"Don't Go to Sleep" is the fourth episode of season three of the Goosebumps TV series, and the forty-eighth episode overall. It premiered on September 20, 1997, on Fox during the Fox Kids block.
Cast[]
- Tyler Kyte as Matt Amsterdam
- Kyle Welton as Greg Amsterdam
- Amanda Zamprogna as Pam Amsterdam
- Kathleen Laskey as Laura Amsterdam
- Martin Roach as Man in Black
- Anthony De Longis as Man in Black
- Don Cherry as Coach
- Howard Jerome as Reality Judge
- John Hemphill as Doctor / SWAT Team Leader
- Lisa Hynes as Bride / Nurse
Plot[]
Matt Amsterdam is tired of being only 12. His older brother gets to go out late at night, even though it is a school night. His sister has a personal phone, and even his mom grabs the phone from him. Matt gets really sick of being treated like a child all the time. He asks his mom if he can move his room to the attic for more privacy, but of course, his mom says no to that idea. So when she leaves, Matt sneaks up to the attic and checks out the items there. Then, he lays in an old bed up there, and says to himself, "Reality, who needs it? I hate reality!" Then, he falls asleep, and the bed and the attic seem to spin around until he wakes up the next morning in a new reality.
When he goes downstairs, his sister asks him if she can use the phone, but Matt's mom tells him that it is not hers. His brother tells him that he had a great game last night, and that he did a good job. Matt is confused, but then a phone call interrupts his thoughts, and it is an endorsement offer. His mom tells them that they should leave all endorsement offers to Matt's agent, and to quit calling the house. Right after that, his mom is preparing him to go to his sports tournament against the Panthers, and Matt is so confused, and he finds out that it is a professional hockey sports team that he's been involved in for quite a while now. The coach keeps criticizing Matt and calling him names. Then two men come up to him, and they tell him that he doesn't belong there. Then, Matt jumps into a goal, and red and orange colors swirl about, and he is warped into another reality.
This time, two other people are looking down at him, and they address him as Dr. Amsterdam. They tell him that he has to perform a very delicate brain surgery on the U.S. president. (The president is not identified as anyone in particular.) One of the doctors give him a razor cutter, and they keep telling him to start the operation. Then the two men (also known as the Reality Police) come back to get Matt. Then, he jumps away from them and warps into another reality.
Here, he finds himself in a strange building with metal pipes and tubing. He calls out for someone, and then three men come and tell him that he must defuse a bomb from exploding, and he has to cut the right wire. He only got 20 seconds until detonation, and he has no idea which wire to cut. Then, he tells them to cut them all, and he jumps and warps into another reality. He lands face down in the grass with a nice black suit. He gets up and sees that he is at a wedding and that he is the groom to a horribly ugly bride, who eats an onion right in Matt's face. She tells him that she has been waiting for so long. The Reality Police tell him that he won't get away this time. He screams and is then transported to the last reality.
He is in a dark building, and he reads a sign (which is the only thing actually lit up, except for a spotlight on himself). The sign reads 'Supreme Court of the Unified Universe'. He then hears voices from his previous realities, until the two Reality Police come up to him and tell him who they are. Then, Matt gets pushed into a chair and is swung into the court building. There, the judge accuses him of hating his old reality, and then calls him guilty and sentences him to jail. Then, he spins around in the red and orange swirl once more and wakes up in the old bed in the attic.
He comes downstairs and tells his mom that he loves his real reality and that he wants to live under the attic from now on. Then, his mom tells him to go get his comic book and flashlight from the attic. When he gets there, Matt remembers how boring his real life really is, and he says that he's back to his boring old reality again. Then the two Reality Police come back and say "Boring- Oh, Matt, the fun's just beginning!" Then the attic door slams shut, and the men laugh maniacally.
Differences from the book[]
- In the book, Matt wants to sleep in the guest room. On the TV show, it's the attic.
- Lacie, Bruce, and Wayne (a twelve-year-old girl and two leather-clad teenage thugs) as the Reality Police are replaced by a black man and a white man as Men in Black-style secret agents.
- In the book, the Reality Police capture Matt after he turns into a Godzilla-like reptile and they punish him for warping reality by forcing him to drink a sleeping potion that will set reality back to normal. In the episode, Matt is placed under arrest for warping reality, goes to trial for being unhappy with his reality, and is sentenced to being tossed in a portal.
- In the book, Matt is sent to a new reality every time he goes to sleep. In the episode, Matt is sent to a new reality whenever the Reality Police go after him.
- Matt's realities in the book were: a high schooler, an only child with a mother and father, the son of a circus performer, an old man, a Godzilla-like reptile who nearly destroys his neighborhood, a fat kid, and a squirrel. In the episode, it's a hockey player who has to score the winning shot, a brain surgeon who has to perform surgery on the U.S. president, a bomb defuser who has to disarm a bomb, and a groom to an ugly bride.
- In the book, Matt freaks out when his mom surprises him with the guest room as his new room. In the episode, his mom tells him that if he wants to, he can move up into the attic, but Matt decides not to sleep in the attic and goes back to get his things. While there, he mutters that his reality is boring, and the Reality Police officers return.
- Greg and Pam are not as cruel to Matt in the episode.
- Biggie, the family dog, is absent.
- In the book, Matt's frustration with his life is mostly due to constantly being bullied by his siblings. In the episode, he is upset that he is too young to do what he wants to do.
Home media[]
"Don't Go to Sleep" was first released on DVD on March 31, 2009, as the second episode on The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight. It was included in a 3-Pack Thriller DVD on August 26, 2014.
| Title | Release date | Media type |
|---|---|---|
|
The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight  |
March 31, 2009 | DVD |
|
3-Pack Thriller  |
August 26, 2014 | DVD |
Filming Locations[]
- This episode was filmed at the Hoover House, located on the York University campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Trivia[]
- This is one of the three episodes that internet personality JonTron reviewed for his 2013 Halloween special. The other two were "My Hairiest Adventure" and "Ghost Beach". All of which, however, were reviewed in a negative light.
- Strangely, despite being in different realities, Matt always stays at the age of 12, even though most of the realities he's sent to (except for the hockey reality) can only be done by people over the age of 18 in real life. The characters seem to ignore his references to being a child, suggesting they may be seeing him as an adult.
- The dark void that Matt stands in before his trial is nearly identical to the spot at the end of "Click".
- Martin Roach (One of the Men in Black) played Mr. Finley in season two's "You Can't Scare Me!".
- Don Cherry, former hockey player and coach, as well as a former television personality for Hockey Night in Canada, guest-stars as Matt's hockey coach.
- A boy is seen holding a comic book called "Creatures from the Muck", the comic Clark was reading in How to Kill a Monster. The comic was exclusive to the book, and was not featured in the TV episode.
- Tyler Kyte, who plays Matt, went on to write a song that was used in "R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls"
- The song playing in the background of the wedding scene is a sound-alike dupe of Garbage’s hit single “#1 Crush,” previously featured in the 1995 film Romeo + Juliet.
Characters[]
TV.png "Coach(DGTS)TV.png (404 KB)")
TV.png "RealityJudge(DGTS)TV.png (810 KB)")
TV.png "Doctor(DGTS)TV.png (465 KB)")
TV.png "SWATTeamLeader(DGTS)TV.png (396 KB)")
TV.png "Bride(DGTS)TV.png (974 KB)")
TV.png "Nurse(DGTS)TV.png (598 KB)")
Scenes[]
Promos[]
