Welcome back to this year’s Halloween series! Every Monday and Wednesday throughout October until Halloween day, Nerds & Beyond will be sharing our favorite Halloween-themed TV episodes and bone-chilling movies.
Today’s spooky spotlight falls on the 20th episode of the first season of Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh’s second animated show for Disney (their first being Phineas and Ferb, of course): Milo Murphy’s Law. The episode, “Milo’s Halloween Scream-a-Torium,” is the show’s only Halloween episode. Actually, given the show’s tragically short run, it is one of only two holiday episodes – the other being the first season finally “A Christmas Peril.”
Running just two seasons between October 2016 and May 2019, Milo Murphy’s Law has yet to officially be canceled; however, fans seem to have reluctantly accepted that the two seasons we have now are all we’ll be getting. This makes “Scream-a-Torium” extra special since it’s the only one we’ll be getting. Although don’t be misled, the episode would still be worth a watch even if this wasn’t the case.
As with most episodes of Milo Murphy’s Law, the episode bounces between the adventures of Milo and his friends, and those of time travelers Cavendish and Dakota. This time around the kids’ adventures center around Zack’s claim that now that he’s turned 14, he’s outgrown Halloween and can no longer be scared by it. Unfortunately, he didn’t account for Murphy’s Law. So when things start to go wrong in the decommissioned truck Milo converted into a haunted house, that claim is seriously tested.
From the start, it’s clear to viewers that the decision to put a haunted house on wheels is probably not one of Milo’s best given Murphy’s law. So when the house starts to move, rolling through town, it’s hard to be surprised. However, it is fun to watch Sara panic over the haunted house itself without noticing that it’s moving, and even more fun to watch Elliot take his Crossing guard duties to the next level by chasing the runaway haunted truck-house through town on his bike.
Ultimately, after a literal cliffhanger for Zack and Milo, the truck travels through a variety of factories before finally landing at Jefferson County Middle School. Conveniently though, instead of landing inside the school as one might expect from a Murphy’s law incident, the haunted truck-house finds itself parked in the midst of Chad and Mort’s Halloween party. This acts as a great improvement to the party, and guests soon begin to show up – including Zack’s dad, who succeeds where all else that evening had failed: he scares Zack.
While all of this is happening with the kids, Cavendish and Dakota are exploring Halloween for the first time. Apparently, Halloween had ceased to exist sometime in the twenty-first century, so the duo had never had an opportunity to learn about the holiday before. However, it turns out Halloween is a rather confusing holiday leading to all sorts of antics from the duo – including losing their time grenade. Turns out, they were the reason Halloween disappeared. The time-traveling duo do eventually get the time grenade back, and Dakota does disarm it, but in doing so they don’t quite get things completely back to normal. Halloween returned, but the 29th day of February has become a rare occasion.
The episode is full of exactly the humor we all expect from a Dan and Swampy show. From Cavendish and Dakota’s many unique Halloween costumes to every Murphy’s law moment and the surprise narrator of the episode, it is a fun and funny watch for the whole family.
You can check out both seasons of Milo Murphy’s Law over on Disney+ now, and be sure to check out “Milo’s Halloween Scream-a-Torium” this Halloween season!
