froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2020 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Betty Wilson stood beside the ornate and rubberised monument which bore her husband's name. She set down a bright floral-patterned Bouquet Keeper, inside of which a dozen white roses stood suspended for eternity.

She knew, standing there in her neat black veil and crisp widow's weeds, that the ground beneath her feet was empty. What had been left of Walt had not been the sort of thing she'd see sealed up and preserved forever; the thought of their precious boys finding him at the back of the icebox had sent shivers of horror up her spine.

Still, she missed him.


Ongoing Verse: The Powers That Be

Read more... )

Ongoing Verse: The Children

Read more... )
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle








froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2019 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2020 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Eerie, Indiana debuted on NBC on September 15, 1991, two weeks before my 11th birthday. Seven months and 19 episodes later (18 really. The 19th episode didn’t air until two years later on a different network) the show was gone. I remember watching the pilot episode when it aired, and the show has stuck with me since. I managed to love Eerie, Indiana even though I had no idea that its star Omri Katz was a sex symbol for legions of 12 year old girls in the 1990s thanks to Hocus Pocus. In fact, I didn’t even see Hocus Pocus until last Halloween, and this is when I found out about the Omri lust through a lot of thirsty Hocus Pocus tweets by women in their early 30s. Despite my Omri blind-spot I was a huge fan of the show. It was a show about myth and urban legend existing in our world. This subject matter became commonplace with a flood of teen supernatural shows (including Supernatural!) in the last 20 years and also went mainstream just a couple of years after Eerie’s cancellation with the debut of The X-Files. Myth and legend was one of my favorite things to learn about when I was a child, so this was right up my alley. It also has a bit of an Adventures of Pete and Pete feel to it, another show with two boys at the center of the weirdness.

Eerie, Indiana begins with “Foreverware,” one of the series’ most memorable episodes. This is a very tightly plotted pilot. The intro, which I quoted above, gives the viewer the premise of the show, and in the first scene Marshall introduces his family. Within the first two minutes of the show the viewer already knows what it’s about and has met all of the main characters except for one. Most pilots spend nearly all of the allotted episode time establishing this. Since this show used its time so economically it has the rest of the time to tell a story. The plot of “Foreverware” is simple: Marshall’s mom is pitched on a Tupperware like product by a woman dressed like Jackie Onassis, who has twin sons who are also dressed as if they stepped out of the past. When Mrs. Wilson and her sons leave the Foreverware party one of the twins slips Marshall a piece of paper upon which is written “Yearbook 1964.” Marshall and his sidekick Simon, the last primary character to be introduced, decide to check out the 1964 school yearbook, and in it they find a picture of the twins looking exactly as they do now, in 1991. They exclaim that this would mean that the twins are in their 30s, and this is the point where I mention that 1991 was 27 years from 1964 but it’s 29 years from current day, and I’m going to climb into my grave right now.

Marshall and Simon discover that the reason the twins still look like children and their mom looks like Jackie O is that after Mrs. Wilson’s husband, the creator of Foreverware, died in 1964 she started sealing them and her up in giant sized Tupperware containers at night, preserving them in that state. The issue of how they breathe in airtight containers isn’t covered, nor is the rest of the science behind this and honestly it’s better just to move on. Marshall sneaks in one night and breaks open the seal for the twins, who then do the same to their mother’s container. The next morning Marshall sees two adult men who look very much like the twins putting up a for sale sign outside the house, and their now elderly mother leans out the window and calls to them.

While re-watching “Foreverware” for the article I noticed that the episode has no B or C plot. This isn’t something that would have occurred to me as a child but it really stood out here. Marshall and Simon learning the secret of the Wilson twins and helping them is the entire plot, and any ancillary characters exist to push that plot forward. It works well given that this is a show for children, since it only requires them to focus on one story. When I mentioned this to my wife she responded that most children’s shows only have an A plot, and if this is the case I’m amazed that I never noticed before. The tight plotting no doubt benefits from Joe Dante directing this and four other episodes. Dante, who Greg Orme covered when he reviewed Gremlins, was a creative consultant on the show. Dante’s involvement most likely helped make Eerie, Indiana more than just a children’s show and contributes to the well crafted weirdness of the show.

If you like Foreverware stick with the series for Elvis later on.

Even though Eerie, Indiana came and went the show did develop a bit of a legacy later in the 1990s, when airings on Fox Kids drew enough interest to warrant a spinoff, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension. At this time a book series was also launched and 17 titles were released. I have We Wish You An Eerie Christmas at home. I bought it on a whim last year and I’m pretty sure I haven’t actually read it.

Given that a spinoff series and book series exists some readers may not see Eerie, Indiana as a forgotten show, but I think it qualifies because it isn’t discussed unless somebody mentions it. “Oh yeah, I remember _____” is the very definition of forgotten. Whether you’re just remembering it now, have never heard of it, or still carry a torch for Omri Katz I recommend checking out the series, all of which is available on Amazon Prime. The spinoff is also on there but I haven’t seen it.
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2019 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle




froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle


froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2018 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle


froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2015 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
So apparently DW isn't importing my comments, sigh. Anyway, here are my reactions to Foreverware as part of the Eerie, Indiana rewatch 2015.

Love the opening to the pilot episode - the dramatic music as Mars goes up tothesecret spot and opens the evidence locker, and then it cuts to the lighter faster-paced upbeat stuff as he goes out and about in Eerie on his paper route.

and then it shows the lawnmower dudes and the gun-toting mailman and it's all, chords! chords! have some dramatic chords! and then the theme tune we hear every episode starts up.

Marilyn takes a bite of the strawberry, makes a face, tells Mars not to eat them... and then puts the half-eaten strawberry back in the fridge!

Jesus, check out Betty Wilson's look of pure rage when Mars is playing with one of the Foreverware tubs, and again when Edgar walks in yelling about leftover stuffing. Police your facial expressions, you crazy bitch! Nobody wants to buy from a judgey judger.

Oh my God, Simon's introductary scene: "I let him hang out because his parents don't seem to want him around." It's dropped in so casually, but it's so horrible when you stop to think about it. He's Marshall's best friend, and even his best friend's go-to description is, "oh yeah, his parents are awful and hate him..." Eesh.

This is my first time watching Eerie on a new TV, and I've never noticed before that Betty Wilson's car has bumper stickers saying "ask me about self-preservation."

Likewise, it's the first time I've been able to read the stickers on the twin's Foreverware beds - love that they actually have the "press to close" stickers in the corner, and that apprently Walt Wilson thought someone would have a dishwasher big enough to load a "people keeper" into.

Also, I really want a Foreverware button now.

The marketing department for the DVDs definitely missed a trick not releasing a collectors edition box set where the case was a Foreverware tub. Maybe we'll get it when the series comes to blu-ray?

If Marilyn had been successfully assimilated into the Foreverware Ladies Group, would she have had to dress only in one colour, and who gets to decide what colour that is?

We mostly see her in blue, but Phylis Stoffer already has that.

What happens if her favourite colour is taken? Do they have a
housewife-off to see who has the greatest right to it, or does she just have to pick from a list of available, pre-approved colours?

I've noticed the plastic covered couch before, but now I can see the lampshade in the background is also covered in plastic wrap. Apparently Betty Wilson doesn't rate fire hazards above dust and staining.

Eight hours a day may keep the wrinkles away, but exactly how much quality sleep is she getting with that fucking tape recorder bleating in her ear every night?

There's something really sad to me about the way Betty kisses the photo of her dead husband before she goes to bed.

I think it's because of that scene in the Teller house when she refers to him as "my late husband Walt" and then mentions that if the lid on your Foreverware isn't sealed tight, the aging process gets accelerated.

Combined with the fact that the twins specifically say that she started sealing them up after their dad died, it makes me think he had some horrible mishap with the People Saver, and that Betty woke up one morning to discover a rotten glob of green goo where her husband had been sleeping the night before.

I'm not saying it justifies everything she's doing, but it does make me feel sorry for her, just a little.

How menacing are the twins after Mars frees them from the Foreverware?

"We'll take care of Mother", intone the dumpy little Norman Batesalikes in unison, smacking their fists rythmically against their palms.

Even Mars is like, "Alright lads, I'm not sticking about just so I can see you punch the shit out of your mum, peace!" as he climbs out of the window.

Fucking hell, boys. I'd tell you to be less creepy, but I've already seen the rest of the series, so I know that will never happen.

Considering Marilyn went on a housekeeping binge towards the start of that episode, the fridge is once again a total disaster by the end of it. Probably because she keeps taking bites out of stuff and randomly throwing it back in there.

Ugh, the grown-up twins. Someone needs to make a gif of them from the end of this episode; the creepy wink at Marshall, the weird smile they give each other after Mars and his mum leave, and the part where they chorus "no, thank you" which has Marilyn going all "DO NOT WANT!" and getting the fuck out of there.

They even hold their hammers in identical poses at the end of that scene, which for some reason really adds to the creep factor for me.

I love Marshall's voiceover at the end - "a kid's got to grow up fast in Eerie, or he might not grow up at all."

I like the way it subverts the usual meaning of that phrase, and how it sets up later episodes where we see that both meanings can totally apply in this town (Devon, Tripp, possibly Steve on the one hand, Janet and arguably Tripp again on the other one).
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Rock out your fifties hairstyles, make sure your lids are sealed tight, and enjoy vacuum-fresh food, because the 2015 Eerie Indiana rewatch kicks off tonight with the pilot episode that made half of us afraid of packed lunches... ladies and gentlemen, fire up your DVD players, and let's watch: Foreverware!
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Eerie Indiana headcanon #14: Walt Wilson, inventor of Foreverware and late husband of Stepford Charm School graduate Betty Wilson, died in 1964 because the rubber seal on his self-preservation tub failed during the night. When Betty brought him his copy of the Eerie Examiner the following morning*, it was to find a pike of rotting goo where her husband used to be. That trauma is where her obsession with preserving the remaining members of her family came from. Sure, she's creepy and unsettling as all get out, but she's also a grieving wife and the victim of a horrible tragedy.

*Obviously they had seperate beds. This was the Sixties in TV land, after all.
froodle: (Default)
[personal profile] froodle
Eerie Indiana headcanon #14: Walt Wilson, inventor of Foreverware and late husband of Stepford Charm School graduate Betty Wilson, died in 1964 because the rubber seal on his self-preservation tub failed during the night. When Betty brought him his copy of the Eerie Examiner the following morning*, it was to find a pike of rotting goo where her husband used to be. That trauma is where her obsession with preserving the remaining members of her family came from. Sure, she's creepy and unsettling as all get out, but she's also a grieving wife and the victim of a horrible tragedy.

*Obviously they had seperate beds. This was the Sixties in TV land, after all.


Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Profile

eerieindiana: (Default)
Eerie Indiana

July 2025

M T W T F S S
 123456
789 10111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 23rd, 2025 06:45 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios