Saturday Night Live: Halloween

October 29, 2017 6:44 PM - Season 43, Episode 5

Including the David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special, because that's episode #00 and FanFare doesn't have that number.
posted by rhizome (8 comments total)

"The David S. Pumpkins Animated Halloween Special" only got a C+ from the AVClub. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen it yet.) One of my few IRL friends said before it aired that he was really looking forward to it because Tom Hanks had not been doing nearly enough comedy in recent years, especially "stupid, silly stuff", which, I must admit, we all need more of...
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:23 PM on October 29, 2017

It really should have been an animated short, maybe 5 or 6 minutes, and put into a regular show. It had some good ideas but dragged in places and couldn’t decide if it was an actual special for kids or an ironic take on them.

That said, I loved the concept of putting your raisin packages in a Jack-o’-lantern overnight so they turn into good candy.
posted by Gary at 7:48 PM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was reminded of Bill Hader's comment about the prospect of a Stefon movie: "You think you want that, but you really don't." I thought it was OK, but the uninspired animation made this special a lot less special. There was nothing wrong with it that couldn't have been solved by some Rankin & Bass style stop-motion. If they'd let Laika animate it, it would probably be something people would wanna watch every year. As it was, it was a fun little curio with some inspired moments.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:23 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Aww man, I liked it and was definitely glad they did it at all, warts or no. It was dumb and cute and totally an experiment. I also got the feeling the flashback section might have been a special artist, but I don't recognize the credits.

The compilation episode was short and sweet, and the Obama opener was a nice comment.
posted by rhizome at 11:48 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

The highlight of David S. Pumpkins was his introduction- that bboy song and "PART OF IT" always cracks me up, but what sent me into hysterics was the reveal of the Strawberry-mobile. "What? you can't drive a pumpkin, man!" I have not laughed that much in a while. I called the raincoat man reveal, but it was a very silly special that might need to be an annual tradition for me. It's just sooooo 2016-17. So I'm a fan.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 7:54 AM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

I didn't watch the animated special yet but I plan to. The compilation was good, but it seemed like all of the sketches were pretty recent. I know it spanned several years, but there was nothing earlier than 2000 I think. Where was Matt Foley, Irwin Mainway, Stewart Smalley, Coneheads, Wayne's World, Exorcist II, Sandler's last minute costume ideas, etc etc. I'm not saying we need all of those or the newer stuff wasn't good, but there were many classics in some of our youths that were completely skipped which seems to be the case with most of the compilations lately.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:36 AM on October 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

There was definitely a "version 1.0" feel to the whole package, but I turned the TV to NBC at 11:30 on Saturday night without a clue, remembering that the next new episode was in November and was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a repeat. I think one difference is that in the past they would actually have an episode adjacent to Halloween, so it's possible they have enough material to make this a repeated feature, but I'll wait to find out and I'm fine with that. A C+ is not very charitable, AV Club, but you know what they say: movie critics are people who don't like movies.
posted by rhizome at 10:00 AM on October 30, 2017

In An Oral History of ‘David Pumpkins’ they discuss how the sketch had a lot of talking and explanation in the first drafts but they got better results when they focused more on the music and silly dancing. I think the same could be applied to this special. There were a lot of funny bits in it, but the pacing felt wrong.
posted by Gary at 10:44 AM on October 30, 2017 [1 favorite]