[Music: Smile by The Supernaturals]
Hey, welcome back to Manic Episodes everyone.
You might remember me reviewing a show called She-Wolf of London a while back.
And if it hasn't become obvious by my constant references to it, it's since become my favorite show,
but long before I discovered that, it was Big Wolf on Campus.
Man, this show was my childhood!
I remember looking forward to the new episodes all week, writing semi-embarrassing fanfiction,
and hanging out at the Big Wolf message boards to talk about the show.
In fact, over a decade since the show ended, I still find myself quoting episodes and talking to people about it.
So what was so special about it, then? Well, I can't be the only one who gets nostalgic for it.
Even if you can't recall the show by name the usual reaction is "oh yeah, I used to watch that all the time as a kid".
And remembering a program meant for kids 10 years later has to hold some kind of merit,
especially when so many of them come and go so quickly.
So if you'll allow me, let me open up a window into my childhood and talk about this great show.
Here's the overview: the night before his senior year of high school,
popular jock Tommy Dawkins is camping with some friends when he's bitten by a werewolf.
He teams up with nerdy goth Merton Dingle to fight off various supernatural bad guys
while simultaneously trying to keep it secret and woo over his on-off girlfriend Stacey Hansen.
After the first season Tommy and Merton are joined
by tough kickboxer Lori Baxter, who helps them in the fight against evil.
If you're thinking the show is like Teen Wolf... it is and it isn't.
The lead is a werewolf in high school with a comic relief best friend, but that's about where the similarities end.
However the show was intentionally similar to a lot of other things
since, in the first season especially, a lot of the episodes were horror parodies.
The show took on everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Exorcist, Carrie, Swamp Thing...
and inexplicably even The Cable Guy.
The parodies were often affectionate and kept to the show's own mythology,
so even if, say, the parody was of Drop Dead Fred,
the characters of the show still developed and continued their own stories.
The good thing about this is that it's a neat introduction to horror for kids.
The episodes are scary but not so scary that a younger audience can't enjoy it.
That's one of the strong points about the show in my opinion.
It didn't talk down to kids and I appreciated that when I was 11.
A lot of shows for a younger audience assume that kids are dumb,
and they write things down to appeal to the lowest common denominator,
but in Big Wolf you see a real effort on the part of the writers,
and a lot of the humor is very cleverly written.
In fact there were a lot of jokes I didn't get as a kid,
and some jokes that should never have gotten past the censors.
-You know what the babylonians invented, don't you?
-Oh, oh, I know that one.
-It was the airplane. Oh, no that was Orville and Wilbur Redenbacher.
-Bone me. -Huh?
-Bone me! Bone!
-At least make'em wear protection.
-The mask.
-Frankly Violet, I don't give a damn.
This brings me to the adults audience for the show.
Kids were not the only ones watching and while some adults did watch it for the humor,
a lot of it was for... well, there were a lot of homoerotic undertones here.
And some of it was unintentional such as the lead actors constantly being touchy-feely with each other,
and some of it... let's just say the writers were not unaware of how the relationship came off.
-Come on, who is my favorite werewolf?
-Stop it, stop!
-There's no law as 'a girl needs a date to come to a dance'. Why? Who did you come with?
Now whether you interpret Tommy and Merton's relationship as being more than just friends is up to you,
but all of the hints that something else were very tongue-in-cheek.
For the most part they were written as straight,
and a lot of the plots came from the monster-date-of-the-week pool.
Tommy's motivation for the first season is mostly trying to have a normal date with Stacey,
who you might recognize as Rachelle Lefevre,
most famously known as the first Victoria in the Twilight series.
When her character left because Rachelle went to college,
the new romantic interest was Lori, which caused the first real story arc for the show.
Tommy and Merton both have feelings for her so this causes some tension in the group,
while the two of them try to woo her over.
This leads up to Merton and Lori kissing shortly after her breakup with Tommy,
which leads to this whole betrayal thing where Merton is turned to stone and essentially dead.
I'm not even kidding, that's how they word it.
-If you're watching this tape, the unthinkable has already happened.
-I'm dead!
Once he's returned back to normal, it's business as usual,
but the audience was just lucky that they even got to see his return. More on that in a sec.
The biggest story arc however and my personal favorite episodes came when the Evil Werewolf Syndicate
-yeah, that's seriously their official name-
wanted to take Tommy into their fold so he can be all evil and stuff.
First let's talk about the werewolf mythology here.
While Tommy transforms during the full moon he can also transform
when he's in a highly emotional state, such as anger or arousal.
You might also notice that the werewolf makeup is kind of bad... and it is but there's a reason for it.
In a handful of episodes Tommy actually does have the traditional werewolf makeup,
but shortly after filming began they discovered that the actor, Brandon Quinn,
was allergic to the glue they were using for the prosthetics.
A quick change had to be made so they ended up with the sort of sideburns looking thing.
I actually prefer the sideburns look but I'm kind of a weirdo.
The first season was also aired out of order,
which is why Tommy's werewolf look would change back
to the traditional makeup every once in a while.
Back to the mythology thing, the werewolves in the show have alphas,
which are the only werewolves that can turn someone else.
Tommy happens to be an alpha, so the Werewolf Syndicate need him to replenish their numbers.
When Tommy refuses to help them they brainwash him Clockwork Orange style and-
Holy crap, look at the clips they're using!
Those are from legit werewolf movies, we're talking American Werewolf in London here.
There is a clip of an actual decapitation in there, how do you do that in a kids show?
I guess they were right when they figured it would go over kids heads,
because I didn't notice any of this when I was little. But holy crap, that is awesome!
Anyway, right, Tommy's been brainwashed and he ends up biting Lori,
who they must give wolfsbane to before her first full moon in order to cure her.
This was the show's only two-parter,
and it was also a lot darker than usual, which is why I loved it.
You felt a real sense of danger here and werewolf Lori was pretty badass.
I still maintain this has the best fight scene the show ever did,
and for an eleven-year-old this was pretty freakin sweet.
Other notable episodes include the Drop Dead Fred parody I mentioned,
where Merton rediscovers and is almost murdered by his childhood imaginary friend Vince.
This is one of the few parodies that's actually better than the source material, I feel.
Vince is less annoying than Fred and I feel like they utilize
the imaginary friend idea a lot better than the movie did.
There was also a bizarre episode that featured Merton breakdancing in a fat suit,
and the less said about that the better.
Tommy eventually does meet the werewolf that bit him, who turns out to be their substitute teacher.
The episode is pretty neat, even though the character is kinda weak.
But it has one of the best endings ever because the climax is Darth Vader fighting Michael Jackson.
-Sorry about betting your life in that lightsaber fight there, man.
-Eh, it happens... not to normal people, mind you, but it happens.
The show had a couple notable guest stars too, namely Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.
They were playing themselves as vampires and they both get killed in the end,
so yes, in this universe our heroes have killed two well-known actors.
They were in separate episodes, but I think the Haim episode was the strongest.
It was still kind of weird that they were trying to play it off that he was turned into a vampire
during the Lost Boys, when he was decidedly a lot younger, but whatever.
I think Feldman was at a bit of a disadvantage as well
because his episode was in the third season, arguably the worst one the show put out.
So let's talk about that. When I mentioned that we almost didn't get to see
Merton get cured after being turned to stone, I meant it.
The show was pretty much canceled after season two and it only got renewed
thanks to the fans petitioning for one more season,
if not just so that it isn't left with Merton dying at the end.
Alright, that means we get one more season,
and since it's the last the show runners can do anything they want with the show.
They can do whatever the fans ask them to because hey, what are they gonna do? Double cancel them?
Well, the result proves that maybe you shouldn't listen to the fans so much.
The most popular character on the show was Merton since he was the comic relief and a bit of an outcast,
so I suppose a lot of the fans related to him.
That means that since day one most of the audience was asking for more of him.
"More merton. Let's have more episodes with Merton, huh? Sounds great, right?"
Well yeah, but you still have to remember that the show's appeal
came from the dynamic between him and Tommy.
The third season shouldn't have been called Big Wolf on Campus,
it should have been called Merton's Misadventures in Pleasantville and maybe a werewolf is involved.
Most of the episodes revolved around wacky things that happened to him and Tommy had to help him out with.
Lori was practically non-existent and in one episode she didn't even bother to show up.
Add to that the fact that they were playing up all of Merton's characteristics to a cartoonish level,
which made him less sympathetic and just obnoxious.
And oh yeah, Merton did become a werewolf, just like the fans wanted.
-Uhm, how should I put this, uh...
-I'm evil, Tommy! I'm the new wolf in town. Hehehehe...
Was it worth the wait, folks?
Also, this was the season that Merton got pregnant in. That's right, in this show M-preg is canon.
Tommy even helps him with lamaze. This actually aired on TV.
-High five!
-I'm not high fiving a pregnant guy.
But I digress. Season 3 was pretty bad, but even that had some highlights,
and I'm glad the show did actually get a conclusion.
After Merton dies yet again, and this time we get to see his corpse -for kids-
he gets better just in time for all of them to move away to college.
That's right. It took three years for them to finish their senior year.
Tommy is all bummed until he finds out that Merton is his new roommate,
so they can continue their adventures in college while Lori, uh...
Well, you know they can call her.
And that's the show in a nutshell.
Not only did I dig the story Big Wolf on Campus told, but I also related to the characters.
Tommy is your everyman and while he tries to maintain his popularity,
he finds that his true friends aren't the people he expected.
Merton is representative of the outcasts in all of us,
of all the weird things we were into as kids that seemed kind of lame.
But he wears a strangeness on his sleeve despite how people look at him,
and when a kid sees that, hey, maybe it is okay just to be yourself.
Lori was tough, independent, and most importantly to me anyway, she was normal.
They did play up the tomboy thing a bit on the show,
but I appreciated having a chick there who wasn't a girly girl,
but still did girl things every once in a while.
This program was just what I needed as a kid.
The mix of horror and humor definitely helped shape who I am today,
and I think it still holds up ten years later.
The show is just wackadoodle and I loved seeing what crazy adventures our heroes would get into each week.
I find it absolutely criminal that the show isn't on DVD,
but as of right now the rights are kind of in limbo,
so we're stuck with finding the episodes elsewhere.
I do urge you to check it out though if you like horror comedy,
because this is one show you won't regret watching.
Who knows, maybe you'll find it just as nostalgic as I do.
One thing's for certain though, through the ups and downs of the show,
I grew up with these guys, and learn that even the popular kids are strange too.
So here's to all the weirdos and geeks out there.
You're not alone, and even watching Big Wolf on Campus can be cool.
[Music: High 5 by Calibretto 13]
[Big Wolf on Campus theme]