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the character models aren’t the same. Claws for Alarm and Scaredy Cat are brutally cut up and quite lousy as a result, even though Scaredy Cat is a terrific toon by itself. And like the new animation issues, you’re also jumping from different eras of Warner shorts which have different production values. It also draws attention to the reuse common in these cartoons like Bugs’ witch costume and walk cycle being the same as Daffy’s nephew. I guess what I’m saying is, this special cuts up the cartoons while also drawing attention to their original flaws. Talk about a swing and a miss.

If you’re thinking about watching this thing, don’t do it!

If you want to spend Halloween with Bugs Bunny and his friends, you can get this special on DVD. You won’t find it airing anywhere, but it is streaming for free in the usual places. It’s mostly an example of what not do do with these shorts. If you want to just experience some spooky tunes, watch the above mentioned shorts by themselves. Or see if you can get the Halloween edition of Toon in With Me that aired this morning. Maybe it’s on demand, but it has some of these cartoons and it’s far more well put together than this. There’s also a block of Looney Tunes airing tomorrow morning on MeTV that may or may not follow a spooky theme. The official Warner YouTube channel even has a bunch of Halloween cartoons on there for free which is way better than this, even if they’re edited. Basically, there are far better options when it comes to enjoying Halloween with Bugs and the gang.

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October 5, 2017

The Scariest Story Ever – A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!

By Joe

Scariest_Story_Ever_Mickey(1)The new Mickey Mouse cartoons are pretty spectacular. They’re funny, look great, and best of all they’re keeping Mickey and the gang relevant as television stars and not just amusement park fixtures. And best of all, they seem to be embarking on a trend of holiday specials! I adore holiday themed specials, in particular Christmas and Halloween. They’re the two holidays that lend themselves the best to a special because they’re so visual. Last year, we received a brand new Mickey Mouse Christmas special called “Duck the Halls” and it was pretty great. As a follow-up, this year we’re getting a brand new Halloween special:  The Scariest Story Ever – A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular! The new special will debut on television this Sunday, October 8th, on the Disney Channel, but you can check it out right now by heading to your local big box retailer and picking it up on DVD as part of the Merry and Scary collection which includes “Duck the Halls” and an assortment of spooky shorts.

Scariest_Story_Ever_Mickey(2)

Mickey’s house all tricked out for Halloween.

The special opens with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy out trick or treating with the nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie and the seldom seen mouse nephews Ferdi and Morty. Right away, this special is after my heart as the duck nephews are sporting the same costumes they wore in the classic Donald Duck short “Trick or Treat.” A nice little bobbing tune plays as the group does Halloween stuff before returning to Mickey’s house which is decked out in full Halloween decor. It’s there the story comes into focus as the kids demand a scary story from Uncle Mickey who is happy to oblige.

The kids get ready to hear a scary story.
The nephews from “Trick or Treat.”

The special takes on an anthology format and parodies three classic tales:  Frankenstein, Dracula, and a take on Hansel and Gretel. The Frankenstein one features Goofy as Dr. Frankenstein and Donald as his assistant as they construct a monster who’s not quite what the kids are expecting. Unsatisfied with Mickey’s ability to spin a scary tale, Goofy and Donald assist with the second one which casts the trio as vampire hunters after Dracula. The Hansel and Gretel tale is the third and final one as the kids weren’t scared by either of the first two. In that one, the kids are inserted into the tale as a gang of rotten kids who steal pies and find themselves seduced by the tastiest pie of all which happens to be baked by a witch who wants to eat them.

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Mickey trying to scare the kids.

By and large, this special is designed to induce laughter. They’re more joke-reliant than the usual Mickey cartoons which tend to heavily rely on visual gags. That’s not to say there are no visual gags to be found. In fact, there are some pretty good ones especially in the Dracula portion in particular. I really liked the one where the vampire places Donald’s stretched out neck in a hot dog bun as he prepares to indulge himself in some duck blood. The more traditional jokes involve Goofy freaking himself out with a sock puppet and Donald trying to tell a scary story but no one can understand him.

Goofy’s monster isn’t too frightening.
A shot from the Dracula parody.

Visually the show looks great. I love how vibrant the colors are and the backgrounds have a gritty quality at times that lends itself well to the Halloween vibe. Mickey is in a costume that features a sunflower on his hat and the flower always takes the place of one of his ears, which is a fun visual treat to follow throughout the episode. Goofy is in his Super Goof attire which is a nice callback as well to that version of the character. There’s a musical number early on that’s pretty silly and thus amusing and the usual voice cast appears. If you like your duck nephews voiced by Russi Taylor, as they were in the 80s, then you’ll be happy to know she voices them in this special, as she did in the previous one as well. The special also has some genuinely spooky imagery, but not enough to frighten my 2 and half year old (he refers to this as the Scary Mickey Cartoon and has been watching it incessantly the past week) so I wouldn’t be too concerned about it being too scary for kids. As always though, if you have an easily frightened child you’re best off watching it by yourself first to see if you think it’s something that will frighten your kid. The only thing about the special I don’t particularly care for is the obvious “made for TV” breaks inserted into it when scenes just end and fade to black. They could have created transitions and just edit them out for TV. I always appreciate it when a retail version of a TV special has slightly more content than what ends up on television.

Merry-Scary-box-art

Can’t wait for the TV broadcast? You can pick this one up on DVD with the Christmas special as well.

“The Scariest Story Ever” is likely to be repeated quite a bit this month. As of this writing, I’m not aware of any non cable airings planned, but it would be nice to see this paired with the “Toy Story of Terror” TV special and aired on a major network so more people can see it. I love that Mickey and the gang are being revived for a new audience so getting them on major networks would really help boost the popularity of the brand. Every kid should get to grow up with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and all the rest. Here’s hoping more holiday specials are on the way in the years to come.

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October 19, 2014

Essential Halloween Viewing

By Joe

When it comes to holiday themed television specials and films, Christmas leads the way with its countless amount. Coming in second is likely Halloween. Unlike Christmas, there usually isn’t some serious undercurrent to Halloween specials. It also feels less sinister when it comes to marketing, even though there’s certainly lots of money to be made off of Halloween by costume and candy suppliers. For the most part, Halloween is just fun and it’s emphasis on scares helps to distinguish it from other holidays. Like many people, I enjoy a good Halloween special whenever the season rolls around, but with so many out there it can be hard to make time for them all in what amounts to only a month. There are some modern ones out there, like the entertaining Toy Story of Terror, but for the most part I like to watch the specials I watched as a kid. Without further adieu, here’s The Nostalgia Spot’s Halloween viewing guide.

Mickey Mouse in “Lonesome Ghosts”

220px-Lonesome_GhostsHere’s an oldie from way back in 1937, something that would have entertained my adolescent grandfather. Since I only discovered it a few years back, it’s not exactly something I remember from my childhood but certainly fits the theme of this blog. In this cartoon, professional ghost exterminators Mickey, Donald, and Goofy investigate paranormal activities in an old house. The twist is that the trio were hired by the ghosts themselves because no one ever enters their haunted house anymore and they’re just plain bored. Less creepy than it is humorous, it’s mostly a slapstick affair as the ghosts play tricks on their would-be exterminators. It’s an entertaining short, and one can’t help but wonder if it maybe partly inspired Ghostbuster, or at least the theme song, especially when Goofy declares, “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!” The short has been shown on television numerous times over the years as part of Halloween specials. It was also re-released to theaters in the 1960’s and has been released on VHS and DVD as well. The easiest way to see it these days is probably youtube.

Donald Duck in “Trick or Treat”

By the late 40’s and into the 1950’s, Donald Duck was basically the only classic Disney character still receiving new short films. There just wasn’t much money in the format anymore and the budget for each short was scaled back considerably. For the 1952 short “Trick or Treat,” Disney decided to increase the budget to give Donald a proper Halloween special. It has its own theme song and the animation is quite nicely done in comparison with other shorts from around that time. In this one, Donald’s nephews Huey, Duey, and Louie are out trick or treating and come upon their uncle’s house. When the boys knock on his door and request their tricks or treats, Donald (not surprisingly) elects trick. A witch, Witch Hazel, passing by happens to see this and decides to help the boys get their treats out of Donald. Apparently, the Halloween spirit does not include the tricks portion of the ages old phrase. Hazel uses her magic on Donald and a lot of physical comedy follows. Like “Lonesome Ghosts,” this one has been released on VHS and DVD over the years either on Halloween compilations or as a bonus feature with certain films. There’s a chance it could pop up on one of the Disney channels this Halloween, but if you want to see it better head to youtube.

The Real Ghostbusters – “When Halloween Was Forever”

Samhain, the spirit of Halloween!

Samhain, the spirit of Halloween!

A cartoon that centers around four guys (and a ghost) who hunt down paranormal creatures naturally lends itself well to Halloween. Pretty much any episode could qualify for such a holiday, but the episode “When Halloween Was Forever” happens to deal with the holiday directly. This episode features the ghost Samhain, the spirit of Halloween, who decides to freeze time on Halloween night so that it lasts forever. Since Halloween is said to be derived from the Pagan holiday Samhain, it’s a nice touch to name the ghost after it. The Real Ghostbusters was a DIC production and if you’re familiar with any of their cartoons from the 80’s then you likely know what to expect out of the audio and animation. It’s standard for the era, with the soundtrack being appropriately spooky. While no episode of this cartoon can come close to matching the film it was based on, it’s actually not a bad show and time has been far kinder to it than it has the more popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Ren & Stimpy – “Haunted House”

The premise for this one is conventional, Ren and Stimpy stumble upon a creepy looking house and, in need of shelter for the night, decide to head inside. Unbeknownst to them, the house is haunted and a malicious ghost lurks inside who can’t wait to scare them. The twist here is that Ren and Stimpy are seemingly in on the joke as they break the fourth wall and end up impervious to the ghost’s efforts. This naturally frustrates the ghost, to the point that he becomes depressed and suicidal (apparently, ghosts can “die” in Ren and Stimpy’s world). Highlights of the episode include a Psycho shower-scene parody and the previously mentioned fourth-wall breaking remarks (“This looks like a good place to kill 12 minutes!”). There’s also the usual random humor found in a Ren and Stimpy short that people either find amusing or stupid. This one is unlikely to show up on television so anyone looking to watch it will either have to pick it up on DVD or turn to the internet. Be warned, the version found on the official Ren & Stimpy Volume 1 is censored with the Bloody Head Fairy bit removed completely. Apparently it was considered too gruesome after the fact.

Beavis and Butt-Head – “Bungholio:  Lord of the Harvest”

Beavis and Butt-Head on a quest for candy.

Beavis and Butt-Head on a quest for candy.

Sometimes referred to as “Buttoween,” this episode features everyone’s favorite dim-witted duo as they go trick or treating in search of free candy. Since they weren’t even aware Halloween was coming until trick or treaters showed up at their house, the two do not have costumes so Butt-Head covers his head in cheese sauce (“I’m nachos.”) while Beavis wears his underwear on his head (“I’m a nad!”). Beavis eventually has too much sugar and his alter-ego, The Great Cornholio, shows itself. The two soon find themselves on a farm ripped right from a slasher film. Most of the humor comes from watching the two try and get some candy in the first part of the episode, while the second part puts the two in an obvious bad situation that they’re apparently oblivious to. The animation is pretty terrible, but anyone who has seen an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head before should already be aware of this. It’s stupid humor, but it is pretty funny. You either like it or you don’t.

South Park – “Pinkeye”

South Park is more known for its numerous Christmas specials, but early seasons often featured other holiday themed episodes. The first season episode, “Pinkeye,” remains the show’s top Halloween special. In this one, a mishap with worcestershire sauce causes a dead Kenny to turned into a zombie. Kenny, as patient zero, spreads a zombie plague all through-out South Park that a clueless doctor mistakes as a severe case of pinkeye. It’s up to Chef and the boys to put a stop to the zombie menace so they can go trick or treating and get some candy. The episode includes some notable gags such as Cartman’s mom on the cover of Crack Whore Magazine and a memorable parody of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” It also features Cartman’s attempt to find a non-offensive Halloween costume.

The Simpsons – “Treehouse of Horror V”

Treehouse of Horror V is best-remembered for its parody of Stephen King's "The Shining."

Treehouse of Horror V is best-remembered for its parody of Stephen King’s “The Shining.”

The Simpsons Halloween special, Treehouse of Horror, has become an annual tradition. With 24 to choose from, some may consider it a daunting task to select only one. As is the case with most things “Simpsons,” the earlier episodes are usually considered the better, and for me, it came down to a choice between Treehouse of Horror II and V. V is just slightly stronger and a little more horror-themed than the more sci-fi II. Treehouse of Horror V features parodies of The Shining, The Sound of Thunder, and Soylent Green. In the first segment, “The Shinning,” the Simpsons are basically dropped into the plot of its source material and includes the memorable line “No beer and no TV make Homer go something, something.” The second segment, “Time and Punishment,” puts a time-traveling toaster in Homer’s hands resulting in Homer unintentionally creating a new present time ruled by Flanders. The third segment, “Nightmare Cafeteria,” has Principal Skinner resort to cannibalism of the student body to cope with budget cuts at Springfield Elementary. If a Treehouse of Horror is able to hit on two out of three, it’s generally considered a good iteration of the venerable television special, but Treehouse of Horror V is the rare one where all three are pretty entertaining. With The Simpsons now being featured on the FXX channel, hopefully a Treehouse of Horror marathon is in the near future. The 25th version of the special is set to air tonight.

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