A Haunting in Berry City is the second episode of the Strawberry Shortcake YouTube Special series. It premiered on May 16th, 2018. This episode adapts "A Haunting in Berry City" from Issue #6 of the 2016 IDW Comics.
Plot[]
The webisode begins with Strawberry Shortcake looking out the window of her Berry Bitty Café "the bookstore" on a dark and stormy night. Strawberry laments how gloomy it is outside, but finds it nice that she and Sour Grapes are inside where it's warm. Sour agrees, but says that the scary story she's reading is far more chilling than any storm. Strawberry shivers at the thought, admitting that she wouldn't be able to read something like that on such a gloomy night. Sour claims the story doesn't bother her at all, as she's always been hard to scare. Strawberry tells Sour she's as steady as a rock, seemingly agreeing with her.
Just then, the power goes out and a harrowing wail is heard. Strawberry activates the flashlight on her phone, revealing Sour Grapes clutching her in fright. A very scared Sour Grapes asks what the noise was, and Strawberry admits she can't blame her for that. The wailing continues outside the door, as the two girls watch a shadow figure inch closer and closer, screaming as thunder crashes with each wail. Sour hides her face in Strawberry's arms, unable to see what awaits them. The door opens... revealing it's just Sweet Grapes.
Strawberry and Sour sigh in relief, as Sweet explains she just wanted to check on the two after the power went out. Strawberry tells Sweet they have bigger problems, as the café bookstore is haunted! Just as Sweet asks for clarification, a massive boom of thunder occurs. As the screen is enveloped in a white light, it's then shown Sweet has joined her sister and Strawberry, cowering in their arms. Sweet admits she can see what Strawberry's talking about. The trio then see an ominous message, for on the door now lies a note, written in dripping red letters declaring "You'RE NEXT!" Sweet Grapes screams in fright, until Strawberry points out it's just a poster for a new book release, and Sour questions why a ghost would know graphic design. Sweet turns on her phone's flashlight and points it at the poster, "revealing" the credits for the author. Sweet admits she might've gotten carried away. Suddenly, Strawberry realizes something: they haven't seen Orange at all recently, not since earlier in the afternoon when she was at the café bookstore.
Sweet and Sour Grapes gasp in concern. Sweet begins to wonder, but Sour tells her not to say it. Sweet finishes her thought, asking if the ghost got her. Sour groans that Sweet said it anyway. Strawberry declares they have to warn her, and the trio begin to venture further into the café bookstore in search of their friend. As they look around, they hear the harrowing wail once more, realizing it's coming from a pile of nearby books. Sour helpfully points out that piles of books don't usually groan, and Strawberry notices something odd with one of the books. Despite Sweet's pleas to leave the books alone, Strawberry approaches the pile anyway, grabbing one of the books off the pile...and she begins giggling. She tells her friends that she just found their ghost, and the three look over the pile to see Orange Blossom behind it, snoring as she sleeps.
Sweet wakes Orange up, telling her that she scared them with her weird snoring. Orange apologizes, explaining she's had this awful cold, and she's a very loud sleeper, and she didn't mean to frighten anyone. Sour immediately denies she was frightened, and Sweet and Strawberry laugh, knowing the truth behind those claims.
Cast[]
- Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld as Strawberry Shortcake
- Laurie Hymes as Sour Grapes
- Kaylin Lee Clinton as Sweet Grapes
- Amanda J. Barker as Orange Blossom
Comparisons to the Original Story[]
What Wasn't Changed[]
- Sour Grapes and one of the Berry Girls are holed up in a bookstore on a dark and stormy night.
- The two keep hearing a loud harrowing wail, frightening them.
- A shadowy figure opens the door, scaring the girls further, until it's revealed to just be one of their friends.
- The Berry Girl tells the friend that the bookstore is haunted, and the three get scared further by a loud noise.
- The friend sees a note on the door with dripping text declaring "You're next" and bemoaning that they have so much to live for, only for the Berry Girl to point out that it's just a poster advertising a new book, while Sour Grapes questions why a ghost would know graphic design.
- The author of "You're Next" is "Veronique LeGoth, who also penned "And Then There Were Several". "You're Next" is slated to release in bookstores this summer.
- The friend sheepishly admitting they got carried away upon seeing the credits for the book.
- One of the three noticing a large pile of books, within which another friend is sleeping in, loudly snoring.
- Another of the three wakes up the other friend, telling them they scared the group with their snoring. The friend apologizes and explains they have a nasty cold and aren't quiet sleepers, telling them they didn't mean to frighten anyone.
- Sour Grapes claiming she wasn't scared.
What Was Changed[]
- The Berry Girl in the comic was Blueberry Muffin, since she was the owner of the bookstore. In the webisode, she's swapped out for Strawberry, who didn't appear at all in the original story.
- Blueberry didn't seem to mind the rainy night, while Strawberry was bummed out by it.
- Sour Grapes wasn't mentioned to be reading a scary story in the comic, nor did she claim that she can't be scared at the beginning, both of which occur in the webisode.
- Blueberry was hearing the creepy wailing noise all week, which put her on edge. In the webisode, Strawberry only began hearing the noise once the power went out.
- There wasn't a power outage in the comic.
- The scene between Sour and the Berry Girl getting scared and the scene where the shadow figure appears in the doorway has another bit added in the webisode, wherein they wonder what the noise was and notice the figure approaching the door, adding a bit more suspense to the sequence.
- The shadowy figure in the comic was Huckleberry Pie, who wanted to visit Blueberry to get the new Patty Persimmon book. In the webisode, it's Sweet Grapes, who was checking on Sour and Strawberry after the power went out.
- The "You're Next" poster is in black text in the comic. In the webisode, it's in red text, and has an exclamation point added. The credits for Veronique LeGoth are also very visible when the note is spotted in the webisode, which somewhat ruins the reveal that it wasn't a creepy note.
- In the comic, Sour says "since when do ghosts know graphic design" before Blueberry tells Huck the note is just a poster, and seemed to be genuinely questioning it. In the webisode, Sour says it after Strawberry tells Sweet about the poster, and her tone more clearly indicates she's asking Sweet as if she can't believe her sister didn't notice it was a poster.
- Huck completely disappears from the comic after admitting he got carried away. Sweet Grapes stays in the webisode after she admits it.
- In the comic, it was Bosley Bookworm who was sick and napping in the bookstore. In the webisode, it's Orange Blossom.
- Sour Grapes was the one who found Bosley in the comic, while it was Strawberry finding Orange in the webisode. It also took longer to find Orange than it did Bosley, as she was completely hidden by the pile of books, while Bosley was plainly visible.
- Sour finding Bosley was entirely by chance, while the girls were actively looking for Orange.
- In the comic, Blueberry was the one who awoke Bosley, while Sweet Grapes is the one who wakes up Orange.
Trivia[]
- It's incredibly obvious that the "bookstore" is just Strawberry's Berry Bitty Café but with a bunch of books scattered everywhere.
- This is the only other episode where Raisin Cane does not appear, with the second being "Yes to the Dress".
- Despite having a character model and a voiced role in the previous episode, Blueberry is completely absent despite being in the original story, with Strawberry taking her place.
References[]
- Veronique's other book, "And Then There Were Several", is a play on "And Then There Were None", a 1939 mystery thriller novel by Agatha Christie (though the book was first published with that title in 1940 for US audiences, as the original title for the United Kingdom release contained a racial slur).
Errors[]
- When the camera zooms in on the "You're Next" poster on the door, the stairs on the right are very clearly a flat asset, as the wall behind it is visible.
Videos[]
