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Goosebumps Series 2000 is the successor to the original Goosebumps series, written by R.L. Stine. The series debuted in January 1998 with Cry of the Cat, one month after the final book in the original series was published.

Stine has gone on record stating he was contracted to write forty books for the series,[1] meaning fifteen more books were planned after Ghost in the Mirror. However, due to several legal battles with Scholastic and Parachute Press, Stine's contract wasn't renewed and was left to expire, meaning the series had to abruptly come to an end. Ironically, Ghost in the Mirror is the only book in the series to be published in the year 2000.

Series 2000 features sequels to One Day at HorrorLand, Ghost Camp, and two new Living Dummy books. Invasion of the Body Squeezers received a gamebook sequel as part of the Give Yourself Goosebumps series and a sequel to Creature Teacher titled Creature Teacher: The Final Exam was released as part of Goosebumps Most Wanted.

Writing

The writing process for this series was likely the same as it was for later books in the original series. First, Stine would come up with a title and develop a detailed outline.[2] Then, someone (whether it be him or a freelancer) would develop the story into a draft. Finally, Stine and his editors would rewrite or revise until satisfied.[3]

The series is advertised as being scarier than the original Goosebumps books, with the taglines boasting: 2000 times the scares!, and Welcome to the new millennium of fear! This and the new cover style were done as an attempt to make the series more appealing to older readers, specifically 12 year olds.[4] The series also aimed to try new things that were never done before in the original series, such as prologues in the books Creature Teacher and Brain Juice, as well as Invasion of the Body Squeezers being a story split across two books.

As with the original series, a majority of the books are written in the first person, with the exception of Brain Juice, Scream School, and Slappy's Nightmare, which are written in the third person. Additionally, Earth Geeks Must Go! is the only non-gamebook Goosebumps book to be written in present tense.

Books

No. Book Publish date Pages
1 Cry of the Cat January 1998 119
2 Bride of the Living Dummy February 1998 122
3 Creature Teacher March 1998 125
4 Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 1 April 1998 120
5 Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 2 April 1998 128
6 I Am Your Evil Twin June 1998 126
7 Revenge R Us July 1998 118
8 Fright Camp August 1998 122
9 Are You Terrified Yet? September 1998 112
10 Headless Halloween October 1998 114
11 Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls November 1998 121
12 Brain Juice December 1998 121
13 Return to HorrorLand January 1999 120
14 Jekyll and Heidi February 1999 117
15 Scream School March 1999 117
16 The Mummy Walks April 1999 119
17 The Werewolf in the Living Room May 1999 116
18 Horrors of the Black Ring June 1999 108
19 Return to Ghost Camp July 1999 112
20 Be Afraid — Be Very Afraid! August 1999 118
21 The Haunted Car September 1999 118
22 Full Moon Fever October 1999 121
23 Slappy's Nightmare November 1999 112
24 Earth Geeks Must Go! December 1999 114
25 Ghost in the Mirror January 2000 110
26 The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader Unreleased N/A
27 When the Snake Bites Unreleased N/A

For international releases, please click on one of the following:

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Early ideas and canceled books

Main article: List of scrapped and pre-release material

Cry of the Cat and Brain Juice's title were originally conceived during the original series.[5][6] Some books went under working titles before a final name was decided. Perhaps most notably, Earth Geeks Must Go!'s original title was Earth Geeks Must Die!, which can be seen on a pre-release version of the book's cover.

Of the fifteen planned books, only two are known. The title The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader was revealed online in 1998 and was set to be published in 2000 as the twenty-sixth book in the series. But due to R.L. Stine's fallout with Scholastic, its release as a Series 2000 book was canceled. Stine would repurpose the book and publish it as a standalone book with the new title of The Adventures of Shrinkman shortly after the series ended.[7] The unused artwork for the book was released in 2017,[8] followed by early concept art featured in The Art of Goosebumps in 2021.[9]

A twenty-seventh book titled When the Snake Bites was also planned for release in 2000, but was canceled for similar reasons. But unlike the former book, a story and cover were never made for it.

Reprints

Three Series 2000 books have been reprinted so far. Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls and The Haunted Car were rereleased on April 28, 2015, with new covers as part of the Classic Goosebumps series, followed by Bride of the Living Dummy on July 31, 2018.

As with the original series, some Series 2000 books were included in four book boxed-sets when the series was still in print.

List of characters

Villains/Enemies/Antagonists

Children/Protagonists

Other characters

Covers

The art and cover style for Series 2000 greatly differs from the original series. The uniform slime look was completely removed, and the Goosebumps logo was modified to be slightly slanted upwards. Unlike the original series covers where only the logo was raised, the entire Series 2000 covers are raised. The synopsis for the story on the back cover was also removed, replaced with a quote from the book itself. On the back cover of some books in thie series, there's a sticker that reads, "GUINNESS WORLD RECORD—Biggest-selling children's book series ever!" And similar to Goosebumps Triple Header, the first letter of each chapter is enlarged.

All covers in the series were painted by Tim Jacobus, who also did work on the original series. However, the art style is different compared to the original series. The colors are darker and more mute, and the angles tend to be more dynamic. And in most cases, the cover art seems more grotesque than those of the original series.

Promos

Goosebumps Series 2000 Lunchables Ad

An advertisement for the Lunchables sweepstakes.

In May 1998, Scholastic partnered with Oscar Mayer to put out Series 2000 themed Lunchables. Each Lunchable featured a chance to win a trip to New York to meet R.L. Stine and help him write a Series 2000 book. The winner is also said to receive a limo ride, $2000 shopping spree, and a "special edition" short story by Stine. Additionally, anyone who sent three proofs of purchase and spent a $6.50 fee would receive a Gooebumps™ 2000 Secret Booksafe. A commerical promoting the sweepstakes aired on televison. It is unknown if there was ever a winner and it's unknown what Series 2000 book was apart of the sweepstakes.

The same year, Scholastic and General Mills teamed up to make Goosebumps Series 2000 themed Count Chocula cereal. The back of the box contained a sneak peak of Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 1 and Invasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 2, as well as an offer for a Series 2000 themed baseball cap. The side of the box advertises the Series 2000 fan-club. Similar to the Lunchables promotion, a commercial aired on television to promote the cereal.

Both brand tie-ins refer to the series simply as Goosebumps 2000. These tie-ins and fan-club items are the only known American merchandising with Series 2000 branding in the 1990s. Seventeen years after the series' run ended, Creepy Co. released a Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls button pin in 2017.

Brief adverts for Series 2000 books were included in various VHS tapes of Goosebumps TV series episodes.

Television adaptations

Two books in the series received television adaptations as part of the Goosebumps TV series, with the first being "Bride of the Living Dummy", which aired during the show's third season the same month the book released in 1998. A two-part episode based on "Cry of the Cat" aired eight months later during the show's fourth season on October 31, making it the only episode on the show to air on Halloween.

References in other Goosebumps media

References

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