''The Halloween That Almost Wasn't'' is a 1979 American

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

that revolves around

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

(

Judd Hirsch Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS series ...

) trying to save

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

from the Witch (

Mariette Hartley Mary Loretta Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for work with Bill Bixby on '' The Incredible Hulk'' (1978) and ''Goodnight, Beantown'' (1983–1984), an original ''Star Trek'' episode (1 ...

) who threatens it. It won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for "Outstanding Individual Achievement – Children's Program" and was nominated for three others. On its VHS release, it was retitled ''The Night Dracula Saved the World''. The special, which premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on October 28, 1979, was shot at Lyndhurst in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

. It also aired regularly on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

during its Halloween season from 1983 to 1996.

Plot

After hearing rumors from a TV newscaster that Halloween may end and that he is being blamed, Count Dracula exclaims, "How dare they suggest such a thing? Halloween is my national holiday!" and he calls the world's most famous monsters—Warren the Werewolf a.k.a. Wolf Man ( Jack Riley) of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

(

John Schuck Conrad John Schuck Jr. (born February 4, 1940) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for his role as Sgt. Charles Enright in the 1970s crime drama ''McMillan & Wife''. He also played Herman Munster in the late-1980s ...

), Zabaar the Zombie ( Josip Elic) of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, the

Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and the Witch - to his castle to make them frightening again. Dracula believes that the problem is that the monsters have "exploited their monsterhood" to the point of being funny rather than scary; for example, Frankenstein's monster has let a film influence him into tapdancing rather than frightening people. As it turns out, the rumor about Halloween coming to an end was started by the Witch herself; sick of jokes about how ugly she is, she no longer wishes to participate and without her annual ride over the moon, there can be no Halloween. She has prepared a list of demands, which Dracula refuses to meet, so she rides off to her own castle. Dracula pursues the Witch as a bat, but realizes that the sun is about to come up and he goes back into his mausoleum. The next evening, on the night before Halloween, he and the other monsters break into the Witch's castle. They have her cornered, but she turns a painting of the

Three Musketeers 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

into minions. After a brief chase scene using ''

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...

''-style fast motion, the Witch is cornered in a room, while Igor (

Henry Gibson Henry Gibson (born James Bateman; September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor and poet. His best-known roles include his time as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 19 ...

) has her broom. Dracula turns into a bat again to sneak under the door, but gets smashed by the Witch and comes back; Igor tries climbing on a ledge and swinging into the room through a window

Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...

-style, only to have the Witch open the door so he goes right back outside. "It's one of those days I wish I was dead," Dracula declares. "And stayed dead." Although Dracula finally gives in to the Witch's demands (including a randomly added wish for him to take her disco dancing every night), she suddenly changes her mind and decides not to go along. Then, a pair of children who were watching the newscast of the events on TV appear outside the door, one dressed as the Witch, and plead with her, telling her they love her the way she is. Moved by the children, she does her ride over the moon as promised. The film concludes with a disco scene during which the Witch transforms into a disco queen resembling the character Stephanie Mangano from the movie ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends his ...

'' by doing a

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

-style spin, and Dracula, figuring he may as well go with the flow, rips off his costume to reveal a Tony Manero-esque leisure suit mimicking

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...

's character from that same movie.

Release and availability

Following its debut in 1979, the movie aired regularly as part of the

Disney's Halloween Treat "Disney's Halloween Treat" is a 1982 Halloween-themed episode of ''Walt Disney'' which originally aired on October 30, 1982. Plot The episode is narrated by a jack-o'-lantern puppet (voiced by Hal Douglas) and features a compilation of Disney sh ...

/ A Disney Halloween special until the 1990s when that block was replaced. Although it was released on VHS, it has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray. In 2015, the program was spoofed by

RiffTrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

Cast

as Count Dracula *

as the Witch *

as Igor * Jack Riley as the Werewolf *

as Frankenstein's Monster * Josip Elic as Zabaar the Zombie * Robert Fitch as the Mummy

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halloween That Almost Wasn't, The 1979 television specials 1979 comedy films 1970s American television specials American Broadcasting Company television specials American vampire films Dracula films American films about Halloween American monster movies Halloween television specials Films about witchcraft Films directed by Bruce Bilson 1970s monster movies Films set in castles Witchcraft in television 1970s American films