| The Tale of the Full Moon | |
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| Season 2 , Episode 9 | |
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| Air date | August 21, 1993 |
| Written by | Ron Oliver |
| Directed by | Ron Oliver |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous The Tale of the Whispering Walls |
Next The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle |
The Tale of the Full Moon is the Ninth episode of the Second season of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, as well as the Twenty-Second episode in total.
Cast[]
Midnight Society Cast[]
- Jason Alisharan as Frank
- Ross Hull as Gary
- Raine Pare-Coull as Betty Ann
- Rachel Blanchard as Kristen
- Nathaniel Moreau as David
- Jodie Resther as Kiki
Story Cast[]
- Dominic Zamprogna as Jed Harris
- Jesse Lavendel as Hughie Downs
- Ellen David as Ellen
- Peter Colvey as Mr. Ankers
- Carl Alacchi as Gordon Ankers/ The Werewolf
Intro[]
That night Frank is sitting down on the storyteller's chair and Gary is standing up next to him happily applauding him and telling the group it's been one year since David brought Frank into the circle and told the tale that made him a member of The Midnight Society. David smiles and happily says it was "The Tale of the Phantom Cab" Kristen says "Vink's the name, Doctor Vink!". Kiki smiles and laughs as she says "Vink, with a va va va va". Then Kristen and Betty Ann both smile and laugh. Gary then tells everyone that's it's their group's tradition that a night of a member's anniversary, it's that person's turn to tell them a scary story. Frank tells them he definitely has one to tell them and Gary goes to sit down and leaves him to it.
Franks tells his friends, That for a night like this he has the perfect story. Betty Ann points out that there is a full moon that night. Frank says that there is indeed a full moon, and eerie things happen when the moon is full. People always act a little different, a little strange. To anybody who's ever told a tale of terror there's one special thing that always happens when the full moon rises, and that is what his story is about. Frank submit his approval for The Midnight Society, calling his story "The Tale of the Full Moon" and begins his story.
Story[]
Frank, tells the story. The story is about two young boys named Jed Harris and Hughie Downs. The two young boys run their own little pet detective business. The business is where they try to help locate and find people's missing pets. Especially since lately the neighborhood has had quite a few disappearances. Also Jed has wanted his own pet dog for the longest time. this was possibly to prove to his mom that he can definitely take care of animals.
The story begins in Jed and Hughie's headquarters clubhouse. The sign says that they're pet detective and that no job is too big for them, and finding chihuahua's are their specialty. Jed and Hughie were recently just hired, by a woman named. Mrs. Neville to find her missing cat Misty. Now Jed and Hughie are seen going over their recent profit' for the pets they have found. Then they check to make sure they have all their much needed pet toys to find the missing cat. Also they go over their other items such as squeaky toys and dog whistles.
Hughie asks Jed, why he charged Mrs. Neville $20 to find her missing cat, when their rate was only $5 for missing cats. Jed tells him because puppies at the pet shop cost $20 each. Hughie reminds him that his mom said she wasn't going to buy him a dog. Jed says she will change her mind when she sees how cute the one he wants is. Then he shows him a picture of it and claims when they find the missing cat Misty, he is going to buy a puppy, because every boy should have a dog.
Suddenly, they hear some meowing and barking outside. Now they suspect Misty may be nearby. They go around the street looking for and calling to Misty. Hughie comes to a long fence, and sees something black and furry moving along the top quickly. He suspects it might be the cat, Misty, So he jumps over the fence in a somersault and grabs what he see. Then he falls down to the ground. It turns out he just pulled off some woman's hair extension wig. The woman is annoyed. She scoffs at him giving him the impression as if to say, "Aren't you going to apologize to me?". Hughie looks at her embarrassed and just laughs while petting the wig saying nice kitty.
Meanwhile, Jed is shown walking along the street. He passes by a couple house. Then he notices a collar tag on the road that says "Misty". He smiles in triumphant victory thinking he'll find her soon. So he radios Hughie under the nickname Rin Tin Tin and calling Hughie Lassie. He tells him he thinks Misty is nearby.
Jed notices that a big empty house has been bought. So it now has a sold sign on the for sale sign. He walks up to the front door. Then he notices that all the railing are covered with fencing wire. He opens the front gate, which was mistakenly left unlocked and heads to the front door. He knocks on the front door but no one answers. On his way out, he finds another pet collar, in a trash can. Now he finds more collars as he heads to the house's backdoor. When he gets there, he finds a huge pile of missing pet collars. This gives him enough suspicion to suspect a person in the house may have something to do with all pets disappearances.
Jed looks inside the door and peers into the kitchen. The house inside has barely any furniture and appliances in it yet. Then he notices a bald man inside the kitchen. The man is later revealed to be Mr. Ankers. Mr. Ankers is shown mixing meat together in a Tupperware container. He mixes raw ground meat, cracks an eggs and adds it inside. Then he adds Tabasco sauce, malt vinegar and some spices and seals it shut. Then he puts it into the fridge. Then Mr. Ankers, runs off to answer his phone. When he is away Jed sneaks into the kitchen and checks his fridge. Jed finds out that it's full of Tupperware containers of raw ground meat.
Hughie suddenly contacts Jed on his walkie-talkie, telling him in a panicking voice that he has to get home for dinner, or his mom will be mad if he is late. Suddenly, Mr. Ankers hears noises coming from downstairs and comes downstairs to see who is there. Jed can hear him coming and runs out as fast as he can. Then his sleeve gets caught on a nail in the doorway, now he is stuck and cannot move. Then finally he gets free just before he is caught inside the house. He runs away before Mr. Ankers notices he was there.
That night Jed tries to explain to his mom Ellen that the fridge was full or raw meat. So now he suspects the new neighbor is kidnapping and eating pets. His mom doesn't believe him, and she thinks it's a hoax he's made up. A hoax to let him take in every stray in the neighborhood, and finally allow him to get a dog. Jed madly tells her that his dad would get him a dog. His mom walks over to their old family picture of her, him and his dad. She looks hurt and she says sadly he probably would, oh that creep! Then she turns the pictures over . This could mean that Jed's father either recently left them or recently divorced her.
The next night there is a full moon, and Jed is spying on Mr. Ankers from his bedroom with a video camera. Suddenly he hears and sees Mr. Ankers howl and transform into a werewolf! He feels lucky to have caught it on video tape. Then he panics and screams his head off, calling his mom to his room. When she gets there he tells her in a nervous and tense out of breath serious tone, that the man next door is a werewolf. She thinks he is kidding, and she is annoyed for being woken up for nothing. He tries to show her the video tape he recorded, but for some reasons the footage can't be found. She helps Jed settle back into bed ,and explains to him that he is so obsessed with dogs that he has dog on the brain. So now he is seeing them in his dreams now. He tries to tells her again that he wasn't dreaming, but she doesn't believe him and tells him to go sleep.
The next day Jed and Hughie read up about werewolves. They learn that a person who is a real werewolf has a disease or condition called lycanthropy, which can change them at anytime. They are allergic to red roses and pure silver items and they need to eat fresh meat to survive. They eat small creatures like birds and other things but their favorite meal is children. They only advice Hughie can give to Jed is that if there is a werewolf living next door is to move.
That evening Jed finds his mom in a really good mood and she is all dressed up. Turns out that her new boyfriend is coming over for dinner. Jed is happy and excited for his mom. That is until he answers the door, and finds out that her boyfriend is the neighbor Mr. Ankers! During dinner Mr. Ankers was very nice and friendly to Jed. But Jed is rude and unpleasant to him and asks him questions like has ever lived in Transylvania. Then when his mom offers Mr. Ankers more yams, Jed stabs him in the hand with his fork, telling him there ha! pure silver! Then Jed goes over to the window to open the curtain and tells his mom to watch what will happen. The moonlight from the full moon gleams in, but nothing happens. Mr. Ankers isn't transforming. Then his mom sends Jed to his room for his bad behavior. Then she and Mr. Ankers go out for coffee, Jed talks to Hughie on the phone, telling him that maybe he was dreaming all along. Since he tested everything the silver, the full moon and nothing: Mr. Ankers isn't a werewolf.
Jed, still suspects something in that house isn't right. So Jed and Hughie break into Mr. Ankers house to find out what is really going on there. They find that the fridge that was once full of raw meat is now empty. Then they search upstairs. Here Hughie finds a photograph and the photograph reveals that Mr. Ankers has an identical twin brother. Suddenly they hear vicious growling and out pops the werewolf from behind them! The werewolf chases them all throughout the upstairs. Bit by bit the werewolf gets closer to gaining on them. Then soon they're cornered in a bedroom. Jed and Hughie scream and bang at the window crying for help. Then as they approach the werewolf, Jed blows his dog whistle. It turns out the werewolf can't stand the sound and sits down in earsplitting pain.
Next we see Mr. Ankers coming into the room. Hughie having gone through enough, runs off scared. Mr. Ankers tells Jed that he has met his brother Gordon. He explains that Gordon suffers from lycanthrophy, and he just doesn't have the heart to put him out of his misery. Since he is the only family he's got. Jed explains that his mom is the only family he's got and she won't stand for it when she finds out. Then his mom comes in, she tells him she already knows about Gordon. She says that she was afraid at first. But not anymore. Now she is only trying to understand, and she hopes that in time he will too. Gordon sits down nice and peacefully as Mr. Ankers pets him. this proves Gordon is not to be so bad after all. Jed agrees and says that he's just got to stop eating people's pets.
Soon Ellen and Mr. Ankers got married. Now they have all moved in together and have became a happy family. One night we see them all outside having a late night barbecue. Mr. Ankers is cooking steaks for them all, This includes an extra medium rare one for Gordon. Jed is now seen happily throwing sticks and playing fetch with Gordon. This is because Jed finally got himself a dog. Gordon proves that while being transformed, he is nice enough to be the equivalent of a dog.
Ending[]
When Frank ends his story, his friends all smile Gary says it's now time for the anniversary surprise. Frank is surprised and says Surprise? Kristen mentions that the fire is nice and hot! Frank a little nervous now asks what surprise? David, tells him it's a special occasion that they planned just for him. Gary smiles and pulls out a barbecuing fork and tells him roast Frank! Frank now nervous backs away says roast what! Kiki then comes over to him laughing and says roast frank's don't you like them? Then shows him a string of hot dog wieners which are also called Frankfurters or franks for short. Frank then laughs in relief and Kristen wishes him a happy anniversary and they all begin to socialize and cook hot dogs over the campfire.
- Frank's first story to not include Dr. Vink.
- This was the only time a Midnight Society member (Frank) was shown celebrating a one-year anniversary of joining the Midnight Society.
- One of two times a Midnight Society member directly mentioned a previous story (on Frank's anniversary, they mentioned that it was "The Tale of the Phantom Cab" that got him in).
- This was the first time the group got together and did some cooking after the story.
- Dominic Zamprogna, who portrayed Jed Harris would later reappear again in the series as Rush Keegan in season four's two-part special "The Tale of Cutter's Treasure".
- Peter Colvey, who portrayed the boyfriend Mr. Ankers would later appear in the series in the season 4 episode. "The Tale of the Long Ago Locket" as The Redcoat Captain.
- Carl Alacchi, who portrayed Gordon / The Werewolf had previously appeared in the series earlier. He portrayed Mr. Braun in the episode "The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors".
- Ellen David would later go to co-star with Jodie Resther in the children's show Arthur. She does the voice of Bitzi Baxter.
- According to creator DJ MacHale, the UK broadcasters would not let this episode air. He does not understand why.
- Ron Oliver speculated that it was "something about the two boys breaking into the werewolf’s house being against the law."
- It is the only episode of this entire series to feature a werewolf.
- Ron Oliver stated that he sees this episode as being "about a family dealing with how to tell their kid that his uncle is gay".
- Ron has said that the mom in this episode was partially inspired by his own mother.
- Mr. Ankers name is a reference to Evelyn Ankers, who was in the original 1941 film The Wolfman.
- DJ MacHale has said that this used to be one of his least favorite episodes but has grown to appreciate it for the unique campy tone.
