History Film / EscapeToWitchMountain

** In the beginning of the film, Tia offers her pen to Truck because his is out of ink. [[BlatantLies He accuses her of having stolen it from him days ago, although she and Tony have just arrived to the orphanage]], and refuses to give it back. She picks it back from his pocket when the principal shows up.

** In the beginning of the film, Tia offers her pen to Truck because his is out of ink. [[BlatantLies He accuses her of having stolen it from him days ago, although she and Tony have just arrived]], and refuses to give it back. She picks it back from his pocket when the owner of the orphanage enters.
** Lucas Deranian. He would have been killed by the tow truch if it wasn't for the children's warning, but turns them to Mr. Bolt just to get in his good graces.

* ''UngratefulBastard'': Lucas Deranian. He would have been killed by the tow truch if it wasn't for the children's warning, but turns them to Mr. Bolt just to get in his good graces.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The credits show the silhouettes of the children running while being chased by white outlines of barking dogs. Incidentally, the footage of the dogs is a RecycledAnimation from ''{{WesternAnimation/Bambi}}''. This ''is'' the era of Disney history that gave us ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', after all.

'''''Escape to Witch Mountain''''' is a 1975 [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures Disney]] film starring Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Creator/RayMilland, and Creator/DonaldPleasence, directed by John Hough. It is the FilmOfTheBook of the same name, about siblings Tony and Tia Malone (Eisenmann and Richards). We are introduced to them as they are admitted to an orphanage/school. They have no memory of where they came from before they were placed in foster care, and try to conceal the fact that they have PsychicPowers. When Tia sees an accident before it happens, it draws the attention of a wealthy businessman, Aristotle Bolt (Milland), who wants to exploit the siblings' powers. They try to remember where they came from, guided by Tia's "star case", a leather box on a strap with a curious double star design on the lid, which she has had as long as she can remember, and which contains a hidden map to a place called Witch Mountain.

In 1978, it was followed by ''Film/ReturnFromWitchMountain'', with Richards and Eisenmann reprising their roles. Two remakes were made, a first one in 1995 under the same title that starred Creator/RobertVaughn and Creator/BradDourif and a second in 2009 called ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain'' and starring Wrestling/DwayneJohnson.

In 1978 a sequel, ''Film/ReturnFromWitchMountain'', was released, with Richards and Eisenmann reprising their roles. Two remakes were made, a first one in 1995 under the same title that starred Creator/RobertVaughn and Creator/BradDourif and a second in 2009 called ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain'' and starring Wrestling/DwayneJohnson.

In 1978 a sequel, '''''Return from Witch Mountain''''', was released, with Richards and Eisenmann reprising their roles. Tony and Tia take a vacation with their uncle, but they get separated from each other at the Rose Bowl stadium. Tony winds up using his psychic powers, and this is witnessed by evil scientist Dr. Victor Gannon (Creator/ChristopherLee) and his assistant [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Letha Wedge]] (Creator/BetteDavis). Dr. Gannon kidnaps Tony and turns him into a hypnotized servant doing Gannon's evil bidding. Tia has to use her psychic powers to find and rescue her brother. Jack Soo of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' stars as Mr. Yamamoto the truant officer.

Two remakes were made, a first one in 1995 under the same title that starred Creator/RobertVaughn and Creator/BradDourif and a second in 2009 called ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain'' and starring Wrestling/DwayneJohnson.

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!!Tropes found in ''Return from Witch Mountain'':

* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Well, there's no telling what a "plutonium furnace" is. Beyond that, the operators are afraid that stopping the cooling pumps will start the "[[GoingCritical chain reaction]]," when a chain reaction is what's supposed to happen. The danger with a loss of coolant is overheating, causing a steam explosion.
* BondVillainStupidity: This is a kid's movie from Disney, so Dr. Gannon can't kill Tia or anything. He instead puts her in a state of "comatose neutralization", from which she is liberated by the Earthquake Gang. Possibly justified if Gannon wanted to make Tia his slave too, although there's no hint of this in the film.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Not the most carefully plotted film. Or maybe UsefulNotes/LosAngeles is a really small town.
** Who just happens to be outside the entrance to the museum? Mr. Yokomoto, the truant officer who was chasing after the kids of the Earthquake Gang earlier in the movie.
** Whose cab does Alfred the goat leap into? The one belonging to the cabbie who picked up Tony and Tia at the Rose Bowl at the start of the movie.
** The abandoned house where the Earthquake Gang hides out is, conveniently, within walking distance of Gannon's mansion.
** When Tia and the Earthquake Gang kids are desperately trying to get to the plutonium plant, who do they find by the side of the road? Mr. Yokomoto ''again'', as he's just waiting around next to his smashed van.
* DeadpanSnarker: Letha.
* DrivingADesk: Very noticeable in multiple scenes, and maybe even cheaper looking due to the fact that by 1978 Hollywood cameras could capture scenes inside a moving car, making this trope unnecessary.
* FinishHim: "Finish her!", cries Dr. Gannon, but Tony resists squashing Tia with a 125-ton crane, and Gannon's mind-control device shorts out.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: Averted with Letha Wedge. She's the only female villain and she only reluctantly goes along with Dr. Gannon's schemes. However, her objections are [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]] rather than moral. In the end, she's punished along with the male villains.
* HollywoodDensity: Averted. Tony uses telekinesis to send the gold bars sailing out to Sickle--who is knocked backward by the force of the first one hitting his chest. The second one knocks him to the ground. Thereafter Sickle retreats under the car for cover, as the stream of gold bars that Tony is sending out of the museum batter the car into a shapeless wreck.
* ImpairmentShot: From Tia as she is chloroformed.
* InstantCooldown: Played completely straight. The reactor is in the red zone (and the scientists have been saying for a while that it's almost at the point of no return); Tia mentally tries to fix the coolant system in a struggle with Tony (the needle wavers back and forth within the last quarter of the red zone), then Tia wins and the needle retreats into orange, yellow...(about 3 seconds of screen time) and the camera cuts away. It's not shown again but it's clear that things are back to normal (and even pulling up parts of the reactor room and crashing them together so that they explode doesn't disturb the reactor subsequently).
* MadScientist: "My experiments are more important than the law," says Dr. Gannon, who seems to want the usual Mad Scientist reward package--money, power, recognition as the man who's controlled "molecular flow."
* MindControlDevice: Dr. Gannon has a little gizmo that you attach to the victim's neck. This renders the victim a mindless slave that will obey the commands Gannon speaks into the radio controller attached to the device. At the climax, Tony's struggle to resist the order to murder Tia makes the controller explode, freeing Tony.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Cripes, "Letha Wedge"?
* NewscasterCameo: RealLife radio personality Gary Owens is the man who delivers the radio bulletin about the crisis at the plutonium furnace.
* NonGivingUpSchoolGuy: Mr. Yamamoto, the truant officer who really, really wants to get the kids of the Earthquake Gang back into school. After he helps save Tony, the kids agree to go back to school so they can be as smart as Tia and Tony.
* SequelEscalation: In the original film, the kids' freedom was the only issue at stake. In ''Return'', they have to stop a madman from nuking UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. The sequel also features more [[ActionizedSequel action]] and special effects than the original.
* SeriesContinuityError:
** The first movie clearly establishes that Tia, the more powerful of the siblings, is the only one who can use telepathy--she projects her thoughts to Tony but he has to talk back with his mouth. In this film, both kids talk to each other telepathically.
** The first movie also demonstrates that while Tia doesn't need any sort of aid, Tony needs a MagicMusic harmonica to focus his telekinetic powers. In the sequel Tony doesn't need his harmonica to move stuff around.
** Neither of these is necessarily a continuity error. Three years have passed since the first movie, and they have spent those three years among their own people on Witch Mountain. Either Tony's powers have increased during that time, or Uncle Bene has taught him how to communicate telepathically and how to use his telekinesis without the harmonica, or maybe a little bit of both.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Dr. Gannon describes Tony's power as, "molecular mobilization." That's just an overly fancy way of saying, "moving stuff."
* TimmyInAWell: Dr. Gannon keeps a goat named Alfred in his lab for--some reason. Anyway, Tia sends Alfred the goat off to get help. Alfred makes his way to the Earthquake Gang's hideout, snatches Tia's vest, and leads the gang back to her.
* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: How far is it from the Earthquake Gang's hideout to Dr. Gannon's mansion? It seems to vary depending on the needs of the plot.

* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: How far is it from the Earthquake Gang's hideout to Dr. Gannon's mansion? It seems to vary depending on the needs of the plot.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The credits show the silhouettes of the children running while being chased by white outlines of barking dogs. Incidentally, the footage of the dogs is a RecycledAnimation from ''{{Disney/Bambi}}''. This ''is'' the era of Disney history that gave us ''Disney/RobinHood'', after all.

Tony and Tia must escape from Mr. Bolt's compound and travel to Witch Mountain in an attempt to find out where they came from. Along the way they enlist the help of an old drifter to conceal them as Mr. Bolt uses his influence to track them down.

Two remakes were made, a first one in 1995 under the same title and a second in 2009 called ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain'' and starring Wrestling/DwayneJohnson.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The owner of the orphanage in this movie was a kindly older lady while in the book, it was more of a home for orphaned juvenile delinquents run by a former police woman who took no gruff from anyone.

* BigBad: Aristotle Bolt

'''''Escape to Witch Mountain''''' is a 1975 [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures Disney]] film starring Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Creator/RayMilland, and Creator/DonaldPleasence, directed by John Hough. It is the FilmOfTheBook of the same name, about siblings Tony and Tia Malone (Eisenmann and Richards). We are introduced to them as they are admitted to an orphanage/school. They have no memory of where they came from before they were placed in foster care, and try to conceal the fact that they have PsychicPowers. When Tia sees an accident before it happens, it draws the attention of a wealthy businessman, Mr. Bolt (Milland), who wants to exploit the siblings' powers. They try to remember where they came from, guided by Tia's "star case", a leather box on a strap with a curious double star design on the lid, which she has had as long as she can remember, and which contains a hidden map to a place called Witch Mountain.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The credits show the silhouettes of the children running while being chased by white outlines of barking dogs. Incidentally, the footage of the dogs is a RecycledAnimation from ''{{Disney/Bambi}}''.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: The credits show the silhouettes of the children running while being chased by white outlines of barking dogs.

* SequelEscalation: In the original film, the kids' freedom was the only issue at stake. In ''Return'', they have to stop a madman from nuking UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. The sequel also features more special effects than the original.

* SequelEscalation: In the original, the kids only had to get to Witch Mountain. This time, they have to stop a madman from nuking UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. ''Return'' also features more special effects than the original.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: It's actually supposed to be a TwistEnding that Tony and Tia are aliens. Consider their FlyingSaucer is ''right on the cover of the DVD''. Not to mention, all subsequent installments of the ''Witch Mountain'' franchise give that information away in the trailer.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Dr. Gannon describes Tony's power as, "molecular mobilization." That just an overly fancy way of saying, "moving stuff."

* TimmyInAWell: Dr. Gannon keeps a goat named Alfred in his lab for--some reason. Anyway, Tia sends Alfred the goat off to get help. Alfred makes his way to the Earthquake Gang's hideout, snatches Tia's vest, and leads the gang back to her.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Dr. Gannon describes Tony's power as, "molecular immobilization." That just an overly fancy way of saying, "moving stuff."

* SuperHumanTrafficking: Tony & Tia are chased by Mr. Bolt, who wants to use their powers for his personal gain and a mob of people on a literal WitchHunt. Not that they know what they'll ''do'' with the super-powered kids once they catch them.