TAKE ME TO THE PICTURES
Name of
television show that these characters are from:
Original Release date: November 16, 1996 (Network: :Fox Kids)
Where can I find this movie now?: No Longer Available
EPISODE TYPE: Growth Ray (Potion) & Blink
Moment
(see macro themes section for more on
this category)
WHAT IS Trigger?:: A non anthro,non furry, pet
cocker spaniel dog
IS HE MACRO ORIGINALLY?:
No
HOW DOES HE BECOME MACRO?: : Eats some Monster Blood
WHAT DOES HE BECOME AFTER THEY GROW?:
Larger Version of Self
IS GROWTH SHOWN?: No
MACRO NAME:
(SAME AS BEFORE )
QUOTE:: (NONE -- Just barks as non furry
dog would)
SEX: Male Unknown
<>
LOCATIONS:: Small unnamed town and a
house.
MACRO SIZE (Approx or Average ): 25 feet
NATURE: Animalistic Behavior
DESTRUCTION LEVEL DONE: NONE
SYNOPSIS OF EPISODE: A young blond haired kid named Evan
is being dropped off at his great-aunt Katherine's house by his parents
who are going away on vacation to Atlanta for a new house. The parents
leave him to her while she notices Evan's dog Trigger and sneezes. She
tells him to remove the dog instantly and to put it in the back yard.
She invites him in and shows him to his room. Telling him to stay out
of a certain room no matter what but not telling him why. So of
course curiosity gets the best of Evan and he peeks into that room he
isn't supposed to. Katherine finds him in there and throws him
out
warning him never to in there ever. She quickly locks a door on a
cabinet that was open looking nervous all the while. The
cabinet shakes and rocks while she tries to hold it still.
Later that night she walks across the hallway making sure the door to
the room is locked while Trigger barks outside. Evan pretends to be
asleep while she gazes in on him and slams the door shut on him so he
can't see what is going on. The next morning Evan is with his dog as a
girl rides up on her bike. Evan introduces him and his pet dog while
she tells them her name is Andy. Trigger grabs Andy's newspaper and
starts to chew on it as Evan tells her that his dog will eat anything
it gets near. Evan and Andy talk about how weird Katherine is and that
she is the talk of the town. She plays weird music all night and drives
an old car. Andy asks Evan if there is anything else weird about her
and he tells her about this room he can't go into. Of course Andy wants
to go into it and Evan doesn't think that's a good idea. She calls him
scared so he of course gives in and shows her the room.
They start to look around the forbidden room and notice weird spell
books and cob webs everywhere. She opens up the cabinet and they see a
glass jar inside of it. They open the jar that has a weird green fluid
in it and a black cat appears behind them unknown to them. Evan
takes a bit of Monster Blood out of the jar and turns it into a ball
sending it bouncing across the whole room. Andy pours some of it into
two plastic containers claiming Katherine will never even know its
missing. As they finish pouring it Katherine is pulling up into
the drive way while Evan has to race back to the room to return the
empty jar to the cabinet leaving Andy to stall her if she happens to
walk in. Andy quickly walks out to the car and helps her open the
door. She claims she is Evan's friend .
Evan and Andy start to play with the Monster Blood as Trigger watches
curiously. Evan bounces the ball high into the air while some of the
Monster Blood in the container eats a fly that landed in it. The
Monster Blood ball slams down to the ground and Trigger quickly goes to
it and eats it and runs off. They find the dog in the backyard
rolling about in pain. He suddenly sits up feeling fine as Evan
is relieved to see his dog wasn't harmed. Just then his great aunt
walks out asking if he went into the room he wasn't supposed to. He
says no he didn't and she smiles handing him a plate of green colored
sugar cookies telling him to have one. He reluctantly eats it telling
her it's good even though he doesn't seem to enjoy it.
The next day Andy arrives and shows Evan a cooler case full of Monster
Blood. Ten times as much as she had before she went to sleep. They then
realize that it's growing in size. They quickly head up to the room
only to see it already all over the floor. Evan quickly runs to get a
bucket to try and collect it. They start to scoop it up with a dust pan
putting it into buckets and a flower pot near by. Meanwhile the black
cat from earlier looks on and causes Katherine to start sneezing. She
asks Evan if Trigger is in the house and he claims that he isn't. She
goes for an allergy pill only to see she is out of them and has to head
out. She quickly heads out of the house while Evan and Andy start to
pour the Monster Blood into the bathtub. They go to get Andy's cooler
only to see all the Monster Blood leaking out of it and growing. Evan
suddenly had a bad thought, his dog ate some of it. They quickly go to
find him only to see a broken dog collar where he was tied up. They
also see huge paw prints and realize that it caused Trigger to grow in
size as well.
They run to the bathtub and pour the rest of the Monster Blood into it.
The cat meows to the tub and the Monster Blood grabs at Evan trying to
pull him in. Andy quickly pulls him out as they run into the house
trying to contain it with anything they can find to block the door
ways. His great aunt walks in and sees the Monster Blood
everywhere and reprimands him. The cat lays there in front of her much
to her discomfort. She tells them that the cat is truly Sara Beth . The
cat suddenly changes into a woman who brags at how her Monster Blood is
dying to meet them. While the three cower away from her.
Katherine
tells them the history of meeting her. That she was a former boarder
she took in but then discovered her to be a witch conducting
magic in the room she gave her. Sara Beth accidentally stepped into the
Monster Blood which started to consume her. After it did so
Katherine quickly put it into a jar and locked it into the
cabinet. Sara Beth orders the Monster Blood to get them
just then the house starts to shake and a giant sized Trigger
looks at her through the window of the living room scaring Sara Beth.
The dog pokes his huge muzzle in and pushes her back towards the
Monster Blood which eats her again. The dog is returned to normal size
as the rest of the Monster Blood disappears.
Evan is next telling a kid on an airplane all about what happened as he
is on his way to Atlanta. The kid doesn't believe it at first but Evan
insists that it all happened. The kid is glad that he got out of that
all right but hopes that they got rid of it all. Evan assures them that
they did as we next see Trigger in a cage in the cargo hold below them
barking at Evan's suitcase that is spilling open with Monster Blood
pouring out of it. The episode ends with "To Be Continued".
REVIEW OF
EPISODE: Before
there was Harry Potter there was Goosebumps. A long running book series
by author R.L. Stine that was based around various horror tales
focused at a
pre teen aged audience. I was never into the series as it was a little
after my time but it was quite successful and seemed to be popular with
the age group it was for. So naturally a TV show based on the books had
to be made. And that is how we get the show that this macro moment was
found in. Overall though these type of episodes were as you
would expect. Poor budget, cheap effects and barely resembling the book
its based on in an accurate way due to having to squeeze the whole
situation into 23 minutes worth of time.
The moments with giant Trigger are short lived and a bit disappointing
due to what could have been. While I didn't read the book titled
"Monster Blood" , I did skim through it once and of course the moments
were much better then what is portrayed in this TV episode moment. But
we will get to all that in a bit. The first thing I want to go into is
the fact that this episode just had a lot of things that were down
right silly and non-sensical. The whole connection between the cat and
the monster blood and the women who was really the cat just was
executed poorly. I truly didn't understand the connection between
her controlling the Monster Blood and it's always consuming her if she
touched it. Why was everyone else allowed to touch it, or even eat it
in the case of Trigger, yet when she touched it it instantly engulfed
her? It just seemed like a major flaw to me. It reminded me a lot of
the situation in the Captain N episode with the Golden Dragon found on
this page. Why would the dragon be attracted to a cursed necklace that
if he touches killed him? I somehow think that something got lost in
translation with this episode when it went from book to tv episode.
Also another thought that kept going through my mind here is.. why
didn't
Sara Beth eat the Monster Blood herself as well? It made Trigger big
and powerful just be eating a little of it. She wants to take over and
be a powerful witch or whatever.. well eat up and become as powerful as
you want. Just seemed far fetched and not logical the whole situation
in how the relationship to the Monster Blood to other creatures and to
the one who created it in the first place was dealt with.
Trigger as a giant wasn't as much fun as other real life shows or
movies that had giant dogs in them. I suppose the low budget and poor
special effects is the reason they couldn't do better then what we wind
up with here. But it seemed like a fun idea. The boys dog grows big and
saves the day by taking care of a women who's other form is a
cat. Seems like a great connection there. The irony that he used
something of her own creation to grow big is also a nice touch.
Instead of showing him grow they resort to showing his broken collar
attached to a chain and poorly done huge black paw prints in the soil
of the grass. Again more tricks to prevent having to use any good
special effects what so ever. Then when he finally shows up huge it too
wasn't as effective as it could have been. It was mostly him standing
in front of a window of the living room barking towards the inside from
where he stood outside while the curtains flew every time he barked.
That too didn't make sense as the windows weren't even open so his
breath shouldn't have blown the curtains about. Then they end it with
him poking his huge nose in through the door way but he never touches
her or does anything that looked harmful in anyway. Yet somehow he
caused Sara Beth to fall into her Monster Blood?
I just think this all needed a higher budget and better
adaptation. I'm sure the book did things much better as from what I
hear he is a great author and had a very successful run of books. I'm
sure something really get messed up with the adaptation here as it was
it was just very lacking and unfulfilling. Trigger as a giant seemed
cool enough, I mean this page is all about these type of things. An
ordinary every day pet suddenly growing to huge size and the new
interactions and trouble that it causes. Well that was all here and he
was pretty much his same self personality wise just much bigger. But
the fact that no one noticed him walking around the neighborhood as he
was growing seems strange too. Where was he all that time after he
wandered off? And how come he just came back in the means to save the
day? The writing is probably what the real problem here was. It was a
bit corny at times and not even scary in the slightest. The only moment
maybe that would make you on edge if you were the age you are supposed
to be watching this is when the fake looking Monster Blood (which
looked more like that gel stuff you buy in those 25 cent egg shells you
get sometimes in those vending machines by the exit at Supermarkets.
you know its all slimy and gooey and you can play with it in your
hand.. thats what it looked like it was) almost pulled Evan into the
bath tub. But what happens after it pulls you in I don't understand
either really. But that was the only moment that was maybe a bit
scary. The rest was just poorly written and cheaply done.
Overall I can't really say much here. If you want to see
something new and different that you may not have seen before in a
blink moment then this isn't too bad for that. But for the most part it
really could have been done much better. It just seems rushed and
lacking in too many places. And the giant dog didn't look effective
enough for him to have accomplished what they are claiming he did here
by beating her. I still didn't get why she just didn't grow too by
eating it and take on the dog as a giant cat. Seems like a much more
fun idea then her standing around bragging about what she will do
without ever doing anything. The final thing that really bothered me
was that eating Monster Blood would make the dog grow in the first
place. Logically I didn't get the connection of how the stuff would
work that way and why it would. Just confusing over all. Check it out
if you must but I only put it up here as it's cool for a blink moment
and I'm trying to put everything up that fits the theme of the page no
matter how poor or how great they are. This is something unique and
probably not seen by most so take it for what it is here.
RATING: D+
MEMORABLE QUOTES AND MOMENTS
IN EPISODE:
(Andy quickly runs
out of Katherine's house to help her open the car door. As Katherine
gets out she introduces herself)
Andy:
"Hi!"
Katherine: "Who are you?"
Andy: "Andy.. umm Evan's friend!"
Katherine: "Andy Evensfriend? Are you related to the Chicago
Evensfriends?"
****************
Andy: Look at those footprints!
They're huge! You don't think..
Evan: "Yeah I do. We got a ten foot Trigger running around the
neighborhood!"
****************
FINAL NOTES:
*Loosely based on the best selling book series of the same name
(Goosebumps) written by R.L. Stine. This episode is a recreation of the
third book in the series titled "Monster Blood". In total four books
based on Monster Blood were made. This episode while based on the third
book ever in the series would be part of the second season. A direct
version of a book based on the episode was made in a spin off series
called "Goosebumps Presents" and was book number #15 in that series.
*
The episode following this one would be a direct sequel to this one
called "More Monster Blood". Unlike the previous episode the sequel
would not be based on a book done by Stine. It would take place on an
airplane and deal with Evan having to stop the Monster Blood yet again.
Errors--
Factual -- Eating
the Monster Blood in all likely hood would not have made Trigger grow
in size along with it but would have filled his body up with the
Monster Blood causing him to be bloated and maybe even explode from it.
There is no logical reason that eating that substance would have made
him grow in proportion along with it inside of him.
Continuity -- When Evan and Andy arrive at
Evan's room to see all the Monster Blood on the floor Andy refuses to
touch it. But when she arrived earlier with the cooler full of Monster
Blood she claimed it was on everything in her closet and had to clean
it all up. She had no problem cleaning it up in her closet but does so
when its on his floor?
Continuity -- Why would Sara Beth's touching of
Monster Blood with a shoe covered foot consume her into it while Evan
and Andy touching it with bare hands had no effects at all on them
while they touched it on many occasions. Not to mention when Katherine
touched it moments after to lock it up into a jar it didn't consume her
either. Why does it only consume her when she touches it for a
moment and it's supposed to be under her control? Yet it doesn't
consume anyone else instantly.
+ :Some interesting moments and
interactments involving the giant Trigger and the would be villain. Fun
ideas and attempts and portraying the successful book into a television
show.
-
Rushed moments and poor special effects. Not
nearly as good as the book it's based on. Could have been much
better.
PICTURES OF TRIGGER
AVI: