X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

10/15/2006: Marc Summers’ Mystery Magical Special!

X-E reviews The Mystery Magical Special, also known as Marc Summers’ Mystery Magical Special, also known as Marc Summers’ Mystery Magical Tour. The 1986 Halloween special hasn’t stood the test of time, but it’s worth noting that it stood longer than anyone could’ve reasonably expected it to. Starring a fresh-faced Marc Summers as the leader of a group of kids (including Jonathan Brandis, don’t you go crying on me) who find themselves trapped in some kind of weird haunted mansion that fancies itself a magician’s stage. The special wasn’t huge enough to have anything more than a mild cult following, and the people who remember it do so for one reason only: Skeleton Dude, the fencing pirate skull creature guy. Review is pretty long for a Countdown entry, and includes video clips.

I don’t know if I should be proud or ashamed at my excitement right now. So tormentedâ€¦

Anyone else remember Marc Summers covering the early days of the WACO standoff for GMA on abc?

Skeleton Dude doesn’t seem scary, judging by the still photo.Â It looks like he’s just wearing a cardboard cutout from the back of a cereal box.

Marc Summers…Marc Summers… jeeziz kryst, that’s the dude from that Food Network show, Unwrapped! Ooh! Marc! Marc! Tell me how they make Cheez Whiz! Marc! Boo-Berry! Reese’s Pieces! Marc!

I wish Nick GAS still showed old Super Sloppy Double Dare and/or Family Double Dare. Harvy was a total badass and DD 2000 sucks so hard it’s not even watchable. I also wish something /really/ spooky would happen. Lol yay fat kid

Okay, I was thoroughly convinced I’d never seen this particular special when I began reading the article… then I saw SKELETON DUDE!! Yeah, it all came back in a rush. But for some reason I remembered Marc being Skeleton Dude… *shrug*

Is this that thing with the elevator? And the skeleton? I should probably read the article. If it is, I never understood why it was Marc Summers.

I also never understood why there was more than one summer-named gameshow host on Nickelodeon. (Marc Summers! Summer Sanders!)

As soon as the page loaded and I saw Marc Summers (who stole my last name, thanks) in a dark environment with two-to-three kids, I immediately remembered the Halloween year I watched this special on Nickelodeon, right after Double Dare, at 8pm, Eastern.

Haven’t read the entry yet, but dammit, I remember watching it. Vividly, for some odd reason.

Just be glad he wasn’t sitting on the floor, trying to straighten the tassles on the rugs. Then they never would have escaped

…and, wow, I still love the “Worst Witch”-stravaganza, even though I didn’t actually see “The Worst Witch” until 2004.

That sucks that Jonathan Brandis killed himself. Oh, well…. I guess it’s better to burn out than fade away.

I remembered this one immediately, although I only ever saw the first half, for some reason. I always wanted to know if Marc and those kids ever got out of that house. Now I do. Good to see that head-on-a-platter and that creepy painting again too, images that have been somewhere in the back of my mind for 15 years.

I remember this special all too well. Magic intrigued me as a kid, and yet this bored me to death. Still, it had Marc Summers.

I should mention it bored the piss outta me DESPITE the fact that Lance Burton was performing. When Lance can’t even save a show, you know it’s bad. Still, I’d pay top dollar to see this one again. Ah, memories.

By the way, that rabbit skittles commercial has stuck with me all week. When did skittles change their image to stupendous? I share.
http://skittles.com/advertising/index.jsp

I must have worn out my copy of this on Beta, watching it not only on halloween, but also on days when ghostbusters and those pieced together loony toons specials wouldn’t do

Just be glad he wasn’t sitting on the floor, trying to straighten the tassles on the rugs. Then they never would have escaped

Ghosted by K-

hah! i remember that. i think he was on oprah when they mentioned the whole rug tassle thing. he has ocd i believe. aw, well now i feel bad for poking fun at this guy…. oh well :-/

The parts that I really remembered until this article was the skeleton in the phone booth, Marc & Lance revealing that everything was a trick, and of course, Skeleton Dude.

And just in the last thread I talked about how much I missed all the Nickelodeon specials! And I just remembered another block of holiday toons long extinct from that: The Thanksgiving Episodes, as well as their Non-Stop Nicktoons Weekend for all 4 days of Thanksgiving Weekend (although they don’t call this now because all Nickelodeon ever show now ARE all nicktoons, and that godawful Drake & Josh show)

Niki, he was on Oprah, but also the Today Show. I guess he was plugging the fact he was “coming out of the closet”

I just remember, aside from the rug tassles, was how disgusted he felt when Robin, or whoever else, would throw gunk on him at the end of Double Dare. He’d run backstage and basically all but bleach his skin after the fact.

Tell me I’m not the only person who randomnly gets the What Would You Do? theme song stuck in their head?

No, Colonel, the key to any good Marc Summers outfit is the hair. You have to get the hair JUST RIGHT or it doesn’t work. That, and constantly ask people if they want to “sit in the pie pod”.

Not just anyone got to sit in the pie pod, sir. Just the winner. Hence the time you waste appearing on and sitting through the show.

And sure, Marc Summers does have trademark hair, but it’s nothing compared to something like Burt Reynolds. I don’t care if was a wig or not.

Man, I loved that special. I never realized until I finished reading it how much that damn thing shaped my views on the world. Like that lady dancing with the mop basically became my view on romance, dark, romantic and magical.

Wow…I’ll bet 25 bucks that was filmed in the Magic Castle in LA- I’ve been there a zillion times (great place when you’re a kid) and I recognize practically all the setpieces.
Fittingly, the scariest part of the place is the totally disused basement that looks like it’s missing the “do not tresspass” sign.
Love the site.

Marc Summers was cool to me back then, and because of Unwrapped, he’s cool to me still. It’s a shame he struggles with OCD, though. I can’t imagine how he got through Double Dare with it… what with the messy… everything.

jrh: I saw the Saget return. I thought what I think every time I see him on television — Danny Tanner’s moving on up. The set of 1 vs. 100, with the people stacked on top of each other, looks a lot like that conference chamber/arena with the pods from the latest Star Wars movies. It’s interesting.

ha, “Mystery Magical Special director Steven Santos is rumored to have offered whichever kid gave him the best reaction a cookie shaped like Big Bird”

- genius, pure genius! easily best article of the countdown so far, old skool x-e “flava”..

is there some reason why the article makes no mention of jonathan brandis’ suicide?

Whee, I’m finally up to date with the Halloween Countdown. Y’see, rather than get antsy about the whole Megaparty dealio, I’d waited until it was all over before reading it. And then realised I had the countdown to get through as well. Which amounted to a lot of backed-up articles, and a shortage of time to kill. But I read it, and I loved it, and I thank Matt most sincerely for once again getting me excited about a holiday that’s purely commercial over here in EnZed. All but ignored, sadly. Though the original Nightmare on Elm Street screened here a couple weeks ago as the Sunday Horror offering, and that sure got me in the mood. Mmm, Freddy’s crispy ‘and’ dreamy! So now I can check back all regularly-like and keep up to date. Being one of the cool kids is so..cool. I guess.

Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve so much as thought of that special that I forgot Jonathan Brandis was in it.

I had such a crush on Jonathan Brandis when I was in middle school. I totally remember this special. It did not seem so cheesy then.

Why don’t they still play this? Halloween wasn’t complete without watching Marc Summers find his way outta that place!

I wonder if Jonathan Brandis knew that this was a stepping stone to a career with the greatest actors of all times like Chuck Norris in Sidekick or The Never Ending Story 2 with…..actually I don’t know who was in that besides Bandis.

Wow….Marc Summers. My 4th grade teacher LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MARC SUMMERS and for that reason, he was and still IS my favorite teacher of all time. “What Would You Do” was an obsession with my brother and I- we HAD to watch it every single day, no matter how angry we would get at the contestants.

I too had a huge crush on Jonathan Brandis. Started with “IT” and lasted even through “Ladybugs”. Sad stuff.

Holy shit that dude looks absolutely whipped at the end of the fencing scene. “Gasp… only a trick… gasp.”

Great review, I needed that after a long, humorless weekend. At least the Saints won.

Has anyone else watch “Halloweenie”, the Halloween episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, lately? It’s on the Season 2 box set…which I got for $5 from the used DVD section at work. Wordd!!

I remember watching this somethime in the late 80’s, but I don’t think it was when it originally aired. That skull guy scared the crap out of me. In fact, the whole show did. Now the only thing about it that scares me are the low production values.

I think I actually saw Lance Burton’s show when I went to Hot Springs, Arkansas as a kid. I remember my grandpa told me they released live snakes into the audience every night.

Sorry for the double post. It wasn’t Lance Burton I saw, it was a guy named Maxwell Blade.

Glad I’m not the only one that remembers when Marc was going public with his OCD (Yeah, you know me!), and appearing on different talk/news magazine shows to revel in the irony of hosting DD. What show was it where as he would stop to straighten the rug and they would play the song “Lunatic Fringe” to underscore his problem? It was both funny as hell and cruel as hell.

Iknow this is a little late, but I was reading your great pumpkin article and it just so happened I rented this cartoon yesterday for my little girl, you know getting her into the spirit and stuff. It was kind of funny, she looked over at me (sheâ€™s 5) and sheâ€™s like. “daddy, did you used to watch this cartoons when you were a little boy.” I said yes. the sheâ€™s like ” Daddy this cartoon is very old.”

In the end though she did enjoy the Great pumpkin cartoon so I guess thatâ€™s the important thing… of course unless she was just trying to make me feel better.

Poor Jonathan Brandis. Still can’t get any love. Maybe that’s why he killed himself. Very sad.

I also totally remember this special. I think Lance still does that skeleton dude fencing trick. He did it a few times in other magic specials definitely.

I also remember all of the Marc Summers OCD publicity. I was amazed that he would do a show like DD and WWYD with it. I watched those religiously as a kid and never saw him cringe. Kind of reminds me how Oprah also had on that New Kids on the Block guy who had stage fright or something. Plus, there’s Howie Mandel’s germaphobia.

I also was on the Jonathan Brandis crush wagon. My room was adorned with at least 13 posters pried from the colorful pages of Tiger Beat and similar magazines - I also had a small photo album where I kept all of the tiny pictures of him I cut out from those magazines.
Nerd.

Rudy Coby did a similar switchout on his FOX special. But he got “decapitated” by a Killer Klown before he whipped off the Klown mask. I liked the chick playing his assistant.

I thought his Mom said his acne medication made him do it. Pimples can be killer, man.

Dude. I totally forgot about this special. I watched it when I was like 5 (and I wasn’t around in ‘86 so maybe it was a rerun) and the only parts I remember are the fact that it had Marc in it and that whole “Help yourself” bit at the end. Thanks for the little blast from the past!

I have fond memories of this special. My abiding memory of it is the Marc Summers/Skeleton switch.

I grew up watching that special every Halloween, until one year they stopped playing it. It took months to get over it. Thanks for bringing back old memories.

I used to watch some show on Nickelodeon, where at the beginning of each show, all the early teen kids were sitting around a fire. They would proceed to tell ghost/spooky stories, and then the show would start. At the end they always came back to the campfire for some cheesy story-related gag. I wish I could remember the name of that show. Goosebumps maybe… no I think those are books (which are also awesome) anyone have ANY CLUE what I am talking about. Hey Dude rocked.

Sorry for double post but… I just say Charlie brown Great Pumpkin Colorforms at Toys ‘R’ Us.

Old E …. are you serious? You can’t remember Are You Afraid of the Dark? No offense but, are you like 16 or something? Cuz it ran like 4eva.

AHAHAHAHAHA. I remember reruns of this!
Marc Summers, your life is one of cruel irony.

Tales From the Darkside is on Scifi and it is staring the kid from Better Off Dead. I think he wants his two dollars.

Ah, yes, I also have fond memories of this on Nickelodeon. I’ve never been a huge magic freak, but it WAS cool to see them do all those tricks, and the whole “guy and kids in haunted house” thing was silly, cheesy good fun. I wish Nick would release more of this wonderful old stuff on DVD, if only as extras on a set.

Oh my fuckign gawd, that skittles comemrcial is the greatest thing that I have ever seen. I had to poke out my eyes, because there can be so sight more beautiful than it.

I loved Marc Summers as a kid. Didn’t he have some clean-freak disorder? Anyways, did ya grab this ‘un from my tape, Matt? I was waiting to see if you’d review this classic. Excellent article!

I figured this would be the best place to ask this question. Why was there never The Last Starfighter 2? I researched this before asking such a question only to be horrified to find insead of a well deserved sequal they made an off broadway musical. No shit. I kind of feel like an elephant who had his leg cut off only to find out they made it into a waste basket. Matt or anyone else, could you help me out?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter_%28the_musical%29

Yes!! I’ve been hoping you’d review this one for the longest time! Loved it as a kid…I remember the whole thing, from the phone gag to all the it’s a tricks. I definitely remember being somewhat spooked by it, but then I was a total wuss that could barely handle “Zeke the Plumber” or Goosebumps. Or that episode of Hey Dude where the windows were locked from the inside? Chilling.

I definitely remember being somewhat spooked by it, but then I was a total wuss that could barely handle “Zeke the Plumber” or Goosebumps.

Holy crap, I think I’d be scared by Zeke the Plumber even now. That dude was genuinely disturbing.

I think I remember seeing commercials for that, but I don’t think my parents let me watch it. My parents were weird…I could watch anything except for slasher movies or anything that my dad found stupid (which was basically everything on TV.) Didn’t Nickelodeon have some kind of Halloween contest at one point (around the same time, but more likely in the early 90s) where you had to call in or they called you or…something?

Ariel - Would that be “Snick or Treat”? I forgot how it worked, but I definately remember phones being involved.

It was Nick or Treat…IIRC you signed up, and to win you had to answer your phone by saying “Nick or Treat” when they called for you. Some kids (not me) may have been known to answer their phone in such a manner throughout the entire month of October, despite not having actually signed up for the sweepstakes. Again, it wasn’t me, so I wouldn’t know. Really.

If Bradis had killed himself in 1993 instead of 2003, I think it would’ve been common knowledge.

In defense of jp, if you’d known the name Jonathon Brandis, and checked the news, be it online or television, you’d have caught the fact of the tragedy, jrh.

Just when I thought this countdown couldn’t get any more AWESOME…. bam, theres a blast from the past….I think I have this special on VHS somewhere, brought back memories….thanks Matt, you rock my Halloween socks…

Whoa! I remember this from my childhood. I hadn’t thought about this in AGES, but I used to watch it on Nick every Halloween before Trick-Or-Treating. Thanks, Matt!

Mystie… I remember the show, just not the name. I am 26 years old, and have not watched a Nick show in about 10 years. I remember another show I used to watch where the kids would transform into animals to escape all kinds of wierd situations. I think some top-secret agency was after them, to run torture tests on them. I bet you Jesus watches Salute Your Shorts.

Are you talking about Animorphs? I dunno if they ever got a show, but I remember the book series.

Never read ‘em, but that year I worked in an elementary school library certainly had me shelving more of them than I can count.

I just remember the original Power Rangers. I was definitely too old to be watching it when it came out, but the Green Ranger saga was too awesome to ignore. Plus I wanted to do very naughty things to the Pink Ranger. Kimberly, if you are out there, my wife and I would like to take you out for uh… dinner.

Yes, Animorphs got its own show on Nick. And like all tv shows based on kids’ books, lots of stuff got changed/omitted and the series as a whole wasn’t that good. (They had Ax though, which was awesome)

And I was in Target again today, and guess what I saw? THE 2006 JONES SODA HOLDAY PACK!! There’s 2 of em again this year and they’re both at target!

The regular one contains Turkey & Gravy again, but also adds Sweet Potatoes, Peach Cobbler, Pea, and Antacid?! (complete with sippy cup)

The 2nd one though seems more normal, as it’s known as the “Dessert Pack” and does NOT have Turkey & Gravy. It has: Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie, and 2 other pies I can’t remember right now.

Oh! Amy Jo Johnson and a truckload of pies! All to the tune of anything by The Ventures.

I was WAY too old for Power Rangers, so it became my dirty little secret- my brother and I would watch it every day after school (this is HIGH SCHOOL, mind you) and we made tapes of it as well….thank God he was addicted too, so I didn’t have to go through it alone. We tried using our tapes to convert our friends, but it didn’t work.

Then they kept CHANGING the damn show- I guess they didn’t expect people as old as us to be watching- people with longer attention spans. By the time we had 6 completely different main characters than the ones we started with, I gave up.

Last I heard the show was “Super Ninja Time Force Power Rangers in Space” or something like that…

I grew up on Voltron, and to this day, he is still the icon I harken to when I have to talk about Gestalt Mechs, or teamwork in general.

But you know what, I’ll still watch Powerrangers if I catch it. They are the modern bearers of the Gestalt Spirit, and I have no qualms about watching it with glee.

My only problem is when they have an episode where they just use their weapons. Sure, they’ll combine ‘em, but it just isn’t the same.

You kids might like to know that They Might Be Giants released a special Halloween-themed Podcast. I haven’t finished listening to it yet, but I’ve heard enough that I should warn you it’s not all spooky stuff, but it’s so hard to find new Halloween specials these days that I’m going to recommend it anyway. Here’s the message the band sent to tose of us on the e-mail list, complete with links:

CAST YOUR POD TO THE WIND!
PODCAST 8A THE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!
Even as they hunker down to finish two new albums, TMBG returns to podcasting with an extra-ghostly episode. Includes the brand new “Haunted Floating Eye” among other scary rarities. Get the podcast via your iTunes application,
or click here: phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=105708952
or here: http://www.tmbg.com/_media/_pod/podcast.xml (for those of you with RSS-capable browsers)

This is upsetting. I don’t think I ever saw that special and I watched a lot of Nickelodeon and Halloween specials. How did I miss this?

I can remember the song to What Would You Do? but that’s all I can remember about it. Weird.

The confusing aspect of MMPR is Saban’s fault, due to the fact that the Japanese Super Sentai shows essentially “reboot” with each new iteration. But Saban tried to hang on to most of the cast for longer than needed, and finally brgan to follow Toei’s example of casting new crews. Currently, “Mystic Force” is the english version of the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings-inspired “MagiRangers.” I keep track of the Sentai shows to see how Saban mutates it.

Does anyone remember the name of the MMPR spin-off involving people booting themselves into a computer realm and receiving some kind of super-powers (and a vehicle of course). It was something troopers. Virtual Troopers or something? Anyways I always hated the show because they ripped off of Power Rangers. But now, I would definitely take an influx of those types of shows (which ALL ripped off Voltron) than have 60 different animated CARD BATTLE tv shows. I mean how am I suppsed to sit through a half hour show about a card game. Let alone 60 different variations of it.

I remember the one with the three who had Beetle powers. Never cared for ‘em much. But I watched ‘em.

I’ve been watching PR footage and I just remembered the whole series on the Origin of the Green Ranger. Just priceless. Mega Dragonzord. Take that Red Ranger.

Tommy was around forever. I also remembered how the White Tiger zord responded to his movements instead of controls. Just like Omnigears!!!! Except those used thoughts, but they’re still two concepts on the same continuum.

Virtual Reality Troopers (better known as VR Troopers) and Big, Bad Beetle Bors had no official relationship to the Power Rangers, but they were both clearly rip-offs of the show, and they were terrible. In defense of VR Troopers, though, they failed in their first mission, much in the same way that the show failed to capture an audience. Probably because it was terrible.

haha oh man, Marc Summers. I loved him on Double Dear and What Would You Do as a kid. I have his book. Turns out he has obsessive compulsive disorder.
THE MORE YOU KNOW!

Oh, whoops, I didn’t catch my typo. The show was Big, Bad Beetle Borgs.
There’s a G.

Rok. I remember watching this in the afternoon after I got home from daycare. The magician made me scream and hide behind the couch. Ruined any hope of ever enjoying a vegas magic show for the rest of my life.

This special was actually pretty daring for a Nickelodeon ouvre, skeletons and all (well, maybe not as daring as “Are You Afradi of the Dark?). The whole special took pace at “The Magic Castle” in Hollywood, and the strange happenings are all pretty much what happens if you ever visit. You MUST have an invitation from a member magician, however, to have dinner (pretty pricey), but the magic shows (multiple) and the ambiance are all worth it - plus there’s a hotel. Jonathan Brandis’s next few offerings were more memorable, NES II and Stepfather II, but his performance was all fairly authentic as he had a major interest in magic which continued throughout his life.

By the way, the hard-core Brandis fans at jonathanbrandis.org would be willing to do just about anything to get hold of a copy of this special - which has been gone from the radar for a VERY long time - and featured him in a pretty large role.

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