The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner Recap & Review - The Midnight Society
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2023
- On this episode of The Midnight Society, I look back at season 4, episode 9 of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?": The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner. Betty Ann tells a tale about a young comic book artist that accidentally brings a villain from the comics into the real world.
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I think there are several elements to the episode that made it really memorable to me as a kid. Firstly it was fun and relatable to see a main character who draws. Secondly, being able to draw things that come to life is always a fun idea. Thirdly, I liked that one of the supporting characters is a 'nerd' (however badly stereotyped) but the main character is pretty accepting of nerdiness as a concept and doesn't make fun of her or try to change her. These things made the episode stand out from all the others, even if the execution is a bit cringe from an adult perspective. I remember finding the 'cakes' nickname strange as a kid but at the time I just accepted that it was probably a cultural reference that I had missed. As an adult I can't believe they couldn't come up with something less creepy XD
You did a really good job covering this episode, been looking forward to this
Thank you! I do love the concept of the episode. Comic book characters coming to life is a cool idea. I just wish we got more. That anti-climactic ending is what really killed it for me.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow Yeah I think this story could have really benefited from being a two-parter although I can't remember off the top of my head if this series ever did those 🤔
@@MoragOctober They did it twice. The Tale of Cutter's Treasure was a 2 parter (though they didn't really capitalize on the extra runtime) and The Tale of the Silver Sight was a 3 parter.
Shorty after watching this episode for the first time and shitting my pants, I went to a friends birthday party. His dad let us watch the movie IT and the combination of these two clown type entities made me petrified of clowns for years. Watching this breakdown makes me think fondly on the ghastly grinner.
For me it was definitely one of the founding moments of my love for everything horror and thrilling.
Haha! Yeah, going from this to IT, as a kid, would definitely mess anyone up about clowns.
Yessssssssss waking up to this just now was the closest I've felt like being 10 and waking up to Saturday morning cartoons in 25 years!
Well, grab a bowl of your favorite cereal and enjoy!
I like how the teacher looks and talks like Stan Lee. They knew what they were doing 😅
It's really the campiness that makes this episode more than the production values, but it sure freaked me out as a kid. The best thing about the Goosebumps version was that they got Adam West to guest star.
Oh yeah. I think they also got him to voice the character in the video game adaption of that Goosebumps episode too.
How could you not approve of this episode? Tale of the Ghastly Grinner is one of the most iconic episodes, with the ghastly grinner being one of the most iconic villains.
Each episode hits everyone differently. I may not enjoy it, but I'm glad that you do.
So iconic! It's the reason I'm a horror fanatic 😍😍😍
@@JackOfAllNerdsShowYou don't approve this episode but do approve Midnight Ride?!
I'm sorry, but your taste is... questionable.
I'm still a fan though, you're very funny.
@@flanflan88 haha, well, if you go back to my Midnight Ride review, I note that I wasn't crazy about it either and mainly gave it a pass because I enjoy Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Never in my life have I ever been like “you know what sounds good? Popcorn”
If they showed Ethan fighting the Grinner batman style it would have just looked silly. So the writers depicted it like a comic book instead.
This is such a classic episode, top tier iconic lol. Not very scary but it’s a warm blanket of media. The bus drivers head spinning around and me being terrified of the exorcist without ever even seeing it but hearing playground descriptions….I was terrified.
Which episode with the twisting head gag did you see first? This one or Phantom Cab?
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow oh dang your right! That’s hard to say, but I do know that it effected me more in the ghastly grinner for sure!
I remember watching this episode when I was a kid. I related to Hooper, as i was also a Nerdy kid with glasses who didn't quite understand human emotion. And i had a teacher throw one of my comicbooks into the class fish tank.
Wow...just think, if you'd have gone home after, made some popcorn and then dried your book in the microwave, you could've been a minor celebrity with a self-titled comic.
It’ll be quite a while til the next episode I’m looking forward to. That being the tale of badge. Always enjoyed that one for some reason.
Thanks for the content man.
Badge was scariest to me as a kid, I could never finish that episode!
Always found the characters puking up the blue slime to be really gross. This is a classic episode.
I wonder what they used for that while shooting. I went with corn syrup dyed with food coloring, but that was a pain.
This scared the absolute f out of me when I was a kid! And the one with Zeebo the clown
Late to the party but great analysis! I remember clearly thinking this was superior to the “Attack of the Mutant” Goosebumps episode, the comic book elements felt just a bit more natural here. In any case the premise was fun and the Grinner himself was scary enough when I was younger. Keep up the phenomenal effort 👌
Hands down, this is the better episode. I think AYAOTD routinely did a better job when the two shows did similar episodes.
Omg I remember my brother and I getting in trouble while eating blue jello because of this episode.
Haha! Were you trying to recreate the effect with the jello?
@JackOfAllNerdsShow it's gross, but yes. I'm not joking. Stop reading if you are sensitive to gross food/mouth stuff. Lol
We would take a bite off blue jello then chew/swish it up in our mouths then basically drool it back out. It looked surprisingly accurate. Disgusting of course but we didn't care as kids.
@@mizstories9646 Haha! Gross, yes, but also very creative.
12:19 - Missed opportunity to splice in a clip of Arnold from T2 saying, "Uncle Bob?"
Hahaha! Too true.
About the stop signal on the bus, There was a time in the early 2000's when I had to ride the city bus and I would pull the cord to signal the driver to stop and I would actually wish it would abruptly stop the bus as the driver would pass my stop and I lost count of how many altercations I have had with bus drivers who would pop off when I would say something as opposed to apologizing and stopping the bus. And with all those devices plugged up in one outlet, yeah they're gonna have a sky high energy bill with all that electricity being pulled from one fuse! If it don't overheat and start a class C fire!
Yeah, I was unclear on that too. It seemed like it was just the microwaves that brought the Grinner to life so why was it necessary to have the overloaded plug? It didn't seem relevant to bringing the character into the real world.
This episode freaked me out so much as a kid! The bus driver was so creepy! One of my fav episodes even tho it has its flaws.
I remember the first couple of seasons really well. But watching your reviews I haven’t remembered seasons 3 and 4 until this episode. I definitely remember this. It’s weird because I watched a lot of Nickelodeon during these years.
I’m thinking Nick was pretty proud of this one and must have played it more in reruns.
Yeah, I think this was one of their poster episodes because I knew the Grinner's face long before I ever saw the episode as an adult.
I admit this one creeped me out as a kid, but yeah it's so campy. My favorite episode "The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter".
So beings that I’ve seen every episode a million times, I’ve discovered that when Ethan’s mom goes into the kitchen.. the same background music is playing that was in the tale of the Full Moon whenever Jed’s mom was in the kitchen!
I need a life…
Hahaha! That's a great catch!
Drugs would explain how the parents are inside all day, their sunken in eyes and MY GOD ALL THOSE PLUGS?!?!?! I wouldn't be surprised if this was a PSA for not doing drugs.......*AIMS GUN AT SCREEN* HEY MAN DONT MAKE ME SHOOT!!!
I have a blast with this one. It's got all the fun campy stuff with basically everyone being memorable to some extent and I basically love them all this time lol, like the "cakes" girl. Has some solid horror as well, in a goofy sort of way of course. The moral is corny but works, although the micorwave aspect was kind of weird and the climax is sort of lazy but I get why they did it I guess.
It's the 2nd to be written by Ron Oliver on top of directing and his passion certainly shows. I found a lot of trivia for the crew on it so they certainly love it. I also quite like the "god awful" Goosebumps comic one lol
Yeah, I'm definitely in the minority on my dislike of the episode, which is a shame because I do love comic books.
Lmao the popcorn
I love popcorn and it seemed so odd that the parents were eating popcorn and then he makes popcorn. It felt like they were trying to push popcorn on us...so I accepted. Except that I gave most of the bag to my girlfriend to eat and only kept a small amount to use for each take.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow wait yeah Can diabetics eat popcorn!?!
@@ec6933 Yes, I can eat popcorn. Just in moderation.
Never cared for this one that much when younger. But boy has it grown on me. There's just something about all the quirky characters. The universe the protagonist inhabits is already messed up and that is part of the fun for me. Hooper is such a great side character. It's one of those episodes where even though the plot is ridiculous it is inventive enough. Just an example of one of our differences. You wish that they played out the action sequence of the grinner and main character in the comic book world. I am happy they didn't do that. Why? Because it is unique to have it play out in a comic book. Everything else is live action, why not make a part of a comic book episode reading a comic book? The grinner himself is great. Yes, borrows from the joker but he is supernatural and has a different look so it is somewhat different. The parents are delightfully trailer park. The over the top teacher when he says "this is no laughing matter" and is all of a sudden grabbed and made to laugh was just cute irony. The episode has a great soul to me. Of course, it isn't real that someone can get famous for something like this but it is a nice dream.
Also, while this episode makes no sense, I thought it was terrifying as a kid just from the costumes and nonsense, it also seemed very realistic and relatable. Also also, I always thought those things locked up bus brakes because of that! 😂 And this is way better than the goosebumps version masked mutant!
Yeah, I don't know why movies and tv like to show buses with those fake types of emergency stop buttons.
Hey i like your videos mate if you like are you afraid of the dark the dark try the tale of the dead mans float its really gruesome you might even like the zombie in it anyway keep up the good work and making videos
Thank you! I have seen Dead Man's Float before and did enjoy it. I will get to it eventually. I'm going in season order and I believe that episode is in season 5.
It's always drugs. Why else are they out in the woods at midnight?
Good point.
Another memorable episode clowns freak me out in general. I saw It the mini series as a kid and freaked me out as a 4 year old. Frankie calling Ethan cakes throughout the episode drove me crazy i liked the character of Ethan i think he was in Billy Madison as a high schoooler that Billy hangs out with i thought the actor who played Ethan was great but what really drove me crazy about this episode is that the eraser saved Ethan Frankie and Uncas i loved Frankie's outfit and makeup. Pizza waffles. Im guessing you make waffles like you usually do but after you make the buttermilk waffles you add the pizza sauce pepperoni and cheese
Even if the recipe is as simple as that, I want one.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow write it down and see if it's worth the hype
Not the worst episode, but I never cared for it, another great episode, too bad you don't have more views & subscribers
But the viewers I do have are the best!
I agree I feel the episode had potential I will say as a kid I enjoyed this but watching as an adult the finish ruined it.I guess it’s all about perspective I grew up on marvel and dc but this episode didn’t really reach its potential.As for that bus thing imagine how many accidents that would have caused if the passengers had access to stop the bus at any time I guess for the episode that part made sense but the idea of that isn’t
Yeah and it's not just this. I've seen that bus trope in a number of movies and tv shows. I wonder where that idea started.
Looking back since as a kid mob and crime movies wasn't stuff I wasn't paying as much attention to. But looking at the parents now it is my take of them being in witness protection. Just the track suit and the mom with curlers in the middle of the day. It might not be that. They just might be trailer trash but it feels they got too much money for trailer trash. I mean that's a full house not just a double wide trailer. But that's just my take family was in the mob and dad made deals to keep his money and rat on his boss.
Also I wonder how Nickelodeon or Are you afraid of the dark got DC and Marvel to license out comics for the shop or however that worked back in the 1990s. I wonder if a reason for not showing so much of the comic shop was how much the show had to pay. It would be cool if DC and Marvel just gave the show comics for free but I doubt it.
Yeah, that's where my mind was at with the drug kingpin angle. But I love the idea that they betrayed the mob and are hiding out!
@@FusionFocus863 I was wondering the same thing, especially since Superman is featured so prominently in a couple of the shots of the store.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow yeah it truly feels like the parents do something illegal.
C'mon guys give him a break, everyone is privy to their opinon, as a kid this episode was fun but as you grow up you realise that it was an okay episode
Also, am i the only one who finds Frankie's first encounter with Ethan, predatory
Haha! No worries. No one has gotten nasty about it. It is always a trip watching the episodes I never saw as a kid. I try to put myself in that mindset, but sometimes I just can't.
The episode is horrible but it’s so needlessly camp and over-exaggerated and such a blatant rip off of “Batman”, it’s hilarious, especially with the emphasis on Uncas.
You know it's a bad episode when the creator of the series, who also co-wrote the episode, doesn't care for it.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShowAt least it began your quest to find out what a pizza waffle is, right?
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 and they DO exist! How had I never heard of them before?! There must be tasting in my future.