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Season 3 Episode Guide |
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Maniac Mansion
Season 3 Episode Guide
Version 2.32, October 2005. Printer-friendly version here (opens in new window) May be reproduced and distributed as long as it is unmodified and credit is given to www.mansionsite.com Click on the episode name in the index below or scroll down for more details. The episodes are numbered according to the original running order on YTV. w stands for "written by," d for "directed by," y for the year of production, oad for the original air dates on YTV (Canada) and the Family Channel (United States), and i for additional information. 3-1. "The Long Hot Mansion" 3-1. "The Long Hot Mansion" w: Michael Short and David Flaherty Just as Casey and Idella are discussing how fast Turner is growing up, he mysteriously shrinks back to his old size. But even though Fred performed all the same experiments on Harry, he's still a fly. Then just as suddenly Turner and Harry both turn big again. It turns out that the meteor is unstable and is causing the family to behave very strangely, including a parody of a dysfunctional Southern family straight out of Tennessee Williams or William Faulkner. Eventually, Fred gets into a physical fight with the meteor, which decides to give up after four hours, and Turner and Harry change back to the way they were before. The family celebrates with Taiwanese food for breakfast, but Fred can't quite think of what the moral of the episode was. featuring: 3-2. "Raging Lenny" w: David Flaherty and John Hemphill Uncle Lenny comes to visit, but he has gained a lot of weight and is very depressed. He decides to return to the ring to prove himself to Teri. Even though Casey and Idella are against the idea, he lines up a fight with the enormous boxer Maddog Mustafa Musthead. Fred and Harry help him lose weight and train for the fight. The fight starts out badly for Lenny, and Teri doesn't show up. Eventually Lenny tells Maddog that he's fighting to prove he's a man, and Maddog tells him that he already has everything he needs to make a relationship. Lenny ends up no worse for wear except for two black eyes, and it turns out that Teri watched the fight on television. featuring: uncredited: i: The episode title appears both before and after the opening credits. 3-3. "College Days" w: Michael Short Just when Casey is very depressed that her short stories keep getting rejected by magazines, she learns that her successful yuppie College roommate Roxanne is coming to visit. Casey tries to get out of it, until she learns that Literary Bimonthly has accepted her story for publication. At dinner, Casey tries to tell Roxanne the big news, but Roxanne keeps talking about herself instead. Finally Roxanne starts to go into labour, but Casey is too wrapped up in her news to pay attention, flips out, and starts yelling. Roxanne's labour turns out to be a false alarm, and Casey and Roxanne admit that they were both jealous of each other in College. Casey tries to finally tell her the news only to be interrupted by an earthquake. featuring: uncredited: 3-4. "The Prince's Broad" w: David Flaherty and John Hemphill When Fred is sick in bed his father comes to visit him and read him an old book that's been in the family for generations. At first they're uncomfortable but by the end they really start to enjoy spending time together. In the story, a maiden named Sweetcakes falls in love with a shy peasant named Nothing Boy, who immediately has to leave her. Meanwhile, the evil Prince of Tides kills his wife so that he can marry Sweetcakes and get her lakefront property. While mulling over the Prince's offer, Sweetcakes is kidnapped by a group of lonely ad-libbers trying to perfect their act, who want to start a war between the Prince of Tides and his nemesis, the Earl of Sotheby. A masked man, who turns out to be Nothing Boy, arrives just in time to save her. The Prince of Tides arrives, kills the head ad-libber, and his Albino right-hand man pushes Nothing Boy over a cliff. Later, the two remaining ad-libbers show up at the Prince's castle with a battered Nothing Boy. Ad-libber Pablo and the Prince get into a swordfight and kill each other. Finally, Sweetcakes decides not to marry Nothing Boy, but rather the remaining ad-libber, the strongest man in the world. featuring: fencing doubles: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-5. "Ike's Black Eye" w: Alan Templeton and Mary Crawford Ike comes home with a black eye after getting in a fight at school. Casey wants to phone the principal but Fred wants to let Ike learn to fend for himself. It turns out that the boy who beat Ike up, Frankie Vaughn, is a lot smaller than him, and Ike didn't want to fight back against such a small boy. Casey gets in an argument with Frankie's mother first over the phone, then in person. They stop arguing when Frankie's mother sees how big Ike is, and is surprised that her son was able to beat him up. Ike and Frankie eventually becomes friends. Throughout the episode, the family has to deal with an intrusive cable technician, and Harry is carrying a grudge because Fred told him he has an unbelievably small brain. featuring: 3-6. "Science Is Only Skin Deep" w: Norm Hiscock and Frank Van Keeken The long hours Fred is working in the lab are taking their toll, so Casey and Idella convince him to hire an assistant. The only qualified applicant happens to be a beautiful woman named Julie. When Fred hires her and they get along really well, Casey is uncomfortable but doesn't admit it at first. Harry decides to spy on them in the lab and tells Casey that there may be something going on. When Casey catches Fred and Julie in a compromising yet innocent position she storms out of the lab. Fred consoles her by telling her that she's the only woman for him and reminiscing about their first date. Fred solves the problem by getting Julie a job in the Amazon, and she is very amused to find out that Casey thought there was something going on between them. featuring: also featuring: 3-7. "Ike's New Buddy" w: Deborah Divine and Nancy Short Casey is in charge of a student exchange program, so she signs Ike up to host a kid named John from Central Tech, a very tough school. Idella's bingo money disappears and she becomes very suspicious of John, but Casey thinks she's jumping to conclusions. While hiding in Ike's room, Idella sees John take Ike's cassette player. Casey confronts him and he leaves the mansion crying. It turns out that John actually bought the cassette player, and Turner took Idella's bingo money. The family feels bad, sings a song, and apologizes to John. featuring: also featuring: 3-8. "As the Worm Turns" w: Tom Nursall Allasyn wants Casey to ask Fred to get the Edison Corporation to approve a composter one of her clients is marketing. Casey says no because she is fed up with Allasyn taking advantage of her, but Allasyn goes behind her back and gets Fred to agree. Casey wants Fred to return it, but he thinks it could really benefit mankind and secretly keeps working on it. When Casey finds out they get into a big argument and spend days angry at each other. Eventually they both come to realize that the argument is silly, swap positions, and make up. Allasyn comes over and tells them that she's lost the distribution rights, so they give her back the composter and worms. Throughout the episode, Harry is trying to get in touch with his sensitive side, and managing to get on everyone's nerve. featuring: 3-9. "Cape Scary" w: David Flaherty and Joe Flaherty Tina narrates a story that happened to the family a couple of summers before. The night before heading out to Cape Scary for a vacation, the family goes to the Taiwan On for dinner, where a mysterious man who looks exactly like Fred pays his portion of the bill. The next day, the whole family can't go to the Cape together since Fred's car is in the shop, so Idella, Ike, and Turner go in Idella's car and accidentally leave Harry in a jar on the front step. The mysterious man, Remax Brady, phones the mansion twice, making veiled threats against Fred who he calls "Counsellor." He shows up at the mansion and scares Fred, Casey, and Tina, who find Harry missing. They rig up a booby trap in case Brady returns, which he does, but only to apologize. The booby trap malfunctions, spraying helium through the vents. The power goes out and a fight erupts. In the dark, both Fred and Remax are knocked out, and Tina and Casey don't know which one to revive since they look alike. Fred comes to, and it turns out that Remax was mad because years ago Fred was accidentally given his camp counsellor award. It turns out that Richard just threw Harry's jar into the bushes, and back at the Taiwan On Tina meets a double of her own. featuring: i: The episode title, writers, and director appear before the opening credits. 3-10. "Wrestling with the Truth" w: Norm Hiscock and Frank Van Keeken Fred buys Turner tickets to see his favourite wrestler, The Atomizer. Ike tells Turner that wrestling is fake, but Fred tells him it's real. During the match, Turner joins the Atomizer in the ring and they win. The Atomizer and his manager Joey Jones come over to the mansion to ask Turner to become a professional wrestler and join the Atomizer in a tag team. The family debates the issue, takes a vote, and decide not to let Turner wrestle. Fred admits to Turner that wrestling is fake, and Turner is hurt that Fred had lied to him initially. The family reconsiders and lets Turner wrestle, and he becomes a big success but is still resentful toward Fred. To patch things up, the Atomizer tells Turner that wrestling is fake and that he's lucky to have a relationship with his father. Turner makes up with Fred and quits wrestling. featuring: 3-11. "The Science Fair" w: Robert Gfroerer, Paul Greenberg, Nick McKinney, Vito Viscomi Ike wants Fred to help him with his science fair project, but he and Casey decide that Ike should do the project himself. But Richard suckers Fred into helping Keifer with his project, a rain maker. Ike is depressed about this unfair treatment, so Fred agrees to at least help him decide on a topic. They decide that Ike should build a volcano, and he works really hard on it. At the science fair, Keifer can't remember how to use his rainmaker, and Ike wins second place, behind a girl with a larger volcano. Ike gives a speech thanking his family at the dinner table, and Richard and Keifer come over and finally get the rainmaker to work. featuring: also featuring: 3-12. "Love: Turner Style" w: Michael Short and David Flaherty Turner is growing up and wants to be allowed to go to the park by himself. Fred and Casey give him a cellular phone so he can keep in touch, and let him go. Turner tells the family to sell all of his toys, even Buck. At the park he meets Rose, an older woman he's in love with who doesn't know he's only a kid. After Tina breaks down and accidentally tells the rest of the family about Turner's crush, they phone him and tell him to invite Rose over to the mansion. When she arrives the family is very surprised to find out that Rose is an adult, they explain the situation to her, and she tells Turner they can't see each other anymore. The family then tells Turner that they didn't sell his toys after all, and he goes off to play with Buck. Meanwhile, Harry and Idella are planning their second honeymoon, and eventually decide on Botswana. special guest star: featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-13. "Atoms Gone Wild" w: David Flaherty and John Hemphill Fred is upset that his day-to-day tasks are so mundane and dreams he's starring in a science-fiction movie from an era when scientists were respected, the fifties. In the movie, Casey is blind and bed-ridden, Tina is a brainy bombshell, and Ike is an ordinary fifties kid with slicked back hair. A police officer shows Fred a plaster cast of a giant footprint he found in the woods. It turns out to be from a giant beaver which sets about destroying towns and terrorizing the Eastern United States. Fred, in consultation with President Eisenhower, devises a plan to get rock star Brad Stones to detonate an A-Bomb over the beaver. Brad agrees to do this only after Fred lets him have Tina's phone number. The plan works, the A-Bomb blast cures Casey's blindness, and Fred delivers a lecture on respect to his adoring family. But then he wakes up from his dream and realizes that it's back to his normal everyday life. featuring: uncredited: i: The episode title appears before the opening credits. 3-14. "Walter Under the Bridge" w: Deborah Divine Tina has a new boyfriend named James Hayes, a very accomplished student and athlete. It turns out that Casey used to date his father Walter when she was growing up in Pittsburgh, and apparently dumped him. James comes over for dinner and has a hard time believing that Casey dumped his father, because her face is extremely bloated since she accidentally ate some clam juice which she's allergic to. While the family is waiting for Walter to come over the mansion, Casey breaks down and admits that he actually dumped her, by standing her up on their anniversary. But Harry admits that the whole thing was his fault since he didn't give Walter the note telling him where to meet her. Eventually Casey's face clears up and Tina starts avoiding James because she has a new crush, Derek. featuring: 3-15. "Tina and the Teardrops" w: Michael Short Tina and two backup singers formed a group to sing on a local talent show. Her friend Lorrie is too shy to dance and sing properly, so Tina has to decide whether or not to drop her from the group. Her parents aren't much help because Casey keeps flashing back to her band days and Fred is too caught up in a feud with Richard over the weeds on the Edisons' lawn. Lorrie comes over to tell Tina that she wants to quit, and while trying to help her with her stage fright Tina finds out that Lorrie actually has an incredible voice. Richard comes over and mentions to Fred that he's friends with one of the judges in Tina's contest, so Fred gives up and pulls out all the weeds. At the contest, in order to show the world how good Lorrie is Tina pretends to have a sore throat, forcing Lorrie to take center stage. She does very well, but the group still only wins second place, behind a pianist singing a satirical song about Nixon and Watergate. It turns out that Richard didn't know any of the judges after all, and Fred releases some giant dandelion seeds onto the Pratts' lawn. Meanwhile, Harry has made a great philosophical discovery, namely that "we are what we are." featuring: also featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-16. "Ike for President" w: Mary Charlotte Wilcox In order to impress his girlfriend Cherie, Ike decides to run for School President and enlists Keifer as his campaign manager. But Keifer puts up doctored posters of Ike posing with another girl, and tells everybody that Ike will buy them a free lunch. Ike gets mad at Keifer and Cherie gets mad at Ike. He pretends to be sick so he won't have to go and give a speech at the assembly. But eventually he decides to go and Tina helps him prepare. At the assembly Ike stops his speech in the middle to admit that he doesn't really know what a President does, and that he's only running to impress Cherie. She is touched and starts a standing ovation. Ike's honesty goes over so well that he is elected. Cherie forgives him, but forces him to watch a boring video with her anyway. Throughout the episode Idella is starving herself trying to lose weight, but finally breaks down and starts eating properly. featuring: also featuring: i: John Hemphill is not in this episode; Harry is on his annual Southern swing with his locust buddies. 3-17. "Freddie Had a Little Lamb" w: Michael Short Fred puts a glass door on the Andromeda Chamber, and one of his experiments zaps him and turns him into Dr. Shekter, a madman who likes eating lambchops and talks obsessively about Doc Ellis. Tina goes down to talk to him, and he calls her Clarisse. Doc Ellis tells them that to get Fred back to normal they'll have to find out what experiment he was working on and reverse it. Fred escapes, seemingly normal, but then tries to bite the umpire at a softball game. He's put back in the andromeda chamber. Tina figures out which experiment he was working on, but before she can change him back he escapes again. He plans to travel around the world, but Wayne the rabbit stops him by biting him on the rear end, so they manage to get him back into the chamber and Tina changes him back just before a meteor core deviation which would make the procedure impossible. Fred decides that he needs to keep better video records, but forgets to use new batteries. special guest star: featuring: also featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode; Ike is away at Hockey camp. 3-18. "Idella's New Career" w: David Flaherty and John Hemphill Fred is burnt out and decides to take a two-week vacation. Meanwhile, Idella feels that her life is too empty so decides to look for a job. She doesn't have much luck with the classifieds so decides to send out a Ross-Perot style infomercial video to area firms. She is very grumpy after getting 652 rejections, but she's finally offered a job at a new pizza shop opened by film director Francis Ford Capicola. Things go very well at the pizza shop until Don Amici comes in to ask the shopowner to fire Idella and hire Capicola's daughter in her place. Idella loses the job, but learns the lesson that "it's who you know." Throughout the episode, Harry is trying to hide from a crow that's after him but they eventually make up and become friends again. featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-19. "Love Letters" w: Deborah Theaker Casey comes across some old love letters from Fred, then Turner decides to play mailman and drop one of them on the Pratts' driveway. Allasyn finds it and thinks that Richard is having an affair. Soon everyone realizes what happened, and Casey takes the opportunity to reminisce about how she and Fred first met. Fred and his girlfriend Allanah are in a school lab which is occupied by hippies, Casey and her boyfriend Pony, as a protest against Allanah's father's company, Chow Chemicals. Casey and Pony handcuff themselves to Fred and Allanah. As they're all handcuffed together, Fred and Casey start to bond as Casey realizes that Fred's experiment could be used to save trees. Pony undoes the handcuffs and runs away when Fred's experiment starts growing on his back, then Allanah handcuffs Casey to the counter and her and Fred leave, apparently to call the police. But Fred comes back to free Casey. Allasyn is so touched by the story that she decides to take a vacation with Richard, and leave Keifer to stay with the Edisons. Finally, Richard finds one of the letters and thinks Allasyn is having an affair. special guest star: featuring: also featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-20. "It Ain't Over 'Til Uncle Joe Sings" w: Joe Flaherty While the kids are making a horror movie in the lab for Turner's birthday, Fred's Uncle Joe, an opera singer, comes to stay with the family for a while. His wife Vivienne died recently. He gives Idella singing lessons, and the family celebrates Turner's birthday. Fred and Tina give him a music box with miniature figurines of the family that they made, but the melody reminds Uncle Joe of Vivienne and he becomes depressed. The family is concerned about him and agrees to keep an eye on him. One night he dreams that he's dancing with Vivienne, and dies in his sleep. The family misses him, but is happy that he is now with Vivienne. special guest star: featuring: 3-21. "Uncle Harry Ain't Feeling So Good" w: David Flaherty and John Hemphill Harry is sick in bed and Idella tries to cheer him up by reading him a letter from Lenny. When she leaves he talks to the audience about his life and his dreams, including being a rockstar and having a son, although his fantasy scenes never work out very well. He then imagines his life on trial, being badly defended by Fredddicus Finch. He imagines what would happen if word of his condition got out to the press, then imagines how great the family's life would be if he'd never existed. But his conscience visits him and shows him how important he is to everybody in his life. Finally he's knocked out by Idella's fingernail clipping. featuring: i: Avi Phillips is not in this episode. 3-22. "The Way We Was" w: David Flaherty and Michael Short In the future, Turner is a successful television producer who hires two writers to write him a sitcom about a real family. The first idea they bring him is terrible, so he starts telling them about his own family to try to get them on the right track. But the scene they come up with is all wrong: Fred is too forgetful, Tina and Ike ditch their uncle's birthday party, and Turner is deformed. Turner tells the writer some more about his family to help them get the right tone, and then tells them that the reason he hired them is because they're brothers which should help them to understand the family dynamic. He gives them another chance, and reveals that he was the five-year-old mutant in the family he's been telling them about. i: Includes clips from "Flystruck" (1-2), "Ike's Got It Bad...Real Bad" (2-16), "The 10th Anniversary Special" (1-1), "Tina and the Teardrops" (3-15), "Ike's Black Eye" (3-5), and "Science Is Only Skin Deep" (3-6). |