Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Silly really sums it up. Probably the worst episode in the entire season. It was at best uninteresting, the ending (while I suppose trying to illustrate a "moral of the story" type point) was fairly laughable and did not even make sense (even if it is fantasy). Three & a half points simply because it was a nice try at being different...it could have been much better had the plot been developed more.

Ok, so the kid is addicted to arcade games. He finds a pinball machine in the back of the shop where he hopes to work. The owner tells him not to play it, but he does anyway, and finds himself stuck in the shop. (This will be a cautionary tale about listening to adults, apparently.)



The game becomes live-action, with the mall being the setting, and the girl he has a crush on becoming the obligatory princess to be saved. The object of the game is to "crown the princess on the throne."



Long story short, he achieves this. He defeats most enemies with a Super-Soaker, but this is knocked out of his hand by the main boss. The boss tells him that he doesn't win the game until he kills all the characters. The kid essentially says, "Those are the rules. . . but this isn't a game; this is real life. In real life, you make your own rules." He pulls a mini-Soaker out of his pocket and uses it to defeat the boss. (This appears, to me, contradictory to both what the kid just said--in real life, I assure you, you do NOT make your own rules--and to the overall message of the tale. . . but whatever.)



He places the crown on the throne-seated Princess's head. He wins! Oh boy! But, there's a twist: what happens when you win an old-school video game? Oh right. . . YOU GET TO PLAY AGAIN.



The princess and throne disappear, and the kid is at the bottom of the escalator, where the game began. The shop owner, cackling maniacally, appears in the skylights of the mall (from the kid's perspective), and above the pinball machine (in real life). He reminds the kid that he was told not to play the game. He then sarcastically tells him to enjoy the free games, as he will be playing them forever. A disturbingly-huge pinball appears at the top of the escalator. The tale is over.



For such a goofy and relatively un-scary plot, I found the ending to be rather ominous. Though the game was shown in "real life" to be a pinball machine, the world the kid entered did not involve high-speed ball propulsion--he instead played out the story behind the game, so the appearance of a ball implies that this is going to be something different. Also, the controls to a pinball machine are located on the outside. . . so what one can infer from the ending is that this kid is going to spend eternity dodging the physical threat of large projectiles, which he is unable to control, and which will never truly finish him off (as he has unlimited free games). I am reminded somewhat of Prometheus's punishment for stealing fire from the gods. . . except, arguably, Prometheus's crime was more suited to eternal suffering than the "crime" of playing a game of pinball!

This episode sort of reminded me of the "Biship of Battle" tale in the horror film "Nightmares" which was simlar to this tale. The typical morality of this story is it's ok to play these electronic games as long as your able to unplug, but other than that I found this episode a lot of fun and suspensful, a tale for video game and pinball fans like myself. The story had the constant fast pased action of a video game where we saw all kinds of horrible creatures from zombies and a witch. And Ross using weapons of choice like a Super Soker or Marbles. And the mall setting as the battle ground which feels a little similar to Dawn of the Dead but obviously is supposed to reflect Ross's psyche. So in conclusion this episode is as fun as any pinball or video game you've played.

The plot is exciting and teaches the viewer to listen. I loved the idea of the naughty boy being thrown into the game! It was and still remains to be a classic episode for me! I love nickolodeon back in those days, and the show "Are You Afraid of the Dark", was my favorite show ever to aire on that channel. This episode along with: The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors and The Tale of the Dark Music, were my favorite. It is funny how they were all early episodes. Just goes to show that a show that is on for along time usually loses its storyline. Lastly, I wish to tell you that "Are You Afraid Of the Dark" reruns should be shown during Halloween. I say you sent Nickolodeon a letter haha

This episode is cool. I like the fact that the boy has to play the game if he wants to get out but the only problem is, is that he is in the game. He has to use water guns to vaporize hos enemies and he has to ride around on that throne.