Talk:Halloweentown
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Various
I don't see a particular reason to add the paragraph "The New Comer to the old Cast: Todd Michael Schwartzman". He played Pete the Werewolf in the third movie ... but there was a large cast of new characters in the third movie. Pete was not the most prominent or important of these. When I first listed the cast the only obvious choices were to list only the family, or repeat the complete cast. The complete cast is at IMDB. If there's no strong argument for keeping Schwartzman in a section of his own, I expect to delete that on my next visit. Thoughts? Thanks. Glenn6502 02:53, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Quality
I see an anomymous user has marked this article as needing quality improvements. I agree the article has drifted toward a fannish style an d would benefit from some tightening up. I intended to begin doing this. Unfortunately, this evening Wikipedia for the first time is telling me I have to upgrade my browser before I edit. Looks like I'm out of action. Glenn6502 29 J une 2005 01:51 (UTC)
The descriptions of each movie have become more review than summary. I'm preserving the review-text here before I begin improving it. For movie 1, Halloweentown, the section is currently: 207.199.164.89 21:5 0, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
The film begins by immediately placing the a u dience in the middle of a heated argument between Gwen Piper and her oldest daughter Marnie. It's Halloween, and Marnie is livid that she and her younger siblings are prohibited fro m going out for trick-or-treating for reasons Gwen chooses to explain "w he n you are older...there are just some things about Halloween that you don't understand." Before Marnie can protest any further, Gwen's mother Aggie pays her annual visit. The kids are happy to see her, but it is made clear that there is much tensio n be twe en Aggie and Gwen.
We soon learn why. This is Marnie's 13th Halloween, and Aggie is disgusted that Marnie hasn't even started her training as a witch, much less finished it. G wen wants her kids to grow up in the regular, mortal world. Marnie, ho wever, ha s alwways been interested in strange things, and Sophie is showing signs of magical powers. Aggie keeps not-so-subtly cultivating Marnie's interests, and this infuriates Gw en. Things come to a head when Aggie teaches the kids about her home in an under-the-radar fashion, showing it to them in a children's book. Gwen chews Aggie out and sends her home. Before she leaves, Aggie tries to enlist Gwen's help in combatting a "probl em" back in Halloweentown. Gwen refuses, and Aggie leaves.
Neither of them were aware that Marnie saw the entire argument, including the part where Aggie turns fried chicken leftovers into an actual live chicken, and then back into the fried version. She also overhears both Gwen and Aggie refer to Marnie as a witch. Marnie runs upsta ris and tells Dylan, who instantly labels her insane. Then they look out the window and see Aggie walking out to a bus stop they had never seen before...and they also see Ag g ie's luggage rolling along--on its own--several feet behind her. Dylan trie d insi sting the bag "must be one of those radio-controlled models", but Marnie can't hold herself back and follows Aggie out. Reluctantly, Dylan also goes along.
A bus doe s show up, and Marnie and Dylan sneak into the back. Suddenly the bus is suc ked through a wormhole and literally drops in on the actual Halloweentown. Aggie doesn't see Marnie or Dylan get off the bus, and they don't see Sophie has also snuck on to the b us. Ma rnie, now realizing that all three kids are there (with no knowledge of this on Gwen's part), decides to seek Aggie as soon as possible. They are helped by the town mayor, a warlock (but only on his off-hours, he says) named Kalabar. It seems he kn ows Gwen. He calls upon the skeletal cab driver Benny to drive them to Aggie's house. Dylan has a little trouble with this.
Marnie: Dylan, it's rude to stare!
Dylan: Why don't we talk about how illegal it is to drive without eyeballs???
Benny drives th e kids to Aggie's and she is surprised, however happy, to see them. She says s he has to tak e them home right away, and Marnie protests. They are sidetracked when they see the image of a demon in Aggie's cauldron. Aggie is trying to power up a talisman t hat may defeat this demon, but she lacks the proper ingredients so she goes int o town with th e kids.
Aggie encounters Kalabar and tells him about the "problems" in Halloweentown, and Kalabar says he is looking into it and that Aggie should not get invo lved. B efore Aggie can protest, she sees Marnie across the street at a witches b room s hop. Aggie happily agrees to get Marnie a broom, but first they are approached by a local punk Marnie had seen earlier named Luke. He immediately asks Marnie on a dat e, f igur ing she would be impressed by his imagined stature in town, but Marnie qui ckly sh oots him down. Aggie and Marnie take a broom for a test flight, and upon returning, they run right into Gwen, who has discovered the kids missing and trailed them here. She is furious.
Gwen tries to take the kids back immediately, but no one seem s to kno w when the next bus to the Mortal World is. She goes to see if the mayor can help and is shocked to learn that's Kalabar. The kids are equally shocked to learn that apparently Gwen and Kalabar used to date. Kalabar goes to see what he can do, and during t his time, Marnie gets Gwen to admit that Marnie is, in fact, a witch (along with Sophie). They also see Aggie walking somewhere with Luke, and go to see what's goin g on.
They trail Aggie to an old movie theater, and see two disturbing things: first, they see a fe w dozen people in the seats, but they are frozen where they sit. Second, they see Aggie in a duel with the demon they saw in the cauldron earlier. G wen tr ies t o intervene with her own magical powers, but both she and Aggie are frozen. The kids f lee the th eater, and Marnie suddenly realizes she is in charge, and decides to resume the hunt for the ingredients that will make the talisman work correctly.
A fter a ssembling the ingredients (werewolf hair, a vampire's tooth, and ghost sweat), Marnie r uns into Lu ke, who profusely apologizes for leading Aggie to the theater (he didn't know any harm would come to her). Marnie is ready to deck him, but thinks twice an d enlists his help.
At the town square a crowd has gathered as the demon wh o froze Gwen and Aggie m akes a speech about how he will take back the mortal world for the citizens of Halloweentown; at this time, he reveals himself to be Kala bar. He also poi nts out that first he needs to defeat the "one who is half-human", meaning Marnie. He see s her fleeing the square with the talisman, which he clearly wants. When Marnie doesn't follows his orders to stop, he freezes her, just as he did h er mother and gra ndmother. When he goes to the freezing body to grab the talisman, he sees he has been tric ked: he reall y froze Luke, who was merely running interference while Marnie, armed with the talisman, attacks by trying to plant the talisman ins ide the huge pumpk in that is the centerpiece of the town square. She gets partially frozen, but eventually ma nages to break Kalabar's freezing spell. Marnie is quickly joined by Gwen and Aggie and they combine their powers, along with those of Sophie and, believe it ir not, Dylan, and take down Kalabar once and for all.
Gwen apologizes to Marnie for not trusting her more, and agrees to let Aggie train her. To facilitate this, Gwen also asks Aggie to move to the mortal world with the rest of her family.
¥ r 1
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
This is what the review of the second movie was like before I cleaned it up: Glenn6502 22:37, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
The movie begins a few years after the first one. The kids are older, Aggie is still living in the morta l world, and Gwen is a little looser with the whole "magic" thing. One thing that hasn't changed is the tens ion betwe en Aggie and Gwen. Aggie lives at the Piper house, but Gwen has imposed numerous rules designed to keep the magic hidden.
There is a neig hborhood Halloween party at the Piper house, and after Aggie complains about Gwen's rules, Gwen accuses Aggie of try ing to turn her kids, as well as the entire neighborhood, a gainst her. Marnie assures Gwen that isn't what is happening, and Gwen admits she is just frustrated about Marnie leaving soon to live with Aggie in Halloweentown for a year while she completes h er witch training. Gwen begins to sell Marnie on the virtues of living in the mortal world, but they are both interrupted by the arival of a man and his son, who Marnie develops an instant crush on. The man is Alex, the son is Cal, and they ha ve both just moved to the street.
Cal clearly has Marnie's undivided attention, and when he suggests she give him a tour of the house, she readily agrees...and eager to please, Marnie also volunteers to take him into Aggie's room, which is hidden by a sp ell. While i n there, Cal shrinks Aggie's book of spells to pocket size, and stuffs it in his pocket while Marnie isn't looking: we learn early on that Cal is a warlock who is up to no good.
Cal leaves, and soon Aggie notices her magic beginning to weake n. She goes back to Halloweentown with Marnie in tow, and they see they have four hours to see what's going on before the portal closes for a year in mo rtal time (but it could be hundreds of years in Halloweentown time). Upon arriving in Halloweentown, t hey discover the whole town has been placed under a "grey spell", which is designed to make Halloweentown more "mortal", meaning grey and dull.
Aggie c ontacts Dylan in the mortal world, where he is sheepishly trying to score a date to a school dance th at night, and is failing miserably " (he later tells his mom that one girl he asked out "laughed so hard, milk came out her nose"). She tells Dylan and So phie to read her a spell from her book of spells in her room, but they report that it is missing. Af ter they tell Aggie that had not been in the room previously, Marnie admits that she had...and with a guest. Marnie insists Cal couldn't have taken the boo k because "he's really sweet", but also because the book is huge and it would have been hard to mis s Cal walking out with it.
Not long after, Marnie and Aggie learn that Cal DID take the book, and was able to do it because he is a warlock. Marnie also quickly deduces that Cal is Kalabar's son. Cal admits as much, and cheerfully tells them about his plan for reveng e on the mortal world. He takes the time to make Marnie feel really horrible by telling her he didn't need her to show him where the book was...he could've gotten it re gardless, but "I wanted you to show it to me because you felt something for me...and y ou did." Marnie is enraged at both this total betrayal as well as being made a complete fool of.
Marnie is practically on her knees begging Ag gie for forgiveness, but Aggie tells her it's OK since Cal doesn't have the control he thinks he does. There is a copy of the spell book at Aggie's house. As they prepare to get it, they run into Luke, who is, thanks to the grey spell, once again in human form. The three catch a cab driven by Benny, who now looks like an actual live human:
Ben ny: Have we met?
Marnie: Sure, but last time you were just skin and bones...except for the skin!
They arrive at Aggie's house, but the copy of the spell book is missing. This really annoys Marnie, but Aggie says it's no problem (Luke just wants food). A nytime something goes missing in Halloweentown, it winds up at the house of a creature named Gort, whose house looks like several bombs went off in it, and who really smells bad. They go to to Gort's to get the book.
Upon arrival, they se e Gort's place l ooking spotless inside and out. Gort himself smells better and is more concerned about matching all the socks that wound up at his place (as the y are a ll left socks, this is impossible, but he tries anyway). Aggie soon turns grey hersel f and again, it's up to Marnie to save the day.
Back in the mortal world, Sophie and Dylan have been told what is happening in Halloweentown and are getting worried. Aware that Alex's son is really Kalabar's, Sophie works on finding out who Alex really i s. She discovers he is a golem made entirely of frogs. This theory makes surprising sense, as earlier Alex showed up in a frog costume, has an obsession with the color g reen, and even compred Gwen's eyes to "two lily pads, floating in a clear pond". Dyla n waves most of t his off (he never heard Alex's comment about Gwen's eyes), but becomes convinced when he accidentally bumps into Alex and the only noise Alex can make is a frog's "ribbit" ("Same to you!" deadpans Dylan).
Up until this point Dylan tried to brush off Soph ie's wacky theories because Gwen is on her first date in years since her husband died, and he doesn't want to be the one to wreck that. Sophie convinces him that something is terribly wrong, and Dylan agrees to help Sophie investigate a nd also confront Gw en with the facts. Gwen is at the high school Halloween party, so to get there, Sophie tries flying on a broom for the first time. The flight is erratic at best, and Dylan is terrified. They do make it to the school, however, and are only able to convince a very skeptical Gwen when Sophie produces a huge fly out of thin air, which Alex promptly catches and eats with a really long tongue...much lik e a frog would (Dylan: "That's not normal!!!"). Gwen, angered, turns Alex into a pile of frogs.
Back in Hall oweentown, Marnie figures the only way to reverse what is happening is to go back in time and prevent it from happening in the first place. The Ha lloweentown copy of the spell book was apparently bought from Gort 50 years prior...by Kalabar. Cal took the mortal world copy because he has a huge plot at hand (the grey spell was just a distraction) and doesn't want anyone to be able to reverse it.
Be fore Aggie totally succumbs to the grey spell, Marnie gets her to write down the spell for time travel. On first attempt, Marnie only manages to go back a few minutes. On second attempt, she and Luke wind up in the Stone Age. On third attempt, Marnie manages to go back a few years. Halloweentown is no longer grey, but they arrive way after Kalabar bought that book.
Marnie then accidentally discovers how to reverse the grey spell. She changes Luke back to his normal form, and Gort sends them away in his own time line, which he has stashed in a closet. Marnie and Luke get on her broom and fly to the appropriate time, but there are only seconds left until the portal closes. She un-greys Aggie, but the portal closes before they can do anything.
At the part y in the mortal world, we learn Cal's plot. Everyone there is wearing a Halloween mas k. He feels they are mocking his people so he uses a spell to turn the people into whatever they are wearing (for example, a man wearing a cyclops mask actually becomes a cyclops). Gwen is wearing an ugly witch mask and when turned, attacks Dylan and Soph ie. Marnie contacts Sophie, and they combine their powers to force the portal open on command. They succeed, and Marnie storms back into the mortal world and into a direct confrontation with Cal. Cal produces both spell books, and dares Marnie to take the m. She tells him she pities him, but doesn't fear him, and indeed goes and takes the books right out of his hands. Cal is then banished to who-knows-where.
Book in hand, Aggie reverses the spell at the party, and everyone turns back into regular people w earing masks. The whole family goes to Halloweentown and reverses the grey spell on everything and everybody. o
Halloweentown High (2004)
This is the review of the third movie as it was before I clean it up. Glenn6502 01:32, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
This one begins with Marnie being summon ed to a gathering of the Witches' Council where she is to thanked personally for saving Halloweentown (likely referring to an event that takes place between the second and third films, since based on how Sophie has aged, it is clear a few years have passe d since Kalabar's son was defeated). The Council reluctantly agrees to allow Marnie's newest plan to go forward: she has permanently opened the portal between the two worlds...now she wants to join those worlds. She proposes to do a little experiment on this first by inviting 12 high schoolers from Halloweentown to attend hi gh school in the mortal world. Some members of the council feel this will endanger Halloweentown as a whole, never mind just the 12 students. Marnie jokingly says that she would bet "all the Cromwell magic" that this will work if given a chance. This turn s out to be a huge mistake, as the Council instantly accepts the "bet". Marnie has until midnight on Halloween to prove her theory correct, or she, her mom and grandma all will lose their powers.
Needless to say, Aggie in particular is horrifed at this p rospect (Marnie's defense: "I thought it was just a figure of speech!"), but they press ahead with the program anyway. They are also made aware of a possible sabotage attempt by the Knights of the Iron Dagger, a long-absent, yet still terrifying anti-magic cult that wants the mortal world to be closed off from Halloweentown. However, this group has supposedly bee n missing for 1000 years, so Marnie and her family feel the Knights ar en't much of a threat.
The next day, the students arrive ("from Canada"), and Marnie is their "tour guide" at the high school. She sees one boy that she thinks has strayed from the pac k, and it turns out to be a boy named Cody who just moved into the area...and right into Marnie's romantic sights. Aggie is at the high school as a substitute teacher (and backup to Marnie) and can't seem to go more than a few minutes without almost blowi ng her cover: she uses a monster face to scare an obnoxious student into silence during one classroom lecture, and during a science experiment accidentally produces a live parrot:
Aggie: It isn't an exact science, you know...
Marnie: Y es it is! It is a science! That's why they call it 'Science 101'!
Aggie later shows Marnie the secret location where the 12 students can come and "be themselves" by removing their human costumes and looking like the creatures that they really are: insi de a common school locker. They don't like the human suits but Mar nie warns them that humans aren't ready for who they really are yet.
The next day, Marnie is again torn between the increasingly heated relationship with Cody (it is very obvious these two like each other), and keeping an eye on Aggie, who continues to have trouble keeping her magic hidden; at one point Marnie learns that Aggie pro duced a llama in one of her classes, another kid was turned into a lamppost, and yet another kid's ear disapp eared. This increasingly frustrates Marnie and relations between her and Aggie sour.
Aggie and Marnie also notice an ominous sign: a giant iron dagger painted onto a school sidewalk...the Knights are there after all. Meanwhile, Cody asks Marnie on a date, which she quickly agrees to. Marnie also has to work hard to ge t the students to blend in with everyone else at the school, encouraging them to get involved in various activities.
That weekend, Aggie and Marnie take the stuents to what they consider th e most distinguishing feature of the mortal world: the mall. The kids quickly take to this, and Dylan, a hopeless nerd in most cases, seems to be winning over Natalie, one of the students who, unbeknownst to him, is actually a fluffy pink troll. At the ma ll, Marnie runs into Cody (who followed her there following a m isunderstanding over exactly when their date would be), and Aggie seems to have mad e plans with the school's principal, Phil Flanagan.
Marnie and Cody are having a chat at the mall's food co urt when they hear a series of screams. Marnie and Aggie break their respective dates and see the source of the screams: a huge purple lightning cl oud and the 12 students all in thair actual Halloweentown forms. They all rush back home to the Piper residence.
When they get home, Marnie is immediately summoned to a very angry witches council, where they blast her for letting things get so out of hand. Marnie angrily insists she will still be proven correct and adjourns the meeting. That night, relations between Marnie and Aggie get even worse as Aggie chides Marnie for having made any bet.
The next day, things go from bad to even worse for Marnie. First, she discovers that the door to the locker that serves as the entryway for the secret hideout has bee n forced; based on the damage, it looks like someone really wanted to get in there. Marnie goes to tell Aggie, and their relations sink to an ab solute low as Aggie suggests Marnie may be overlooking another cute guy as a suspect for all that is going wrong (as was the case in the second film). After that, Marn ie is confronted by Cody, who demands to not only know why Marnie is always disappearing, but also what's in that locker. Marnie instantly thinks Aggie might be right, that Cody IS the Knight in question. She tells him to stop what he's doing, and he is h urt, saying he just wanted to get to know her better because he likes her ("I didn't kno w that was a crime," he says as he storms out of the room). Just when Marnie couldn't feel any worse, she goes back to the clubhouse only to learn that one of the stu dents has been kidnapped, probably by a Knight.
That night, Marnie and Aggie call a ceas e-fire and agree to focus on the problem at hand: the missing student. At one point, Cody shows up with flowers for Marnie, but never gets to her since Gwen, who like everyone else at the Piper household is extra paranoid, catches Cody before he gets to t he front door and mistakenly freezes him. Eventually, the spell wears off and Marnie takes him home on her broom, forcing herself to tell him she's a witch. He has trouble accepting this until he realizes that he is holding on to a girl while sitting on a broom about a mile over the ground. When Marnie returns home, Gwen has apparently re-embraced her magi c and jumps into a witches glass to hunt down the missing st udent. Meanwhile, Aggie and Marnie plan to use the upcoming Halloween carnival as a trap to discover who is behind all of this.
Shortly before the carnival, Principal Flanagan begins to exhibit suspicious behavior when he expresses outright disgust that the kids "from Canada" are still there. An investigation shows that Flanagan himself is the Knight (Marnie delights in the irony that it is now Aggie who overlooked a man she liked who turned ou t to be the suspect). At the carnival that night, there is indeed an attack, just as Marnie and Aggie hoped, although it quickly gets out of hand. They learn that it is Edgar Dalloway, head of the Witches Council and father of one of the students, that is the other conspirator. Flanagan organizes a "Frankenstein"-type lynch mob to hunt down Aggie and Marnie, and when pinned down by the rabid throng, the students reveal their true selves, and Cody shames the crowd into accepting the students. At this point, Dalloway, who just took away the Cromwell magic, instantl y has it ripped from him when the rest of the council intervenes, having seen the acceptance of the students themselves, and Dalloway is stripped of his title and banished to a witches glass of his own (the student that was kidnapped had been trapped there herself and is now free). The portal is reopened and tons of kids from Halloweentown cross over and enjoy the carnival with their new human friends. Marnie flies off on her broom with Cody, and they finally get a chance to kiss.
Todd Michael Schwartzman: Superstar
Crazy, man. Crazy.
Todd Schwartzman's one of my college friends. He lives, like, four or five doors down from me in my dorm. Me and his roommate, Eric, are good friends.
I say, LET him have his own section. I've actually started considering writing a full-out WikiPedia article for him. But then again, I KNOW him, so I may be biased.
--Commander Cool, part deux 09:10, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Hey, this article got me thinking, so I created an actual article for Todd Michael Schwartzman (as a legitimate article, not because I know him; it lists his acting and singing careers and some info on his personal life). Because he's not exactly a major character, I'm hesitant to put a link here, but if it's all right, I'll add one in. I'm gonna wait a while, though, just in case someone wants to tell me off. However, sometime this evening or tomorrow, I will be placing a link on here. Thanks.
--Commander Cool, part deux 20:45, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
- Not to ignore the discussion above completely, but I placed Todd's name as being mentioned in the cast. It seems a bit out of place, but I wanted it in the article and there are few places it can go.
Commander Cool, part deux 08:43, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
Split Up
I have started the 3 articles for the Halloweentown films that did not have their own articles. Halloweentown (film), Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, and Halloweentown High. I also started an article on the town Halloweentown (Disney). I think Halloweentown should become a disamb. page for the films as well as the location in the The Nightmare Before Christmas film.
User:Jakz34 012:44, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
- The forgoing is evidence of the provenance of the source of the individual pages. These synopses have been replicated in various unsourced Internet articles.
Minor Spelling Correction
I took the liberty of making a MSC. I don't think spelt is a word. --John R. Sellers 01:53, 18 October 2006 (UTC) Well, I LOVE Halloween town! and wish there would be more series!!!