(1981)
Dir - Bruce Murray
Overall: MEH
Future Alf creator Paul Fusco's The Crown of Bogg aired on Showtime in 1981 and it is a rather bizarre, Muppets-styled special that comes off like a poor man's Fraggle Rock. Both director Bruce Murray and co-writer Tony Basilicato have very few cinematic credits on their resumes and though Fusco would obviously go on to an adequate level of success with his wise-cracking alien puppet sitcom, everyone's creative powers combined here do not produce the most clever of stories. It only has one lousy song, (which is appreciated), but bad jokes, silly/quasi-racist accents, utterly flat direction, and primitive production values make it is no surprise that most people alive at the time have failed to remember that this ever existed in the first place. Yet considering that its sole purpose was likely nothing more than to amuse three-year olds, it gets an innocent pass.
(1985)
Dir - Phil Roman
Overall: GREAT
The first of three Garfield holiday specials that aired during the 1980s and one of two that came out before the Saturday morning Garfield and Friends series was launched, Garfield's Halloween Adventure is a typically excellent one. The usual personnel is on board, including director Phil Roman, creator/writer Jim Davis, music composers Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette, singer Lou Rawls, and voice actors Lorenzo Music, Gregg Berger, and Thom Huge. Since much of the Garfield persona revolves around him loving to eat, the story is rather a no-brainer as it sends he and Odie off on a trick or treating adventure to snag as much candy as possible, only they also run into a mysterious old man in a creepy island house, (voiced by veteran character/television actor C. Lindsay Workman), and some pirate ghosts that come back for their buried treasure. There is a sea shanty song, a "dressing up in costumes is fun" song, Binky the Clown is obnoxious, Garfield breaks the forth-wall, and it is all very awesome as well as frequently hilarious.
(1986)
Dir - Oz Scott
Overall: MEH
Shot as a pilot that garnished a full-length sequel the following year, Mr. Boogedy aired as The Disney Sunday Movie, oddly enough in April though its reputation as a standard, Halloween viewing experience settled in after the fact. A purposeful cliche fest that is quite high on the cutesy, family-friendly charm, it is about a hundred times tamer than even the tamest Goosebumps episode since Disney was hardly in the market for making kids shit their pants in uncontrollable terror. This has early performances from both Kristy Swanson and David Faustino, with John Astin showing up as a comically ghoulish realtor and character actor Richard Masur playing the clueless, novelty gag salesman father. Some of the joke are not too terribly insulting and the title character looks nasty enough, but this is pretty dopey stuff. It is in and out in about forty-five minutes and has the good will to not include any horrendous musical numbers at least, so if you are simply burnt out on the awesome that is Disney's Halloween Treat and its several variations, then sure, go ahead and put this on as well.
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