Eerie, Indiana
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Eerie, Indiana |
| Abbreviation(s): | EI |
| Creator: | José Rivera and Karl Schaefer |
| Date(s): | 1991 - 1992 |
| Medium: | Television Series |
| Country of Origin: | United States |
| External Links: | IMBD Eerie, Indiana Episode Guide |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Eerie, Indiana is an American weird television series with a small, dedicated fanbase. It ran for one season on NBC from 1991 - 1992. An equally short-lived spin-off, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, was created for Fox Kids in 1998.
Canon
My name is Marshall Teller. I knew my new home town was going to be different from where I grew up in New Jersey, but this is ridiculous. Nobody believes me, but Eerie, Indiana is the center of weirdness for the entire planet. Item: Elvis lives on my paper route. Item: Bigfoot eats out of my trash. Item: Even man's best friend is weird. Still don't believe me? You will.Marshall Teller, from the episode introduction
When 13-year-old Marshall Teller moves to Eerie, he soon discovers that his new town is both weirder and more sinister than it first appears. Unfortunately, his family doesn't believe him. Neither does anybody else, except for his 9-year-old neighbor and best friend, Simon Holmes.
Together, this pair of semi-professional weirdness investigators make it their mission to gather evidence of Eerie's weirdness. Examples include:
- A group of housewives who've been sealing themselves and their kids inside giant Tupperware-like containers that can grant eternal youth ("Foreverware")
- A sentient ATM created by Marshall's scientist father that bankrupts all of Eerie in an attempt to befriend Simon ("The ATM with a Heart of Gold")
- "The Lost Hour," an alternate dimension Marshall enters when he insists on observing Daylight Savings Time unlike the rest of Indiana in 1991.
Episodes routinely feature elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Recurring Characters
- Marshall Teller (Omri Katz)
- Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow)
- Syndi Teller (Julie Condra), Marshall's 16-year-old sister
- Marilyn Teller (Mary-Margaret Humes), Marshall's mother
- Edgar Teller (Francis Guinan), Marshall's father
- Mr. Radford (Archie Hahn), the proprietor of weird local retail establishment, The World O' Stuff
- Winston Chisel (Gregory Itzen), the town's sinister mayor
Multiple plots introduce a friend or love interest for Marshall who appears only in a single episode and is never seen again. Many of those characters are popular in fic, including Janet Donner (Nikki Cox), Melanie Monroe (Danielle Harris), and Tod McNulty (Grant Gelt). This is also true of Simon's little brother, Harley Schwarzenegger Holmes (Christian Cousins), who appears once and is never again mentioned.
Retool and New Characters
Starting with episode 13, "The Hole in the Head Gang", the show was retooled to introduce Dash X (Jason Marsden), a mysterious grey-haired kid with + and - markings on the backs of his hands and no memories of who he is or where he comes from. Dash features prominently as a sometimes antagonist and sometimes semi-friend of Marshall and Simon in all subsequent episodes. Dash's origins remain a mystery and have prompted much fan speculation and theorizing.
Also introduced in the episode is "the real Mr. Radford" (John Astin of Addams Family fame). The original Radford is revealed to be a compulsive imposter named Fred Suggs who had the real Radford tied up in the basement.
In addition to the pilot "Foreverware," the series is perhaps best know for its finale, "Reality Takes a Holiday," in which Marshall finds himself on the set of a television series called Eerie, Indiana about to be killed off the show and replaced by Dash.
Fandom Overview
Perhaps the earliest known published Eerie, Indiana fic is the story "No Fairies in Eerie" by Joan Enright which appeared in issue 1 of the fanzine No Holds Barred in 1992.
An Eerie, Indiana LiveJournal community was founded in 2004. It was since mirrored and remains active on Dreamwidth. Community activities include annual rewatches, recurring fanworks challenges, and Better Weird Than Dead: An Eerie, Indiana Fic Fest, which began when the fandom experienced a small revival in 2015. Community moderator Froodle maintains a master post of Eerie fandom activity. The Eerie Indiana Fansite on Dreamwidth account is active on Twitter. There is also an active Discord server.
Fanworks and Shipping
Gen fanworks are very common in the Eerie, Indiana fandom.
Marshall Teller/Dash X is the most featured ship.
Many fanworks take place in the future of the series and there are multiple fan-created ongoing verses with their own continuity.[1]
Common Pairings
- Marshall Teller/Dash X
- Edgar Teller/Marilyn Teller
- Marshall Teller/Janet Donner
- Marshall Teller/Melanie Monroe and/or Marshall Teller/Melanie Monroe/Devon Wilde[2]
- Janet Donner/Melanie Monroe
- Mary C. Carter/Andrea Fantucci
Common Crossovers
- Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension
- Gravity Falls
- Hocus Pocus, due to the fact that actors Omri Katz and Jason Marsden appear in both
- Z Nation, also co-created by series co-creator Karl Schaefer[3]
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
Fanart
- The Eerie Project, a fan comic WIP by jadisart and ftrbestseller
Filk
- Moo! and After Wolf Mountain by flashforeward
Podfic
Podcasts
Multimedia
Vids
Archives
Eerie, Indiana on Archive of Our Own
Eerie, Indiana on fanfiction.net
Eerie, Indiana Dreamwidth Community Fandom Masterpost
References
- ^ See for example froodle's Pay Attention and deifire's After Nightfall.
- ^ The complicated relationship between Melanie Monroe and Devon Wilde cannot be explained in detail here without major spoilers for episode 1.07 Heart on a Chain
- ^ The Eerie town sign appears briefly in Z Nation episode 4.06 "Back from the Undead" [1], suggesting that the two may take place at different points in time in the same universe.