"Night of the Living Dummy III" is the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth episodes of Season 2 of the Goosebumps TV series. The episodes are based on the fortieth Goosebumps book of the same title. The episodes aired on Fox Network on July 20, 1997. They were directed by Timothy Bond.
Cast
- Erica Fairfield as Trina O'Dell
- Blair Slater as Dan O'Dell
- Hayden Christensen as Zane O'Dell
- Cathal J. Dodd as Slappy the Dummy
- Eugene Lipinski as Rocky the Dummy
- Martin Doyle as Mr. O'Dell
- Belinda Metz as Mrs. O'Dell
- Ray Kahnert as Cal
Differences from the book
- Zane actually finds out that Slappy is alive, and is more friendly with the twins as he helps them get rid of Slappy. By the end, they plan on seeing each other again.
- In the book, the dummies attack Slappy, but in the television episode, he gets destroyed in a different way. After Rocky throws him out the window, he is struck by lightning and explodes.
- The ending of the episode is different. At the end, Zane's head twists all the way back. In an evil voice he says, "I'll be back ...cousins," just before he enters the car. This implies that he is still part dummy somehow and that Slappy has some control over him. In the book he merely receives Slappy as a gift, and Slappy is revealed to be alive.
Trivia
- Rocky's voice actor, Eugene Lipinski, played Mr. Mortman in The Girl Who Cried Monster
- The original premiere of the episode and its VHS release include R. L. Stine as the episode's host. He is joined by a dummy version of himself.
- In Night of the Living Dummy II when Slappy's head falls on the fireplace, his entire face breaks off. But when they show what is left of him in the sequel, only the part around his eye is missing.
- Blair Slater (Daniel O'Dell) played Cooper Holmes in Season 3's The Barking Ghost.
- Cousin Zane was played by a young Hayden Christensen, better known to fans of the Star Wars movies as teenage/young adult Anakin Skywalker.
- In some camera shots, Slappy has moving eyebrows, and in other camera shots he does not. In these camera shots, he has a different-looking face. This is because two dummies were made to appear in different scenes.
- In certain camera angles in the scenes of Zane's bedroom and the hallway as Trina and Daniel swept, a black line can be seen at the bottom of the screen. This is clearly a crack in the special camera's lens, as it only appears in the two types of angles, while the camera shots made from other angles were made with a different one.
- Slappy is bigger in this television episode (and the continuation) than he was in Night of the Living Dummy II. This is because, in this installment, Slappy needs an actor to properly animate him (in the previous installment, he was simply a puppet with limited motion). For consistency, they made the puppet the same size as the actor.
- Most of the "dummies" featured in the episode are actually dolls.
- If you pay close attention, you will be able to tell when Slappy is a dummy or an actor in a costume. The costume's face stretches like rubber when the mouth moves, and it can't move its eyes or eyebrows. The dummies also have human hands when actors wear costumes.
- When Dan and Trina talk to Slappy in Zane's bedroom, you should notice that some camera shots are Zane's dummy, while others are actor Hayden Christensen as human Zane with marker lines drawn over his mouth to simulate a dummy.
- Goof: If you look very carefully as Slappy tries to squirm away from Trina and Dan as they wait for Zane, you can faintly see black wires moving his arms.
- On the VHS/DVD release of the episode, the music recording is cut short, stopping before the credits are actually over, though just by an inch.
- Near the end, when there is a scene with Rocky in the chair, there is some "Godfather" music playing in the background.
- In the scene where Slappy shows off his "friends" to Trina and Dan, if you look closely, you can see Dennis from Night of the Living Dummy II.
Gallery
Media
1998 US VHS release.
1999 UK VHS release.
2004 DVD release.
