transmom on Eerie Indiana
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eerieindianaWhen talking about my love for Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark, my girlfriend once mentioned a show from her youth that she preferred to those named Eerie Indiana. I personally had never seen Eerie Indiana, but from that moment on an interest was seeded in me to check it out. It took me some time to eventually get around to watching it in full, but this year I decided to sit down and watch it on our march to Halloween. So, now that I’ve watched it, here is my review, favorite episodes, and a ranking of all the episodes (because of course I ranked the episodes you know how I am by now).
Skip to Main Content
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY SOFT, SWEET AND PURE DESPAIR
alice. she&her. biological dysphoric female. i'm a cosmic being made of stars. punk ethereal goddess, apparently. i've probably watched more anime than you. twitch.tv/femcore
asksfaq
Eerie, Indiana Review
When talking about my love for Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark, my girlfriend once mentioned a show from her youth that she preferred to those named Eerie Indiana. I personally had never seen Eerie Indiana, but from that moment on an interest was seeded in me to check it out. It took me some time to eventually get around to watching it in full, but this year I decided to sit down and watch it on our march to Halloween. So, now that I’ve watched it, here is my review, favorite episodes, and a ranking of all the episodes (because of course I ranked the episodes you know how I am by now).
image
First off, Eerie Indiana being thrown into the same conversation as titles like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark is sort of misleading. Where as those titles are definitely founded in horror (even in their goofiest), Eerie doesn’t feel like horror is really it’s main drive. It’s more of a kid’s mystery show with some scifi influence. I really want to describe it as X-Files for kids but that would be incredibly misleading as well. Eerie is it’s own little brand of story telling, with one foot in mystery, one foot in scifi, losing it’s balance coming close to falling into horror. If that makes no sense, well then, I guess you’ll just have to watch it.
The methods of story telling are different than Goosebumps and Afraid of the Dark as well. Where as those are new stories each episode, generally with full new casts, Eerie focuses specifically on one kid, Marshall Teller, his family, his best friend Simon, and an eventual mysterious kid who is introduced in episode thirteen named Dash X. Each episode is a new story, yes, but it all centers around this kid or his friends. Generally the recurring plot is Marshall and Simon stumble onto some kind of weirdness and try to investigate it, and while investigating the subject, all hell breaks lose, and then they solve it and the status quo is returned. Very basic stuff. Once and a while this format is changed up but the ultimate style is the same.
Now, is it good? Is it interesting? Yes! Where as with other shows there’s usually episodes you roll your eyes at, episodes that even as a kid you were like “that was stupid,” this show however is pretty much decent all the way through. The highs are very entertaining and the lows, though a bit boring at times, still can hold your attention. And, where as some episodes deal with silly stuff like dogs plotting to overthrow humans, it also has some heavy ended episodes that deal with love and loss. Compared to it’s contemporaries it’s a decent show all the way through. Where as I think Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark’s high points are extremely higher than Eerie’s high points, it’s low points are no where near as low as the theirs.
The only bad part to the show is it’s short. The writing crew clearly planned for more that didn’t get to happen. As I mentioned before, they introduced a character in the thirteenth episode who goes by Dash X. His whole story is he woke up in Eerie and doesn’t know who he is and has no memories. One episode, The Loyal Order of Corn, starts to delve into his story but still leaves it open, clearly meant to be answered later. But the problem about it is, it’s never answered. I think if Dash X were never introduced, this series might have been pretty perfect, it’d start and end on decent notes, but because they did introduce this mystery, teased it’s solving, but never solved it for us, it really leaves something to be desired. That all said, the easy explanation is Dash X is an alien, lol.
It’s a good show. Lots of fun. And, now I wanna talk about some of my favorite episodes real quick. These aren’t really in an order, but I guess they are my top five favorite episodes
The Lost Hour
The entire premise of this episode sounds stupid. Marshall is ready for daylight savings to give him an extra hour to stay up and hang out, but his parents ruin his night by telling him Eerie doesn’t honor daylight savings time so he has to go to bed. He angrily does so, but because he altered the clock on his watch, he wakes up in an alternate world, the “lost hour” world. He’s tasked to help save another girl who’s been stuck there for a year and getting himself back out. It sounds weird, but it’s honestly such a fun episode. It starts silly, but once Marshall is in the alternate world, it’s just a lot of fun to watch, from his interactions with this girl introduced specifically for this episode, to his interactions with this old man that’s hinted at being Marshall in 90 years.
Just Say No Fun
This one seems to be an iconic staple of the series. Whenever I looked up “best episodes of” list, this one (and the next one) are always pretty high up on the list. This one is a bit hokey, very much the kind of product you’d expect on The Disney Channel, but despite all that it’s really entertaining. The school nurse is giving people eye exams, and when they leave her office they all act incredibly different, well behaved model students. Marshall catches onto the nurse’s mind control antics and intends to confront her and put an end to it. It’s such a childish little plot, but it’s so much fun.
Foreverware
This is the first episode of the series and it’s so incredibly comical. I busted out laughing when bits of the twist got revealed. But, that said, it’s an incredibly well written episode compared to most children’s media. The Teller family has just moved into Eerie and a local woman invites Marshall’s mother to a foreverware party (it’s tupperware, but this specific brand was made by the woman’s family) to meet people, and to buy some foreverware. As the lady leaves, one of her sons slips a note to Marshall asking for help, Now, you could take this to mean a million different frightening things, but what’s actually revealed is so funny I can’t spoil it (I mean, you can probably guess it already) just watch this.
Scariest Home Videos
This is the Halloween episode for the series. Marshall and Simon plan to go out looking for monsters on Halloween but get tasked with babysitting Simon’s younger brother Harley. Somehow, Harley ends up switching places with a movie monster on the tv. Meaning Harley is now in the tv, and now the monster is in the living room. Just like the last episode, the twist is very comical. This episode is very thematic for this season, but it’s honestly just so damn funny.
Heat on a Chain
This episode is something else entirely and stands out compared to the rest of the series. A girl named Melanie moves to Eerie because she has a bad heart condition and the Eerie hospital is renown when it comes to heart transplants. After she’s introduced to the class, Marshall falls in love at first sight. But alas! So does his best friend Devon! You know, Devon! The guy who is in no other episodes before this! Anyways, Marshall and Devon are essentially competing for Melanie’s love, when suddenly Devon is in a freak accident and dies. But, it doesn’t end there, Devon’s heart ends up being perfect for a transplant for Melanie. After this, Melanie and Marshall start getting close, but also Melanie starts to act more and more like Devon, and less like herself. And, when she goes to kiss Marshall, she has a mini heart attack, stopping her. This is such an interesting episode, because it deals with love, loss, and letting go. Not something you’d see from many kid’s shows from back in these days. It’s just a phenomenal watch.
As I said, Eerie is an interesting show that I highly recommend watching if you’re into this type of media. It’s impressively written and at times impressively acted. Give it a spin. It’s unnecessary really, but here’s my rankings of the episodes and short review tidbits for each episode under the cut.
Episode 7 Heart on a Chain: Aw! Young love~! A new girl named Melanie moves to town and Marshall competes with his friend Devon to win her heart! This one is actually a very heartfelt episode. (It also features a child’s death, even if you don’t see it I thought y’all would like the warning).
Episode 5 Scariest Home Videos: The Halloween episode! When tasked to babysit a 6 year old, Marshall’s night takes a turn for the worst when somehow the kid gets stuck in the tv….and the tv monster comes into the real world. Very good!!
Episode 1 Foreverware: A lady that goes door to door selling a type of tupperware, claiming it’ll keep your food fresh forever. As she leaves Marshall’s house, one of her sons slips Marshall a note that asks for help. What nefarious things could this woman be up to??
Episode 6 Just Say No Fun: Everyone is school is getting impromptu eye exams by the school nurse, and after they leave the nurse’s office they’re entirely different people. Very fun episode.
Episode 10 The Lost Hour: Upon learning that Eerie doesn’t honor daylight savings time, Marshall refuses to give up his extra, somehow propelling him into an alternate world. Really good story telling.
Episode 18 Reality Takes a Holiday: Extremely meta! Marshall receives a script in the mail and it says everything his family says, when he contradicts the script, a director yells cut and it’s revealed his whole life is a….tv show….
Episode 16 The Loyal Order of Corn: A very interesting episode. A secret society, aliens, and a mild exploration of Dash X’s character without full out explaining who he is. Tame compared to other episodes in the series, but a decent watch nonetheless.
Episode 13 The Hole in the Head Gang: Marshall and Simon meet a boy living in a haunted house + meet the ghost that haunts the house. Pretty interesting and it’s introduction of a nameless character is pretty neat.
Episode 12 Tornado Days: The entire town of Eerie has a picnic to honor a yearly tornado. Turns out this tornado has a personality. Very silly.
Episode 11 Marshall’s Theory of Believability: A man comes to town with his museum of the “parabelieveable.” The man is Marshall’s hero, much to his father’s dismay. The town doesn’t take kindly to this man or his antics.
Episode 4 The Losers: Turns out when something goes missing it’s actually being stored in a super secret facility.
Episode 3 ATM With A Heart of Gold: A new ATM is unveiled with an AI to help you with your transactions, hijinks ensues. A fun tale but the scariest part is the the weird 3D image meant to portray the AI.
Episode 2 The Retainer: A boy gets a new retainer and because of such he can understand dogs, and uncovers a dog based conspiracy. Very comical, but ultimately leaves a lot to be desired.
Episode 14 Mr Chaney: The obligatory werewolf episode! That transformation scene is LOL. Fun episode, but could have been better.
Episode 19 Broken Record: Focuses on one of Marshall’s friends who has fighting parents and his father is emotionally abusive. The kid discovers a metal album he really likes and changes his entire demeanor because of. Not very scifi but it’s an ok episode with some heavy overtones.
Episode 9 Who’s Who: A young girl is given the power to make her art reality. Really just made me feel bad for how the girl was treated by her family.
Episode 17 Zombies in PJs: Marshall vs. Capitalism.
Episode 8 The Dead Letter: Marshall finds an undelivered letter in an old book and is haunted by the ghost who wrote it until he delivers it. Uses an anti-Roma slur in it a couple times, which caught me off guard. The story at it’s base is cute, but it’s one of the more boring episodes.
Episode 15 No Brain, No Pain: Remember that episode of Futurama where everyone kept swapping bodies. It’s that kinda. Kind of boring.
Skip to Main Content
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY SOFT, SWEET AND PURE DESPAIR
alice. she&her. biological dysphoric female. i'm a cosmic being made of stars. punk ethereal goddess, apparently. i've probably watched more anime than you. twitch.tv/femcore
asksfaq
Eerie, Indiana Review
When talking about my love for Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark, my girlfriend once mentioned a show from her youth that she preferred to those named Eerie Indiana. I personally had never seen Eerie Indiana, but from that moment on an interest was seeded in me to check it out. It took me some time to eventually get around to watching it in full, but this year I decided to sit down and watch it on our march to Halloween. So, now that I’ve watched it, here is my review, favorite episodes, and a ranking of all the episodes (because of course I ranked the episodes you know how I am by now).
image
First off, Eerie Indiana being thrown into the same conversation as titles like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark is sort of misleading. Where as those titles are definitely founded in horror (even in their goofiest), Eerie doesn’t feel like horror is really it’s main drive. It’s more of a kid’s mystery show with some scifi influence. I really want to describe it as X-Files for kids but that would be incredibly misleading as well. Eerie is it’s own little brand of story telling, with one foot in mystery, one foot in scifi, losing it’s balance coming close to falling into horror. If that makes no sense, well then, I guess you’ll just have to watch it.
The methods of story telling are different than Goosebumps and Afraid of the Dark as well. Where as those are new stories each episode, generally with full new casts, Eerie focuses specifically on one kid, Marshall Teller, his family, his best friend Simon, and an eventual mysterious kid who is introduced in episode thirteen named Dash X. Each episode is a new story, yes, but it all centers around this kid or his friends. Generally the recurring plot is Marshall and Simon stumble onto some kind of weirdness and try to investigate it, and while investigating the subject, all hell breaks lose, and then they solve it and the status quo is returned. Very basic stuff. Once and a while this format is changed up but the ultimate style is the same.
Now, is it good? Is it interesting? Yes! Where as with other shows there’s usually episodes you roll your eyes at, episodes that even as a kid you were like “that was stupid,” this show however is pretty much decent all the way through. The highs are very entertaining and the lows, though a bit boring at times, still can hold your attention. And, where as some episodes deal with silly stuff like dogs plotting to overthrow humans, it also has some heavy ended episodes that deal with love and loss. Compared to it’s contemporaries it’s a decent show all the way through. Where as I think Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark’s high points are extremely higher than Eerie’s high points, it’s low points are no where near as low as the theirs.
The only bad part to the show is it’s short. The writing crew clearly planned for more that didn’t get to happen. As I mentioned before, they introduced a character in the thirteenth episode who goes by Dash X. His whole story is he woke up in Eerie and doesn’t know who he is and has no memories. One episode, The Loyal Order of Corn, starts to delve into his story but still leaves it open, clearly meant to be answered later. But the problem about it is, it’s never answered. I think if Dash X were never introduced, this series might have been pretty perfect, it’d start and end on decent notes, but because they did introduce this mystery, teased it’s solving, but never solved it for us, it really leaves something to be desired. That all said, the easy explanation is Dash X is an alien, lol.
It’s a good show. Lots of fun. And, now I wanna talk about some of my favorite episodes real quick. These aren’t really in an order, but I guess they are my top five favorite episodes
The Lost Hour
The entire premise of this episode sounds stupid. Marshall is ready for daylight savings to give him an extra hour to stay up and hang out, but his parents ruin his night by telling him Eerie doesn’t honor daylight savings time so he has to go to bed. He angrily does so, but because he altered the clock on his watch, he wakes up in an alternate world, the “lost hour” world. He’s tasked to help save another girl who’s been stuck there for a year and getting himself back out. It sounds weird, but it’s honestly such a fun episode. It starts silly, but once Marshall is in the alternate world, it’s just a lot of fun to watch, from his interactions with this girl introduced specifically for this episode, to his interactions with this old man that’s hinted at being Marshall in 90 years.
Just Say No Fun
This one seems to be an iconic staple of the series. Whenever I looked up “best episodes of” list, this one (and the next one) are always pretty high up on the list. This one is a bit hokey, very much the kind of product you’d expect on The Disney Channel, but despite all that it’s really entertaining. The school nurse is giving people eye exams, and when they leave her office they all act incredibly different, well behaved model students. Marshall catches onto the nurse’s mind control antics and intends to confront her and put an end to it. It’s such a childish little plot, but it’s so much fun.
Foreverware
This is the first episode of the series and it’s so incredibly comical. I busted out laughing when bits of the twist got revealed. But, that said, it’s an incredibly well written episode compared to most children’s media. The Teller family has just moved into Eerie and a local woman invites Marshall’s mother to a foreverware party (it’s tupperware, but this specific brand was made by the woman’s family) to meet people, and to buy some foreverware. As the lady leaves, one of her sons slips a note to Marshall asking for help, Now, you could take this to mean a million different frightening things, but what’s actually revealed is so funny I can’t spoil it (I mean, you can probably guess it already) just watch this.
Scariest Home Videos
This is the Halloween episode for the series. Marshall and Simon plan to go out looking for monsters on Halloween but get tasked with babysitting Simon’s younger brother Harley. Somehow, Harley ends up switching places with a movie monster on the tv. Meaning Harley is now in the tv, and now the monster is in the living room. Just like the last episode, the twist is very comical. This episode is very thematic for this season, but it’s honestly just so damn funny.
Heat on a Chain
This episode is something else entirely and stands out compared to the rest of the series. A girl named Melanie moves to Eerie because she has a bad heart condition and the Eerie hospital is renown when it comes to heart transplants. After she’s introduced to the class, Marshall falls in love at first sight. But alas! So does his best friend Devon! You know, Devon! The guy who is in no other episodes before this! Anyways, Marshall and Devon are essentially competing for Melanie’s love, when suddenly Devon is in a freak accident and dies. But, it doesn’t end there, Devon’s heart ends up being perfect for a transplant for Melanie. After this, Melanie and Marshall start getting close, but also Melanie starts to act more and more like Devon, and less like herself. And, when she goes to kiss Marshall, she has a mini heart attack, stopping her. This is such an interesting episode, because it deals with love, loss, and letting go. Not something you’d see from many kid’s shows from back in these days. It’s just a phenomenal watch.
As I said, Eerie is an interesting show that I highly recommend watching if you’re into this type of media. It’s impressively written and at times impressively acted. Give it a spin. It’s unnecessary really, but here’s my rankings of the episodes and short review tidbits for each episode under the cut.
Episode 7 Heart on a Chain: Aw! Young love~! A new girl named Melanie moves to town and Marshall competes with his friend Devon to win her heart! This one is actually a very heartfelt episode. (It also features a child’s death, even if you don’t see it I thought y’all would like the warning).
Episode 5 Scariest Home Videos: The Halloween episode! When tasked to babysit a 6 year old, Marshall’s night takes a turn for the worst when somehow the kid gets stuck in the tv….and the tv monster comes into the real world. Very good!!
Episode 1 Foreverware: A lady that goes door to door selling a type of tupperware, claiming it’ll keep your food fresh forever. As she leaves Marshall’s house, one of her sons slips Marshall a note that asks for help. What nefarious things could this woman be up to??
Episode 6 Just Say No Fun: Everyone is school is getting impromptu eye exams by the school nurse, and after they leave the nurse’s office they’re entirely different people. Very fun episode.
Episode 10 The Lost Hour: Upon learning that Eerie doesn’t honor daylight savings time, Marshall refuses to give up his extra, somehow propelling him into an alternate world. Really good story telling.
Episode 18 Reality Takes a Holiday: Extremely meta! Marshall receives a script in the mail and it says everything his family says, when he contradicts the script, a director yells cut and it’s revealed his whole life is a….tv show….
Episode 16 The Loyal Order of Corn: A very interesting episode. A secret society, aliens, and a mild exploration of Dash X’s character without full out explaining who he is. Tame compared to other episodes in the series, but a decent watch nonetheless.
Episode 13 The Hole in the Head Gang: Marshall and Simon meet a boy living in a haunted house + meet the ghost that haunts the house. Pretty interesting and it’s introduction of a nameless character is pretty neat.
Episode 12 Tornado Days: The entire town of Eerie has a picnic to honor a yearly tornado. Turns out this tornado has a personality. Very silly.
Episode 11 Marshall’s Theory of Believability: A man comes to town with his museum of the “parabelieveable.” The man is Marshall’s hero, much to his father’s dismay. The town doesn’t take kindly to this man or his antics.
Episode 4 The Losers: Turns out when something goes missing it’s actually being stored in a super secret facility.
Episode 3 ATM With A Heart of Gold: A new ATM is unveiled with an AI to help you with your transactions, hijinks ensues. A fun tale but the scariest part is the the weird 3D image meant to portray the AI.
Episode 2 The Retainer: A boy gets a new retainer and because of such he can understand dogs, and uncovers a dog based conspiracy. Very comical, but ultimately leaves a lot to be desired.
Episode 14 Mr Chaney: The obligatory werewolf episode! That transformation scene is LOL. Fun episode, but could have been better.
Episode 19 Broken Record: Focuses on one of Marshall’s friends who has fighting parents and his father is emotionally abusive. The kid discovers a metal album he really likes and changes his entire demeanor because of. Not very scifi but it’s an ok episode with some heavy overtones.
Episode 9 Who’s Who: A young girl is given the power to make her art reality. Really just made me feel bad for how the girl was treated by her family.
Episode 17 Zombies in PJs: Marshall vs. Capitalism.
Episode 8 The Dead Letter: Marshall finds an undelivered letter in an old book and is haunted by the ghost who wrote it until he delivers it. Uses an anti-Roma slur in it a couple times, which caught me off guard. The story at it’s base is cute, but it’s one of the more boring episodes.
Episode 15 No Brain, No Pain: Remember that episode of Futurama where everyone kept swapping bodies. It’s that kinda. Kind of boring.
Tags:
- a: transmom,
- discussion: episode,
- ep: atm with a heart of gold,
- ep: broken record,
- ep: dead letter,
- ep: foreverware,
- ep: heart on a chain,
- ep: hole in the head gang,
- ep: just say no fun,
- ep: loyal order of corn,
- ep: marshalls theory of believability,
- ep: mr chaney,
- ep: no brain no pain,
- ep: reality takes a holiday,
- ep: scariest home movies,
- ep: the losers,
- ep: the lost hour,
- ep: the retainer,
- ep: tornado days,
- ep: who's who,
- ep: zombies in pjs,
- fanworks: reviews
