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"Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns" is the tenth episode of Season 2 of the Goosebumps TV series and the 29th episode overall. The episodes aired October 26, 1996 on Fox during the Fox Kids block. It was directed by William Fruet.

Cast[]

Blurb[]

Drew and Walker are dreading this Halloween, because every year Lee and Tabby play some mean trick on them. But this year will be different! Drew and Walker's old friends, twins Shane and Shana, are coming for a visit and the four of them have devised a spooky plan sure to terrify Lee and Tabby. But this time, everyone's in for a scary Halloween surprise!

Differences from the Book[]

  • In the book, the pumpkin-headed creatures make the kids eat the candy in their bags to make room for more candy and fatten them up for the creatures to eat. In the television episode, the pumpkin-headed creatures merely dump the candy out on the street.
  • Walker does not know that Shane and Shana are aliens, and has never met them before prior to the beginning of the episode. It's also mentioned that Shane and Shana moved away before the events of the episode took place, but returned to visit the old neighborhood for Halloween, unlike in the book where they still live in Drew's neighborhood.
  • In the book, it is mentioned that Lee is African-American, and while Drew's race is not specified, it is implied to be Caucasian. In the television episode, their races are switched; Drew is African-American while Lee is Caucasian.
  • Only one Halloween party was mentioned to have occurred in the past, hosted by Drew, which Tabby and Lee crashed by pretending to be intruders breaking in, and is only mentioned through dialogue.
  • The episode has a different opening where Tabby and Lee dressed as werewolves to scare Drew and Walker the night before Halloween, in a manner similar to Todd and Joe, the two teenage boys in the book, scaring Drew and Walker dressed as hairy monsters on Halloween night. As a result, Todd and Joe do not appear in the TV version.
  • In the book, Drew daydreams about her, Walker, Tabitha and Lee trick-or-treating only to be taken in by a strange old couple that collects trick-or-treaters and keeps them forever. In the television episode, this scenario is instead played out as a nightmare Drew has the night before Halloween. Also, Shane and Shana are present along with the other trapped kids.
  • In the book, Tabitha dresses up as a ballerina and Lee as a bumblebee when they go trick-or-treating with Drew and Walker. In the television episode, they both dress up as space warriors.
  • In the television episode, Shane and Shana's true alien forms are revealed near the end, when they peel off their rubber human masks in a flash of flames to reveal their green Muppet-esque alien heads whom then leave in their spacecraft. This is not mentioned in the book.
  • In the book, it is noted that the missing people are fat. In the episode, this is not mentioned at first and they do not appear to be overweight. However, the aliens still say they only eat "plump" adults.

Other media[]

Goosebumps Presents[]

No. Cover Release date Pages
16
Tv book 16
February 1998 58

Home media[]

Title Release date Media type

Attack of the Jack-O'Lanterns


Attackofthejackolanterns-DVD
September 8, 2009 DVD

3-Pack Thriller


3packthriller-attackoftheheadlessghostatmidnight

August 26, 2014 DVD


Trivia[]

  • This television episode was adapted into Goosebumps Presents Book #16.
  • This is the first of three television episodes on the Goosebumps DVD of the same name.
  • Erica Luttrell (Drew) played Kim in Season 1's, "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder". She is also known for voicing Keesha Franklin in The Magic School Bus animated series from 1994 to 1997.
  • Philip Eddolls (Shane) played Corey Sklar in Season 1's, "Phantom of the Auditorium".
  • The TV Spot refers to the episode as "Night of the Jack-O'-Lanterns", possibly referring to an early title for the book. This was also the title on the script for the episode.[1]
  • One of the Trick-or-Treaters shown walking was a boy who won a walk-on role on the show.
  • On some airings of this episode, Drew's nightmare about the old couple that collects Trick-Or-Treaters is cut short.
  • Both the episode and the book were released in October 1996, making it one of few cases where both book and episode were released on the same month.
  • According to the original script, there was supposed to be a scene where a UFO is seen landing shortly before Shane and Shana are introduced.
  • Some of the names of the missing people are references to various crew members: Fiona Paterson (assistant editor), Bernie Burford (a production coordinator), and Peter Light (editor). The first name shown is Sidney Iwanter, Vice President of Programming at Fox Kids Network.
  • The Goosebumps Presents book describes the Jack O Lanterns true forms as having antennas, which they don't have in the episode.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

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