Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003)

 Spoiler Warning!!

Facts

Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular was first aired in Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Canada on October 31st, 2003. In 2004, it aired in the United States on Cartoon Network. 

The story of Scary Godmother follows a young girl named Hannah Marie on Halloween. Jimmy, her older cousin, is saddled with the responsibility of watching Hannah Marie while trick-or-treating with his friends. Because of her age, Hannah Marie is uninterested in participating in activities with Jimmy and his friends that could get them in trouble. After becoming frustrated with Hannah Marie, Jimmy devises a plan to scare the little girl into wanting to go home. 

Tricking Hannah Marie into going into an abandoned home, Jimmy and his friends lock her inside to terrify her. After Hannah Marie is locked inside, the Scary Godmother appears. Scary Godmother takes Hannah Marie to a land unlike her own, called Fright Side, where monsters live, and Halloween lasts all year. There, Hannah Marie attends a party with monsters who at first scare her but later become her friends. With her new friends, she returns to her world and teaches Jimmy and his friends a lesson about fear. 

Scary Godmother was originally a book and comic series written and drawn by Jill Thompson, spanning fourteen installments. These installments were both publications of original stories and collections of past stories in the Scary Godmother universe. The first book was published in 1997 under SIRIUS Entertainment.

The storyboarding and pacing are based on a 2001 stage production of Thompson's first book, produced by Runamuck Productions, which ran at a community theater. The unusually long shots, which emphasize the humor, were a decision made with the stage production's humor in mind.  

In 1999, Mainframe Entertainment got the rights to produce a Scary Godmother television series. At first, the company planned to create a series for girls with multiple half-hour episodes based on Thompson's books. However, as time passed, there were plans for fewer episodes, and disputes on how well the books and comics would translate into episodes of a show. In 2002, it was decided to produce a television special to generate interest in the planned series. The conceptualization and development of Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular was on a tight schedule, and they needed to work quickly to have it ready for Halloween of 2003. 

Development of the film was under Mainframe Entertainment (1993–2007). Director Ezekiel Norton was brought on to this film by Mainframe and worked closely with Thompson to refine the style and storytelling. Norton directed multiple movies in the Barbie franchise (2011-2017); however, he has also worked on many notable projects in the Animation Department and Visual Effects. His work in animation can be seen in the 2003 episode of the Spider-Man series "Mind Games: Part 1". His visual effects work appeared in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010).

Heath Corson and Gavin Blair co-wrote the special with Thompson, revising elements of the original books and comics to suit the screen better. This special is the first work under Heath Corson's name, and he went on to co-write Justice League: War (2014) and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015). This special was Gavin Blair's final work, following multiple installments of ReBoot (1994-2001), for which Norton provided animation in the years leading up to their work on Scary Godmother. 

Animation for Scary Godmother was initially set in Thompson's comic style; however, Thompson decided to render the characters in 3D. The backgrounds retained elements of her iconic watercolor drawings, but the characters were rendered in 3D while maintaining the same designs. The art for this special was led by Jill Thompson, with much of it created by Scott Baltjes (storyboard artist), Scott Farquhar (storyboard artist), Ken Henderson (art department head), and Sheryl Low (Art Department: 2D & 3D Compositing). Over fifty creatives handled animation and visual effects. 

Hannah Marie is voiced by Britt McKillip, best known for voicing Princess Cadance in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and other projects under the MLP brand (2006-2021), voicing Blueberry Muffin in movies and series under the Strawberry Shortcake brand (2009-2015), and voicing multiple characters in BRATZ movies (2006-2012) and Barbie movies (2001-2007) respectfully. 

Other notable voice actors are Garry Chalk as Harry the Werewolf and Bug-a-Boo (The Fly ||, Cold Squad, Beast Wars: Transformers), Britt Irvin as Katie (Hot Rod, Big Eyes, The Vow), Scott McNeil as Skully Pettibone and Count Max (X-Men: Evolution, Dragon Ball Z, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed), and finally Tabitha St. Germain as Scary Godmother and Ruby ( My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Littlest Pet Shop, LoliRock).

Upon the special's release in the United States in 2004, it became a classic in Halloween children's media. 1,051,000 viewers from the kids 6-11 demographic tuned in to Cartoon Network in October of 2004, and the special's popularity only grew. The special won three Leo Awards, and the cast and crew won multiple awards in animation, musical writing, and more. Overall scores were good, with praise coming in for the dialogue and eye-catching visuals. However, some found the animation busy and the overall delivery jerky and overused. 

My Opinion 

I was born in 2006, so Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular had already been released, and the cast and crew had gotten their flowers. The first experience I remember having with this special was watching it in my Grandparents' basement with my older cousins. I was five or six, so how I initially reacted is lost in the void of years of other media. But by this time, the special was being played multiple times a week on Cartoon Network as October lumbered toward Halloween. 

Halloween was a big deal to me as a kid. I went as a new princess every year when I was a toddler, so I remember relating to Hannah Marie. Getting made fun of for wearing an ill-fitting Sleeping Beauty dress was already a core memory at the time, and I hated Jimmy for treating Hannah Marie the same way. I thought Scary Godmother was the perfect protector, and I had a tiny crush on Countess Ruby.

As I got older, watching this special became a tradition. I watched it multiple times a year, even when my cousins wanted to change the channel because we'd all seen it. For a few years, I related to Jimmy and his friends, because at ten, I got a younger cousin, and I got annoyed with her often. But I have once again brought to the point where Jimmy and his little friends are obviously annoying and in the wrong. 

Looking back, I can see where my taste in women and men came from by looking at the character models, even if some of them are… a little chopped. But overall, it is impressive to see the character modeling and 3D rendering in a short film from 2003. Scenes where Scary Godmother is flying with Hannah Marie show good storyboarding and have a great sense of motion. Scary Godmother's home is so chic, I would love to be her roommate, even if I had to deal with her obviously gay skeleton in the closet. 

Overall, this special holds a place in my heart. The characters, fashion, and humor informed my own way of going through the world. Thompson's books and comics are calling my name after researching this special. 

I hope you can relate

-Dorin