Chérie, j'ai rétréci les gosses

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is the rare film-to-TV series that beats its source material. While the movies are often plodding, cumbersome messes with anonymous characters, "HISTK" the TV series is firmly grounded in Matheson, Colorado, a sort of Anytown U.S.A. where anything can happen. Realistic science is, thankfully, tossed out the window: it's supposed to be a silly romp through suburbia fueled by wild creations from the Szalinskis.

I dare say the casting and acting is better than all the movies. Peter Scolari replaces the recognizable Rick Moranis, and actually does an even better job at the character. Scolari's Szalinski is a family man who invents things that go wrong, but he still has enough charm to make his relationship with his wife and kids reasonable. Barbara Alyn Woods makes what could have been a typical "Mom" character into an interesting, intelligent, and active co-conspirator/victim/commentator on the happenings in the household. Hillary Tuck and Thomas Dekker play the Szalinski kids, with Amy being a witty, sarcastic-but-never-irritating rival to Nick's sensible, science-minded personality. They form a believable family, more believable than most "normal" sitcoms on primetime.

Created by Kevin Murphy (he also created the brilliant "Weird Science" TV show on USA with Vanessa Angel), the show's stories are often breezy, sometimes predictable, but never boring. Unfortunately, HISTK is over (it had a three-season run), but, for my money, it remains a memorable comedy/scifi with truly likable characters.

This is a television show that for its three season run consistently had some of the best writing ever seen on television. Comedies are rarely given much recognition and commercial shows for kids, never, but Honey, I Shrunk the Kids episodes are really well-crafted, witty spoofs that stand up over time. The best episode I feel is about Morpheus who rules the dream world. In this show, Nick is worried about dissecting frogs and keeps having nightmares. His sister, Amy, is worried about taking her SAT's. The plot weaves together their fears and their personal strengths and weakness (nick is logical/Amy is intuitive) in a humorous, dramatic and meaningful way. If there were any justice in the world, this script should have won an emmy and be discussed in film and English classes. If this show ever comes out on DVD, it is definitely worth purchasing.

The kids are well casted, the parents are loving and humorous. They are truly better casted than the movie. The characters do a fantastic job, and they work. They're compatable, they have loving moments. Even though the fathers problematic inventions can make plans go awry, they make it through and with pleasantly funny moments. The best episode is the one where the father joins a Canadian spy mission, and so does the family. They actually shrunk the moon.

There were two things I enjoyed about this show. The first was the actors who actually did a better job than those in the movies. The second was how the show used (odd) science and magic to put a new spin on the problems facing the cast of countless other family sitcoms.

The boy wishes he was an adult, no problem, drink a potion and he becomes an adult. The girl has a stalker, but here he is an alien. The dad doesn't get the credit he deserves at work, but why should he when his invention turns the future into a dystopia.

But while the cast was great, and the action even greater. The one thing I did not like about it was that despite being a comedy show the dialog simply wasn't funny. I cannot remember a single time I laughed watching this.

This show is under-rated and deserves more acclaim. It is a fine series of far-out adventures which always keep you entertained. The dialogue is witty, the characters are perfectly cast and despite the low plausibility of some of the material this is always forgiven. The plot of some of the episodes ,aliens taking over the world, a corporate leader turning everybody into choose are as entertaining as many blockbuster films, and the storylines make constant reference to fairytales and make satirical references. This deserves to be bigger than it is, catch it if you can.