Let's Watch This: "The Scrabble People in A Pumpkin Full of Nonsense" (1985)

I know what you're thinking: how did I find out about this special's existence? Well, you see, I was trying to find some obscure animated Halloween specials, of which there are not many. And I found a list of obscure animated Halloween specials. Featured on that list was this special. And when the list mentioned that it was based on the board game Scrabble, I knew I had to review it just for curiosity's sake.

I mean, how do you make a television special out of SCRABBLE? I could understand making a movie out of something like Candyland, since that game has an interesting environment and characters. Scrabble doesn't have either of those things. It doesn't even have an environment or characters at all! It's just making words out of tiles with letters stamped on 'em. That's it. What could you do, have the entire special just be about two schmucks sitting at a table playing the game? It's like trying to make a movie adaptation of Jenga or something like that.

But, regardless, this special is a thing that exists. It was produced by Argentina-based animation company Jaime Diaz Studios and Arce Productions, financed by U.S. board game manufacturer Selchow and Righter (who at the time owned the rights to Scrabble) and originally aired on October 31st, 1985. After that it was released on VHS through Vestron Video's "Children's Video Library" label.

This special answers the question that has haunted the minds of human beings for decades - IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE A TELEVISION SPECIAL BASED ON SCRABBLE? This is The Scrabble People in A Pumpkin Full of Nonsense!

We start off, fittingly enough, in a pumpkin patch. It's here that we meet our main characters, a dude named Mr. Scrabble (voiced by Kevin Slattery, according to Wikipedia) and two kids named Tad and Terry (both voiced by Brianne Sidall). You'll notice that while the kids are dressed in Halloween costumes, Mr. Scrabble is not - unless the blue coat + white pants + bits of red here and there combo is supposed to be a makeshift Cooler from Pound Puppies costume.

He also kind of sounds like Fred from Scooby-Doo.

Mr. Scrabble declares that whoever finds the biggest pumpkin wins. Upon finding a mighty big one, Terry declares herself the winner... kind of quick on the draw there, seeing as in a pumpkin patch there's likely to be at least one other pumpkin just as big, but eh... and Mr. Scrabble tells her what her prize for winning is: getting to go to a Halloween party with him!

...that's it? That's the prize? Not a million dollars or a sports car or at least some candy?

"I was really hoping for a sports car..."

Terry agrees with me and points out that this is a stupid prize, especially since they were already going to the Halloween party with him before visiting the pumpkin patch. Not that it really matters, because apparently she DIDN'T find the biggest pumpkin after all - the entire patch sits atop a pumpkin the size of a house! What a twist!

Also, Tad reminds me of IQ from the Wacky Races reboot.

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater and his wife sure are gonna be surprised to find a guy and
two kids standing on the roof of their house...

Mr. Scrabble declares that they must tell others about this gigantic pumpkin. Scientists will be very interested in it. Or, if nothing else, they could always make the world's biggest pumpkin pie. But then Terry falls into the pumpkin (she was standing on a soft spot) and Tad and Mr. Scrabble have to climb in after her. And as a result, they discover that this is no ORDINARY giant pumpkin, no, no - it's actually a portal to a medieval kingdom!

So, yeah. Gigantic pumpkins, medieval kingdoms, and a guy dressed like Cooler from Pound Puppies. That's totally what we think of when we play Scrabble, right?

"It's just your average ordinary town inside a gigantic pumpkin," Mr. Scrabble says as he and the kids venture into the town. Tad and Terry point out that all the townspeople are in a glum mood. Considering what a depressing place the world has become since 2019, can you blame them?

To make things even more confusing, all of the signs are incomprehensible. They don't have actual words on them, just random jumbles of letters. For example, the stop sign has "PTS" written on it. Terry deduces that the letters of the signs are all mixed-up. "Or missing!" Tad adds.

They learn from a nearby kid that nobody in town even knows what letters are. Nor do they have any idea what "reading" and "writing" are. They're not allowed to put letters together, thus is the law of the ruler of this strange land... which, as it turns out, is called "Nonsense".

Is it just me, or does that guy in the back look like the Pringles mascot?

Then we get a brief musical number about how nothing in Nonsense makes sense (natch) and then these creatures called the Scramblers show up to cause trouble. What are the Scramblers? Well, they're these pinkish-purple bat-winged roller skate-wearing monkeys who swoop down and snatch up people while sporting evil toothy grins on their faces. Absolutely nothing that I just said makes any sense. Fitting for a place called "Nonsense"...

I guess Nonsense must be part of Oz if there are flying monkeys around.

The bat-winged monkeys take Mr. Scrabble, Tad, Terry, and the townsfolk to the castle of their ruler, an creepy dude with a black beard known as the Muddler (George Atkins).

His little troll buddy there is apparently going as Dopey for Halloween.

And his daughter Rotunda (Kathy Hart Freeman), who looks like a younger version of the Queen of Hearts.

Well, I guess now we know where she got her tyrannical side from...

As his name suggests, the Muddler's main schtick is that he thinks coherent words = bad and random jumbles of letters = good. He throws the kid in the dungeon for two years and Mr. Scrabble is all "You can't do that!". His protests eventually wind up causing the Muddler to declare that he will be forced to "back-pedal bubbling bouillon". Also, Rotunda is attracted to him. I don't know what would be a worse fate, having to "back-pedal bubbling bouillon" or being married to HER.

Mr. Scrabble, Tad, and Terry make a run for it, eventually managing to evade the Scramblers by hiding out in an abandoned library. It's here that they meet a woman named Lexa (ain't THAT a weird name?), the only person in Nonsense that can read.

I wonder if Tad and Terry's parents are starting to regret trusting Mr. Scrabble with their kids.

Lexa (Melissa Freeman) shows Mr. Scrabble, Tad, and Terry that without coherent words on the signs, the shopkeepers aren't having much in the way of customers, young people are bored because without reading they can't come up with ideas, and people in love can't write each other love notes (and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to read them). "We've got to rescue these people!" Mr. Scrabble declares. "We've got to free them! And the first word they're going to learn is 'FREE'!"

Alas, then the Scramblers show up.

"Take your stinkin' paws off me, you darn dirty apes!"

Lexa, Tad, and Terry escape, but Mr. Scrabble is abducted and taken back to the castle. "You're the worst person in the world!" he tells the Muddler. And considering that Donald Trump and Amber Heard exist, that's saying a LOT. The Muddler admits to Mr. Scrabble that he can read and write, and the reason he doesn't let anybody else learn how is because he wants to be better than everybody else. If they learn how to read and write, eventually they'll know more than him and they'll call him "stupid". Yes, the Muddler's motivation is that he doesn't want to be dumber than everybody else.

How did this guy wind up in charge, anyway? I'm curious...

"And they actually said I 'wasn't threatening enough' to be the villain of The Smurfs! Can you
believe that?!"

After that, the Muddler subjects Mr. Scrabble to a horrible fate - being Rotunda's husband. Even worse, he has to listen to her SING. Thankfully, the song is short.

Meh, still a better love story than... actually, y'know what? This is an even WORSE love story
than Bee Movie. I can't believe I just said that.

Mr. Scrabble gets locked in a jail cell filled with pin-up posters of Rotunda (don't worry, I'll spare you the screencap). Fortunately, Lexa shows up disguised as a guard... but admits that she, Tad, and Terry have no idea how to get him out. Mr. Scrabble tells her that they have to get the people of Nonsense "to make sense". So the three of them get to work un-scrambling the signs. Soon all the Cabbage Patch Kids in town are remembering what letters are.

I think these characters were actually designed by the same folks who designed the Cabbage
Patch Kids, which explains why they look so similar.

The rejected Peanuts characters are inspired to use the letters on their shirts to spell out words. This is as close a connection to how you actually play Scrabble that we're going to get.

You know, if it was really this easy to un-scramble the signs and convince the people of Nonsense
that reading is awesome, why didn't they just do this before?

Anyhow, everyone sings the alphabet song and they all head to the library. Lexa declares that from now on, the town will be called "Make-Sense" as opposed to "Nonsense". But wait, there's still the whole "Mr. Scrabble is being forced to marry Rotunda" problem that they have to solve. Believe it or not, this is where the special gets VIOLENT.

The kids of Nonsense... I'm sorry, "Make-Sense"... have discovered another great use
for books.

They take down the Scramblers with remarkable ease, and Lexa announces that from now on Mr. Scrabble will be known as SIR Scrabble.

Then Sir Scrabble tells Rotunda that if she learns to read and stops being so obnoxious, eventually she'll find somebody. The townsfolk start handing her books that will help her improve her personality. I love how one girl gives her a DIET BOOK. And I also love how one boy says, "And if you read THIS ONE, you won't be such a pumpkinhead!" Dang, they're essentially roasting her.

Any chance you have a few copies of that book? I know a lot of people online who should
learn not to be such a pumpkinhead...

Sir Scrabble, Tad, and Terry remember that they have a Halloween party to go to and escape back to their world, accompanied by Lexa. And then the special just kind of... STOPS. Uh, okay then...

What's the Verdict?

Okay, let's start by saying that this really has nothing to do with the Scrabble board game. You could name Mr. Scrabble something else and the special would for all intents and purposes be the same. It's not much of a Halloween special either, for a good chunk of it they never even MENTION Halloween. But as a special in of itself? Honestly, it wasn't that bad. It delivers the "reading is something you should do" moral pretty well without getting too heavy-handed about it, the characters are kind of bland but likeable enough, and the voice actors do a good job. If you want your kids to put down their tablets or whatever it is that they're using these days and read a book, show 'em this. If you can find it, I mean. It's on YouTube, but I'm guessing the VHSes are out of print and I doubt it ever got a DVD release...

It's probably for the best we haven't gotten more television specials based on board games. Although now that I think about it, I kind of like the idea of a Hungry Hungry Hippos Thanksgiving special...