Dance of the Dead

Dance of the Dead is the third episode of season one of Grojband. It is the third episode overall. This episode aired as the second episode of a two episode per block along with Cloudy with a Chance of Malt Balls on it's debut. It is written by Meghan Read.

Synopsis
This episode involves Trina making and decorating a Halloween Dance at the school. Meanwhile, Corey and the band find a cool new amp, but it turns out to be cursed, and when they play it in the graveyard it brings the dead back to life as zombies.

Plot
The episode begins on Halloween at Elementary High with Kin and Kon in the darkness shaking in fear of a dark shadowy figure approaching them which when it gets close enough, turns out to actually be Laney. When she reveals herself, Kin and Kon scream, still afraid of because of her. Laney tell them to stop doing that and Kon tells her that he and Kin would stop screaming if she'd stop wearing such a "scary costume" referring to her normal clothing which angers Laney. Corey then busts in through the doors, telling about something cool they found. Kin and Kon try guessing what it is. Kin guessed a cursed magic amp with a freaky skull on it, but Corey tells him that he's wrong and that the real answer was actually a cursed magic amp with a freaky skull on it that glows in the dark. He says he just bought the amp from a corner store and he's going to use it to play music at their gig booked at the Halloween Dance. Laney starts to tell him what's wrong with his plan but Corey shushes her and apologizes for neglecting her for such a long time. Laney starts falling madly in love and Laney's Heart starts pumping. Corey then drops her spirits by telling her that he likes her "costume." This causes Laney's Heart to jump off of her tongue and onto the floor in disappointment. Trina comes into the room with Mina and tells them that they can't play at the dance because she is the one in charge of it and that she will not accept them being there. Corey tries showing her a flier which advertises that they will in fact be there, but Trina tells him that the ad was never answered and screams into the microphone attached to Corey's amp and the sound wave blasts the band and sends them through the walls of the room and they fly into a graveyard. Corey, Kin, and Laney painfully land on the ground with a huge crash, but Kon angelically floats to the ground and lands perfectly safe out of irony of him being the biggest and heaviest member of the band. Kin tells Corey that the amp is awesome and Kon says that it's better than the "other amps" in the graveyard which are actually gravestones. He uses his fist to crush a gravestone and complains that it doesn't glow in the dark. Corey says that they have a choice to either freak out because their standing on dead people, or rock out in the graveyard rather than the dance to attract all of the people to come to the graveyard to party instead when they hear the music. Kin than asks them that if the amp blasted them to the graveyard, then what blasted the amp to the graveyard which disturbs the others when they notice that the amp mysteriously made it to the graveyard with them.

Meanwhile, back at the school, Mina is showing Trina the decorations she spent all night working on for her at the dance. She reveals a box full or origami bats that can actually fly and unimpressed, Trina tells her that she's being very selfish. Mina tries to prove to Trina that she is not being selfish because she also made a life sized origami version of her but Trina ignores it and discusses with Mina how she in unhappy with how Nick Mallory hasn't asked her out to the dance yet and wonders where he is. She opens a decorative coffin, revealing a nerd stuffed in there who cheers that he is finally free until she closes the door on him again. She asks what Nick Mallory could possibly be doing that is more important than going to the Halloween Dance with her. It is then revealed that Nick is at the graveyard mourning over his pet dog's grave. Corey and his band are seen practicing a song with the magic amp nearby and their lyrics are terrible. A bolt of lightning strikes the amp which turns it red and demonically glowing. It then starts beating and creating sound waves and the bad lyrics mixed with the creepy amp awaken the dead from their graves and they emerge from their tombs as zombies including Nick's Dog who jumps out, bites Nick on the head and turns him into a zombie too. Oblivious to the zombie outbreak, Grojband hears the moans of the zombies which Corey misinterprets as the booing of an audience. He asks if his lyrics are really that bad and Laney confirms that but says that something else surprisingly sounds worse. Kin points out that it might be the "deadish guys crawling out of their graves" until it strikes the four of them that there are zombies. Once Grojband finds out about the outbreak, they scream in fear as they run off taking the cursed magic amp along with them. They go to the Ghostly Cheese Boutique where Corey bought the amp from so that they can return it. Unfortunately, Chipper informs them the store policy does not incorporate resurrection of the dead so their plan fails. At that moment the zombies catch up to them causing Grojband to run away.

The Halloween dance has started at Elementary High and Trina is at the dance waiting for Nick Mallory to come. Annoyed that there is no music, Trina asks why nobody booked a band to play a gig here, so she kicks a kid dressed as a jukebox in the stomach and he goes flying and hits the wall which causes him costume to turn on and play music. She finally sees Nick enter the dance. At that time, Nick Mallory is a zombie but she doesn't seem to notice this because she is blinded by her fantasies of him being a gorgeous hunk. Just then, a fantasy of an ugly pig looking like Mina gets up in front of her which breaks Trina's fantasy. It is revealed that Mina has finished doing what Trina wanted her to do. Trina shoves her out of the way saying that she's blocking Nick Mallory's view of her. Nick Mallory approaches Trina, trying to eat her brains and leaving Trina thinking that he is approaching her for a kiss. Trina waits there puckering up so that she can get a kiss from Nick Mallory. Trina says that all the best moments in life happen in slow motion but because of him being a zombie, Nick Mallory is walking too slow for her, leaving Trina waiting there for a long time. She looks at her watch as she becomes impatient while she waits for Nick Mallory to kiss her.

Grojband get cornered in an alley with the zombies approaching towards them. In fear of being zombified, Kin asks Corey why he thought it was a good idea for them to back into a dark alley way while being chased by zombies. Corey tells him that it felt warm and cozy there. Just then, Corey gets pit on the leg. He lifts up his leg to find Kate and Allie chewing on his leg. The band is horrified and they think that they are zombies but Corey shakes them off his leg and it is then revealed that they are not zombies and that they were just doing that because they are in love with him and they do very weird things for the band they love. Allie compliments Laney's "costume" and being fed up with everybody constantly mistaking her clothing for a Halloween costume, Laney gets so angry, that she transforms into a giant flaming fire giant and she screams at them which blows them into the league of zombies with her huge gust of rage. Kate and Allie turn into zombies for real and join the zombies and try to attack Grojband. They are just about to get them, but then they stop when they hear the music of the Halloween dance coming from the school. They are strangely attracted to the music and they all turns around and go to the school instead of attacking Grojband. Corey chases after them to go and save the students at the school from the zombie attack. Kin, Kon, and Laney however, stay behind motionless, waiting for Corey to realize his mistake and come back. A few seconds later, sure enough, Corey walks back and admits to them that he knows that it might be a bad idea to bust into the school during a zombie attack, but he has a plan on how to survive it. As Corey explains all the reasons why his plan is bad, he forgets the reasons why his plan is good. Soon after he forgets what he was talking about altogether. Laney reminds him that he was explaining his plan to save the school from a zombie attack and without explaining anything, Corey immediately takes off and runs to the school. With nothing better to do, Kin, Kon, and Laney give in and go with him.

At the dance, the zombie outbreak has spread throughout all of the school but the nobody there seems to notice them because they think that they are just normal people wearing Halloween costumes. Corey and the band bust in through the door and Corey is determined to put his plan into action. Kin asks him what his plan exactly is with him never explaining it once before. Corey then starts brainstorming to thing of a plan to take care of the zombies. He looks around the room and sees Trina about to kiss Nick and also sees Mina dressed as a brain. Corey gets an idea and he runs up to Mina tells her to go tell Trina about her cool costume. Trina is about to kiss Nick on the lips while still imagining him as a gorgeous hunk when he is really a zombie, but just before they kiss, Mina interrupts them to show them her brain costume. Mina introduces her costume as "Cortexa, Queen of the Brain Children." Angry with Mina interrupting them, Trina threatens to break Mina's real brain if she doesn't back off. Nick is attracted to Mina's brain costume and he drops Trina and tries to eat her instead of eating Trina. Trina is so angry with Nick liking Mina for her brains and she goes into Diary Mode. Grojband snatches her diary from the hands of a zombie and Corey explains that if he uses the cursed magic amp to play good music, it will make the zombies go back into their graves again. Trina shoved Mina away from Nick and makes Nick go back to trying to eat her again. The band gets up on stage and they use the electric decorative balls to turn the cursed magic amp on. Grojband plays the song Zombie Dance and the song makes all of the zombies dance as they go back into their graves again. Trina and Nick are just about to kiss until the song stops and everyone who was formerly a human but got turned into a zombie gets brought back to life and humanized again. Now that Nick is a human, he does not show interest for Trina anymore and leaves her to go and eat some steak. Trina goes into a state and chases after him with some steak flavored lip gloss, trying to make him kiss her again. Laney vows to never play music in the graveyard with a cursed magic amp during a lightning storm again. Corey agrees with her and tells everyone the moral that he learned that day. He says that zombies are real people just like us that only want to party with everyone. When he is going to close up the garage door and finish off his moral for the day, a miniature zombie comes out of nowhere and bites his head and the door closes and the episode ends.

Major Roles

 * Corey Riffin
 * Laney Penn
 * Kin Kujira
 * Kon Kujira
 * Trina Riffin
 * Zombies
 * Mina Beff
 * Nick Mallory

Minor Roles

 * Kate
 * Allie
 * Dog Nick
 * Chipper
 * Laney's Heart

Quotes

 * Laney: It's cool Core, but -
 * Corey: Shih, I know Laney, and I'm sorry I've neglected you after all this time.
 * (Screen cuts to Laney's heart inside of her chest)
 * Laney's Heart: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
 * Corey: Should've said that I digger your costume. My bad man, it's sick.
 * (Laney's heart comes out of her mouth)
 * Laney's Heart: That's it, I'm out of here.


 * Mina: I stayed up all night finishing these flying origami bats you wanted.
 * Trina: Ugh, it's always origami, origami, well what about origa-me!?


 * Trina: Why hasn't Hunky Nick Mallory asked me to the dance yet? Doesn't he know it takes time to make a perfect couples costume? I mean, what could he be doing that's more important than that?
 * (Screen cuts to Nick at the graveyard)
 * Nick: Nick misses you Dog Nick. Stay? Good Dog Nick.


 * Allie: Hey scary Halloween costume.
 * (Laney transforms into a fire giant)
 * Laney: I'M NOT WEARING A COSTUME!!!


 * (Trina is with Nick at the dance about to get kissed)
 * Trina: Swoon! All those movies were totally right. The greatest moments in life DO happen in slow motion.
 * (Nick and Trina are about to kiss in slow motion and Trina looks at her watch)

For the full transcript, go here.
 * Nick: Nick likes brains!
 * Mina: Thanks! Uh-oh, AAAAH!!!
 * Trina: Since when do guys like BRAINS!?

Songs

 * Halloween can Sound so Creepy
 * Zombie Dance

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where The Riffin House and the Garage didn't appear.
 * In this episode, it's revealed that Nick had a pet dog named Dog Nick that died.
 * When Trina went into Diary Mode in this episode, there wasn't anything spinning around her that related to the events going on.
 * This is the first episode of which the events take place on a holiday. The events of this episode took place on Halloween. The other two episodes to do this would be It's in the Card which took place on Valentine's Day and Curse of the Metrognome which took place on New Year's Eve.

Episode Connections

 * Before Trina went into diary mode, the footage with the blast of fire that went through the roof of the school was reused in the episode "Math of Kon".
 * The zombie girl in a pink dress is seen in the Opening Sequence of every episode, when Grojband are performing on the bus, before she gets obscured by Kate and Allie.

Cultural References

 * This episode is a parody of the film of the same name, which also featured a school prom being attacked by zombies, and a group of students fighting to save their prom.
 * Alternatively, the episode's title might also be a reference to Dead franchise (to which the above mentioned film is based off), where every film's title contains the phrase " _ of the Dead".
 * When Corey asked the gang a question, Laney answered wrong and a giant red X appeared on the screen, accompanied by a buzzing sound. Kin and Kon were then seen at tables with buzzers, which Kin buzzed and answered right and was then accompanied by a dinging noise. This is similar to the concept of Family Feud.
 * One of the decorations for the party was a coffin. The coffin featured a depiction of a Christian cross on the front, referencing to the religion of Christianity.
 * This is an example of a rare occasion of a religious reference being made in a non-religious kid show. Usually, religious references are banned in kid shows to avoid any political incorrectness that could be interpreted from it, but somehow, Grojband was able to make this reference and easily get away with it.
 * The ghosts that appear in the Wicked Cool Transition resemble the ghosts from Pac-Man.
 * When Grojband said "Zombies! Zoinks!" It was a reference to Scooby Doo. In Scooby Doo, Shaggy is always saying zoinks.

Production Notes

 * This episode aired as the second episode on a two episode per block along with Cloudy with a Chance of Malt Balls.
 * This is the first episode to be written by Meghan Read.