So as we get closer to The Great Pumpkin’s
rise from the pumpkin patch – should I have said “Spoiler Alert” before that?
cause it’s definitely a give away to what comes below – I thought it fitting to
bring you my all-time favorite Top Ten Halloween
Cartoons.
There are lots of great Halloween specials. Shrek and
Monsters Vs. Aliens have both recently done amusing ones,
and everything from the Flintstones to Pinky and
the Brain has at least had an episode dedicated to the holiday.
10. Pooh’s
Heffalump Halloween (2005, Disney) – it’s hard for me to
put this one on the list, mostly because it’s too new – though I will have
other new ones down below – but it has been a major part of my family’s
Halloween traditions since it came out.
One of a series of Winnie the Pooh movies that have destroyed the
current generations understanding of Heffalumps, it’s still a fun and enjoyable
movie.
9. Mad Monster Party (1967, Rankin/Bass) – I’m not actually a huge fan of this one, but it seemed wrong to leave it out. Made by the same company as Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and dozens of other Christmas specials, Mad Monster Party brings together all the classic monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Creature and his Mate, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and some generic versions of the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and King Kong (called It).
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the
Wolf-Man (2000, Universal) – When Theodore is bitten by a werewolf;
it’s up to Alvin and Simon, with the aid of a “gypsy” TV horror movie hostess,
to save him. Much better than the
Chipmunks other Halloween fair – 1999’s Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet
Frankenstein.
7. The Simpson’s Halloween Specials (aka Treehouse of Horror) (1990-Present, Fox) – Another one that is hard to include. The first four belong on the list without question. The Raven, King Kong, and Dracula segments alone are priceless. Kang and Kodos are among the all-time great Simpsons characters. Unfortunately, later Treehouse of Horror episodes pale in comparision and the most recent one I watched – 2008’s XIX featuring “Untitled Robot Parody” and “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” – was downright unfunny.
6. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998, Warner Bros./Hanna-Barbera) – OK, not a Halloween cartoon, I get that. Still, Scooby-Doo is the ultimate scary cartoon series, and this is probably the best of the movies/specials, and is top ten Scooby anything (probably #2 after “Jeepers, It’s the Creeper”).
5. A Disney Halloween (1983, Disney) – Made from two previous Disney specials (1982’s Disney’s Halloween Treat and 1977’s Disney’s Greatest Villains), this special is the reason I liked Disney cartoons growing up. A Disney Halloween shows clips from classic Disney movies like Snow White, Fantasia, and Legend of Sleepy Hallow as well as cartoon shorts like Donald Duck and the Gorilla and Skeleton Dance among many others.
4. Daffy Duck’s
Quackbusters (1988, Warner Bros.) – Much like A
Disney Halloween, Quackbusters is primarily a clip
show, albeit one with a wrapping story of new material tying the old material
together. Daffy inherits a fortune from a rich old man,
and uses the money to open a ghost hunting business with employees Bugs Bunny
and Porky Pig (and Porky’s pet cat Sylvester).
3. Garfield’s Halloween
Adventure (1985, aired on CBS) – Garfield and Odie go
trick-or-treating dressed as pirates and encounter the ghosts of real
pirates. A fun romp and one of the best
of the Garfield specials.
2. The Great Bear Scare (1983) – I haven’t seen this one in years, but it was among my all-time favorites as a child. I had a VHS copy we had recorded off TV – also on the tape was the movie Dinosaurus! – which I watched year round until it the tape died.
1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, aired on CBS) – the ultimate Halloween classic. We should all have a little bit of Linus’s optimism
and childlike faith, a little bit of Charlie Brown’s eternal trust and faith in
his fellow man (child), a little bit of Lucy’s cynicism to balance them out,
and a little bit of Snoopy’s cool.
So there you have it. My Top Ten Greatest
Halloween Cartoons. Now I wanna here
from you. Let me know your favorite Halloween special(s) in the comments below
or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool.
Many, but not all, of the above videos are available on DVD, check out Amazon.com or your local specialty video store. Unfortunately neither The Great Bear Scare nor A Disney Halloween is among them. Write your congressmen to try to get that rectified – P.S. Do Not write your congressmen to try to get that rectified.
Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.
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