"PUMP! It's-a Spooky Month!"
The clock strikes midnight, October 1st, and Skidd and Pumpy — er, sorry — Skid and Pump decide to celebrate by going around town and engaging in spooky shenanigans.
Tropes:
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This short came before Spooky Month was a series, and is thus more in-line with the rest of Sr. Pelo's works.
- This is the only episode with a title longer than two words.
- The art style is very crude, whereas later installments would give it a higher quality. Copyrighted music and material are also used, whereas later on original soundtracks would be made for the episodes.
- The thumbnail for this short just has Skid and Pump. All other episode thumbnails have the episode's antagonist looming behind them in the background.
- Every character is voiced by Sr. Pelo. Later installments saw a massive expansion to the voice cast, with Lila and Bob even getting new voice actors.
- The short revolves around Rapid-Fire Comedy and has no real plot beyond Skid and Pump going around and having fun on Halloween. The Newgrounds ending is solely a joke about Moloch getting beat up by Santa Claus, whereas the Newgrounds endings of later videos would be more serious and expand on a subplot about the local cult.
- Skid and Pump are referred to as "Skidd and Pumpy" in the video's description.
- No Plot? No Problem!: This episode has no real plot beyond Skid and Pump going around town and spreading Spooky Month cheer.
- Ouija Board: Skid and Pump use one of these to summon the demon Moloch. However they forget to finish the ritual, leaving Moloch halfway stuck in that board from the waist up.
"I am the Eyes of the Universe, and I will show you the end..."
October has once again come to town, and Skid and Pump set off on their usual escapades. At the prodding of a local bully, they visit a spooky manor for a "spooky party", and end up going stargazing with a new friend.
Tropes:
- The Character Ice Cream Bar: Frank's white van has been redecorated to look like an ice cream truck; some of the ice cream bars shown on the front reference the real-life ice cream bars of SpongeBob SquarePants and Sonic the Hedgehog, and another is a bar resembling Sr. Pelo's avatar. Frank also gives Skid and Pump ice cream made to look like themselves, with Skid getting his head on a cone and Pump getting his head on a stick.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: While the Eyes of the Universe is holding Skid and Pump at its mercy, upon hearing about Spooky Month, it decides to let the two kids show it the joys of the Halloween season, terrifying the Hatzgang and shopping for sweets at the Candy Club, before walking back to it home underneath the house on the hill.
- Exact Words: When Skid and Pump break into Susie's room and use her computer before she barges in and finds them, Skid shouts "Let's get the hell outta here!"; Pump responds by stealing Susie's homework project, a scale model of the gates to Hell, before they both jump out the window.
- Foreshadowing: Susie's room, which the kids broke into earlier, has a poster of a large monster with two kid-sized characters standing before it. By the end of the short, pretty much the exact same scenario is playing out for the boys with The Eyes of the Universe.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: The boys pay a visit to Pump's grandfather and accidentally Jump Scare him by the front door so badly that he's suffering an excruciating heart attack. The kids then let him know it's Spooky Month and the old man is back in spirits, doing the Spooky Dance while horribly cracking every bone in his body.
- Instant Wrist Watch: Right before Skid and Pump enter the Candy Club, Kevin checks the time on his watch. The watch disappears after he puts his arm down, and it's the only time in the series that he's drawn with one.
- Orwellian Retcon: When the episode first released, the thumbnail was Skid and Pump breaking into a sprint. After the release of "Unwanted Guest", the thumbnail was changed to Skid and Pump staring at each other while The Eyes of The Universe looms above them in the background, to go with "Unwanted Guest"'s thumbnail having the Moloch-possessed Dexter behind the two.
- The Stinger: The YouTube version has Mr. Clown (instead of Ooga Booga) attacking and kidnapping the viewer. In the Newgrounds version, John and Jack notice that something strange is happening with the spooky old house on the hill, and then they accidentally run over Ooga Booga.
"You two! You kept me in the attic for two years, eating rats and spiders! I will burn your skin and feast on your flesh!"
Skid and Pump go out to celebrate Spooky Month despite it being June, and decide to drop by the mall to get a Happy Fella doll. Meanwhile, Lila calls an exterminator to deal with Moloch, whose furious fits in the attic she's mistaken for a rat skittering around.
Tropes:
- Anguished Outburst: After Skid and Pump innocently ask the Hatzgang if they'd like to meet The Eyes of the Universe again, Roy launches into a rant, yelling at the two for getting him into trouble with his parents. Ross attempts to calm him down, and Roy snaps at him instead, tearing up.Ross: Dude, it's okay—Roy: IT'S NOT OKAY!
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode prominently features Moloch, a minor character from the previous shorts who gets upgraded to the role of main antagonist here.
- The Dead Can Dance: The corpses inside the hospital morgue suddenly rise back to "life" and perform a Michael Jackson's Thriller Parody, while throwing in the Spooky Dance for good measure. But when Patty tells these dancing zombies that it isn't Spooky Month, but June, they all immediately drop dead again.
- Demonic Possession: While Dexter is setting up his rat trap in the attic, Moloch quickly ambushes him, seizing control of Dexter's body in order to finally escape and begin his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When the two cops walk into the Candy Club after Skid and Pump leave, Kevin overhears the tail end of their conversation where John reassures Jack over accidentally shooting someone. Kevin snarks at how "surprising" it is for a cop to shoot someone, at which the two glare at him. Kevin then realizes he said it out loud.John: It's fine, Jack. It wasn't your intention to shoot him!
Kevin: Wow, a cop shooting someone. What a surprise.
(Both cops give him a Death Glare)
Kevin: (thinking) OH NO! I SAID IT OUT LOUD! - Exorcist Head: Invoked and subverted for laughs. While trying to convince Skid that the floating yellow guy (the possessed Dexter) is indeed Moloch, Pump tells him to turn his head backwards, as it's something only demons can do. Moloch begrudgingly obliges... but breaks Dexter's neck while trying, instantly killing them both.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: After Skid and Pump left a suspicious package for Kevin at the Candy Club, Sheriff John and Deputy Jack suspect that the clerk is trafficking what looks like cocaine. But John tastes it to confirm that it is in fact sugar as Kevin claimed.
- Foreshadowing: While walking out of the mall, Pump remarks that they should burn the Happy Fella doll they just bought to see if it screams. This ends up coming to pass in "Deadly Smiles", where they force the doll into the oven and Lila sets it to burn, the doll screaming as it melts from the heat.
- Forced to Watch: At the climax, Lila is rendered helpless as the demon Moloch threatens to kill her son and his best friend right in front of her. Fortunately, Pump (unwittingly or otherwise) dupes said demon into accidentally defeating himself by snapping his own neck.
- Poor Communication Kills: At the beginning when Moloch is making noises in the attic, Lila assumes that it's caused by a rat scurrying around. Skid tells her that it's his "friend" Moloch, so Lila thinks that he's playing with a rodent and gave it a name. Skid doesn't even bother correcting her that Moloch is actually a demonic monster from the fiery depths of Hell; a problem which would require hiring an exorcist instead of an exterminator...
- Prison Rape: Due to believing that the pack of sugar Skid and Pump gave him is a narcotic drug, Kevin internally panics when the cops come by, thinking he's going to get arrested and suffer through "[packing] my fudge in jail". Luckily for Kevin, it was actually sugar, so the cops leave him be.
- Reduced to Ratburgers: When he rants at Skid and Pump in the climax, Moloch mentions that he was forced to eat rats and spiders (offscreen) for the past two years in the attic. Humorously enough, this makes Lila's decision to hire Dexter the exterminator to kill rats in the attic rather ironic in hindsight, because Moloch himself was already handling pest control for the house this whole time.
- That Was Not a Dream: Roy passed off the Hatzgang's encounter with the Eyes of the Universe in "The Stars" as a dream, and starts to pick on Skid and Pump as usual in "Unwanted Guest". It's only when the cowering Ross and Robert mention the "big scary monster" that Roy realizes that it did actually happen; he shifts to being just as scared as they are, before snapping at Skid and Pump.
It's the start of the new year, and Skid visits Pump's house with his Happy Fella in tow so they can hang out.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Skid and Pump discuss what they've learned from their time with the evil Happy Fella doll in the ending. They conclude that you don't need toys or possessions to make you happy; all you need is a friend to make you happy.
- all lowercase letters: As a subtitle gag, Rick's dialogue is typed in lowercase, referencing how done with life he is. Everyone else has proper capitalization.
- Artifact Title: Downplayed. While the episode is still Halloween-themed, "Deadly Smiles" is the first episode not to focus on "Spooky Month", primarily following the kids trying to have fun with their Happy Fella doll while the possessed Ax-Crazy doll is trying to escape them.
- Cooked to Death: Lila and the boys dispose of the Dexter-possessed Happy Fella doll by trapping him in the oven and roasting him until he melts... but then they have to do it again, as Jaune comes by with another doll that Dexter's ghost subsequently possesses.
- Covers Always Lie: The thumbnail for the episode has Skid and Pump looking uneasy, presumably because of the Happy Fella. In the episode itself, the two not only don't take him seriously as a threat, but actually get mad at him for his mistreatment of them and Lila.
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": While the boys are watching a horror movie in the theater, Pump notices that the Happy Fella is missing, to which Skid explains that he went to pee. It takes them a few seconds to remember that dolls can't pee.
- Ham and Deadpan Duo: In their short screentime working together, Radford is passionate and emotes immensely, while Rick is done with life and barely moves at all.
- Here We Go Again!: Subverted. At first it seems like the ending will conclude on Jaune bringing another Happy Fella to the house, but Lila freaks out and tells her to throw it in the oven the moment Dexter tries to break out of the box the doll's in. Played straight from the antagonist's perspective, when Dexter realizes that he's going to have to suffer being baked in the oven again.
- Horrifying the Horror:
- Frank normally maintains an aloof attitude even when performing his kidnappings, but the Happy Fella suddenly coming to life and violently threatening to kill him causes him to panic, punch it in the face, and then risk being seen by the cops by throwing it in their car.
- In the YouTube ending, Ooga Booga jumpscares the audience like usual, only this time with a Happy Fella doll. However, the doll then goes "ooga booga!" (with the same voice as the TV show one), scaring her into dropping it. It doesn't take her long to recover, however, as she jumpscares the audience again herself.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After watching the second possessed Happy Fella get burned in Lila's oven, Jaune asks if she has anything to drink. Lila replies that she only has spoiled milk, which Jaune accepts.
- Rage Breaking Point: Subverted; after realizing the doll that stabbed him belonged to Skid and Pump, Kevin looks like he's about to snap and fly into a rage, only to sigh and go "whatever".
- Sequel Hook: The ending has Skid and Pump walk past the TV just before it flicks on to a news report announcing that the cannibalistic serial killer Bob Velseb has escaped from jail, thus setting up the antagonist for the next episode, "Tender Treats".
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The wistful piano section of "Not Happy Anymore
", which sounds as if it were meant to evoke a sense of bittersweet nostalgia, plays over the Happy Fella doll's defeat of being Cooked to Death in Lila's oven. - Spoof Aesop: Skid attempts to lead into a conversation by asking Pump what they learned today, to which Pump responds with a recap of the episode's plot.Skid: Uhh, Pump, what did we learn today?
Pump: That ugly possessed dolls are mean and they don't want to play with us?
Skid: Possessed? What?
"Did you know if you eat a human brain, you'll get a disease similar to mad cow?"
Halloween has come to town, and Skid and Pump burst out of their houses to snag as much candy as possible before the spookiest month of the year is over. Unfortunately for them and the rest of the town, Bob Velseb is still on the loose after escaping from prison at the beginning of the year, and he's hunting for more than just candy...
Tropes:
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: When the police go overkill on Bob by running him over, then riddling him with bullets, and then running over the guy two more times, a bunch of spectating kids in costumes clap and praise the police each time they presume Bob is dead. Except the one guy in a similar devil costume to Bob's, who decides to run away.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When John reminds the mayor that the cultists burned his house down, the mayor retorts that John's house was a fire hazard, seemingly referring to his smoking habit. He then complains that John always leaves the coffee maker on after using it.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Prior to this episode, the most amount of blood and gore that had been seen was Kevin's stab wound on his leg after he had been attacked by the Happy Fella doll in "Deadly Smiles". Here, a large pool of blood is seen leaking from Streber's (mostly unseen) mutilated body after Bob attacked him. We also get to see Bob's Rasputinian Death up close, and he is bleeding heavily after John and Jack fill him up with lead.
- The Can Kicked Him: Bob kills a certain afro-haired man in a public restroom because he was using the only stall with toilet paper.Pelo: Woah, woah! At least knock, man! [stabbing noises as Pelo screams in pain]
- Cerebus Retcon: In "It's spooky month", Lila seems to forget the danger she's in when she offers some candy to a knife-wielding killer in a devil costume. Come "Tender Treats", it's shown to have been a desperate, spur-of-the-moment distraction she made so she could call the cops on him... and it doesn't work when the same killer breaks into her home again. She's also shown to be genuinely traumatized by the encounter, to the point she instantly rips up an old family photo once Skid points out an out-of-costume Bob in the background of it.
- Crystal-Ball Scheduling: Right before Lila calls Jaune about Bob being outside her house, Jaune channel surfs to a horror movie where a serial killer has invaded a woman's home.
- Dissonant Serenity: During Lila's flashback to the events of the first episode, after successfully distracting Bob with the Spooky Dance, Lila retains the same jolly tone and expression as she calls the police on the man who just tried to kill her, before engaging in the Spooky Dance once Bob is hauled off.
- Everyone Went to School Together: At the end of "Tender Treats", Lila shows Skid a picture of her and Jaune when they were his age. While Lila rips the picture up before it's shown in full to the audience, the complete picture reveals that she and Jaune knew Pump's dad, John, and Frank when they were all children.
- Gory Discretion Shot: All we see of whatever Bob did to Streber is a large pool of blood covering the porch, a close-up of his terrified eye flitting around, and a bone Bob drops to the ground after gnawing on it.
- Grin of Rage:
- When Ignacio opens his door and finds Skid and Pump obliviously asking for candy, he kneels down and begins speaking to them with a large, clearly strained smile, before dropping all pretense and angrily telling them he isn't going to give them candy because they broke a hole through his door.
- After Carmen rudely rebuffs him, Kevin clasps his hands together and puts on a fake smile so wide it exposes his gums, barely hiding his agitation as Carmen obliviously continues to order him around.
- Halloween Episode: While the whole series is technically Halloween-themed, all the previous episodes were either set on other days of the Spooky Month (October) but not quite on Halloween, or other different months of the year. This episode takes place entirely on the night of Halloween itself, and focuses on the holiday's festivities like trick-or-treating.
- Halloween Trickery: When Skid and Lila are returned home by the cops, Lila's jack-o-lanterns are smashed, her bushes are covered in toilet paper, and her house is egged.
- "Just Joking" Justification: After John understandably gets mad at Jack for propping Bob's body up to scare him, Jack tries to justify it by saying it was just a joke, and the two get into an argument over it, to Patty's annoyance.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: Bob's theme continues playing in the background as he shrugs off John and Jack's attempts to kill him. When he finally dies, it's marked by his theme distorting and slowing to a stop.
- Look Both Ways: Skid, Pump, Lila, and Jaune look both ways when crossing the street, even while running from a manic serial killer. When Bob crosses the street, he neglects to look both ways, and gets hit by a police car. It doesn't kill him, so they just run him over a couple more times to make sure after filling him with bullet holes.
- Medium Blending: Bob turns into a 3D model when he first gets run over by the cops, and then becomes a clay model as the still 2D Jack and John check on his body.
- Noodle Incident: When Kevin is justifying trying to ban Skid and Pump from the Candy Club, while most of the incidents he mentions are things that have happened in previous episodes, he mentions an incident where they got blood all over the floor that he had to clean up all day, with Pump retorting that it was fake blood. Such an incident hasn't been witnessed in the series.
- Remember the New Guy?: Even though they're not introduced until 2019's "The Stars", the flashback to 2018's "It's spooky month" has Sheriff John and Deputy Jack showing up to arrest Bob, before the series' continuity established them as being the town's main local cops.
- Retraux Flashback: In "Tender Treats", when Lila recalls Bob first attempting to kill her, the art style briefly switches back to the more simplistic drawings and animations from the first episode, complete with Sr. Pelo's original take on Lila's voice being used again and doing the sound of Lila tapping on her phone with his own voice.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!:
- After walking back into the Candy Club and seeing Bob menacingly approaching Kevin, Skid and Pump, Rick says that he's quitting and walks right back out of the store, much to Kevin's protest.
- The unnamed young man with a devil mask, who had already been twice assaulted due to being mistaken for Bob, watches John and Jack trying to shoot the real Bob to death, so he runs for his life in fear of getting shot by the cops in confusion.
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
- When Skid calls Pump, he happily answers with "Hello-ween?". Later after the two leave to go trick-or-treating and Lila notices Bob outside, she calls Jaune, who answers with "Hello-ween?".
- When Lila runs outside looking for Skid, the kid in the devil costume asks about her not wearing a costume. When Lila soon after calls Jaune asking for help to find Skid and Pump, she asks Lila if she's wearing a costume. Finally, when they later find the duo, Skid asks Lila why she isn't wearing a costume.
- Sweetie Graffiti: There's some small text that reads "Kevin x Streber" on the bathroom wall when Bob rushes to the toilets; while unclear if it was put in as a joke, it implies that Kevin and Streber, if not an actual romantic couple, at least know each other.
- Truth in Television: Mayor Evermore's remark about nobody being able to tell the difference between an actual death and a Halloween act, and Skid and Pump later mistaking Streber's mangled body for particularly good special effects, initially come off as just a Weirdness Censor and childhood obliviousness — however, there have actually been multiple cases in real life where dying or deceased people have been mistaken for Halloween decorations, with the living none the wiser until days after the "decorations" should have been cleaned up.
- Weirdness Censor: According to Mayor Evermore, most of the creepy villains roaming around in their town are seen by the citizens as All Part of the Show. Sure enough, a quartet of girls in Touhou Project costumes believe John and Jack killing Bob to be a performance piece.Evermore: Every Halloween, he kills more people. It's hard to know what is real... and what is not. No one knows if someone got killed, or it's just a show.
- Wham Line: After Skid and Lila go home in the ending, Skid notices something in the background of a photo Lila shows him of her childhood...Skid: Oh, you played hide-and-seek with him, too?
Lila: ...Who?
Skid: With this guy! (points at a burger chef who looks a lot like Bob)
