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A Magic School Bus Halloween |
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- "Dauntless is the name. Fright is my game. I gather fears, and I gather that you are afraid."
- —Dauntless introducing herself
A Magic School Bus Halloween is a compilation of the two Halloween specials of the original series, released as a part of the second season. It consists of Season 1's "In the Haunted House" and Season 2A's "Going Batty" with live-action segments between these two episodes.
It aired on PBS on October 31, 1995, and released to VHS video in the following year. This special never released to DVD, making it and the full version of the Family Holiday Special the only two episodes of either series without DVD releases.
Plot[]
Live-action segment 1[]
Inside a city museum's "Halloween Camp-In" on Halloween night, three students, Katie (Kharisma), Richie (Gabriel Martínez), and Howard (Danny Tamberelli) are worried about their teacher and class. Soon, the kids hear the sound of lightning, and the skeleton of a T-rex flashes before their eyes, which scares Richie and Howard. But when the boys run away, Katie explains that it's just a bunch of old dinosaur bones. The boys stop at an area and Howard has had it, saying "next Halloween, I'm camping out." Just then, the sound of what supposed to be a ghost emanates ominously. Richie thinks Katie has tricked them and shouts through the entrance of the tunnel that enough is enough. He enters the tunnel to find out. Nervously, Howard thinks about his friend who is in trouble, or not. So he enters the tunnel, too, which leads to a scary basement. Howard tries to scream but Richie calms him down. Since they're not in camp anymore, the boys take a look around the basement. They see eyeballs and slime. Everything goes really well until Richie is captured by a curtain, but Katie, who found her friends, tricks him. Richie angrily says that wasn't funny, and Katie knows that because it was actually historical. Katie shows the boys a sarcophagus. She knocks on the tomb and says "trick or treat!!". Then an old man emerges from the tomb. He introduces himself as "Dauntless", with a bag that contains the fears of mankind. He also says that she just loves going to museums on Halloween, as "they're just oozing with delectable dilemmas", calling the trio his "victims". The trio decides to go back to their class after seeing cockroaches near their feet, and upon hearing the word "class", Dauntless shows a picture of his students, pointing to Carlos. He then tells his story, about Carlos' uphill-struggle search for just the right sound...
Part 1: In the Haunted House[]
Live-action segment 2[]
After the story, Richie finally realizes that it's actually just a bag of old sounds, which he says "they're just a bunch of vibrations, no big deal." Dauntless agrees that there's no need to keep them from in here any longer. He then lets the sounds out of the bag, and Howard notices a tarantula on his hand, which scares him. Dauntless says that tarantulas are slow moving creatures. Howard touches the tarantula and thinks it's actually friendly. One fear Dauntless doesn't need is for what he does. Katie asks "And what's that? Scaring people for no reason?" Dauntless shows her a bat and answers, "Bat's for you to find out!" Katie says that bats are gross, horrible and creepy, and could possibly be vampires, and Howard and Richie disagree with the fact. Dauntless asks the kids how they could possibly know this, and Howard tells him that he doesn't know. But Dauntless says that he's not the only one who doesn't know, and he has another victim; in this case, a victim of a case of mistaken identity.
Part 2: Going Batty[]
Finale (live-action)[]
Dauntless then puts the bat in the bag, and Katie explains to him that if he only puts scary things in there, a bat, which she thinks is cute, should not belong. Dauntless agrees, quoting his aunt Bodacious: "The more you know something, the less you fear it!". He proceeds to place the bat on the ceiling where it belongs. After hearing that quote from "aunt Bodacious", Richie asks Howard if Dauntless reminds him of a certain someone. Katie asks Dauntless about the other contents of his bag of "scary things", and Dauntless tells her that she, Richie, and Howard are not afraid of them any longer, for they have "taken chances, made mistakes, and conquered them". Dauntless is revealed to be Professor Frizzle, who leaves the room and drives away with Liz on the Magic School Bus. In the museum, the three kids high-five together, admitting that they have been "Frizzled".
Wiki pages to the respective episodes[]
Watch Episode[]
- Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJIj9pPdnzRekZyb0F2MXlHQ2c/view (A Magic School Bus Halloween)
- Netflix: In the Haunted House (Part 1)
- Netflix: Going Batty (Part 2)
- The Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/a-magic-school-bus-halloween-Full-VHS
- VHS: In the Haunted House+Going Batty (A Magic School Bus Halloween)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Hugh Martin directed the live-action segments of the special.
- Despite being released to VHS, it was never re-released to DVD and digital.
- This episode marks Valerie Frizzle's live-action debut. The second time she (or Fiona) appears in live-action (along with her students) is in the upcoming film.
- Danny Tamberelli, the voice of Arnold in the second, third, and, fourth season, portrays Howard.
- Katie appears to be an amalgamation of Keesha, Phoebe, and Wanda, Howard's personality happens to be like Arnold, and Richie appears to be a blend of Carlos, Jyoti, and Ralphie.
- Richie's quote, "Am I batty, or does that guy remind you of someone?" references Ralphie's "Is it just me, or…".
- This episode has the first occurrence of the line "We've been Frizzled"; which will carry over into the original seasons 3 and 4 as Tim's catchphrase. Arnold also says this in The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge.
- In the main series, this line debuts in "In the Arctic."
- The instrumental version of the theme song is played over the credits with a guitar solo. This is heard on the 2002-05 and 2012-17 DVD menus and the ending credits to the FOX Kids/Qubo airing of the series. This is also the debut of this version of the theme.
- Despite not having a season, this is technically the fourteenth episode of Season 2.
- This is the first "lost feature", the second being Behind the Wheel of the Magic School Bus and the third being "Goldstealer". However, the former is available commercially on VHS, albeit very easy to miss given its cover doesn't indicate it contains anything other than the episodes In the Haunted House and Going Batty.