Rating:
4.7/10 by 7 users
Maniac Mansion (1990)
Maniac Mansion was a Canadian sitcom created by Eugene Levy, which aired concurrently on YTV in Canada and The Family Channel in the United States for three seasons from September 17, 1990 to April 4, 1993. The series is very loosely based on the popular 1987 LucasArts video game of the same name. While LucasFilm served as co-producers on the series, the show thematically shares little in common with its source material. The series followed the adventures of the Edison family, who lived in a large mansion in an upper-class suburban neighborhood. Fred, the father of the family, was an eccentric scientist, and many of the plots revolved around his wacky experiments. One of these experiments caused his toddler son, Turner, to transform into a large adult man and his brother-in-law, Harry, to be turned into a fly with a human head! They both remained this way for the entire run of the series.
Writing:
- Eugene Levy
- Paul Flaherty
- Michael Short
- John Hemphill
Release Date:
Mon, Sep 17, 1990
Country: CA | US
Language: En
Runtime: 30
Country: CA | US
Language: En
Runtime: 30
Joe Flaherty
Dr. Fred Edison
Deborah Theaker
Casey Edison
George Buza
Turner Edison
Kathleen Robertson
Tina Edison
Mary Charlotte Wilcox
Idella Muckle Orca
John Hemphill
Harry "The Fly" Orca
Avi Phillips
Ike Edison
Season 3:
One day Turner is mysteriously returned to his small self. Everyone assumes that the effect has worn off, and Harry should return to his normal state. He didn't though, and it turns out the meteor is causing strange things to happen at the mansion. Fred tries to figure out a way to fix the problem but nothing works. He ends up fighting the meteor after it tried to go after the family. He wins, and the meteor stops messing with the house.
Lenny comes to visit, and is really depressed. He feels he must prove his love to Terri, and decides to return to boxing. So he loses weight and starts to train. He eventually gets a fight lined up with a boxer named Maddog Mustafa Musthead. Halfway through the fight, Lenny reveals to Maddog the real reason he's fighting. Maddog tells him that he doesn't have to prove his love, and that he possesses everything necessary for a good relationship.
Casey is upset because another magazine rejected her short story. Meanwhile, her friend Roxanne from college plans to make a visit. Casey feels that she hasn't accomplished anything in her life, and doesn't want Roxanne to come over. She changes her mind later on after receiving an acceptance letter to a prestigious magazine. When Roxanne finally came over, Casey tried to tell her the good news but kept being interrupted. On the third retelling, Roxanne thinks she's going to labor and Casey freaks out. She eventually calms down and reveals to Roxanne that she was jealous of her in college. Roxanne tells Casey that she felt the same way about her, and then they both make up.
Fred is sick in bed, and his father comes to visit. He wants to read Fred a book that his father was supposed to read him as a child. In the story, a maiden named Sweetcakes falls in love with a peasant called Nothing Boy. He has to leave, and she thinks she'll never see him again. Meanwhile, the Evil Prince of Tides kills his wife and plans on marrying Sweetcakes. While wandering around the forest, a group confronts and captures her. A masked man comes to save her, and turns out to be Nothing Boy. The Prince of Tides shows up and shoves Nothing Boy over a cliff. Later, at the Evil Prince's castle, the Strongest Man in the World and Pablo show up with Nothing Boy. The Prince and Pablo fight each other, but end up stabbing themselves and dying. In the end, the Princess doesn't marry Nothing boy but The Strongest Man in the World instead.
Ike got into a fight at school with a kid who was smaller than him. Ike didn't fight back because he would be called a bully for beating up someone half his size. Frankie ends up calling Ike's house, and Casey gets on the phone with his mother. She comes over and they start arguing, but stop when Frankie's mom sees Ike. She's surprised that her son gave Ike a black eye, and eventually calms down. Her and Casey talk things out and Ike becomes friends with Frankie.
Fred needs an assistant because he's been working too hard lately. He hires a woman named Julie, and they get along very well. Casey feels jealous about this, but doesn't let it get to her. One day, Julie fell from a stool and Fred went to catch her. At that exact moment, Casey comes down to check on them. She becomes upset because it looked like they were flirting with each other. Fred explains to her that she's the only woman for him, and that there's nothing between him and Julie.
Casey is head of the student exchange program, and a kid from Central Tech will spend time with the Edisons. After he arrives and meets the family, Idella notices a piece of her jewellery is missing. She assumes John stole it, but doesn't have any proof. Casey thinks Idella is jumping to conclusions, but then Idella tells her she saw him put Ike's walkman into his bookbag. Casey confronts John, and he runs away angry. Later, Ike tells her that John bought his tape player, and was just putting it away. Ike eventually finds John, and everyone apologizes for their misconceptions.
Allasyn wants the Edison Corporation to approve a composter that one of her clients developed. Casey is fed up with the Pratts, and says no. Fred sees Allasyn a little later, and agrees to have a look at it. This causes a big argument between Casey and Fred. She feels that the Pratts always ask for favours, but never help them out in return. Fred feels that this composter is an important development in recycling, and wants to continue developing it. After days of fighting they eventually realize that the whole thing is ridiculous. Fred discovers that the composter isn't worth working on, and Casey is over her problem with the Pratts. Allasyn comes over later and they give the composter back to her.
The family is packing for a trip to Cape Scary, and go out to eat after they're done. A man in the restaurant who looks just like Fred pays his bill, and Fred gets weirded out. Later, Fred gets a call from this mysterious man who reveals himself as Remax Brady. Remax shows up at the mansion, so Fred, Tina and Casey develop a plan to get him out. While in the lab, Remax comes through the door and they see him in the camera Fred set up. They go upstairs to fight him, and the lights go out. After a big fight they eventually subdue him. They later find out Remax only wanted to get back at Fred for the time he accidentally received an award of his at camp.
Fred gets Turner tickets to go see a wrestling match with his favourite wrestler, The Atomizer. Ike then tells Turner it's all fake, but Fred tells him it's real. During the match, Turner gets up into the ring and wins the match for the Atomizer. His manager Joey wants Turner to become a wrestler. The family is against it, so Fred tells him wrestling is actually fake. This makes Turner mad because Fred had lied to him before, so the family reconsiders and lets him wrestle. He wins a lot of matches and is really successful, but the fame has made him change. Fred can't stand that Turner hates him, so he has The Atomizer tell Turner that wrestling is actually fake. He reveals this to him, and also tells Turner he's lucky to have a dad like Fred who will love him. After that, Fred and him make up and Turner quits his wrestling career.
Ike is preparing for the science fair and asks Fred for help. Casey and Fred agree that Ike should do it on his own. Then the Pratts want Fred to help Keifer with his project. They at first say no because of Ike, but eventually give in. Fred felt it was unfair to Ike, so he gave him and idea about a project and let Ike do the rest. Since Fred did Keifer's project for him, he couldn't demonstrate it correctly at the fair and failed. Ike's volcano did come in second place, beat only because a girl named Cindy's had a much larger explosion.
Casey and Fred let Turner go to the park by himself now that he's old enough. He meets a girl there and thinks he's fallen in love. The girl turns out to be an older woman, and she doesn't know how old Turner is. Turner brings her to meet the family, and Casey and Fred tell her how young Turner really is. Rose tells Turner they can't see each other anymore and Turner agrees.
Fred dreams that he's starring in a 50's science-fiction movie in which he is a brilliant scientist, Casey is bed-ridden and blind, Ike is a normal 50's kid and Tina is a brainy bombshell. There is a giant beaver terrorizing the Eastern United States and Fred, in consultation with President Eisenhower, develops a plan to defeat it, using the A-Bomb and rock star Brad Stones. The plan works, and the resulting A-Bomb blast cures Casey's blindness. Then Fred wakes up and realizes that it's back to his normal everyday existence.
Tina's new boyfriend James comes over to meet the family. During dinner they find out that his father once dated Casey in high school. When James tells his dad about this, he decides to come visit. While getting ready, Casey breaks down and tells the family that Walter had stood her up one day and later dumped her. After hearing this, Harry reveals that he never gave Walter a note from Casey saying where they'd meet. So Walter didn't actually stand her up, and that's why they broke up. Casey is at first angry at Harry, but later realizes that Walter wasn't the right man for her and that Fred is.
Tina forms a band and enters a contest. While rehearsing, she finds out that Lorrie isn't dancing right because she's shy. Tina thinks about firing her, but feels bad because Lorrie is her friend. Then Lorrie comes over to tell Tina she wants to quit. Tina makes her sing loud enough so she can hear it, and finds out that Lorrie is the best vocalist in the group. To give Lorrie the attention she deserves, Tina fakes her voice going out during the show. This forces Lorrie to become the main singer, and she was a big hit. However, another contestant beats them out for first place in the end.
Ike wants to get Cherie's attention, so he decides to run for president of the student council. Keifer becomes his campaign manager, and starts putting up posters of Ike and a another girl in his class named Geena Brakendale. When Cherie sees these pictures she gets angry and tells Ike she never wants to see him again. Ike gives a prepared speech at the ceremony, but stops halfway through and tells the truth. He explains why he really ran and also that no one should vote for him. The speech won over Cherie, who then began to clap. Everyone else there started to clap and he ended up winning the election.
Fred puts a glass door on the andromeda chamber. The glass isn't thick enough, so the effect of an experiment went through and into Fred. This experiment changes him into a crazy doctor. The rest of the episode is a parody of ""The Silence of the Lambs"", with Fred playing the part of Hannibal Lector and Tina playing the part of the woman who helps him. Tina eventually figures out a way to reverse the effects, and Fred comes back to his normal self.
Idella feels that she isn't doing enough with her life and decides to look for a job. She was rejected from many jobs until finally a pizza shop in the area hires her. Unfortunately, the main boss forces Idella's manager to hire his daughter, and the manager must fire Idella. Although she wanted to keep the job, Idella is happy to have time to spend with the family.
Turner finds Fred's love letters to Casey, and accidentally drops one on the Pratts' driveway. Allasyn shows the letter to Fred and he realizes what happened once he reads it. This prompts Casey to retell the story of how her and Fred met. Fred was working in the school lab with his girlfriend when Casey and her hippie friend came in. To protest Fred's girlfriend's dad's chemical company, Casey and Pony handcuff themselves to her and Fred. After Pony gets them out of the handcuffs, Fred's girlfriend locks Casey to a pole and calls the police. Her and Fred leave, but Fred comes back and frees Casey.
Fred's Uncle Joe comes to stay with the family for awhile. His wife just died recently and he isn't in the best of health either. One night he dreams of dancing with her, and dies in his sleep. The family misses him, but are happy that he is now reunited with his wife.
Harry is bedridden with indigestion, and ponders his life. He feels that his life is meaningless and that he's a burden to the rest of the family. Later on, his conscience visits him and shows him how important he is to the rest of the family.
Sometime in the future, Turner ends up as an owner of a television station. He wants to create a show about a family exactly like the one he's had. The two writers he's hired try to make a common show, which Turner doesn't want. He then tells them about events that happened to his family, which gets them to write what he originally had in mind.
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