RJ Writing Ink

*The following was originally published on FANDOM. Due to the FANDOM Contributor Program being shut down, it has been copied and moved to my blog. Thank you!

Three things make Halloween a fantastic holiday: costumes, candy, and TV specials. Every October networks air special episodes to help people get in the spirit of the holiday. When it comes to a holiday that children love, though, no one can get kids hyped for a night of tricks and treats quite like Nickelodeon, “The First Kids’ Network.”

In its first ten years on the air, Nickelodeon gave kids shows that they’re now nostalgic for as adults. Many of these shows would air annual Halloween specials. When it comes to laughs and scares, these five classic Nicktoons Halloween specials are among the most frightful and funny in Nick’s first ten years on TV.

“CANDY BAR CREEP SHOW” — RUGRATS, 1992

It’s Halloween night at the Pickles’ house in episode “Candy Bar Creepshow,” and the babies have only one thing on their mind: Reptar Bars. They’re delicious candy bars molded in the likeness of their favorite dinosaur, Reptar. The only problem is that they have to go to a haunted house. A haunted house filled with spaghetti brains and grape eyeballs (cue scary music)!

Few things are as memorable as going trick-or-treating as a kid. Through the Rugrats, this episode captures the joy, and fear, of the holiday. This episode also built on the in-show popularity of Reptar with the Reptar Bars. The candy proved to be enduring enough to warrant a real-life release in 2017 by FYE, just in time for Halloween.

“SUGAR FROSTED FRIGHTS” — ROCKO’S MODERN LIFE, 1995

In the episode “Sugar Frosted Frights,” Rocko and Heffer discover Filburt is afraid of Halloween, so they try and teach him the joy of the holiday. Their plan backfires when Filburt goes into a sugar-induced frenzy and begins to tear apart O-Town in search of candy, ultimately ending up at an old cemetery. Of course, the cemetery is haunted by a local ghost, the Hopping Hessian.

Nick may have canceled it in 1996, but Rocko’s Modern Life has maintained a cult following among fans. With the revival movie coming soon, now is the perfect time for fans to rewatch this special episode. The real cherry to this episode, though, is the Hopping Hessian, which spoofs Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman. Way to reference an American classic, Nickelodeon.

“ARNOLD’S HALLOWEEN” —  HEY ARNOLD!,1997

On Halloween night, Arnold and Gerald decide to prank the residents of the Boarding House. They broadcast a fake radio transmission about an alien invasion, but things get out of hand. The host of a local UFO show picks up their broadcast and shares it with the entire city, causing panic. It doesn’t help that Arnold’s classmates dressed as aliens for Halloween, either.

This episode serves as a tribute to Orson Welles’ famous “War of the Worlds” broadcast in 1938. The UFO host is even voiced by the king of Orson Welles impersonators, Maurice LaMarche, aka the Brain from Pinky and the Brain. The nods to the legendary actor, along with the Halloween setting, make for a hilarious special. Not to mention, Arnold and Gerald pulled a great prank.

“SCAREDY PANTS” — SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, 1999

When SpongeBob gets tired of everyone scaring him on Halloween, he decides to do the scaring for once. So, after Patrick gives him a quick head shave, SpongeBob becomes the Ghost of the Flying Dutchman. The duo tries to scare everyone at Mr. Krabs’ Halloween party, only to incur the wrath of the real Flying Dutchman.

“Scaredy Pants” is classic SpongeBob at its finest. From SpongeBob jumping at everything to people’s confusion at his attempts to be scary, this episode has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The funniest moment by far, though, is everybody’s reactions to what’s underneath Spongebob’s costume. Watching the Dutchman and partygoers run away from the sight of Spongebob’s brain is comedic gold.

“HALLOWEEN SPECTACULAR OF SPOOKY DOOM” — INVADER ZIM, 2001

Following a mishap with one of his dad’s inventions, Dib, and Zim, get sucked into a nightmarish world based on Dib’s imagination. Led by a monstrous version of Ms. Bitters, the nightmare creatures want to use Dib’s head as a portal to the real world. As such, the two rivals are forced to work together to escape the dimension and return home. Meanwhile, GIR is terrorizing kids and stealing their candy.

If you’ve seen Invader Zim before, then you know that it is the darkest Nicktoon to ever air. So you know that the Halloween special is going to be dark and disturbing, if not more so given the holiday. Not to mention, inhabitants of the Nightmare Realm are grotesque and terrifying to look at. The scariest thing, though, is the sight of a bloated chocolate-covered GIR resting on a pile of stolen candy.

*The following was originally published on FANDOM. Due to the FANDOM Contributor Program being shut down, it has been copied and moved to my blog. Thank you!

Not every video game based on a cartoon is going to be good. In fact, one of the most reviled games in history is based on a superhero cartoon! It’s actually better that video games based on cartoons don’t try and appeal to critics. It’s more important that these games stay true to their cartoons, as fans are the ones most likely to want to play the game.

Gameplay and critical reception aside, what the players and fans of the shows think about a game can be of bigger importance. In that regard, these five games live up to the fans’ love for their respective shows.

RUGRATS: THE SEARCH FOR REPTAR

Nickelodeon’s Rugrats was one of its first shows, and one of its most successful. This success led to several movies, spin-offs, and even video games such as Rugrats: The Search For Reptar. The game focuses on the efforts of Tommy Pickles and his friends to find his missing Reptar puzzle. This means going through more than a dozen levels, most of them based off episodes from the show itself.

Now, the graphics for this platformer have not aged well over the years, but that doesn’t stop it from being a fun game. For any kid who watched Rugrats on TV, being able to play through different episodes would have been a dream. This game ended up a huge hit with kids on the PlayStation, enough to be re-released under Sony’s “Greatest Hits” brand. Plus, how awesome was it to rampage through a city as the big dinosaur himself, Reptar?

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: THE BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM

In his latest scheme to steal the Krabby Patty Formula, Plankton builds a massive army of robots in Spongebob Squarepants: The Battle For Bikini Bottom. It backfires, though, when the robots throw him out of the Chum Bucket. They proceed to run amok in Bikini Bottom, leaving it up to Spongebob, Patrick, and Sandy to clean up the mess — which includes giant robot versions of themselves.

This action-adventure game is so enjoyable because it stays true to the show by being as silly as possible. Even the character’s moves are ridiculous — Spongebob’s moves revolve around bubble-blowing! This game has gotten a cult following over the years and will likely be one of Spongebob’s best games. Also, if you 100% the entire game, you will get a special reward …

ED EDD N’ EDDY — THE MIS-EDVENTURES

Cartoon Network’s trio of idiots may have had a hit TV show, but their short track record with games made us want refunds. The exception to this was their console release, Ed Edd N’ Eddy — The Mis-Edventures. Ed-fans get to control their favorite trio as they run through the Cul-De-Sac and annoy the other kids. That, or earn money for Jawbreakers — if you saw the jawbreakers, you’d understand.

This 3D platformer is short at six hours, and there is no overarching plot at work. This can hinder the game’s creative potential as a whole, but at the same time, each level feels episodic. Combine that with the game retaining the art style and humor of the show, and it’s clear why fans of the show like it. This makes for a short, but fun, romp through one of Cartoon Network’s most successful shows.

THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON BOY GENIUS: ATTACK OF THE TWONKIES

Players control Jimmy as he saves Retroville from the menace of the Twonkies in this game based on the Jimmy Neutron special. Yeah, they may look cute at first, but when they hear music, they go full Gremlin and wreak havoc. So, it’s up to us to use terrible singing and a Ghostbusters-esque vacuum to round them up and ship them off to space.

The most impressive thing about this game is that it takes a single TV special and expands it into a full video game. Not something a lot of video games have done that or have done so in as entertaining a fashion. By the end of the game, players will have traveled all over Retroville and visited places found in the show. This action-adventure is a must-have for fans of this 2000’s Nicktoon, and it’s a fun parody of the Gremlin movies, to boot.

SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH

If the other games were like episodes of a cartoon, then this was an entire flipping season! Since no one else could do it right, the creators of South Park decided to make their own game for their hit show. The end result is South Park: The Stick of Truth.

You play the game as a new kid who has recently moved to South Park and go outside to make friends. Before you know it, you’re caught in this giant fantasy game played out by the town’s kids. That’s only how it starts, though: there are Nazi Zombies, Aliens, and Al Gore dressed as ManBearPig. It’s something you have to play to believe.

Since the game’s made by the show’s writers and actors, it resembles the show on every level. Not only is the art style the same as the show, but the show’s love of ripping on everything carries over, as the game pokes fun at RPG tropes every chance it gets. Even the in-game items contain callbacks and references to the show’s history. Bottom line, if you’re a South Park fan, you have to play this game.

There are plenty of Christmas specials out the wazoo, but there are more holidays in December than just Christmas. Coincidentally, as a kid the only specials I remember watching that had anything to do with Chanukah or Kwanzaa were made by the same show, Rugrats on Nickelodeon.

Rugrats was a personal favorite show of mine growing up, and with the revival of the series announced earlier this year, I’d thought now would be a good time to look back at their holiday specials. I’m not actually Jewish, so I don’t celebrate Hanukkah. But ever since I learned about the story behind the holiday, I’ve had a mild fascination with the holiday. Plus, I think driedels look like a lot of fun! So, here’s my look back at the Rugrats Chanukkah.

The babies, being babies, don’t really understand the meaning behind Chanukah. They take one look at the Menorah, how Tommy get’s presents every night, and their conclusion: it’s HIS BIRTHDAY! To be fair, that does have some logic to it from a kid’s point of view. 

The whole special is about the kids learning the meaning of Chanukah, though they are, at first distracted. So is Grandpa Boris: his childhood rival, Shlomo is playing the role of King Antioch, and when the Rugrats hear Boris complain about him, they decide they need to beat the “meany of Hanukkah”

As for Angelica… I don’t really care about Angelica. I never really liked her, because she’s mean and bossy all the time. She also personifies the kid at Christmas: she doesn’t give two cents about Hanukkah, she just wants to watch a dumb Christmas special. Then she enlists the Babies in order to do that at the Synagogue.

Eventually, all the plots come together as Boris and Shlomo resolve their rivalry and the babies (and Angelica) learn about the meaning of Hanukkah.

I honestly liked this special as a kid. It was different from the other Holiday Specials that I had been seeing, it was about something new, and I appreciated it for it. For the life of me, I cannot think of any other Hanukkah Special that was on for me as a kid to watch. As an adult, I can appreciate even more, because, and this sounds really corny, the holidays are universal. No matter what religion you are, this should be the time of year when we together and celebrate and have fun. So, to all my readers, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays.

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