Are You Afraid Of The Dark
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''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is a
children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...
horror
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television series created by D. J. MacHale and Ned Kandel. The original series aired on
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
in the United States from August 15, 1992 to February 3, 1996, and also on YTV in Canada. The pilot episode first aired on October 31, 1990 on YTV, and as a Halloween special on October 25, 1991 on Nickelodeon. It led to two revival series, with the first airing from February 6, 1999 to June 11, 2000, and the second airing from October 11, 2019 to August 13, 2022. The original series was created by D. J. MacHale and Ned Kandel, and was picked up by Nickelodeon in 1992. MacHale, Kandel, and Nickelodeon teamed up with the Canadian company CINAR, and as a part of the deal the show was filmed primarily in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, with some additional filming taking place in
Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...
. The production teams were respectively represented by the
ACTRA The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has over 30,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. Th ...
and STCVQ (''Syndicat des techniciens du cinéma et de la vidéo du Québec'') labour unions. The series unofficially premiered with the episode "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" as a
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
on the Canadian television network YTV on October 31, 1990. The pilot then aired on Nickelodeon on October 25, 1991 as a Halloween special, and then re-aired five days later alongside '' Mystery Magical Special'' as part of a Halloween-oriented block called "The Haunting of Nickelodeon". It officially premiered as a series the following year on Nickelodeon's SNICK on August 15, 1992, and on Family Channel on September 2, 1992. The series moved from Family Channel to YTV on September 6, 1993. The original series ended on February 3, 1996. In 1999, ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' was revived for two more seasons, bringing back a majority of the crew members who worked on the original series along with new directors, writers and cast, and was produced by Nickelodeon and aired on the SNICK block from February 6, 1999 to June 11, 2000, while in Canada the series was moved to the Family Channel, as YTV owned the rights to the original series. The only member from the original lineup to return for the first and second seasons of the revival was Tucker ( Daniel DeSanto), although Gary ( Ross Hull) returned for the concluding show, which notably broke from the show's established format by blurring the line between story and "reality". On November 13, 2017, it was announced that
Paramount Players Paramount Players is an American film production label of Paramount Pictures, focusing on "contemporary properties" while working with other Paramount Global brands. The name alludes to the company's earliest origins as Famous Players Film Comp ...
would make a live-action feature film adaptation. However, the film was later removed from Paramount's schedule. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that the series would be rebooted for a limited series, which premiered on October 11, 2019. On February 19, 2020, this revival was renewed for a second season, titled ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows'', which premiered on February 12, 2021, featuring a different cast. In March 2022, the revival was renewed for a third and final season, which premiered on July 30, 2022. On March 28, 2024, the revival series was removed from
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as part of a "strategic decision to focus on content with mass global appeal".


Background

''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' was filmed in Montreal by CINAR and created by producer D. J. MacHale, an American television producer. The show is a co-production between Montreal-based CINAR Films and the U.S. Nickelodeon network. It had its American debut on
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
in the United States during August, while Canada's Family Channel had the series premiere in September 1992. By 1993, the series had moved from Family Channel to YTV. Both series of ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' revolved around a group of teenagers who referred to themselves as "The Midnight Society". Every episode, at a secret location in the woods at night, one member would tell a scary story to the group. The actual story, rather than the telling, was displayed to the television viewer. The story was shown between the group's arrival at the site and their departure. Each storyteller would begin their story by saying "Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story '(story name)'", at which point they would toss a handful of "midnight dust" (actually
Coffee-Mate Coffee-mate is a lactose-free coffee creamer manufactured by Nestlé, available in powdered, liquid and concentrated liquid forms. It was introduced in 1961 by Carnation. Ingredients Coffee-mate Original is mostly made up of three ingredients: ...
) from a leather pouch into a campfire to heighten the flames and produce an eerie white smoke. MacHale wrote the line "submitted for the approval of" as a nod to ''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...
'', in which creator
Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his Anthology series, anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone (1 ...
would, after introducing the episode, say "submitted for your approval." The storyteller would continue by announcing its title ("The Tale of..."). The themes of the stories usually revolve around a variety of paranormal phenomena, such as demons, ghosts, magic, haunted houses, magical curses, aliens, witches, vampires, werewolves, and the like coming into contact with average youths. Usually, the episodes were either filmed in the woods, in abandoned houses, or in public places like schools or libraries. Sources of these tales vary in different ways; many were adaptations of
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...
s and short stories or
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
s. For example, the episode "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" is an adaptation of W. W. Jacobs' short story ''
The Monkey's Paw "The Monkey's Paw" is a Horror fiction, horror short story by English author W. W. Jacobs. It first appeared in ''Harper's Monthly'' in September, 1902, and was reprinted in his third collection of short stories, ''The Lady of the Barge'', late ...
''. Sometimes, the stories were inspired by a certain event in the life of the storyteller. In the episode "The Tale of the Crimson Clown," for instance, Tucker
blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...
ed his brother Gary with a poem he had found, which Gary had written for Samantha. Gary then told a story in which a naughty younger brother was punished cruelly for his evil deeds. At the end of the episode, Tucker gave the poem back to his brother. The majority of the horror stories on ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' had happy endings (or at least endings in which their characters were in decent places), but some of them (albeit a very small number of them) had either bad endings or twist endings like "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost," "The Tale of the Dark Music," "The Tale of the Chameleons," "The Tale of Vampire Town," and "The Tale of the Pinball Wizard." At the end of most episodes, one character (usually Gary in the first run and Tucker in the second run of the show) would throw a red bucket of water onto the fire, stating, "I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed," and the group would leave the campsite, thus ending the storytelling. Sometimes, the story would be related to an event (e.g. in "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark," Kristen, who was afraid of clowns, ran off when Eric put on a clown mask. Then, everyone chased after her). This would cause either Gary or Tucker to hurriedly dump the water on the fire, and the Midnight Society would run off to wherever they go after meetings.


Episodes


Characters and cast

Each member of the Midnight Society from 1992 to 1996 has a distinct personality, and a notable trend in their storytelling. Though not all of their stories have similar styles and plots, in many of the stories, each character carries a unique aspect that reflects the nature of the storyteller, and what they find to be the most important to themselves. In the second generation, the characters derive their stories more from events that happen during the days leading up to the society meetings instead of from their personal interests and views. Many of the later episodes were simply given to a random society member to tell.


Original

* Gary: An unassuming, bookish-looking boy and the founder of this generation of the Midnight Society. Gary has a distinct fascination with magic, especially where the magician Houdini is concerned. His stories tend to revolve around cursed or enchanted objects with
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
properties, and how – in the wrong hands – they can cause disaster, for both the holder and those around them. His stories have the recurring character "Sardo" in them; most of his stories have the main character buying an enchanted item from Sardo's shop. In the 3-part episode, "The Tale of the Silver Sight", Gary reveals that his grandfather was the founder of the Midnight Society and that it was his grandfather's stories that inspired him to recreate the group. * Betty Ann: A vibrant girl who has an open and eager passion for the bizarre and twisted. Her stories often include themes where an alien or
supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
force is either trying to break into the world of the characters, or else trying to drag them into their own unnatural realms. Her stories tend to have twists reminiscent of ''Twilight Zone'' episodes, hinting that even after the protagonists of her stories manage to defeat the antagonists, they still have yet to fully escape danger by the end. * Kiki: A spunky,
tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...
ish girl who often makes fun of others. Many of her stories involve plots where the danger of carelessness or deceitfulness, as well as the danger of the past, repeats itself. Also notable is that a large number of the characters in her stories are also of African descent (likely due to Kiki herself being African-Canadian), though the trend dies off later on in the series. One story she came up with had to be read by Gary due to her suffering from laryngitis at the time. * Frank: A punkish teenager with an in-your-face attitude. Though his stories do not often have a running theme, they do often have the recurring character Dr. Vink appear as the villain, or at least, the creator of the story's antagonist. The first episode of the series has Frank attempting to impress the Midnight Society with a story to be allowed membership, which he does with "The Tale of the Phantom Cab". In season five, he and his family moved away, and he was replaced in the group by Stig. * Tucker: Gary's younger brother and the youngest member of the Midnight Society. Due to his age, he is often portrayed as youthfully obnoxious. His stories tend to involve family relationships that are at first sour but grow in strength in the face of adversity, possibly reflecting his relationship with his brother Gary. There is also a running theme of the characters accidentally unleashing evil upon their world. After Gary left, he took over his place as the president of the Midnight Society. Once Tucker is in charge, he is less of a brat and more of a serious leader like his older brother. He is the only character to appear in both generations of the Midnight Society. * Sam: A shy girl with an obvious mutual crush on Gary, which becomes one of the highlighted arcs of both their developments in the series. Reflecting this affection for Gary, Sam's stories tend to have more of a strong theme of love, and its endurance even beyond death. * Kristen: A girl who, though squeamish about much else, has a fondness for ghost stories and
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...
s. She has a growing crush on David, and their affection for each other is a developing arc in the first few seasons. She loves to dress up for her stories or bring something for effect, sometimes to scare the others with and her stories almost always deal with ghosts from the past who have unfinished business that they cannot complete without the aid of the living. In season 3, she left the Midnight Society due to her and her family moving, and she was replaced in the group by Sam. * David: A quiet boy with a mysterious expression. Reflecting his introverted nature and need to deal with his crush on Kristen, David's stories tend to be less about malignant outside forces, and more to do with the evil of past events left unresolved, or the darkness inside normal people, and the consequences of not dealing with their actions. In season 3, he and his family moved away, and he was replaced in the group by Tucker. * Stig: His nickname may come from the term '' stigma'', as he is marked an outsider for his notable lack of hygiene. Stig is the last member to be initiated into this generation of the Midnight Society. As such, he has only two stories in the series before the cast is changed: "The Tale of the Dead Man's Float" and "The Tale of Station 109.1." Due to the aversion people seem to have against him for his looks, both of his stories seem to revolve around outsiders judged for their appearances and/or tastes. * Eric: Eric is portrayed as a diminutive teenager with visible Irish ancestry that influences his first story. As he has only had two stories in the first season before his character was cut, there is no visible theme in his storytelling but they seem to be about incredibly powerful evil forces (ones never proven innocent or misunderstood like some others). In his short run on the show, Eric was shown to be rather snide and negative, spending most of the time making sarcastic remarks and antagonizing the other members, especially Frank. He is the only character to leave the show without any explanation for his departure.


Revival

Several years after the last meeting of the Midnight Society, Tucker returns to reinitialize the meetings, inviting his own circle of friends to reform the Midnight Society. * Quinn: is usually getting in trouble at school and at home, but he is a smart kid that likes to make fun of Andy teamed up with Vange. Quinn's stories have little in common though usually involve the protagonists' actions unleashing or bringing them face-to-face with the villain. * Vange: (short for "Evangeline") is the youngest of the New Midnight Society. She is a tomboy and does not have a problem with speaking her mind. Teamed up with Quinn she makes fun of Andy a lot. Vange's stories have little in common though most seem to be about how wanting something too badly can cause the main character to play into the villain's hands. * Andy: is very sweet and kind. He is always being made fun of by Quinn and Vange for having more muscle than brains. He lives on a farm with his family. He often works there before and after school. Andy is the closest to Megan. Andy's stories have little in common but are often about how characters' dark sides can unleash evil. Usually, the inspiration for his stories are based on his own real-life personal experiences. * Megan: is a rich kid who is not very comfortable in the woods. She would rather hold the New Midnight Society Meetings in her own well-managed backyard. Tucker, not being the stickler his brother was, lets Megan refurnish the campfire with some comfortable old couches. She seems to have a soft spot for Andy. Megan's stories have little in common though most seem to somehow involve romance. Sometimes she brings a prop or starts a brief game relating to her story.


Reboot

In 2019, a second revival of the show began. The first season is known as "Carnival of Doom", the second season is known as "Curse of the Shadows" and the third season is known as "Ghost Island".


Carnival of Doom

The Midnight Society: * Rachel Carpenter: A shy girl who recently moved to the town of Argento. She quickly resigns herself to life as a social outsider, but when some classmates notice her interest in the horror genre, she earns an invite to the mysterious Midnight Society. She suffers from recurring nightmares and uses that to form her first story to submit to the group, ''The Carnival of Doom''. She's named after
John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...
. * Gavin Coscarelli: An outgoing member who lives next door to Rachel and quickly takes an interest in her. He's good friends with Louise and is shown to be fairly popular at school. He's also a vegetarian. He's named after
Don Coscarelli Don Coscarelli Jr. (born February 17, 1954) is an American film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in horror films. His directing credits include the first four films in the Phantasm (franchise), '' ...
. * Akiko Yamato: A blunt and pragmatic member of the Midnight Society who enjoys filmmaking and is seen directing her own scary movie throughout the series. Her older brother, Hideo, is a rookie police officer. * Graham Raimi: A horror film fanatic who loves gushing about his favorite movies, although he often comes off awkward to his peers. He is also a talented artist and a germaphobe. He sits behind Rachel in class and is the first to pick up on Rachel's horror obsession, eventually inviting her to the group. He's named after
Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the first three films in the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present) and the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed the super ...
. * Louise Fulci: A cheerleader and one of the popular girls at school who holds her reputation dearly. Although she's friends with Gavin, she avoids speaking to the other members of the Midnight Society outside of meetings, particularly Graham, in fear that it will affect her social status. She's named after
Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including Commedia all'italiana, comedies and spagh ...
.


Curse of the Shadows

The Midnight Society: * Luke McCoy: A skateboarding Shadow Bay High School wrestler who snuck out after a fight. * Hanna Romero * Gabby Lewis * Jai Malya * Seth Romero: Hanna's young brother with an interest in wizardry. * Connor Stevens


Ghost Island

The Midnight Society: * Kayla King * Max Matheson * Leo B. Stoker * Summer DaCosta * Ferris Poe


Recurring characters

One of the more significant recurring characters was Sardo (
Richard Dumont Richard M. Dumont (born 1959 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian voice actor, writer and director who has worked in both Canada and the United States. Dumont is known for playing Sardo, who owned a magic shop called Sardo's Magic Mansion, in ma ...
), owner of "Sardo's Magic Mansion" (a magic shop). He would often attempt to sell a character a "prized" item, succeeding almost every single time. He often had items in his shop that contained real properties of magic, yet did not know until it was revealed in the story. One of the most memorable recurring jokes in the series occurred when someone would address him as "Mr. Sardo." He would then get irritated and exclaim: "That's SarDO (Sardôh)! No mister; accent on the doh!" Another recurring gag is Sardo attempting to sell a series of cheap novelty items before revealing the magical artifact, culminating with
fake vomit A practical joke device is a toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank. Often, these toys are harmless facsimiles of otherwise potentially disgusting or terrifying objects, such as vomit or spilled nail polish. In other i ...
, asking the protagonists, "Have you seen our vomit?" Additionally, when selling someone an item, he would often ask a rather high price. The main character would mention how much money they had, and Sardo would grab the money saying, "But I'm losing on the deal." Although he rarely got what he wanted, he would often end up helping the characters, often unintentionally. He appeared in Gary's stories, although in the later seasons, he appeared in two of Tucker's, and one of David's in the episode "The Tale of The Dark Dragon." Sardo's character is revived in the second season of the second revival, "Curse of the Shadows." Sardo's son (Ryan Beil) is the owner of "Sardo's Magic Shop". Richard Dumont appears in the finale as Sardo. Another recurring character was Dr. Vink ( Aron Tager). He was a physically imposing man who would often appear as a mad scientist, sorcerer, and the like. When he enters, he introduces himself by saying, "Vink's the name. Dr. Vink." He would also get his name mispronounced, usually something like "Dr. Fink?" When this happened, he would respond "Vink. With a ''va-va-va''!" Often, the protagonist would call him a "nutbag" behind his back, assuming he could not hear him, only to have him reply later, "...and I am ''not'' a nutbag". Unlike Sardo, whose character was set in a magic shop, Dr. Vink had many "unique endeavors" as he called them, for his stories. These ranged from living deep in the woods conducting strange nature experiments, being a retired filmmaker, owning his own restaurant as head chef and lastly a barbershop. His activities were usually villainous, designed to put the characters in peril and allow him the last laugh. However, in his last appearance, "The Tale of Cutter's Treasure" (which was told by both Frank and Gary), he allied himself with Sardo and the main characters without his usual maliciousness. He appeared in Frank's stories. Aron Tager also played the carnival worker who stands in front of the Funhouse and invites people to go inside in the episode "The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark". The character of Zeebo the Clown, also played by Tager, who appeared in "The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark" is referenced in several other stories, for example, in the episode "The Tale of the Whispering Walls", two children mention seeing him at a fun park, in the episode "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror", a girl says she will look like Zeebo if she wears too much lipstick, and in the episode "The Tale of the Crimson Clown", a video game called ''Zeebo's Big House'' can be seen in the boys' room on the desk with a picture of Zeebo on it as the title character. The video game was also mentioned in the episode "The Tale of Train Magic". Finally, in the episode "The Tale of the Night Shift", the teenage janitor is called Zeebo by his supervisor a few times at the beginning of the episode. A villain, the "Ghastly Grinner" (star of "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner"), like Zeebo the Clown, appears in a comic book that the characters read. In "Tale of the Ghastly Grinner", The Grinner is shown as being the star of a comic book.


Legacy

The show became a weekly staple for children and tweens in the 1990s. Kids "were old enough to stay up but not old enough to stay out, so heyspent nearly every Saturday night huddled around television sets with friends or siblings, pretending not to be terrified by that week's tale." As written by Matt Melis,
"But there's also a lot to admire in the care that went into trying to frighten us. We saw the protagonists encountering the creepy and supernatural in the same suburban settings we hailed from. They were remarkably vulnerable and insecure kids, too, ones with problems we could relate to; they were new kids, outcasts, rival siblings, and children experiencing rough patches like deaths in the family or parents filing for divorce."
Series co-creator D.J. MacHale said, "I wanted stories about real kids who were facing challenges that had nothing to do with the supernatural situation they ended up in." He added, "But I'd like to believe that by depicting kids taking charge of difficult situations, it opened up kid-viewers to the idea that they aren't powerless in their own lives." The show has also been hailed for its diversity in characters and stories. "I write about kids who find themselves in challenging situations, and ultimately solve the problems themselves ... no matter their sex, race, or age. We wanted to depict a wide variety of stories, characters, and situations. It was all about diversity," says MacHale. "We didn't play to stereotypes." The series was nominated for an
NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...
in 1996. The show has also been seen as helping to create a generation of feminist horror fans, as it showed kids a world "where girls got to be the imperfect heroes as often as the boys did." According to MacHale, "in the first season alone, half of the scripts focused on female characters and were written by female writers."


Home media


VHS releases

Three VHS tapes were released by Sony Wonder. ''Ghostly Tales'', which included the episodes "The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle" and "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost" plus a bonus "Feel the Fear" music video, was released on March 22, 1994; ''Nightmare Tales'', which included the episodes "The Tale of the Final Wish" and "The Tale of the Dream Machine", was released on May 31, 1994; and ''The Tale of Cutter's Treasure'' was released on June 13, 1995. In addition, episodes of the series were included on two compilation tapes of SNICK programming, both of which were released on August 31, 1993; "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost" was included on ''Nick Snicks Friendship'', and "The Tale of the Hungry Hounds" was included on ''Nick Snicks the Family''.


DVD releases

Direct Source (under license from Cookie Jar Entertainment) released all seven seasons of ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' on DVD in Region 1 for the first time between 2006 and 2008. These releases featured group shots of the Midnight Society on the front. The first five seasons were released in Canada and the United States, while seasons 1 and 2 of the revival series were released in Canada only. The company also released a joint collection of seasons 1–2/seasons 3–4 as a box set. These releases have been discontinued and are now out-of-print. On April 8, 2013, it was announced that Berkshire Axis Media had acquired the rights to the series (Canada only) and would be re-releasing it. Season 1 was re-released on May 28, 2013, and season 2 was re-released on October 15, 2013. In Region 2, Revelation Films released the first four seasons on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2007/2008. Nickelodeon (
Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...
) also re-released the series on DVD in the US through Amazon.com's
CreateSpace On-Demand Publishing, LLC, doing business as CreateSpace, was a self-publishing service owned by Amazon. The company was founded in 2000 in South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, So ...
service beginning with two random-episode "volumes" released in 2013. However, those releases were canceled and were followed by proper season set releases beginning in 2014. These releases were designed to look like books. On December 1, 2014, it was announced that Madman Films had acquired the rights to the series in Australia, and would be releasing the series through Via Vision Entertainment. In 2015, Via Vision released seasons 1–3 individually. On September 22, 2017, it was announced that Via Vision Entertainment had no plans to release the remaining seasons of ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?''


Online distribution

The first five complete seasons of the series have been released (non-sequentially) across ten volumes in digital format on iTunes, Amazon, and Vudu: In September 2016, all seven seasons of the first two series were made available for free on YouTube for non-United States viewers. On November 6, 2017, Season one was released for free on Canada Media Fund's Encore+ YouTube channel. As of 2021, ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is available on
Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...
. However, there are some missing episodes: "Tale of the Super Specs", "Tale of the Dark Dragon", "Tale of the Midnight Ride", "Tale of the Dream Girl", "Tale of Quicksilver", "Tale of the Long Ago Locket", "Tale of the Fire Ghost", "Tale of the Closet Keepers", "Tale of the Unfinished Painting", "Tale of the Chameleons", "Tale of C7", and the revival seasons six and seven. On March 28, 2024, series 8–10 were removed from Paramount+.


Reboot

On February 14, 2019, it was announced that the series itself would be revived for a miniseries to air in October 2019. On June 10, 2019, the cast for the miniseries was announced with Sam Ashe Arnold as Gavin, Miya Cech as Akiko, Tamara Smart as Louise, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Graham, and Lyliana Wray as Rachel as the new Midnight Society and Rafael Casal as the Carnival of Doom's ringmaster, Mr. Tophat. The miniseries aired on Fridays, October 11, 18, and 25, 2019, and was a ratings success. Brandon Routh guest starred in part two. On February 19, 2020, it was renewed for a second season, titled ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows''. On October 29, 2020, the cast for the second season was announced with Bryce Gheisar, Arjun Athalye, Beatrice Kitsos, Malia Baker, Dominic Mariche and Parker Queenan as the new Midnight Society. The second season premiered on February 12, 2021. On March 24, 2022, the series was renewed for a third season, subtitled ''Ghost Island''. Telci Huynh, Conor Sherry, Luca Padovan, Dior Goodjohn and Chance Hurstfield joined the cast as new members of the Midnight Society, while Julian Curtis joined the cast as a hotel manager. The third season premiered on July 30, 2022.


Other media

A music video with the horror-themed dance song "Feel the Fear" was aired on Nickelodeon and included as a bonus feature on VHS tapes. The television series also spawned multiple licensed products. A PC game based on the show titled '' Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Tale of Orpheo's Curse'' was released in 1994. A board game titled ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?: The Game'' was also released. They also released a series of audio cassettes entitled ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?: More Tales from the Midnight Society'', which were narrated and voiced by actors from the show who reprised their respective characters. Perhaps the most prominent of products from the franchise's merchandising was a
series of books A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...
written by various authors between 1995 and 1998. On November 13, 2017, it was announced that a film adaptation of the series was in the works at
Paramount Players Paramount Players is an American film production label of Paramount Pictures, focusing on "contemporary properties" while working with other Paramount Global brands. The name alludes to the company's earliest origins as Famous Players Film Comp ...
. '' It'' writer
Gary Dauberman Gary Dauberman is an American screenwriter and director. He is best known for writing The Conjuring Universe horror films ''Annabelle (film), Annabelle'' (2014), ''Annabelle: Creation'' (2017), ''The Nun (2018 film), The Nun'' (2018), and ''Annab ...
was set to write the screenplay with Matt Kaplan producing and D.J. Caruso directing. The film was scheduled to be released on October 4, 2019. However, on February 27, 2019, Paramount removed the film from their schedule. On November 16, 2022, a series of novels and graphic novels were announced in a partnership between Abrams Children's Books and
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...
. The first middle grade novel, titled ''The Tale of the Gravemother'' and written by Rin Chupeco, was released on June 27, 2023. Horror novelist Danielle Valentine is signed on to write book two. The first graphic novel in the series, titled ''The Witch's Wings and Other Terrifying Tales'', written by Tehlor Kay Mejia and illustrated by Justin Hernandez, Alexis Hernandez, Junyi Wu, and Kaylee Rowena, was released on October 3, 2023. On August 24, 2023, an official podcast was announced in a partnership between
Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...
and Nickelodeon. The podcast, titled ''Are You Afraid of The Dark? The Official Podcast'', was released on September 28, 2023.


Notes


References


Sources

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External links

* * (original and first revival series) * (second revival series) {{Portal bar, Television, Canada, United States, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Speculative fiction, Speculative fiction/Horror 1990 American television series debuts 1990 Canadian television series debuts 1990s American anthology television series 1990s American children's television series 1990s Canadian anthology television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1990s Nickelodeon original programming 1996 American television series endings 1996 Canadian television series endings 1999 American television series debuts 1999 Canadian television series debuts 2000 American television series endings 2000 Canadian television series endings 2000s American anthology television series 2000s American children's television series 2000s Canadian anthology television series 2000s Canadian children's television series 2000s Nickelodeon original programming 2010s American anthology television series 2010s American children's television series 2010s Canadian anthology television series 2010s Canadian children's television series 2010s Nickelodeon original programming 2019 American television series debuts 2019 Canadian television series debuts 2020s American anthology television series 2020s American children's television series 2020s Canadian children's television series 2020s Nickelodeon original programming 2022 American television series endings 2022 Canadian television series endings American children's horror television series American horror fiction television series American television series revived after cancellation Are You Afraid of the Dark? Canadian children's horror television series Canadian television series revived after cancellation American English-language television shows Family Channel (Canadian TV network) original programming Nickelodeon original programming Sandman in television American television series about teenagers Canadian television series about teenagers Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment Television shows filmed in British Columbia Television shows filmed in Montreal Television shows filmed in the Dominican Republic