Scary Godmother

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Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktakular is a 2003 TV movie based on a series of children's books by Jill Thompson. It's about a girl named Hannah Marie who is locked in a haunted house by her cousin Jimmy and his friends. Hannah is understandably terrified... that is, until her Scary Godmother shows up and invites her to her annual Halloween party. Scary Godmother takes her to the Fright Side, where Hannah is introduced to her 'broom-mates' and fellow monsters:

• Skully Pettibone: a fun-loving, campy skeleton who loves hosting parties.
• Bug-a-Boo: a huge, scary monster that's actually a lot gentler than he seems.
• Harry: an obnoxious, self-absorbed werewolf who can't stop eating.
• Count Maxwell, Ruby and Orson: the royal family of vampires, who can be rather out of touch at times but are, for the most part, friendly and agreeable.

There is also a follow-up named Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy.

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Tropes used in this work:

• Bad Bad Acting: In the climactic scene, all the monsters are pretending to be evil so Hannah can "save" the kids who locked her in the house. It was hilarious.
• Berserk Button: Don't threaten Max's family, even on accident.

Harry: Now, who wants garlic? Max: [grabs Harry by the shirt and looms over him] What are you, a maniac? Are you trying to poison my family?

• Big Eater: Harry.
• Big Entrance: Scary Godmother tries for one, but Hannah is too busy crying to notice. So Scary Godmother sits beside her and starts making loud sobbing noises to distract Hannah from her own fear.
• Blatant Lies:

Scary Godmother: Uh, Hannah, flashlights only work on... monsters that hide in your closet, yeah, and Bug-A-Boo is a monster that hides under your bed! Bug-A-Boo: Nice cover.

• Blond Guys Are Evil: Jimmy, subverted with Daryl.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Occasionally. Skully winks at the audience, and Scary Godmother takes a moment to give us her recipe for shutting up a chattering werewolf.
  • In The Revenge of Jimmy, Hannah also gives a recipe after she and the others found out that the candy and costumes in stores have been tampered with.
• Camp Gay: Skully, the resident skeleton in the closet.
• The Comically Serious: Count Max.

So apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?

• Deal with the Devil: The pizza skeleton offers one to Scary Godmother. She looks over the contract, then politely declines -- her soul is worth more than 12 pizzas.
• Department of Redundancy Department: "The light burns! It burns worse than the worst burn ever!"
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero: Jimmy, arguably since he's the (self-proclaimed) leader.
  • The Lancer: Bert
  • Kid Appeal Character: Daryl
  • The Chick / The Smart Guy: Katie
  • Tagalong Kid: Hannah
• Foreshadowing
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Why is Harry invited anywhere? According to Jill Thompson, even his mother can barely stand him.
  • Upon his introduction, Scary Godmother and Harry seem to be on good terms, until his Establishing Character Moment.
    • Maybe the overcharging for pizza was the straw that broke the camel's back for Scary Godmother?
• Gentle Giant: Bug-a-Boo.
• Genre Savvy: Surprisingly, Harry has an instance of this.

Harry: Ahem! While I'm sure this Jimmy-slash-monster discussion is imperative to the plot, can we get back to something that is really important? Like ordering pizza?

• Happily Married: Max and Ruby. Ruby is very supportive of her husband, and Max is very much in love with her.
• Hurricane of Puns: People on the Fright Side are apparently very into puns, since we hear at least five every scene.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Averted with Bug-A-Boo, and zig-zagged with the vampires. Max, Ruby, and Orson think that Hannah is one of the party snacks when they first see her, but are perfectly fine with pizza when it's suggested (as long as there's no garlic).
• Jerkass: Jimmy. His friends to a lesser extent, but they're mostly just following Jimmy's lead.
  • Jimmy eventually becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • There's also Harry. In the first movie he's an annoying pest of a Big Eater with absolutely no consideration for anyone but himself. But in Revenge of Jimmy, when it looks like Scary Godmother has been crushed by her house, Harry was overjoyed that he was free from doing chores to pay her back the twelve pizzas he stiffed her for, while Skully and Bug-A-Boo are racked with grief. She wasn't dead, but still.
• Last-Second Word Swap: In The Revenge of Jimmy:

Without pumpkins, you ain't got jack... o-lantern.

• Medium Awareness: In The Revenge of Jimmy, Scary Godmother starts noticing "dramatic music".
• Narrator: Harry in The Revenge of Jimmy, as part of his repaying Scary Godmother when he eat all the snacks (again) in the first movie.
• Pixellation: This happens to Harry in The Revenge of Jimmy when his shirt disappears.
• Sarcasm Mode: When the humor isn't puns, it's sarcasm.

Scary Godmother: Was that supposed to help? Skully: Yes! Do you think it worked? Scary Godmother: Yes.

• Sequel Hook: The key Scary Godmother gives Hannah.
• Shout-Out: Scary Godmother's Wicked Witch's act.
  • A trick-or-treater dress like Mike the TV. Somewhat appropriate since Mainframe Entertainment made the films.
• Slasher Smile: Jimmy in The Revenge of Jimmy.
• That Came Out Wrong: Hilariously played with in The Revenge of Jimmy.

Orson: Do I have to wear it? I'll look like a dork in the crown! Max: Yes, you will be the Prince of Dorkness! [Orson groans] What? Dorkness is not good? What is a dork?

• • Now I get the joke.