Halloweentown series

The Halloweentown film series aired as works for television on The Disney Channel (presented as "Disney Channel Original Movies") between 1998 and 2006.

• Halloweentown, released in 1998
• Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, the sequel released in 2001
• Halloweentown High, the third movie in the series released in 2004
• Return to Halloweentown, the fourth movie in the series released in 2006

Background

Halloweentown proposes that fantasy beings such as vampires, werewolves, ghosts, trolls, ogres, pumpkin-headed people, skeletons, goblins, humanoids with varying numbers of heads, humanoids with varying number of limbs, and humans with varying number of sensory organs are real, but separated themselves from Earth's history to escape humans' fear and persecution. These characters created their own community, Halloweentown, a thousand years ago in an alternate universe.

Travel between Halloweentown and the ordinary, historical world (which Halloweentown residents call "The Mortal World") is only possible with magical aid, and only at regulated times (on Halloween), until the portal seals at midnight. The events of the second film create a less restricted travel channel, and events of the third film breach the gap even more.

It is stated that many of the traditions of Halloween in the Mortal World are parallels based on regular traditions in Halloweentown. An example of this is how mortals wear costumes that mimic the creatures of Halloweentown, and are often depicted as being more frightening than they are naturally. In Halloweentown, the residents dress up every day, and some are much friendlier than humans generally depict them.

Although magic is present in many of the details of daily life of Halloweentown, it appears that only a limited number of persons actually practice or control magic. These people are mainly human, and are called witches (female) and warlocks (male). These beings appear human, but possess some sort of biological extra-sensory ability which allows them to harness magic unlike their "mortal" counterparts. Magic is also hereditary in their families.

The Halloweentown movies concern episodes in the lives of the Cromwell-Piper family. The family matriarch, Agatha Cromwell, has been a pillar of Halloweentown society for centuries. Her daughter, Gwen Piper, married a mortal and chose to leave Halloweentown for a life in the Mortal World. At the time of the movies, she is apparently widowed. She has decided to raise her three children (Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie) apart from magic, and thus rejects contact with Halloweentown and the influence of her mother.

Characters

Main characters

Aggie Cromwell

Splendora Agatha Cromwell (1-4) is the mother of Gwen and grandmother of Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie. She is the daughter of Marvin, Merlin's cousin. It is unknown if Cromwell was her maiden name, or if she is widowed, as she is referred to by others as 'Mrs. Cromwell' in Halloweentown High. She is a witch and resides in Halloweentown until Gwen offers to let her move to the human world and live with them at the end of the first movie. She agrees, but is having a very hard time not using her magic. In the first two movies, she carries a bottomless carpetbag that magically strolls along next to her as she walks. The carpet bag is very faithful to her as well as being slightly cowardly, as in the first movie it is scared to jump of a flying bus, but does so when she pretends to leave without it.

In the third movie, Halloweentown High, she tries to fit in by taking various teaching jobs at Marnie and Dylan's High School and falls for the principal. She has a new bag that follows her around, this one resembling an alligator without a head that loves to eat.

In Return to Halloweentown, it is revealed that during the Dark Times, Splendora Agatha Cromwell was the Princess of Halloweentown, who possessed the Gift, an ancient power, it was a necklace that had great power to give the wearer complete control over any person - but it could only be worn by a Cromwell witch or warlock. An evil battalion of dark warlocks and witches known as the Dominion, sought the Gift and wanted Splendora to use it to dominate Halloweentown. Wanting to live like a regular witch, Splendora placed the Gift in a chest and hid it under the ruins of Witch University, it is said that only her heir could unleash the Gift that's stored inside and use the power within it.

This character has been played by Debbie Reynolds and Sara Paxton as a younger version of Aggie in the Return to Halloweentown.

Gwen Piper

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Piper (1-4) is the daughter of Splendora Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell. She is the mother of Marnie, Dylan, Sophie Piper. She was born as a witch in Halloweentown. When she was young, she dated Kalabar, and she also went on a date with bogeyman. She gave up her magical heritage for William Piper (a mortal) and married him. Even after her husband was deceased, she continues to live in the mortal world, believing that it is better to be "normal". Since Halloweentown Gwen uses her magic more freely and it continues to grow with each film.

In Halloweentown (film), she keeps Halloweentown a secret from her children and would prefer to raise them as mortal, not allowing anything that has to do with magic or Halloween be mentioned in the house. Dylan agrees with her, but Marnie and Sophie do not like that. Gwen would often fight with her mother on the subject of whether or not she should allow her children to follow their family's tradition, especially Marnie, who is about to lose her powers forever after her 13th Halloween. At the end of the first film, she offers to let Aggie come live with them and agrees to have Marnie do her witch training. Although Gwen accepts her child's urge to connect more with the magical heritage, she continues to encourage Marnie to not let all that magic go to her head. Though Gwen eventually begins to accept magic more and more through each film.

In Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Gwen meets a handsome single father named Alex, but doesn't know that he is actually a golem created to lure her into a trap. He takes her to a Halloween party, where the warlock Kal turns her and everyone at the party into monsters. By combining their magic, her family manage to reverse the spell.

In Halloweentown High, she helps Marnie joggle nine teenage kids of different mythical heritage. When they discover that someone is trying to steal their magic by failing Marnie's project, Gwen teleports herself to Halloweentown to find proof for the Halloweentown Council. In the end Gwen rescues Cassie from her prison and returns to the mortal world in time to help stop the plot.

In Return to Halloweentown, her children flew off for college and witch training, and she became a real estate agent and used magic to make the houses look better. When Dylan gets turned into a dog, Marnie calls for her help. She, Marnie, and Dylan combine their magic and "destroy" the Gift together.

She was portrayed by Judith Hoag.

Marnie Piper

Marnie Piper (1-4) is the eldest daughter of Gwen and William Piper, granddaughter of Aggie, and older sister of Dylan and Sophie. She is the main protagonist of the series, a young witch who has always loved the holiday of Halloween. She is a pretty and headstrong individual, especially when it comes to magic. Like her grandmother and her sister she has a sixth sense or precognition power as well as being an expert broomstick flyer. She is the character who uses magic as much as she can but also cares about it and tries very much to save Halloweentown and her magic.

In Halloweentown, the 13-year-old Marnie discovers for the first time about her witch heritage and becomes excited to start her training to be a witch.

In Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, she and her family combine their magic and create a portal that can be opened at anytime around the year to stop a warlock from taking over the worlds.

In Halloweentown High, she bets on her family magic to persuade the Halloweentown Council to reunite the worlds of Halloweentown and the Mortal World.

In Return to Halloweentown, she attends Witch University in Halloweentown and discovers a great secret about her family. She becomes Queen of Halloweentown for one night but uses the chance to apparently destroy The Gift with the help of Gwen, Dylan and her genie friend Anessa, but only passes it on to Dylan, the one person she trusts not to abuse its power.

This is the only role that had to be recast, with Kimberly J. Brown playing the role in parts I-III, and Sara Paxton in Part IV.

Dylan Piper

Dylan Piper (1-4) is the middle child and only son of Gwen and William Piper, grandson of Aggie, younger brother of Marnie, and older brother of Sophie. Dylan is somewhat of a book nerd as he likes to study more than anything. He strongly dislikes Halloween and everything that goes with magic. Dylan is sarcastic and frequently teases his sisters, especially Marnie. He is the only warlock in the family, but doesn't like to use magic but will use it sparingly to help his family and study. In the film Halloweentown he demonstrates meteromancy.

In Halloweentown, he is about 12 years old and remains skeptical to the existence of magic and the supernatural. He discovers he has powers, when he was mad at Kalabar, and his hands start glowing, therefore, at the end of the film and helps defeat the first movie's antagonist, Kalabar.

In Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, he tries to reach out to girls, but only ends up getting ditched and only uses his powers twice to help fix the worlds, first using them with his family and Luke to create a new permanent portal between the worlds and then (reluctantly) with the prodding of Luke to break the spell on Benny.

In Halloweentown High, he doesn't use his powers at all and falls for a girl before finding out she was a pink troll. Though he doesn't use magic at all in this movie, he states that he has tried to apologize to Natalie using magic to speed-up the speaking process.

In Return to Halloweentown, he attends Witch University with his sister, and confesses that he used his powers to study rapidly in high school, which is the reason to why he skipped a grade and is able to attend college with his sister. He also falls for the evil Sinister sisters but they use him to get the Gift - his family heirloom, so they can try to take over Halloweentown. Later he becomes the wielder of the Gift but decides to hide it in a book. He ends up using a magic a few times in this movie: he speed-reads in order to get the information on Splendora, admits to using it in high school and uses it to help "destroy" the Gift as it takes three Cromwells to do and only he, Gwen and Marnie were around. This is the most amount of times he uses his powers in the movies.

This character is played by Joey Zimmerman.

Sophie Piper

Sophie Piper (1-3) is the youngest daughter of Gwen and William Piper, granddaughter of Aggie, and younger sister of Marnie and Dylan. Like Marnie, she is also a witch. She can cast simple spells that she learns from her sister and grandmother. Unlike her older sister Marnie, the more advanced witch, Sophie appears to have a stronger hold on her precognitive powers. She is able to sense the presence of "bad things" to which she would always reply "Somebody's coming". She also has proven to have a knack for remembering spells, something Marnie continues to have trouble with. She also is very resilient and quick at problem solving. Sophie, like her sister and grandmother, has shown efficiency in conjuring. Along with her precognitive abilities, it appears that Sophie is a telekinetic.

In Halloweentown, she is about 7 years old and can control her powers better than her sister can, as her grandma states it only takes the will and imagination to make magic work.

In Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, she can sense Kal's presence, which her grandmother, mother, sister and brother can't, but has a hard time controlling her flying abilities because Aggie hadn't taught her how to fly yet.

In Halloweentown High, she appears briefly and doesn't do magic at all.

In Return to Halloweentown, she does not appear, but it is revealed that she has started her witches training under her grandmother.

This character is played by Emily Roeske.

William Piper

William Piper was a mortal that Gwen fell in love with. She subsequently moved to the mortal world and stopped using magic, which upset and possibly angered Aggie, and it is implied that by the time of the movies he has died. The character is only seen in Halloweentown in a family photo during his last Birthday.

Villains

Kalabar

Kalabar (1-2) is a warlock and former boyfriend of Gwen. He is the main antagonist of the first film. Prior to the film, Kalabar is the Mayor of Halloweentown. He is a racist (he hates humans) and dislikes the fact that Gwen left him for a human, yet the Cromwell magic remains as powerful as ever. At first, he was in the form of a black creature who's afraid of sunlight, but reveals his true identity when he tries to convince the citizens of Halloweentown to join him in order to retake what's rightfully theirs, i.e. the mortal world. He dies at the end of Halloweentown when the Cromwell family members join together to vanquish him. His son Kal is the primary villain in Part II. He appears in Halloweentown II during several flashbacks to the previous film. In the first film his name is actually spelled as "Calabar", not "Kalabar". His name is also spelled "Calabar" in the Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge closing credits

Kalabar is played by Robin Thomas.

Kal

Kal (2) is Kalabar's secret son (his full name is hinted to be Kalabar, Jr.) and the second primary villain in Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. He tricked Marnie into showing him Aggie's secret room and stole Aggie's spellbooks to prevent her and her family from stopping his plan to dominate both worlds. He also seems to have an infatuation with Marnie Cromwell. When Marnie takes back the spellbooks, he vanishes. Luke says after he disappears that he'll be back, but he hasn't been seen or mentioned since then. His name is spelled "Cal" in the Halloweentown II closing credits.

Kal is played by Daniel Kountz.

Alex

Alex (2) is a golem made of frogs. Because Kal created him, he had no choice but to take his orders to attract Gwen and make her wear a Halloween mask, which is used later to turn her into a monster when Kal casts the Creature Spell on the mortal world. Thanks to Dylan and Sophie, Gwen manages to find out what he really is and he is then turned back into a bunch of frogs.

He is played by Peter Wingfield.

Edgar Dalloway

Edgar Dalloway (3) is the main antagonist of the third film. He is a warlock who is the former head of the Halloweentown High Council and wants the portal closed for good. He also desires the Cromwell magic, and tries every scheme possible to get it. He nearly succeeds but is stopped when Marnie proves that humans really have changed and Gwen returns with Cassie whom she rescued from where Edgar trapped her. The Cromwell witches retake their powers and the Council, deciding to give humans another chance, traps Edgar in Aggie's Witch's Glass resigning him from the Halloweentown High Council.

He does not appear in the fourth movie, but his son Ethan reveals to Marnie that his father had lost his magic after the events of the third movie and also that he used to belong to a coven known as the Dominion, formed by seven evil witches and warlocks.

He is played by Michael Flynn.

The Dominion

An evil organization of warlocks and witches that serve as the primary antagonists in "Return to Halloweentown."

Silas Sinister

Silas Sinister (4) is a warlock who is the head of the Sinister Inc., father of the Sinister Sisters, and leader of the Dominion. He and his group targeted a box that contained the key to dominate Halloweentown. He and the other Dominion members are stripped of their magic powers and arrested by Professor Periwinkle (who was working for an Anti-Dominion movement) for their acts of treason.

Silas Sinister is portrayed by Keone Young.

Sinister Sisters

Scarlett, Sapphire, and Sage Sinister (4) are all evil witches attending Witch University and the daughters of Silas Sinister. While Sapphire and Sage act as the twin-followers, Scarlett acts as the ring-leader. They secretly defy the "No Magic" rule by using their powers whenever there is no teacher watching. They work with a few professors and their father to make Marnie open a box with the Cromwell family's ultimate magic in it. In the end, their plan backfires and they lose their family magic as punishment for their father's actions.

Scarlett is played by Kristy Wu while Sapphire and Sage are played by twin sisters Katie Cockrell and Kellie Cockrell.

Chancellor Goodwin

Chancellor Goodwin (4) is the elegant and well-spoken chancellor of Witch University. She is the one who gave Marnie a full scholarship, mainly because her interest in her is not just educational, but also because she holds the key to opening a locked box containing the key to dominate Halloweentown. She along with the rest of the Dominon were stripped of their powers by Professor Periwinkle and arrested for treason upon being placed in a Witch's Glass.

She is played by Leslie Wing.

Dr. Grogg

Dr. Ichabod Grogg (4) is a stuffy and cranky old professor at Witch University. He is another member of The Dominion, with the Chancellor and Mr. Sinister.

He is played by Scott Stevenson.

Supporting characters

Aneesa

Aneesa (4) is a genie and Marnie's resident advisor in Witch University. She is the first genie to attend Witch University. When Marnie accepted the "Gift" Aneesa was controlled for a brief time and helped Marnie destroy the gift forever with her magic lamp. At the end of the movie, with Aneesa's lamp gone, she says she needs a new place to stay and Marnie offers to have her as a roommate.

She is played by Summer Bishil.

Benny

Benjamin C. "Benny" Deadman (1-2, 4) is a skeleton taxicab driver, who likes to joke a lot, although they are not as funny as he thinks.

In Halloweentown, he gets possessed by Kalabar's evil magic sometime after Aggie and Gwen are paralyzed, and goes after the Cromwell/Piper kids. However, when Kalabar's magic is reversed, he is returned to normal.

In Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Benny falls victim under the Grey Spell and becomes a boring version of his usual self (and also gets a flesh-and-blood body). But returns to normal when Dylan casts the reversal spell to undo his transformation.

He does not appear in Halloweentown High.

In Return to Halloweentown, he drives Marnie and Dylan to Witch University. Benny's full name is revealed when Marnie travels back in time to visit Splendora Cromwell.

This character has been voiced by different actors throughout the series. Benny was voiced by Rino Romano in the first movie and by Richard Side in the second movie while the person portraying him in the fourth movie was uncredited.

Burp-Urp-Snurt-Pfsfsfsfst III

Burp-Urp-Snurt-Pfsfsfsfst III (4) is a goblin that attends Witch University with Marnie and the Sinister sisters. Because his name is hard to remember, the Sinister sisters call him "Snot Boy". However, Marnie addresses him by a nickname, "Grifflinn". Aneesa is the only one that can remember and pronounce his name. Though Aneesa can say his name she mostly calls him "Griff". Like most goblins, he tends to drool a lot when near or thinking about food, or food-like substances.

Griff is played by Christopher Miller.

Cassie

Cassie (3) is one of the many foreign exchange students from Halloweentown. She is a witch. She is apparently Ethan's friend and Grandma Aggie's neighbor in Halloweentown. Unlike the other foreign exchange students, she is fascinated with human behavior and likes to study them. In the middle of the movie, Cassie gets trapped into a witch's glass, but is rescued by Gwen in the end.

She is played by Eliana Reyes.

Cody

Cody (3) is Marnie's love interest in the third movie. He constantly tries to ask Marnie out, but never gets the chance to succeed as she is always distracted. He finds out her secret after Gwen knocks him out thinking he's an enemy and Marnie takes him out on a broom ride. At first, he's a little freaked out but learns to accept it and gets everyone else to accept it in the end. He and Marnie apparently start dating in the end but he isn't seen or mentioned again after the third movie.

He is played by Finn Wittrock.

Ethan Dalloway

Ethan Dalloway (3-4) is the son of the third movie villain, Edgar Dalloway. He plays a rival of Marnie in the third installment, but after changing to turning against his own father to become good, He becomes Marnie's love interest in the fourth installment. He is supposedly a warlock, but in the 4th movie says he renounced his powers after his father lost his. He is now a mortal like the Sinister Sisters who also lost their powers because their father worked for the Dominion, but he and Marnie appear to continue their relationship. Ethan's father also worked for the Dominion once upon a time.

He is played by Lucas Grabeel.

Gort

Gort (2) is a character that collects junk in his house, because everything that gets lost in other places (mortal or Halloweentown) ends up in his house. He hates cleaning and everyone he encounters. In the second movie, Kalabar's son Cal casts the Grey Spell on the whole town, turning them into the boring versions of humans, and Gort becomes an opposite version of his true self. Gort is possibly based on Fred Sanford from Sanford and Son.

Gort is played by Blu Mankuma.

Luke

Luke (1-2) is the laid-back friend of Marnie's who resides in Halloweentown. He is a goblin, but is changed to human form by Kalabar. In the end, he loses his human form by helping Marnie defeat Kalabar. He helps create the permanent portal between the worlds and helps Marnie learn how to reverse the Grey Spell but is never seen or mentioned again after the second movie. In the first two movies, he has a crush on Marnie.

Luke is played by Phillip Van Dyke.

Natalie

Natalie (3) is one of the many foreign exchange students from Halloweentown. She is a pink troll and likes to hang out with Dylan. Because she is more comfortable in her troll form, she thinks humans look awful and disgusting including Dylan. But because he was nice to her, she considers Dylan as a friend. They nearly kiss, however because they both couldn't see the other physically attractive, they couldn't go through with it and decided to stick with being friends.

She is played by Olesya Rulin.

Phil Flanagan

Phil Flanagan (3) is the principal of Marnie's school. He is a descendant of an army known as the Knights of the Iron Dagger. He originally helped Edgar Dalloway get the Cromwell's magic, but abandoned that job after he fell for Aggie Cromwell.

Principal Flanagan is played by Clifton Davis.

Professor Periwinkle

Professor Precilla Persimmon Periwinkle (4) is Marnie's literature professor in Witch University. She has worked undercover to arrest the Dominion for ten centuries and it was she who stripped their powers along with their families' at the end of the movie. According to Professor Periwinkle, she and Aggie have been friends since the beginning times of Halloweentown, although this maybe that as Marnie looked exactly like Aggie she may have only met Marnie, and as they became friends as Periwinkle helped Marnie get up to her grandmother's room.

She is played by Millicent Martin.

Minor characters

Astrid

Astrid (2) is a loving creature from Halloweentown. She likes to sell things and is nice to everyone, including those who don't like her very much. She was caught victim in the Grey Spell and she was moaning while talking.

She is played by Xandra Radley.

Bobby

Bobby (3) is a gremlin from Halloweentown, who moved to the mortal world as a transferred student from Canada in order to learn how to live among mortals. According to Gwen, his kind only likes to eat honey-flavored "Grasshopper Flakes."

He is played by Bob Lanoue.

Harriet

Harriet (1) is a friend of Aggie's. She volunteers at a place where the patients there have no heads. She was turned into a hideous creature a couple hours after she met Aggie and later was frozen at the theatre, but returned to her true self after Kalabar's magic was reversed.

She is played by Judith M. Ford.

Chester

Chester (3) is a blue-skinned teenager from Halloweentown. Chester's father was an ogre while his mother was a forest giant making him a cross-breed of both species. He went to the mortal world as a transferred student from Canada in order to learn how to live among mortals. Because Chester is fond of stamps, he joins a club, thanks to Marnie's advice.

He has an armadillo named Buster as his pet.

Chester is played by Clayton Taylor in his human disguise and by Jesse Harward in his ogre form.

Jessica

Jessica (3) is a werecat from Halloweentown. She went to the mortal world as a transferred student from "Canada" (Halloweentown) to learn how to live among mortals. She is a werecat which mean she does turns into a cat.

Nancy

Nancy (3) is a wood nymph from Halloweentown. She went to the mortal world as a transferred student from "Canada" (Halloweentown) to learn how to live among mortals. Thanks to Marnie, she joins the gardening club.

Pete

Pete (3) is a teenage werewolf from Halloweentown. He went to the mortal world as a transferred student from "Canada" (Halloweentown) to learn how to live among mortals, and thanks to Marnie's advice, he joins the football team and becomes friends with the teammates. Even after he shows his real identity in front of everyone, they accept him for who he is.

According to him and Cassie, most werewolves are vegetarians.

Pete is played by Todd Michael Schwartzman.

Zachary

Zachary (3) is a teenage zombie from Halloweentown. He went to the mortal world as a transferred student from "Canada" (Halloweentown) to learn how to live among mortals.

Literary themes

All four movies develop the characters and plot around a triad of relationships among the three main characters:

The mother-daughter relationship between Aggie and Gwen is tense. They live in different worlds. There is a generation gap between the choices of the two. The parent tries to persuade her child to do things the way the parent prefers. Aggie and Gwen struggle over whether Gwen's children will know their magical heritage. Gwen is totally against the whole thing but Marnie overhears she's a witch and follows Aggie to Halloweentown.

The mother-daughter relationship between Gwen and Marnie mirrors in many ways the one between Aggie and Gwen. The same underlying cause (their attitudes toward the magical heritage of the family) causes another generation gap. Marnie wants the magical life her grandmother offers, and resents her mother's rejection of that choice. This relationship is somewhat echoed in Gwen's relationship with younger daughter Sophie.

The grandmother-granddaughter relationship between Aggie and Marnie has two aspects. Aggie provides what Marnie misses in her relationship with Gwen. Aggie is also a magical teacher to Marnie, who becomes Aggie's apprentice.

The teacher-apprentice relationship between Aggie and Marnie also exhibits some common comic themes. Aggie often plays an addled grandmother - her magic seems to more about pride than potency. In the first two movies, the apprentice takes over when the teacher is defeated, and both outshines and rescues the teacher. Yet Aggie's formidable reputation is based on skills she actually has, and Aggie comes through after her rescues to lend essential strength in the climactic confrontations.

The first and third movies rely heavily on the theme of xenophilia, of a stranger coming to town, and running afoul of unfamiliar local customs. In Halloweentown, Marnie, Sophie, and Dylan are tourists in the unfamiliar town of Halloweentown but they have heard of it earlier that night when Aggie showed them the Halloweentown book. In Halloweentown High, Marnie plays the local expert who rescues both Aggie and the Halloweentown students from comic situations.

Prejudice is also a strong theme in the series. In the second movie, for example, each society is turned into its own misconception of the other.

In Halloweentown High, Marnie makes a foolish wager (to be fair, this is accidental; Marnie says she would "bet all the Cromwell magic" that she can get the two worlds to co-exist peacefully, not thinking for one second that the Witch Council would actually take her up on this; indeed, her defense is that "I thought it was just a figure of speech!"). When this theme appears in literature, the wager may be unwinnable, resulting in tragedy. Because this movie is a comedy, the family finds an unexpected way to win the wager, causing a happy ending.