"How I Got My Shrunken Head" is the first and second episode of season four of the Goosebumps TV series, and the sixty-seventh and sixty-eighth episode overall. Part one and part two premiered on September 14, 1998, and September 21, 1998, on Fox during the Fox Kids block.
Cast[]
- Daniel Clark as Mark Rowe
- Barbara Radecki as Alice Rowe
- Paul Eves as Ed
- Dixie Seatle as Aunt Benna
- Fred Lee as Chicken Man
- George Chiang as Jimmy Lo
- Beki Lantos (a.k.a. Rebecca Henderson) as Kareen Hawlings
- Laura Press as Dr. Carolyn Hawlings
- Richard Fitzpatrick as Dr. Richard Hawlings
Differences from the book[]
- The TV version has Mark get the shrunken head after it's mysteriously left on his doorstep. In the book, Carolyn Hawlings, who is introduced much later on in the TV version than she is in the book, visits his house and personally gives it to Mark.
- In the book, Mark has a sister and several friends. In the TV episode, Mark is an only child, and it's implied that he has hardly any friends because of his jungle obsession.
- Mark's bedroom is jungle-themed in the TV version; the book makes no mention of this, though it can be assumed that it is.
- In the book, Mark has a father, but his father is away on a business trip. The TV version has Mark's mom as a single mother (with no mention of what happened to Mark's biological father) who's dating a man named Ed (who initially breaks up with her because of Mark's weird obsession with jungle culture), and tells Mark that her son's jungle obsession is why she can't find a good man.
- In the TV version, the man who takes Mark to the island is a Filipino man who dresses like Elvis Presley, not a military officer.
- Mark's flight in the TV version is more intense, as the plane almost crashes, but Mark's inadvertent use of Jungle Magic saves them at the last minute. The book has the flight going smoothly.
- The TV version has Carolyn Hawlings as Dr. Richard Hawlings' wife. The book has her as his sister.
- The book version has Aunt Benna's findings recorded in notebooks and journals. In the TV version, it's videotapes.
- When Mark is sinking in quicksand, he yells "Kah-lee-ah" and raises the shrunken head which frees him from the sand. In the book, he simply raises the shrunken head.
- Mark never encounters the tiger in the episode, nor is there a scene at the end where the shrunken head tells Mark to let it tell the class about the tiger encounter.
- The book does not mention that Aunt Benna's coin necklace is the source of Mark's Jungle Magic.
- Aunt Benna does not leave Baladora at the end of the episode.
- The ending is different. In the book, the two adults and Kareen run into the jungle after getting shrunk by Jungle Magic. When Mark returns home, the last scene shows Mark walking to school and the shrunken head telling Mark to let him tell the class about saving him from the tiger attack. In the television episode, the trio get pushed into the shrink potion meant for Mark's head, and the story turns out to be told by Mark to his mom's new boyfriend, who doesn't believe it. Mark then goes to feed the shrunken Kareen, Dr. Richard, and Carolyn in a terrarium in his closet and tells them that Aunt Benna is going to return on Mark's 16th birthday to reverse the spell.
- The TV version also includes how Dr. Richard used an unspecified potion to brainwash the natives of Baladora, who are depicted as Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians. The book doesn't include the brainwashing plot point or any native/indigenous tribes.
- In the episode, the head talks more often instead of just once; it's also more active, as it leads Mark to Benna's video diaries.
- The episode goes into more detail on the origins of Jungle Magic, as well as explaining that "Kah-lee-ah" (the word Mark keeps using that gives him power and his mom thinks is a foreign swear word) is the proper name for it and Jungle Magic is simply the English translation for it. Additionally, Mark learns in the TV version that the Jungle Magic was bestowed upon him by Aunt Benna to keep Dr. Richard and his family from getting to it first, but gets taken away, as it's too powerful for one person to handle and rightfully belongs to the natives. The book version makes it clear that the shrunken head is the source of the Jungle Magic, and that Mark still has it (as he still keeps the head) at the end.
Home media[]
"How I Got My Shrunken Head" was released on DVD on April 12, 2005. It was included in a double DVD pack with "Night of the Living Dummy II" on September 16, 2008.
| Title | Release date | Media type |
|---|---|---|
|
How I Got My Shrunken Head  |
April 12, 2005 | DVD |
|
Double DVD pack |
September 16, 2008 | DVD |
Trivia[]
- Writer Neal Shusterman originally had a choice between adapting "The Thumbprint of Doom" and "How I Got My Shrunken Head" for season three episodes, but he was then offered "Awesome Ants" instead, as he could do more with it and the studio wasn't prepared to shoot "How I Got My Shrunken Head" until season four (primarily because of the budgetary logistics of the jungle set). [1]
- Rebecca Henderson (Kareen Hawlings) played Margaret in season one's "Stay Out of the Basement." At one point Kareen's father calls her "Princess", which may be a nod to that episode.
- Richard Fitzpatrick (Dr. Richard Hawlings) played Mr. Kramer in season one's "Night of the Living Dummy II"
- Dr. Hawlings is stated to be sent from "Miskatonic University," a reference to the works of American horror author H.P. Lovecraft.
- The announcer at the airport mentions "G.B. Flight 401". GB might be a reference to Goosebumps and 401 might be in reference to this episode's production code.
- Director Ron Oliver has a cameo as a man in the background, sitting in a chair, in the airport scene.
- Daniel Clark and Barbara Radecki previously appeared together in an episode of Eerie Indian: The Other Dimension, called "The Goody-Two Shoes People".
- Mark lives on Atwater Dr, a reference to producer Martha Atwater.
- Mark has a poster of a movie called "Zombie Wanga". While there is no film with that name, it seems to be a reference to 1930's films White Zombie and Ouanga.
Gallery[]
Characters[]
Alice Rowe
TV.png "Ed(HIGMSH)TV.png (365 KB)")
Ed
TV.png "AuntBenna(HIGMSH)TV.png (428 KB)")
Aunt Benna
TV.png "ChickenMan(HIGMSH)TV.png (582 KB)")
Chicken Man
Jimmy Lo
Dr. Carolyn Hawlings
Scenes[]
