31 Days Of Halloween: The Halloween That Almost Wasn't!

 Welcome to Part one of the 31 Days of Halloween Finale! 3 years ago back during the very first 31 Days of Halloween I planned on reviewing "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't!" Sadly I never did. That is until now!

  This special features Judd Hirsch (yes that Judd Hirsch) as the leader of the monsters Dracula.

  It also features Mariette Hartley as the witch. Now while she didn't seem familiar to me, she has had many roles, including guest roles in such shows as Law and Order: SVU and is currently starring in the Fox series 9-1-1!

 Robert Fitch was the Mummy.

 Josip Elic Played Zombie.

  Henry Gibson was the incompetent Igor and Jack Riley was the shaven Wolfman (due to being in a razor commercial!) Gibson was in shows like Beverly Hillbillies and of course Laugh In as one of its announcers! While Riley was in many roles including Eliot Carson on both the Bob Newhart show and St. Elseware.

 The only person other than Dracula that I recognized was the tap-dancing Frankenstein's Monster (played by John Schuck)! He played many roles including Klingons in Star Trek stuff but I remembered him as another Frankenstein monster: Herman Munster (Munsters Today)!

 The story is pretty basic as their is a rumor that Halloween is being cancelled forever. I response Dracula calls the monsters to his castle. It is then that we discover that the witch not only started the rumors but is quitting. This is bad because in this reality Halloween cannot start until she rides across the moon on her broomstick at midnight.

  She has demands if Dracula wants her to continue:

1. Her picture replaces his on all of the official posters and T-shirts in Transylvania.
2. He must give a public apology to all of the monsters for being so mean and start being sweet to them!
3. He must share leadership of the monsters!
4. This one shows it is from the 70s: take the witch disco dancing every night. Good thing for Dracula that disco didn't last that much longer huh?

  Dracula refuses and a chase scene ensues which reminded me of Scooby-Doo.
                                       
 In the end these two kids save Halloween by telling the witch how everyone loves her.

  This is definitely a 70s special. It is corny as heck and the end credits is disco.

  The effects are laughable but that is to be expected.

  Judd Hirsch as Dracula is very hard to believe even though he has the accent down. Just hard to imagine him as the great evil.

 I did have a few questions while watching this:

• Why are the kids getting ready days in advance?
• Also why are the kids out right before midnight (in costumes) without their parents with the monsters at the end?
• Why is the witch riding across the moon so important that their can be no Halloween without her doing it by midnight?
• How does Dracula get in to the witches house without permission? - ok this one can be forgiven as that is a more recent addition to the myth as he entered w/o permission all the time in older movies. But what is harder to ignore is he can only become a bat? and can be a big or small version?

  The funniest parts are the original name as Dracula does NOT save the world (or even Halloween for that matter) and the fact that each plan to get into the witches room failed because she was listening at the door. This special was so popular that after it premiered in 1979, Disney Channel aired it up to the 90s with the Disney Halloween treat (and its many incarnations.) Overall I would only recommend this to people who love Judd Hirsch AND campy specials.

 That is it for now but one more post and 31 Days of Halloween is over!