"Perfect School" is the eleventh episode of season three of the Goosebumps TV series, and the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth episode overall. It premiered on November 15, 1997, on Fox during the Fox Kids block.
Cast[]
- Shawn Roberts as Brian O'Connor
- Daniel Lee as C.J.
- J.J. Stocker as Joe
- David Roemmele as Billy Brown
- Malcolm Stewart as Howard O'Connor
- Ann Turnbull as Paula O'Connor
- Sean Dick as Riley O'Connor
- Victor A. Young as Head Master
- Dylan Berryman as Perfect Boy
- Cameron Graham as Guardian #1
- Joshua Peace as Guardian #2
Plot[]
So maybe Brian O'Connor likes to play practical jokes on his little brother, Riley. And maybe he doesn't clean his room or make his bed often enough to please his parents, but that's no reason to send him away to boarding school, is it? Brian's parents just won't settle for anything less than perfect, so they send him away to "The Perfect School". The grounds are pristine, the hallways are spotless, and the students that graduate really are perfect. Maybe a little too perfect!
Differences from the story[]
- In the short story, the school creates robots of the students. In the television episode, the school creates brainwashed human clones of the students.
- In both versions, Brian pretends to act perfect for his parents. The episode adds in him secretly working to break the other kids out of the school, while the story doesn't have this. The episode also adds in him still pulling pranks (albeit in much more covert manner than before).
- In the story, Brian gets sent to The Perfect School because his parents don't think that he's perfect enough. In the TV episode, Brian is sent as punishment for repeatedly pranking his younger brother.
- In the story, the Perfect School is coed (has both boys and girls). In the episode, The Perfect School is an all-boys school.
- The episode gives Brian a younger brother named Riley O'Conner whom he often plays pranks on.
Home media[]
Title | Release date | Media type |
---|---|---|
Perfect School |
September 5, 2006 | DVD |
Trivia[]
- This was originally shot as a one-part episode, but its producers saw it as having high potential; as a result, extra scenes were shot, and it was turned into a two-part episode.[1]
- According to Ron Oliver, the initial cut was around 38 minutes.
- When RL. Stine was sent the script, he said this could be the best adaptation of his work yet.
- David Roemmele (Billy Brown) played Mike in season one's "Welcome to Camp Nightmare".
- Billy Brown's name is likely a reference to show writer/story editor Billy Brown.
- The DVD cover uses the cover art for the book The Haunted School.
- Like the short story, the episode appears to be based on The Stepford Wives, which follows a similar plot.
- When Brian is investigating the laboratory, he sees sheets of paper with his and Joe’s names on them with their measurements. Joe’s paper is blank, unlike Brian’s, implying that they haven’t grown his clone yet. However, when Brian runs out into the hallway after escaping C.J.’s attempt to trap him, he encounters Joe’s clone in front of the other clones telling him “Don’t fight it, Brian, it’s good to be perfect”. This may be an oversight.
- The magazine Brian is reading is Giant Robot,which Ron Oliver was a fan of.