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Summer Club Reading - Eerie, Indiana

Back in 1991, Eerie, Indiana premiered on NBC. It was created by Karl Schaefer and Jose Rivera, who had two tracks of mind in creating the series. One, to create a show for children that didn't pander to children and secondly, to have a fun and scary show. And you know what?

They succeeded.

Eerie, Indiana takes place in the titular town. We first meet Marshall Teller on his paper route. He's relocated from the dank, rotting Big Apple. He misses it. His father, Edgar is an inventor for a company in Eerie called "Things, Incorporated," and his mother, Marilyn is a party planner despite having lax organizational skills. His sister, Syndi is a regular, normal teenage girl. Marshall is the odd one out in his family it seems. But he notices that something is amiss in this 'burb. He sees an older, fatter Elvis on his route. He knows Bigfoot eats out of his trashcan. The town's population is 16,661. Gulp. He shares this with the only person that'll hear him out, Simon. Simon is a younger kid from his neighborhood who is ignored by his parents, so Marshall takes him under his wing. They know that something spooky is afoot in Eerie and they seem to be the only ones to do anything to try and stop it.

Originally, reviews for the show insisted that the show's true relation was that great masterpiece, "Twin Peaks." But I don't buy that, personally, I see it as more of a "Blue Velvet" type show. You know, a town with a darker undercurrent. Marshall and Simon are predicating Fox Mulder in the hunt for the truth and the idea of a town under duress from outside sinister forces is something that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer will run through for seven years. Eerie was ahead of it's time and it only lasted 19 episodes. I personally think that in 2012 this show would've lasted a longer life. Or at the very least gathered a cult following. But I digress, let's start this thing off.

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Your themed episode for the month of August is "The Retainer"

Eerie, Indiana: What is it? Set in the same state as Stranger Things, the somewhat forgotten 90s kids’ show was a Saturday morning staple for those who tuned in.

The series revolves around a teenager who gets involved with strange and mysterious situations. Sinister groups of dogs planning to take over the world, and a tornado hunter who resembles Moby-Dick’s Captain Ahab, are just two notable examples.

How can I watch it? Eerie, Indiana is available to buy on DVD.

Indiana is typical midwest, 4 seasons, agriculture, manufacturing, good universities. The early '90s show "Eerie, Indiana" had Hoosier humor in several episodes. I've been to Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Evansville, Ellettsville, Bloomfield, Columbus, Nashville, Indy and Bloomington. Each city is great, unique, distinct and has its own character, but Bloomington has always been really good to me.

As much as I love the show, I don't feel like "come to Indiana, it's funny in a way that your kids get eaten by dogs" is a good selling point. Unless youreally dislike your kids, of course. Then go for it.

Check out the radness that came in the post yesterday! A doorknob scarf, perfect for both all my canine uprising needs and for making people in the street do a double take as they register that yes indeed, it really says knob. A plushie Weremarsicorn complete with key-shaped cutie mark. And a knitted Bill Cipher, ready to hand out horror and deer teeth at a moments' notice!

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Also seen here: FunkoPOP customs of Simon, Mars and Dash by JaDisArt, crochet Sparky by Pixelkei and altered beanie baby Sparky (aka Sprite or Sparky Lite) by Erik237.

The story structure for “Eerie, Indiana” takes an interesting twist in this second episode, which is a story relayed to us by lead character Marshall Teller. In the introduction, told in the present time, Marshall’s parents are confused when Marshall is terrified of getting a retainer. As we soon learn, it has nothing to do with the fear of pain, or the fear of being made fun of, but rather because of what happened to the last friend of his that got one…

That friend was Steve Konkalewski, whose teeth refuse to straighten after five years of visits to a mad dentist. The evil tooth-doctor makes for him a “special” retainer, one that gives him the “gift” of hearing what dogs are thinking. In a rather interesting twist, dogs only appear to be friendly on the outside, a front because they are eventually planning to take over the world, something Steve figures out thanks to his newfound ability.

Marshall and Simon, his closest friends, quickly put two-and-two together after a series of odd occurrences, and develop a hunch that he can read the mind of dogs. To test this, Marshall uses a rather absurd experiment: He places a paper bag over Simon's head, then flips a coin and shows it to a dog. Once Steve is able to accurately read the outcome of the coin flip—via the dog's eyes—they are convinced of his superpower. (Would a dog really have an understanding of “heads” and “tails”? Am I putting way too much thought into this?)

This is a minor breakthrough, but Marshall is more intelligent than most kid's show heroes: He understands the absurdity of the whole situation, and realizes that no one will believe them without proof. And so he creates a recording device so that he can capture the sounds that Steve picks up via his retainer (the scenes of them trying to move him around like an antenna to get better reception is pretty clever stuff, despite the obvious outdatedness of it all). Well he also inadvertently picks up some nearby chatter, which leads him to a dog pound known for a high rate of euthanasia. (This is a show for kids?)

Earlier in the episode, an evil kennel warden is attacked by a lone dog who doesn't take kindly to the way the man treats the mutts (he even threatens to “toss them into the chamber”, which looks eerily like a cremation chamber). When our heroes arrive to find the source of the chatter (which are chants of “Freedom!”, by the way), there is a lone bloody bone propping open the door...obviously the bone of the warden, who was picked clean by the dogs. This is a show for kids?

Anyway, the canines don't appreciate Steve being able to monitor their thoughts, so they demand he gives them his retainer. The only problem? It's stuck to his face and he can't get it off. The flashback ends with the dogs chasing him out into the streets, at which point they presumably attack him, kill him, and forcibly take the retainer for themselves. I arrived at this conclusion because we flash back to the present, where Marshall has his own retainer, and calmly explains to a familiar dog that his retainer doesn't allow him to hear the dog's thoughts...and the dog responds by coughing up Steve's old retainer, leading Marshall to contemplate the possible fate of his friend.

It's not a very good episode overall, mainly because it lacks the joyful absurdity of the premiere. There are precious few laughs, and none of the off-the-wall fascination from the first one, making this one feel like a complete dud. Steve just isn't really all that fascinating of the character to center an entire story around, and the retainer idea—while it's clearly going for the offbeat—never gets its feet off the ground. On the flipside, I'd say that Marshall's blandness is already starting to grow on me...it's a welcome change from the over-the-top characters in most such shows.

Regardless, I'd file this one under “sophomore slump” for sure.

RATING: 4/10

Not a particularly spooky episode, definitely an 8 on the weird side, but an 11 on the rocker end. Maybe the most influential thing I've ever seen on TV as a child. It had everything I wanted: horror, youthful rebellion, rock n roll, adult issues, etc.

If you're not familiar with Eerie, Indiana, it was a family friendly Twin Peaks knock-off from the early 90s. Kid moves into a new town, it's weird, there's some supernatural shit he has to deal with on a weekly basis. Really strange one to watch as a kid, because it got dark, kids were fucking mauled to death by dogs, other kids slept in giant tupperware containers so they wouldn't age. Don't confuse this show with Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, which was a really crummy/childish Canadian produced spin-off nearly ten years after the original series.

Anyway, this episode still hits me hard. Marshall's geeky friend buy a Pitbull Surfers record (Butthole Surfers parody? There's also an allusion to them being a National Socialist band?) The record transforms him into a rebellious punk, finally able to stand up to his abusive father. The ending is incredible. I have goosebumps just thinking about it.

In case any of you were wondering how the one on Etsy compared to the one Mars wears in the show...

I mean, yes, technically an eight track cube lamp would be more Eerie-esque, but how would you get the light to shine through a bunch of those things?

Foreverware, Heart on a Chain, Broken Record, Reality Takes a Holiday

Loyal Order of Corn, Tornado Days, Scariest Home Movies, Hole in the Head Gang and the Losers

Dead Letter, Mister Chaney, ATM with a Heart of Gold, the Retainer, No Brain No Pain, Reality Takes a Holiday, Tornado Days, Marshall's Theory of Believability

Opening credits, Just Say No Fun and the Lost Hour

Loyal Order of Corn, Zombies in PJs, Reality Takes a Holiday, No Brain No Pain and Marshal's Theory of Believability

I love Eerie, Indiana. It's one of my favourite TV programmes, and I’m convinced it heavily influenced me and my writing as a child and I’m forever grateful that such an intelligent show was made and that I got to see it when I was a kid. I adored it. I really did. Except...

One of the earliest episodes, ‘The Retainer’, is about this kid who gets one of those massive external retainers (brace) and somehow this allows him to understand what dogs are saying.

No big deal, except it turns out that dogs hate humans and are planning a glorious revolution. At one point Simon is playfully wrestling with a German Shepherd, unaware that the dog wants to eat him. Later the dogs escape the pound and kill and eat the mean dog catcher. And during the climax, they insist that the kid remove his retainer so he can no longer hear them. Scared, he struggles with it as the dogs get more threatening and finally panics and runs for it. The dogs give chase. We never seen him again, but at the end, the German Shepherd brings the retainer back to Marshall. How did those dogs get the retainer that was attached to that boy’s face? Well I know how.

THIS is why I’m not a dog person.

Eerie, Indiana fans: Body Parts Enamel Pins from Stoned Affection! https://t.co/RoeDTjUmUc
— eerieindianalj (@eerieindianalj1) February 7, 2017

Stock Photo - EERIE, INDIANA https://t.co/TNej24Tzqj
— eerieindianalj (@eerieindianalj1) December 29, 2016

Watching Eerie, Indiana for the first time and this may be the eeriest thing I've seen so far. pic.twitter.com/Lb8wvd8jtl
— Citizen of Nowhere (@thedorkmite) December 25, 2016

Not that the first one wasn’t tongue-in-cheek, but this is a much sillier episode. There isn’t as much of the “adolescent fears” subtext as there was in Foreverware. There is of course a little bit about fear of dental work - Vincent Schiavelli, who had a long run of playing somewhat creepy characters in his lifetime, shows up as a stern town dentist with a penchant for experimental orthodontics. However, that’s really just a lead-in to a weirder plot: A neighborhood kid’s retainer is causing him to hear what dogs can think, and it turns out there’s a canine revolution afoot. It’s every bit as campy as it sounds, but they have a lot of fun with the idea. I particularly enjoy moments like a neighborhood dog begging for a sub (“Juicy meat on stale bread, my favorite!”) or when a group of strays howling at each other turn out be singing “Dem Bones”. And actually there may be a little basis in reality - growing up, my neighborhood was full of dogs who were allowed to roam as they pleased, and I did sort of wonder what they were up to when groups of them would be gathered together.

On a side note: I enjoy this show’s seeming tendency to name one-off characters with brand names that are relevant to the episode - in Foreverware, the Stepford Wives-like members of the women’s group are all named after frozen food or baking products (Winifred Swanson, Beatrice Pillsbury). This time, the creepy dentist is named Dr. Eukanuba.

Last one for today. Stunning Curiology murder of crows necklace. Sleep well my loves https://t.co/cCy5XXWZhW pic.twitter.com/73bDUOwhS3
— Little Booteek (@Littlebooteek) September 13, 2016

Human molar necklace

Black femur earrings

Human heart in a bell jar

@nowthisnews get a load of this from the TV series Eerie Indiana pic.twitter.com/z4AXDMzGDv
— Frank Lucchese-Soto (@FrankLuccheseSo) July 21, 2016

Got your DVDs or YouTube playlists ready? Keeping a wary eye on that cute dog down the road? Smart move, because we're about to watch the Retainer.

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Eerie Indiana

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Page Summary

froodle - Bite The Hand That Feeds Us design on Redbubble
froodle - WarmBrains reviews Eerie, Indiana
froodle - Episode of the Month
froodle - INews has show recommendations for Stranger Things fans...
froodle - Weirdest pitch for an Indiana town ever?
froodle - Awesome crochet treats from Eviinsanemonkey!
froodle - Paralysis Shriek reviews Eerie, Indiana episode, the Retainer
froodle - Hipinion on Eerie, Indiana episode Broken Record
froodle - Evidence Locker Key necklace pics with Retainer screenshot of Marshall for comparison
froodle - Cassette Tape cube lamp on Etsy
froodle - Eerie, Indiana picspam by MrKicklee
froodle - I'm The Decoy lists the top ten scariest TV/film moments from childhood
froodle - Eerie-esque body part pins from Stoned Affection
froodle - B&W photo from the filming of the Retainer
froodle - Eerie Enquirer screenshot from the Retainer
froodle - Mike K reviews the Retainer
froodle - Eerie-esque jewellery from Curiology
froodle - Screenshot of the Eerie Examiner from the Retainer
froodle - Zaranyzerak reviews the first three episodes of Eerie, Indiana
froodle - 25th Anniversary Rewatch: the Retainer

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