''Witch's Night Out'' is a Canadian animated television

Halloween special This is a list of Halloween television specials and Halloween-themed television episodes. Children and family * ''ABC Weekend Special'': ** "Soup and Me" (1978) * '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'': Witch's Brew (1999) * ''The Addams Family'' ** " ...

that premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

October 27, 1978. Produced in a

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

studio, it was the sequel to the 1974 special ''The Gift of Winter'' with the vocal talents from

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...

and

Valri Bromfield Valri Bromfield (born February 10, 1949) is a Canadian comedian, actress, writer, and television producer who started her career as one half of a comedy team with Dan Aykroyd. Together, they joined the first Toronto company of The Second City wh ...

. It featured the voices of

Fiona Reid Fiona Reid, CM (born 24 July 1951) is an English-born Canadian television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles as Cathy on the TV series ''King of Kensington'' and Harriet Miller in the film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. E ...

as Nicely and

Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on ''Second City Television'' (1976–84) and ''Schitt's Creek'' (2015–2020) and in films such as '' After Hours'' (1985), ''Beetleju ...

as Malicious, with

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...

as the titular witch. Like the earlier special, ''Witch's Night Out'' was produced on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

by Jonathan Rogers (formerly known as John Leach) and Jean Rankin for

. It later aired on Fox and the

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every year from 1983 to the late 1990s. This cartoon film was released on videotape August 5, 1986 by

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and PPI Entertainment in the late 1990s. The film was resurrected once again by the original creator Jonathan Rogers and Animation Director Jimmy Cross (with his Uncle Porkchop Productions animation studio) and together with a new remastered film they formed Cross/Rogers and released it to Mill Creek Entertainment and

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Network and in 2016 for both

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and Shout TV. Mill Creek Entertainment released this cartoon along with ten more classic Halloween-themed cartoons on DVD September 16, 2014. Its predecessor ''The Gift of Winter'' had its own DVD release a month later from that same company.

Plot

The plot involves a depressed witch who is 'summoned' by a pair of children, named Small and Tender, who are upset at not being able to scare anyone on Halloween. The witch turns them into a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

and

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

(previously their

Halloween costume Halloween costumes are costumes worn on Halloween, a festival which falls on October 31. An early reference to wearing costumes at Halloween comes from Scotland in 1585, but they may pre-date this. There are many references to the custom during ...

s), and their babysitter Bazooey into a

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 ...

. The witch then takes them to the Halloween party-in-progress at her isolated mansion on the edge of town. However, the citizens of the town get offended at the thought of real monsters in their town, and form a mob, under the leadership of the strait-laced 'Goodly'. The witch loses her magic wand, which gets attached to a woman named Malicious, and is unable to turn Bazooey and the kids back to humans. The group of supernatural beings is chased through the town and forest by the mob, eventually losing them. Malicious and her partner, Rotten, misuse the wand's powers, which causes a lot of damage to the town, but also summons the witch and the kids to their location. Regaining her wand, the witch uses its power to turn Malicious and Rotten into monsters (though she turns them back soon after), while turning the Frankenstein monster, ghost and werewolf back into Bazooey, Tender and Small. Eventually, the witch uses her powers to restore everything to normal, showing the town that she is not evil. The town quickly accepts the witch, and she starts turning people into what they want to be for Halloween. A disco song entitled "Witch Magic" was sung in this film.

References

External links

* {{Halloween 1978 television specials 1970s animated television specials Halloween television specials NBC television specials CBC Television original films Canadian animated television films Witchcraft in television