Wednesday, March 14, 2012

TV Flashback: Eerie, Indiana

TV shows sometime get lost in the recesses of your brain, but for me, the shows that I watched as a child stay with me.  No matter how deep down in the old noggin I have to reach I can usually find memories right down to dialog.

One of those shows I have revisited a few times is Eerie Indiana.  I loved this show.  For me it is one of the few gems from early nineties TV, especially speaking live action shows that were geared to kids.  It captured my imagination, by creating a very real setting and having, for the most part, likable characters.  I am once again taking the trip to Eerie and I feel the same.  The stories are still very watchable.



Watching the show now I realize things my 12 year old self didn't realize.  Number one, is that this was a great take on the twilight zone, Night Gallery and all of the other Shows about weirdness.  Putting the characters of Marshall and Simon into these situations was great.  We got to see the weirdness through their eyes. 

Eerie, Indiana, to me, also represented something else to my young self.  It was the first time I really thought about the paranormal and strange things that happen and people kind of turn a blind eye toward.  Sure, the stuff in the show was exaggerated and cartoonified a bit, but it was still there.  I'm not saying I beioeve in the paranormal etc. . . but it made me look at my neighbors a bit differently!

One episode that struck me then, and still strikes me now was an episode about an angry tornado called old Bob, and a Meteorologist who has a vendetta against him.  That episode really got me a s a kid.  Not for any reason, really, it just struck a chord with me.  More recently, though, it does hit home.  After the recent tornadoes that hit my home town, it makes it easier to kind of give a tornado a persona.  In the episode they let you hear the "Voice" of the tornado, and it is creepy, and strangely exactly how I would imagine a tornado sounding like.

The show went on for 19 episodes and began to wander at the end with the introduction of the character of Dash - X a homeless kid with gray hair who has mysterious origins.  The Character works.  and is a fun addition.   He does add to the mystique of the setting, but the story kind of drags at that point, as we never get any real closure to his story when the series ends.

There was a spin off series made in 1998 when there was a resurgence in the popularity of the show due to reruns playing.  the new show was called Eerie, Indiana:  The other Dimension.  It had new actors playing the archetypal parts in a different reality of eerie.  there was even a section where the originals made an appearance on the first episode!  That show never peaked my interest much, but the original is still a classic to me!

Interesting bits of information:

Toby Maguire, who would later become spider man, made an appearance on Eerie Indiana and a heartbroken ghost.

Joe Dante, who directed Gremlins and the Twilight Zone movie directed 5 episodes of Eerie Indiana  




Do you guys remember Eerie Indiana fondly?  do you have other shows you remember that you still think are good?  Let us know in the comments!

2 comments:

  1. Loved Eerie Indiana back then, love it now

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  2. loved eerie, indiana! you should stop by http://eerie-indiana.livejournal.com/ if youre looking for some fandom action

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