(The opening consists of disturbing photos of James and his team wiped intermittently with moments of past October “The Last Of The Americans” reviews as a soundalike of season two’s “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery” opening theme combined with the 1994 “American Gladiators” plays in the foreground. At the seventeen-second mark, the words “The Last Of The Americans” is shown, then fade out. The word “Monstertober” is shown at the twenty-three-second mark, then fades out. At the twenty-seven mark, the words “Written and Directed by James Faraci” are shown, then fade out as the wipes end on James’ face before they pull back to a better distance.)
TLOTA:
I’m James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and the views that I’m about to express are that of my own and some of yours. In 1969, after “The Twilight Zone” had made a mark in the syndication market, its creator, after years of struggle to get another series to have the same impact, came upon a series, and it became as revered as its predecessor. (Cut to clips from “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery,” Steven Spielberg’s work as a director, and “Tiny Toon Adventures” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA(V.O.):
“Night Gallery,” while like “The Twilight Zone” is an anthology series, differs by the fact that it’s more of the horrors of the Supernatural than the sci-fi tones of “Twilight Zone” it lasted three seasons and had some great writers including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Twilight Zone writer Richard Matheson and Serling himself. The pilot movie was written by Serling, and one of the segments was directed by a little-known Steven Spielberg. It starred Joan Crawford in one of her final roles. Here, his career started with directing jobs that included movies like “The Sugarland Express,” the TV Movie “Duel,” and then a film about a Shark that I think did well because his career rocketed off afterward. By the end of the 1980s, he had become successful. He was sitting down with his kids and didn’t like how the shows were either too commercial or too saccharine. So, when he decided to work on making Children’s entertainment as fun without it being commercial and educational without being overly cloying. Thus, in 1990, Steven Spielberg signed on to executive produce a cartoon show called “Tiny Toon Adventures,” it was fantastic, entertaining, fun, and so memorable that people still talk about it as a treasured show. But after 97 episodes, the series was concluded with a movie and a couple of specials. The movie “How I spent my summer vacation” was already reviewed by my friend Rowdy and a mutual friend known as “Rosen,” I agree with what they said about the movie. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
However, to celebrate this series, his career in both Movies and TV and the movies that inspired Spielberg. The gang from “Acme Acres” decided to go to Spielberg’s past as a thank-you for everything he did for them. (Cut to the parody of the “Night Gallery” intro from Tiny Toon Adventures entitled “Night Ghoulery,” then cut to clips of the special as James does a voiceover.)
TLOTA (V.O.):
“Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery” does satire the idea of the series that gave Spielberg his first big break, and it also does some good satire of the movies and TV shows that inspired Spielberg when he was a kid. So, does he do it justice? Or will it be as cheap as the black velvet dogs playing poker art piece? (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
Let’s go on in and check out the “Night Ghoulery”! (Cut to “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
Okay, our opening starts with no deviation from the original theme song. Still, we do get some horrifying scares and a reference to “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” in the clips for the intro, so there’s that, and then we get a parody of the intro to “Night Gallery,” which I’m sure I get, the parents get. The kiddies? Probably not so much. We then find ourselves in the “Night Ghoulery” as we meet with Babs Bunny doing not only a Rod Serling impersonation but many others, which quickly becomes tiresome from my experience watching it! Why is Babs doing this instead of Buster? We’ll get into that later. We come to the first short in the Anthology “The Tell-Tale Vacuum” (An obvious nod to “The Tell-Tale Heart”) as we see Plucky narration about what he did and Hamton as he vacuumed. He wanted to eliminate the Vacuum and did so in the most disturbing ways. Plucky listens endlessly to the Vacuum and eventually tells Hamton that he did the Vacuum. Then, Plucky is forced to pay, which is the only way Hamton could make Plucky pay! (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
And heaven help Plucky if he were to do something like that again! (Cut to “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
We then cut to our next segment called “Sneezer, The Sneezy Ghost” (An apparent reference to the 1990’s “Casper” movie, which was produced by Spielberg based on the Comic book character). Of course, it’s classic cat and mouse, but this time, it’s with Furball trying to stop a Ghost mouse to satisfy Witch Hazel. It’s safe to say that Furball doesn’t stand a chance even with a proton pack. With Furball now a ghost, the piece ends with Furball being blown up from the inside out after Sneezer’s power sneeze. We then return to the “Ghoulery” as Babs sets up the next story in which she stars in “The Devil Dog,” which is an obvious take on “An American Werewolf in London” as Babs is in a non-alcoholic tavern on the moors as someone claims “The Devil Dog” was out on the moors and the only way anyone that night would be out is if they’re wearing antlers and act like elk, and the “Devil Dog” is... Byron the basset hound. Okay, I didn’t expect that. However, Babs should’ve kept those antlers on her head as Byron turns her into “Kibble!” Our next satirical segment is entitled “Fuel.” (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
What is this parodying? (Cut to “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
We see Calamity Coyote being chased by Little Beeper, who drives a fuel truck and tries to run down Calamity. Of course, since it is Spielberg, it wouldn’t end with Little Beeper and the car going off a cliff and destroying itself. We then come to another segment with Babs, as the impressions are wearing too thin for me! The next segment is a take on “The Devil and Daniel Webster” entitled “The Devil and Daniel Webfoot.” But “The Devil and Daniel Webster” ends with Daniel kicking the Devil out of New Hampshire. “Daniel Webfoot,” as played by Plucky, couldn’t save Montana Max from his comeuppance as he deserves it now, spending an eternity in you know where! After the second appearance of the “Night Ghoulery” parody intro. We return to the “Ghoulery” as Babs and the ever-growing number of impressions wear my nerves down to a point where I will give Elmer Fudd the necessary tools to send her, Buster, and Bugs to kingdom come, but I digress; we now come to the “Abbott and Costello” parody of their horror-comedy library as we see Plucky and Buster play the Bud and Lou characters. And it’s here that I get into why Buster is barely in this. According to stories I’ve heard, Charlie Adler, who voiced the character of Buster, walked out of the production of “Night Ghoulery” because he lost the role of Yakko Warner to Rob Paulson. Buster’s voice is now played by the Crypt Keeper, John Kassir. While his voice sounds like Adler’s in some respects as Buster, and the raspiness makes Buster sound more like Bud Abbott’s, I wish Adler had enough decency and professionalism to perform it in this special. Anyway, we get into the aspect of the Horror Comedy styles of Abbott and Costello as Plucky, in the Lou Costello Role, finds himself coming upon scary creatures and other haunted objects in a manor house of that style. While Buster says he’s not scared of monsters, they’re not the most frightening thing in this place! (Show the two coming upon the “Scariest” creature in the building as it turns out to be Elmyra Duff, and the creatures Plucky saw tell Elmyra that she's good. Cut to James physically as he contacts Rowdy.)
Rowdy:
Hey James, so what’s up? (Cut to James)
TLOTA:
I’m reviewing “Tiny Toon Adventures: “Night Ghoulery”” and I’ve just done the Abbott and Costello satire. The creatures who are scary find out they’ve been outdone in the frightening department by Elmyra. (Cut to Rowdy)
Rowdy:
They would’ve been appalled by what she’s done, but it’s Elmyra; what did you expect? (Cut to James)
TLOTA:
Good point! (Cut to “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
We now come upon Gogo Dodo and the Wackyland Gang as they come upon some of the scariest things they can come upon. Dull adults as they do a spoof ad for “Night Of The Living Dull!” I get it! We then return to Hoo Boy, Babs, and you’re starting to push my buttons. We then cut to the “Frankenstein” parody “Frankenmyra and Dizzigor,” as in this one, Elmyra brings to life Gossamer but with Elmyra’s intelligence. That’s scarier than anything scientific or newsworthy that’s happening now! But at least Elmyra is getting some just deserts for the multiple violations of Animal Cruelty she amassed in her lifetime! We then cut back one last time to the “Ghoulery” as Babs is... (Cut to James physically as he gets out of his chair. Cut to the footage of Babs as she starts the opening for the final entry as James brings in a cart and pulls out a golf club and then looks at the footage and nods, “NO.” then he picks up the shovel and then thinks to himself “After the job is done.” then he picks up a Baseball bat and then thinks to himself “Too much of a chance that she’ll strike back” then he picks up a cricket bat and then mouths “PERFIK!” as James swings the cricket bat. It cuts to a colorful scene with the onomatopoeia “WHAM!”. Cut to “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
We then come upon the “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” satire. Which is one of the most remembered episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” not “Night Gallery.” Does this thing even know what it’s satirizing anymore? In this story, Plucky is the William Shatner espy as they drive home the Shatnerisms in this. Seeing as how Shatner was in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” referencing most of Shatner’s work at that time except for “Rescue 911,” they’d really ramp up the craziness. While it ends the same way “Nightmare” did, this ends the special because if they’d gone back to Babs one last time, I’d be making Hassenpfeffer! (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
And that was “Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery,” It was scary, funny, and entertaining as all get out (Cut to clips of “Night Ghoulery” as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (V.O.):
At the outset, it would’ve been very boring, but the writing, the acting, and the direction are on point for “Tiny Toon Adventures.” Even as the creative team was phasing everyone over to “Animaniacs,” they put their A-Game into this special, and it came together to be not only scary enough for the kids but also entertaining as well. If you’re looking to add this to your Halloween Repertoire of Specials, then it is available on digital on sale at this time of year. And welcome yourself to some family friendly scares. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
And I would like to... (A poster of “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” hangs over James’ head.) No one is going to let me go from this until I review it. Okay, October 31st, I will review it just to get this out of the way. I’m James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans, and that’s my opinion!
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