Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes/TV episode

"Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" is the eight episode of season two of the Goosebumps TV series, and the twenty-seventh episode overall. It premiered on October 12, 1996 on Fox Kids Network.

Cast

 * Lance Paton as Joe Burton
 * Kerry Segal as Mindy Burton
 * Peter Keleghan as Jeffery Burton
 * David Hemblen as Major McCall
 * Nora Sheehan as Mrs. Burton (as Nora Sheenan)
 * Jordan Prentice as Hap
 * Yvan Labelle as Chip
 * Sheila Boyd as Gnome #2 (uncredited)

Differences from the book

 * At the start of the book, Joe and Mindy are playing ping pong. In the TV adaptation, they are playing catch.
 * In the TV adaptation, Mindy and Joe are notably more interested in the garden.
 * Moose and Buster are not in the television episode, making 1/2 of the McCall family absent from the episode.
 * Mr. McCall (portrayed by David Hemblen) is a lot meaner than in the book due to him being in the army. This was first seen when he takes away Joe's baseball when it lands in his yard.
 * Two additional lawn gnomes come from out of nowhere during the chase scene close to the end.
 * The television episode's ending is different. In the book, the lawn gnomes are destroyed, but Joe's dad buys a lawn statue of a gorilla (which comes to life). In the television episode, the lawn gnomes come back to life after being frozen by bright light and attack Mr. McCall, Joe and Mindy's militant neighbor. When the judges come over for the "Best Lawn" contest, they tell Joe's dad that he has not won because they found a hideous lawn gnome in the backyard. Everyone present is surprised to find that the gnome in question is Mr. McCall in a saluting pose, meaning despite his death at the hands of the gnomes, McCall had the last laugh.
 * In the book, Joe asks Moose into stalking the houses to watch the gnomes cause havoc. Due to Moose's absence in the episode, Mindy is the one Joe asks for help.
 * The old woman's house is never visited in the episode.
 * Joe never brought a camera to record the gnomes in the book.
 * Joe and Mindy's mother strangely doesn't appear until the end of the episode.
 * Mindy thinks the gnomes look cute, not evil like in the book.

Home releases
"Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" was released on DVD on September 7, 2010, as the first episode on Go Eat Worms. It was included in a 3-Pack Thriller DVD on August 26, 2014.

Trivia

 * On this television episode's theme, the dog's eyes do not light up.
 * This is the last of three television episodes on the DVD, Go Eat Worms.
 * This episode was adapted into Goosebumps Presents Book #18, the final book in the series.
 * Hap and Chip were actually played by actors Jordan Prentice, and Yvan Labelle whenever the gnomes moved.