Eerie, Indiana episodes 5-8
Episode 5 "The Losers"
Episode 6 "Scariest Home Videos"
Episode 7 "Just Say No Fun"
Episode 8 "Heart on a Chain"
Episode 5 "The Losers"
Guest-starring Henry Gibson. In this episode, Marshall's dad loses his briefcase, which contains things he needs for a project for work. Marshall and Simon realize that objects have been going missing at an increased rate lately, and decide to find out where they're going. After an abortive first attempt that leads them to Eerie's local motorcycle gang, they reason that luggage always gets lost, so Marshall hides inside a trunk at a bus stop. When the trunk is picked up by a mysterious man and shoved through a door in an alleyway, Marshall finds himself in the Bureau of Lost. Mr. Lodgepoole, the man in charge of the Bureau of Lost (Henry Gibson) eventually explains that the world's economy would be destroyed if nobody lost things, and refuses to let Marshall go. Eventually Simon, who's followed the mysterious collector around town and discovered there's a tunnel in one of the dryers at the local laundromat, shows up and he and Marshall sneak out, after swiping a rubber stamp. Eventually, Mr. Lodgepoole shows up at Marshall's door with his dad's briefcase in exchange for the rubber stamp.
I liked lots of pieces of the episode, including Simon trying to lure the collector-guy by dangling a pen cap from a fishing line and Mr. Lodgepoole removing one piece each from boxes of Japanese models and jigsaw puzzles alike while explaining that it's more efficient to lose the pieces before they get to the consumer, but it doesn't hold togehter for me because I like the episodes in which the weird is a bit more subtle.
Episode 6 "Scariest Home Videos"
Marshall and Simon are roped into watching Simon's little brother Harley on Halloween. Harley, who is a holy terror, bites down on the TV remote control and transports himself into the mummy movie they were watching, switching places with the mummy. Eventually Marshall and Simon find out, in an interesting twist, that the mummy is actually the actor playing the mummy, who dies fifty years ago and came back in his greatest role, and has spent 50 years playing the mummy. Meanwhile, Harley wreaks havoc on the actress and the set in the movie. They eventually figure out what Harley had done to switch places, and get the mummy/actor and Harley to switch places again.
Again, not a favorite. Switching places with someone on TV seems a bit overdone, although I like it being the actor, rather than the character who shows up.
Episode 7 "Just Say No Fun"
This is where we learn that the school they go to is called "B. F. Skinner Junior High School." :) All the students who get an eye exam come out wearing black-framed glasses (made of transparent glass), a vacuous expression, and with no sense of fun. Simon gets caught and examined, and when he comes back out, he's the same way. With the help of the proprieter of the World o'Stuff, Marshall discovers the ultimate joke and pulls it on Simon, who comes back to himself. They decide that Nurse Nancy is hypnotising the kids and removing their sense of fun and devise a plan. The next day, Marshall's parents take him back to the eye exam, but the plan backfires because Nurse Nancy had phoned Simon the evening before and reinforced the hypnosis. Marshall barely manages to get his hands on the joke and frees Simon, and in turn, they hypnotize Nurse Nancy to always have a sense of fun, and tell her to go to the North Pole.
What's the Ultimate Joke? Well, (a) you'll have to watch the episode yourself to see, and (b) it's a lot funnier when you're a little kid (actually, I think that it would have worked in a written form, rather than a filmed one, because the writer could describe it so much better than it looks onscreen).
I liked this episode better than I did when I first saw it, but I think it's because I was getting the little things that I'd missed then, like the name of the school.
Episode 8 "Heart on a Chain"
A new girl, Melanie (Danielle Harris), moves into town, and Marshall and Devon (Cory Danziger), a classmate of Marshall's who has never been seen before, both get a crush on her. Melanie has a heart condition and is awaiting transplant and her family has moved to Eerie because there's a very good hospital. Marshall and Devon both show off for Melanie and give her gifts, Marshall a big plastic heart with snakes that pop out when you open it (and later thinks that might not be such a good idea to give to a girl with a heart condition), and Devon a silver heart on a chain. Eventually - you guessed it already - Devon gets hit by an ice-cream truck and killed, and Melanie gets his heart. As every TV show and book in which this happens has, Melanie starts acting like Devon. She and Marshall try to date (Marshall's family making his life a living hell for this :D), but every time they kiss, her heart starts hurting. Eventually Marshall tells her that Devon is jealous and she needs to start living her own life. At Devon's grave, she tells Devon she'll enver forget him, but that she eneds to keep living, and takes off the silver heart. Marshall and she kiss, and nothering hurts, but she tells Marshall that she's not ready for this and needs to be alone for a while, replaces the silver heart encklace, and leaves.
The English teacher in this episode is named "Miss Annabel Lee" and has a small picture of Poe on her desk. Also, Elvis gives Marshall advice about love. And as the camera pans over the graveyard, there's a spiderweb in the foreground and you can hear a tiny voice crying "Help me! Help me!"
While the OH GOD NOT THE TRANSPLANT STORY bit annoys the hell out of me, I like that we're never sure if it's the physical heart or the silver heart that's causing her pain. Simon's not in this much, but when he is, he's being cutely confused about whatever Marshall and Devon would see in a girl. Also, there's a reference to a previous episode - in the one where the ATM gave Simon all the money, two older boys talking about the girlfriend of one had said "She's not a girl, she's a woman," and Simon wasn't sure what "She's not girl, she's a lady" really meant. In this one, he pins Melanie with a look and asks her if she's a girl or a lady.
Episode 6 "Scariest Home Videos"
Episode 7 "Just Say No Fun"
Episode 8 "Heart on a Chain"
Episode 5 "The Losers"
Guest-starring Henry Gibson. In this episode, Marshall's dad loses his briefcase, which contains things he needs for a project for work. Marshall and Simon realize that objects have been going missing at an increased rate lately, and decide to find out where they're going. After an abortive first attempt that leads them to Eerie's local motorcycle gang, they reason that luggage always gets lost, so Marshall hides inside a trunk at a bus stop. When the trunk is picked up by a mysterious man and shoved through a door in an alleyway, Marshall finds himself in the Bureau of Lost. Mr. Lodgepoole, the man in charge of the Bureau of Lost (Henry Gibson) eventually explains that the world's economy would be destroyed if nobody lost things, and refuses to let Marshall go. Eventually Simon, who's followed the mysterious collector around town and discovered there's a tunnel in one of the dryers at the local laundromat, shows up and he and Marshall sneak out, after swiping a rubber stamp. Eventually, Mr. Lodgepoole shows up at Marshall's door with his dad's briefcase in exchange for the rubber stamp.
I liked lots of pieces of the episode, including Simon trying to lure the collector-guy by dangling a pen cap from a fishing line and Mr. Lodgepoole removing one piece each from boxes of Japanese models and jigsaw puzzles alike while explaining that it's more efficient to lose the pieces before they get to the consumer, but it doesn't hold togehter for me because I like the episodes in which the weird is a bit more subtle.
Episode 6 "Scariest Home Videos"
Marshall and Simon are roped into watching Simon's little brother Harley on Halloween. Harley, who is a holy terror, bites down on the TV remote control and transports himself into the mummy movie they were watching, switching places with the mummy. Eventually Marshall and Simon find out, in an interesting twist, that the mummy is actually the actor playing the mummy, who dies fifty years ago and came back in his greatest role, and has spent 50 years playing the mummy. Meanwhile, Harley wreaks havoc on the actress and the set in the movie. They eventually figure out what Harley had done to switch places, and get the mummy/actor and Harley to switch places again.
Again, not a favorite. Switching places with someone on TV seems a bit overdone, although I like it being the actor, rather than the character who shows up.
Episode 7 "Just Say No Fun"
This is where we learn that the school they go to is called "B. F. Skinner Junior High School." :) All the students who get an eye exam come out wearing black-framed glasses (made of transparent glass), a vacuous expression, and with no sense of fun. Simon gets caught and examined, and when he comes back out, he's the same way. With the help of the proprieter of the World o'Stuff, Marshall discovers the ultimate joke and pulls it on Simon, who comes back to himself. They decide that Nurse Nancy is hypnotising the kids and removing their sense of fun and devise a plan. The next day, Marshall's parents take him back to the eye exam, but the plan backfires because Nurse Nancy had phoned Simon the evening before and reinforced the hypnosis. Marshall barely manages to get his hands on the joke and frees Simon, and in turn, they hypnotize Nurse Nancy to always have a sense of fun, and tell her to go to the North Pole.
What's the Ultimate Joke? Well, (a) you'll have to watch the episode yourself to see, and (b) it's a lot funnier when you're a little kid (actually, I think that it would have worked in a written form, rather than a filmed one, because the writer could describe it so much better than it looks onscreen).
I liked this episode better than I did when I first saw it, but I think it's because I was getting the little things that I'd missed then, like the name of the school.
Episode 8 "Heart on a Chain"
A new girl, Melanie (Danielle Harris), moves into town, and Marshall and Devon (Cory Danziger), a classmate of Marshall's who has never been seen before, both get a crush on her. Melanie has a heart condition and is awaiting transplant and her family has moved to Eerie because there's a very good hospital. Marshall and Devon both show off for Melanie and give her gifts, Marshall a big plastic heart with snakes that pop out when you open it (and later thinks that might not be such a good idea to give to a girl with a heart condition), and Devon a silver heart on a chain. Eventually - you guessed it already - Devon gets hit by an ice-cream truck and killed, and Melanie gets his heart. As every TV show and book in which this happens has, Melanie starts acting like Devon. She and Marshall try to date (Marshall's family making his life a living hell for this :D), but every time they kiss, her heart starts hurting. Eventually Marshall tells her that Devon is jealous and she needs to start living her own life. At Devon's grave, she tells Devon she'll enver forget him, but that she eneds to keep living, and takes off the silver heart. Marshall and she kiss, and nothering hurts, but she tells Marshall that she's not ready for this and needs to be alone for a while, replaces the silver heart encklace, and leaves.
The English teacher in this episode is named "Miss Annabel Lee" and has a small picture of Poe on her desk. Also, Elvis gives Marshall advice about love. And as the camera pans over the graveyard, there's a spiderweb in the foreground and you can hear a tiny voice crying "Help me! Help me!"
While the OH GOD NOT THE TRANSPLANT STORY bit annoys the hell out of me, I like that we're never sure if it's the physical heart or the silver heart that's causing her pain. Simon's not in this much, but when he is, he's being cutely confused about whatever Marshall and Devon would see in a girl. Also, there's a reference to a previous episode - in the one where the ATM gave Simon all the money, two older boys talking about the girlfriend of one had said "She's not a girl, she's a woman," and Simon wasn't sure what "She's not girl, she's a lady" really meant. In this one, he pins Melanie with a look and asks her if she's a girl or a lady.