Short: (1950) Prof. E.C. Buehler explains how to be a good public speaker.
Movie: (1958) A teen discovers her father has become a meal for a giant spider, which then attacks the small town where she lives.
First shown: 9/14/91
Opening: Crow hosts Tom in “Inside The Robot Mind.”
Invention exchange: The Mads have invented the cheese phone, while Joel shows off his CD blow drier
Host segment 1: J&tB read through Crow’s screenplay, “Earth vs. Soup”
Host segment 2: A rehearsal of J&tB’s rock band Spidorr brings a visit, on the Hexfield, from the custodian of 7th galaxy
Host segment 3: J&tB discuss Creeple People and other dangerous but fun toys
End: Crow and Tom present their reports on Bert I. Gordon, Tom reads a letter, Frank is sick
Stinger: From the short, the mush-mouthed speaker is not pleasing.
(125 votes, average: 4.55 out of 5)
Loading...
• As we begin the second half of this season, there is a lot to love about this one. Hokey movie, classic short, familiar faces, great riffing, great host segments. This is one of those “firing-on-all-cylinders” episodes.
• References.
• As noted elsewhere, it seems like they had season one and Josh Weinstein on the brain during this episode. In the opening bit, the Mads reprise the season-one catchphrase “Thank you!!” then look embarrassed. Later, as the deputy (who looks a little like Dr. E) is devoured by the spider, Joel yells: “Dr. Erhardt! No! So that’s what happened to him!” (a reference to the fact that Dr. E’s fate was never really spelled out when he was written out of the premise). And at the end, in another homage to season one, Joel offers ram chips to the bots as rewards, something he has not done in ages.
• Jerry and Sylvia get a mention in the opening.
• The short became an instant classic, with instant catchphrases like “Plenty of lip and tongue action.” I think it really showed them the riffing potential of this kind of short. This could have been one of those episodes where the short overpowered the movie, but they managed to rise to the occasion with the movie as well.
• Incidentally, the speaker standing by the American flag is none other than Herk Harvey, director of this and four other MSTed Centron shorts (and director of “Carnival of Souls.”)
• Callbacks: “…and a good friend” (Rocketship XM), “Joe Doakes…” (X Marks the Spot), Crow sings “Hike your pants up…” (Daddy-O), “the spider is either missing or he’s dead!’ (Phantom Creeps)
• After the spider attack in the opening, Crow says, approximately “Heyhepullhefilalayvava.” They keep going. By the way, once and for all, THAT is Merritt Stone driving the truck and being killed by the spider in the beginning of the movie.
• I love how, in segment 1, Crow’s “lips” move while the others read their parts. Classic Trace.
• A little Firesign Theatre reference, I think, when Joel says “Oh Porgie no!” while reading through “Earth vs. Soup.”
• I just love Joel’s skeleton voice. “I’m famished!”
• Gross riff: “Does your dad like bran?” Ew.
• Tom Servo twice pronounces Gary Busey’s last name “bussy” instead of “byoosie.” Had Kevin not heard of him? Thry keep going.
• Joel brings up, and then defends the reputation of, the Ashwaubenon High Jaguars, from his real-life Wisconsin high school.
• The ELP bashing is interesting. That feels to me like it came from Mike.
• Geek alert: In the Rocket Number 9 shot, the spaceship is a badly disguised TOS Klingon battle cruiser model. I’m so embarrassed that I know that.
• This would not be the last time Mike played a janitor…
• Mike says “What the Hector Alonzo is goin’ on?” I think he meant Hector Elizondo. They keep going.
• As Paul points out in the ACEG, the second host segment is in the wrong spot. But they seemed to know it at the time–as they’re coming back to the theater Joel says: “I don’t know what that janitor has to do with anything.” Later, when the janitor finally appears, Joel says: “Ohh! THAT’s how it fits in.”
• An odd moment as they re-enter the theater, Joel says “We’re comin’ out of the game thing.” In some of the outtakes that have come to light in recent years, we sometimes see them reminding each other what host segment just appeared in the show. Filming schedules were such that host segments were filmed on one day and theater segments another day, so it was sometimes easy to forget where all the pieces fit in the puzzle. I think that’s what Joel was doing here, but they didn’t bother to start over.
• Character Mike mentions wanting to see Bert I. Gordon’s “Attack of the Puppet People.” You can see the lobby cards for it in the background, and a poster appears outside the theater. Lobby cards and posters for the movie in episode 309- THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN also appear, not-so-subtly. Originally titled, “The Spider,” this movie was retitled to cash in on the name of another successful movie with a similar title, 1956’s “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.”
• I can’t find it on the Web anymore, but we used to have a link in the Umbilicus to an odd web site by a guy who was REALLY into the Thingmaker and Creeple People. The page had a transcript of segment three, because he found it so moving.
• Segment 3 is weird–for most of it, they seem to be championing these toys and blaming the “careless” kids who got them taken off the market, but then Joel ends it with a saccharine little homily about the toymakers of tomorrow. I don’t get it. Not quite sure what’s supposed to be funny about that. Were they just desperate for an ending?
• Note the “Movie Sign!” bumper sticker on the desk in the ending segment.
• There’s an interesting “call-forward” to “Beginning of the End” in Crow’s report. Had they seen it? It was two seasons away.
• Cast and crew round up: Scriptwriter Laszlo Gorog also wrote “The Mole People,” while scriptwriter George Worthing Yates also wrote “War of the Colossal Beast” and “Tormented.” Cinematographer Jack Marta also worked on “War of the Colossal Beast” and “Beginning of the End.” Costumer Marge Corso also worked on “Teenage Caveman,” “Tormented, “The She Creature” and “Bloodlust!” Production designer Walter Keller was an assistant director for “War of the Colossal Beast” and “Beginning of the End.” Assistant director John W. Rogers also worked on “War of the Colossal Beast.” Sound man Al Overton also worked on “The Screaming Skull,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “The Phantom Planet.
In front of the camera, Merritt Stone was in “War of the Colossal Beast,” “The Magic Sword” and “Tormented.” Gene Roth was in “Attack of the Giant Leeches,” “Tormented” and “The Rebel Set.” Jack Kosslyn was also in “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “War of the Colossal Beast” and “The Magic Sword.” June Kenney can also be seen in “Viking Women and the Sea Serpent” and “Bloodlust!”
• CreditsWatch: Paul Chaplin becomes a full-time writer. Tim Paulson is back as online editor. Cindy Hansen begins her stint as an intern. Someone named Mary Flaa does the first of two shows as hair and makeup person. Trace and Frank are still “villians” and Dr. F’s name is still spelled “Forrestor.”
• Fave riff from short: “Here’s George Patton, a patriot and into high-grade weed.” Honorable mention: “We’ve had him put down.”
• Fave riff: “Everybody’s afraid of these crane shots!” Honorable mention: “We’ve got bugs!”
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
Agree with Sampo’s comments mostly. Great episode! I think what makes this one so appealing is how balenced it is. Very funny short with a dopey BIG movie. This one I can pop in anytime and find new laughs I have not noticed before.
I really enjoyed Gene Roth as the ‘rock stupid’ sheriff. The hero science teacher is pure tofu (blander than vanilla). Loved the Dr Erhardt comments.
The movie alone on this one has aged so badly that it’s one of those where, even if the guys had said nothing at all it would be freaking hilarious. The casual use of gallons of DDT alone made me cringe.
Lovely, endearing episode because of the film (I have a soft spot for 50’s B&W sci-fi).
My favorite lines off the top of my head:
“Hello, rock stupid cop.”
“Biscuits, coleslaw… just get the Meal Maker!”
“Hey it’s Dennis Miller on drums!” “I’m some Buddy Rich cha-cha…”
“Hey everybody, do the dorky old white guy!”
“Don’t you want to watch that wonderful Bert I. Gordon movie?”
“Mr. Oh My God Crunch Crunch? Spit out whatever you’re eating and say that again.”
“Oh, and I’ll need the baby for bait.”
@ 27: No Advertising occured in Segment 3 of Bride of the Monster.
Wow, most everyone seems to like this one. Simply a classic episode. Perfect to show a newbie, and one of the most rewatchable eps out there. I know every joke I’ve seen it so many times, yet I can always enjoy it again.
I LOVE SEASON 3!!
Doesnt Crow say “Enjoy!” when the Dr. Erhard guy starts getting eaten by the spider?
That was what Josh used to say as he introduced the movie to the Joel & the ‘bots.
Funny stuff!
“Geek alert: In the Rocket Number 9 shot, the spaceship is a badly disguised TOS Klingon warbird model. I’m so embarrassed that I know that.”
I guess I should be even more embarrassed to say that it’s actually a D7 Class Battle Cruiser.
I’ve seen this maybe twice and remember enjoying it. I know the movie was on AMC sometime after I watched it on youtube. It’s not bad for a giant arachnid movie, though not as enjoyable as Deadly Mantis (spiders aren’t insects but it’s the same general idea). I don’t know what this says about me but if Earth vs. Soup was made into an actual movie, I’d pay to see it.
#48: Mildly interesting that Joel actually seems upset at the notion of Dr. Erhart’s supposed death, whereas Tom and Crow don’t. Just shows how Joel tried his best to like EVERYBODY, I guess…
Speaking of “dated reference”, no mention of the fact the opening segment of “Inside the Robot Mind” is a parody of the Comedy Central Sunday night staple “Inside the Comedy Mind”, hosted by Allan King?
It was on AMC a lot actually. I actually taped it once when it was run on a halloween night double feature with Bert I. Gordon’s 1970’s ‘Food of the Gods’, which made ‘Earth vs the Spider’ seem like good movie compared to it.
Man, I say “actually” too much, don’t I?
I say “actually” even more often than Louann Poovey. Py-le!
Hard to believe no one else noticed that Sally Fraser who played the Mrs. Helen Kingman (the professor’s wife) in this film also played Joan Nelson (Dr. Paul Nelson’s (Peter Graves) wife) in ‘It Conquered the World’.
Oh yeah, it’s Mattel it’s swell!
“I got really stoned last night”
“I feel so dirty”
“Looks like the Wall concert got out of hand”
My two cents on the “Who is Merritt Stone?” sketch. I think the viewer notices that his name appears in the credits of several MST’d movies–and it’s a highly recognizable name– but, in fact, compared to Gene Roth (who was in a few of the same movies with Stone), you don’t really notice Stone in most of the MST’d films he’s in. For one thing, his roles are usually much smaller — appearing for less than a minute on screen, the one exception is King Grady in “The Magic Sword,” but he was under so much makeup you really couldn’t see his face.
Whereas Gene Roth is highly recognizable from film to film — you don’t know his name, but you immediately say, “Hey! He’s the guy who was serving hamburgers to the kid in ‘Tormented’! And he was the sheriff in that OTHER movie!”
And my bet is, the Brains started thinking HE was Merritt Stone, and then they got thinking about it and, well…. the sketch basically wrote itself.
This. Klingons do not have “warbirds”. Romulans have warbirds. They have battle cruisers.
As noted, spiders aren’t insects but they ARE bugs. “Bugs” is an informal classification which encompasses all small more-than-four-legged creepy crawly creatures. Thus, for example, centipedes (whether Lithobius Forficatus or otherwise), while neither insects nor arachnids, are also bugs. Unless they’re human centipedes, in which case, well, ick.
TJ Truffleberry and Barry47–now I’m even MORE embarrassed!
Not much of a contribution, I’m afraid, but you just cannot know how incredibly happy we were when we learned that this was coming out on a Shout! set. It is perhaps my all-time favourite episode. It’s got it all, and in particular the relaxed (but productive) vibe of this episode makes me happier than I can say.
Great episode! Love the movie & the short, with great riffing for both.
I loved Frank & Dr. F’s ‘Thank You’. The looks on both their faces is priceless.
This is obviously before The Simpsons really took off, since there’s no comment about the one guy’s name (even though several people in the movie call him Simpson repeatedly).
I’ve personally never heard a spider roar, but this one sure does it a lot. It sounds like he may be having respiratory problems, though. Probably left his inhaler in the cave.
I notice that the movie goes from being somewhat pro-scientist to being somewhat anti-scientist. The sheriff isn’t even willing to do his job until the scientist comes along, then after the spider rampage the sheriff is blaming science for everything.
I do want to say that the ending is a bit depressing. I hate movies where the hero dies….
Earth Vs. the Spider just barely passes the Bechdel Test. Near the end, Carol and her mom exchange cries of relief.
So why did they have the janitor sketch in HS2 when the janitor in the movie hadn’t shown up yet? Unlike the dance tryouts in Horrors of Spider Island, there didn’t appear to be any benefit for it to coincide with Movie Sign.
@ #46: Well, that one house does look rather like 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
@ #67: In essence, the arthropod phylum.
Favorite riffs
“Seemed like a nice guy.”
At first!
What a pathetic loser.
This man is wearing a push-up bra. Now he is pleasing.
Don’t worry, we’ve had him put down.
“Mumbles and drops his Gs.”
Drops his pants and robs convenience stores.
“What she meant to say was this.”
My life is a hollow lie.
“Won’t people think I’m peculiar if I start speaking differently than I ever have before?”
People think that already, you dope.
Oh you’re right, Mike. Dad’s gutter swill.
Don’t write this down. I’m just making it up.
Both hands on the Bat-rope, kids.
Dear Carole, I’m dead. Enjoy.
So maybe you dad just parked the truck down there and, like, vandal squirrels came and ripped the doors off and broke the windshield and stuff.
I broke a heel. Carry me.
Boy, your dad sure picked a great cave to die in.
It’s the Cave of the Flying Wallendas.
I slipped on a little of your dad there. I’ll have to throw my shoe in the grave.
Look for a drunk guy in a silk bag. Pass it down.
Oh nonsense. Some circus act from out of town did that.
He died as he lived. With jelly all over his face.
I don’t want you to get bad grades just because Dad’s worm food.
Someone must have puked big time. I’ll get some extra saw dust.
Joe Doakes. He wasn’t a very good driver.
Wait, I made a deal with the D.A.
Got this dynamite from the Coyote. Hope it doesn’t rollback up on me.
“Mike. Carol. We hear you.”
But we don’t care.
When in New Mexico, visit Carlsbad Caves. No bombs, we promise.
Filming schedules were such that host segments were filmed on one day and theater segments another day
FWIW, we taped Mystery Fandom Theater in the same way, because we had very limited studio space (someone’s workshop in a business/industrial area, basically) and could only put either the SOL set or the greenscreen/theater seats in there at one time. I guess BBI had them both up all the time, but still, it makes more sense not to go back and forth between the two in the order you eventually see it on screen.
Besides remembering what host segments lead into and out of each theater segment, another thing that’s tricky to keep straight is the transition: walking into the theater, walking out, whether it’s movie sign or commercial sign. (And I actually goofed on that one when “directing” — if you can call it that — our riff of “Eliminators”; either I got the order wrong when tidying up the shooting script, or I forgot to call for doors opening at one point.)
Wait, wait, come to think of it, I do remember a preoccupation with jokes about custodians and sawdust, but again, it’s pretty much a blur after the short.
Except for the big Gordon spider, it’s hard to think back on the episode and clearly recall whether I’m thinking of Teenage Strangler or Black Scorpion.
But the short is still one of the great exercises in CC-era spontaneous silliness, especially for the earnestness of 50’s educationals, where every line sounded like a straight lead-in.
“Earth vs. the Spider” is very much a gateway episode for me-it’s what got my best friend into MST way back in the fifth grade or so. He was particularly taken by J&tB riffing over the narrator’s wrap-up during the speech short (“Am I pleasing? Do I please you?”) and the singing over the movie’s opening credits. Ahh, good times.
I know that old movies often tried to pass off actors in their mid-thirties as teenagers, but seeing “Earth vs. the Spider” again makes me wonder why. Were there just not enough 18-year-olds (or even baby-faced actors in their early 20s) to fill these roles? You’d think that younger actors would have been cheaper, in addition to being more plausible as high school students. The actors in “Spider” aren’t quite as age-inappropriate as the oldsters in “Ring of Terror”, but several of them look very “mature” for their age. Then again, this might just be a function of the clothing and hair styles of the time.
An all-around great episode. Gene Roth sure was a natural at playing skeptical sheriffs.
“it’s Carol’s Dad Caverns!”
i got to thinking about the bat burial when anonymous cracker #1 asked sheriff t. numb-nuts if he wanted to say a few words, and i wondered if we had a WDT about what kind of eulogy we might say for our favorite MST’d star? even though as we all know ‘celluloid heroes never really die.’just a thought.
Now you can bring the DVD with you to therapy.
Earlier this year I had to train a room full of over 50 people for work. There was no microphone. I thought of this short when trying to make myself heard. I kept the lip and tongue action to myself, though.
It’s probably been mentioned already but there’s another Season 3 episode where Dr. Erhardt is referenced. In “The Unearthly”, when Dr. F sends the films and shorts he says “Enjoy” in a high-pitched Erhardt-like tone. He then pauses, and looks around, as if thinking to himself, “Man whatever happened to Larry?”
“Duh, I was under the bleachers at the ball game, an’ that’s when the cop chased me out an’ asked me what I was doin’…”
I’m not sure if that’s an actual reference or just Crow being randomly goofy.
Is this the Thingmaker Website you were looking for? http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/thing.html
@ #75: It was in another episode discussion (can’t recall which one) that someone pointed out that teenagers in the Fifties really did look older. Just dust off your parents’ yearbook (or if you’re really young, your grandparents’ yearbook) and wonder how long all those students were held back.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there are certain legal considerations when using minors in a film. The first such law was what’s popularly known as the Coogan Act from 1939. Since a B unit’s budget probably wouldn’t be enough to cover for these, it’s simpler just to engage in some Dawson Casting.
I haven’t taken the time to research what I’m about to say. I’m just thinking out loud here. I don’t know if younger (non-minor aged) actors would have been that much cheaper. Aren’t we talking about the days of the contract actor here? I’m unclear on the dates (and if it would apply to this movie in particular) but for years studios had a roster of actors on contract. So they were there and at the disposal of the studio and the fee was already set in stone by the contract. That might be the reason for this kind of thing. Someone with more time on their hands could look into this.
Also, in the 1950s, the entire concept of “teenager” as we know it was still a work in progress. Shifting post-war societal mores or something equally hey-it-sounds-good-anyway.
Talk about perfect timing. My Volume XXXIII set arrived just in time for me to watch this on official DVD for the first time.
I don’t know what it was, but the short had me laughing almost non-stop. I’d seen it before on the old Rhino compilation tapes, but this time it just seemed so much funnier. Maybe it was the way Frank set it up, introducing a short about how to speak properly with his mouth stuffed with cheese.
On to the movie itself, while the riffing was top-notch I did find time to think about how little sense some of it makes. For instance, how in the HECK did they get that spider into the gymnasium? Further, while it seems like it’s a cliché in these kinds of films that the police/military tend to overreact when faced with an alien/giant menace, this time around they seem to UNDER react. There’s a giant menace, your town is in a panic, and you just retreat to your office and shout “get off the street!” from the doorway?! No attempt to direct people? Evacuate? Anything? If anything, shouldn’t that sheriff’s office be inundated with people demanding action?
And don’t get me started on the some of the kills here. For one thing, how did the spider get the motorcycle cop? Another ripline across the street? The cop didn’t have enough sense to head AWAY from the spider, even at the expense of going a bit out of the way when leaving town? Finally, there’s the gratuitous shot down the devastated street with both a “Just Married” car and a bawling infant.
As Joel said, “oh, we don’t need to see this….”
But all that being said, I still enjoyed this episode. Even the host segments were fun. I’m still glad this finally received an official release.
While I wouldn’t call him the real hero of the movie, Haskel sure does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Just watched with my boys who I am grooming into young MSTies, They loved it.
Carol’s Dad’s Cavern killed me (though I had to ‘splain to the boys). Sheer brilliance.
Wasn’t Glee full of 30 year olds playing high schoolers? 90120 before that. It’s not like it’s something that stopped once the 1950s were over with. It’s really common in movies/TV.
Curse of Bigfoot (from Rifftrax) is one of the few exceptions where high schoolers actually look like high schoolers, since apparently they basically were.
True. I remember that in “Summer School” (a 1987 movie), the youngest actor was nineteen and the only genuine teenager in the cast; most of the others were in their twenties, and the oldest was thirty-five. So it seems that actors who play teenagers and college students still tend to be some years older than their characters, although on average, the age gap seems to have been wider in the older movies (as evidenced by the aforementioned “Ring of Terror”). Also, as #82 says, young people tended to look older in those days, so perhaps that skews our perceptions even more.
Like many, now enjoying new DVD set from Shout! with this experiment. Had been years since I had seen it- and, wow was it funny. The short was classic and had he choking with laughter- the quality of the movie print and sound was great and the riffing was top notch. What a love letter from 1991. Thanks guys!
Call-forward: “Do we have, maybe, a SHERIFF in the vicinity?!”
#84: If anything, shouldn’t that sheriff’s office be inundated with people demanding action?
Well, not if they’re staying off the streets, no.
Besides, it’s obviously a case for animal control, not the sheriff’s department.
#91: Touche.
Can I simply just say what a comfort to discover somebody who
genuinely knows what they are discussing on the internet. You definitely understand
how to bring a problem to light and make it important.
More and more people really need to look at this and understand this side of the story.
It’s surprising you are not more popular since
you surely have the gift.
I just watched the Shout! Factory DVD today, and WOW! What an improvement in quality! In fact, now I have a question. During the main feature, I swear I can hear an offscreen voice that’s not supposed to be there in two scenes. I don’t think it’s anybody from Best Brains, but it’s been decades since I’ve seen Earth vs The Spider in its original form so I can’t be certain. Is that actually the voice of Bert I. Gordon himself, directing the action?
Just to follow up on #94: the scenes in question occur at approximately 31:04 on the DVD main feature (as Mike and Carol are approaching “the anxious edge” before falling into the squeaky-spring-suspended web) and 57:16 as the Sheriff says “I’ll be at Sanders’ funeral.”
There’s a copy of the movie on YouTube, and while the mystery voice isn’t audible in the first instance, the second scene mentioned above has been cut!
Oh my God, I just realized Alan Hale Jr.’s look-at-the-camera-and-crack-bad-jokes Sheriff in The Giant Spider Invasion is based on this movie’s Sheriff. Mike and the Bots even call him Alan Hale when he first appears!
Re #94 and #95: Sorry, false alarm. There’s yet another scene at 1:37:36 of the main feature as Mike is waking up under the debris of the cave explosion, when the Mystery Voice clearly says “Does that belong to the drummer from Def Leppard?”
So it’s definitely not Bert I. Gordon.
Popular floor tile sizes include 300 x 300mm, 333 x 333mm,
400 x 400mm, as well as modular floor patterns. It may surprise you to learn that the materials used to manufacture tiles are all from
natural resources as listed below,. A myriad of alternatives are available to match any room design.
What i don’t understood is actually how you are not actually a
lot more smartly-favored than you may be now. You’re so intelligent.
You recognize therefore significantly relating to this matter, produced me for my part believe it from numerous numerous angles.
Its like women and men don’t seem to be fascinated unless
it is one thing to do with Woman gaga! Your individual stuffs excellent.
Always take care of it up!
I read this article fully regarding the comparison of most recent and
preceding technologies, it’s remarkable article.
Another great episode, plenty of lip and tongue action! I had seen the short way before seeing the actual episode. I have to agree with Sampo that this is one of the rare episodes where the short doesn’t overpower the movie. The riffing is great all around and the host segments are pretty amusing. Do you find me pleasing?