Aliens in the Endzone

Screammates #2

by Kieran Flynn, Jason Vega (Illustrator)

The next game for the Martians, a pee-wee football team, has global consequences. With enemy aliens leading both teams, the winner of the match will control the Earth!

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of the vast sea of Goosebumps knockoffs during the 1990s, Screammates is barely remembered, but the series had a moment or two in its four-book run. Johnny Nielson is the star running back on his youth football team, the Rockville Rockets. They reeled off seven wins to start the season, but are currently in a slump that could cost them a shot at the state championship. Their school principal has a solution: the introduction of a team mascot, a strange-looking green man named "Mookie the Martian." The kids are skeptical, but Mookie launches into a sequence of impressive physical stunts that wows the entire student body. At the final regular season game, versus the Cranston Cowboys, Johnny and his teammates remain in their slump until Mookie conjures up a little magic that changes their fortunes. Could he be an actual extraterrestrial, not a guy in a crazy costume? Johnny is glad the Rockets are headed for the state championship game, though he wishes Coach Saks would give Kristen Talley a chance to show what she can do as the team's placekicker. Johnny is convinced she's a better kicker than Joe Saks, but Joe is the coach's son. Will Kristen ever get to play?

The Cranston Cowboys were tough, but the Westport Pirates in the state championship game will be a much bigger challenge. Their roster is full of big, tough players with a record of excellence on the gridiron. Before the game, Johnny and Kristen learn the truth about Mookie: he's a real alien who migrated to Earth from the planet J-2 in order to get some peace from a bully. Mookie's powers helped the Rockets triumph against the Cowboys, and can provide the same advantage over the Pirates. Unfortunately, Westport has a new mascot of their own: a red-eyed pirate that Mookie shrinks away from at first sight. It seems his bully, Vandor, has pursued him across multiple galaxies, and is now using his powers to make the Rockets lose the big game. Vandor has a deal for Mookie: if Rockville wins the championship, Vandor will leave him alone permanently. But if Westport wins...Vandor will destroy the planet. The two aliens take turns meddling in the game action, the score staying close as the clock ticks toward the end. Johnny and Kristen are the only players who know what's at stake, but can they deliver the winning play under pressure, saving both Mookie and Earth from Vandor? It all comes down to a final field goal attempt...

Haunted Cleats, book one of the Screammates series, was surprisingly impressive. The soccer action is decent, and the story delves into themes regarding illegal performance enhancers, and how they rob you of the joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from playing a sport on your own merits, win or lose. Aliens in the End Zone shares none of that thematic depth, and is as clumsy a narrative as you'll likely encounter. The attitudes and strategies of the football teams don't ring true, and Mookie's willingness to put Earth in jeopardy for his bet with Vandor starkly contradicts his status in the book as a good guy. Neither Johnny nor Kristen react with appropriate fear for the potential consequences of losing the game, either. Jason Vega's illustrations are messy and unrefined, not worth commenting on if it weren't for one thing: why is his name spelled "Jason" in this book, and "Jayson" in the previous one? I have no idea. The story's ending offers a somewhat touching moment, but I'd be hard-pressed to rate Aliens in the End Zone even one and a half stars. If you want to try the Screammates series, go with Haunted Cleats.