Must See Halloween: Part Four

I’ll bet you didn’t think cartoons would feature on this list, but here you go – the first cartoon entry to my month long Halloween feature, and no disrespect to Charlie Brown, but he ain’t got nothing on these girls!

Jem And The Holograms – “Trick or Techrat”  (S02EP16)

Jem And The Holograms was a pretty hefty show back in the day, I recently re-watched them all and discovered the tone of most episodes were pretty bleak. Things you’d never get away with on children’s cartoons now-a-days, but hey that was the fun of the eighties I suppose.

None the less Jem and the gang pulled out a rare holiday themed episode in their second season that revolved around Jem And The Holograms trying to set up a special Halloween themed concert to help save an old, nearly abandoned Opera house. Fun right? Enter the dreaded Misfits, The Holograms’ arch rivals, who are planning their own Halloween night concert “Midnight Madness” and try their best to sabotage Jem’s concert including getting a building inspector in to denounce the safety of the building. Thank God Rio is good with tools, otherwise Pizzazz and the crew might have won  this one.

There’s all sorts of spooky things happening in this episode though, including a visit from Fredirick Vincent – who is very much modeled after famed horror film star Vincent Price, and of course one of the Starlight orphans – Terri is mega superstitious. Like over the top superstitious – she won’t even go into a building because it’s address is the dreaded number thirteen (Which incidentally is my favorite number.), and while the other girls try lure her into the fun of the season she just isn’t having it.

The episode also includes two Halloween themed songs – Jem And The Holograms’  “It’s Fun To Be Scared” and The Misfits’ “Don’t Look Now”… so really, what more can you ask for?

This is a major trip down nostalgia lane for all those that loved this show as a kid, and yes – I LOVED this show as a kid… and probably more so as a bigger kid, so I  hope you enjoy this one and remember – it’s fun to be scared!