Eerie Indiana, S1 E12: Tornado Days

Starring:
Omri Katz as Marshall Teller
Justin Shenkarow as Simon Holmes
Mary-Margaret Humes as Marilyn Teller
Francis Guinan as Edgar Teller
Julie Condra as Syndi Teller
Matt Frewer as Howard Raymer
Harry Goaz as Sgt. Knight
Archie Hahn as Mr. Radford
Old Bob as Himself

Written by: Michael Cassutt
Directed by: Ken Kwapis

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“Eerie Indiana” is a show that has always prided itself on its bizarre ideas. And that tends to be the show's strength: it was unafraid to tread where other kid's shows would never dare to go. That being said, “Tornado Days” goes for outrageous, and ends up falling flat on its face, in a way that hasn't been seen since “The Retainer”. In fact, I would venture to say it's even worse than that one. It's a rather stupid idea, executed stupidly, and is easily the worst episode the usually creative show ever put out.

It's “Tornado Day” in Eerie, which is pretty much just an excuse for the locals to gather around for a community picnic. Ever the rebellious teen, Marshall refuses to go, and as a result, so too does his pal Simon (who, sadly, clearly wants to go, but would rather support his friend). Well, this pisses off “Ol' Bob”, the name given to the town's tornado (?) that visits Eerie every year on Tornado Day. Okay...

Things are already off to a bad start, but now we get another character tossed into the mix: A crazy stormchaser by the name of Howard Raymer, who crash lands on Marshall's front lawn. He informs Marshall that by boycotting the festivities, he is angering Bob, and sets out to find a way to tame the tornado before he wreaks havoc across the city. But his only way to do that is to get inside the tornado with his “Wind Rider”, which is basically a modified trailer.

Well I've spent enough time describing this, because none of it is remotely interesting or funny. Like I said, this show usually does really well when it comes time to dabble in the offbeat, but this one is just a flawed idea from start to finish. I was actually pretty excited to sit down with it the first time I read the synopsis, thinking there would be some typical "Eerie twist" that would make it a good episode, but it's just a straightforward failure. About the only thing I can give it is the tornado-themed dress that Marshall's sister Syndi wears...it's absolutely ridiculous, but she somehow looks adorable in it. (Kinda the way the looks adorable in anything.)

Overall, though, this is just a bad episode, full of uninteresting ideas, and lame jokes. Thankfully, this is the last bomb that I recall from the entire series; every show has its ups and downs, and this just proves that even an underrated show like “Eerie Indiana” isn't exempt from these issues. But man, what a bomb this is.

EPISODE RATING: 3/10

FULL EPISODE

(Actually found someone who just uploaded the series to YouTube last month. Considering episodes seem to be taken down with regularity, it probably won't last long, but here it is in the meantime. In case it gets taken down, a backup link is provided below.)

BACKUP LINK: Click here.