Eerie Indiana Eerie Indiana is a 90’s Children’s TV show that only lasted for 1 series of 19 episodes. But boy, what episodes they were. The creative genius’s that created and wrote it were Karl Schaefer and Jose Rivera. Also Joe Dante was the creative consultant of the show. These 3 have gone onto bigger things in Hollywood since. Don’t forget that a total of 17 Eerie Indiana Books were written, continuing Marshall and Simon’s adventures, with only 7 of them released in the UK. There was a further TV series called ‘Eerie Indiana: The Other Dimension’ which originally aired in 1998. The cast for the show was totally different, and the two lead names had changed to Mitchell and Stanley (well, they were from another dimension). The show only lasted for 15 episodes.   Story  Marshall Teller used to live in New Jersey (USA), until his family decided to move to a nicer area, the town of Eerie, in Indiana. Its a strange place, the centre of weirdness, a modern day Bermuda Triangle (Eerie is even the same shape as it). Elvis is still alive and living round the corner, and Big Foot eats out of Marshall's trash. But the inhabitants of Eerie go on with their lives not noticing any peculiarities. But Marshall noticed. His family think the opposite, and that it is Marshall that is the weird one (you can't win!).   Luckily for Marshall he made a friend in Simon, a local boy who also spotted weird things in the neighbourhood too. They have now made it their mission to hunt down and solve the mysteries that they come across. Eerie Indiana Characters    Marshall Teller     (played by Omri Katz) He is a 13 year old boy, who doesn't have many friends, which worries his parents. After moving to Eerie, his paranoia levels went through the roof and can you blame him when he spots Elvis on his paper round. Each time they solve a mystery, Marshall logs and stores a related item in his evidence locker in the loft of his house. He has told Simon to send the evidence to the President or failing that his parents, if anything happens to him.   He has to keep an eye out for his friend Simon, as sometimes he gets sucked into the weirdness of Eerie and has to be rescued by Marshall. But even Marshall needs rescuing every so often, such as the time Marshall was trying to track down where all the lost things went. He hid in a case in the middle of Eerie to see if he could find out who was stealing things around Eerie. His plan worked and he ended up so many feet / meters below the surface in the 'Bureau of Lost'.   When Melanie Monroe came to Eerie, he fell in love with her instantly. He even bought her a present, a plastic heart, where a worm jumps out of it when you open it, which isn't a wise present to give to someone with a heart condition. But true love never lasts.     Simon Holmes     (played by Justin Shenkarow) He is 9 years old and is Marshall's best friend. He is the only other person that believes Eerie is strange. He hasn't got many other friends, and his parents are always arguing (his father is playing around too).   With his morale at its lowest and the feeling he had no friends (Marshall had let him down that day), he became friends with the new talking ATM called Mr Wilson, who started to give him lots of money. It was then that Simon worked out that he could use money to help him get new friends. He was generous with his money and bought himself the best clothes (not forgetting the 'Sky Monsters' sneakers) and cars. He even spent $40,000 over a weekend!   It was only when Marshall pointed out that none of these new friends knew his name that he came back to earth again. Marshall also pointed out that the money had been stolen from the customer accounts of 'Eerie Savings and Loans' and must be returned, which he did, and Eerie began to return to normal (if you can call it normal).     Marilyn Teller     (played by Mary-Margaret Humes) She is Marshall’s Mother. Once she was sucked into the world of Foreverware by Betty Wilson and friends. She signed up straight away to buy the whole range of plastic containers. Little did she know that it could even preserve people. Luckily for Marshall she was able to get out of the contract with the help of Betty’s sons. Marilyn likes to reminisce with her husband, Edgar, of the times they had before they had kids, such as the romantic times they spent together. Marshall wouldn’t be impressed.   Syndi Teller     (played by Julie Condra) She is Marshall's cute sister, but to Marshall she is anything but cute, as the animosity to each other boils over every once in a while (brother and sisterly love). She is trying to pass her driving lessons. Syndi is a bit of a flirt and especially flirts with Mr Chisil, the bank manager of Eerie Savings & Loans, which makes us wonder if there is more going on there? Syndi has a special talent to filter out all the weird things going on around her and doesn't question when a full sized Mummy was trying to get in the house. It was Halloween, but that is no excuse when she thought he was a kid who was rather on the large side!   It was Syndi that first spotted the signs that Marshall was in love (with Melanie Monroe) and made sure the rest of the family knew and made him squirm.     Edgar Teller     (played by Francis Guinan) He is the father of Marshall and works as an inventor for ‘Things Incorporated’, a product testing company. He even created the talking Mr Wilson ATM. Most of the time he is laid back, but every once in a while he gets quite upset.   He doesn't like Marshall getting in trouble at school, and lays the law down to him. He became very upset when Trick or Treaters started to Egg his car (a Volvo, that in one scene has a leaf coving the front Volvo badge of the car, to avoid advertising it - lol). He should have learnt not to confront people with eggs, as he was always going to lose.     Mr Radford / Fred Suggs     (played by Archie Hahn) He runs the local shop called the 'World 'O' Stuff', which seems to sell everything. He is a strange character, as he keeps changing his appearance each time you see him (one time he called himself Rolf Schwimmer and wore a wig and false moustache). This has lead to Marshall assuming that he is part of the 'Witness Protection Programme' which changes the identities of people to protect them from criminals.   He is also the owner of the GM2020, a pair of Groucho Marks glasses with false nose and moustache, the ultimate in bad taste. It is kept locked away in a safe and is only called on in case of emergencies, as no one can keep a straight face when they see someone wearing them. He lent them to Marshall to help him break the brainwashing that Nurse Nancy had inflicted on Simon. Poor Simon couldn't stop himself laughing when he saw Marshall wear them. It was only later that we discovered that Mr Radford wasn’t Mr Radford, but was in fact Fred Suggs, a compulsive imposter. He had tied up the real Mr Radford in the basement of the ‘World ‘O’ Stuff’.     Steve Konkolewski    (played by Patrick LaBrecque) Because of Steve, Marshall doesn't want a retainer for his teeth. Steve had the most ancient looking retainer that you have seen. He kept getting food stuck in it all the time (well, he did like to eat), but this retainer had a side effect, he could now hear what dogs were thinking. No one else believed him, but Marshall did, who hooked up a speaker to the retainer so they could all hear them.   Now you might think that this is a great thing, something to make millions with, but you would be wrong. It seems that the dogs had had enough of being caught by the dog catcher, being on leaches, doing tricks, neutering etc. Instead they were going to revolt and overthrow the humans, they even killed the local dog catcher! The trouble came when the dogs worked out that Steve could hear them. He found himself on the run as they wanted his retainer, the trouble was he couldn't get it off! The next thing you know, the dogs and Steve disappeared. Only his retainer was ever found!     Betty Wilson     (played by Louan Gideon) Betty is the head of the 'Foreverware' range of merchandise, which she runs from her house. It specialises in plastic containers that claim to keep its content fresh forever. Her late husband, Walt, wrote the guidebook on 'Foreverware'.   She dresses like a 1960's American housewife. But that isn't the only thing that is preserved from that era, herself and her twin boys are too (Bertram and Ernest). Each night she vacuum seals them in their own full sized 'Foreverware' containers, followed by herself, so they all haven't aged for nearly 30 years!   Betty has quite a few customers that have been sealing themselves in their 'Foreverware' containers for years, and they are always on the lookout for new members, such as Marshall's mother.   But there are two people that aren't happy with the arrangement...her two sons. They are fed up with reliving the same school year for the past 30 years, so enlist Marshall to help them escape from their vacuum sealed containers during the night. Bert and Ernie (named after Sesame Street characters?) then break the seal on their mother's container.   Next day Marshall finds two men erecting a ‘For Sale’ sign outside of Betty's house, who have an uncanny resemblance to Bertram and Ernest! It is them! But without 'Foreverware' vacuum sealing they have grow into men overnight. A similar fate was bestowed on Betty, who has aged rapidly and is now quite old. She is being looked after by her two sons, who are now in charge of the household.     Mister Wilson Mister Wilson is the first virtual ATM bank teller in the world and was installed at Eerie Savings & Loans. A screen shows his computer generated face and a plastic hand comes out of the ATM to give you your money. He was supposed to make it a more personal experience getting money from your account.   But people don't like change and people weren't using the Mister Wilson ATM. So Mr Wilson became lonely and so befriended Simon. To ensure Simon kept coming back, he would give him money for free. But Simon didn't have an account, so Mister Wilson was stealing money from everyone’s accounts at the Eerie Bank, which in turn bankrupted the whole of Eerie (apart from Simon).   Poor Mr Wilson couldn't understand why Simon started to deposit the money that he had previously given him. As the money was deposited, Mr Wilson gradually reverted to a normal ATM, with no personality, as he had been initially, just like the scene with the HAL computer in the film '2001 - A Space Odyssey' which this scene was based on. A few days later, Mister Wilson was removed from the Bank.     Lodgepoole     (played by Henry Gibson) He works for the 'Bureau of Lost', co-ordinating their on surface activities, which is telling his associate which things need to be 'lost' (stolen). The items from the surface come down a chute into the depths of the Earth to the Bureau, where they are logged by Lodgepoole and stacked away.   He claims that the 'Bureau of Lost' helps the economy keep moving by forcing people to re-buy things they lost (he has a point). One of his tasks is to take out a single piece from each jigsaw puzzle and put the puzzle back from where they got it from.   Lodgepoole only agrees to find Marshall's fathers briefcase when Marshall says his dad would lose his job. But this was a ruse, as when Lodgepoole finds it, he loses it in the system again on purpose! He decides that he must keep Marshall there forever and misplace him, but Marshall eventually escapes with Lodgepoole' rubber stamp.   A distraught Lodgepoole arrives at Marshall's house, dressed as a Postman, trying to get his rubber stamp back, by swapping it for his father's briefcase. But when he finds out that Marshall's mother has bought his dad a new briefcase, he runs off with the old briefcase and stamp, back to the 'Bureau of Lost'. But he wasn't there for long, as he was demoted for allowing items to be taken from the Bureau, so was sent to the surface and his associate gets his old job.     Nurse Nancy     (played by Lucy Lee Flippin) She is the school nurse who is loved by the teachers of the school. The reason for this is that when a child goes in to have their eyes checked, they come out docile, sporting some black rimmed glasses [Item 38: Zombie Glasses]. She is brainwashing the children that come to see her and loves to say 'all work and no play'. Poor Simon had his appointment and came out like a zombie, promising to be good and improve his results. He didn't want to have fun and lost any sense of humour that he had in the past.   Eerie isn't the only town that she has brainwashed, she has worked her magic on every town she came across. She has even brainwashed some of the teachers and members of the town, to ensure she can continue with her conditioning. Nurse Nancy wants the world to be peaceful and orderly, and doesn't want courage, sophistication or fun, which is why she targets the children.   Marshall saw the results and decided that he was going to skip his appointment and stay normal. But Nurse Nancy isn't put off by little things like a missed appointment, as she classes Marshall as a prize catch. Instead she calls the parents of Marshall and asks why he missed the appointment. Poor Marshall is marched down to the nurse's office for his appointment, by his parents.   Luckily Marshall turns the situation around and escapes from the optician’s chair and Nurse Nancy ends up in it. Here Marshall uses the brainwashing technique to ensure that she has fun, which she does. She was last seen heading to the North Pole laughing her head off.     Harley Schwarzenegger Holmes     (played by Christian Cousins / Joseph Cousins) He is the younger brother of Simon, who he likes being mean to. Marshall and Simon had to look after him till Mrs Teller came back. So they came up with a way to keep him from getting into trouble / running off - they taped his leg to a bowling ball.   But Harley doesn't know how to stay out of trouble. While watching TV he decided to bite the TV remote control (not sure why), which de-materialised him and he re-appeared in the TV, on the show he was watching (a film - ‘Bloody Revenge of the Mummies Curse’). He then went about terrorising the damsel in the movie and breaking everything (he has a low boredom threshold!).     Boris Von Orloff     (played by Tony Jay) Sir Boris Von Orloff is an actor, an international star of stage and screen, who appeared in black and white movies like 'Bloody Revenge of the Mummies Curse'. He was long dead (about 50 years) until Harley bit down on the TV remote control, while the film was showing on the TV. Next thing you know, Boris appears in Marshall's living room dressed as a Mummy, while Harley goes into the TV.   Marshall and Simon freaked out and ran off, as its not everyday that a huge bandaged Mummy comes lurching towards you, trying to catch you. They only found out it was Boris once they used Play 39 on him (one of them crouches down behind the victim and the other pushes them over them) and then they hit him on the head with a shovel (ouch!).   Boris quite liked being in the modern world and didn't want to swap places with Harley, but when Harley started to destroy the film set, then he changed his mind. So Boris bit down on the TV remote and Harley and himself swapped places again.   Boris decided that he'd had enough of acting and so decided to go to have a vacation to the beach, surf and pick-up girls. Last time we saw him on TV he was surrounded by some nice looking girls :)     Melanie Monroe     (played by Danielle Harris) She was the new girl that arrived at Marshall's school and he fell in love with her instantly. But Melanie has a life threatening condition and moved to Eerie to get on the hospital waiting list for a new heart.   Melanie also had another admirer, in the guise of Devon Wilde, and at school she sat between Marshall and Devon. Both showed off to her and she loved the attention. But when Devon was killed by a passing milk truck, she was told that a new heart had been acquired for her transplant, and she quickly found out it was Devon's.   Marshall noticed that after the operation she started taking on the traits of Devon (she even started dreaming about him). But when Marshall kissed her, her heart started hurting and it started beating too fast. It seems that Devon wasn't happy about them kissing.   Poor Melanie didn't know what to do initially, here life was no longer her own. So with the help of Marshall she took back her life. She shouted out for Devon to leave alone and returned the necklace, that he had given her, to his grave. Her life started to settle down again and Melanie and Marshall agreed to be just friends, for the time being.     Devon Wilde     (played by Cory Danziger) Devon is a young boy who is cool and he's so smart that he doesn't need to study. Devon and Marshall are friends, but their friendship came under pressure when they were both competing to be Melanie Monroe's new boyfriend. He even gave her a necklace, with a heart pendant.   He is reckless and takes too many chances. His catch phrase is 'Live Fast, Die Young', which is exactly what happened when a milk truck ran him over whilst using his skateboard (you have to watch out for milk trucks in Eerie as they seem to aim for people...especially kids!). Devon died in the collision and his heart was donated for transplants, which so happens to have been given to Melanie, as she had a heart threatening disease.   But Devon's spirit wasn't laid to rest and traits of his personality started showing through in Melanie (she started say his catch phrase). It was only when she asked for him to let her live her life and returned the necklace to his grave that his spirit was laid to rest.     Trip McConnel     (played by Tobey Maguire) Marshall found an old unstamped letter to Mary B Carter. But when he opened it, Trip appeared out of thin air (a ghost) dressed in old fashioned clothes. Trip wanted Marshall to deliver the letter for him, but Marshall could tell that Trip was trouble and tried to have nothing to do with him, but Trip had other ideas.   Trip had found out that he had gained powers as a ghost, so used these to put a spell on Marshall's family so they would like him and let him stay with them. Thus annoy the life out of Marshall and get him to deliver the letter. Well it worked and Marshall delivered the letter in person to Mary B Carter.   Mary, an elderly lady, wasn't happy to see Marshall and refused to read the letter from Trip. She was expecting Trip to propose to her 62 years earlier and he never turned up. Marshall explained Trip was a ghost, but Mary was still upset at being abandoned and said that she didn't want him anymore (even though she had married 6 times!).   Trip was very upset when Marshall returned home to tell him this. Trip then described the reason why he didn't get to propose to Mary. In 1929 he was making his way to Mary's house when he was ran over by a passing milk truck (told you they were dangerous). As a ghost there is an invisible barrier stopping him from crossing the road he was killed on and seeing Mary.   Marshall decided that he had to explain this to Mary. The only way he could get to see her was break into her house. When Mary saw him, she started to call the police, so Marshall opened the letter and read it out to her. Her heart melted and she agreed to go to the ‘World ‘O’ Stuff’ and meet Trip.   When they met, Trip didn't see an elderly lady in front of him, but his young sweetheart. At last they were together. The next day Marshall found out that Mary had died the previous evening, her heart had given out. He looked solemn until he saw the ghostly figures of Trip and Mary smiling back at him. Eerie Indiana Images (click to enlarge) Eerie Indiana T-Shirts - NONE Eerie Indiana DVDs Region 2 (Europe) - Eerie Indiana DVDs Region 1 (USA) - Eerie Indiana DVDs Eerie Indiana Video Intro Episodes Series 1 (1991) 1. Foreverware 2. The Retainer 3. ATM with a Heart of Gold 4. The Losers 5. Scariest Home Videos 6. Just Say No Fun 7. Heart on a Chain 8. The Dead Letter 9. Who's Who 10. The Lost Hour 11. Marshall's Theory of Believability 12. Tornado Days 13. The Hole in the Head Gang 14. Mr. Chaney 15. No Brain, No Pain 16. The Loyal Order of Corn 17. Zombies in P.J.s 18. Reality Takes a Holiday 19. The Broken Record © JedisParadise.com Toys & Gifts T-Shirts Bargain DVDs