eerieindiana | Entries tagged with char: melanie

see it HERE

...i know i said i was not making more of these but this idea just got stuck in my brain and i couldn't get rid of it. I have way too much lore for this au now :/ anyway. Simon!

froodle

"Most likely," said Melanie, nodding with some difficulty due to being upside down. "Though the horrible were-chicken thing and the whole reveal about the Chicken Palace serving something that at least used to be human flesh must have given him some bad associations as well."

Janet made a face.

"He eats at the sushi bar," she said. "Anything that comes up out of that lake has been feeding on people it's whole life. Long pig's practically part of the food pyramid in this town."

"Yeah," said Janet, "But the nigiri don't generally wear clip-on ties, so he's good with that."

Ongoing Verse: Microwave

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

"He's full of it," said Melanie, now crab-climbing Janet's bedroom wall like the stringy-haired ghost girl in a horror movie, albeit one with a better haircut. "He worked one shift at the Chicken Palace and he came away with a list of people he'd let get eaten if he had the chance."

Janet laughed.

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah," said Melanie. "Top of the pile was the assistant supervisor who, and I quote, 'is so in love with his clip-on tie that he probably has sex with it'."

"Unholy Corn Beasts," said Janet. "Is that why he hates clip-on ties so much?"

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Microwave

( Read more... )

froodle

"How was the milkshake?" asked Melanie, lying on Janet's bedroom floor later that day with her legs braced against the windowsill and her spine twisted in the sort of eye-watering position that made anyone over the age of thirty cry out in agony.

"It was delicious," said Janet. "It tasted like one less demanding asshole in my restaurant, and also like chocolate, peanut butter, banana and Kahlua."

"The best flavour combinations," Melanie agreed, raising herself up on her hands as her bare feet braced against the faded pink wallpaper Janet had kept since she was twelve. "And Marshall?"

"Pouting, predictably."

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Microwave

( Read more... )

froodle

June 1st is World Milk Day. Let's celebrate with some fanworks themed around the Eerie Dairy, time travelling milkmen, or the tragic and totally preventable mowing down of teenaged pedestrians!

froodle

On Marshall's hair:

On Syndi:

On Elvis:

On Marshmelon:

froodle

It's Tuesday, so today you get a choice between two prompts. Pick one, combine both, pit them against each other - on Tuesday, you choose!

This week, your options are:

Janet versus Melanie

froodle

anyone here read 'final girl' by daphne gottlieb? i just re-read kissing dead girls (my favourite book of poetry ever) and i thought it might be relevant to yall since its poems about the final girl in a horror movie.

unfortunately its nearly impossible to get your hands on these days :/

daphne: We are, and love is, far more monstrous than I ever believed possible.

Daphne: once I wrote a poem about you. I write it smaller and smaller every day. One of us is vanishing into the distance

Daphne: she knew it wouldn't last forever. It couldn't. But for now, everything was beautiful and new and she liked living in a world like that. in love. and loved

froodle

Syndi set the domed plastic take-out cup down on the counter.

"I brought you a coffee," she said. "To say thank you."

Janet glanced at the industrial coffee machine that hissed and spluttered behind her, then at the caramel-coloured confection that swirled beneath a mountain of whipped cream.

She grinned.

"You talked to Marshall," she said, picking it up and inhaling the scent of syrup and dairy and almost no caffeine at all.

"I did," said Syndi. "And then I remembered the time he gave snakes-in-a-can to a girl with a life-threatening heart condition, and I talked to Simon instead."

Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

The brilliant Danielle Harris in Halloween 4 & 5. She had her horror icon status nailed before she appeared as a girl with a haunted heart in #EerieIndiana! 🤡🔪 pic.twitter.com/4EYbyl5hXh
— Return to Eerie, Indiana (@eerieindianapod) May 4, 2020

froodle

that episode of eerie indiana where marshall and his friend fight over a girl with a heart condition and the friend fucking D I E S and the girl GETS HIS HEART and takes on his personality, A KIDS SHOW!?!!
— g a r b i t c h 🅙 (@dietcokexbust) May 3, 2020

froodle

You have to dig out the stuff that speaks to you from work that is not necessarily meant to speak to you.

Engagement with a show is so personal. And special.

Shows and movies and books have made deep personal impacts on my life in ways the creators probably did not intend.
— Gennifer Hutchison (@GennHutchison) April 30, 2020

Thread. I've been thinking a lot about this exact thing from an audience perspective, most recently since I listened to @eerieindianapod's "Heart on a Chain" recap last week. 1/ https://t.co/5QPkU2CZ5M
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 30, 2020

That ep's a tale of young love and death and perhaps nothing supernatural at all. One of my favorite #eerieindiana eps ever.

Was anything I saw in it about identity, gender, sexuality actually there? Don't know. May never know. Didn't stop it from being a story I needed. 2/
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 30, 2020

Side note: I grew up and years later met #ZNation, which has such a similar feel to Eerie at times--I mean, they *do* share a creator--plus levels of casual queerness I don't see in genre TV all that often and was all, "Hi! I have been waiting a *very* long time for you!" 3/
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 30, 2020

(I hope whatever work sparks that feeling next doesn't take 23 more years to appear, but I can be patient.)

Anyway, this is a note to me that I've owed the long version of these thoughts to @Wart_M for his zine for weeks now and should go write. 4/4
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 30, 2020

froodle

*rattles tin cup*

Marshmelon? Marshmelon, sir? Spare some Marshmelon for a small fandom? Madame, toss a little Marshmelon this way?

froodle

NEXT TIME ON EERIE INDIANA, MARSHALL TELLER BREAKS HIS ANKLE AND WAKES UP IN HOSPITAL WITH A RAZOR SCOOTER FOR A FOOT. HE'S FORCED BECOMES A PEDICAB TO PAY OFF HIS MEDICALBILL. UBER AWFUL!
— Moment Rabbit (@Momentrabbit) April 28, 2020

Next Thursday, HBO is proud to present a six-episode limited series special "Ray Bradbury Theatre of Blackened Mirrors," starting with "The Wonderful Ice Cream Machine They Replaced Your Girl's Heart With."
— Moment Rabbit (@Momentrabbit) April 28, 2020

froodle

Cordelia’s heart on a chain from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’. It bears a striking resemblance to Melanie’s gift from Devon. #eerieindiana #heartonachain #BuffyTheVampireSlayer #cordeliachase pic.twitter.com/WK1NLewF7G
— Return to Eerie, Indiana (@eerieindianapod) April 28, 2020

froodle

Melanie set the plastic bucket of cleaning supplies down on the wet grass. There was a slight depression in the soil from all the times she'd left it there before, and it slid in neatly.

"Hey, Devon," she said, uncapping the Thermos of hot soapy water and using it to wet the edges of a soft cloth. "How's it going?"

The cherub over Devon Wilde's grave didn't answer, but stood still and silent as she cleaned the thin layer of grime from it's stone cheeks and ran a toothbrush over the lichen patches growing between it's fingers.

They both cried.

Ongoing Verse: The Children

( Read more... )

froodle

The effigy was held together by the black and stinking mud of the lake bed. Made of smooth stones and drowned men's bones, cloudy sea glass and pale, pretty shells, and topped with a dripping, matted tangle of kelp like a lion's mane, it stood ankle-deep in the surf, staring out at dry land.

"It's... interesting?" said Melanie, doubtfully. "What's it supposed to mean?"

She circled it, careful to stay outside the taut strip of seaweed on which was carved "please do not touch the exhibits".

Janet shrugged.

"No idea," she said. "But something about it makes me think... Trojan."

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

Watch it here.

froodle

A bit late this week but WORTH THE WAIT! Heart on a Chain is OUT NOW #eerieindiana #newepisode 💔💀 pic.twitter.com/vAik0KUV6h
— Return to Eerie, Indiana (@eerieindianapod) April 24, 2020

Oooh new @eerieindianapod! About an ep which is both one of my favorites and extremely relevant to LRT. https://t.co/pO7yLCrTZ4
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 24, 2020

I love that this is the Melanie Monroe appreciation hour. #eerieindiana
— 🧟‍♂️ Undead Rebel Scum 🏳️‍🌈 (@deifire) April 24, 2020

deifire

The Roller Rink on the Edge of Forever, Chapter 20: Circle's Edge

Meanwhile, back in the present...

( Full summary and a link to read from the beginning )

Note tag change.

froodle

Ahoy @ChrisPerkinsDnD, this Sunday my #DnD group starts their session with a full collection of puzzle cubes, standing face first with the Tomb of the Nine Gods.

Any encouragement or suggestions to survive?
— Patrice (@mikeroftholmes) April 17, 2020

Tell them to live fast, die hard, and leave beautiful corpses. #wotcstaff #TombofAnnihilation https://t.co/JWnjMZC05W
— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) April 18, 2020

I don’t know if he’s the first character that said it but a character on the Eerie, Indiana TV show used to say this
— Terrible ✩ (@Terriblerevor) April 18, 2020

froodle

The old stone walkway had been gone forty years, washed away in a winter storm when Janet's parents were still young. Why the lake had chosen now to spit it back out was anyone's guess, but here it was - encrusted with lichen and limpets and oozing salt water out of every slime-filled crevice, yet still standing.

Melanie Monroe took in the cracked and fractured pillars, the twisted hand rails, the shattered places where rusting iron rebar jutted loose of rotten concrete, and grinned.

"This is going to be great," she said, setting down her skateboard and rubbing her hands together.

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

Fav TV stuff

Fishing with John
Fleabag (Season 2)
Outlander
Star Trek TNG
Eerie Indiana
— Charlyne Yi (@charlyne_yi) April 12, 2020

I miss Eerie Indiana.
— C. Isabel Brain 🏡 (@superisabel76) April 12, 2020

It used to be on hulu, had a free trial. There's two amazing eps. One about skateboarding.
— Charlyne Yi (@charlyne_yi) April 12, 2020

Must... locate... episodes! Thank you!
— C. Isabel Brain 🏡 (@superisabel76) April 12, 2020

froodle

I've mentioned before that hot chocolate is pretty much my go-to comfort food, and right now I need a pick-me-up more than ever. With that in mind, I bring you Thirty Days of Hot Chocolate!

Today I'm having Sloane's Winter Blend in an Eerie Indiana mug designed for me by Scott Weston:

froodle

Janet & Melanie, Freedom

froodle

The class was called Underwater Basket Weaving, and the stack of enrolment forms were wet enough to have congealed into a single sodden mass. Janet rolled her eyes as she untacked the hand-written (fin-writted?) cardboard sign from the Baitshop notice board, taking a moment to appreciate the use of shed scales as decorative glitter. It was visually appealing, even if it did mean the sign stank of fish in the afternoons when the low sun warmed the paper.

"Are you going to tell the mermaids that's not a real course that human take?" asked Melanie.

Janet considered.

"Nah," she said.

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

Melanie is never sure, now, how much of her is really still her. She makes some clever remark and around her, her co-workers laugh and laugh, and she can't tell if this is just more of Devon's borrowed lustre, and she's the moon, shining in his stolen light.

He looks sad, trapped in the mirror, and the voice in her mind points out that he died never knowing what Excel was, much less how to make a pun about pivot tables and managers who change their mind between one meeting and the next.

She leaves the bathroom, avoiding her reflection.

Ongoing Verse: The Children

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

Even here, a thousand miles and ten years away from Eerie, Melanie can feel it. A python grip on her borrowed heart, a parasite that wormed it's way inside her while she lay on the operating table and me her part of the weirdness.

There were moments when it was a comfort, the firm pressure of the town's regard a warm weight that soothed her as she lay in bed at night. Other times, usually when she'd stopped moving long enough for another place to stake it's claim to her, the phantom snake would exert a terrible, killing squeeze that left her doubled over and fighting to breathe.

That was the cue. Time to pack up everything she owned into three or four cardboard boxes, discarding anything that didn't fit with the ruthless efficiency of a life lived on the move, and get back on the road. It wasn't how she'd imagined her future, certainly wasn't a path she'd have picked, given other, more normal choices.

But the other option, a rusted, bullet-riddled sign with a population number that never changed and the warm breeze moving over the headstones in the Eerie Cemetery, that was worse. Better, always, to run.

Ongoing Verse: The Children

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Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

deifire

So I was talking with

evilinsanemonkey (who's now recording the amazing podfic for "The Roller Rink on the Edge of Forever") about how I've been keeping a playlist for "Roller Rink" comprised of songs directly mentioned in the text--at least the ones that exist in our universe--and some the author was listening to at the time of creation, and we decided I should share it.

So here it is, in all its cheesy '70s and '80s retro glory:

Spotify version

YouTube version (with official music videos where I could find them)

I'm not sure how much accompanying music should be considered a spoiler (and maybe that depends on the song), but this is everything for the published part of the fic through Chapter 19. I'll keep updating these along with the story itself.

deifire

The Roller Rink on the Edge of Forever, Chapter 19: The Edge of Ruin

"What, so this is my fault, too?" Dash asked.

What happens to some more of our heroes after Janet's disastrous attempt to travel three minutes into the future.

( Full summary and a link to read from the beginning )

Please note tag change. Also, this fic is rated E for reasons.

froodle

The roof of the lych-gate was thick with lichen, the wood swollen from the constant wear of winter freeze and spring thaw, and the rusted hinges screamed in all but the slightest breeze. The church it had once given entry to had long since burned down, a misguided attempt by the Eerie Chamber of Commerce to rid the town of a burgeoning ghoul infestation, but still, the lych-gate remained.

Marisea Carter walked the forgotten corpse roads, the high sheen of her patent-leather shoes glinting in the last light of the day. In the neat drawstring bag at her waist she carried a rosary, a small jar containing ashes from a sacred fire pit, and a large hammer. The last was in case she found herself in need of an emergency exit, as rotted walls make excellent doors when hit with sufficient force.

She saw the figure, all in black, leaning against the tilted gatepost, and for a brief and heart-stopping moment she thought it was Death. A second look and the handy comparison of the lych-gate reassured her, however - the Grim Reaper almost never chose an aspect that short.

"Melanie," she said, smiling. "Devon. Lovely to see you both here."

Ongoing Verse: Andrea/Marisea

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: The Children

( Read more... )

froodle

The Fox Women smiled with a thousand little sharp teeth, amber eyes bright with cunning beneath thick layers of kohl. The leader took a step forward, and for a moment black-furred toes were visible beneath the hem of her richly embroidered robes.

"Ladies," said Syndi, her voice calm, her face studiedly neutral.

"Ladies," replied the Fox Woman. Her breath was richly perfumed with the smells of honey and decayed meat.

"Ladies," said Melanie, and would have shot finger-guns if Janet hadn't grabbed her hands.

Syndi closed her eyes and counted to ten.

"Foxy ladies," said Melanie, as Janet frantically hushed her.

"Melanie, I swear to the Lord of the Corn-"

"We come for husbands," said the Fox Woman apologetically.

Melanie's face, what could be seen of it behind Janet's muffling palm, fell.

"Aw," she said.

"Not many eligible bachelors left this season," said Syndi, pretending she hadn't heard. "A pack of she-wolves passed through and ate most of the dating pool."

"Oh," said the Fox Woman.

"Sorry."

The Fox Woman shrugged.

"It happens," she said. "We will try again next year, when the new litter is full-grown."

"You may want to adjust your timescales," said Syndi. "By about two decades."

Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

The Teller's living room was crowded, but quiet. Edgar clasped Marilyn's hand in both of his, while she held Simon tight with the other. Harley pressed close against his brother's legs. Melanie and Janet crammed together on the arm of the sofa, Devon wrapped so tight around them that he was barely visible. Marshall stood beside the radio, staring at it as if he could pressure it into delivering up better news. Syndi leaned against the wall, notebook forgotten in her hand, while Tod McNulty chewed black-painted nails down to a chipped ruin beside her.

The radio hiccupped with static, it's messages garbled and distorted by outside interference. Still, through the pop and hiss of the fading signal, some things could be heard.

Quarantine. Shut downs. A plea to a frightened populace to remain indoors. Looting. Stockpiling. Riots at the Eerie Mall. Shortages. The sky falling. A man arrested for breaking containment. Something else arrested for breaking containment. A house reduced to rubble by the falling sky.

The Shuckers Bowl-a-thon Hall of Fame Inductees. Euclid Daganfort, again declining to accept the honour. Mrs. Walter-Funke, brimming with pride as her husband's name was called.

Edgar Teller.

The room erupted with cheers.

Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Euclid

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Trusted Associates Inc

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: The Powers That Be

( Read more... )

froodle

The stone faces carved into the front of City Hall were whispering again.

Perhaps they had always whispered, maybe they'd only just started. Maybe they only whispered when she walked by, and fell silent once she was gone. All Melanie knew was that she'd heard them with the first beat of her borrowed heart, and she'd heard them every day since.

Oh, and it annoyed her. She knew that too.

"Did you whisper to Devon?" she wanted to ask, and knew she never would. That would be letting them win.

She slid on her headphones, and turned the music up.

Ongoing Verse: The Children

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: The Powers That Be

( Read more... )

deifire

The Roller Rink on the Edge of Forever, Chapter 18: The Edge of Discovery

What happens to (some of) our heroes after Janet's disastrous attempt to travel three minutes into the future.

( Full summary and a link to read from the beginning )

Happy Femslash February, everyone!

froodle

“Questions were playing tiddly winks with my grey matter...”

Most times you go back to watch a programme from your youth, it's pretty disappointing. Every now and then, however, they're genuinely as good as you remember. Eerie, Indiana is one of those special few. There are a handful of series that tried to be The Twilight Zone for kids. Round the Twist (which I'll be coming back to in another article) is well-remembered by British and Australian audiences. Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps scared the kids of the early and late nineties, respectively. None had the wit of Eerie, Indiana. So why this series only lasted for a single season baffles me.

The series was set in the eponymous town of Eerie, Indiana, population 16,661. Marshall 'Mars' Teller moves to Eerie with his family. Only he, and his best friend, Simon, seem to notice just how bizarre life in Eerie really is. Bigfoot eats out of Marshall's trash, Elvis is on his paper round, and each episode, some uncanny occurrence makes becomes the subject of Marshall and Simon's investigations. The situations the duo faced were man and varied. Some were drawn from classic horror and sci-fi, but with a twist, such as “America's Scariest Home Video,” which drew the Mummy straight out of a black-and-white movie and into Marshall's living room, while Simon's younger brother took his place (and proved far scarier). Some drew on science fiction for their inspiration, such as the HAL 9000 riff “The ATM With a Heart of Gold.” Others were barmy in their originality. “No Brain, No Pain,” involved a shambling vagrant, who was in fact a genius, but had accidentally taped over his mind with a copy of The Knack's My Sharona.

While the writing was generally very good for a children's drama, it was the direction and the cast that really set Eerie apart from its rivals. While Jose Rivera and Karl Schaefer were credited as the series' creators, Joe Dante was a major creative force on the show, directing several episodes. This is the man who directed such sci-fi classics as Innerspace, Gremlins and, um, Piranha. Not the sort of person you'd expect to be working on a children's TV series for the Disney Channel. The cast were what really made it, though. The series boasted not only a solid regular and semi-regular cast, but some of the best guest actors in television. Weird old Vincent Schiavelli played the town's terrifying orthodontist, while Rene Auberjonois tried to brainwash the town. Dante's favoured actor, Archie Hann, played Mr Radford, the proprietor of the World O' Stuff, until the series' midpoint turnaround, when he was revealed to be an imposter. The real Radford was revealed, played with twinkling charm by John “Gomez” Astin. In one fan-favourite episode, “The Lost Hour,” putting the clocks forward one hour incorrectly stranded Marshall in an empty parallel version of Eerie, with only a mysterious milkman to turn to for help. That milkman – who, it was hinted, may have been Marshall's own future self – was played by the late, great Eric Christmas, an actor who was born to play the Doctor. These impressive guest spots and many clever references make the series a joy to watch for genre fans.

It would be wrong to overlook the core cast, however. Omri Katz was the star of the show. Fifteen at the time of filming, but playing it a little younger, Omri was perfect as Marshall, representing the many young boys who were just entering puberty and being torn between silly kids' shows and adult life. Omri gave Marshall a wide-eyed wonder at the weirdness of the world, with just enough snark to make the character snappy, but never obnoxious. Stealing the show, though, was Justin Shenkarow, four years younger, as Simon Holmes. Justin dominated every scene he was in, despite being the youngest member of the cast. Simon was an outsider in Eerie, and became close friends with Marshall, only to find himself take a backseat to the teenager's problems. Popularity, school, and above all, his burgeoning interest in girls, threatened to take Marshall away from Simon, but at the end of the day, the two were inseparable. There was a lot for young boys to relate to.

Marshall's family were equally as important to the setup, forever oblivious to the strange goings on around them. Frances Guinan was just the right side of eccentric as his father Edgar. Possibly named in association with Edward Teller, inventor of the hydrogen bomb, Edgar tried to keep afloat with his career as an inventor for Things Incorporated. His inventions were often a main plot point in the series. Marshall's mother, Marilyn, was played Mary-Margaret Humes, who I only now realise was quite impossibly sexy and wasted as Edgar's housewife. As Marshall's older sister, Syndi, Julie Condra provided the boys watching with the twin interests of an irritating sibling to run rings round, and a beautiful young woman to gaze at.

It was something of a boys' show. Marshall had a new crush every other week, and while the girls were often strong, impressive characters, there was less for the female members of the audience. That changed in the thirteenth episode, which began a process of revamping the series by introducing Jason Marsden – that guy who's in everything, these days – as Dash X. A mysterious, amnesiac with grey hair, Dash X didn't know his real name or where he came from. He became the amoral antagonist to Marshall's hero, sometimes helping him, sometimes out for himself. He might possibly have been an alien, and was even seemingly aware that he was part of a television programme. He was also, importantly, the one all the girls watching had a crush on.

Dash X threatened to steal the series away from Marshall, something that the producers were fully aware of. In what was surely intended as the final episode of the series, but actually aired as the penultimate instalment, Marshall woke up to find that his name was really Omri, and his entire life was, in fact, part of a TV show. “Reality Takes a Holiday” was an ingeniously postmodern episode, and saw Dash X – the only character referred to by his fictional name, and not his actor's name – attempt to oust Marshall as the star. Genuinely clever, it was a high point for the series.

My favourite episode, however, was “Heart on a Chain.” Marshall and a previously unmentioned classmate, Devon (played by another Dante favourite, Cory Danziger), both fall for the new girl, Melissa. When Devon is killed in a road accident, his heart is transplanted into the desperately ill Melissa, who begins to display some of Devon's personality traits. Marshall and Melissa's burgeoning romance is sabotaged by Devon's restless spirit. Apart from the fact that I had a huge crush on Danielle Harris, who played Melissa, this episode really touched me as a kid. Watching it again now, it's still affecting. It's a genuinely sweet, sad, creepy little ghost story, just really fine television.

For all the silliness, references and naff monsters, Eerie, Indiana was quite a dark, subversive series. The strangeness of the town and its supposed ordinariness was a metaphor for the harsh realities that are so often kept behind closed doors. While Marshall had a strong, loving family, Simon was from a broken home. He was able to spend so much time with the Tellers because his mother was rarely home, and his father was often “entertaining.” Other characters' lives were rarely anything to celebrate. “Who's Who” revolved around a young girl whose mother had abandoned her, and who was neglected and exploited by her father and brothers. Even the pilot episode, “Foreverware,” hinted at the dark secrets behind so many supposedly perfect families.

For some reason, Eerie, Indiana never took off on its initial 1991-2 run. It sank without a trace, with certain episodes not even airing. It wasn't until 1997 that Fox bought the series and it was given a new lease of life. It was then that the series made it overseas, onto the Saturday mornings of my thirteen-year-old self. It became successful enough to spawn a spin-off series, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension. The concept was rather clever: in a parellel version of Eerie, life is perfectly normal, until a crazy cable guy opens an interdimensional rift. This lets the weirdness of the “prime” Eerie through to the Other Dimension, and threatens to destroy the Eeries of all realities. Marshall and Simon even appeared in the first episode to help out their younger equivalents, Mitchell and Stanley. However, although the effects had improved over the years, the scripts hadn't, and the weaker sequel series lasted only one season itself.

Eerie, Indiana amassed something of a cult following in its brief renaissance, but has little legacy. Even much of its cast are no longer acting. Omri Katz made the occasional film up until about eight years ago, while Justin Shenkarow now does mainly voice work. Julie Condra no longer seems to be acting. Of course, many of the more legendary guest stars are no longer with us. On the other hand, Jason Marsden is a familiar face on American television, Danielle Harris has become something of a modern day scream queen, and some kid called Tobey Maguire, who played a ghost boy, did quite well for himself. Still, I doubt any of these roles will make me smile quite as much as Eerie, Indiana.

froodle

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

froodle

The floor to ceiling windows of the Eerie Multiplex exploded outwards, and only the heaving mass of congealed dairy filling the street outside protected bystanders from the falling glass. From the mezzanine floor that lead to screens 6, 6, 6 and 13, Marshall and his friends watched in horror as Poplio, eldritch God of stale popcorn and the cinema-going experience, set upon the molten cheese beast born from the deepest depths of the Eerie Waste Processing Plant and Pizzeria.

Melanie Monroe fell to her knees amidst the wreckage of a dozen concession stands, Devon screaming along with her. Tod McNulty pressed his hands over his eyes, black-painted nails digging into soft flesh. Even Simon and Marshall, veteran experiencers of the Weird, blanched and turned away.

Janet Donner sighed around the twisted crazy straw in her Cherry Cornade. Popcorn cultists, their robes an ill-considered and very unscary halfway point between usher and ring wraith, stared at her. Slowly, one of them raised a trembling arm to point at her.

"You!" he said, his voice dripping with accusation and his breath smelling of hot dogs that have sat too long on the rollers. "Why are you not struck blind by the glory of our master's propagation?"

Janet shrugged.

"I wait tables at the Baitshop and Sushi Bar every summer," she said. "Once you see what people get up to with anything even a little bit tentacle-y, a giant pile of popcorn mating with ambulatory cheese dip isn't that big of a deal."

The cultists parted before her.

Ongoing Verse: Janet

( Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: Trusted Associates Inc

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froodle

None of them hear it, the shot that ends the world.

Later there's screaming - there was always so much screaming - but when it happens, all Janet knows is the wet on her face and someone saying "oh", almost too soft to hear.

Sara Sue slumps over the meagre fire with blood in her hair and her left eye in Janet's lap. Janet had always thought her eyes were brown, but this one is graphite-grey, oozing a silvery sludge that smells like pencil shavings.

Her fingers trace the smooth patch of skin over her throat, where a Garbage Man caught them unawares in a safe-house compromised before they'd even arrived. Remembers the bandages made from sketchbook pages, the frantic scratching of pencil on paper, and wonders how much of her is sinew and flesh, and how much is the soft dark lead of an Eerie Number 2 pencil.

Syndi is shouting and pulling at her as Melanie douses the fire. Janet tries to tell them not to bother, that the Garbage Men kill up close when they can and the rest of them are easy pickings now, but her mouth is full of pictures and the words don't come.

Ongoing Verse: The Children

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Ongoing Verse: Milkman

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Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

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