Wiele seriali ma swoje specjalne odcinki na Halloween. Spora część rozgrywa się na przebieranych imprezach – jest to na przykład domena sit comów – lub w jakiś sposób jest połączona ze zbieraniem słodyczy po domach, które kończy się nie tak, jak trzeba. Są też takie, których fabuła opiera się na kompletnie nowej, strasznej historii, w którą wmieszani są bohaterowie, lub antologii nadprzyrodzonych opowieści.My wybraliśmy kilka takich, które sami wspominamy i do których czasami wracamy.
Alf
Many sitcoms from the 80s and 90s must have had special episodes in their repertoire, referring to the holidays, including Halloween. It was no different with “Alf”. The production was shot in the years 1986-1990 and told about a newcomer from the planet Melmac, who lived with the Tanner family in Los Angeles. Due to his different appearance, he hid from the rest of society, so as not to accidentally become the object of research by scientists. However, in the sixth episode of the second season, our alien was finally able to go out to humans. It was then that his keepers were having Halloween at the house, and the clever Gordon attached a zipper to his fur, pretending to be a dwarf in a costume. That way, he could joke with the Ochmoneks or any of Willie and Kate’s friends. And as you know, the repertoire with jokes was quite big,
Phineas and Ferb
“Mom! Phineas and Ferb even make noise on Halloween! ” Ferret said, seeing that her brothers did not take time off even on holidays. And the boys even had some ideas on how to celebrate this day. Besides, not only them! Also Doofenshmirtz was not idle, and Pepe Pan Platypus was forced to step into action. And so we see pumpkins, candies and pranks in the episodes Curse of the Ferret , in which the girl thinks she is a vampire, Druselsteinoween , where Vanessa throws a party in her father’s castle, It’s a Ghost! and in it the boys’ trip to the haunted house and the Monster of Phineas and Ferbenstein, which is a remake of the story of the famous Frankenstein. To all this should be added the Night of the Living Apothecariesthat is, a film in which Doofenshmirtz accidentally turns people into copies of himself. So there is a lot to choose from!
Glee
The Glee series, of course, does not belong to the fantasy genre, but it is impossible not to mention it in the context of Halloween. Especially that the episode related to this holiday refers to the iconic Rocky Horror Picture Show . And so our William McKinley High School students dress up as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Riff-Raff, Janet and the rest of the heroes to perform songs from a musical re-arranged. And this one is definitely fantastic! By the way, as in every episode, the problems of the heroes, and thus of American teenagers, are discussed. So there is a message, there is also fun. So let’s reach for The Rocky Horror Glee Show just on the occasion of Halloween! – Piotr Markiewicz
The Simpsons
Matt Groening’s series is by far one of the longest-running productions in the history of television. Airing started in 1989 and we lived to see 31 seasons of comedy adventures of the Simspson family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. In each of them (except the first series), the creators prepare a special Halloween episode – Scary Treehouse , which is primarily inspired by popular horror movies and horror movies. In the episode we also watch guest appearances, incl. Stephen King, and in one of the scenes we see Alfred Hitchcock in the iconic scene referring to Birds.
Each Scary Treehouse is divided into three stories told by kids. By far the most interesting and atmospheric episode for me is the episode from the sixth season, in which we observe a parody of The Shining . Homer and his family move to Burns’ house and, without beer and television, they fall into a murderous frenzy like Jack Torrance (there are also cult scenes from the legendary Kubrick movie). In the rest of the stories in the episode, we see Homer trying to change past events, making things even worse. In the last part of the episode, we see a story referring to Sweeney Todd, in whom director Skinner “plays”.
In thirty episodes of the special Halloween episode , the creators also play with motifs from such films as: Dracula, Frankenstein, Chucky’s Doll, Nightmare on Elm Street, Psychosis or …Harry Potter. Już nie mogę doczekać się kolejnego maratonu z Simpsonowie: Straszny domek na drzewie! – Mateusz Michałek
Supernatural
Remember the times when Supernatural was good? Without weaving more threads leading the Winchesters towards the angels, Chuck and all this heavenly bunch. With ghosts, urban legends, ancient deities and folklore, and quite a bloody performance. When else did death mean something there? Those were good times, weren’t they?
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester is such an episode. The Winchesters investigate mysterious deaths in a small town and suspect a witch of them. It turns out, however, that this is the ancient demon Samhain, who gave rise to Halloween. The summoned Samhain, once worshiped by the Celts, had the power to summon spirits and zombies. And that’s what he did when he was summoned to Earth, sending them to the students partying in the city. After several bloody incidents (including cooking the girl in a tub with apples), Sam managed to send Samhain back to Hell. At this stage of the series, it was still possible to believe in the Winchester brothers’ ability to exorcise demons and wipe out monsters, with or without demonic blood. Then they both put on the armor and that was where the credibility ended.
This episode is the closest to a typical Halloween formula, as it contains drunken partygoers, and at the same time touches on the theme of the holiday’s origin. Supernatural, however, has quite a few non-Halloween episodes that you can watch on Halloween night. For example: the one with Bloody Mary, the hook killer, the wendigo or the drowned boy, and even the more fun ones like the one where Dean dies a thousand times or when they are trapped in various TV productions.
Brooklyn 9-9
Every year, the policemen working at the 9-9 station organize a competition for the Best Detective / Genius, which I always look forward to. And every year I see that the heroes of this series are also waiting, plotting, making complicated plans, entering into conspiracies and giving New York engraver money. Their investigations into stolen watches and medals beat all sitcom episodes about party drama, swallowing corpses and finding girls who forgot to give their phone number. – Karolina Małas