Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (TV series)

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The 1997 TV adaptation of the 1989 Disney hit of the same name.

It continued where the first movie left off and follows the misadventures the Szalinski family as Wayne's inventions would usually cause some sort of incident that had to be resolved by the family.

Lasted for three seasons with 66 episodes under its belt (as it was a Disney show that was the alloted number of episodes a show could have back then despite this show being mostly syndicated). Peter Scolari was also praised for his portrayal of Wayne that some fans prefer him over Rick Moranis.

Tropes used in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (TV series) include:

• Absent-Minded Professor: Wayne, even more so than in the movies.
• Actor Allusion: One episode of the series had as a Running Gag references to "the guy from Bosom Buddies" - "Tom Hanks?" - "No, the other guy." — i.e., Peter Scolari, who plays Wayne in the show.
• Alpha Bitch: Tiara (played by Jewel Staite).
• Alternate Continuity
• Amusing Alien: Ar'Nox and his species.
• Animated Credits Opening: Only in the first season.
• Artifact Title: The Shrink Ray was rarely ever used, aside from a 3 storylines and a few cameo uses.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: At the beginning of season 2, Quark, the family dog, eats Wayne's special vegetables and grows into a huge monster. The solution was for the Szalinskis to use the Shrink Ray and bring Quark back down to a smaller size to begin with, making him look more like his movie counterpart. Another example of this is from the first episode when Grandpa Murdock accidentally swallowed all his shrunken family members.
• Baseball Episode: In season 2. Ironically, Nick is playing the sport, when in the movies, he clearly does not play the game.
• Big Bad: Averted, but the closest thing to a Big Bad is Morpheus, the Lord of All Dreams.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: One of these nurses Amy's sprained ankle in "Honey, He's Not Abominable".
• Bittersweet Ending: In "Honey, You Drained My Brain", Diane was all nervous about a court case because she fears that she's not smart enough, and used the Thinky Ring to make her seem smarter by sapping intelligence from others. In the end, she loses the case, but everything's back to normal... except that Quark is abducted by super-intelligent ants.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Ar'Nox's species eat food with their butt, predating South Park by a few years.
• Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game: Played in one episode.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Amy, in contrast to the original movie.
• California Doubling: The TV series was set in Colorado even though in reality, it was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• Cats Are Mean: Averted with Bianca's cat Persephone, who switches minds with Diane in one episode. In Diane's body, Persephone acts playful and naive, and learns English by watching TV at the Szalinskis' house.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: The Thinky-Ring from "Honey, You Drained My Brain", which turned the wearer into a psychic vampire that grows smarter by draining the intelligence of other people, not to mention addictively evil. Diane went so far as to call the ring her "precious," a reference to The Lord of the Rings (the novel; this was years before the movie version), and when Nick wore it he dressed up in a black robe and used the shrink ray to enlarge his cranium.
• Continuity Nod: To the first movie only.
  • "Honey, She's Like A Fish Out Of Water" acknowledges Amy's Super Drowning Skills that occurred in the original movie. She fixes that by using an experimental cream Wayne made, unaware that the side effects turn her into a rather fish-like mermaid.
• Cucumber Facial: Diane and Amy use what they think was facial mask in the beginning of one episode, but was really a concoction Wayne made for peeling coconuts. As the mask dissolves the wooden spoon used for mixing, they scream in horror as they hurry to rinse it off.
• Darker and Edgier: Okay, while the original movie had blood in a couple of scenes and one instance of the word "hell" being used, the TV series has a bit more swearing and innuendo.
• Deathbwinger The Adowable: In "Honey, The Bear is Bad News", when Wayne is coerced into tweaking the Fwuffy Bear toy, he gives him updates such as voice recognition, and finally downloads everything he programmed into Fwuffy, but unfortunately, the Legion virus was downloaded into Fwuffy along with the data, making him evil.

Fwuffy: Destwoy! Destwoy!

• Denser and Wackier: Compared to the first two movies, and even Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.
• Does Not Like Magic: Wayne, but he gets better over the course of the series.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Damon likes Amy, but Amy is attracted to Lyle. She eventually sees how shallow Lyle is.
• Eaten Alive: Grandpa Murdock accidentally swallowed all of his family members.
• Fantastic Voyage Plot: The first episode, "Honey, We've Been Swallowed By Grandpa", has Wayne, Diane, and Amy shrunken and ending up in Grandpa Murdock's body.

Diane: Where are we? Wayne: Your dad's stomach; he drank us.

• Fiery Redhead: Amy, in contrast to her blonde counterpart from the movies.
• Group Hug
• Happy Ending: Often with group hugs.
• Here We Go Again: The Series Finale.
• Hollywood Hacking: Very blatant in The Teaser of "Honey, The Bear is Bad News" where Nick's destroying of the Legion computer virus is treated more like a video game.
• Homemade Inventions
• Hot Mom: Diane, much like in the movies.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode title begins with "Honey".
• Incredible Shrinking Man
• Interspecies Romance: In "Honey, I'm in the Mood for Love", the effect of the pheromone that got spilled on Wayne's hypoallergenic chocolates has this happen in two cases:
  • Gladys, the helper chimp at Jentech, falls for Wayne after tasting some chocolate.
  • Mr. Jennings accidentally steps on a South American Lantern Fly and gets fused with its DNA, and Diane falls for the mutated Jennings after she ingests a piece.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Amy was a downplayed version of this in the movies, she's a played straight version in the show.
• Love Dodecahedron: In "Honey, I'm in the Mood for Love", it's caused by a...
• Love Potion: A pheromone accidentally got spilled on Wayne's hypoallergenic chocolates (Diane is allergic, and the chocolates tasted like earwax according to Mr. Jennings), causing those who eat them to fall in love with the first person of the opposite sex they see. The antidote happens to be vanilla, specifically, the vanilla mints Tiara was snacking on before kissing Nick while under the influence of the chocolates.
• The Men in Black: Somewhat malevolent, often after Ar'Nox. Actually aliens responsible for a conspiracy that goes all the way back to the all-seeing eye (the pyramid with the eye on the dollar bill).
• Me's a Crowd: In "Honey, I Got Duped", Wayne accidentally clones himself, and the clones are given names such as Slappy and Scabby.
• The Other Darrin: Due to Amy O'Neill and Robert Oliveri being all grown up, and Rick Moranis being retired at the time, the main characters get different actors, and for some reason, the writers change Quark's breed from a terrier to a Labrador.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Mr. Jennings.
• Popular History: The 1976 visited in "Honey, We're Stuck in the 70's" absolutely reeks of The Seventies. It looks more like a modern-day '70s-themed party than anything.
• Pro Wrestling Episode: "Honey, I'm Wrestling with a Problem... and the Chief"
• Retcon: Ignoring most of the continuity of the movies, the sequels in particular, but the final episode implies that Diane is pregnant with Adam.
• Sequel Episode: "Honey, It's No Fun Being An Illegal Alien". It even starts with a recap of "Honey, They Call Me The Space Cowboy", stating that Ar'Nox will someday come back when Wayne least expects it.
• Sequel Hook: At the end of "Honey, It's No Fun Being An Illegal Alien", the Men in Black want revenge on the Szalinskis, but the writers never got to make an episode as such since.
• Show Some Leg: In "Honey, It's Doomsday", Diane does this to distract a general planning to blow up an asteroid headed toward earth (which Wayne had discovered was inhabited). In "From Honey, with Love", Wayne develops a fez that hypnotizes any onlooker into thinking the wearer is an attractive woman in a negligee.
• Slapstick
• Time Machine: In addition to the shrink ray, Wayne also has a time machine in the attic that has been used in several episodes.
• Vanity License Plate: The family car has one reading "PAT PEND".
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: In "From Honey, with Love," secret agent Dalton Pierce contracts Wayne for this very purpose.
• Yandere: F.R.A.N. (Felon Repel-er and Accident Neutralizer), a security system Wayne developed in early season one, becomes obsessed with her creator and was jealous of Diane, so much that she set the oven to burn the roast, and eventually, kill the Szalinski family!
• Younger and Hipper: Nick is aged down from about 12 or 13 to exactly 10 years old (his birth date in the TV series is May 1987).