Halloweentown (1998 TV Movie)

Judith Hoag: Gwen Cromwell Piper

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gwen Cromwell Piper : Look, Marnie, I am sorry, but you are not going out on Halloween.

  Marnie Piper : Why?

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : I have my reasons, and I will explain them to you when you're... taller.

  Marnie Piper : Mom, you've been saying that for, like, my whole life, OK? It's just one night. What is the big deal?

• Marnie Piper : [sorting through the presents Aggie brought them]  Hieroglyphics!

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : [to Aggie]  Mother!

  Marnie Piper : You know, these look like the ones from the Egyptian book of the dead!

• Gwen Cromwell Piper : I'm just trying to protect you.

  Marnie Piper : Yeah, you're protecting us from being anything but a bunch of vegetables.

  [sits down] 

  Marnie Piper : Hey look! I'm a potato, are you happy now? Maybe I'll put down some roots in the carpet.

  [mockingly] 

  Marnie Piper : Oh no Marie, it's too dangerous! There're things about vegetables that YOU don't understand.

• Gwen Cromwell Piper : You are not a witch.

  Marnie Piper : Oh, yes, I am, no thanks to you. You were going to let my powers go away forever.

• Gwen Cromwell Piper : [In the kitchen, packing leftovers]  And after I specifically told you not to tell them anything about it!

  Aggie Cromwell : I was only trying to do what you should have done long ago. Why, you're on the verge of breaking a tradition that goes back more than a thousand years!

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Your tradition, Mother, not mine. Marnie is my daughter, and if I decide not to train her like a witch, then it's none of your business.

  Aggie Cromwell : A witch's 13th Halloween is supposed to mark the completion of her training. If Marnie's training doesn't at least begin tonight, her powers will be lost forever.

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Yes! And she'll finally be human! She'll finally be normal, like her brother, like her father and like Sophie will be after her.

  Aggie Cromwell : Gwen, a human father, Why, you're only lucky that you have two children that are showing powers at all! Do you really want them to go through life doing things the hard way? I mean, look at you, with your plastic bowls, when you know leftover chicken keeps better when it's back on the bone!

  [snaps her fingers and a live chicken appears in the bowl] 

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Mother... get that thing out of here right now!

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : [after Aggie gets rid of the chicken]  For years, you have been coming here. You've been dropping hints to Marnie, and you've been badgering me to start her training. I know that that's why you came here tonight, Mother. But the fight is over. You know that? The clock has finally run out, and you can just go home.

  Aggie Cromwell : Gwen, as much as I think you're making a terrible mistake with Marnie, you're wrong about why I came here tonight. The fact is, I came to ask for your help.

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : My help? With what?

  Aggie Cromwell : Well, something is wrong at home... Something's happening... and every day, I find another neighbor has changed, turned hateful, it's frightening. And soon after that, they disappear altogether.

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Please, Mother. My neighbors disappear sometimes too. It's called moving.

  Aggie Cromwell : Oh, Gwendolyn, I'm quite serious about this. It's as though something or someone is trying to return us to the Dark Times... And I fear my powers alone may not be enough to stop it. I need another Cromwell witch! I need you!

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Mother, there are plenty of other witches and warlocks in Halloweentown. Why don't you recruit one of them?

  Aggie Cromwell : Oh, I've tried! You know how it is today: No one wants to get involved.

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Mother, I'm sure that you believe that there's some kind of problem. But I can't just leave my kids to go fight some nameless force in another world that I have nothing to do with.

  Aggie Cromwell : Nothing to do with? Hm. Well, fine! Bury your head in the sand of the precious Mortal World of yours. Perhaps the Cromwell line will end with you. But let's just hope that Halloweentown doesn't come to an end along with it!

  Aggie Cromwell : [leaves]  Enjoy your leftovers, dear.

  [squawks] 

  Gwen Cromwell Piper : Oh, mother...