The 1989 release of Disney’s “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” was a brilliant display of special effects blended with sharp comedy and plenty of adventure. It also was welcome family fare. Rick Moranis, who played mad scientist/wonderfully wacky dad Wayne Szalinski, conjured visions of vintage Disney movies that also featured silly scientists — such as “The Absent-Minded Professor.”
But “Honey” didn’t stop at one film. Related spinoffs — “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” (1992) and “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves” (a 1997 direct-to-video installment that airs at 6 p.m. Sunday on “The Wonderful World of Disney” on WLS-Ch. 7) — were just the beginning of Disney’s “Honey” saturation. The Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure is a play area at Disney-MGM Studios where kids can feel the illusion of smallness by jumping into a jumbo bowl of faux cereal and run through huge blades of ersatz grass.
In 1996, Epcot guests got into the act with the “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” experience. In the attraction, Wayne Szalinski receives an award from the Imagination Institute, but predictably, his miniaturizer goes haywire and reduces the audience. The special effect causes the audience to “feel” mice scurrying around their feet and to see a holographic snake lunge at them.
The latest in “Honey” spinoffs is “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show” (5 p.m. Saturdays, WPWR-Ch. 50). It has been eight years since the movie’s debut, but the slow migration from movie to TV show works to the series’ advantage thanks to advances in technology and digital effects. The “Honey” TV series premiered in syndication last month and has the polish of a movie, thanks to director-producer John Landis, who developed the series as well as some of Hollywood’s most memorable films (“National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Trading Places,” “The Blues Brothers” and “Coming to America”).
Each hourlong episode is a misadventure that goes beyond the shrinking concept used in the films by means of a healthy selection of special effects that enhance time-travel sequences, alien encounters and cloning scenes. Clever scripts use Wayne Szalinski’s (Peter Scolari) scientist/inventor persona as fodder for humor. Wayne’s goofy gadgets complicate life in the Szalinski household, which includes Wayne, his wife Diane, their children, Amy and Nick, and the family dog, Quark.
In one episode, the Szalinski’s mini-van is accidentally shrunk and ends up in Grandpa Szalinski’s stomach. Like the characters in the movie “Fantastic Voyage,” Wayne, Diane and Amy travel through Grandpa’s innards looking for a way out. When they are impeded by cholesterol deposits and clogged arteries, Wayne uses the mini-van to perform micro-surgery to clear Grandpa’s circulatory system. Just when you think the Szalinskis’ escape is heading straight for the toilet, the van turns north and shoots out Grandpa’s nose.
Scolari, known for his role as Michael Harris on CBS’ long-running comedy series “Newhart,” says the show’s writers pay homage to many popular movies. “In one episode I clone myself by accident, which is an obvious tribute to `Multiplicity,’ ” the actor said in a telephone interview from Alberta, Canada, where the series is filmed. “In others we are playing elements of `Saturday Night Live’ and `Back to the Future.’ The writers are close to the Baby Boom generation and they are very 1960s and ’70s TV literate.”
“Honey’s” old-fashioned ingredients come from the same cupboard as vintage Disney productions, which always respected family values. The characters have been updated, however, to reflect contemporary society. Diane (Barbara Alyn Woods) struggles to balance her professional life as a lawyer with her home life, which is constantly challenged by the mayhem caused by Wayne’s absent-mindedness. Amy (Hillary Tuck) is a typical teen whose hobbies include shopping, dating and phone calls; she thinks her parents are dorks. And Nick (Thomas Dekker) is a junior Einstein who knows more than his dad and is always on hand to bail him out.
Scolari says “Honey” is a TV show that adults can watch without having their intelligence insulted. “Beneath the surface is a very strong family connection in this group of two children and their parents. All of us actors have a great affinity for each other. . . . I think that comes across in the story. I am very pleased with the writing because it is entirely forgivable if you go after predictable, wholesome family feelings. But to go at it in an honest way is commendable.”
