Western Animation / Halloween Is Grinch Night

"It's a wonderful night for Grinch Night!
Their troubles will now commence!
Oh, I wouldn't stay home on a night like this
For sixty dollars and sixty cents!" ^note Due to a 363.9% inflation increase since 1977, this is equivalent to $281.15 today.

Halloween Is Grinch Night is an animated television Halloween Special and a followup to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. (It isn't clear whether it's meant to be a prequel or sequel, although it presumably takes place prior to the Grinch's Heel–Face Turn in Christmas.) A co-production of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Dr. Seuss, it first aired on ABC on October 29, 1977 and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program the following year. Hans Conried serves as both the story's Narrator and the voice of The Grinch, in a manner similar to Boris Karloff in the earlier special. Unlike How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, it is an original work and not based on a book.

The story takes place in and around Whoville, a town that the Grinch periodically terrorizes on a night known as "Grinch Night," which commences when a "Sour-Sweet Wind" blows and sets off a variety of animal calls that annoys the Grinch into terrorizing the Whos. As the story opens, the Sour-Sweet Wind is just beginning to blow when Euchariah, a young bespectacled Who (a resident of Whoville) with astigmatism, goes outdoors to use the outhouse (referred to as "the euphemism" in the story), and is swept away by the wind.

On the road he encounters the Grinch, along with the Grinch's dog Max, who are in the process of bringing a large wagon — called the "Paraphernalia Wagon" — down to Whoville. Euchariah decides to keep the Grinch from reaching Whoville by stalling him, but as the night goes on, he realizes he will have to face him and his fears head-on if he is to save Whoville from the horrors that the Grinch is going to unleash.

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This show provides examples of:

• Added Alliterative Appeal:
  • Featured in a couple of the songs. Also the Wuzzy Woozoo.
  • "I wouldn’t go out on a night like this...for sixty-six million six hundred thousand dollars and an extra sixty-six cents!"
• Art Evolution: The Grinch maintains his colour scheme from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, though otherwise his design plays much closer to that of the books.
• Badass Bookworm: Euchariah. He can define the term of an astigmatism, and somehow stand up to the Grinch and survive all of the horrors in the Paraphernalia Wagon.
• Big Friendly Dog: Max fits this role in the end; on his hind legs he's as tall as Euchariah, and after freeing himself from the Grinch he runs down the hill after Euchariah and the next shot we see is him happily slurping Euchariah's face.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: The Grinch's lift clear off his face and fly around like giant bats. He's rather proud of them, and even demonstrates their flying abilities for Euchariah.
  The Grinch: It's a wonderful night for eyebrows.
• Bird People: Among the nightmarish creatures in the Grinch's wagon include a group of towering, penguin-like humanoids, which are among the first set of monsters we see in it in fact.
• Bring It: Before The Grinch unleashes everything in the Paraphernalia Wagon, Euchariah basically tells him this:
  Euchariah: Do your worst! Bring out your spooks! Shoot the works! I will not flinch!
• Chekhov's Gun: That piece of wood that got knocked off the tree stump where the Grinch crashed was used by Euchariah to slide down the mountain ahead of the Grinch.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• Deranged Animation: The entire Paraphernalia Wagon sequence. It is filled with utterly bizarre entities and almost completely incomprehensible imagery thrown at every other second. It gets more and more surreally intense as it climaxes.
• Disney Acid Sequence: Everything that happens after the Grinch opens his trap-door... well... to say none of it makes sense is an understatement.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Grinch is annoyed at the various animal caterwauls — something the Whos have zero control over — so he takes it upon himself to go terrorize them for it. That would be enormously petty... though it's implied it's more of an excuse anyway.
• Dog-Kicking Excuse: Grandpa Josiah says that the noise of the animals disturbed by the Sweet-Sour Wind riles up the Grinch, but given that the Grinch is actually disappointed when the wind dissipates, it seems likelier that terrorizing Whoville is just something he likes to do and (for whatever reason) he uses the noise as an excuse.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Max earning his freedom and going back to Whoville with Euchariah, after the former having been one of the most extreme woobies ever, and the latter having had the euphemism scared out of him.
• Eat the Camera: A pink, spectacle-wearing spook does this during the infamous Mind Screw.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Paraphernalia Wagon is filled with these types of creatures, going from somewhat comprehensible to completely incomprehensible.
• Enemy to All Living Things: The Grinch abuses his dog Max, rolls over flowers on purpose, and scares the Whos and goes after the Wuzzy Woozoo for fun. Notably, after Euchariah successfully stalls him until the wind blows out, the Woozoo and the ducks seen in the opening sequence are celebrating along with the Whos.
• Evil Is Petty: Among other nasty things, the Grinch runs over flowers.
  The Grinch: [seeing one of the flowers pathetically struggling to rise back up] Ah, missed one.
  [He backs up the Wagon, crushing the flower.]
  The Grinch: Got it! [Evil Laugh]
• Evil Laugh: This is the last thing the Grinch leaves us with.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • Euchariah, while on Mount Crumpet, is wondering aloud, "Where is that euphemism?", despite the fact that he's no longer in his grandparents' yard.
  • Moments later, on seeing Max, Euchariah thinks he's a stray, not noticing Max is hitched to the Grinch's Paraphernalia Wagon.
• Filler: The dialogue between the Whos is almost always prefaced by the narrator saying "And [x] said:", trying to fill out the time before the big climax.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Parts of the Mind Screw.
• Go to the Euphemism: The Trope Namer. Euchariah's attempt to go to this, against his grandfather's advice ("No one goes to the Euphemism on a night like this!") is what has him meet face to face with The Grinch.
• Graceful Loser: Despite his scheme being botched and Max even leaving him to lug his wagon alone, the Grinch defiantly laughs his way back, knowing the Sour-Sweet Wind and Grinch Night will soon be back.
• Gratuitous German: The Grinch shouts out "Achtung!" to Max.
• Happy Dance: At the end, the town ducks and the Wuzzy Woozoo do a joyful jig to celebrate.
• Here We Go Again!: Despite Euchariah's attempts to stop the Grinch, Grinch Night will happen again when the next Sour-Sweet Wind blows through.
• Holding the Floor: Even though Euchariah hadn't seen what's inside the Paraphernalia Wagon before, he dares the Grinch to unleash the contents on him, relying on Heroic Safe Mode to ensure he occupies the Grinch while the Sour-Sweet Wind dissipates.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Paraphernalia Wagon is filled with these types of creatures as well, with some being subtly humanoid while others are only barely resemble them.
• Idiosyncrazy: The Grinch can only come off his mountain and do his thing if the Sour-Sweet Wind is blowing and all the creatures it riles are riled. Once the wind dies down, even he has to admit there's nothing he can do.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Euchariah mentions how situations looked much better without his glasses on. The person he's addressing will tell him to put the glasses back on and face the facts. The first time he does it, it's to his grandfather. The second time, Euchariah is speaking this to the Grinch!
  • In the first song, Grandpa Josiah keeps listing amounts of dollars and cents that he wouldn't venture out for on Grinch Night. Later on, the Grinch says he wouldn't stay home for an amount of dollars and cents.
• Knight of Cerebus: Despite how Laughably Evil he is, the Grinch completely changes the tone of the cartoon.
• Last of His Kind: The Wuzzy Woozoo the Grinch chases is apparently the only one left in Whoville.
  Sergeant McPhearson: The Woozoo, at least, should have immunity! He's the only one left in our community!
• Lucky Charms Title: In place of the "o" in "Halloween" is a jack o' lantern.
• Master of Illusion: The Grinch's Paraphernalia Wagon seems to be hypnotizing Euchariah and the audience into thinking he's in a surreal hellish landscape. This possibility is supported by the fact that at the very end of the sequence, he's seen standing on top of the wagon again.
• Melancholy Musical Number: Max's sorrowful ballad about how he regrets his life with the Grinch and longs to go back to his innocent puppyhood days, when his future was bright.
• Mind Rape: The Grinch does this to Euchariah using the Paraphernalia Wagon during the movie's climax.
• Mind Screw: Again, what the Grinch does to Euchariah (and the viewers). Or tries to do, anyway.
• Minsky Pickup: Prefaces "Grinch Night Ball".
• Mondegreen Gag: The line from the round sung by the Grinch and various creatures during the Mind Rape sequence: "Grinch is gonna get ya, yes indeedy fa la la, ya!" The sing-along version of the special actually transcribes the "yes indeedy" part as the complete gibberish "nitzen diff a la". In the subtitler's defense, these are Dr. Seuss lyrics we're dealing with here. This is noticeably averted in the German dub, which has simply "blitzi blie fa ha la".
• Mook–Face Turn: Max ends up ditching the Grinch to go off and live with Euchariah.
• Mr. Exposition:
  • Grandpa Josiah's opening song gives a good summary of why the Sour-Sweet Wind is so alarming to Whos.
  • Sergeant McPhearson, the local reporter who watches from his mushroom observatory.
• The Musical: The special has no fewer than seven vocal tunes, some with several measures, and very few instances of repeating. Impressive, given its half-hour running time.
• Negative Continuity: If this is a sequel to the Christmas one, then the Grinch went back to being evil. If it's a prequel, then Max went back to serving the Grinch.
  • The special The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat seems to suggest that the Grinch goes back to being evil on a regular basis.
  • It also shows that that Grinch is a member of an entire species, most of whom are profoundly unpleasant people. So they could be different Grinches, each called "the" Grinch because there are no other Grinches in the area.
• Nephewism: It's implied that Max was raised by his Aunt Woofie, because he and the Grinch mention her and not Max's parents when talking about the time when he was a puppy.
• Never My Fault: The Grinch gets brickles stuck on him and says the Whos "brickle-ized" him. Not only were the Whos not outdoors when he crashed and got thrown into the brickle bush (because he had frightened them indoors), but also he might not have crashed if he hadn't been trying to hunt down the Wuzzy Woozoo.
  The Grinch: [picking brickles off his rear end] Brickle-ize me, will they? I'll brickle-ize the entire township!
• Nobody Poops: Downplayed. The outhouse is referred to as "the euphemism" but Euchariah's reason for using it is not explicitly given.
• Non-Indicative Name: Halloween is never even brought up, nor does any character allude to it outside the title, which is why re-releases have sometimes renamed it "[It's] Grinch Night" and the German dub is titled "An Halloween kommt der Grinch" when it was released in West Germany.
• No One Gets Left Behind: The Whos and animals of Whoville all shack up in safety when the Sour-Sweet Wind starts blowing. A female Who even goes back for her son's doll.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: All the spooks in the Grinch's Paraphernalia Wagon come in many different shapes and sizes, each with their own design.
• Pain to the Ass: While chasing the Wuzzy Woozoo, the Grinch ends up crashing into a brickle bush and gets a bunch of brickles in his britches.
  The Grinch: Darn these brickles anyway! I'll be sore for a month.
• Pictorial Letter Substitution: The title logo has a jack o' lantern in place of the "o" in "Halloween".
• Raised by Grandparents: Euchariah lives with his Grandpa Josiah and Grandma Mariah (and two younger Whos that may or may not be his siblings). His parents are never mentioned and are nowhere to be seen.
• Reality Warper: The Grinch has some magic power, as he was able to shrink and enlarge himself in his Villain Song.
• Rhymes on a Dime: It's a Dr. Seuss special, after all.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Wuzzy Woozoo, whom the Grinch torments along the trip down his mountain.
• Rule of Three: It takes Euchariah three attempts to stall the Grinch before he's able to go into the Paraphernalia Wagon.
• Same Character, But Different: The Grinch's portrayal has gone from cantankerous and unpleasant, but basically harmless, to outright sadistic.
• Say My Name: Euchariah leaves the house to use the "euphemism". Before he can reach it, the wind blows him partway up Mount Crumpet. Grandpa Josiah and Grandma Mariah begin shouting desperately for him.
  Grandpa Josiah: Euchariah? Euchariah? Where are you, Euchariah?
  Grandma Mariah: Euchariah! Euchariah! Oh, come home, Euchariah!
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the end, when Grinch orders Max to carry the Paraphernalia Wagon back up Mount Crumpet, Max takes the harness off of himself and blows a raspberry at the Grinch, before going home with Euchariah.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: All those ghouls and spirits inside the Paraphernalia Wagon that were going to be unleashed in Whoville.
• Shout-Out: At one point in the infamous Mind Rape sequence, Euchariah meets the Jibboo from the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, the Things You Can Think."
• Slasher Smile: The Grinch makes a very creepy grin during the title sequence.
• Spoiler Opening: The opening credits show excerpts from the Paraphernalia Wagon sequence.
• Surreal Horror: The Paraphernalia Wagon scene. If you need elaboration, see Mind Rape above.
• Technical Euphemism: Euchariah, the trope namer for Go to the Euphemism, calls the outhouse "the euphemism" and says he needs to go there.
• Unusual Euphemism: The outhouse is literally called "the euphemism". Toilets were still too taboo to be seen on TV, and "euphemism" really sounds like a made-up Seuss word if you don't know that it's a real word and what it means. It's extra funny if you do know what it means.
• Villain Respect: The Grinch is genuinely impressed that Euchariah withstood every single horror of the Paraphernalia Wagon without going insane.
• Villain Song: "Grinch Night Ball".
• Warning Song: At the beginning of the Mind Rape sequence, the Grinch and various creatures can be heard singing a round:
  Euchariah, Euchariah,
  This is it, this is it!
  Grinch is gonna get ya!
  Grinch is gonna get ya, yes indeedy fa la la, ya!
• We Will Meet Again:
  The Grinch: That wind will be coming back someday. I'll be coming back someday. [Evil Laugh]
• Winds Of Change: All the Whos down in Whoville notice a change in the wind when the Sour-Sweet Wind begins to blow. The wind makes the local animals go crazy and starts angering the Grinch, thus starting off Grinch Night.
• Would Hurt a Child: Admittedly, all the Grinch does is scare Euchariah, but this does count; he essentially takes a wagon full of pure Mind Rape, meant for the entirety of Whoville, and exposes Euchariah to it in undiluted form.
• You Don't Look Like You: Max is designed slightly differently here than in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Because of this, some viewers have wondered if it's even the same Max.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Euchariah tries to stop the Grinch from tormenting Whoville with his strange device, the Paraphernalia Wagon, by getting in his way before he can get down Mt. Crumpet. Although the Grinch regards him as not a threat, he eventually decides to use the abilities of the Wagon on Euchariah.

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