1994 was the year to really tune into Nickelodeon. It was a time where they’d hit their stride with programming blocks like SNICK and excellent series like Rugrats, and The Secret World of Alex Mack. It was also the year that “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” premiered (October 30, 1994). Another of the many Klasky Csupo produced animated shows, “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” focused on the world of monsters that hide in our closets, under our beds, and in our toilets. It is one of the few genuinely horror-oriented animated shows that Nickelodeon has aired.
Tag Archives: Fantasy
You Have to See This! The Last Halloween (1991)
I’d say the best marketing The Last Halloween ever had was on a bag of Reese’s Pieces during the Halloween of 1991. I can still remember my mom buying the big bag of Reese’s Pieces and on the lower left hand corner there was the ad for the CBS special premiering that month with the “Mission to MARS” mascots front and center. It was a fine Halloween, with a great special that ran once on CBS and before disappearing into obscurity. Serving as a promotional film for the candy company MARS Company, “The Last Halloween” was a half hour movie about a small town named Crystal Lake with an economy reliant on their massive candy factory.
TV on DVD: Forever Knight: The Complete Series (DVD)/Supernatural: The Complete Fourteenth Season [Blu-Ray/Digital]
From Mill Creek Entertainment comes the perfect Halloween treat, The Complete series of “Forever Knight.” If ever there was a nineties series, it’s a show that takes a procedural cop drama and pairs it with vampires. One of the precursors to cult shows like “Angel” and “Blood Ties,” the syndicated series lasted for a total of three seasons and became obscure for many years after its run. This is shocking considering the series has its faults, but is genuinely a fun and Gothic vampire series. This was the decade where a lot of radical concepts were posed for television (Ahem—“Cop Rock”), but “Forever Knight” plays the whole premise with a straight face.
Follow that Goblin! (1992)
This extremely rare Halloween special may deliver varying results depending on how lenient you are willing to be in production quality. The claymation here isn’t exactly top notch and the producers of “Follow That Goblin!” fill the gap with ancient computer animation that pops up every now and then. Deep down though, it’s a unique Halloween movie with a fun premise that deserves to be seen by folks that love this kind of entertainment.
The Addams Family (2019)
It’s a brand new era for the classic clan of weirdoes and eccentrics, all of whom get a chance to show a new generation how much fun they can be. I’ve always been a big fan of the Addams family since I was a child, as they always felt more genuine than the Munsters. While the Munsters spent their time trying to fit in to modern society, the Addams family always stuck true to who they were, and rarely ever changed their own rituals or style to fit some new standard of what normal is. They are who they are, like it lump it.
Ranking the “Addams Family” Video Games from Best to Worst
With 2019 seeing the release of the animated reboot of “The Addams Family,” I thought it’d be fun to check out the line of Addams Family video games that came to consoles over the years. I’ve always been an Addams Family fan, preferring the darkly demented family over the more whimsical Munsters. Hopefully the animated movie can be the start of a brand new franchise like “Hotel Transylvania.” Until then, these are the Addams Family games from the absolute best to the utter worst.
What’s your favorite?
Disney’s Gargoyles 25 Years Later
Premiering in 1994, during a time where Disney was really trying to create series with mythos and complexities, Gargoyles stands out as one of company’s most ambitious animated series of the nineties, and a bonafide masterpiece of the decade. Gargoyles came with an unparalleled production quality that was just impressive all around. From an excellent score to a massive cast of voice actors (comprised mostly from “Star Trek” alums) right down to the amazing animation, Gargoyles was anything but a gimmick. The writers unfolded a complex mythos, and great back stories for each of the gargoyles (many of whom had their own strengths and weakness) all delivering an episodic fantasy with substance.