Monster in My Pocket: The Big Scream is an animated television special featuring several monsters from Matchbox's Monster in My Pocket toyline.
The special was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles, California, the studio behind the creation of many cartoon characters including former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Doug Wildey's Jonny Quest, and Joe Ruby and Ken Spears' Scooby-Doo. It was developed for television by David Ehrman, Glenn Leopold (who wrote the script), and Joe Morrison, and directed by Don Lusk. While the pre-production and post-production processes for the special are based in the United States, it was animated overseas by Fil-Cartoons, a defunct animation studio in Manila, Philippines.
The special first aired on ABC (the American Broadcasting Company) on Halloween of 1992, and it was supposedly going to be picked up for a series, but never managed to do so due to low ratings of the pilot. As a result, the special was also believed not only to be a pilot, but the first and only episode of this short-lived series.
Synopsis[]
In the opening prologue, Dr. Henry Davenport—the Invisible Man, is narrating an explanation of the events that had happened. He, Big Ed (The Monster), Wolfmon (Werewolf), and Mummy were guards at the Monster Mountain prison within a mountain in Transylvania, Romania, which kept several monsters, including Tyrannosaurus Rex and Cyclops. However, Vampire had a plot to shrink himself down so he could escape the prison. It ended up shrinking the entire mountain and blowing it all the way to Los Angeles, California. There, Dr. Davenport and the others struggled to catch up to Vampire and his two monster accomplices, Medusa and Swamp Beast, and re-arrest them, but failed due to every monster's current size: one-inch-high. They soon learned about the world's famous horror writer, Edgar Raven, and decides to seek help from him. When they entered Raven's house and discovered that he is away, they instead found his ten-year old daughter Carrie, and befriended her.
In the present, Dr. Davenport is concocting a potion that will turn him and his three allies into normal-sized monsters. The plan fails due to Mummy, but they discover that they can grow large just by Carrie laughing. They are interrupted by Helga, Carrie's maid, who forces Carrie out of the basement because she's too messy.
Later, Vampire attempts to mind-control a dog, but he fails miserably. The dog attacks Vampire, Medusa, and Swamp Beast, and chases them away to a drive-in movie theater. The actress in the film screams loudly, allowing Vampire, Medusa, and Swamp Beast to grow to their normal height and scare the couple away. Medusa steals a car and they drive off to capture Carrie Raven. Helga answers the door, and Medusa turns her to stone. Carrie witnesses Vampire bursting into her house and flees, but can't escape from him. He grabs her and flies away.
Dr. Davenport and the others discover Carrie is missing and use Wolfmon to find her. Vampire tries to use his powers on Carrie to hypnotize her, but is suddenly turned small again. They realize they need to go back to the drive-in to get big again from hearing the scream. He gets the dog from earlier to watch over Carrie to make sure she doesn't escape.
The good monsters make their way to Carrie and the dog attacks them. It grabs Mummy and Carrie saves him. Big Ed throws some tires at the dog and scares it off. Carrie knows where Vampire went, so they head to the drive-in. The man at the drive-in tells Carrie that the evil monsters attacked him and tried to take "The Shriek," but the guy had sent it back to Raye-Faye (the actress from the film). They head over to Burbank to find her.
Meanwhile, Raye-Faye is flattered that Vampire, Medusa, and Swamp Beast want her autograph, but they just want the film. Vampire tries to scare her so she'd scream, but it fails. Medusa convinces Raye-Faye to let them see the movie again, and she's just about to turn it on until Carrie arrives. The monsters battle each other -- Dr. Davenport and Mummy battle Vampire, Wolfman fights Medusa, and Big Ed tangles with Swamp Beast. Carrie accidentally turns the film on, and the scream turns the monsters large and they immediately defeat the good monsters.
Raye-Faye grabs Carrie to flee, but the dog under Vampire's spell awaits outside. Carrie tricks it into believing she's Vampire, but the real Vampire also tries to control the dog, confusing it. Medusa gets frustrated and turns it to stone, while Dr. Davenport reverses the film and the reversed scream shrinks the evil monsters, who flee.
Dr. Davenport thanks Raye-Faye and apologizes to Carrie for not accepting her help earlier. Back at Carrie's house, Dr. Davenport tries another experiment, which blows up again. Carrie laughs at this, causing the monsters to grow. They realize Carrie's laugh makes them big, and plan on working together to get rid of Vampire.
Voices[]
- Marvin Kaplan - Mummy
- Mitzi McCall
- Rob Paulsen - Vampire, Jerk at Drive-In
- Stuart K. Robinson - Wolf Mon
- Dinah Sherman - Carrie Raven
- B.J. Ward - Raye Fay, Medusa
- Frank Welker - Big Ed, Swamp Beast, Projectionist
- Paxton Whitehead - Dr. Henry Davenport
- April Winchell - Helga
Production Staff[]
- Writer - Glenn Leopold
- Executive Producers - David Kirschner, Mark Young
- Developers for Television - David Ehrman, Glenn Leopold, Joe Morrison
- Producer - Cosmo Anzilotti
- Co-Producers - Joe Morrison, John Weems
- Supervising Director - Ray Patterson
- Director - Don Lusk
- Animation Directors - Joanna Romersa, Joan Drake, Frank Andrina, Allen Wilzbach, Richard Bowman
- Storyboard Artist - Owen Fitzgerald
- Recording Director - Gordon Hunt
- Animation Casting Director - Lynne Batchelor
- Music Composers - Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker
- Director of Music - Bodie Chandler
- Main Title Designer - Cos Anzilotti
- Graphics - Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
- Design Supervisor - Scott Jeralds
- Character Designers - Mr. Jim, Marcus Nickerson
- Designer Assistants - Stacey Nichols, Barbara Krueger, Dana Granger
- Animation Supervisor - Kunio Shimamura
- Animation Checking Supervisor - Jan Adams
- Animation Checker - Beth Goodwin
- Background Supervisor - Al Gmuer
- Background Artists - Jim Hickey, Allison Belliveau, Patricia Palmer-Phillipson
- Background Layout Keys - Jim Hickey, Ron Roesch
- Xerographer - Star Wirth
- Ink and Paint Supervisor - Alison Leopold
- Color Key - Suzette Darling
- Production Coordinator - Vicki Casper
- International Production Coordinator - Jo Harn
- Production Manager - Kris Zimmerman
- Production Assistants - Sandy Benenati, Joe Moriconi, Linda Moore, Debby Lathrop
- Program Administrator - Ellen Cockrill
- Production Publicist - Alison Hill
- Supervising Film Editor - Terry We. Moore
- Editors - Tom Gleason, Tim and Gil Iverson
- Sound and Music Editor - Joel Valentine
- Track Readers - Jim Hearn, Kerry and Carol Iverson, Kay Douglas
- Sound Director - Ed Collins
- Re-Recording Mixer - Ezra Dweck
- Negative Consultant - William E. DeBoer (Jr.)
- Camera Operator - Daniel Bunn
- Layout Supervisor - Mark Marren (Fil-Cartoons, Inc.)
- Animation Director - Larry Cariou (Fil-Cartoons, Inc.)
- International Production Executive - Paul Sabella
- Executive in Charge of Production - Jayne Barbera
Trivia[]
- One of the special's two executive producers was David Kirschner, the creator of An American Tail and the producer of Child's Play, who was the former chairman of Hanna-Barbera, where he created and executive produced many films and television programs, including Gravedale High, Wake, Rattle & Roll, The Pirates of Dark Water, the 1992–93 reboot of The Addams Family, Once Upon a Forest, and the 1994 live-action/special effects film adaptation of The Flintstones.