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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.

Posted by Matt on 10/15/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 96 comments

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Old E @ 10/17/2006 1:54 PM

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.

Now you’ve got me thinking about PowerRangers. Thanks a lot :D

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/17/2006 3:14 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Old E @ 10/17/2006 3:32 PM

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) :o

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 10/17/2006 3:33 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash a la mode @ 10/17/2006 4:43 PM

AHHHH SKELETON DUDE!!! DAMNIT I JUST GOT DONE WITH THERAPY!

Chestnuts roasted by AHHH! @ 10/17/2006 7:52 PM

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.

I hated the Pink Ranger- she pissed me off to no end. Sorry, Old E.

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…

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 10/17/2006 8:27 PM

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.

I could watch them forming Voltron on a loop 24 hours a day.

“And I’ll form the Head!!”

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/17/2006 8:36 PM

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)

Chestnuts roasted by Tougi @ 10/17/2006 8:43 PM

Oh God Yes!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZv5Z2Iz_s

“Erde Kaiser Fury!!!!” Sorry, couldn’t help it. :D

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/17/2006 8:44 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Devi @ 10/17/2006 10:56 PM

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.

(My favorite Ranger is the late Thuy Trang, aka Trini the Yellow Ranger.)

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 10/18/2006 12:20 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Old E @ 10/18/2006 4:59 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/18/2006 6:13 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Tougi @ 10/18/2006 8:38 PM

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!

Chestnuts roasted by Dani @ 10/19/2006 1:33 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by Tougi @ 10/20/2006 11:54 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Veronica @ 10/20/2006 5:19 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Ray G. @ 10/26/2006 4:08 PM

Jonathan Brandis died in 2003 accoding to IMDB R.I.P

Chestnuts roasted by Mike @ 12/03/2006 1:48 AM

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 11:04 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.