Teacher's Pet (TV episode)

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Episode

"Teacher's Pet" is the twenty-second and final episode of season three of the Goosebumps TV series, and the sixty-sixth episode overall. It premiered on May 16, 1998, on Fox during the Fox Kids block.

Cast[]

Michelle Risi as Becca
Telmo Miranda as Benjy
Ashley Taylor as Martha
Asia Vieira as Sue
Jane Luk as Mrs. Crandle
Richard McMillan as Mr. Blankenship

Plot[]

Becca and Benjy are with their class on an overnight field trip at a nature center to learn how the food chain works, and Mr. Blankenship is an instructor there. As he lectures the students about the food chain, he demonstrates by releasing first a mouse, then a snake which tracks and eats the mouse while the students look on mostly in shock, none more so than Becca and Benjy.

While hiking with the group in the woods to find other examples of the food chain at work, Becca encounters what at first appears to be an ordinary bunny, but when she starts to pick it up, she is horrified to discover that it has the face of a lizard. As she is known to have an overactive imagination, she is unable to convince her teacher or any of the other students of what she has seen, so she decides to investigate with the initially reluctant help of Benjy.

Their snooping eventually leads them to an isolated cabin in the woods, where they make the shocking discovery that Blankenship is conducting sinister experiments with animal DNAs, his goal being to create the ultimate predator, to which end he has given himself the ability to transform into a giant snake. When he catches the two friends spying on him, he morphs himself into his giant snake form and attacks them. As he traps Benjy in a corner, Becca splashes him with one of his DNA solutions, transforming him into a mutated fly and enabling Benjy and herself to escape.

The following morning, as the two friends prepare to go home with the other students, they are attacked yet again by Blankenship in his new fly form, but this time Benjy swats him, killing him. Or so he thinks. But when Benjy turns his back, the fly mutant revives and follows him and Becca into the bus, and we see in an extreme close-up that it has Blankenship's head. As it overhears Becca and Benjy expressing relief that Blankenship won't be "bugging" them again, it comments smiling evilly, "You got that wrong!".

Differences from the story[]

In the book version, Mr. Blankenship is a new science teacher. In the TV version, he's an instructor at a nature center.
The book version doesn't have an overnight trip in the woods, nor any mention of Mr. Blankenship experimenting on animals. The story takes place mostly at school. His snake transformation in the book implies that he's a shapeshifter.
The book version has Becca and Benjy keep Mr. Blankenship's secret by supplying him with mice. In the TV version, he attempts to hunt and kill them and ends up being turned into a mutated fly.
The episodes takes place on an overnight field trip rather than at school.

Home media[]

Title	Release date	Media type
The Headless Ghost	September 8, 2009	DVD
2-DVD Spookypack	September 11, 2012	DVD
3-Pack Thriller	August 26, 2014	DVD

Trivia[]

The closing shot of the mutant fly with Blankenship's head may be a reference to the classic 1986 horror film The Fly (not to be confused with its later remake).
- This is also reminiscent of the cover of Why I'm Afraid of Bees, which also features a human head on an insect's body.
Richard McMillan (Mr. Blankenship) had previously appeared as Spidey in "Say Cheese and Die".
Right before the credits, a screen with the text "IN LOVING MEMORY OF MICHELLE RISI" appears. Michelle was the actress who played Becca in this television episode. She died on 12/04/97 due to meningitis at only 16 years of age.
This is the only Goosebumps episode directed by Stefan Scaini.
Because Mr. Blankenship is not a teacher in the TV episode, the title can be seen as confusing.
This is the final singular episode to be aired at 30 minutes long, since the remaining episodes are all 2-parters.

Gallery[]

Characters[]

Scenes[]

Promos[]

Goosebumps Promo - Teacher’s Pet

Goosebumps TV series
Season 1	The Haunted Mask • The Cuckoo Clock of Doom • The Girl Who Cried Monster • Welcome to Camp Nightmare • Phantom of the Auditorium • Piano Lessons Can Be Murder • Return of the Mummy • Night of the Living Dummy II • Stay Out of the Basement • My Hairiest Adventure • It Came from Beneath the Sink • Say Cheese and Die • A Night in Terror Tower • The Werewolf of Fever Swamp
Season 2	Be Careful What You Wish For... • Attack of the Mutant • Bad Hare Day • The Headless Ghost • Go Eat Worms • You Can't Scare Me • Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes • Ghost Beach • Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns • The Haunted Mask II • Let's Get Invisible • Scarecrow Walks at Midnight • Monster Blood • More Monster Blood • Vampire Breath • How to Kill a Monster • Calling All Creeps • Welcome to Dead House • Don't Wake Mummy • The Blob That Ate Everyone • Night of the Living Dummy III
Season 3	Shocker on Shock Street • My Best Friend Is Invisible • The House of No Return • Don't Go To Sleep • Click • An Old Story • The Barking Ghost • One Day at HorrorLand • The Haunted House Game • Perfect School • Werewolf Skin • Awesome Ants • Bride of the Living Dummy • Strained Peas • Say Cheese and Die... Again • Chillogy • Teacher's Pet
Season 4	How I Got My Shrunken Head • The Ghost Next Door • Cry of the Cat • Deep Trouble