History Series / Goosebumps

* CanadaDoesNotExist: UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, Canada was one of the series' primary filming locations, but most episodes were set in a vaguely North American town.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Conan Barber from the ''Literature/MonsterBlood'' books appears only once in the show-exclusive episode "More Monster Blood", where he not only helps save the day, but afterwards is all but shown to have made a HeelFaceTurn.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In "More Monster Blood", a black man is the first to get sucked up by the Monster Blood.
* EpisodeOnAPlane: "More Monster Blood", in which the ravenous green BlobMonster is released onboard a passenger plane and proceeds to devour everyone. This plot was exclusive to the series.
* {{Expy}}: Curtis from "More Monster Blood" seems to be loosely based on Evan's cousin Kermit from ''Literature/MonsterBloodIII'', but played as a LovableNerd instead of a NerdyBully.

* AndIMustScream: In "Chillogy", Karl tries to turn one of the kids he torments into a sentient plastic figure.
* BalefulPolymorph: In the first "Chillogy" episode, [[MonsterOfTheWeek Karl]] convinces Jessica to sell lemonade for exorbitant prices by artificially driving up demand. Then he exposes her and turns her into a PigMan for being a "greedy little pig".
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "Chillogy, part 1: Squeal of Fortune", the townspeople decide to [[ChildEater cut Jessica up and eat her]] after she's turned into a human-pig hybrid, simply because she scammed them out of money.
* {{Egopolis}}: Karl Knave, the villain of the "Chillogy" episodes, makes his residence in a miniature town he rules called Karlsville.
* ForTheEvulz: Karl from the TV-only story "Chillogy", the ruler of a miniature toy town aptly called Karlsville. He's never given a back story but when asked why he's bothering to turn one of the main characters into a plastic slave, Karl simply states "Everyone needs a hobby." His hobby is to turn kids into his slaves.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Karl, the villain of the three-part episode "Chillogy". At the end the heroes believe that one of the miniature figures they're burning in the fireplace has to be Karl, but it turns out he escaped the destruction of Karlsville unharmed. The episode ends with him laughing evilly at his apparent luck. [[note]]Of course, he's still small size and his town is destroyed. So... yeah. Might not be laughing for much longer if any of the protagonists find him.[[/note]]]]
* KarmicTransformation: In "Chillogy", Jessica uses her lemonade stand in Karlsville to try to scam the townsfolk by holding back her supply to drive up the demand. When this is revealed and she's called a "greedy little pig", she turns into a [[PigMan Pig Girl]].
* PopulationXAndCounting: The ''Chillogy'' three-parter features the miniature town of Karlsville, which draws people into it through various means. Whenever this happens, the population sign automatically changes. When the two protagonists from the first two episodes must re-enter Karlsville in order to save the younger brother of the male protagonist, they manually change the sign in order to transport themselves there.
* RecursiveCanon: A few of the books can be seen on the bookshelf in the background of part two of the "Chillogy" three-parter.
* UltimateAuthorityMayor: Justified in the multi-part episode "Chillogy", whose MonsterOfTheWeek, known only as Karl, is the mayor of a miniature town that sucks kids into it so he can torment and kill them. Since Karlsville itself is a supernatural environment controlled by Karl, he's a full-blown RealityWarper while inside of it.

->''"Viewer beware -- you're in for a scare...huhuhu!"''

!!This show contains examples of:


* AbledInTheAdaptation: In the book version of ''Monster Blood'', Aunt Kathyrn is deaf but in the episode, she is merely a bit hard of hearing.
* AccidentalMisnaming: In "How to Kill a Monster", Gretchen's grandparents keep calling her step-brother Clark "Craig".
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Drew's dad snickers when Walker sprays him with a water gun, to explain the "stormy" of "Dark and Stormy Knight".
* AdamWesting: The TropeNamer himself as the Galloping Gazelle in the TV episode and video game of ''Attack of the Mutant''. It seems fitting that the Gallopsing Gazelle is a LargeHam and a DirtyCoward.
* ActorAllusion: At one point in ''How I Got My Shrunken Head'', Kareen's father calls her Princess. She is played by Rebecca Henderson, who previously played Margret in ''Stay Out of the Basement'', a character who was referred to as Princess by her dad.
* AdaptationDistillation:
** Even though most of the original books were fairly short, a number of them had pretty complex plots. So much so that even the ones that required two parter adaptations mostly retain the basic outlines of the books.
** The plot of ''The Haunted House Game'' retains the "haunted board game" plot, but the TV episode turns the story into a ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''-esque adventure as the two kids are sucked into the board game and forced to play for their lives against ghosts planning to add them to their collection.
* AdaptationDyeJob:
** Slappy is [[EvilRedhead a redhead]] instead of a brunette. Visually this makes him a sort of CompositeCharacter with Mr. Wood, who [[UnInstallment doesn't appear]].
** The Creeps from "Calling All Creeps" are yellow in the show, but purple in the book.
* AdaptationExpansion:
** This happens sometimes, mostly due to the source story being too thin. One notable example is "The Perfect School," a ten-page short story expanded into a ''two-part'' TV episode.
** ''The Haunted Mask II''. The book was simply about Steve, one of the kids Carly Beth scared in the first book, finding an old man mask that gradually began turning him into an old man (pretty much the first ''Haunted Mask'' book, only with a supporting character, also from the first book). The TV episode is the same thing, only there's an added subplot about the mask Carly Beth wore in the first book returning from the dead to take revenge on her.
** ''Welcome to Dead House'' features the earlier reveal about the gas leak in Dark Falls via an old newspaper, but Amanda's family don't learn what it really did to the town until later. Also, we learn that the reason Amanda heard voices in her room and the source of the draft she felt came from a hole in her closet. There's also an added subplot about a tacky dried flower wreath Mrs. Benson thinks is a good luck charm but might actually be the cause of the strange occurrences in the house. [[spoiler: It's not, but it actually ''was'' protecting Amanda's family until they were tricked into destroying it.]]
** ''The House of No Return'' gives a tragic backstory to the ghosts haunting the titular house. They were a married couple whose infant child died when it fell through a weak spot in the floor. They were so stricken with grief they turned into hermits, spending the rest of their days constantly arguing with each other inside the house before they die. They collect children because they're trying to replace the family they had when they were still alive.
* AdaptationNameChange:
** Wolf in the novel ''The Werewolf of Fever Swamp'' is named "Vandal" in the television series.
** Mr. [=McCall=]'s first name in the television version of ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'' is Major instead of Bill in the novel.
** In the book version, Amaz-O was turned into a rabbit by an evil sorcerer named Frank. The TV version changes it to El Sydney.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange:
** Mr. [=McCall=] was a little more friendly in the book (at least to Joe), in the TV episode ''Major'' [=McCall=] is cold and militant to his neighbors.
** Michael's dad in "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom" is a little more temperamental, since he gets angrier when Tara and later Michael for touching the clock, and Michael again when he ran to the antique store.
* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The TV adaptation changed a few endings from [[Literature/{{Goosebumps}} the books]]:
** The original book "The Blob That Ate Everyone" ended with a bizarre twist ending that revealed the whole story to have been written by two blobs. In the episode based on that book, this ending was simply left out, possibly out of fear that it would be too {{narm}}y on screen even by the goofy standards of the show.
** The book version of "BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor" had a sadder ending where Samantha undoes the negative effects of her wishes, but is then turned into a bird because of a wish made by the AlphaBitch in her class. In the TV version this just becomes straight LaserGuidedKarma when the AlphaBitch instead wishes to be "admired forever" and is turned into a park statue.
** The ending of ''Night Of The Living Dummy III'' is far more pleasant. The book ends with Trina and Dan getting GroundedForever for all the terrible things that Zane and Slappy framed them for, Trina giving Slappy to Zane as a present as revenge for getting them in trouble, and a strong implication that Slappy is going to make Zane's life just as much of a hell as he did for them. In the TV version, Zane's misdeeds are exposed to the parents (while Slappy does none himself here), clearing Trina and Dan's names. [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty Zane is punished with several hard chores for it]], but afterwards, he and his cousins admit both their faults to each other and reconcile. After a close encounter with Slappy the following night, Zane leaves with his Uncle on pleasant terms with his cousins, even expressing interest in having them come visit them on the holidays. All's well that ends well.
** "A Shocker On Shock Street" ends with Erin and Marty revealed to be robots that were meant to test out the horror theme park, who end up being shut down when the staff believes they might be malfunctioning due to their odd behavior. The TV Version adds in an extra scene where they reactivate by themselves and get revenge on their creator, who was in the middle of building their replacements.
** The ending to "Awesome Ants" is mostly the same, with the protagonist waking up from his "nightmare" about [[BigCreepyCrawlies supersized ants]] to find that [[PersecutionFlip giant ants keep humans in town-sized vivaria]]. However, in the book this is explicitly meant to be karmic since it resulted from the food pellets that the boy gave them, and the ants kept growing until they took over. In the episode, it's more of a TomatoSurprise since it's indicated that ants have always been the dominant species on Earth, and he was really just dreaming about a role reversal.
** The book version of "Go Eat Worms" had Todd take up butterfly collecting, only to get attacked by a giant butterfly. In the episode, Todd goes fishing, only to get pulled underwater by vengeful fish. They spare him when he promises not to fish anymore, but make him swim back.
** The book version of "The Barking Ghost" ended with a DownerEnding where the protagonist Cooper and the girl he befriended fail to get their human bodies back from the FreakyFridayFlip caused by the ghost dogs due to some stray chipmunks wandering in and causing the two to switch bodies with them instead. In the TV version, the two successfully get switched back to their bodies, while Cooper's BigBrotherBully is the one who gets his body switched with a chipmunk.
* AdaptationalBadass: Slappy now has the ability to bring other dummies to life, and turn people into dummies, still [[AndIMustScream awake and aware, but unable to move without a puppeteer.]] Though he's still mostly a cruel prankster, this makes him far more dangerous than he was in the book series at the time.
** He'd eventually gain the latter ability in Goosebumps Horrorland, but was explicitly taught how by another villain, and in practice only transforms the victim's ''head.''
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Roger in ''Welcome to Camp Nightmare'' wasn't introduced until about midway through the book, while in the episode he first appears at the very start.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** The stage magician Amaz-O in the TV version of "Bad Hare Day", while he was a jerkass in the book.
** Greg Banks and Shari Walker in the TV version of "Say Cheese and Die!" come off a bit more likeable and heroic than their book counterparts, Greg particularly. For example, [[spoiler: in the book he takes the camera back to the abandoned house he found it, all but dragging his friend Shari with him, whereas in the television version he initially goes by himself, believing wrongly that Spidey is holding Shari prisoner there in exchange for the camera, and gets joined by Shari who voluntarily accompanies him. Also, Greg gets to fight back more enthusiastically in the tv version than his counterpart, while Shari snaps Spidey's picture on purpose instead of by accident.]]
** Conan Barber from the ''Monster Blood'' books, appears only once in the show exclusive episode ''More Monster Blood,'' where he not only helps save the day, but afterwards is all but shown to have made a HeelFaceTurn.
** The Shopkeeper from ''The Haunted Mask'' is another example. In the book, he sells Carly Beth a mask that he knows is cursed for only $30. In the TV adaptation, he flat out refuses to sell the mask, and Carly Beth winds up stealing it instead. In the TV adaptation of ''The Haunted Mask II'', he is seen burning all the masks, and he actively attempts to stop Carly Beth's old mask from coming back from the dead to get revenge on her (although he ultimately fails and ends up possessed). None of this happened in the book.
* AdaptationalJerkass:
** The man Sue and Eddie meet when they escape the tower in ''A Night in Terror Tower'' is more kind and helpful in the book, while in the episode he is more antagonistic towards them.
** The protagonist of ''Cry of the Cat'' and her friend Ryan were decently nice people in the book but are spoiled child stars in the episode. They get better.
** Brian in ''The Perfect School'' was sent to the school due to simply not being the ideal kid in the story, while in the episode it's because of a cruel prank he played on his brother.
* AdaptationalJobChange: In the short story of ''Awesome Antz'', Mr. Lantz is a science teacher but in the episode, he's an exterminator.
* AdaptationalKarma: Some of the KarmaHoudini characters from the book series get punished for their actions in the TV episodes. This includes Judith from ''Be Careful What You Wish For'', who is TakenForGranite, Mr. Saur from ''Say Cheese And Die Again!'' who [[spoiler: loses all his hair thanks to the camera while everyone laughs at him]], the older brother from ''The Barking Ghost'' who [[spoiler: is the only one who gets turned into a chipmunk]].
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Book Drew in ''Attack of the Jack o Lanterns" was [[spoiler:in on the prank that Shane and Shauna did, so she was playing up her fear when the jack-o-lanterns started terroizing the kids]]. In the TV episode, the twins just tell her they'll handle the details and bring Tabby and Lee to a designated meeting spot. Drew becomes legitimately scared that the pumpkin heads they see aren't Shane and Shauna, and warns Tabby and Lee.
** Tabby and Lee are a little catty and arrogant, but nowhere near the bullies, they were in the book. They obviously see Halloween as a time to have fun.
** Mr. Chesney, the mailman, doesn't use a shotgun to threaten kids. While Hannah assumes he's ignoring her and DrivesLikeCrazy, [[spoiler:he legitimately couldn't see her. In the climax, he rescues Danny from his house when Danny accidentally sets it on fire and gets locked in, showing no hard feelings while creeped out about a piano playing on its own]].
** ''Very'' downplayed with Tara from "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom". While she still isn't a good kid at all here, most of her more disturbing sociopathic behavior from the book (such as tormenting the family cat and getting her brother beat up), are not shown or mentioned, with the worst thing she does in the episode being humiliating Michael at his birthday party, and the implication that she was the way she is since birth is not present either. This makes her come off more as a typical bratty younger sibling than the EnfanteTerrible she was in the book. The parents, while still not ideal, are far nicer to Micheal compared to the book.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Frequently.
** The townspeople of Dark Falls become more sinister than they were in the book. In the original story, while the kids liked to mess with Amanda and Josh's heads, there was still an undercurrent of sadness and tragedy in their actions, and they don't seem to particularly enjoy what they have to do to survive. In the TV show, once the truth is revealed, the kids and adults become rather maliciously gleeful as they corner the Bensons.
** While he wasn't exactly a NiceGuy in the book, Mr. [=McCall=] in "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" is reimagined as a DrillSergeantNasty ex-military man.
** While Sammy and his parents in the book of "My Best Friend is Invisible" are [[spoiler: revealed to be aliens, with Brent being one of the few humans alive]], they're still implied to be nice enough people. But in the episode it's revealed that [[spoiler: the aliens actually took over Earth and Brent turned invisible to escape them, and the episode ends with Sammy and his parents ganging up on Brent.]]
* AdaptedOut: Michael from ''Say Cheese and Die!'', Edna from ''The Headless Ghost'', April from ''Let's Get Invisible'', Clay from ''One Day at Horrorland'', Gretchen and Clark's dog Charley in "How to Kill a Monster, Joe's dog Buster, Mrs. [=McCall=], and Joe's friend, Michael "Moose" [=McCall=] in "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes", Linda in ''A Shocker on Shock Street'', and [[spoiler: the author blob from the ending of ''The Blob That Ate Everyone'']] all don't appear in the TV adaptation.
* AdultFear:
** Drew's parents discuss if it's safe for their daughter to go trick-or-treating after a string of disappearances. They make Drew promise to stick with the group and head home if there's any trouble. Suffice to say, Drew doesn't get the chance to do this because the Jack-O-Lanterns make sure she and her friends can't run. [[spoiler:It was only Shane and Shauna pulling a prank on Tabitha and Lee, but they tease Drew to not eat too much candy or she'll be their next meal]].
** In ''The Ghost Next Door'', Danny's mother is worried when her son runs around talking to someone she can't see and checks his forehead for a fever. [[spoiler:She's also there in the climax when Mr. Chesney rescues him from a fire, staying by his side when Hannah says farewell to him]].
* AgeLift: Mr. [=McCall=] in "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" is at least in his 50s or 60s (old enough to have been in Vietnam at least), while in the books he's presumably young enough to have a son around the same age as Joe.
* AllJustADream: Zigzagged in ''Awesome Ants''. [[spoiler:The protagonist's experience turns suspiciously nightmarish as the town is suddenly abandoned, there is a storm outside, and the ants are growing to ever-bigger proportions. Just before he gets killed by one, he wakes up at home and all seems fine. Then he gradually remembers the reality of the situation: in the real world ants are actually mountain-sized, and keep humans secluded in the human equivalent of ant farms and force them to survive on small pellets of blue food. In the book the ants just grew that big rather than always having been so.]]
* AllThereInTheScript: The script for ''My Hairiest Adventure'' reveals that the reason that [[spoiler: Larry's parents took part in Murkin's experiments to turn dogs into dogs is because they can't have kids of their own.]]
* AndIMustScream:
** In "Say Cheese and Die!", [[spoiler:Spidey gets trapped inside his own camera, until two bullies accidentally set him free.]]
** In "The Haunted House Game", any player who [[TheGamePlaysYou dies inside the game]] becomes a new game piece.
** In "Chillogy", Karl tries to turn one of the kids he torments into a sentient plastic figure.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Quite a few of them, just like the books, with the most notable examples including the sister in ''Click'' and Tara in ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom''.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Jillian gets hit with this hard during the climax of "Bride of the Living Dummy," wherein she doesn't believe Mary-Ellen is alive ''while she and Katie are running from Slappy''.
* AscendedExtra: The evil magician Frank, mentioned in the book version of "Bad Hare Day", actually appears in the TV episode and is [[AdaptationNameChange renamed as El Sydney]].
* AssholeVictim: Major [=McCall=] from "Revenge Of The Lawn Gnomes," Ritter from "Deep Trouble," Judith in "Be Careful What You Wish For," Mr. Wright from "A Shocker On Shock Street" and Adam from "The Blob That Ate Everyone."
* BalefulPolymorph:
** In the first "Chillogy" episode, [[MonsterOfTheWeek Karl]] convinces Jessica to sell lemonade for exorbitant prices by artificially driving up demand. Then he exposes her and turns her into a PigMan for being a "greedy little pig".
** In "Be Careful What You Wish For", everyone in the world except Samantha is turned into a fly by the LiteralGenie witch when she blurts out "All of you just buzz off!". In the book, everyone simply vanished until she could [[{{Wishplosion}} correct the badly-worded wish]].
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In ''More Monster Blood'', a black man is the first to get sucked up by the monster blood.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: A few examples, but a particularly notable one is that the rifles from "Welcome to Camp Nightmare" are replaced with crossbow-like weapons in the TV adaptation.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: After it is revealed that Larry in ''My Hairest Adventure'' is a [[spoiler: dog, the [[OpeningShoutOut exact footage of the dog from the intro]] is used and Larry comments that this "looks familiar".]]
* BritishStuffiness: In "A Night in Terror Tower", English locals in a restaurant are portrayed as stereotypically snobbish and prim and proper.

* CassandraTruth:
** In the "Night of the Living Dummy" series, every kid try to tell them that their ventriloquist dummy happens to be alive, but no one believes them.
** In "The Ghost Next Door", Danny tries to tell Hannah that she's a ghost, but his mother never believes him since she's deaf.
* CatScare: One happens in "The Girl Who Cried Monster".
* ChekhovsSkill: Hannah is shown to practice piano regularly. [[spoiler:She uses it to alert Mr. Chesney that someone is inside his house while it's burning. He rushes inside and gets Danny out before he's burned alive]].
* CompositeCharacter: Because Micheal was cut out of ''Say Cheese and Die'', Bird takes does all the things Micheal did in the book.
* CompressedAdaptation: The AdaptationDistillation of the books sometimes would amount to this if necessary, especially if said episode was only a one parter.
** In the adaptation of ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'' Michael's multiple regressions into his younger years, such as third grade, second grade, kindergarten, etc, are reduced to reliving his sixth birthday, which amalgamates multiple elements from the other regressions, such as discovering Tara's been unborn, finding the antique store is closed for vacation, etc.
** In the adaptation of ''Night of the Living Dummy II'', Slappy's multiple acts of vandalism which Amy is blamed for, such as dumping paint all over Sarah's rug and painting "Amy" all of her walls, are reduced to a single act of painting crude stick figures of the family on Sarah's new painting.
* ContentWarnings: The Fox Kids run coincided with the rise of the American TV rating system, so many episodes started with a warning that "Goosebumps is rated TV-Y7, because it may be too spooky for kids under seven." Originally, it had their own rating called "GB-7," but when the FCC and the television industry created the content ratings that were imposed on all TV shows (except for news shows and sports), they had to conform to that. During the broadcasts on the Hub, the warning returned, stating, "The following program is rated TV-Y7-FV. Some scenes may be too spooky for children under 7. We suggest watching together as a family."
* CompanyCrossReferences: In ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', when Michael is six years old, his father reads him ''Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog'' as a bedtime story. Both ''Clifford'' and ''Goosebumps'' are properties of Scholastic Inc.
* CostumesChangeYourSize: In "Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns," [[spoiler:twin brother and sister Shane and Shana are revealed to be alien friends of the lead protagonist. When in their human disguises, they are at an average pre-teen kid-size, but after removing their LatexPerfection masks to reveal their green Muppet-esque alien heads, suddenly they are way taller, appearing even larger than an average adult human.]]
* DeathByAdaptation:
** [[spoiler:The Swamp Hermit]] in ''The Werewolf of Fever Swamp'' lives in the book, but in the episode he makes a HeroicSacrifice to save Grady. Also, in the book, the werewolf is simply driven away. In the episode, it is knocked into quicksand and drowns.
** In the TV version of ''One Day at Horrorland'', [[spoiler: the Morris family wins a car after surviving Horrorland - and then are shown to drive over a cliff and probably die. We then see the Horrors watching the end of the show.]] The ending of the book had a slightly less cruel twist where [[spoiler: after escaping from Horrorland in a stolen bus, they discover one of the Horrors has followed them and offers them tickets back to the park. There's also a sequel.]]
** The TV adaptation of ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'' ends with [[spoiler:Major [=McCall=], who is just Mr. [=McCall=] in the books, being [[TakenForGranite turned into a lawn ornament]] by the gnomes.]]
** In the novel ''Welcome to Dead House'', [[spoiler:ThePowerOfTheSun only temporarily kills the undead townspeople of Dark Falls. The TwistEnding reveals they just came back to life and are luring a new family in.]] In the TV episode, however, [[spoiler:there's no indication that any of the individuals (amounting to most of the town) disintegrated by the sun will return, with the TwistEnding being that the Bensons' dog Petey [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie is now undead]].]]
* DemotedToExtra: Uncle Cal in ''Night of the Living Dummy III''. In the book, he stayed at Trina and Dan's along with Zane, but in the adaptation he merely drops him off and doesn't appear again until the ending.
* DrillSergeantNasty: In the TV adaptation of ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'', Mr. [=McCall=] is renamed to Major [=McCall=] and is a mean ex-army officer.
* DisabledInTheAdaptation: In ''The Ghost Next Door'', it's not confirmed if Danny lied that his mother was deaf one way or the other. Here, we see that she actually is; Danny uses sign language to speak with her, and it explains why she can't hear Hannah. Hannah apologizes to Danny and says she wants to learn sign language to speak with his mother. [[spoiler:She never gets the chance, finding out she was dead and only Danny could see her]].
* DiedHappilyEverAfter: In ''The Ghost Next Door'', [[spoiler:Hannah is allowed to reunite with her family in the afterlife after saving Danny's life. Even better, this destroys the shadow who was stalking her all day. She goes to hug her mother, having missed her parents and siblings all day, before waving to Danny and fading away]].
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** In the episode ''Don't Go to Sleep'', Matt is taken to court by the [[spoiler: Reality Police and ''put on trial'' simply because '''he said his reality sucked''']]. It doesn't help that [[spoiler: [[HereWeGoAgain he's ''once again'' forced to endure it]] simply because he said his reality was '''boring''']].
** In ''Squeal of Fortune'', the townspeople decide to [[ChildEater cut Jessica up and eat her]] after she's turned into a human-pig hybrid, simply because she scammed them out of money.
* EndlessCorridor: In "The Haunted House Game", the protagonists have to escape the haunted house itself to win the game with their lives. The corridor to the front door stretches out into infinity before them, requiring them to pull it towards them with a fishing rod.
* TheEndOrIsIt:
** "A Night In Terror Tower": The two protagonists and the sorcerer escape execution by traveling to the future, but at the last moment it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Lord High Executioner had obtained one of the magic stones]]. (Though this is only in the TV episode, the book has a happy ending.)
** "Stay Out of the Basement": Margaret hears the flowers claiming to be her real father. But are any of them really her father or just flowers that developed sapience from being near her father's basement?
* {{Egopolis}}: Karl Knave, the villain of the "Chillogy" episodes, makes his residence in a miniature town he rules called Karlsville.
* EpisodeOnAPlane: "More Monster Blood", in which the ravenous green BlobMonster is released onboard a passenger plane and proceeds to devour everyone. This plot was exclusive to the series.
* EvilOldFolks: In the "Haunted House Game", one of the spots the two kids land on takes them to a house where two old women are playing a game. They're supposed to ask them for something, which turns out to be an amulet that saps the life out of the girl's arm.
* EvilWearsBlack: The Lord High Executioner from "A Night in Terror Tower" wears a sinister black outfit, combined with a black BeardOfEvil.
* ExorcistHead: ''Night of the Living Dummy III'' ends with Zane doing this, saying "I'll be seeing you real soon", and turning his head back around to face forward.
* {{Expy}}: Curtis from "More Monster Blood" seems to be loosely based on Evan's cousin Kermit from the books, but played as a LovableNerd instead of a NerdyBully.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Eddie and Sue in ''A Night in Terror Tower'' even say this word-for-word as they face the executioner's ax, although they do manage to pull off a last-minute escape.
* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: ''Say Cheese and Die - Again!'' has another young actress as Shari when she's had her picture taken.
* ForTheEvulz: Karl from the TV-only story ''Chillogy'', the ruler of a miniature toy town aptly called Karlsville. He's never given a back story but when asked why he's bothering to turn one of the main characters into a plastic slave, Karl simply states "Everyone needs a hobby." His hobby is to turn kids into his slaves.
* FunHatingConfiscatingAdult: Major [=McCall=] in the ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'' adaptation, who confiscates anything that lands on his lawn.
* TheGamePlaysYou: The show adapted "The Haunted House Game" story, but changed almost everything. Instead the Haunted House Game is a ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''-esque boardgame that two kids are sucked inside of and have to find the exit of the haunted house to escape alive.
* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: In the episode "The Haunted Mask," when Carly Beth sneaks into the back room at the costume store, the shopkeeper has a chemistry set on a table for no readily apparent reason which passes by in the foreground. All of the vessels are filled with a bright blue liquid. We later learn he makes the haunted masks himself (and indeed his [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] in the ''Goosebumps Collector's Cap Book'' pegs him as a failed chemistry student), but the glassware in the episode doesn't seem to serve much purpose besides being set dressing because the shopkeeper never uses any of it or alludes to its role at all.

* HauntedHouseHistorian: In the episode "The Headless Ghost" the MandatoryTwistEnding reveals that the old tour guide was a ghost all along. However, unlike the book, he's actually evil and tries to use magic to [[AndIMustScream trap the main character inside a painting]].
* HereWeGoAgain: Several of the endings, in correlation with the books. In fact, ''My Hairiest Adventure'' ends with this trope being quoted word-for-word.
* InformedAbility: Slappy claims that reading the incantation not only brings him to life, but makes the one reading it his "slave." We're never given any indication that this is the case. His second and third appearances at least give him the power to sort of back this up (he can turn people into dummies and possess people), but in both cases, these powers are shown being used against people who didn't summon him.
* InNameOnly: The only thing ''The Haunted House Game'' and ''Teacher's Pet'' retain from the short stories they are based on is their basic concepts but otherwise go in a completely different direction with them.
* JumpScare: At the beginning of "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes", a gnome suddenly seem to have attacked Joe after they took them inside the garage.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Karl, the villain of the three-part episode "Chillogy". At the end the heroes believe that one of the miniature figures they're burning in the fireplace has to be Karl, but it turns out he escaped the destruction of Karlsville unharmed. The episode ends with him laughing evilly at his apparent luck. [[note]]Of course, he's still small size and his town is destroyed. So... yeah. Might not be laughing for much longer if any of the protagonists find him.[[/note]]]]

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''One Day at Horror Land'', the host of Raw Deal announces that they are going to commercial, just as the show itself cuts to commercial.
* MouthCam: Used in ''The Blob That Ate Everyone'' before the blob eats [[spoiler:Adam]].
* MythologyGag: The TV episode of "Be Careful What You Wish For" ends with [[spoiler:a crow perching on top of the statue of Judith, Samantha's bully. The book ends with Sam being turned into a bird (but never revealed what kind) after Clarissa becomes Judith's wishmaster. In both versions, Judith smiles.]]
* NamedByTheAdaptation: The episodes will sometimes give the characters last names that the book did not mention, such has Mark Rowe in ''How I Got My Shrunken Head''. They will also give the parents first names, such as Mark's mother Alice.
* NeverTrustATitle: Mt. Blankenship in ''Teacher's Pet'' is changed from a teacher to an instructor at a nature reserve, making the title inaccurate.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The people of Dark Falls. They're undead, but also mutants, and also possess some qualities of vampires (such as being WeakenedByTheLight) and in addition to this, they need (or think they need) to eat healthy, living people to survive. So they're mutant vampire cannibals.
* NowYouTellMe: In "How to Kill a Monster", Clark says this after he and Gretchen read the second later after killing the monster, explain that they have monster trapped inside and warn them not to let it out.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: "How I Got My Shrunken Head" has the villain experimenting on his henchmen to activate the powers of Jungle Magic. Instead, they're possessed by an unknown energy that reduces them to mindless slaves.

* PostWakeUpRealization: In the episode "Say Cheese and Die - Again!", Greg wakes up and stretches his arms upward, only for his shirt to partially rip. Then he walks to the mirror and sees in horror that he's fat.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Done mildly with Steve and Carly Beth in the episode versions of "The Haunted Mask" and "The Haunted Mask II." In the first, Chuck and Steve both claim that they only teased Carly Beth "because we liked her," something the book never mentioned or even hinted at. In the second, Steve gets his mask off through ThePowerOfLove when he makes a HeroicSacrifice to save Carly Beth from the first mask (something that never even came up in the book, which had a significantly different plot).
* RaceLift:
** Iris from ''Calling All Creeps'' who is described in the book as having blond hair and blue eyes, and is Filipino in the TV adaptation.
** Danny from ''Go Eat Worms!'' and Aaron from ''The Girl Who Cried Monster'', who are both described as red-haired, are black in the TV adaptation.
** Lee from ''Attack of the Jack O' Lanterns'' goes from black to white, while the protagonist becomes black.
* RecursiveCanon:
** In "Attack of the Mutant", an advertisement of the ''Goosebumps'' TV show appears on the side of the bus Skipper rides in.
** A few of the books can be seen on the bookshelf in the background of part two of the Chillogy.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation:
** Freddy Martinez and Cara, best friends in the book "Vampire Breath", are said to look like siblings. In the episode, they actually are siblings (thus Cara becomes a vampire instead of a werewolf).
** Amy's best friend Margo and Alicia, the girl whose hand gets caught by Slappy, are sisters in the adaptation of ''Night Of The Living Dummy II''.
* RingRingCRUNCH: Happens in “Say Cheese And Die-Again!” Because Greg has suddenly become fat due to the camera, his bloated hand breaks the alarm clock that was ringing early in the morning.
* SayMyName: In "Say Cheese and Die - Again!", Greg calls out Spidey's name when he couldn't find the camera.
* ShipTease: In The Haunted Mask II, Steve saves Carly Beth from being taken over by the mask. The shop owner later explains that this was a “symbol of love,” implying Steve may have feelings for Carly Beth.
* ShoutOut:
** Dr. Hawlings in ''How I Got My Shrunken Head'' is stated to have been sent by [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Miskatonic University]].
** In ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', a six year old Micheal does the Film/HomeAlone scream.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: In ''Stay Out of the Basement'', Margaret knows [[SpotTheImposter which Mr. Brewer is her real father]] when the real one calls her by her AffectionateNickname, "Princess".
* SoreLoser: In "The Haunted House Game", the two villains refuse to let the two protagonists leave the house even after they won the game fair and square.
* SparedByTheAdaptation:
** [[spoiler:Spidey gets killed by the camera]] in the book of ''Say Cheese and Die!''. While in the TV episode, [[spoiler:he becomes trapped in the camera and eventually released by the two bullies who picked on Craig, but strangely doesn't appear in the TV episode of "Say Cheese and Die - Again!" (except in flashback).]]
** In the book version of ''Be Careful What You Wish For'', when Samantha wishes that Clarissa would grant wishes to someone else, Clarissa becomes Judith's wishmaster and Judith wishes that Samantha would "fly away." Samantha is then turned into a bird and is happy that she no longer has to deal with being bullied and mocked by her peers. In the TV version, Judith, after Samantha wishes that Clarissa would grant wishes to someone else, wishes that wherever she was in the world, people would stop and admire her. Clarissa then turns Judith into a park statue where, true to her word, people stopped and admired her.
** Zane's camera in ''Night of the Living Dummy III''. In the book it was smashed by Slappy to get Trina and Dan into trouble, but in the TV episode it remains intact as here Zane is the one who does all the mean acts (including trashing his room and ruining the family dinner, both of which were done by Slappy in the book). So it wouldn't make sense for him to smash something so dear to him (which in the book, Trina points out to Dan, which helps convince them Zane is no longer responsible.)
** The Grool in ''It Came From Beneath the Sink'' is [[spoiler: killed by being nice to it in the book]], but in the episode it only subdues him and Kat has to [[spoiler: keep it around and force it to listen to music to keep it calm.]]
** The book version of ''Werewolf Skin'' ends with [[spoiler:Alex's friend Hannah revealing she is a werewolf, then pouncing and sinking her teeth into him]]. The episode ends with [[spoiler:Hannah revealing she is a werewolf, then telling Alex she doesn't bite.]]
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: While most episodes center around normal kids living in suburbia, ''Cry of the Cat'' follows a child actress filming a movie. There's also some meta jokes about the series.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: In the show's intro, when the G of the ''Goosebumps'' logo passes over a dog ([[spoiler:the dog form of Larry at the end of ''My Hairiest Adventure'']]), and the dog's eyes turn gold.
* SynchroVox: A frequent special effect, used to depict Carly Beth's head speaking in "The Haunted Mask", baby's dialogue in "Strained Peas.", and [[spoiler: the Jacobs family in ''My Best Friend Is Invisible'']].
* TakenForGranite:
** In ''BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor'', Judith, after Samantha wishes that Clarissa would grant wishes to someone else, wishes that wherever she was in the world, people would stop and admire her. Clarissa then turns Judith into a park statue where, true to her word, people stopped and admired her.
** In "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes," Major [=McCall=] (Mr. [=McCall=] in the book) is turned into a lawn ornament at the end.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: No matter how many times Slappy gets destroyed, he's somehow able to be repaired by the next episode.
* TooDumbToLive: When cornered by the eponymous monster in "How To Kill A Monster", [[spoiler:the younger brother tries to fend it off by sticking his hand in its mouth. Luckily for him [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth the monster is allergic to humans and promptly dies]], otherwise he would have been lunch.]]

* UnInstallment:
** ''Return of the Mummy'' was adapted. ''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'', which it was a sequel to, wasn't.
** While both ''Night of the Living Dummy II'' and ''III'' (and ''Bride'') made their way into the [=TV=] series, the original ''Night of the Living Dummy'' was never adapted from the novel.
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: Richard and Carolyn Hawlings from ''How I Got My Shrunken Head'' go from being to siblings to being husband and wife.
* WeakenedByTheLight:
** As in the book, the undead denizens of Dark Falls in "Welcome to Dead House" find direct sunlight intolerable. Instead of pushing a tree over to expose the sun, the Bensons smash out a window inside of a house during TheSiege after the townspeople have managed to get inside of the house, causing their undead neighbors to disintegrate into EmptyPilesOfClothing. [[spoiler:Unlike the book, it appears as if this does permanently kill them, and the TwistEnding is something completely different.]]
** Also, the gnomes in ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'', as the light freezes them.
* WhamLine: From "Welcome to Dead House."
-->'''Mrs. Somerset''': You thought that wreath would keep you safe. Well, [[spoiler: you were ''right''.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: After Spidey's released from the camera, we're never told what happens to him. Even in "Say Cheese and Die - Again!", he's only seen in a flashback.]]
* WinToExit: In "The Haunted House Game" episode, two kids are sucked into a magical board game inside a creepy abandoned house. The only way to get out is to win the game while [[TheGamePlaysYou not getting killed]].
* WoundedGazelleGambit: In "The Haunted House Game" episode, a little girl lures older kids to the abandoned house by claiming that she lost her cat there so that they'll find and play [[TheGamePlaysYou the deadly board game]]. At the end of the episode [[HereWeGoAgain she performs the same trick with another set of victims]].

* ContentWarnings: The Fox Kids run coincided with the rise of the American TV rating system, so many episodes started with a warning that "Goosebumps is rated TV-Y7, because it may be too spooky for kids under seven." Originally, it had their own rating called "GB-7," but when the FCC and the television industry created the content ratings that were imposed on all TV shows (except for news shows and sports), they had to conform to that. During the broadcasts on the Hub, the warning returned, stating, "The following program is rated TV-Y7-FV. Some scenes may be too spooky for children under 7. We recommend watching together as a family."

** In ''Chicken Chicken'', a witch places a curse on two children, putting them through a slow, painful and humiliating transformation into chickens. The reason? They accidentally bumped into her and didn't apologize for it.

** The protagonist of ''Cry of the Cat'' and he friend Ryan were decently nice people in the book but are spoiled child stars in the episode. They get better.

* ChekhovsSkill: Hannah is shown to practice piano regularly. [[spoiler:She uses it to ]].

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Eddie and Sue in ''A Night in Terror Tower'' even say this word-for-word as they face the executioner's axe, although they do manage to pull off a last-minute escape.

* AdaptationalNiceGirl:
** Book Drew in ''Attack of the Jack o Lanterns" was [[spoiler:in on the prank that Shane and Shauna did, so she was playing up her fear when the jack-o-lanterns started terroizing the kids]]. In the TV episode, the twins just tell her they'll handle the details and bring Tabby and Lee to a designated meeting spot. Drew becomes legitimately scared that the pumpkin heads they see aren't Shane and Shauna, and warns Tabby and Lee.
** Tabby and Lee are a little catty and arrogant, but nowhere near the bullies, they were in the book. They obviously see Halloween as a time to have fun.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: ''Very'' downplayed with Tara from "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom". While she still isn't a good kid at all here, most of her more disturbing sociopathic behavior from the book (such as tormenting the family cat and getting her brother beat up), are not shown or mentioned, with the worst thing she does in the episode being humiliating Michael at his birthday party, and the implication that she was the way she is since birth is not present either. This makes her come off more as a typical bratty younger sibling than the EnfanteTerrible she was in the book. The parents, while still not ideal, are far nicer to Micheal compared to the book.

* CostumesChangeYourSize: In "Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns," [[spoiler:twin brother and sister Shane and Shana are revealed to be alien friends of the lead protagonist. When in their human disguises, they are at an average pre-teen kid size, but after removing their LatexPerfection masks to reveal their green Muppet-esque alien heads, suddenly they are way taller, appearing even larger than an average adult human.]]

* AdamWesting: The TropeNamer himself as the Galloping Gazelle in the TV episode and video game of ''Attack of the Mutant''.

** The protagonist of ''Cry of the Cat'' and he friend Ryan were decently nice people in the book but are spoiled child stars in the episode.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In the episode ''Don't Go to Sleep'', Matt is taken to court by the [[spoiler: Reality Police and ''put on trial'' simply because '''he said his reality sucked''']]. It doesn't help that [[spoiler: [[HereWeGoAgain that he's ''once again'' forced to endure it]] simply because he said his reality was '''boring''']].

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: In ''Stay Out of the Basement'', Margaret knows [[SpotTheImposter which Mr. Brewer is her real father]] when the real one calls her by her nickname, "Princess".

** The ending of ''Night Of The Living Dummy III'' is far more pleasant. The book ends with Trina and Dan getting GroundedForever for all the terrible things that Zane and Slappy framed them for, Trina giving Slappy to Zane as a present as revenge for getting them in trouble, and a strong implication that Slappy is going to make Zane's life just as much of a hell as he did for them. In the tv version, Zane's misdeeds are exposed to the parents (while Slappy does none himself here), clearing Trina and Dan's names. [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty Zane is punished with several hard chores for it]], but afterwards, he and his cousins admit both their faults to each other and reconcile. After a close encounter with Slappy the following night, Zane leaves with his Uncle on pleasant terms with his cousins, even expressing interest in having them come visit them on the holidays. All's well that ends well.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Jillian gets hit with this hard during the climax of "Bride of the Living Dummy," wherein she doesn't believe Mary Ellen is alive ''while her and Katie are running from Slappy''.

** In the adaptation of ''Night of the living dummy II'', Slappy's multiple acts of vandalism which Amy is blamed for, such as dumping paint all over Sarah's rug and painting "Amy" all of her walls, are reduced to a single act of painting crude stick figures of the family on Sarah's new painting.
* ContentWarnings: The Fox Kids run coincided with the rise of the American TV rating system, so many episodes started with a warning that "Goosebumps is rated TV-Y7, because it may be too spooky for kids under seven." Originally, it had their own rating called "GB-7," but when the FCC and the television industry created the content ratings that are imposed on all TV shows (except for news shows and sports), they had to conform to that. During the broadcasts on the Hub, the warning returned, stating, "The following program is rated TV-Y7-FV. Some scenes may be too spooky for children under 7. We recommend watching together as a family."

* DemotedToExtra: Uncle Cal in ''Night of the Living Dummy 3''. In the book, he stayed at Trina and Dan's along with Zane, but in the adaptation he merely drops him off and doesn't appear again until the ending.

* InformedAbility: Slappy claims that reading the incantation not only brings him to life, but makes the one reading it his "slave." We're never given any indication that this is the case. His second and third appearances at least give him the power to sorta back this up (he can turn people into dummies and possess people), but in both cases these powers are shown being used against people who didn't summon him.

* PostWakeUpRealization: In the episode "Say Cheese and Die - Again!", the character Greg wakes up and stretches his arms upward, only for his shirt to rip partially. Then he walks to the mirror and sees in horror that he's fat.

** Iris from ''Calling All Creeps'' who is described in the book as having blond hair and blue eyes, is Filipino in the TV adaptation.

** Zane's camera in ''Night of the Living Dummy 3''. In the book it was smashed by Slappy to get Trina and Dan into trouble, but in the TV episode it remains intact as here Zane is the one who does all the mean acts (including trashing his room and ruining the family dinner, both of which were done by Slappy in the book). So it wouldn't make sense for him to smash something so dear to him (which in the book, Trina points out to Dan, which helps convince them Zane is no longer responsible.)

** Slappy is [[EvilRedhead a redhead]] instead of a brunet. Visually this makes him a sort of CompositeCharacter with Mr. Wood, who [[UnInstallment doesn't appear]].
** The Creeps from "Calling All Creep" are yellow in the show, but purple in the book.

* AdaptationalJerkass: The man Sue and Eddie meet when they escape the tower in ''A Night in Terror Tower'' is more kind and helpful in the book, while in the episode he is more antagonistic towards them.

* AdaptedOut: Michael from ''Say Cheese and Die!'', Edna from ''The Headless Ghost'', April, from ''Let's Get Invisible'', Clay from ''One Day at Horrorland'', Gretchen and Clark's dog Charley in "How to Kill a Monster, Joe's dog Buster, Mrs. [=McCall=], and Joe's friend, Michael "Moose" [=McCall=] in "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes", Linda in ''A Shocker on Shock Street'', and [[spoiler: the author blob from the ending of ''The Blob That Ate Everyone'']] all don't appear in the TV adaptation.

* AbledInTheAdaptation: In the book version of ''Monster Blood'', Aunt Kathyrn is deaf but in the episode, hs is merely a bit hard of hearing.

** The book version of "The Barking Ghost" ended with a DownerEnding where the protagonist Cooper and the girl he befriended fail to get their human bodies back from the FreakyFridayFlip caused by the ghost dogs due to some stray chipmunks wandering in and causing the two to switch bodies with them instead. In the TV version, the two successfully get switched back to their bodies, and while Cooper's BigBrotherBully is the one who gets his body switched with a chipmunk.

** [[spoiler:The Swamp Hermit]] in ''The Werewolf of Fever Swamp'' lives in the book, but in the episode he makes a HeroicSacrifice to save Grady.

* TooDumbToLive: When cornered by the eponymous monster in ''How To Kill A Monster'', [[spoiler:the younger brother tries to fend it off by sticking his hand in its mouth. Luckily for him [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth the monster is allergic to humans and promptly dies]], otherwise he would have been lunch.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: After it is revealed that Larry in ''My Hairest Adventure'' is a [[spoiler: dog, the exact footage of the dog from the intro is used and Larry comments that this "looks familiar".]]

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In ''One Day at HorrorLand'', the host of Raw Deal announces that they are going to commercial, just as the show itself cuts to commercial.

* ShoutOut: Dr. Hawlings in ''How I Got My Shrunken Head'' is stated to have been sent by [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Miskatonic University]].