Release date: November 20, 2020
Opening line: (Warners) "Must eat brainy!"
Phantomaniacs: The Warners haunt a television set in a parody of Poltergeist.
Fear and Laughter in Burbank: The trick-or-treating Warners encounter a spooky clown named Nickelwise.
Bride of Pinky: In a parody of Frankenstein, Brain fashions a monster to frighten a village into submission, but the monster and Pinky fall in love.
Things That Go Bump in the Night: A group of monsters are huddled together in one space.
General
- Halloween Episode: This one is definitely more Halloween-themed. Ironically, it came out after Halloween had long passed, less than a week before Thanksgiving even. Better late than never (though Hulu did release an ad featuring scenes from the episode the October 31st prior, possibly as a way to make up for said delayed release).
- Special Edition Title: The title is more grain filtered, purple-toned (except for reds), and has some spooky tones in the music.
Tropes found in "Phantomaniacs":
Tropes found in "Fear and Laughter in Burbank":
- Affectionate Parody: To It. Specifically, its 2017 film adaptation.
- Break the Cutie: Yakko, himself, takes it hard when Nickelwise confronts him.
- Call-Back: Wakko’s fear of clowns is once again brought up, and when he and Nickelwise first cross paths, you hear a slow, distorted version of Mr. Director’s clown song
from the original series episode “Clown and Out”. - Dissonant Serenity: The little boy in the Robin costume cheerfully proclaims he's seen the Beyond once he gets his soul back. Then he skips away, singing.
- Empty Piles of Clothing: After Nickelwise flushes himself to get away from the Warners, all he leaves behind is his clown outfit.
- Extreme Omnivore: Wakko, as usual. Nickelwise's attempts to scare him via using rubber food failed spectacularly to the point where he nearly got eaten himself.
- Hates Being Alone: It turns out Yakko's greatest fear is not only people not finding him funny, but having no one around to tell jokes to. He nearly goes crazy when he's lured into an empty office by Nickelwise.
- Horrifying the Horror: The Warners ultimately drive Nickelwise up the wall with their crazy antics, getting him to cough up the souls he's eaten and flee.
- Irony: In previous episodes, Wakko is terrified of clowns and wants nothing to do with them, even when they're clearly friendly. Here, Wakko actually comes across a genuine Monster Clown who wants to harm him... and he thinks Nickelwise is funny and treats him as his latest "special friend."
- Monster Clown: Nickelwise is this. Ironically, as mentioned above, Wakko is immune this time around.
- Mood Whiplash: When Nickelwise attempts to scare Dot by showing her an old, ugly version of herself and Wakko with plastic food, it goes about as well as you'd expect (Dot thinks her elderly self is charming and offers to hang out and go adopt some cats, and Wakko just eats the fake food). However, his attempt to scare Yakko involves luring him into an environment where no one will laugh at him, revealing his fear that no one finds him funny, and it's not Played for Laughs. He almost loses his soul before Dot and Wakko show up.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The usually unflappable Yakko Warner is reduced to a terrified, panicking, literally tongue-tied mess when his biggest fear — people not finding him funny — is revealed and exploited by Nickelwise. He is, in fact, the ONLY Warner the clown managed to scare. If it wasn't for Wakko and Dot showing up, his soul would have been eaten.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Dot says Yakko is one of her "top two" funniest brothers. Wakkonote says the same applies to him.
- Sequel Hook: While Wakko and Dot were able to save Yakko from getting killed, they were unaware about Yakko's fear even though he asks them. Therefore, they are likely to dive deeper into Yakko's fear in later seasons.
- Shout-Out: Ralph is dressed like Batman, and the little kid who gets his soul stolen by Nickelwise is dressed like Robin. The Warners, appropriately, are dressed as the Marx Brothers.
- Take That!: Yakko compares Nickelwise to John Travolta. ("Incredible dancer, hilarious wig, totally insane!")
- Your Soul Is Mine!: As a Pennywise expy, Nickelwise feeds on the souls of people by exploiting their worst fears. Although, his attempt with the Warners fails so badly that he began burping up all the souls he ate (with them returning to their original bodies).
Tropes found in "Bride of Pinky":
- Affectionate Parody: To Bride of Frankenstein.
- Big Fancy House: Brainenstein's castle. Ironically, this sets off the angry mob as they blame him for decreasing home market value.
- The Cameo: The Warners appear in Pigor's sack.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Drusilla is made up of parts from a human, monkey, and lizard, as appropriate for a Frankenstein parody.
- Runaway Bride: Poor Pigor is heartbroken when Drusilla leaves him for Brainenstein's second attempt at making a monster.
- Shout-Out: Pigor compliments Brainenstein’s castle, who says that to build it, he only hired the finest masons, “skilled in the art of wall-stone craft.” It's a punny (if somewhat tortured) reference to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of the sketch’s inspiration.
- Torches and Pitchforks: One of the villagers invoke this upon seeing Drusilla. Another farmer brings out a pitchspork.
- Unexplained Accent: Lampshaded by Brainenstein, who, while describing Pigor, mentions that he has an "inexplicable cockney accent".
Tropes found in "Things That Go Bump in the Night":
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: We never see what the “Things” look like; we only see their eyes.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The skit is literally about unseen monsters bumping into each other in the dark.
