I wasn't in really the most receptive frame of mind or mood for this (plus a brief tornado warning interrupted my viewing early on), but I've been meaning to watch this for some time, and it was Halloween.
An early Rankin/Bass holiday special, though post-Rudolph, and this time it's not Christmas. Appearances by all the favorite monsters of sixties kids. Lots of bad, instantly forgettable songs.
A few points of interest:
- Phyllis Diller plays the Bride of Frankenstein, and calls her monster hubby "Fang," which IIRC was the name Diller used in her stand up for the ol' ball and chain.
- Franesca, the "girl," falls in love with the hero after he smacks her hard. Twice. He apparently also smacked the bad out of her too. Amazing multitaskers, those smacks.
- The protagonist, Felix, is very passive. Aside from the aforementioned smacks and reflexively saving Francesca's life (admittedly heroic), his only real decisions are to travel to the Isle of Evil and to turn down his uncle's offer to succeed him (that plotline just trails off and never gets resolved). The defeat of the bad guys is accomplished by Francesca and the Baron.
- The "twist" at the end doesn't make a lot of sense, but I think if I'd seen this as a child I'd be more concerned about all those wonderful monsters being wiped out. Bummer.
This checks off an item on my "Shown on TNT's Monstervision In The Nineties" list.
