RJ Writing Ink

Jay’s Month of Screams, Day 27- Regular Show, Terror Tales V

With Halloween nearly upon us, I’m closing in on the last of my picks for the month of screams. Since I’m such a big fan of Regular Show, I’m going to finish my review on the Terror Tales of the Park series, and this next one may be my favorite. It’s got Steve Blum in it!

The episode starts off with Benson throwing a Halloween party that the gang agrees is awesome. The centerpiece to it is Racki the Wishmaker, a mechanical genie voiced by Steve Blum. Legendary for his baritone voice, Steve did a lot of the extra voices for Regular Show. I love the guy, and this episode has him at his finest as Racki. He can grant people visions of whatever they wish, but it’s made scary! One by one, the park gang tries it out.

Mr. Bossman

When Benson wishes to motivate Mordecai and Rigby at work, he gets a vision of him getting a dummy named Mr. Bossman to yell at them. The duo are so creeped out that it actually works. Then one night, Mr. Bossman comes to life and tries to kill Benson and take his job!

When I tried writing that FANDOM article on Terror Tales, I included this in my five favorite stories. I thought that Mr. Bossman reminded me of Slappy the evil dummy from R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. I’ve seen reruns of the show on TV, and that’s one of the best episodes.

Werepops

Pop wishes that he could travel more, so Racki gives him just that. In his wish, the entire park gang’s doing jury duty on Halloween, with an actual werewolf as the defendant. When the criminal attack Pops in the bathroom, Pops turns into a werewolf and is left to take the rap while the real guy escapes. So Pops has to run all the way to London.

Steve Blum’s famous for the hundreds of roles he’s done, with some of them being in the same show. This story’s one such example, with him voicing the Werewolf and the man’s lawyer. Steve Blum aside, I enjoyed this story because it ends with the song “Werewolves of London”.

Going Up

Hi-Five Ghost wishes that he could visit his girlfriend Celia in Prague, so Racki grants his wish. Unfortunately, Fives makes the mistake of taking the elevator rather than walk 36 flights of stairs. Only he gets stuck inside the elevator!

While it doesn’t seem too scary at first glance, its the ending that makes this segment scary. Celia reveals that the elevator’s been broken for years, and the repairman for it died a long time ago. Except Hi Five Ghost was talking to him right before he went inside the elevator. It’s creepier when you watch it.

Chocolatitude

In a change of pace, the special has four stories instead of three. When Rigby wishes to be popular as a kid, his vision shows him just that. After some kids make fun of his costume, Rigby accepts a dare to take candy from a creepy old house. When he tries taking more than one, though, he incurs the wrath of the witch that lives inside.

This segment, in hindsight, feels similar to the wizard one in the original Halloween special, but it’s got a few good differences. Instead of turning Rigby into a house, the witch turns him and Mordecai into chocolate to eat. That was disturbing, but I already saw a villain do that in Dragon Ball Z, so the effect gets diminished. I actually forgot about this story until I saw the special again.

Oh, and I think Steve Blum voiced one of the other kids.

Steve Blum Strikes Again

The Terror Tales almost always has a weird ending, but this one takes the cake. Racki the Wishmaker tries to make off with the Park Gang’s valuables, only to fail and get destroyed. He gets the last laugh, though, since Benson won’t get his security deposit back.

In a twist, the entire episode’s revealed to be a vision from Benson at the Halloween Party shop. He wanted to see his wish for the best Halloween party ever, and Racki’s powers turned him off altogether. At least Steve Blum sounded like he was having fun.

This was probably my favorite of the Regular Show Halloween episodes. The stories were fun, I enjoyed the pop culture references, and, of course, Steve Blum giving a hundred percent. I loved it, and I think you will too! 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 Scares, Day 23- Regular Show, Terror Tales IV

It’s time to start another Terror Tales of the Park with a joke: you know who everyone talks about on Regular Show but never meets? Muscle Man’s mom! We’ve seen him make his “My Mom”, but Muscle Man’s mom was one of the show’s biggest mysteries. Imagine everyone’s surprise, both in-Show and in real life, when Muscle Man agrees to introduce his mom to everyone. However, since this is a Terror Tales episode, the Park Gang has to tell scary stories. Everyone knows my routine by this point: I tell the basic plot, then give my thoughts.

The Hole

In the first story, told by Pops, the Park Gang takes part in a dark Halloween Ritual. Every year, the park members draw from a raffle and choose an unlucky soul to sacrifice to a hole in the park. They think its the only way to survive a mysterious fog that keeps them from leaving the park. Pops is next up to be sacrificed, but he makes a plea to remember life before the raffle; they throw him in anyway.

Pops’ story was the weakest segment of the special, by far. Firstly, its a clear reimagining of the Lottery, a short story with a similar premise. I loathe that story because I think sacrificing someone’s life like that is stupid. Muscle Man even calls Pops out on the re-imagining part. Fortunately, the story ends with Pops choking the hole monster to death and the Park Gang realizing there was no fog.

Unfinished Business

Bensons’ story starts off with a bang: Mordecai and Rigby are dead, yet they never left the house. Since their ghosts are haunting the house, Benson’s has to fulfill his destiny and fire the two. Since the two are essentially poltergeists now, it’s easier said than done.

I admit, Mordecai and Rigby as poltergeists are scary. There’s only so far a kids show can go with scares, however. However, the real treat comes in the form of the ending: Benson was the one dead the whole time! He fell down some stairs and had been wandering around the house for months, freaking out at the sight of everyone. Mordecai points out that that twist’s been done plenty of times, but I still thought it was amusing.

Scary Movie Night

This last story’s brought to the gang by Rigby. One night when Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen, and CJ are picking a scary movie to watch. So, Rigby decides to show them Triple Threat, a VHS mash-up of three horror movies. However, the movie ends up sucking them inside the film. In order to survive, they have to make it to the end of the movie. It’s easier than it sounds, since the main thing is to not be stupid.

I thought that this was the best segment out of the three, mostly because it calls out the stupidity of everyone in horror films. Most of the problems in horror films could be solved by either carrying a weapon or common sense. Thankfully, the quartet’s smart enough not to fall for the obvious danger and gets out. Except ball lightning fuses their butts together!

Meet Muscle Mom

Aside from “the hole”, I thought the stories from this special were pretty solid. “Unfinished Business” felt like a PG version of Poltergeist, while “Scary Movie Night” was hilarious for pointing out horror characters dumb decisions. The real treat, though, comes at the end when viewers finally meet Muscle Mom. She freaks everyone out and makes them run for the hills!

I love shock twist endings like this, and it gets even funnier when its revealed that Muscle Mom’s wearing a costume. It turns out that pranking people and making bad jokes runs in the family. 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.