madfather

Everyone has their different pop culture Halloween traditions. The Homestar Runner Halloween Episodes have been an important one for me for as long as they were still going on. For some reason The Brothers Chapp haven't been keeping the new content coming in lately (Spending more time with their families?) and as such the last two years have been without the gang and their costumes. While they were going one, exactly ten had been released. So why not make a quick top ten list of them. Well, there are a lot of good reasons… but I'm going to do it anyway.

These were chosen based on the cartoon themselves and not the costumes featured in them. The costumes are so important that I think they should be given their own top #ed list if I ever make the time for that. Plus factoring those in would mean more work.

Links to the toons have been provided. List starts now.

10 Happy Hallow-Day
It's Halloween. For unexplained reasons the sun won't go down no matter how late it gets. All the characters search for answers to this phenomenon and a way to set things right because it just doesn't feel like Halloween if it's still daylight. The problem with this episode is… they're right. The fact that it's bright and sunny all the time means that this doesn't feel like a proper Halloween cartoon. It still has it's laughs, but it suffers for its misguided premiss.

9 Homestarloween Party
Sometimes the first is the worst. While that's not the case here, it's close enough. When this one came out, the Brothers Chapp will still trying to get into a good groove with the series. It clearly shows in how slow and low toned this episode is. Still fun and it did introduce us to "The Gweeeeeeeeeen Gobbolin."

8 Halloween Fairstival
This is where we get to the, "It's good, but the next entries are better" part of a top ten. The Brothers Strong's attempts to to cure The Cheat of his hiccups provide some fun shenanigans. It's fun to see the activities everyone's providing at the fair. It all leads up to a very funny conclusion. Despite all that, there's nothing special enough to mark this one higher then eight.

7 Pumpkin Carve-nival
The two things that set this higher then Fairstival are the surprise at the end and the way Homestar puts the ribbons on by saying "ding" and they just appear. I always loved that and wonder why it never became a bigger meme.

6 3 Times Halloween Funjob
This was the first episode that didn't have the cast gathering around for some Halloween related activity and instead made separate interconnecting plots. Great gags like The King of Town trying to be cool and Homestar trick or treating at The Poopsmith set this one high for laughs.

5 The House That Gave Sucky Treats
Only the second episode and the brothers already decided to mix things up with an interactive toon. The already funny reactions the characters give to each individual treat combined with the fact that the viewer decides which one is used gives this one a nice gimmick that still holds up today. It should also be noted that this was the year that started the tradition of Homsar being a hidden easter egg.

4 Most in the Graveyard
Everyone walking around a graveyard for their own goals gives some fun macabre situations that are perfect for Halloween. Almost all the jokes are laugh out loud funny. The monster of this episode is slightly scary in its own right. It's a great horror like cartoon that's only hindered by the next three being better.

3 Doomy Tales of the Macabre
Strong Sad is exactly the kind of person who would spend his nights writing bad poems where the people who mistreat him meat the karma he thinks they deserve. Every revenge he imagines is hilariously ridiculous, especially the ones that don't work like they should and make him come up with a new idea on the spot. You may not love Strong Sad himself, but you have to love how pathetic he is.

2 Halloween Potion-ma-jig
This one takes the interactivity of Sucky Treats and adds a story. Homestar's silly and stupid means of obtaining the potion ingredients are funny enough on their own. The way the different ending are determined by the choices you make add replay value to what is otherwise a simple click-and-see-what-happens game. It's fun and funny.

1 Jibblies 2
This one already gets high marks for being the only episode that had a horror like plot. The various ways the painting makes its entrances and the twist ending make this the one the most fun to watch to me. It's silly and even a little creepy at the same time. It's what a humorous Halloween cartoon should be.

Since I'm posting this so late it might be November by the time you read this, but why should that end the festivities? Happy whatever the hell you think it should be.