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Return from Witch Mountain

 Return from Witch Mountain
type
TVTItem
 Return from Witch Mountain
label
Return from Witch Mountain
 Return from Witch Mountain
page
ReturnFromWitchMountain
 Return from Witch Mountain
comment
Return from Witch Mountain is the 1978 sequel to Escape to Witch Mountain. It is once again directed by John Hough, with the screenplay by Malcolm Marmorstein.Extraterrestrial siblings Tony and Tia, played again by Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards, take a vacation with their uncle, but they get separated from each other at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles. Tony winds up using his psychic powers, and this is witnessed by evil scientist Dr. Victor Gannon (Christopher Lee) and his bitterly bankrupt backer Letha Wedge (Bette Davis). Dr. Gannon kidnaps Tony and turns him into a hypnotized servant doing Gannon's evil bidding. Tia has to use her psychic powers to find and rescue her brother. Jack Soo of Barney Miller stars as Mr. Yamamoto the truant officer.
 Return from Witch Mountain
fetched
2023-03-25T23:44:02Z
 Return from Witch Mountain
parsed
2023-03-25T23:44:02Z
 Return from Witch Mountain
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Return from Witch Mountain / int_14beeefd
type
Darker and Edgier
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comment
Darker and Edgier: While still a frequently comedic family film, thanks to Sequel Escalation and Christopher Lee as the villain, the movie can frequently get more intense than it predecessor.
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1.0
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_15070c2b
type
Timmy in a Well
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comment
Timmy in a Well: Dr. Gannon keeps a goat named Alfred in his lab for—some reason. Anyway, Tia sends Alfred the goat off to get help. Alfred makes his way to the Earthquake Gang's hideout, snatches Tia's vest, and leads the gang back to her.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_223a7e7
type
Instant Cooldown
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comment
Instant Cooldown: Played completely straight. The reactor is in the red zone (and the scientists have been saying for a while that it's almost at the point of no return); Tia mentally tries to fix the coolant system in a struggle with Tony (the needle wavers back and forth within the last quarter of the red zone), then Tia wins and the needle retreats into orange, yellow...(about 3 seconds of screen time) and the camera cuts away. It's not shown again but it's clear that things are back to normal (and even pulling up parts of the reactor room and crashing them together so that they explode doesn't disturb the reactor subsequently).
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_3517000d
type
Mad Scientist
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comment
Mad Scientist: "My experiments are more important than the law," says Dr. Gannon, who seems to want the usual Mad Scientist reward package—money, power, recognition as the man who's controlled "molecular flow."
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_391d6577
type
Sequel Escalation
 Return from Witch Mountain / int_391d6577
comment
Sequel Escalation: In the original film, the kids' freedom was the only issue at stake. In Return, they have to stop a madman from nuking Los Angeles. The sequel also features more action and special effects than the original.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_56725578
type
Driving a Desk
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comment
Driving a Desk: Very noticeable in multiple scenes, and maybe even cheaper looking due to the fact that by 1978 Hollywood cameras could capture scenes inside a moving car, making this trope unnecessary.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_5bdf025f
type
Instant Sedation
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comment
Instant Sedation: Happens to both Tony and Tia, on separate occasions. When the villains kidnap Tony, they give him a surprise injection with a hidden syringe. He has time to gasp in surprise before he immediately falls unconscious. Later on, when Tia tries to rescue Tony, she gets chloroformed by Sickle, and is out in seconds.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_5fbb8d8e
type
Hollywood Density
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comment
Hollywood Density: Averted. Tony uses telekinesis to send the gold bars sailing out to Sickle — who is knocked backward by the force of the first one hitting his chest. The second one knocks him to the ground. Thereafter Sickle retreats under the car for cover, as the stream of gold bars that Tony is sending out of the museum batter the car into a shapeless wreck.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_60fa92ac
type
Names to Run Away from Really Fast
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comment
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Cripes, "Letha Wedge"?
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_63d861f8
type
Even Evil Has Loved Ones
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comment
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The one time Letha shows genuine horror instead of Pragmatic Villainy is when Gannon uses her nephew as an Unwitting Test Subject and endangers his life.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_7570a10c
type
Bond Villain Stupidity
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comment
Bond Villain Stupidity: This is a kid's movie from Disney, so Dr. Gannon can't kill Tia when he has the chance. He instead puts her in a state of "comatose neutralization", from which she is liberated by the Earthquake Gang. Possibly justified if Gannon wanted to make Tia his slave too, although there's no hint of this in the film. Made worse when Dr. Gannon does attempt to kill Tia during the climax, so there wasn't much of an excuse why he couldn't have earlier except, again, kids' movie from Disney.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_86bbf6b5
type
Newscaster Cameo
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comment
Newscaster Cameo: Real Life radio personality Gary Owens is the man who delivers the radio bulletin about the crisis at the plutonium furnace.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_8a295a46
type
Cool Car
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comment
Cool Car: Dr. Gannon's Citroen DS sedan and Mr. Yokomoto's Ford Econoline. The latter gets battered during a chase but gets restored to pristine showroom condition at the end of the film.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_9109ba86
type
Non-Giving-Up School Guy
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comment
Non-Giving-Up School Guy: Mr. Yamamoto, the truant officer who really, really wants to get the kids of the Earthquake Gang back into school. After he helps save Tony, the kids agree to go back to school so they can be as smart as Tia and Tony.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Return from Witch Mountain / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: Dr. Gannon, a Mad Scientist who seeks to become the most powerful man in the world.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
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comment
Deadpan Snarker: Letha.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_b63019a5
type
High-Heel–Face Turn
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comment
High-Heel–Face Turn: Averted with Letha Wedge. She's the only female villain and she only reluctantly goes along with Dr. Gannon's schemes. However, her objections are pragmatic rather than moral. In the end, she's punished along with the male villains.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_bb6461b4
type
Finish Him!
 Return from Witch Mountain / int_bb6461b4
comment
Finish Him!: "Finish her!", cries Dr. Gannon, but Tony resists squashing Tia with a 125-ton crane, and Gannon's mind-control device shorts out.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_bc3b029b
type
Impairment Shot
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comment
Impairment Shot: From Tia as she is chloroformed.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_c40c8b74
type
And Starring
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comment
And Starring: The cast roll here ends with "and Denver Pyle as Uncle Bene".
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_c446f93c
type
Artistic License – Nuclear Physics
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comment
Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: Well, there's no telling what a "plutonium furnace" is. Beyond that, the operators are afraid that stopping the cooling pumps will start the "chain reaction," when a chain reaction is what's supposed to happen. The danger with a loss of coolant is overheating, causing a steam explosion.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_c928d01d
type
Magic Music
 Return from Witch Mountain / int_c928d01d
comment
The first movie also demonstrates that while Tia doesn't need any sort of aid, Tony needs a Magic Music harmonica to focus his telekinetic powers. In the sequel Tony doesn't need his harmonica to move stuff around.
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1.0
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_ca95473c
type
Series Continuity Error
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comment
Series Continuity Error: The first movie clearly establishes that Tia, the more powerful of the siblings, is the only one who can use telepathy—she projects her thoughts to Tony but he has to talk back with his mouth. In this film, both kids talk to each other telepathically. The first movie also demonstrates that while Tia doesn't need any sort of aid, Tony needs a Magic Music harmonica to focus his telekinetic powers. In the sequel Tony doesn't need his harmonica to move stuff around. Neither of these is necessarily a continuity error. Three years have passed since the first movie, and they have spent those three years among their own people on Witch Mountain. Either Tony's powers have increased during that time, or Uncle Bene has taught him how to communicate telepathically and how to use his telekinesis without the harmonica, or maybe a little bit of both.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_dc579c91
type
Contrived Coincidence
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comment
Contrived Coincidence: Not the most carefully plotted film. Or maybe Los Angeles is a really small town. Who just happens to be outside the entrance to the museum? Mr. Yokomoto, the truant officer who was chasing after the kids of the Earthquake Gang earlier in the movie. Whose cab does Alfred the goat leap into? The one belonging to the cabbie who picked up Tony and Tia at the Rose Bowl at the start of the movie. The abandoned house where the Earthquake Gang hides out is, conveniently, within walking distance of Gannon's mansion. When Tia and the Earthquake Gang kids are desperately trying to get to the plutonium plant, who do they find by the side of the road? Mr. Yokomoto again, as he's just waiting around next to his smashed van.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_e22feb9c
type
Mind-Control Device
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comment
Mind-Control Device: Dr. Gannon has a little gizmo that you attach to the victim's neck. This renders the victim a mindless slave that will obey the commands Gannon speaks into the radio controller attached to the device. At the climax, Tony's struggle to resist the order to murder Tia makes the controller explode, freeing Tony.
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_f1d3f0c9
type
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
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comment
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Dr. Gannon describes Tony's power as, "molecular mobilization." That's just an overly fancy way of saying, "moving stuff."
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 Return from Witch Mountain / int_f314f8c4
type
Traveling at the Speed of Plot
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comment
Traveling at the Speed of Plot: How far is it from the Earthquake Gang's hideout to Dr. Gannon's mansion? It seems to vary depending on the needs of the plot.
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Return from Witch Mountain

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Return from Witch Mountain
hasFeature
Alien Works / int_e3e86fe0
 Return from Witch Mountain
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Instant Cooldown / int_e3e86fe0
 Return from Witch Mountain
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Non-Giving-Up School Guy / int_e3e86fe0
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Psychic Stories / int_e3e86fe0