The Fat Albert Halloween Special is an animated Halloween special that aired as part of the Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids show. It originally aired on CBS on October 14, 1977.
Plot[]
The special opens with Fat Albert and his friends, the Junkyard Gang, heading over to a store called "Root 'n Rummage Emporium" to get costumes, because it's Halloween time in the city. When the gang get inside and Devery and Rudy ask for service, they find the shopkeeper, Mr. Root, is helping another customer, a woman named Miss Bakewell. Turns out, Miss Bakewell has a scary reputation. She has been known to never talk to anyone and lives in a creepy old house out by a cemetery. However, Fat Albert is not afraid of her, nor does he think she's as spooky or weird as the others say. After Ben causes a little mishap, Mr. Root ushers them out, causing one of the gang to tell Albert that older folks are mean.
Later, the gang meet up with costumes they made themselves. Russel is dressed as a giant, Rudy is dressed as a clown, Weird Harold is dressed as a Matador, "Dumb" Donald is dressed as a ghost, Mushmouth is dressed as a robot, Bucky is dressed like a cowboy, Bill is dressed as a Native American, and Fat Albert is dressed as a superhero. Rudy tells the gang they have to meet Devery at the cemetery. But when they get there, most of the gang is creeped out, except for Rudy. Rudy points to a structure, and the other walk towards it, very slowly. Suddenly, a witch pops out and gives them all a fright.
But one biff by Fat Albert sends Rudy into the Witch and reveals it to be none other than Devery in a witch costume. Rudy and his friend laugh, but Fat Albert tells him that it's not cool going around shocking people. But the rest of the gang denies that they were scared, except for Donald. But Devery knows he had them all "quacking, quaking, and shaking". But Rudy says that what they went through was nothing compared to what they have planned for Ms Bakewell. But first, Devery tells them some preliminaries they have set up.
First, they scare a man named "Old Searchlight" Johnson, then they scare Mudfoot Brown, and the climax will be scaring Miss Bakewell. Albert tries to intervene in the whole plan, but no one listens. They leave the cemetery, and head for the theater to catch a horror movie, but they get blocked by Devery's little sister, Melva. They just ignore her when she tells him to go back home, and head inside the theater. However, Searchlight Johnson throws them out after causing a bunch of noise. But they soon learn that Devery was responsible for getting them kicked out.
The next target is Mudfoot Brown, though Albert protests that he didn't do anything to them to deserve what Devery and the others have planned. Rudy and Devery take the lead, but they soon retreat in fear when they see a headless man, or ghost, inside Mudfoot's house. However, it's just old Mudfoot himself getting into his night shirt. The rest of the gang show up looking for a treat, but Mudfoot just takes all the treats they got up to that point, and the Junkyard Gang doesn't even mind a bit. However, Devery calls them dumb for thinking of Mudfoot as a nice guy. But Albert notices that it's getting late, and they should all be heading for home.
But Devery, who has his sister held up with his left hand after she tells him to head home since he was grounded, tells the gang to carry out the climax of the events of the night. Though the gang is scared to head back to the cemetery, Devery makes a deal with his sister. He'll go home if she goes trick-or-treating at Miss Bakewell's house. She heads toward the cemetery, and Russel follows behind, to the shock and surprise of the whole gang. The gang follows them and is still in shock when they go inside. Nearly fifteen minutes, though Harold says it's been eleven-hundred million years, later, the two kids still haven't come out.
Both Devery and Bill get worried about their siblings, but Rudy tries to sneak away, claiming he's gonna get the SWAT team. But Albert gets an idea, and they all head toward the house. Organ music is suddenly heard, scaring them good. Soon, on the side of the house, Albert explains the plan: he and Harold give Devery a boost up to the window, he goes in and gets the kids and gets out. But Devery tries to get out of it, causing Bucky to volunteer. However, Bucky gets too much of a boost, and ends up hanging on to the gutters.
Eventually, Albert catches Bucky after he lets go of the gutters, sort of. Devery and Bill tell Albert he has to save their siblings, so Albert decides to head up to the front door and ring the doorbell. However, the rest of the gang thinks that the siblings will be hidden away by the time he rings the bell, so they all rush Albert up to the door, and crash inside the house. They soon start shaking in fear as they spot Miss Bakewell siting at an organ, but soon get a surprise when they see Russel and Melba sitting by the fireplace with soda bottles in their hands. Turns out, Miss Bakwell and the others were waiting for them, and she grabs a plate with treats and soda. Melva explains that Miss Bakewell was telling them how nice it was to have visitors, with Miss Bakewell saying she has not had much company since her husband passed on.
Outside, Devery, who didn't rush the door with the others, gets worried even more about what's keeping them. Soon, the door opens and Devery starts shaking, but soon the gang comes out, and Albert tells Miss Bakewell that since she was so nice, they will head back on a coming Saturday and clean her yard, with Donald adding that they will do it for free, too. Later, the gang admits that older folks are great when you give them a chance, and Devery is told that they had a great time at Miss Bakewell's, much to his surprise. With that, Bill and Russel head home, with the others following suit. Then, as Devery complains that he never gets what's coming to him, Melva says that he's gonna get his right then and there, because their father arrived and he is not happy with his son. The Junkyard Gang take notice and all say together "No class" and celebrate their great Halloween night out as Devery gets dragged home and the special ends.
Trivia[]
- Bill Cosby not only created Fat Albert, but also voiced Mushmouth, Bill (who was actually based off of himself), and Mudfoot.
- Russell was actually based off of Bill Cosby's real life brother
- Bill and Russell are actually given the last name of Cosby.