It’s apparently a spooky season everyone. I say that ironically because I didn’t even know it was Halloween until I started seeing the Halloween specials airing on TV. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Halloween. I like the fall season but not enough leaves have been falling yet for it to be called fall. Also, I can’t handle all the sugar like I used to be able to, so Halloween hasn’t really been it for me. But my gripe with Halloween specials is another issue entirely falling under two primary problems.
Christmas specials or even Thanksgiving specials are themed and set around their respective holidays. They both embody the spirit of the holiday like the spirit of giving or the value of traditions. But many Halloween specials don’t fit this mold and instead opt purely for being “Halloween flavored” or being scary.
It seems like Halloween is just too commercial and used as a plot device or a cash grab for the holiday. Many series make an episode for Halloween just to make it a stereotypical episode of the show or a filler episode. This can be seen in the “A Scooby-Doo Halloween” (What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Season 2 Episode 6) which was a good classic Scooby-Doo episode, but if you remove the fact that it happens during Halloween then it would be a normal Scooby-Doo episode. Which is fine, but it doesn’t make it a Halloween episode.
The other option of having specials be scary isn’t bad in theory, as scary stories, movies, etc., have been a staple of the Halloween holiday. This isn’t bad but for a scary horror series, there isn’t much you can do to distinguish it as a Halloween special from the other scary episodes. Another bad execution of this move is also seen in shows which aren’t usually scary but try to add that aspect for the Halloween episode. This can be seen in the second Big City Greens Halloween special (61st episode) which not only repeats an old lesson in the show but also tries to make it scary with an evil alien pumpkin. Not only is it lazy and unoriginal but more importantly it feels out of place with the whole series being a comedy gag show that focuses on the value of being honest and sticking up for yourself.
Now you may be asking, what should a Halloween special be? What should it be centered around?
A good example would be the DuckTales Halloween special. DuckTales’ main strength and appeal lie in its characters who use that to their advantage in this episode. The night starts off with each of the characters doing Halloween related activities that suit their personalities. This is seen in Launchpad, a character known to be gullible, he was told by a candy wrapper that he was cursed so that on every Halloween monsters will come after him. Or the kids, of the adventurous outgoing type, go trick or treating with a plan to go into the haunted house in promise of a huge amount of candy. This culminates into a fun time with classic Halloween monsters with a twist (you have to watch the episode to find out what happens).
In essence, a Halloween special should still feel like an episode from that series, while still encompassing the Halloween experience and the lore of Halloween. This is what Halloween really means: it means having fun with candy or scary movies or even with your friends.
So while I don’t like Halloween, I do like people coming together, and sometimes better Halloween specials.
Spoiler Alert is an Opinion culture column used to give reviews for movies, television shows, or other related media.
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