I generally don't like to focus on one company back to back, like I'm doing with Disney these past two weeks, but since it's October now, I'm going to forgo my own rules and discuss one of the first things that came to mind when I created this blog, and that is Disneys Halloween Treat.
The special is a 1982 Halloween themed episode of the television anthology series "Walt Disney" which originally aired on October 30th. It's a fairly simple thing, chock full of Disney's "spookiest" bits from old cartoons and movies, including Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia and Ichabod Crane & the Headless Horseman, which, if you can find to watch, I highly suggest you do. It's a wonderful lost piece of classic animation.
There was also, in 1981, another special titled A Disney Halloween, a 90 minute Halloween special which originally aired as part of the Wonderful World of Disney on October 24th. For the sake of nostalgia, I'll be covering both of these, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll be referring to the whole thing as Halloween Treat, simply because that's the name I think most people are familiar with, at least I know I am.
I never had Disney channel when I was young, and I only acquired Disney channel when my mother remarried in the late 90s, and we moved into my stepfathers house. He had two children, and thusly, the Disney channel. For a while, before I had my own bedroom there, I simply slept in the living room and often times, because I was an enormous insomniac, I wouldn't sleep much at all, so instead I flipped around and channel surfed. I can recall watching hours of Vault Disney (another thing that will likely end up on this blog at some point), which consisted primarily, at that time, of classic episodes of Zorro. I was a weird kid, okay. But the one thing I recall with more clarity in regards to the channel than anything else was Disneys Halloween Treat.
The most iconic part of the whole damn thing, if we're being totally honest, is simply the opening, which I've linked right here for your viewing pleasure. The song is catchy as sin and has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. It's filled with classic Disney imagery, old cartoon clips, shots from the Haunted Mansion ride and even the infamous Spooky Scary Skeletons we've all come to know and love. Unfortunately, neither special has been released on demand, on streaming, on home video (except a very brief VHS run) or anything. You can find them on youtube, or at least Halloween Treat, which I'll link at the bottom of this post, but it isn't the same as actually owning a copy.
But Disneys Halloween Treat doesn't stand out in my memory because it's a Disney thing, because even now I'm still not really a Disney fan, but moreso because it's just another example of a tradition that's been stolen from me by time, much like the holiday itself that the special is based on. Halloween is a victim of childhood, and the death thereof. Oh sure, you can cling to scraps of adolescence, hold dear to the toys you once had, the memories that stayed with you, but that actual feeling? The feeling of being a kid waking up on Christmas or going out on Halloween, getting a costume together for the event and decorating the house? That never comes back. Not in the same way, anyway. Not with the same awe and joy that you once felt. That's sadly gone forever. When I was a little girl, I had a shoebox on a shelf in my closet, and inside was all the candy I'd gotten at Halloween, and I would pick at it throughout the year. I loved making costumes, I love trick or treating, I loved the overall vibe of the holiday, and especially the TV specials.
Disneys Halloween Treat was one of the big ones.
And while, thanks to Youtubes archiving of supposedly lost or obscure media, you can revisit the special in all its low quality glory, it just...isn't the same. Something's been lost by not having to scramble for the TV the night it was on, making sure you didn't miss it, tuning in that one night and one night only just to see it. Sure it's more convenient these days, having it at my beckon call, but it isn't the same. Halloween isn't the same. Nothing's the same. I recognize that comes with the territory of growing up, I just...I wish it didn't. Media, just like life itself, is lost to time. The difference is, we can still a lot of times access that media, even in its most bare bones form like a low quality Youtube rip, but we can never again access the feelings of childhood adoration we once had for holidays, especially a holiday like Halloween. Maybe if you have children, and you vicariously enjoy the holiday, that's one thing, but for someone like me, who has no children sadly, and who is far too old now to celebrate the same way I did as a child, it just makes the whole holiday cold and empty.
But at least I know, that even if I can no longer celebrate the way I once did, I can still watch Disneys Halloween Treat, and for a brief 47 minutes or so, be taken back to that feeling. Nestled cozy within the confines of my adolescence, the few times I felt safe as a child anyway, and sing along to the theme song. It's not the same Halloween, but it's a kind of Halloween, and I guess life is all about compromises, so I'll take what I can get, even if it doesn't bring me the same sort of happiness it once did.
Watch Disneys Halloween Treat right here!
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