Based on Bride of the Living Dummy, book #2 of Goosebumps Series 2000.
Jillian Zinman hates her sisters' doll Mary Ellen, whom they treat as though she's alive. One day though, Jillian brings home a ventriloquist's dummy named Slappy, who turns out to be really alive and wants a slave.
The episode provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: In the book, Slappy wanted Jillian to be his bride. Here, it's Katie who he wants to be his slave.
- Adapted Out: Amanda is removed, leaving Katie as the only sister.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Jillian gets hit with this hard during the climax, wherein she doesn't believe Mary-Ellen is alive while she and Katie are running from Slappy.
- The Artifact: Mary-Ellen complaining to Slappy about being rejected despite everything she did for him... even though she didn't do anything until now? In the book Mary-Ellen is revealed to be the one behind all the mishaps and was Gaslighting Jillian into thinking it was Slappy before awakening him herself, but since the TV episode is a Compressed Adaptation, the context behind Mary-Ellen's complaint is missing.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Instead of Jillian, the episode ends with Harrison getting possessed.
- Age Lift: Jimmy was implied to be in his late teens in the book but in the episode he seems to be a full adult, possibly in his 30s.
- Flanderization: In TV episode Harrison is adapted into a fatty kid who loves eating, while in the book he showed an appetite during a lunch break scene and he's described being a Big Guy who's large, but not fat. Jillian even mentions that he has a large chest and muscular legs.
- Shout-Out: Slappy tells Jimmy he's about to make him "an offer you can't refuse" .
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You Look Familiar: Jillian is played by the same actress (Andreanne Benidir) who previously played Stephanie in The Headless Ghost.
