Witch's Night Out is an animated television Halloween special

Television special

A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...

 that premiered on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 October 27, 1978, but was shot in a Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 studio. It was the sequel to the 1974 special The Gift of Winter with the vocal talents from Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd

Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

 and Vlari Bromfield. It featured the voices of Fiona Reid

Fiona Reid

Fiona Reid, CM is a Canadian television, film and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Cathy on the TV series King of Kensington....

 as Nicely and Catherine O'Hara

Catherine O'Hara

Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...

 as Malicious, with Gilda Radner

Gilda Radner

Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

 as the titular witch.

Like the earlier special, Witch's Night Out was produced by John Leach and Jean Rankin for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

. It later aired on the Disney Channel

Disney Channel

Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 every year from 1983 to the late 1990s along with The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

The Halloween That Almost Wasn't is a 1979 telefilm which aired regularly on the Disney Channel until the late 1990s. It revolves around Dracula trying to save Halloween from the Witch who threatens it. It won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Children's Program" and was...

, The Worst Witch

The Worst Witch (TV movie)

The Worst Witch premiered in 1986 on Central Independent Television and HBO. It is based on the children's book by Jill Murphy.-Plot:The film follows the plot of the 1974 book from the series, portraying the incidents of when Mildred turns herself invisible and transforms Ethel into a pig, Miss...

, The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost (1985 film)

The Canterville Ghost is a 1985 American fantasy-comedy film. It is one of many treatments based on the novella of Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost.-Plot:The ghost of Sir Simon Canterville has been roaming his castle for centuries...

, Mr. Boogedy

Mr. Boogedy

Mr. Boogedy is a 1986 family film, directed by Oz Scott and written by Michael Janover, which originally aired as an episode of "The Disney Sunday Movie". It tells the story of a gag gift salesman and his family moving into a new house in New England which they soon find to be haunted by ghosts...

, Bride of Boogedy

Bride of Boogedy

Bride of Boogedy is a 1987 family film, directed by Oz Scott and written by Michael Janover, which originally aired as an episode of "The Disney Sunday Movie". It tells the continuing story of the Davis family and their encounters with an evil 300-year-old ghost in the fictional New England town of...

, Halloween Is Grinch Night

Halloween is Grinch Night

Halloween Is Grinch Night is a 1977 25-minute TV special and prequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. It won the 1977 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. It premiered on ABC on October 29, 1977...

, For Better or For Worse: The Good-for-Nothing

For Better or For Worse

For Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran for 30 years, chronicling the lives of a Canadian family, The Pattersons, and their friends. The story is set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town of Milborough, Ontario. Johnston's strip began in September 1979, and ended...

, Disney's Halloween Treat

Disney's Halloween Treat

Disney's Halloween Treat is a 47-minute Halloween-themed clip show which first aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1982 and featured a compilation of Disney animated shorts involving spooky or supernatural themes as well as excerpted segments from Disney feature films. The credits also...

/A Disney Halloween

A Disney Halloween

A Disney Halloween was a 90-minute Halloween-themed television special that included portions from both Disney's Halloween Treat and Disney's Greatest Villains featuring classic short cartoons and excerpts of various villains from Disney feature films...

, Casper's Halloween Special

Casper's Halloween Special

Casper's Halloween Special is a Halloween television special...

, and Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile, a.k.a. simply The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile, is a 1979 animated television special featuring Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. It later aired on the Disney Channel every year around the time of Halloween along with Casper's Halloween Special, The...

. This cartoon film was released on videotape August 5, 1995 by Family Home Entertainment

Family Home Entertainment

Family Home Entertainment was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.-General information:...

.

Plot

The plot involves a witch who accompanies two children named Small and Tender with their babysitter (Bazooey) to a Halloween party and transforms them into a werewolf, Frankenstein's monster, and a ghost (previously their Halloween costume

Halloween costume

Halloween costumes are costumes worn on or around Halloween, a festival which falls on October 31. The Halloween costume has a fairly short history. Wearing costumes has long been associated with other holidays around the time of Halloween, even Christmas...

s). The witch takes them to the Halloween party-in-progress at her house. Other citizens of the town get offended. They try to catch these supernatural beings as a mob. The children and Bazooey spend the night as real eerie creatures but decide they need to become human beings again. A disco song entitled "Witch Magic" was sung in this film.