Written by Ray Bradbury Narrated by Ray Bradbury | Directed by Mario Piluso Composer(s) John Debney | |
Based on The Halloween Tree
by Ray Bradbury Voices of Leonard Nimoy
Ray Bradbury
Annie Barker
Alex Greenwald
Edan Gross
Kevin Smets
Andrew Keegan | ||
The Halloween Tree is a Daytime Emmy Award-winning 1993 feature-length animated fantasy-drama television movie produced by Hanna-Barbera based on Ray Bradbury's 1972 fantasy novel of the same name. The film tells the story of a group of trick-or-treating children who learn about the origins and influences of Halloween when one of their friends is spirited away by mysterious forces. The Halloween Tree stars Ray Bradbury as the narrator and Leonard Nimoy as the children's guide, Mr. Moundshroud. Bradbury also wrote the film's Emmy Award winning screenplay.
Contents
The movie is often featured on Cartoon Network during the Halloween season. The film changes the novel's group of night travelers from eight boys to three boys and a girl. A longer limited edition "author's preferred text" of the novel was published in 2005, which included the screenplay.
Plot
The narrator (Ray Bradbury) describes one small town's preparations for Halloween night. Four friends are shown at their respective homes donning costumes excitedly: Jenny as a witch, Ralph as a mummy; Wally as a monster; and Tom as a skeleton. They plan to meet up with their best friend, Pip, who is described as "the greatest boy who ever lived", but Pip doesn't appear. They go to Pip's house and see him being loaded into an ambulance. Pip has written a note to his friends explaining that he is being taken to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Pip says they should celebrate without him. They feel they cannot start Halloween without him, so they follow the ambulance to visit him at the hospital. Tom suggests they take a shortcut through the spooky woods: the dark and eerie ravine. As they approach the ravine, they see what looks like Pip running along the ravine trail. Wally thinks he can see right through Pip, and Tom leads them on, convinced that Pip has designed this elaborate hoax for them. The group races after Pip, who disappears near a towering and darkened mansion.
A man named Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud greets them inside. Moundshroud expresses disappointment that none of the children know what their costumes symbolize. He reveals that he is after the ghost of Pip. Pip seeks and steals a pumpkin with his face carved into it from Moundshroud's Halloween Tree of pumpkins. Tom begs Moundshroud to let them come with him and help bring back Pip. Moundshroud initially refuses, as they know nothing of the true origins of Halloween, but relents: if they can keep up with him before dawn, then they might be able to retrieve the pumpkin and get Pip back, while also going on a scavenger hunt of sorts to learn why they are dressed as they are and where Halloween comes from. He fashions a giant kite from hundreds of posters (with the children serving as the tail) and they begin their pursuit of Pip, who uses the magic of the pumpkin to travel back in time.
First, they travel to Ancient Egypt to learn of the celebration called 'The Feast of the Ghosts', where family members ate dinner with deceased relatives and left food on doorsteps to feed the spirits that had no families, which the children think resembles trick-or-treating. Following Pip's spirit to a tomb in a pyramid, they learn about the significance of mummification. Ralph finds a weak-spirited Pip and begs him to come back, whispering that Pip is the only one never to make fun of his glasses and that Pip promised to teach him to bat left-handed. The group scares away the priests trying to embalm Pip and Pip disappears again.
Next, arriving at Stonehenge during the Dark Ages, they witness rituals carried out by Celtic druids and villagers of the old Celtic world. As Moundshroud teaches them, Pip briefly appears as a black cat. They come across a field of straw being harvested and made into brooms and discover a coven of witches chanting and celebrating the new year, where they learn the origin and myths of witches. Moundshroud helps the children escape a mob of angry anti-witch villagers by making some of the brooms fly, then knocks Pip off his broom. Jenny catches Pip but is afraid of losing him, reminiscing about the time he talked her down from an apple tree. He encourages her and then darts away.
They follow him to France and arrive at the unfinished Notre Dame Cathedral, learning of the cathedral's use of gargoyles and demons to ward off evil spirits. The children use Moundshroud's magic to finish the cathedral, and Wally climbs to reach a Pip-shaped gargoyle that is holding Pip's pumpkin. He begs Pip to be strong, reminding him that he never got to thank Pip for taking the blame for an accident Wally caused. Pip flees again and the group follows.
Finally, in Mexico, they learn about the significance of skeletons during "Día de los Muertos" — the Day of the Dead festival. The children see people selling costumed skeleton dolls and toy funeral processions, children going door to door to get special cookies, sugar candy skulls, and other treats, and families celebrating deceased relatives in cemeteries all night. After giving each of them a sugar skull with their name on it, Moundshroud tells them that the celebration focuses on being "Glad, oh so glad that you are alive!" They look for a very weak Pip in a catacombs. Being brave enough to go through the catacombs as the skeletons come to life, Tom manages to get to Pip. He apologizes to Pip, admitting that he feels guilty for the whole ordeal because he wanted something bad to happen to Pip so Tom could lead the group for once. Pip smiles and forgives him, promising to let him lead anytime he wants. Pip's spirit crumbles into dust and is gone.
Moundshroud, holding Pip's pumpkin, tells the children they did not make it in time and Pip is now his property. The children offer him a year from the end of each of their lives in exchange for Pip's return. He accepts the deal and gives each of them a piece of a sugar skull with Pip's name on it to eat, sealing the bargain. Pip's spirit then revives and he snatches his pumpkin back from Moundshroud and flies out. The group is then immediately transported home. The children go to Pip's house to see if the experience was real, and are delighted to see him back from the hospital. He recounts the journey as a dream he experienced during surgery. At the mansion, Moundshroud blows out the candle of his pumpkin and disappears; the Halloween Tree is assaulted by strong winds, blowing all the pumpkins away — all except for Pip's "pumpkin", which the children rescued by their sacrifice.
Cast
Crew
Awards
The Halloween Tree won the 1994 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program.
Home media releases
The Halloween Tree was released on VHS by Turner Home Entertainment in the 1990s. The first release on September 14, 1994 and its re-release in 1995 (in the 1994 print) featured a Yogi Bear short Bewitched Bear, which is shown before the movie. Both the 1994 and 1995 releases also featured a free copy of the 1972 novel of the same name packaged inside each of the VHS tape copies. The movie was also released on LaserDisc with audio commentary by Ray Bradbury included. Turner re-released the film on VHS in 1996 as part of the Cartoon Network Video series and Warner Home Video issued the reprint of the 1996 reissue in 1999. On August 28, 2012, Warner Archive released the movie on DVD as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection series.