Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Are You Afraid of the Dark?
File:AYAOTD.jpg The Are You Afraid of the Dark? title card
Developed by	Cinar Productions
Starring	Jacob Tierney Raine Pare-Coull Ross Hull Jodie Resther Jason Alisharan Rachel Blanchard Nathaniel Moreau Daniel DeSanto Joanna Garcia Codie Lucas Wilbee Kareem Blackwell Elisha Cuthbert David Deveau Vanessa Lengies
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	91 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 mins/episode
Original release
Network	YTV/Nickelodeon Nickelodeon ITV1/Nickelodeon Nickelodeon
Release	January 16, 1992 – June 11, 2000

Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a horror/drama-themed television series for children. The original series was a joint production of the Canadian companies YTV, Cinar, and the American company Nickelodeon. Although the episode "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" first debuted as a pilot for the show on Halloween, 1991, Are You Afraid of the Dark? ran between January 16, 1992 and February 3, 1996 on Nickelodeon's SNICK. A revived series with new directors, new writers, and a new cast was produced by Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2000 and also played on SNICK. It also aired on the channel Supermax. The show was aired from 1997 to 2003 in Latin America by Nickelodeon Latin America. The show was also aired from 1996 to 2005 in Australia on the Australian Nickelodeon Channel. The show was also broadcast on the CITV block on ITV1.

Background

Both series revolved around a group of adolescent children who referred to themselves as the "Midnight Society". Once a week, at a secret site in the woods at night, one member would tell a scary story to the group. The actual story, rather than the telling, was displayed to the television viewer. The story was shown between the group's arrival at the site and its departure. Each storyteller would begin their story by stating "Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story ..." at which point he or she would toss birch bark powder into the campfire to heighten the flames and produce an eerie white smoke. The storyteller would continue the story by announcing its title.

The themes usually revolved around paranormal phenomena, such as ghosts, magic, haunted houses, magical curses, aliens, witches and the like coming into contact with normal teenagers.

Sources of these tales varied; many were adaptations of public domain fairytales, short stories or urban legends. For example, "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" is considered to be an adaptation of W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw". Some of the episodes' story lines are close to those of books written for the Goosebumps book series by R.L. Stine, intentionally or not, which was popular at roughly the same time as this show (The Tale of the Curious Camera is an almost exact replica of the Goosebumps book Say Cheese And Die, though both were likely inspired by 'A Most Unusual Camera', an episode of the original Twilight Zone series). In French, the series is called Fais Moi Peur and in Spanish "¿Le Temes A La Oscuridad?"

The show was filmed primarily in Montreal, Quebec.

The first three seasons are available on DVD in Canada, the UK, and the United States.

Cast Members

First Series (1992 – 1996)

Actor/Actress	Role	Years
Jacob Tierney	Eric	1992
Raine Pare-Coull	Betty Ann	1992 – 1996
Ross Hull	Gary	1992 – 1996
Jodie Resther	Kiki	1992 – 1996
Jason Alisharan	Frank	1992 – 1995
Rachel Blanchard	Kristen	1992 – 1993
Nathaniel Moreau	David	1994 – 1996
Daniel DeSanto	Tucker	1994 – 1996
Joanna Garcia	Sam	1994 – 1996
Codie Lucas Wilbee	Stig	1995 – 1996

Second Series (1999 – 2000)

Actor/Actress	Role	Years
Kareem Blackwell	Quinn	1999 – 2000
Elisha Cuthbert	Megan	1999 – 2000
Daniel DeSanto	Tucker	1999 – 2000
David Deveau	Andy	1999 – 2000
Vanessa Lengies	Vange	1999 – 2000

Memorable characters

File:I sota died!.JPG

One of the most memorable scenes on the show, from the very first episode. "I Sorta Died!"

• The most memorable recurring character was Sardo (Richard Dumont), owner of "Sardo's Magic Mansion" (a magic shop). He would often attempt to sell a character a "prized" item, rarely succeeding. He often has items in his shop that are really magical, yet does not know until it's revealed in the story. One of the most memorable recurring jokes in the series occurred when someone would address him as "Mr. Sardo". He would then get irritated and exclaim: "No 'mister'; accent on the 'doh'!" Although he rarely got what he wanted, he would often end up helping the characters, intentionally or not. He was used in Gary's stories.

• Another such is Dr. Vink (Aron Tager). He was a physically imposing man who would often appear as a mad scientist, sorcerer, and the like. He would also get his name mispronounced. When this happened, he would respond "Vink. With a va-va-va." Often, the protagonist would call him a "nutbag" behind his back, assuming he could not hear him, only to have him reply later, "... and I am not a nutbag." He was used in Frank's stories.

Both of these characters appear in the double episode "The Tale of Cutter's Treasure", which was told by both Frank and Gary.

• Aron Tager also played the carnival worker who stands in front of the Funhouse and invites people to go inside in "The Tale of the Laughing in the Dark".

• Various other characters are used in multiple stories.

Episodes

Main article: List of Are You Afraid of the Dark? episodes

Trivia

• The original writer/director/producer, D.J. MacHale, has a book series called Pendragon.
• The opening of the show was not the original opening. The original opening only lasted until the third episode. It featured a blue sky with clouds and a wood door that opened to reveal the black screen and the words Are You Afraid Of The Dark?. The fourth episode had the familiar opening, but without the characteristic theme music. There were only sound effects and a heart beating. Also, the hand with the match came from the side instead of the bottom.
• The first, second, and third seasons have been released on DVD in Canada, as well as a special DVD that contains the first 6 episodes of the sixth season.
• The three-part story "The Tale of the Silver Sight" was first shown as a special movie, and then was used as the seventh season's premiere. In later reruns it was shown as separate episodes.
• In "The Tale of the Room for Rent", the movie from the episode "The Tale of the Midnight Madness" can be seen playing on the television in the background.
• Actor Christian Tessier appears in both "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark" and "The Tale of the Curious Camera" as different characters.
• Dr. Vink appears in several episodes told by Frank, while Sardo appears in some of Gary's stories. In the episode "The Tale of the Dark Dragon", David tells a story featuring Sardo in Gary's honor, as it was Gary's birthday. "The Tale of Cutter's Treasure" features both characters since the tale is told by both Gary and Frank. In the 6th and 7th season Tucker uses Sardo in some of his stories.
• Zeebo was mentioned in numerous episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark. Among them include "The Tale of the Whispering Walls", in which one of the characters mentioned the Zeebo funhouse. "The Tale of the Crimson Clown" and "The Tale of Train Magic" featured a Zeebo video game. "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror" featured a girl who said that she looked like Zeebo the Clown. In "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost" one of the girls calls the protagonist a Zeeb as an insult. In "The Tale of the Night Shift" the manager of the hospital called one of the employees Zeebo for his laziness
• The Ghastly Grinner comic book, which was featured in "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner", makes an appearance in 2 other episodes.
• Sci-fi veteran David Winning directed ten episodes including "The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle" and "The Tale of the Dream Girl".
• David Deveau, who stars in "The Tale of the Manaha", later went on to join the new Midnight Society as Andy.
• The song at the end of "The Tale of the Prom Queen" is "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins.
• There was a board game made based on the show.
• The show makes numerous references to crew members. One of those was the grave of Ron Oil that appeared in "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran", and "The Tale of The Dream Girl" which is a reference to the director Ron Oliver.
• Dr. Vink has a barbershop and a restaurant called "The Wild Boar". The restaurant appeared in "The Tale of the Dangerous Soup" and the barbershop appeared in "The Tale of Cutter's Treasure". He also kept the brain of a wild boar as a specimen in his premier episode, "The Tale of the Phantom Cab".
• "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror", "The Tale of the Vacant Lot" and "The Tale of Many Faces" all have villianesses who are really old or ugly and are so obsessed with their looks that they try to hide it.
• "The Tale of the Hunted" was voted Worst Episode at TV.com.
• "The Tale of the Dream Girl", directed by David Winning, was cited by M. Night Shyamalan as the inspiration for the film The Sixth Sense.
• In "The Tale of the Walking Shadow," while Ross is whistling in the theater, he is actually whistling the show's end theme.
• In "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost," star Melissa Joan Hart warns the child she is babysitting that the people they are meeting are "Only relatives, not wicked old witches." Coincidentally, Hart plays a witch later in her career in ABC-TV's (and later the WB's) "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."
• The epitaph that the boy reads on the grave stone in the cemetery in "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran" is the same as an epitaph that is read in "The Tale of the Prom Queen": "Remember friends as you pass by/As you are now so once was I". In "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran" a third line is added: "Remember in life that you must die".
• The series Masters of Horror follows the same premise of this show and could be seen as a spiritual, although more horrifying and violent, successor to Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
• In "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner" the comic book shop has pictures of different scenes in differnet Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes. Among them include the Crimson Clown from "The Tale of the Crimson Clown", the Dark Dragon from "The Tale of the Dark Dragon", and the Watcher from "The Tale of Watcher's Woods"

DVD Releases

Season Releases

Cover Art	DVD Name	Region	Release Date	# of Episodes	Bonus Features
File:AYAOTD S1.jpg	Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Complete 1st Season	1	April 18, 2006	13	Episode Synopses
File:AYAOTD S2.jpg	Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Complete 2nd Season	1	November 28, 2006	13	Episode Synopses
File:AYAOTD S3.jpg	Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Complete 3rd Season	1	April 24, 2007	12	Interactive Menu, Episode Synopses

External links

• Are You Afraid of the Dark? (first series) at IMDb
• Are You Afraid of the Dark? (second series) at IMDb