Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to another Goosebumps thing. I’ve missed
discussing children’s horror, so I decided to go online, look up the worst Goosebumps episodes,
and according to the internet, Strained Peas is in the number one slot. I’ve
already covered this episode, you remember the demon baby who tried to terrorizing their older
brother, right? So I chose a different episode on the list, “Go Eat Worms” from season two.
I wasn’t exactly into the Goosebumps books when I was younger; I was more
into the murder mystery genre. The Clue chapter books were more my speed, but that being said,
it was still difficult to escape the reign of terror that was the Goosebumps series.
My friends read them, sometimes my teachers read them out loud during silent reading time,
and the book covers, illustrated by Tim Jacobus, were so striking they were hard
to not notice. Surprisingly I became more of a Goosebumps fan in my adulthood and developed a
respect for R.L. Stine’s writing, and ability to create horror for a younger crowd. However,
not every book translated into a quality episode, and Go Eat Worms is one of them.
It’s just… gross. Todd: “Worms are the best thing to use if you wanna gross someone out.” And yes,
I realize that the title suggests that yes, it is probably going to be a little gross,
but I wasn’t expecting ALL gross and nothing else. Let’s take a look at it and see why it
is considered one of the worst Goosebumps episodes in the entire television series.
Before I get into this, I just want to point out the tagline on Netflix. “Todd Bastrow is
obsessed with worms. That is, until his worms start playing tricks on their own.” What kind
of tagline is this? Oh no, the worms and their tricks, those silly scamps!
As we begin we are greeted with a magazine called WORM WORLD, decorated with a CHOICE graphic. Is
this what people think worms look like? Also, who is this? I think it says “Ms. Carol Price catches
the largest worm and holds onto it - it’s a record.” Okay miss Carol, you get it, girl.
This transitions into a scene with worms. A ton of worms. Thousands of
worms. Millions of worms. This episode is starting out GREAT, it has me hooked.
The next scene shows a boy named Todd dissecting a worm in his basement. There
WAS a closeup for that, but I decided not to use it because I didn’t want to squick anyone out;
the episode is already gross enough without it.
He and his best friend Danny are going to enter the science fair, with Todd’s project being to
prove you can do just about anything to a worm and it will survive. Todd: “Heat, cold, stretching,
even cutting them in half.” Okay, true, but did you have to say that like a psychopath?
Todd’s sister Reggie comes downstairs to check on her own science project, the life cycle of
a robin, only to find that Todd filled her papier mache bird with worms. BLEEEEEEH.
Reggie: “I hate you” I hate him too! What an absolutely terrible thing to do. She
runs away crying because her project is now ruined, and Todd could not give a single fuck.
Todd: “Ooo, I’m so scared.” Everyone leaves and oh… worm cam!!
The worms spy on Todd and his friend then retreat back into the dirt. “They’ll never find us here.”
Todd is still gushing about his little worm prank the next day at school lunch. “Ah,
a sandwich. What did you get?” Todd: “Last night’s spaghetti.” EMINEM: “MOM’S SPAGHETTI”
Todd and Danny decide to trade lunch. As Todd starts to blather about all the
ways he intends to torture his worms, Danny shovels a forkful of noodles in his mouth,
unknowing that it is full of worms. Freeze: God that is just so disgusting;
what is R.L. Stine’s fascination with people eating worms? There’s a scene
similar to this in The Haunted Mask, with a worm being hidden in a sandwich,
then being eaten. It’s definitely a successful gross out moment, but ugh, I hated watching this.
Danny is upset, thinking this is another one of Todd’s pranks. Todd:
“Danny, I didn’t do it!” Danny: “Not anymore.” You mean you don’t trust
the kid who hid a gallon of worms in his sister’s science project?
I mean, I’d eat it.
THROW THERMAL POD.
Later that night, Todd’s mom looks for him in his room. Todd’s mom: “It’s gotten worse.” What’s
that? It’s gotten WORMS? Well, this is an absolute nightmare, this kid is obsessed with worms,
to the point where he’s starting to resemble some kind of serial killer. His mom saying in
utter terror, “It’s gotten worse” says it all, like they’ve been working on this issue for some
time. He has worms everything, he even has a worm calendar! Oh, it’s a moon. Sorry, false alarm.
Todd: “GOTCHA. Sorry mom, I thought you were Reggie.” Yeah,
from behind she looks exactly like your short, blond haired sister, sure.
Todd’s mom says that his prank on his sister wasn’t funny, and that he needs to fix up
her paper mache robin for the science fair. Todd responds like a total snot,
saying she’s already found him guilty and that as a lawyer, she would not treat her clients
like that. “If you were my client, I’d tell you to plead insanity.” See, that’s what I’m saying.
She tells Todd to fix the bird,
or he won’t be allowed to enter the science fair. Aw man, only my worms understand me.
Later that night, the worms start to infiltrate. (mission impossible theme.)
Oh no, no no no…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Oh my god, I HATE this. You know what,
this is a good time for an ad break. We’ll be right back after these messages.
Todd screams and tells his mom that his sister put worms in his bed,
but she’s not even home. His mom has grown impatient and tells him to clean up the
worms and go back to sleep. Oooo, look at these creative worm cams.
Todd is now desperate to hang out with someone. Todd: “Do you want to
come over tonight?” We can play Worms on the xbox.
Danny is hesitant but Todd convinces him it was Reggie who pulled the spaghetti prank,
MOM’S SPAGHETTI) and that she put worms in his bed. Danny: “Really?
Gross.” He’s saying it’s gross but his face is saying it’s hilarious.
Todd runs into Reggie and demands she confess, and she responds by saying she wouldn’t even
touch them let alone handle them. Which is true, she hates worms. Reggie: “Why would
I put one in your spaghetti?” MOM’S SPAGHETTI. Where are they GOING, this route home is wild.
Reggie: “Ugh my brother and his worms.” Gosh I love relatable characters.
Meanwhile, over in Todd’s basement,
the worms are prepping for their attack by doing ab crunches. (clip) 4… 5… 6…
Todd goes out to the lake later that night to dig up fresh worms, and my my,
the steam machine is working overtime. Suddenly, gets stuck in some mud as it has started raining;
he begins to sink a little, then suddenly falls through the ground. Is it.. A WORMHOLE? (sound)
He rights himself and tries to find a way out. Yes, head towards the dead end on the set,
that’ll work. Welcome to the Rain Forest Cafe.
He is being watched by the worms, who are dancing in the corner. Ootz, ahtz!, oontz, ahtz!
He wanders around for what seems like forever until he eventually finds this message on the
wall. Todd: “Todd we will make you squirm.” Don’t threaten me with a good time, heh.
He looks down and the floor is worms. It’s like the game the floor is lava,
but in this case it’s worms and there’s no winning or escaping. It’s fun!
Oh GOD. What is this giant penis doing here?
Todd starts wrestling the…giant worm, I guess. Dude, just let it go. He stabs the worm monster
with a stick, but it rises from the ashes like a slimy phoenix. He escapes and almost gets pulled
back into the hole, his sister shows up with the paper mache robin and it scares the thing away.
Todd: “I could kiss you.” Aww, gross.
So after this traumatizing worm incident, Todd reforms. He disposes of all the worms,
all the decor in his room, and begins repairing the weird as fuck looking robin for his sister.
He and Danny go fishing the next day, and he won’t even use the worms for bait. He just chucks them
into the lake, and my dude, worms can’t swim. You went through all that trouble to get rid
of the worms and stop your weird science fair experiments but you’re cool with dumping them
in the lake? Just throw them in the dirt or a garden or some shit. He insists on using minnows.
Having learned nothing at all, he decides his science fair project will instead be on fish,
but they’ll have to conduct a few experiments. “How long can fish live in hot water or cold
water? How long can a freshwater fish survive in saltwater?” Thanks, I hate it.
Todd picks up a rogue sandwich that Danny says he has no idea where it came from, and no one
seems to notice the very blatant fish line coming out of it. (Todd screams) Danny: “TOOOOOODD!!”
Yep, he’s caught. The fish got them.
Danny looks on with this amused expression as Todd is dragged around by the fish. You can
tell this was shot for a kid's tv show. What was the plan here, though? They can’t show
this kid getting thrashed around the water by a fishhook, so we just get a shot of the water
with some echoed audio. We don’t see Todd, we don’t see any fish. He reasons with them,
and they let him go. “What? You’re going to make me swim back?” And it
ends on an unexceptional joke. “The End” Welp, that was weird.
Right, final thoughts. This episode was just…disgusting. There’s nothing I would
call scary or interesting about it, it relies on gross out moments. To me it very much differs
from your average Goosebumps episode; a lot of these stories end on a more ambiguous, sometimes
even disturbing note. This one ends on a joke, and an unfunny one if you ask me. Hah hah hah!
The murderous fish are making you swim back. I should mention that this episode differs a lot
from the book - I would say the latter is a lot more frightening with more intense worm moments,
and the ending does not involve fishing, and is definitely more morbid and ambiguous like
the classic Goosebumps story. There are a lot of gross things throughout this series,
I’ve even referred to some of them as a lighter form of body horror. A good example is plant Dad
from Don’t Go In The Basement, where someone’s body is slowly turning into leaves and moss,
but body horror typically has a point and isn’t gross just for the sake of being gross.
I don’t think kids in that adolescent age necessarily want to be grossed out.
I distinctly remember being that age when the Goosebumps books were really popular,
at their peak I was about 10 or 11. Our 4th grade teacher brought in A Night in Terror Tower,
and the kids were really into it because it felt scary. Not because it was particularly gorey or
disgusting, because it put kid characters in danger. I don’t get a sense of danger
from these worms. Like, what’s the plan here, guys? How is this worm death going to occur,
what’s the danger? It’s very low stakes, and at that age kids can decipher different types of
danger. Maybe if you watched this when you were 4, it was scary. I think 4-5 year olds are more
prone to be intrigued by creepy crawlies. Remember that weird creepy crawlers toy set
that made rubber bugs? At 10 or 11, I wanted to feel like I was reading something almost
rebellious. Books that felt like they were above my reading level, or that I could get
in trouble for reading if my parents found out. R.L. Stine was Stephen King for kids,
and even though this episode was a flop, overall I adore his body of work. If you have a suggestion
for a goosebumps video you’re DYING to see, please leave a comment, and until next time, stay spooky.
Hey everyone, thanks for watching my video on Go Eat Worms - if you are interested in more content
from me, I have so many more Goosebumps videos, but first! An appreciative shoutout to my patrons,
for if not for them, I wouldn’t have written this video. Thanks to them, you get to see
this episode riffed on in all its disgusting glory. If you are interested in supporting me,
consider joining my campaign, and if not, comments make me giggle.
Want to see more from me? I have a few recommendations! On the left is the very first
video I did on Goosebumps; I commented on one of the creepiest episodes and it was bonkers. On the
right I have an video from my flagship series, That Time on Murder, She Wrote. I hope you like
Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. Thanks again and as always, I will see you in the next one.