Big Wolf on Campus

Tommy Dawkins’ life was almost perfect. He was the star of his high school football team, he was dating the most popular girl in school and oh yeah… Tommy Dawkins was a werewolf.

Everything started the week before the beginning of senior year during a final summer camp out with some of his football buddies. While hanging out enjoying himself Tommy (played by Brandon Quinn) hears howling in the woods and being the brave sort goes to investigate. To his surprise Tommy doesn’t just stumble upon a wolf, he stumbles upon the biggest wolf he has ever seen and the wolf doesn’t seem too happy about it. The wolf attacks Tommy but strangely runs off after only biting him one single time.

Tommy considers himself lucky and quickly forgets about the wolf attack, after all he has more important things to worry about like girls, football and did I mention girls? Yep, Tommy knows that senior year is going to be perfect and nothing can possibly ruin it for him. That is until the full moon rises.

After Tommy transforms into a werewolf for the first time he realizes that he needs to talk to someone who can tell him what is happening so he reaches out to the one person he is sure will be able to help him… Merton J. Dingle, Pleasantville High’s one and only Goth. Of course Merton (played by Danny Smith) is reluctant to believe Tommy at first, after all he has had his share of bullying and why should this be any different but Tommy soon gives Merton proof that he can’t possibly ignore. Excited by the fact that he has actually met a real life werewolf Merton agrees to help Tommy and the two quickly become best friends.

As it turns out Tommy isn’t like the werewolves you see on TV or in horror movies. He can change into a werewolf whenever he wants night or day regardless of the full moon and he isn’t evil either. In fact unlike most werewolves, including the one who bit him, Tommy is a good werewolf and plans on staying that way.

Together Tommy and Merton battle a bazaar array of monsters from the Sandman to Medusa and everything in between. They even find themselves battling a pair of vampires whose only source of sustenance just happens to be werewolf blood. Oh, and did I mention the Evil Werewolf Syndicate who wants to turn Tommy evil and force him to join them? It’s a good thing Tommy and Merton are soon joined by Lori Baxter, a spunky kickboxing champion who is kicked out of her Catholic school and transferred to Pleasantville High. Lori (played by Aimee Castle) quickly uncovers Tommy’s secret and insists on joining the two of them in their fight against evil.

Big Wolf on Campus is a great show that is sure to entertain. It’s funny, often spoofing a wide range of horror movies including Frankenstein, A Nightmare on Elm Street and even The Terminator. The spoofs are often pointed out by Merton who often states how a predicament our three heroes find themselves in resembles a scene in a movie. When either Tommy or Lori ask him what happened Merton answers with a bit of trivia about the movie’s production or it’s reception at the box office (such as the Terminator franchise losing popularity when Arnold Schwarzenegger tried branching out into comedies) which is soon met with a smack in the head and the yelling of “In the movie Merton, what happened in the movie!?!”

Big Wolf on Campus has also had it’s share of guest stars including ‘The Two Coreys’ Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, each playing themselves. Haim shows up in Pleasantville one night to shoot a low budget, straight to video vampire flick. He also happens to be a real life vampire wanting to make Lori his vampire bride. Feldman, curious about the whereabouts of his friend shows up later in the series looking for Haim while posing as a vampire hunter.

Big Wolf On Campus ran for three seasons from 1999- 2002 and can sometimes still be found on BBC Kids and ABC Family. There is also an online petition floating around the internet demanding a DVD release. *Fingers Crossed*

-Chris

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.