Long Lost Specials

I get emails all the time from people who are trying to track down a certain special that they remember from years before, but just can't find. More often than not, that special turns out to be Witch's Night Out, and everyone ends up happy.

But, impossible though it seems in this, the age of the internet, a few specials seem to have vanished into the ether, and no amount of googling has turned up any information on them. Here are a few long lost specials - if you have any information about them, please post to the comments - and leave YOUR long lost special requests there, too!

LONG LOST SPECIALS:



"BOO!"
(title uncertain) - an SNL type show featuring Dracula, the Wolf Man, etc, doing comedy sketches. It opened with Dracula saying "Dead, from television city in Transylvania, it's BOO!" One sketch had Dracula rising in his coffin, stake in chest, saying "and these are my friends?" This aired as an aternoon special in Philadelphia in the early 80s - it could have been a local thing.

Update from Steven: the title was something like Bootacular

Unknown Movie - once shown back-to-back with The Worst Witch, and coming from the same era, there was a movie about a really superstitious boy who goes out trick or treating and ends up alone and scared in an alley in the big city. This was live action. It ends with the boy's mom saying she's glad he's getting over superstitions, to which he replies: ""Yep, giving it up for good. Knock on wood."  Ring a bell to anyone?


Identified specials that I don't have:

CBS Story Break: The Monster's Ring - an episdoe of CBS Storybreak from 1987 featuring an animated adaptation of Bruce Coville's book of the same name. In it, a boy wanders into one of those stores you see in books and cartoons a lot, where a weird old guy is selling treasures and monkey's paws and such-like things for ludicrously low prices. You've never seen the store before, and when you go back the next day, it'll be a barber shop. In this case the boy gets a ring that turns him into a werewolf-like monster for Halloween. A lot of people remember this, but no copy has yet turned up. It should be on youtube this fall, though.


"The Wickedest Witch" - video clips and summaries circulate for this 1989 special, but it, too, is not going around on torrent sites or youtube. Again, hint hint.

Looking for a special yourself? Have any information on these, even if it's just a vague recollection of one of the long lost specials? Found one online? PLEASE, leave a comment!

38 comments:

SarMiff said...

I remember Disney had a halloween night in the early 90s and they designated it for 4 or 5 halloween movies to play. It was called something but I dont remember what it was . The line up had Mr. boogedy, the canterville ghost,( I have yet been able to track down the "right" canterville ghost for this line up.) It was the 1985 version, It had neither Neve Campbell or Alyssa Milano, It has a little girl with blonde hair and I remember a scene in the movie where shes going to have a birthday party and she invites all the kids in town to try to get them to like her and when she gets them all into the great hall Sir Simon terorizes them till they all go screaming home leaving poor little virginia upset. If anyone knows where I can find any info about this particular canterville id greatly appreciate it! Smiff2007@hotmail.com

StevenMcFlyJr said...

Well, if it aint the Milano one of Neve Campbell one, that only leaves error for the 1944 version here at

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036696


I am pretty sure it's the '85 one with Milano tho ... has to be for Disney ... 80s all the way & that's only Canterville EVER made in 80's ...


remember ... she was tons younger then ...

SameGuyAsAbove said...

could be this one tho, now that i think of it ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost_(1985_film)

Anonymous said...

i vaguely remember when babar was 1st running in the evening on hbo, there was a puppet show that followed it, something about a mansion, or a haunted mansion, i think the puppets were either statues or gargoyles
i dont remember any halloween specifics though, as i recall the series was cancelled almost as quickly as scorch with ron lucas (it was a sitcom with him living with his dragon)

Unknown said...

The Crown of Bogg

Don't forget the extra 'G' at the end..you will get more hits with it.

This special is from the mastermind(?) who created ALF. Paul Fusco. in the early 80s, with a team of puppeteers, He created many puppet Holiday themed specials for Showtime and HBO including "A Thanksgiving Tale" "Santas Magic Toy Bag" and "The Valentines Day That Almost Wasn't" Unfortunately Bogg nor any of the others has been released on VHS or DVD as far as I can find. I've looked forever.


ALSO...

The special with the singing pumpkins in fedoras and the owl in a wizards cap is "The WItch Who Turned Pink" made in 90 or 91 it is somewhat crudely animated and the voice characterization leaves something to be desired..but the story is nice and the music and 'pumpkin song' made this a new classic for me when I was younger. This special was released on VHS..while it's discontinued you can still get copies on Amazon, ebay, etc. There also are clips up on youtube

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if this is a long lost special but your missing "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made for TV Halloween movie. I remember watching it on TV as a kid, but don't remember much about it. I know Cloris Leachman is in it. I did a quick search and it is on You Tube. Anyway I can't vouch for it but it might be worth a watch.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you left out "Mad Monster PArty" by Rankin and Bass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5fe7D14Jp8

Unknown said...

Hey Adam,

I finally got the UK disc I mentioned in my email to you a couple of weeks ago with the newish Sleepy Hollow versions and other lost specials.

And I'd have to say it looks pretty strong to me that "The Teddy Bears Scare" is the lost special mentioned here as "Great Bear scare 90s version"

This is a special produced by Lacewood pictures out of Canada in 1997. They made at least 4 specials with the recurring characters from this one.. An older, experienced Teddy bear and his new younger bear friend.

This one is just barely Halloween no trick or treating or pumpkins but there is a spooky house across the street where a mysterious old lady lives. The two teddy bears are curious after they hear the children that own them talk about the witch that lives there. The younger bear Wally is super curious and winds up accidentally being carried into the house when he falls into a sack when their mother forces the children to be neighborly and take some food to her

Ben ,the older bear then tries to save him but in the end Widow Jones (Are all widows in bear halloween specials named Jones?)turns out not only to be nice but loves teddy bears and makes the best cupcakes in the neighborhood.

This is on DVD but only released in UK.

VJESCI said...

http://vjesci.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/do-they-know-its-halloween/

Anonymous said...

Okay, this is driving me crazy... It is a halloween song that played on Disney Channel (i think)... and it was live versions of the characters (like how they appear in disney world... the big costume versions) and they all appear in a graveyard, and a creepy song plays... thats all i remember, and I feel like I have to see it again to figure out what the eff it is... this is probably mid ninetys when i was little.

Anonymous said...

if this sounds like anything that you may have seen or know what it is.. please help!!! its driving me nuts!

Adam Selzer said...

XDramaQueen - I remember something like that as well from a 1990s VHS tape. Not sure if it's the same thing you saw, but the song in the one I knew was "Grim Grinning Ghosts," the song from the Haunted Mansion.

Anonymous said...

OKOKOK - here's one that will kill you. You'll never get it (will you? please prove me wrong, because this is the kind of thing has helped to drive me crazy over the years.)
It was a cartoon about the kids in a family that dressed up for Halloween and actually turned into the monsters: Frankenstein, Wolfman, etc. Of course, this was problematic, and the kids had to solve that problem for themselves to get everything back right again. I believe it was shown on The Great Space Coaster, but it MAY have been introduced by Levar Burton with his pocket video player on Reading Rainbow - I'm just not sure. It seems like late 80's, but may have been anywhere from early-mid-80's to early 90's. I feel like it might have been shown in two parts. I just didn't get to see all of it, and as far as I have ever known, it was only on the one time - never to be seen again. The thing is, I remember I really liked it, and have always wanted to see the whole thing.

Adam Selzer said...

On the "turned into Monsters" one - I definitely remember that. The kid bought a Wolfman costume at one of those stores that appears out of nowhere with an old guy selling treasures for pennies, and which then disappears (that should probably all be capitalized). The kind of place where one is apt to buy a monkey's paw, and which, when you go back to it a week later, will have become a barber shop.

When the kid says "I only have two dollars" (or some such amount), the old guy says "exactly the price!" Then he becomes a wolf man when he puts on the costume. When complimented on his costume, he says "I made it out of things I found around the house."

I don't know how it ended either, or what the old dude in the store was up to (very rarely does that guy get explained when he turns up in cartoons). It was a color cartoon, late 80s/early 90s.

I THINK that's the one you mean, but the Frankenstein thing makes me think you might be referring to Witch's Night Out.

And, no, I don't remember exactly what it was, either. For some reason I seem to think it had some connection to Bruce Coville, but I'm not sure. I will put out an APB!

Adam Selzer said...

Update: after some quick googling, I think it was "the Monster's Ring," a 1987 episode of CBS Storybreak, adapted from a Bruce Coville story. Not sure how easy it is to find on video. A fair number of people seem to remember it, but it seems like a tough one to find!

Unknown said...

I've been looking for this cartoon... From looking at your sight I think it was a version of the Canterville Ghost and it came on a special with Double trouble, and Alvin and the Chipmunks the Pumpkinhead movie..

Anonymous said...

The Disney song with the people in costumes IS Grim Grinning Ghosts :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eavo08IXduQ

Unknown said...

OK, I remember one that's probably around the early 70s -- I remember it airing around the time of Yogi's Gang, so say 1973. It was an animated one-shot movie, that involved a bunch of classic monsters checking into a hotel for some reason and successively scaring a put-upon bellhop. I remember the Werewolf going up to the desk with the Creature from the Black Lagoon in an aquarium or something, saying "A room with no bath for me, and a bath with no room for my friend." Anybody?

Anonymous said...

Anyone remember a recent one that involved a little girl dressed up as a fairy on Halloween getting tricked into some notoriously haunted house by her big brother or something and his friends? She meets a witch who is related or something and is taken to a realm where monsters gather and learns monsters only appear scary but are all -in some way- sensible and caring. It has a sequel I believe and I think the most notable detail is that it's all 3-d rendered.

Anonymous said...

You missed this legend of sleepy hollow adaption on your list.. quite creepy for a kids movie. I haven't seen the others

http://www.rabbitears.com/products/34271-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow

Elizabeth said...

I have a Halloween special that I'm trying to remember the name of and it's driving me crazy. My description is going to be pretty vague, but hopefully someone will recognize it. I don't know if it ever aired on tv, as I just remember watching it on a video tape as a kid. In the special, there are, I think, three kids, probably two boys and a girl, and they're dressed up for Halloween and there's lots of spooky caves throughout the video. I definitely remember them riding a roller coaster, perhaps through the various caves. The concept of the roller coaster is probably the best clue to finding out what this special was. This video would have been from either the 80's, or early 90's, as I think I watched it in '94 or '95. It might be claymation or cartoon, I'm not sure, but it is definitely an animated video, not with "real people."

Anonymous said...

How about adding these 2 specials to your blog, 1998's "Pumpkin Man" located at:
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/pumpkin_man/

and 2006's "Pumpkin Moon" located at:
http://veehd.com/video/2283260_Pumpkin-Moon-2006

HB Halloween said...

Hi there,

I'm trying to track down a Hanna Barbera compilation I remember watching on VHS in the early 90s. It was a collection of classic Hanna Barbera cartoon shorts, all of which had a spooky or ghost theme. I specifically remember Ricochet Rabbit (wikipedia tells me the cartoon was titled "Mostly Ghostly") and Snooper and Blabber ("Real Gone Ghosts.") I also think there was a Quick Draw McGraw cartoon, among others.

I'm fairly sure this was the kind of compilation released straight to VHS. I would have been watching this around 1993.

Thanks!

Amatheiya said...

in response to Anonymous, about the little girl in the fairy costume tricked into going into the haunted house etc.. that would be Scary Godmother.

If anyone can tell me how to locate the music from The Crown of Bogg, I would be extremely grateful. I'm in love with the end theme.

Anonymous said...

Could it be this VHS with the Hannbarbara cartoons? It's Scooby and Friends so those other cartoons would fit the friend's bill. http://www.amazon.com/Scooby-Doo-Mostly-Ghostly-Matthew-Lillard/dp/630177843X/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1346556465&sr=1-4&keywords=Mostly+Ghostly

Christopher said...

Consider "BOO!" a little less lost:

http://i49.tinypic.com/16056dd.jpg

As far as I can tell it first aired in 1980, and then again in 1982 and 1983.

Christopher said...

...and the uknown movie about the superstitious boy is called "Who Spooked Rodney?"

http://youtu.be/2hSkW5d-nYM

peter the barber said...

okay here goes....

vincent price narrated this i believe was called TALES OF THE DEVIL back in the late 70s early 80s. plus it was animated.
3 stories....flyingcanoe, loup garou, and the fiddler at midnight.

same animation and company karl-lorimar which price did the sorcerer's apprentice.

anyone know where i can find the first one???

Brad Middleton said...

Hi, I have more information on the TV special BOO! It aired in Canada on Oct 26, 1980, so it would have been broadcast around the same time in the United States. I just watched it last year while doing research for my book (found it in the archives at a local broadcaster).

Here's an overview:

The Count and Countess Dracula headline this variety special, along with Dr. Frankenstein, his creation Frankie, and their feral friend Wolfie the werewolf. The program opens with Count Dracula, who exclaims, “Dead! From television central in Transylvania, it’s BOO!” This segues into a catchy, disco-infused song performed by the five main characters, supported by three backup singers (all mummies) and a large group of dancers (a mix of zombies and vampires).

This very entertaining variety special features cheesy jokes, rapid-fire skits, two songs performed by Dionne Warwick (“Déjà Vu” and “Just the Way You Are”) and the prop comedy of Rip Taylor.

It's unfortunate that it will likely never be released on DVD.

Brad Middleton
Author, "Un-Dead TV"
http://un-dead.tv

Anonymous said...

I remember being five or six years old, and watching this freaky little cartoon in class. There was a farmer or something with a brown beard and freckles, and he wanted to be tall but wasn't. So he went to the fair where this really creepy merchant sold him something that was supposed to make him taller. I remember something like a song number where he imagines that he's tall while standing on a tree stump. Then he takes the whatever it was he bought, but it gives him a pumpkin head. The creepy merchant takes him and a bunch of other pumpkin heads away to work somewhere.
It scared the day lights out of me as a little kid. Does anyone know what it was??

Anonymous said...

I remember either a play or a movie that had something to do with a giant baby, darkness , and the repeated phrase, "googoo gaga gitchee gitchee goo" anyone know what that was?

Anonymous said...

I am trying to find a Halloween cartoon from probably the mid 80's probably on Disney or Nickelodeon. It isn't Witch's Night Out. Although, it probably aired on TV around the same time period. I remember there were little monster kids that were wearing costumes. I think the monster kids really enjoyed Halloween because it was the only time that they could hang out with normal kids. The monster kids were about the size of the South Park kids. I also remember the villain looked like a rat with a bent nose similar to Gonzo from the Muppets.

Unknown said...

I KNOW THAT THIS POORLY ANIMATED MOVIE EXISTS SOMEWHERE.

I am so happy to have stumbled upon this website. I know the last post was from 2013 but if anyone knows anything about this vague recollection I have from the mid 90s, please share it. Please.

It's a witch who is tall and skinny and incredibly grumpy. She lives on the top of a hill with some other witches (I think). Something happens and her head falls off. I THINK her head is turned into a pumpkin, but I can't quite remember. All I remember is her head rolling down this hill and her shrieking "Ow! Stop! Ow!" and my five year old self losing my shit over how funny this was. Then this really rude boy finds her head at the bottom of the hill. He's all "Cool! A talking pumpkin!" and doesn't listen when she demands that he put her down. She is constantly threatening him and he simply ignores her. Pretty soon he's selling tickets to see this talking pumpkin and she keeps causing magic and yelling angrily.

That's all I got. Literally hours of searching have turned up nothing, but if you even sort of remember this cartoon please post something!

Thanks so much and good luck to everyone else!

Unknown said...

I been looking for this for years where did you find it?

jkenney said...

I have been trying to find someone who remembers a Halloween special from the late 80's maybe early 90's. Its about a old man who owns the deeds to every home in the town. Every Halloween he allows children to enter his haunted house and try to locate the deeds so everyone can own their own house. He sits in front of a tv monitor and when kids ring the doorbell he can see them on the tv and lets them in. He cheats of course and never lets the children find them. Long story short, at the end a "real" witch shows up, kills him and releases all the deeds in the air as she flies off. This was all live action. I know Im not crazy since I remember it so clearly.

Unknown said...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZfasJU4MY

Ive spent days trying to find this. And you naming the title (i knew it was something-ville ghost) did the trick. Thank you!

Unknown said...

I am desperately looking for a VHS title that is basically a compilation of Halloween skits. It was live action (it may have puppets but it is not entirely puppets.)
I vaguely remember a clip where Dracula was part of a news clip at a blood bank. Frankenstein and his wife were news anchors. There is also a skit kids and monsters singing and dancing in a graveyard. It is NOT Disney nor Mad Monster Party.

Unknown said...

I am desperately looking for a VHS title that contained a compilation of Halloween skits. It is live action and I only vaguely remember a skit where they are in a news room with Frankenstein as the anchor, his wife is there and a mummy is there as well talking about Sports (?) or the Weather (?)
That same clip also has Dracula out in the field at a blood bank as a reporter. It is not Disney nor Mad Monster Party.
PLEASE HELP!

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