Cry of the Cat/TV episode

"Cry of the Cat" is the fifth and sixth episodes of season 4 of the Goosebumps TV series, and the seventy-fifth and seventy-sixth episodes overall. It is based on the first Goosebumps Series 2000 book of the same name. It premiered on Fox during the Fox Kids block on October 31, 1998.

Cast

 * Hamille Rustia as Allison Rogers
 * Corey Sevier as Ryan
 * Arthur Eng as Larry Graham
 * Padraigin Murphy as Crystal
 * Christine Brubaker as Marta
 * Fiona Highet as Jill
 * Diana Salvatore as Eve
 * Kate Hennig as Crystal's Mom
 * Robert Young as Banacek (as Black Katt)
 * R.D. Reid as Dr. Mason
 * Kevin Hicks as Dr. McDermid
 * Colleen Williams as Nurse Fruett
 * Mike Piecakz as Boom Man

Episode synopsis
Teen actress, that's Allison Rogers. And she's taken the lead role in the low-budget film adaptation of the popular book Cry of the Cat, in hopes it'd be a much-needed boost to her acting career. But during her lunch break one day, as she rehearses her lines she runs over a cat with her bike. Allison knocks on the nearest house to apologize for the incident, but the mysterious girl who answers the girl warns that the supposedly dead pet was a nine-lived cat named Rip. And how he'll be after Allison to compensate for his lost life...

Differences from the Book

 * In the book, Allison is an ordinary girl. In the TV version, she's a teen actress starring in a low-budget horror movie of the same name.
 * In the book, Allison and Ryan were fairly nice kids. In the episode, they are more bratty, Ryan more-so.
 * Alison's surname is changed from Moore to Rogers.
 * In the television episode, Allison did not decapitate the cat but instead ran it over with her bike.
 * In the book, Rip looks like a normal cat. In the television adaptation, Rip appears as ragged, hairless, and has wings.
 * In the book, Rip was killed by his own ghostly feline minions. In the TV episode, he was destroyed by a wind-up mouse Allison had laced with a volatile chemical.
 * The twist is different. In the book, Alison and Ryan are both still acting like cats as they fight over a mouse. In the TV show, the twist reveals that most of the episode was part of a horror movie that Allison starred in. Allison laments the movie's lack of a twist ending, then Ryan reveals he has a mouse in his mouth, saying he loves a good twist ending.
 * Allison's little brother Tanner is omitted, as are Allison's parents.
 * In the book, there's no explanation for why Crystal's mom was experimenting on cats. The episode explains she was working on a cure for a deadly virus and used cats as their immune system is close humans.
 * In the book, Crystal's mom didn't turn back into a full human after Rip was defeated. In the episode, she does.

Trivia

 * Goof: When Alison leaves her dressing room and walks across the studio lot, as the camera pans past the security guard booth, the whole crew walking past is reflected in the glass, along with their equipment.
 * Cory Sevier (Ryan) played Eddie in Season 1's, "A Night in Terror Tower".
 * Hamille Rustia (Alison) played Iris in Season 2's, "Calling All Creeps!".
 * About thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds into part 1, in the close up of Alison, to the left of her head is a sign that says "The HorrorLand Horrors Welcome You To HorrorLand", which clearly references a previous Goosebumps television episode, "One Day at HorrorLand".
 * When Alison tries to unlock the door to her dressing room the first time, she hears Rip growling and ignores it. Then it happens again and there is a camera shot that backs away about 20 feet. To the right is a large advertisement with a mummy's right hand that says: "Two Thumbs Up". Under that is the Goosebumps logo, which is not clearly visible. To the right of the logo, you can zoom in and clearly see the Canadian YTV logo. This poster also appears in the episode "Attack of the Mutant".
 * When Alison asks Crystal where Rip's body is buried, Crystal replies with "Forte Hill." The naming of Forte Hill is a reference to the producer of the Goosebumps television series, Deborah Forte.
 * Allison is riding her bike to learn her lines. Right when she hits Rip and falls off her bike, a movie script falls out of her backpack. This is the actual script of the television episode of Cry of the Cat.
 * The opening scene is a parody of the film The Exorcist.
 * This and "Bride of the Living Dummy" are the only episodes to be made from Goosebumps Series 2000 books.
 * Alison's agent tells her that the movie she's filming is based on "one of the most successful books of all time", which is in reference to the fact that this episode, and the series in general, is based on a successful book series.
 * The meta element of the episode may have been inspired by Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
 * Nurse Fruett's name is a reference to series director William Fruett.
 * The meta element was added in order to bring something different to the story. When the script was sent to R.L. Stine and Jane Stine, they said "You’re either completely insane or this is the best episode of the entire series. We’re not sure which it’s gonna be"
 * Allison says she hates how the movie lacked a twist ending, likely a meta joke about the Goosebumps franchise's use of them.
 * The series prop master Alan Doucette has a cameo as a prop guy that the director scolds.
 * This was the final episode produced.