The Long Lost Time of Disney Channel Original Movies

Disney has long had ties to Halloween. There is certainly no absence of Halloween in their parks, but what about the Disney Channel? I think we all remember the Disney Channel Original Movies, but first...let's take a brief history lesson.

In 1982, ABC aired a special called "Disney's Halloween Treat" during The Wonderful World of Disney. With clips from various spooky (and not so spooky) Disney films and shorts, this is one of Disney's finest salutes to Halloween.

This was followed a year later with a very similar special called "A Disney Halloween". It added more footage and an opening featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Michael Eisner.

A few years after "A Disney Halloween" aired, Disney released their first true spooky Disney Channel film in 1986 (Aired at the time through ABC still) entitled "Mr. Boogedy", a tale of a family moving into a haunted house. A sequel followed the next year.

A decade later Disney aired "Wish Upon A Star" and "Susie Q". This lead into the next year which is when Disney launched it's Disney Channel Original Movie line. They started out the first year with a memorable classic called...

Then every year until 2003, Disney released a new scary original movie in October (and a one in April and another in November). Let's go for a stroll down memory lane...shall we?

2003 was a year of sadness for all, but things were quickly fixed next year with another installment of Halloweentown. Then an adaptation of Twitches, then another Halloweentown and then a sequel to Twitches...

Four years pass and we get to June 2011. Disney gives us a brief taste of something new...even though it's an import from Canada.

And that's where our little journey stops. There is no Disney Channel Original Movie planned for Halloween 2011 and it's a shame. While it seems that Disney's entire Original Movie line is going down the drain, the real tragedy lies with the death of Halloween movies. These films have such meaning to so many people. For anyone alive to see these movies when they first aired, it was a treat. I know that I sat down in front of the TV on the day they premiered.

During the Halloween season, Disney does show repeats of some of these classics, but others fall by the wayside. The Halloweentown franchise, Under Wraps, Wish Upon A Star and the Twitches movies have found their saving grace on DVD, but none of the others.

I miss you scary Disney. I hope that in the future you release all of your glorious Halloween movies on DVD and revive Halloween Original Movies. Maybe a new sequel to Halloweentown? I know I'd be game for that one.