Last week, seemingly out of the blue, an announcement was made by Sony Pictures Television that Goosebumps would be returning to the small screen, via a new television series produced by Neal H. Moritz, who worked on the two theatrical Goosebumps films. Little is currently known about plans for the show's production, considering the recent announcement as well as the COVID-19 pandemic putting everything on hold, and just as importantly, we have no idea on how the series plans to be structured. So I thought I'd give my two quick cents on the ways the show could go. Not so much a "how I'd run it" and more what would be the likeliest way to handle the show. There are two different takes I came up with.
#1. ADAPTATIONS
The original 1996 series adapted stories based on the books released at the time. The majority of them followed the books as close as possible, while others deviated in often necessary ways. Examples being The Haunted Mask, which was a near one to one take on the eleventh book of the original sixty two, whereas Be Careful What You Wish For... changed the outcome protagonist Sam Byrd's wishes, as well as changing the twist from her having a far darker fate to turning her antagonist Judith into a statue. It's up in the air if you feel the ending is better. If Sam deserved what she got, or if you'd rather a happy ending for her like the show did.
If the show were to return to an adaptation format, I'd expect a similar case in heavy deviation from the source material, not just for convenience, but sometimes to simply work in a 2020s environment as opposed to a 1996 one. For example, for a book like Say Cheese and Die!, it'd likely have to accommodate for modern technology. Be it a camera app on a phone that predicts horrible futures, or the show would have to bring up how an old camera would be outdated tech. Hopefully it could be handled in the right way without just being a nod to "isn't this stuff old, guys?"
That in turn brings me to another notable issue with adaptation. Would they just redo old episodes and books? Will we see another take on stories like The Haunted Mask, Attack of the Mutant, or The Barking Ghost? There's nothing wrong with rebooting the old familiars, especially if the show is trying to attract a family audience over just kids by bringing up nostalgia. In many ways, doing so could finally bring TV adaptations to books like The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, Ghost Camp, The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, as well as finally give us an adaptation of Night of the Living Dummy, instead of doing what the original show did and just start at the sequel. Not to mention the fact that since the series ended, Stine pumped out nearly a hundred more stories throughout different series (and is still going today through SlappyWorld). I'd love to see stuff like Scream School, Welcome to Camp Slither, Heads, You Lose!, When the Ghost Dog Howls, or even for as bad as they were the Dr. Maniac books.
Adaptation is probably the safest bet for a revival. Is it the most creative? Probably not. But I mean, neither is Goosebumps most of the time. I've read enough books with the same awful parents to tell you that Stine's creativity only goes so far. If it means thumbing through classics while also finally filling in the gaps sorely missing when it comes to adaptations, I'd be down with this.
#2. A CONNECTED UNIVERSE
HorrorLand was a mixed bag of a series for me in terms of its execution and its climax, but it did give me one thing that I did really like, and that was the idea of a connected universe. One where most of the characters and events that featured in the books were all part of a connected world. One where the events of Monster Blood exist in the same world and timeline as The Haunted Mask, or Deep Trouble. It allows for a series that yes, pumps out the nostalgia for nostalgia sake, but can at least layer it into the structure of a serialized series. Something akin to Gravity Falls or, a contemporary that came before the original series, Eerie Indiana. A season long story that involves different villains and creations of the Goosebumps world either always existing, or bleeding into the real world.
The latter is probably the strongest way to do it as it could connect with the two movies. The structure of the movies focused on the manuscripts of R.L. Stine. The manuscripts, when opened, have the power to release the evil beings trapped in the pages, with the only way to defeat them being to get them back in the book. You could structure a series on this idea, with the main antagonist, Slappy the Dummy (because of course there'll be a lot of Slappy in this show), being the one who causes mayhem by freeing different creatures each episode in a classic Monster of the Week format. You have your protagonists be a set group of kids who have to find a way to stop the chaos, usually by following the events of what happened in the story, and defeating the evil, stopping Slappy for now. All the while, you could build on something big happening throughout the season, like giving us HorrorLand as the final act for the season.
A connected universe seems like the most likely outcome for a revival given the series is being produced by the producer of the films, which shared this kind of format. But given that the sequel, Haunted Halloween, didn't focus as much on book references, will that also be the case with the show? Will it be more of a balance of references and original concepts? I'd be cool with that.
In the end, I'm at least intrigued to see how this new live action series will go. Personally, I wish it was an animated series, as I've always felt that the medium would lend itself well to Goosebumps, and would allow the more outlandish stories that would be tricky to do in live action to be made. But live is how we're going. So, it's all up in the air for now until we get an answer as to where we're headed, but I'm definitely up for the ride. Hell, given the fact I'm still reviewing the books, I'll probably still be here to review it when it does air. Thus is my curse.
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