About
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.
Cast
Joe Flaherty
as Dr. Fred Edison
Deborah Theaker
as Casey Edison
George Buza
as Turner Edison
Kathleen Robertson
as Tina Edison
Mary Charlotte Wilcox
as Idella Muckle Orca
John Hemphill
as Harry "The Fly" Orca
Avi Phillips
as Ike Edison
Episodes
Season 1
The 10th Anniversary Special
Fred falls asleep in the lab and dreams that his family is starring in a sitcom celebrating its 10th anniversary. Plans for an anniversary dinner at the Taiwan On go awry because they're spraying for medflies in the area, so they watch home movies and flash back to Turner and Harry's accident and to the time Casey first had Fred's parents over for dinner. Turner runs up to his room, crying, because he thinks the family is laughing at him rather than with him. Fred talks to Turner and convinces him to rejoin the family in the living room. The show ends with Casey waking Fred up.
Flystruck
Fred is experimenting with a giant chicken to try to get Harry back to normal size. Meanwhile Idella is jealous because Harry is spending a lot of time with a female fly. Idella flashes back to when Harry and her were young lovers and Harry was leaving for Vietnam. Idella is about to murder the fly when it flies into a window and dies. Idella and Harry make up at the end of the show and Fred disposes of the dead fly.
Trapped Like Rats
Tina has a big date and wants to borrow Ike's leather jacket. He refuses but she persists. They're arguing in the andromeda chamber when Turner locks them in. The experiment starts and they motion to Fred to get Turner, who is asleep and dreaming of bunnies and ice cream. Turner can't remember the numbers he pushed to lock Ike and Tina in, but Tina realizes that they were the numbers from his favourite song. They get out in time for Tina to go on her date.
Love Thy Neighbour
The Pratts, the Edisons' yuppie neighbours, stay at the mansion when they get their house renovated and make themselves a pain in the behind. Casey has hostile feelings towards them and dreams of experimenting on them, but Fred and Casey and too scared to kick them out. So Harry takes it into his own hands and scares them out of the house, but only Ike and Turner know what he did. Throughout the show Harry is carrying out conversations with ants.
Fred's A-Courtin'
Fred is spending so much time with his guiney pig Fats that he neglects Casey. Casey finally gets over her inhibitions and tells Fred exactly how she feels about it. Fred is really distraught and goes to his barber for advice. Tony suggests finding the one thing that will make Casey feel special, so Fred buys a home dance kit and sings Casey an ear-splitting rendition of ""When a Man Loves a Woman"". They end the show in each other's arms.
The Sandman Cometh
The show starts with Tina politely telling her date that she doesn't really like him. Turner's tooth is loose, and Fred is out buying popcorn for the big movie ""Tara, Tara, Tara"", a TV remake of ""Gone with the Wind"". Fred misses most of the movie because he's putting Turner to sleep, but it turns out to be no great loss. Turner dreams that he's visited by the Sandman (a boring comedian), the tooth fairy (an Englishwoman) and Mr. Coffee (who is in the middle of a messy divorce). The show ends with a monologue by Uncle Harry.
Good On Ya
Fred is playing around in the living room when Lenny Orca, Harry's long-lost boxing twin brother from Canada, comes to the door. Lenny tells the family that the reason he's taken so long to visit is that he's come home to die. He's OK with it, and the kids are too, but Fred, Casey and Idella are very concerned about it and decide not to tell him about Harry because it might kill him. He finds out anyway, but the doctor phones and tells him that he's not going to die. He promises to visit again at Christmas, gives the kids loonies, and makes up with Harry for an incident at the orphanage.
Bring Me Harry Orca
A gangster boss just got out of prison so he sends his two stoolies to look for the guy who ratted on him, Harry Orca. Turner lets them into the house by mistake, and they hold the family hostage and almost kill Harry. Richard comes over to complain about an illegaly-parked car but he leaves without realizing that the family is in danger. When the gangsters can't bring themselves to kill Fred, Idella takes the matter into her own hands and chases them out of the mansion right into the arms of Richard Pratt and two policemen.
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