Eerie Indiana, S1, E17: Zombies in P.J.s

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
Jason Marsden as Dash-X
Rene Auberjonois as The Donald
John Astin as Radford
Bryan Clark as IRS Man

Written by: Julia Poll
Directed by: Bob Balaban

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I've mentioned how “Eerie, Indiana” liked to take adult ideas, and make them palatable for older children and younger adults, and now they are at it again, with an episode that takes on the (potential) evils of the credit world.

It's always a timely subject. We all know that person that eagerly got their first credit card at a young age, and was thousands of dollars in debt before the end of the month. Hell, there's a good chance you even might have been that person. The thought that we can buy something, anything we could possibly want, without actually having the money is an enticing one, and obviously the lenders are always trying to cater to people with that thought process. After all, the higher the total bill, the more they stand to collect in interest.

Naturally, there's a bizarre spin around it—as I said, it has to appeal to children—and in this case, it comes in the form of subliminal advertising, which is also either a timely subject, or one that has beaten a horse to death. Mr. Radford, the owner of the world-famous (or just Eerie-famous) World o' Stuff General Store, has fallen behind on his taxes by quite a few years. An auditor from the IRS is on his way to the store, and Mr. Radford is sure that he will lose his store, and probably many other things, in the process.

After venting about the heartlessness of the IRS, in walks “The Donald”, a creepy man of cocky arrogance who seems to think he can sell out the entire store within 72 hours. If he does, Mr. Radford will have to pay an unspecified (onscreen) fee. If not, then Radford doesn't owe him a thing. It sounds too good to be true, but Radford is a soon-to-be poor, desperate man (“Being broke made him an easy mark,” a line spoken by Marshall that teems with aching truth), so he will take anything that comes his way; he signs the contract before reading even a single word. (Explains Marshall: “But a little voice inside me was screaming: Do not trust a dude in a ponytail whose first name is 'The'").

Yet again, we have another random appearance by Dash-X, who—again yet again—is caught attempting to steal things from The World o' Stuff. As is becoming standard for the course, The Donald likes what he sees in the young rebel, and wants to hire him as help for his new ad campaign. Eager as he always is at the promise of making tons of money, Dash agrees, and signs on the dotted line. He's only been in the show for a few episodes now, and somehow his mere presence has become completely redundant (though, once again I must note it is through no fault of Jason Marsden, who portrays him; the writers just never give him anything to do).

The new ad campaign, which promises “E-Z Credit” and is prominently featured on every single channel, is a big hit, drawing the entire town to The World o' Stuff's “Midnight Madness” sale. But these don't look to be well-informed consumers looking to make necessary purchases; no, as the title alludes, they appear to be brainwashed zombies putting stuff on credit simply because they can. And, as usual, it's up to Marshall and Simon, both of whom have resisted the catchy marketing jingle, to save the town from the greedy Donald! It might take some help from one of the items he purchased from the store...

This one is vintage Eerie, for better and for worse. Once again, Marshall's parents are sucked into the chaos (along with the entire town), but no one remembers anything that happens afterwards, even though everyone snaps out of the “zombification” as they are entering buses in their nightgowns and pajamas (long story). The fresh-yet-predictable Dash-X character decides to help only after learning that he stands to gain nothing from the contract he signed. I understand he's the bad boy character, but the whole “Dash goes against the good guys to make money, learns that he stands to gain no money after all, at which point he decides to help Marshall and Simon, after all” routine is already growing stale.

But for all the typical complaints, we have all the standard praise, too: It deftly blends some humorous moments with stinging truth to form a concoction that appeals to virtually all age groups. Marshall and Simon continue to be one of the most adorable one-two punches in kids' show history, and while I could argue that Simon seems to be taking the backseat to Marshall and Dash more and more every episode, I won't. Their innocence is refreshing in that it doesn't feel staged simply to make them appear to be “holier than thou” kids who can do no wrong, but instead feel genuine, thanks to writers that seem to understand them pretty well (it's always frustrating in shows when characters seem to frequently act “out of character” just to advance a plot, but that rarely seems to happen here.)

I am starting to wish that the show wasn't greenlit for so many episodes right off the bat. Studios usually tread lightly with shows like this, given all the question marks and variables involved, but I'm sure having Joe Dante's name attached might have had something to do with it. The episodes vary wildly in quality, and so with a shortened season of twelve, or even ten, episodes could have really left viewers wanting more, and cemented it in the pantheon of classic television shows abandoned before their time (curiously, NBC must have had second thoughts about its cancellation, as they produced a spin-off series entitled “Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension”, a few years later, which also lasted just a single season). Granted, this probably wouldn't have helped it during its run—I think it was doomed to be canceled no matter what, as it its best it was way ahead of its time, and its targeted viewers' intelligence—but it really could have helped secure a stronger fanbase down the road. Either way, I guess once a show's done it's a moot point.

Actually, come to think of it, introducing the Dash-X character seems to have been a last-ditch effort on the part of the writers to infuse something fresh and new into the series in order to gain more viewers. This frequently seems to happen with struggling shows, much in the same way people in struggling marriages will try to have a child, thinking that will save them; both situations usually end up the same way. The only downside to eliminating Dash is that the excellent series finale probably wouldn't have been possible, so I guess there's that. Still, fewer episodes would have been the key here, at least in my opinion.

As I said, this is more of the same, which is great if you're already a fan of the show, and probably not so great if you're not. For me, what started off as an exciting bit of nostalgia is admittedly whittling itself down a little bit with a successive cluster of episodes that just seem too bland for what the series is capable of. We do have the famously weird final episode to look forward to, which ended the series on a good note at the time, but since the series was syndicated, they added a nineteenth episode that's not so good. Why can't anything be straightforward in Eerie?

EPISODE RATING: 6/10

FULL EPISODE