A Case of the Bumps: Do Electric Sheep Dream of Robots?

It's time to open up another Case of the Bumps for yet another deeper dive into one of Stine's works. And this time around, I think it's time we talk a bit more about A Shocker on Shock Street. It's a very divisive book in many ways. I know of people who weren't too impressed, while I and some other people find it to be pretty good. Probably Stine's best "ride book" when you think about it. But when you think about this book, you're probably not thinking about Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl, or the giant mantises, or the skeletons in the mine cart smashing into a castle wall. Your first thought is the twist and what that represents in the book. Well, don't blow a fuse, because that's our subject for today. Let's see what's so shocking about Shock Street.

#1: THE PLOT

Best friends Erin and Marty are big fans of the Shock Street film series. This is great for the pair as Erin's father, Mr. Wright, is a robotics designer who is working on the upcoming tram tour for Shocker Studios, and Erin and Marty get to be the first kids to try the tour. However, not long after leaving on the tram, the kids begin to suspect things are stranger than they should be. The ride breaks down, they encounter giant mantises, the iconic monsters like Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl seem to be really trying to kill them. Everything on the Shocker Studios tour feels way too real. What is going on, and why exactly were Erin and Marty chosen to test this dangerous attraction? And what is Mr. Wright hiding from them?

I've always compared this book to One Day at HorrorLand as the two share some similarities. Our heroes have to survive dangerous rides in an area that seems like it's more real and more deadly than it seems. Only instead of it being monsters running a hidden camera show, this is a robotics tester testing to see if this ride will be safe for tourists. Which means the inevitable twist makes sense. Because of course no studio would be sending actual children into a dangerous attraction where god knows what could happen to them. Well, at least none that don't want to be sued. So the reveal that Erin and Marty are actually robots doesn't feel like the most out of nowhere reveal. But even so, it does open up a whole mess of questions and concerns regardless. So let's break down just what's up with Shocker Studios.

#2. TAKING IT TO THE STREET

Let's start this discussion with Shock Street itself, or to be more precise, the Shock Street movie series. Because it's one that genuinely confuses me. Because unlike say Elm Street, it's not a series about one particular monster. Rather, the Shock Street films seem to have multiple monsters and multiple stories set in unique scenarios. A movie about Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl, or the Toxic Creep or Toadinator. Are they all a part of the same street? Is it a street of monsters? And, again, what is up with the skeletons in the mine cart smashing into a castle wall? Does Shock Street have a castle? 

The obvious answer to why Shock Street is so strange is that it's no doubt an Anthology series, where all the strange things happen on Shock Street itself, each movie being a new story with new monsters to deal with. So I'd equate Shock Street with two things. The first being Hammer Films, which created a whole slew of horror movies. The other being Fear Street, more specifically Ghosts of Fear Street. Ghosts of Fear Street are standalone anthology stories with different authors, set in Shadyside and more often than not the titular Fear Street, and many feature monsters and creatures. Given that Ghosts predates Shock Street by a couple months, I think that's the intention that Stine was going for. Although maybe the movies aren't standalone. Maybe Toadinator or the Mad Mangler appear in movies together like it's no big deal. R.L. Stine invented the cinematic universe. Always ahead of the curve he is.

#3. LOVE ROLLERCOASTER

The ride, at least the initial sound of it, is a tramcar ride through the studio, stopping at many of the creepy creatures and locations of the Shock Street films. It breaks down sometime in and Erin and Marty are forced to make their way through the studio on their own, where they encounter the many hazards of the studio tour, which seems to be a bit too real. The obvious question here is if this whole thing was intended to go this way. Was the tramcar breakdown intentional, or was it a snafu? If it wasn't intentional, then this is exactly why having robots test the ride was the smarter idea. It would also explain why the light guns Erin and Marty were given don't work on anything and seemed to be there for show. 

But if it was, then holy crap this ride isn't safe. You have the issue with the tramcar, the giant robot mantises being a threat, having your tourists trudge through a deadly cemetery and be attacked by Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl, who are the only monsters on the tour that seem to be deadly as the other monsters are all actors who are far more friendly. So, if the breakdown was unintentional, did Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl not get the memo? Were they told to stay in character? Or were they also malfunctioning robots? I can imagine the skeleton tram might not have been an intentional part, or maybe it was? I really need to know what the hell the skeletons hitting the castle wall part was about.

Finally, tourists would have to go through the Shock Street set and try to avoid being electrocuted by Shockro's House of Shocks. Unless you're the fittest person in the world, you're asking way too much for a tourist to have fun on this attraction. I think the term "shock" would mean the shock of defibrillators trying to save people from heart attacks. If this was all unintentional, then I could see the ride getting massively overhauled. If this was intentional, you'd literally have to force tourists to sign a waiver before riding.

#3. ROBOTS IN DISGUISE

So, the book's twist is that Erin and Marty are actually robots. Created by Mr. Wright and his crew, they were assembled to test the ride. It's unclear how long both robots have been around. But it seems like at least a while. We'll get into the main reason I think that in a minute, but in terms of being creations for the ride, they are impressive. Because before the big reveal, you'd never guess these two were robots. There's like an offhand comment about Marty "possibly blowing a fuse" with excitement over testing the ride, and the stuff with Erin's "mother", but those little hints aside, you'd think they're just normal kids who are massive horror fans. 

It adds credence to the claim of Mr. Wright being a great robotics engineer. How he and his crew managed to not only create Erin and Marty but also the entirety of the Shock Street ride itself is impressive. And by the look of things, he knows how to make robot hands. Mr. Toggle would be so jealous if he wasn't killed by ghosts. I guess it also adds a darker edge to Mr. Wright that he can make these robots so lifelike and real. He's not a villain, given this book really has no villain, but if he's so good at engineering these realistic robots, what's stopping him from ever just going full rogue and making evil robots? Well, there's a simple explanation for that. And that's that his robots are way smarter than he intended.

#5. MANUFACTURED MEMORIES 

You see, Mr. Wright created Erin and Marty well. Very well in fact. More so Erin. Because despite being a robot, Erin managed to create her own memories. Memories of a mother who doesn't exist. Mr. Wright considers it to be a malfunction since he never programmed her to have memories of a mother. But when you think about it, given how she treats him like her father, why wouldn't she begin to believe she has a mother? Before the big reveal at the end, these two robots believe they're human children. Likely Erin and Marty have been made for a while. Programmed to watch the Shock Street movies and to act like regular kids before the big day where they're to test the ride. So if the AI in these robots is that strong, of course they would begin to create their own view of the world. And he treats that like a malfunction? He created robots with human traits and memories and it's a malfunction? Dude, screw the studio ride, that's your ticket to a Nobel. 

But the question I've always wondered is why does only Erin recognize Mr. Wright as her father while Marty doesn't? It makes me wonder just how much time these robots have been around and if possibly Erin was Wright's first creation. And, as such, he treated her like his daughter, or at least programmed her to think that he's her father. And while we only hear about the mother line once before they head to the studio, maybe Mr. Wright was already thinking that Erin's programming was too advanced in how it treated him like her father, that maybe he didn't want to make the same mistake with Marty, so he designed him to think he's just Erin's best friend. 

But that could all be speculation. He's rather cold at the end when the robots malfunction and doesn't seem as broken up about Erin's malfunctioning in particular. The father/daughter dynamic could have no doubt been one-sided. And maybe he was mostly playing along with the robots to make them feel more like kids excited for a ride, but in the grand scheme of things, he still only treated them like tools to use for his job. So while I say there's no real villain in the story, it doesn't make Mr. Wright come off as this likeable guy either and someone who can be emotionally manipulative. Manipulative to robots, sure, but still.

#6. MR. WRIGHT CAUSES THE ROBOT APOCALYPSE

The episode adds an extra beat that the original book never did. We see what happens shortly after the malfunction. Mr. Wright takes Marty and Erin to his lab, but the two soon revive, saying that they're not happy to have been shut down and that even robots deserve to live. And that powerful AI has now gotten so powerful that Mr. Wright can no longer shut them down. The episode ends with Mr. Wright's fate being left to the audience interpretation. I think he was most likely killed and Erin and Marty eventually left the studio and did god knows what. I don't fully think they turned evil and started some sort of robot invasion, but given they now know they're robots and they now have access to Wright's technology, it's not too out of the question. They very easily could create new robots to aid in some sort of robot Armageddon. And given their AI continues to evolve, with that much power, the human race could be doomed. So Shock Street caused the apocalypse. That's a darker way to end this story, huh? 

#7. FINAL THOUGHTS

While far from Stine's most chaotic book, I can see why some people don't care for this book. It is ultimately a book of Stine throwing everything at the wall (including a tram of skeletons) to pad the story until the twist. But compared to other cases (Legend of the Lost Legend for example), I think it makes for one of the more thrilling ride books he's ever made. Because it's a book that's always moving, with each set piece being more dangerous than the last, and the mystery always being built just well enough until the ending, which would definitely catch most people off guard. But unlike say, Camp Nightmare where there are holes to that twist, the robot reveal is the most logical twist I think he's ever made. 

It's also a book that's aged unfortunately too well, what with the proliferation of AI. A story of a pair of powerful robots that continue to learn to the point of having some form of humanity is an interesting take. Not fresh for the genre, mind you, but it's still done in a way that it feels like it works. I've always said that a book that makes you think about it after the fact at least has some value to it, either good or bad. And the implications of everything as well as the added beat with the episode makes you wonder what the hell went down on this studio tour test, what Shock Street really is, just how advanced are Erin and Marty and what will happen now that they have autonomy? It's the ultra-rare case of Stine getting everything right, even if it does feel like him being a bit off the rails like a skeleton tram crashing into a castle wall.