What’s up, dudes? Happy Halloween! Yes, it’s October 31, All Hallows Eve, and that means we’re talking about the Urtext of horror slashers, “Halloween” and its network television debut. There are frights and jumps, and many deaths from unsuspecting teenage babysitters. It’s such a monumental movie that it spawned a multiversal franchise spanning 45 years.

Halloween is an iconic slasher film written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, and released on Oct 25, 1978. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance, it introduced us to the Shape, Michael Audrey Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween night when he was a child. Fifteen years later, he escaped and returned to his hometown, where he stalked teenager Laurie Strode and her friends. Michael’s psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis pursued him with the intention of ending the evil for good.

In 1980, NBC purchased the television rights to Halloween for about $3 million. “Halloween” aired on television for the first time in October 25, 1981. NBC’s Standards and Practices censored certain scenes, much to the chagrin of Carpenter and Hill. This unfortunately resulted in the movie being too short to fill the two-hour time slot, and so Carpenter filmed about twelve minutes of additional material while he was making “Halloween II.”

The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers. Dr. Loomis also talks to a then-6-year-old catatonic Michael at Smith’s Grove. Loomis also examines Michael’s abandoned cell after his escape from the Smith’s Grove facility, seeing the word “Sister” scratched into the door. Finally, Carpenter added a scene in which Lynda comes over to Laurie’s house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. Funnily enough, Laurie’s hair is hidden by a towel, since Curtis had a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978.

Halloween became the model for countless slasher films, and, while many have tried, none have quite captured its raw, thrilling perfection. Indeed, Michael Myers is one of cinema’s greatest villains! So grab your ghost costume, pack your revolver, and hunt down this episode on the “Halloween” NBC premiere!

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What’s up, dudes? It’s another minisode! Today we’re celebrating Halloween and Christmas with the John Barrett penned Ted E. Bear story “Christmas Comes to Monster Mountain!” It’s a the literary sequel to “The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas” and “The Great Bear Scare.”

John Barrett came up with the story to “The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas” and developed the teleplay for the special which was subsequently produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1973. The special stars Ted E. Bear as a curious bear who yearns to discover and experience Christmastide, even as he endures ridicule from the entire bear community. Barrett also wrote several sequels to the special, including “The Great Bear Scare.” In this adventure, the bears of the city of Bearbank hear rumors that Count Dracula and the other monsters from Monster Mountain are going to invade and conquer Bearbank on Halloween. Teddy believes he has found a way to deter and repel the creatures, and indeed he does save the day. In fact, “The Great Bear Scare” was turned into a special layer in 1983, though the animation is stilted and incomplete. Dracula also has trouble turning into a bat for some reason.

That now brings us to “Christmas Comes to Monster Mountain.” Developed by the LeFave Company, it was published in 1981 by Children’s Press. The illustrations were done by Rick Reinert Productions in the style of the original special.

Dracula, the leader of the monsters, is running for re-election, and needs a scheme so vile that it secures his victory. His diabolical plot: kidnap Santa. I wonder if Jack Skellington took notes from this book. He writes a letter to Santa pretending to be a young boy so that the good saint will visit him. Sure enough, on Christmas Eve, Santa comes down Dracula’s chimney and is caught in his trap. When Santa doesn’t come back up the chimney, his reindeer fly off to get help. Enter Ted E Bear! He agrees to help, and since he can’t rescue Santa from Dracula, he delivers all the presents in Santa’s stead. On Christmas morning, as Dracula revels in his success, Ted shows up and reveals that the ploy failed because he himself delivered the presents. Dracula is sure he will lose the election; however, Santa always brings extra gifts on his trip. Ted E Bear handed them out to all the monsters for Christmas. The monsters are so overcome with joy that Dracula wins in a landslide. He brought Christmas to Monster Mountain.

Scary monsters? Check. Undaunted protagonist? Got it. Learning to fly Santa’s sleigh in no time? For sure! So grab your flight map, hop on the sleigh, and deliver presents to this episode!

Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!