RJ Writing Ink

Jay’s Month of Screams, Day 22- Peanuts

Today’s choice for a Halloween special is by no means scary. Nonetheless, it’s so well-known that watching it is as big a Halloween tradition as Trick-Or-Treating. I’m talking, of course, about the Halloween classic, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Ever since it first aired back in 1966, the Great Pumpkin has aired every Halloween. It’s one of the first Halloween specials I ever remember seeing, and as a big Peanuts fan as a kid, it holds a special place in my heart. I daresay it, but next to A Charlie Brown Christmas, the Great Pumpkin’s the most famous Peanuts special.

Linus’ Annual Struggle

Most of us know the plot, so I won’t bother trying to avoid spoilers. We know how Linus spends Halloween night in a pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Nonetheless, he refuses to give up on seeing the Great Pumpkin. We know Linus’ engaging in an exercise of futility, yet we can’t help but admire his determination. 

The nature of the Great Pumpkin’s debated by scholars and philosophers for years now. Some see it as symbolic of unshakable belief, while others see it as an example of people believing in something foolish. Charles Schulz, though, says there’s a greater meaning to the Great Pumpkin. He thought it would be funny for a kid to confuse aspects of Halloween and Christmas, which are both popular in America. I think Schulz’s right, that we’re over-thinking things, and yes, I do find it amusing. Flying Ace Snoopy

Flying Ace Snoopy

The real reason I keep coming back to a special I’ve memorized by heart, though, is Snoopy. I loved Snoopy as a kid, and so did many kids growing up. Watching his various antics in the Charlie Brown specials was half their appeal, and the Great Pumpkin is his most memorable appearance. 

World War One Flying Ace scene’s one of the best moments in the history of animation and my favorite part of the special. It only uses moving backgrounds and changing colors, but its simplicity is incredibly effective at attracting viewer’s eyes.

I Love The Great Pumpkin

I’ve seen the Great Pumpkin special several hundred times now, and I’ve memorized every part of it. Yet it’s the special that I keep coming back to every Halloween. It may not have the same appeal as an adult, at times, but I enjoy the nostalgia. In addition, I can pass that love on to my kids one day. So whether you believe in the Great Pumpkin or not, Happy Halloween, everyone!

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year. Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts.

Jay’s Month of Screams, Day 21- The Simpsons

I promised that I would be doing the 30th Treehouse of Horror for my Halloween entry today, and I’m standing by it. Even if I think that it was boring. At this point, Treehouse of Horror’s less about the horror and more about cutting loose from the restraints of canon. Nonetheless, I’m ready to deliver my verdict on the big XXX/666.

To start us off, I enjoyed the opening segment that led into the episode. I thought it was a neat little parody of Omen, even if American Dad did it years ago. What got me laughing was “the mark of the beast.”

I love Disney, but I’ve made my concern about the Mouse’s growing power clear. Even so, I liked that joke. Firstly, I thought the Mickey Mouse Mark was a cheeky jab by Fox at their new Disney overlords. Second, it was one of the funniest jokes of the special.

Danger Things

The first segement’s a parody of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, which I admit I’ve never seen before. I had to look up what it’s about, and it seems like the kind of thing I’d love to watch. My lack of knowledge didn’t stop me from enjoying the special. I did, however, recognize the E.T. Game. It’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of trying to rush a video game for profit.

Loosely parodying the first few seasons of the show, Milhouse gets abducted and trapped in an alternate dimension. It ends falling on Lisa to use her psychic powers to save him, only to be saved by Homer. Mr. Burns opened a portal to the other dimension, and Homer got trapped doing clean-up. I thought this was the most interesting of all the segments, and it might be what gets me into Stranger Thing’s.

Heaven Swipes Right

In this next segment, Homer ends up dying in the third most likely way: choking on a hot dog at a game. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t meant to die until later, so Heaven gives him the chance to go back to Earth. Since his body’s useless, they let him pick another person’s body to use, leading him to abuse its power to make Marge happy.

This segment felt a bit like a one-note joke, with the joke being Homer going through every body imaginable. However, that gets old pretty fast. I got more giggles out of the sight of Heaven under new management: Google. Google bought Heaven from God, and while we know it could never happen, I thought it’s funny. It makes you wonder just how powerful Google can get.

When Hairy Met Slimy

Finally, we have a love story between the last people we’d expect: Selma and Kang. Held captive under the Springfield power plant, the two fall in love despite their differences. When Mr. Burns schedules Kang for dissection, Selma enlists Homer on an epic jailbreak to set him free, and be rid of Selma forever.

I cannot lie about this: I hated this segment and thought it was boring. Honestly, I skipped most of it, only stopping to see Kang put on the Infinity Gauntlet.

I am supportive of love conquering all, even species differences; but this was not even remotely fun to watch. I’d rather watch Eclipsa and Globgor, instead: those two are a great couple!

Final Verdict

This was not even remotely scary, outside of Danger Things. I would have had a better time watching one of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from the golden age of The Simpsons than this. Which is a shame, because the 30th special is a big milestone; and it’s the 666th episode, no less!

So, lesson learned, though I’m not entirely sure what the lesson was. At least I know what I’m watching tomorrow is good. Happy Halloween!

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year.

Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts.

Jay’s Month of Screams, Day 19- Tales From the Crypt

I was looking at scary movies to watch for tonight, and I remembered this movie that Nostalgia Critic talked about on Wednesday. Called Demon Knight, it’s based on the HBO series Tales From the Crypt, which was based on the comics of the same name. I can’t believe I did not know about this, or that Robert Zemeckis helped produce it.

Regardless, I thought that it’s worth watching so I found it on demand. Here’s a basic rundown of the plot. It’s basically a survive the night scenario about this mysterious man, Blayker, who’s stuck in a motel being attacked by demons. The reason why there are demons in the first place? Blayker has a key/chalice with the blood of Jesus in it, and it’s one of seven keys needed to unleash an army of demons to conquer the universe. So Blayker has to protect it along with a bunch of other trope-fulfilling characters who will obviously die, except for the final girl.

After looking through it all, I can say one thing about this film: it’s like the king of B-horror films. It’s cheesy, it’s goofy, and the special effects aren’t that breathtaking, even by 90s standards. However, Demon Knight succeeds because it relishes how silly it can be. It’s raunchy, over the top, and filled with blood and gore, but in a fun way. I can see why people liked it, and why it’s a cult film.

Since I never saw Tales From The Crypt, though, I couldn’t connect to it as much as Critic did. It’s a good movie, but it’s just not something I’m interested in. Maybe I’ll watch it a second time, just in case. Happy Halloween!

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year. Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts.

Jay’s Month of Halloween, Day 1- Avatar: The Last Airbender Special

Good evening, boys and ghouls of every age. Welcome to the first day of my month of Halloween. To start us off strong, I’m going to start with one of my favorite shows of all time, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was a huge fan of Avatar growing up, and my love remains as strong as ever. While it may have come out a week after the holiday, the Season Three episode “The Puppetmaster” is meant to be a Halloween special. It says so on the Avatar Wiki!

The episode opens with Team Avatar telling ghost stories around a campfire at night. This helps set the tone for the episode: it’s going to be as scary as a kids cartoon can be. We can share in the kid’s nervousness and subsequent relief when they meet a woman named Hama. Hama seems very nice, if a little eccentric, with Katara quickly bonding with her. Especially when it’s revealed that she’s not only from the Southern Water Tribe, but the only other Waterbender left. 

Sokka, however, is crazy suspicious of her and thinks something’s off. The show even drops several hints that he’s right. As This suspicion comes to a satisfying conclusion with the climax of the episode. Under the full moon, Hama reveals her ultimate skill. The power that allowed her to escape captivity when no one else did: bloodbending.

Blood-bending Made my Blood Freeze

I’ve seen far scarier things, but something about bloodbending made my skin crawl in fear as a kid. Think of it: someone controlling every muscle of your body like a puppet master. The worst part is that you’re conscious the whole time, and can’t do anything about it. That’s a terrifying thought.

I’ve seen far scarier things, but something about bloodbending made my skin crawl in fear as a kid. Think of it: someone controlling every muscle of your body like a puppetmaster. The worst part is that you’re conscious the whole time, and can’t do anything about it. That’s a terrifying thought.

Katara beats Hama, but has to use blood-bending to do so. She had to in order to save the lives of Sokka and Aang, but it means Hama still won. The final shot shows her on the ground in tears over what happened, driving home how messed up this was.

The Scary Puppetmaster

This episode was dark, as dark as a kid’s show could get. The legacy of this episode ended up being far-reaching. Blood-bending plays a key role in the first season of the sequel show, The Legend of Korra. If the technique wasn’t scary before, that show made it terrifying. That fear stems from this appropriately named episode, “The Puppetmaster”, though. I loved it, and to this day, I don’t regret watching it even if my parents had grounded me for a month. NOT SORRY! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year.

Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts!

Hello, everyone, and how are you? As you might recall, last year I did a special event where I reviewed a different holiday special in the days leading up to Christmas. I had so much fun doing that, I decided that this year, I’m doing the same thing for my favorite holiday. I’m talking about Halloween. All rise for the anthem of the holiday!

To say I love Halloween is an understatement; it’s my favorite holiday. I love the specials, the costumes, the decorations, and the candy. So I want to help everyone get hyped for the coolest holiday with my month long tradition. Everyday leading up to Halloween, I’ll be posting a review for a different special, episode, or scary movie.

Here’s the ground rules I’m setting for myself: I’d prefer to use something Halloween related, though it doesn’t have to be directly related to the holiday. If it’s indirectly related to the holiday or an episode that came out with Halloween-tones in mind, I’ll accept it.

Rule two is that unless it’s part of a series, I’m limiting myself to one special per show. This way, I can encourage myself to see new Halloween stuff alongside the classics of my childhood.

See you tomorrow, and who knows? Maybe I’ll do something you love, or something you should see.

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year

Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts!