Season 3, while a distant second to Season 1 in quality, is the most consistent season of AYAOTD. The beginning of the season introduces Tucker as a new member of the Midnight Society after the departure of David. Tucker would be the only member to return in Seasons 6 and 7, and is surprisingly one of the best story tellers of the group. Season 3 also contains many of the series' more notable guest stars.
27. "The Midnight Ride" *** - A teen moves to the famous town of Sleepy Hollow and as part of a dare, and to impress a girl, he heads into the woods on Halloween to retrieve the pumpkin head of the Headless Horseman and encounters the ghost of Ichabod Crane and the Horseman himself.
28. "Apartment 214" ** - A girl and her mother move into an apartment next door to a lonely old woman. Once the girl begins making friends her own age, she breaks a promise that she made to the old woman and holy shit, watch the fuck out ...
29. "Watcher's Woods" *** - Two girls who disdain each other are paired up as hiking partners at summer camp, get lost in the woods and encounter three witches.
30. "The Phone Police" ***** - Two friends with no lives spend all their time making prank calls, and one of their sisters invents a story about the Phone Police who find prank callers and make them disappear forever. In disbelief, the boys continue in their sin only to find out the Phone Police do exist. This episode may get lost in translation with today's generation of kids, as making anonymous phone calls is nigh impossible these days. Legend has it that Weird Al Yankovic's "Phony Calls," a parody of TLC's "Waterfalls," was inspired by this episode.
31. "The Dollmaker" *** - A girl discovers that her friend who disappeared may be trapped inside of a dollhouse.
32. "The Bookish Babysitter" **** - Ricky is a couch potato whose single mother must go out for the evening, probably to turn tricks on the avenue, and leaves him with an eccentric (and strangely attractive) babysitter who insists that she can get Ricky to read a book. Ricky's ADD handicap prevents him from finishing any of the books he begins, but little does he know that by leaving the stories unfinished he's opened up the worlds of the books and a witch, ghost and armored knight puruse and try to kill him.
33. "The Carved Stone" *** - A girl desperate for friends purchases a stone from Sardo's magic shop and travels back in time.
34. "The Guardian's Curse" *** - A sister and brother (played by Danny Cooksey from "Salute Your Shorts" ) are the children of a single father trying to balance work and raising a family. When their father, an historian at a museum, finally finds time to take them skiing, the sarcophagus of a legendary Egyptian queen is brought into the museum, further postponing their vacation and putting them in the way of an ancient curse ...
35. "The Curious Camera" **** - Eddie Kaye Thomas (who would later become most famous for fucking Stiffler's mom) stars as a geeky high schooler who is given a cursed camera by a jaded photographer. The curious thing about this camera is that doom comes to anyone it takes a picture of.
36. "The Dream Girl" **** - A young man who works at a bowling alley with his sister discovers a school ring and begins having dreams about a beautiful girl only to find out the girl of his dreams is actually a ghost. While the twist in this one becomes pretty obvious about halfway through, the acting, especially at the end, is phenomenal. How this episode didn't get an Emmy is beyond me. Not gonna lie, this one actually made me cry.
37. "The Quicksilver" **** - Two brothers move into a house haunted by two ghosts; one a restless evil spirit; the other that of a girl who died trying to get rid of the evil spirit. Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") plays both the benevolent ghost and her living sister.
38. "The Crimson Clown" **** - An older brother threatens his manipulative younger brother with a story about a clown that reaps karma on those who do wrong. While only a story to the older brother, the younger brother encounters a nightmarish experience. Like "Tale of Laughing in the Dark," this one is not for coulrophobics.
39. "The Dangerous Soup" **** - A hardened teen and a restaurant hostess (played by Neve Campbell) discover the sinister secret of head chef Dr. Vink's addictive and expensive soup.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Retrospective Review - Season 2
Of the first five seasons, Season 2 is the most disappointing overall. That's not to say it doesn't contain good episodes, but most of the episodes lack the daringness many in Season 1 had. Many of Season 2's episodes have a happy ending that comes too easily, whereas the best episodes end with a hint that whatever "evil" still lurks. The season begins well, takes the series to many of its lowest points, and finally recovers in the final episode.
14. "The Final Wish" *** - A thirteen-year-old girl, who finds it hard to let go of the fairy tales from her childhood, encounters the Sandman (played by Bobcat Goldthwait) and is granted her wish for a fairy tale life away from her family that tries daily to force her to grow up. Of course all wishes come with a price ...
15. "The Midnight Madness" **** - A teenage boy and girl work at a failing one-screen movie theater, but the theater gets a chance to stay in business when Dr. Vink (this time a retired filmmaker) insists that the theater show his old films instead of contemporary blockbusters. However, the teens take objection to Dr. Vink's business model when Nosferatu crosses over from the big screen into the real world ...
16. "Locker 22" * - The new girl at a high school is given the locker of a girl who died in an accident at the school in the 1960s. She soon discovers that her locker is a door back into the 1960s and becomes surrounded by hippies and a younger version of the school's principal.
17. "The Thirteenth Floor" ***** - A brother and sister use the thirteenth floor of their urban apartment building as a playground until a mysterious trio in unisex jumpsuits rents out the floor and entices the children to enter their newly built laboratory by promising them free toys.
The campy, surreal set designs, the mysterious trio and the truly horrifying ending make this one not only the best episode of the worst season, but one of the best of the series.
18. "The Dream Machine" ** - A young creative writer discovers a typewriter that causes whatever he writes with it to come true.
19. "The Dark Dragon" ** - Basically a reworking of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." A geeky teen with braces on his legs buys an elixir from recurring shop owner Sardo in hopes of getting a date with a popular girl. He explains the mysterious transformation into a James Dean-esque hunk by claiming to be his cousin rather than himself. However, when not taking the elixir, the "dark dragon" within him begins to reveal itself outwardly.
20. "The Frozen Ghost" * - Melissa Joan Hart of "Clarissa Explains It All" stars as a babysitter who, along with the boy in her care, encounters the ghost of a boy who froze to death trying to steal cookies from the cookie jar. This is not only the worst episode of the season, but the worst episode of the entire series. As a matter of fact, I didn't even re-watch it because I remembered how bad I thought it was as an eight or nine-year-old who lived to watch AYAOTD.
21. "The Whispering Walls" * - A babysistter and her care are returning from a trip to an amusement park when the car breaks down in front of the home of an evil villain trying to steal their souls. A lot of mystery leading to a disappointing resolution.
22. "The Full Moon" **** - Two pre-teen pet detectives become suspicious that their new neighbor is a werewolf. Things are further complicated when one of their mothers begins dating the new neighbor. This episode is full of homages to the 1987 vampire hit The Lost Boys and the films of John Waters.
23. "The Shiny Red Bicycle" ** - A teen is haunted by the memory of his best friend who died when he failed to save him from falling into a raging river. But when the friend's ghost begins appearing, the teen has trouble convincing his callous parents that the apparitions are real. This one had potential, but the cheesy acting and cliche resolution kept it from reaching that potential.
24. "The Magician's Assistant" ** - A boy living with his widowed mother takes on a job as ... you guessed it ... a magician's assistant. Things go awry when he steals Shandoo's wand and uses it ...
25. "The Hatching" *** - A brother and sister are left at a strict boarding school by their busy traveling parents and discover that the school's headmaster and headmistress are reptilian humanoids enslaving the students into caring for their eggs and intend to use them as food for their young once the eggs hatch.
26. "Old Man Corcoran" **** - Two African-American brothers (literal brothers) move out of a rough area into a quiet suburban neighborhood. However, many of the neighborhood kids are reluctant to accept them. The kids give them an ultimatum to be accepted: they must play a game of hide-and-seek in the graveyard haunted by Old Man Corcoran ...
What makes this episode stand out to me is the social commentary about racism. While the issue is not explicitly dealt with, all but one of the neighborhood kids (who are white) continually tell the two black boys that they don't want them around. I could write an entire essay about the racial undertones of this episode, and I may do so someday.
14. "The Final Wish" *** - A thirteen-year-old girl, who finds it hard to let go of the fairy tales from her childhood, encounters the Sandman (played by Bobcat Goldthwait) and is granted her wish for a fairy tale life away from her family that tries daily to force her to grow up. Of course all wishes come with a price ...
15. "The Midnight Madness" **** - A teenage boy and girl work at a failing one-screen movie theater, but the theater gets a chance to stay in business when Dr. Vink (this time a retired filmmaker) insists that the theater show his old films instead of contemporary blockbusters. However, the teens take objection to Dr. Vink's business model when Nosferatu crosses over from the big screen into the real world ...
16. "Locker 22" * - The new girl at a high school is given the locker of a girl who died in an accident at the school in the 1960s. She soon discovers that her locker is a door back into the 1960s and becomes surrounded by hippies and a younger version of the school's principal.
17. "The Thirteenth Floor" ***** - A brother and sister use the thirteenth floor of their urban apartment building as a playground until a mysterious trio in unisex jumpsuits rents out the floor and entices the children to enter their newly built laboratory by promising them free toys.
The campy, surreal set designs, the mysterious trio and the truly horrifying ending make this one not only the best episode of the worst season, but one of the best of the series.
18. "The Dream Machine" ** - A young creative writer discovers a typewriter that causes whatever he writes with it to come true.
19. "The Dark Dragon" ** - Basically a reworking of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." A geeky teen with braces on his legs buys an elixir from recurring shop owner Sardo in hopes of getting a date with a popular girl. He explains the mysterious transformation into a James Dean-esque hunk by claiming to be his cousin rather than himself. However, when not taking the elixir, the "dark dragon" within him begins to reveal itself outwardly.
20. "The Frozen Ghost" * - Melissa Joan Hart of "Clarissa Explains It All" stars as a babysitter who, along with the boy in her care, encounters the ghost of a boy who froze to death trying to steal cookies from the cookie jar. This is not only the worst episode of the season, but the worst episode of the entire series. As a matter of fact, I didn't even re-watch it because I remembered how bad I thought it was as an eight or nine-year-old who lived to watch AYAOTD.
21. "The Whispering Walls" * - A babysistter and her care are returning from a trip to an amusement park when the car breaks down in front of the home of an evil villain trying to steal their souls. A lot of mystery leading to a disappointing resolution.
22. "The Full Moon" **** - Two pre-teen pet detectives become suspicious that their new neighbor is a werewolf. Things are further complicated when one of their mothers begins dating the new neighbor. This episode is full of homages to the 1987 vampire hit The Lost Boys and the films of John Waters.
23. "The Shiny Red Bicycle" ** - A teen is haunted by the memory of his best friend who died when he failed to save him from falling into a raging river. But when the friend's ghost begins appearing, the teen has trouble convincing his callous parents that the apparitions are real. This one had potential, but the cheesy acting and cliche resolution kept it from reaching that potential.
24. "The Magician's Assistant" ** - A boy living with his widowed mother takes on a job as ... you guessed it ... a magician's assistant. Things go awry when he steals Shandoo's wand and uses it ...
25. "The Hatching" *** - A brother and sister are left at a strict boarding school by their busy traveling parents and discover that the school's headmaster and headmistress are reptilian humanoids enslaving the students into caring for their eggs and intend to use them as food for their young once the eggs hatch.
26. "Old Man Corcoran" **** - Two African-American brothers (literal brothers) move out of a rough area into a quiet suburban neighborhood. However, many of the neighborhood kids are reluctant to accept them. The kids give them an ultimatum to be accepted: they must play a game of hide-and-seek in the graveyard haunted by Old Man Corcoran ...
What makes this episode stand out to me is the social commentary about racism. While the issue is not explicitly dealt with, all but one of the neighborhood kids (who are white) continually tell the two black boys that they don't want them around. I could write an entire essay about the racial undertones of this episode, and I may do so someday.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Are You Afraid of the Dark? - A Retrospective Review - Season 1
This is my first post in over a year. I've only recently had the luxuries of unlimited Internet access, the free time to watch/listen to/follow anything AND the time to write about it. Hopefully this will get me back into the habit of doing this on a regular basis.
As not to exhaust my deep appreciation for "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," which I own the first two seasons of on DVD, I decided to take another vessel to retreat to Nickelodeon's golden days of yore. Around the beginning of this past spring, I started watching (or re-watching) the episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," along with a few other "old school" Nick shows that some YouTubers had been generous enough to take time to upload onto the site. After re-watching a few episodes of each, "Salute Your Shorts," "Hey Dude" and "Clarissa Explains It All," for me, failed to live up to memory, save for a hint of nostalgia factor. AYAOTD, however, like "Pete & Pete," but to a slightly lesser extent, went above and beyond nostalgia.
Being an anthology series (as far as I know none of which exist since the end of "Masters of Horror"), each episode stands alone. However, I reviewed each season overall and rating of one to four stars, with exceptional episodes receiving five. Each episode's title begins "The Tale of ..." but to save myself from going nuts I'm just going to refer to each one by what comes after that phrase.
Season 1
I'm going to start by saying that Season 1 is doubtless the definitive season of AYAOTD. Not only does it lay the groundwork for the rest of the series (as any first season should), it contains many of the most memorable and genuinely frightening episodes. OK, so maybe not piss-your-pants scary, but disturbing nonetheless, especially if you keep in mind this show was produced with children as its intended audience. The first two episodes, "Tale of the Phantom Cab" and "Tale of Laughing in the Dark" set the tone of the series perfectly.
1. "The Phantom Cab" **** - Two brothers get lost in the woods and encoutner a mad scientist named Dr. Vink and a cabbie who's fixing to kill them by crashing his taxi into a tree. Dr. Vink appears in three future episodes.
2. "Laughing in the Dark" **** - A cocky lad steals the nose of Zeebo the clown on a dare while walking through a haunted funhouse at a theme park; Zeebo pursues.
3. "The Lonely Ghost" *** - A nerdy girl is forced to stay with her bitchy cousin for the summer. Bitchy cousin makes nerdy girl stay the night in a house haunted by ... you guessed it ... a lonely ghost.
4. "The Twisted Claw" **** - A retelling of W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw." The neighborhood witch gives two mischievious friends a claw that grants their wishes, which come with unintended consequences ...
5. "The Hungry Hounds" * - A girl tries on jacket possessed by the spirit of her dead aunt compelled to feed the dogs so her soul can rest. Weak sauce. Absolute worst episode of the season.
6. "The Super Specs" ***** - A prankster buys a pair of glasses from Sardo (no Mr., accent on the "doh"), a flamboyant and eccentric shop owner. When worn the glasses reveal fucking creepy shadow figures living among us!
7. "The Captured Souls" *** - A girl and her parents rent out a vacation house full of mirrors from an awkward young man. The girl's idea of fun ivolves high-energy activities, but her parents have become inexplicably lethargic ...
8. "The Nightly Neighbors" *** - A brother and sister become convinced that their new Romanian neighbors are vampires. Bulk shipments of blood to their house and their son only coming out to play only at night fuel suspicions ...
9. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" **** - A high school outcast steals an ancient relic brought in by a guest archeologist, uses it to summon a demonic entity (aptly named Goth) and starts a cult involving the school's faculty and students. The only person not taken in is the outcast's best friend.
10. "Jake and the Leprechaun" *** - Jake, a young thespian, becomes the subject of a veteran thespian's plot to transform him into a leprechaun via a magical herbal tea.
11. "The Dark Music" **** - A boy and his family move into a home they inherited from their wealthy, eccentric great-uncle. The boy is taunted daily by his manipulative younger sister, a neighborhood teen, and a mysterious entity that lurks in the basement whenever music is played.
12. "The Prom Queen" **** - A twist on the urban legend about the ghost of a girl hit by a car on a foggy night that haunts the highway. Three teens investigate their local version of the legend and attempt to summon the ghost.
13. "The Pinball Wizard" ** - Against the warnings of his employer, a teen working in a shop begins playing an old pinball machine and becomes trapped inside the world of the machine.
As not to exhaust my deep appreciation for "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," which I own the first two seasons of on DVD, I decided to take another vessel to retreat to Nickelodeon's golden days of yore. Around the beginning of this past spring, I started watching (or re-watching) the episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," along with a few other "old school" Nick shows that some YouTubers had been generous enough to take time to upload onto the site. After re-watching a few episodes of each, "Salute Your Shorts," "Hey Dude" and "Clarissa Explains It All," for me, failed to live up to memory, save for a hint of nostalgia factor. AYAOTD, however, like "Pete & Pete," but to a slightly lesser extent, went above and beyond nostalgia.
Being an anthology series (as far as I know none of which exist since the end of "Masters of Horror"), each episode stands alone. However, I reviewed each season overall and rating of one to four stars, with exceptional episodes receiving five. Each episode's title begins "The Tale of ..." but to save myself from going nuts I'm just going to refer to each one by what comes after that phrase.
Season 1
I'm going to start by saying that Season 1 is doubtless the definitive season of AYAOTD. Not only does it lay the groundwork for the rest of the series (as any first season should), it contains many of the most memorable and genuinely frightening episodes. OK, so maybe not piss-your-pants scary, but disturbing nonetheless, especially if you keep in mind this show was produced with children as its intended audience. The first two episodes, "Tale of the Phantom Cab" and "Tale of Laughing in the Dark" set the tone of the series perfectly.
1. "The Phantom Cab" **** - Two brothers get lost in the woods and encoutner a mad scientist named Dr. Vink and a cabbie who's fixing to kill them by crashing his taxi into a tree. Dr. Vink appears in three future episodes.
2. "Laughing in the Dark" **** - A cocky lad steals the nose of Zeebo the clown on a dare while walking through a haunted funhouse at a theme park; Zeebo pursues.
3. "The Lonely Ghost" *** - A nerdy girl is forced to stay with her bitchy cousin for the summer. Bitchy cousin makes nerdy girl stay the night in a house haunted by ... you guessed it ... a lonely ghost.
4. "The Twisted Claw" **** - A retelling of W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw." The neighborhood witch gives two mischievious friends a claw that grants their wishes, which come with unintended consequences ...
5. "The Hungry Hounds" * - A girl tries on jacket possessed by the spirit of her dead aunt compelled to feed the dogs so her soul can rest. Weak sauce. Absolute worst episode of the season.
6. "The Super Specs" ***** - A prankster buys a pair of glasses from Sardo (no Mr., accent on the "doh"), a flamboyant and eccentric shop owner. When worn the glasses reveal fucking creepy shadow figures living among us!
7. "The Captured Souls" *** - A girl and her parents rent out a vacation house full of mirrors from an awkward young man. The girl's idea of fun ivolves high-energy activities, but her parents have become inexplicably lethargic ...
8. "The Nightly Neighbors" *** - A brother and sister become convinced that their new Romanian neighbors are vampires. Bulk shipments of blood to their house and their son only coming out to play only at night fuel suspicions ...
9. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" **** - A high school outcast steals an ancient relic brought in by a guest archeologist, uses it to summon a demonic entity (aptly named Goth) and starts a cult involving the school's faculty and students. The only person not taken in is the outcast's best friend.
10. "Jake and the Leprechaun" *** - Jake, a young thespian, becomes the subject of a veteran thespian's plot to transform him into a leprechaun via a magical herbal tea.
11. "The Dark Music" **** - A boy and his family move into a home they inherited from their wealthy, eccentric great-uncle. The boy is taunted daily by his manipulative younger sister, a neighborhood teen, and a mysterious entity that lurks in the basement whenever music is played.
12. "The Prom Queen" **** - A twist on the urban legend about the ghost of a girl hit by a car on a foggy night that haunts the highway. Three teens investigate their local version of the legend and attempt to summon the ghost.
13. "The Pinball Wizard" ** - Against the warnings of his employer, a teen working in a shop begins playing an old pinball machine and becomes trapped inside the world of the machine.
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