Short: (1951) A high school student is caught copying his test answers from another student.
Movie: (1966) Revealingly-clad crimefighter Batwoman is on the case after villains Ratfink and Professor Neon steal an atomic hearing aid.
First shown: 11/13/93
Opening: Mike is the dealer, the game is blackjack
Invention exchange: Frank has invented an atomic-powered hair dryer, Mike shows off his razor-back
Host segment 1: Mike assigns essays to answer the questions raised by the short
Host segment 2: The bots write essays, but Crow cheats!
Host segment 3: Mike, Tom & Gypsy meet to decide what to do about Crow
End: Crow responds to the charges against him, Mike reads a letter, Dr. F. likes his new atomic hair style
Stinger: A batgirl puts the bite on the wormy guy
(214 votes, average: 4.35 out of 5)
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• This is one of those episodes where people tend to say “not even the riffing made it bearable.” To them I say: Pah! Lightweights! :-) The movie IS crushingly horrible, though. Every scene is interminable, the séance scene in particular. The movie belongs in the top (or, rather, the bottom) five on the list of most awful movies. The pain is all the more unbearable because, like “Catalina Caper” and a few other experiments, there are moments when the movie wants to be funny. Ugh. Still, I think it brings out the best in the riffing. The segments are mostly one story line, but it leads up to a great finish, and a special moment for me.
• References.
• This title was originally released by Rhino as a single; and the original packaging had a goof: On the back was a photo of Joel. It was more recently re-released as a single by Shout.
• I think you can mark this episode as the point where the invention exchange concept begins its inevitable decline. As explained in the FAQ, there is both an “on-screen” reason and an “off-screen” reason why this happened. On-screen: the invention exchange was a form of greeting between Gizmonic Institute employees. Since both Dr. F. and Joel were both former Gizmonic Institute employees, it was the first thing they did each episode. But Mike never worked for Gizmonic (he was a temp hired directly by Dr. F.) and so he knows nothing of Gizmonic’s corporate culture. Mike would therefore not understand what an invention exchange was about and Dr. F. would see no point in exchanging inventions with him. Off-screen: the invention exchanges were mostly Joel’s doing. He was the gizmo guy. When he left, all the air went out of the concept. In this episode, the Mads’ invention is downright strange and Mike’s is only fair (although, to be fair, Joel had a lot of mediocre ones too).
• The short is a gem, SO serious and dark that it really brings out the riffing gold.
• Mike brings popcorn into the theater! I don’t think he ever did again.
• “You’re opening, Jeff’s middling and I’m the headliner,” is a car conversation the writers probably had in their standup days.
• There’s not much to say about the first segment, since it basically lays the groundwork for what’s to come, or the second one, which advances the story.
• Callbacks: “He didn’t steal no bike, neither!” (Teenage Strangler) “I am the north wind…” (Day the Earth Froze)
• Crow’s cheating causes some unusual meanness in the theater: Tom tells Crow to shut up a couple of times.
• I love all the Bob Hope-style jokes: “Toccata and WOW in D minor!”
• Are those scenes really from “The Mole People”? Are they in the version shown in season 8? I forget.
• The third segment contains a moment that is very important to me. It’s the moment Mike won me over. At this point, I still was not entirely sure about Mike. He was growing on me, but, well, I just didn’t know. But he does something in the third segment—and I’m not sure it’s even intentional—that just endeared him to me immediately. Watch Mike’s expression as a disguised Crow arrives, bearing soup, in the midst of the discussion. Mike sees Crow and puts on a completely guileless smile, warm and delighted at the prospect of a nice mustachioed gentleman offering soup. It’s just such a funny and genuine expression. It cracks me up every time I see it. It was at that moment that Mike completely won me over.
• Mike expresses a desire to hunt down Jerry Warren. Unfortunately, Jerry passed on in 1988.
• In the final segment, watch Mike sniff the Hostess Snowballs, make a face, and put them back on the plate.
• Cast and crew roundup: Cinematographer William Troiano also worked on “The Slime People.” In front of the camera, Steve Brodie is also in “Giant Spider Invasion.” And of course, the great Bruno VeSota is also in “Daddy-O,” “Gunslinger,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “The Undead.”
• Creditswatch: Bridget Jones switches from writer to contributing writer for the next three episodes. Host segments directed by Jim Mallon.
• Fave riff from the short: “Oh, hi, Miss Granb–AHHHHHH!” Honorable mention: “That you, student counselor??”
• Fave riff from the movie: o/` “Yes, the devil made this movie for you.” o/` Honorable mention: “Tethered to the mob!”
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It’s not a good sign for the movie if Tom Servo is screaming ENNNNNDDDDD! ENNNNDDDDDDDD! a couple minutes before the credits. Tom is usually the saner of the two Bots (but I love Crow for that) and for a movie to drive him insane is rare. Thus I have to agree this is a tough film to sit through even with the riffing.
Not only was the seance offensive, it was incredibly stupid. Did they really think that anyone — even someone not particularly familiar with the language or culture — would really think that sounded like Chinese?!?!
Re Satan’s Jockstrap #49
early 20th C.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
Wow! I just looked again at the picture I linked to in post #2 and the guy in between the dancing girls (with the white hat) is flipping off the camera, too! They knew this movie was going to bad before it was even done filming!
Professor Neon looks like Dr. Forrester. There, I said it.
Do you think the Brains gave Trace any nonsense over that? I’ve always imagined that they didn’t make any “he looks like Dr. Forrester!” jokes because they didn’t want to tick him off.
This is one of the best episodes they ever did.
re: #45 and a couple others…
After seeing last week’s discussion about Mike’s whisper-yelling, Kevin damn well put him to shame with that… oh, let’s call it an impassioned plea at the end of Batwoman.
I need to watch this again, but I do have a couple of thoughts:
One of my pet theories is that the worse the movie, the better the riffing on it. I usually submit Hamlet for exhibit A, but this one could be exhibit B. The riffing is rather good for both the short and the movie.
Also, Sampo said for a previous episode that you could tell how the Brains felt about the movie by the host segments and how they were written(or words to that effect). Every host segment after the invention exchange were about the short, and not the movie. I don’t think that I could write any funny stuff about this movie, let alone could the Brains.
firebaillil #57: Well, segment three did have the “soup” reference from the movie.
Also, quick little poll: which is the worse movie, “Wild Wild World of Batwoman” or “Batman and Robin”?
Also…I never got why Mike was confused about the “hearing aid” (guess hearing aids had a different meaning back then) during the scene where Heathcliff starts to remember and talk again. It blew up in the previous scene set.
…then again, maybe Neon kissing Heathcliff neuralized Mike.
This is a perfect example of a great MST3K movie, to me. It’s not just bad, it’s downright deranged in a way that’s perfect for hanging riffs off of. You don’t fall asleep in this movie, you stare at it like a car crash. (Then again, I like just about every MST3K, so I’m not the best test audience.)
My favorite riffs from this one are the frequently-mentioned, “ENNNNNND! ENNNNNNND!” bit, and one nobody else has mentioned–when Rat Fink is kidnapping the girls, the line, “She’s being molested by a Mexican wrestler! Bad touch, El Santo!” never fails to send me into hysterics.
I only have this episode because I got a three pack of Rhino VHS tapes. I saw it when it first came out on TV on it’s original run, then again when I got the VHS set. Then, for some insane reason, again just last night (and today, I couldn’t watch it all at once) just for this discussion. I may never watch it again.
It really sucks on ice.
I liked a few of the riffs in the short and the movie, but they were few and far between. And as for the movie itself – blech.
My fave riff from the short (besides a few already mentioned) is when Mike says about the cheater kid whatever his name was: “Maybe he’d do better if he had parents.”
I, too, liked the line Crow said during the movie about how they just put a bunch of movies in a blender and pressed the mix button.
The only time I really laughed was during the seance scene and that spirit starts speaking, ahem, “Chinese” :roll: So incredibly stupid. Not just the stereotypical crap, but the fact that the spirit would address them in English, then inexplicably lapse into Chinese when supposedly revealing where Rat Fink’s hideout was located. Or maybe that was supposed to be someone else cutting in. Couldn’t really follow the dialogue – wasn’t trying too hard – the sound wasn’t too great for the movie.
Only part I liked was Crow’s infamous- Remember when you cheat, you make an eat out of “c” and “h” spiel.
The End
My Batwoman disk is damaged, so I wasn’t able to watch it. (Maybe there is a god looking out for me?)
There’s not much I can add that you guys haven’t said already. But to answer Evan K in #52: children love to make fun of other languages. Chinese especially. Back when I was a substitute teacher, I’d cringe when almost the whole class would burst out laughing when a movie would have someone speaking something other than English or Spanish. And even when a character spoke Spanish, if there were no Hispanics in the class, the white boys would make fun of the funny, fast language.
So we have a movie that can’t rise above the level of a fifth grader.
It’s a movie that angers me sometimes. I just want to punch it when it tries to be funny or when it pretends to have a plot.
I’m not a substitute teacher anymore.
Batman & Robin is FAR worse, if only because it’s got an A-list cast and was a “major” Hollywood movie…it’s painful in its own right.
I think the invention exchange in this episode is well done. I really like Frank’s freak out over Dr. F’s atomic mushroom cloud hair. The “razorback” back shaver is well done. It’s an excellent prop and it almost looks like a real safety razor, only enlarged.
One thing I wonder about is Servo’s blood-lust in regard to Crow’s cheating. Is the point of his over-reaction a parody of what happened to the kid in the short or is it serious? I like to think it’s parody, but Servo shows a lot rage that makes me think otherwise.
Chris: I do remember Crow as a waiter, just trying to sneak into the meeting. Also, I think Mike was more concerned with a plot point forgotten than with the actual hearing aid.
My favorite moment: when Johnny (And is every kid in these old moral hygiene shorts named Johnny? It seems that way.) imagines his teacher’s disembodied head questioning his good grades, and Servo, as Johnny, says: “Oh, hi, Miss Grandy– AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!”
We should do a list of “Servo Yelling Riffs” sometime, because he’s got quite a few good ones, and they’re always a riot.
I have mixed feelings about this one. The short, I didn’t like. It’s just too dark and depressing, even with M&TB. The movie, pretty good. It’s just so crazy, it can’t help being fun.
The host segments, so so. Obviously it works better with the full story arc, but it just seems to labor with the idea. Solid episode but they’ve done better.
This episode is completely unwatchable. The movie is TERRIBLE. When I think of all the bad movies they COULD have riffed instead of this or Hamlet.. man.. wasted opportunities.
While i have to admit that had i have seen this one earlier, say, when it first aired, i would definately hate this episode, but i just saw this one about 6 months ago for the first time (yeah, I’m a loser, i know) and it has a moment Sampo mentioned that i had to watch a couple of times, and it made me laugh hysterically. When Mike brings in the popcorn, and the bots say “you cant do that!” he replies “I dont care, what are they going to do about it” (ok this isnt verbatim) and Servo says “youre some kinda rebel arent you…” for me, that was the funniest moment I’ve experienced in an episode.
Have you seen my ribcage?
Best line from any short ever.
This can be a fun episode. This isn’t one that I reach for on a constant basis. I like to watch this one in a while.
Correction:
I like to watch this one once in a while.
Thank you.
I’m not really surprised Johnny was having trouble with factoring. Mary didn’t make any actual attempt to explain the process. Here’s how it works. Factoring is essentially backwards multipication. First I’ll show you how multiplying equations works with the problem at the beginning of the short.
(x-4)(x-5)
It’s like elementary school long multipication. First you multiply -4 with -5 and get +20 (because multiplying two negatives gives you a positive). Then you multiply the x and -5 to get -5x. Next you multiply the other x with -4 and get -4x. Add the -4x and -5x together to get -9x. Finally, you multiply the x and the x to get x^2. So the final result is x^2-9x+20. To factor, you first figure out the whole number multiples of 20. They are 1 and 20, 2 and 10, and 4 and 5. Of these, only 4 and 5 add up to 9. It’s simply a matter of know how the process works both ways. Sorry if this math lesson bored you
Actually, it is not mentioned in the short, but they wanted Johnny to work in Base 12.
And Base 12 is just like Base 10, if you’ve got 2 extra fingers.
So, converting to Base 10, the last term becomes 24, not 20.
Using the quadratic equation we find that we have a negative number under the radical, which implies that there are no real number answers, only complex number answers.
Complex numbers have a so-called imaginary component, and THIS IS WHAT DROVE JOHNNY TO MADNESS AND THE DARK SIDE !!!!!!
I liked the math lesson! In other news, I am the only one who thought Heathcliff looked like Joel? At least as much as the cop looked like Larry in Earth vs Spider? Also anyone who thinks this fil is worse than Red Zone Cuba is stoned! Just imagine seeing Coleman in Batwoman’s outfit . . . see I’m right.
Tork, you are so right. I was watching this episode this past week and my wife walked by and looked at the TV and said that Profeesor Neon looks like Dr.Forrester. And she (and you) are right. Was this too obvious to mention during the riffing?
#75 Eeegah’s Club. You may have a point there, especially if you consider longer-haired KTMA Joel.
Dr. Neon => Dr. Forrester
Heathcliff => Joel
Mute Patent Guy => Observer
Batwoman => Gypsy
Random slack jawed youth on the beach => Mike
any others.. ?
guess i will finally have to watch this ep. i have been holding off on it out of mortal terror.
I love this episode. I love the movie which is a joy to watch. It’s silly, inept, inert, worthless, ludicrously plotted, fails at all levels (a “Batman” inspired camp/parody and as filmmaking in general), and has lots of sexy girls in stripey shirts. In other words, a B film lover’s dream. The “Cheating” short is also one of their better ones.
For me the highlight is the seance scene. Probably one of the funniest bits in the entire MST pantheon.
I also like the opening with the three girls drinking the shake. I mean, what the heck. It seems like something from a completely different movie. I don’t even think the girls in that scene ever appear in the rest of the film. “OH, Wow!”
A wonderful ep that never hits it out of the ballpark, but wonderful no less.
A-
Medium #74 – Personally, I like to work in Base Beer. First I convert everything to beer and use my 24 fingers to hold it. I then use scalar multiplication to figure my chips matrices in Base Nacho Cheese. Then repeat.
people don’t like it cause the movie’s bad?? thats the whole point!! so bad, its one of my favorites!! more proof that there is no way to rate them, except for your own personal taste. Great riffs, great short!!!
Stickboy #62:
I bet you’re right. They weren’t fooled, they just thought it was funny. Yeech.
Medium #77: You mean besides Gerry and Sylvia? I suppose you could equate Steve Brodie and Tom Servo. I’m hesitant to follow this up too much, though, because it’s a short trip to images of Bridget and Mary Jo go-go dancing with Winchesters…
This is one of my top 5 favorites!
The first time I watched it I had the creepy feeling any moment the movie was going to break into a porn scene.
Fave riff: “Now this is how the NRA wants the world look…and frankly…”
also: Servo:”Stanley Owsley is smiling somewhere.”
One of my very favorite episodes:
1. The short is one of the best they used.
2. Incredibly goofy, campy movie, perfect MST3K fodder.
3. Superb riffing during short and movie.
4. Excellent host segments with great ‘tie-in’ to short.
5. Lotsa cute, scantily clad dames in the movie.
The mention of “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEND!” makes me want to see, as a weekend thread, Top Moments Where The Riffers Completely Lose Their Patience With The Movie.
underwoc #83. My gosh you’re right. We have it now… Batwoman is some kind of weird prequel to MST3K.
“Cheating: How to make it work for you at home or at the office!”
“Witnessed a murder…didn’t do a heck of a lot about it”
Personally, I like this episode. The riffing is top-notch in throughout the short and the movie. I thought Hamlet was danged funny too. So I guess mileage may vary…But I can’t wait for next week’s episode!
As for snacks in the theater, I know Joel brough in popcorn(following the Orville Popcorn skit) in 213- Godzilla vs. Megalon and also had a “pop” in the theater in one experiment (I think it was “Monster A-Go-Go”).
I enjoy this one. I like episodes in which the SOL crew is as befuddled as we are, and let loose with their perplexion and discomfort. we’re suffering, but so are they. their movie-induced misery is such that both ‘bots beg Mike to kill them, and Tom Servo is driven to scream the thought we’re all thinking during the incoherent closing scene: ‘END! END!!’
I find the film perversely silly in the same way as say, ‘Buckets of Blood’ or ‘The Corpse Grinders.’ were these goofy movies really made with an intent to shock their audiences? were the films’ funders seeking a big tax write-off? how can one not laugh? what’s worse, however, about ‘Wild Wild World of Batwoman’ is that it seems to consider itself a comedy. this in itself is so obscenely misguided as to be amusing. as for titillating, the Batgirls appear to have been recruited from various seedy burlesque bars on Hollywood Boulevard, and inspire pity more than anything else. or, in the case of the tall, blonde gal with bangs and the leopard-skin outfit who makes out with the guy in the beach scene: FEAR.
the indecipherable plot[s]; the horrendous editing; the self-lampooning characterizations; the terrible production values. it all adds up to SILLY. it’s a period picture from the 60s, and the archaic hair-dos and dancing are fun to watch. the opening sequence with the gals sipping the vampire yogurt is very Haight-Ashbury, and they all seem to be profoundly stoned. ‘It’s like we’re smart, but- we’re NOT!’ I suppose one WOULD have to be profoundly stoned to appear in this film!
I think the riffing in this episode is consistently good, considering what they had to work with. I love Crow’s ‘It’s a gownless evening strap.’ Mike on Batwoman: ‘She brings a quiet dignity to this film.’ Tom Servo: ‘Could this please be the end of the pill-taking scene!?’ [I love the Johnny Rotten holey sweater Heathcliff is wearing.] frugging scantily clad girls waving firearms? the horrid fake Chinese during the seance- [Batwoman is obviously quite amused by it, and has to stifle her laughter]; Mike: ‘Please god, cut away to ANYTHING, please!!’ I love the actor that seems to have passed away in the background. the parade of silly goes on and on, and by the time the multiple Rat Fink scene comes around, I just give in to it. and the film’s ending- an inexplicable nuclear fireball resulting from an exploding- what?
Tom’s maniacal outbursts in the opening blackjack game always kill me. ‘No- I STICK, I stick!!’
‘Cheating,’ is a great short, so darkly pedantic. cheating in class=felony, somehow. when Johnny is caught by Mrs. Granby, Mike and the ‘bots sound a chorus of accusatory alarm. I’m reminded of the scene in 1984 when Winston Smith is caught ‘cheating’, and has orders barked at him by the Thought Police. go ahead, kid, cheat: you’ll be judged and shunned by your peers, and die alone in a dark room. jeepers! Mrs. Granby’s floating head; the monotone classmate with the inverted thorax; the kid’s frighteningly gloomy, Fritz Lang-like house. great stuff.
This is one of those episodes I can (and do) watch over and over–yes, the movie is easily one of the worst films to ever appear on MST3K, but it doesn’t take itself seriously like say, “Manos.” It’s silliness is contagious.
This episode has probably my favorite purely VISUAL riff. When the Batwomen are all lined up out by the pool just prior to their meeting, one of them appears to be wearing no bikini bottom (this is likely due to the grey, grey cnematography). Mike leans into Crow and points at her bare-looking bottom and seems to whisper something, and then there’s a little bit more subtle gesturing–it’s like they didn’t want to come out and SAY, “Look, her butt’s naked,” but did want people to notice it on a second or third viewing.
And then there’s the whole horseshoe wrestling sequence, which I love more than life itself.
http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Wild_World_of_Batwoman_1966.aspx
A very long…review? of WWWoBW.
You know it’s a bad year for movies when WWWoB is only the third worst movie of the year. (Manos and Red Zone Cuba also came out in 1966.)
When the head leopard chick says “One, two, three” to start the batgirl pledge half way through the movie, am I the only one who thought, “What is she counting?”
I can’t think of any other MST3K movie that has as many “How could anyone think this was a good idea?” moments. The happy pills, the ape-like assistant, the atomic hearing aid, the seance, the homing device that also frees captives, and the fink duplicator, just to mention a few. At least Santa Claus Conquors the Martians would have appealed to kids.
We have one Wizard of Oz reference:
Rat Fink is arguing with the “scientist” over the mole men.
Mike: “And you, Tin Man. Step forward.”
Favorite short riff:
Tom: “This contract arrived for you from a Mr. Elzebub.”
Favorite film riff:
Tom: “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!”
Kouban said: “The mention of “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEND!” makes me want to see, as a weekend thread, Top Moments Where The Riffers Completely Lose Their Patience With The Movie.”
I think the ultimate winner of that would be Invasion of the Neptune Men. “I’ve got a song about stock footage – Da dum da dum dum dum EAT IT MOVIE!!”
As for Batwoman, or whatever the movie’s name was eventually changed to, I really enjoy the episode. Hilarious. Mostly because the film is an absurd mess. I love it when the “one Kid in the Hall” has his delightful double roll!
A favorite riff of mine occurs near the beginning when we first see the two muggers and Servo says, “Little Johnny, thirty years later.”
And I definitely agree with the Agony Booth review that the muggee deserved what happened to him. It’s not like there was a girlfriend with him to impress with his manliness, which could serve as a reason for such idiotic behavior.
Probably in my top 5 favorite episodes. So many great subplots, some more subtle than others. The soup subplot, the girls wrestling over the horseshoe subplot, the pill taking scene! All great stuff! My favorite riff, “Its like we’re smart, but we’re not.”
#96: Oh, thanks Rowsdower! I can’t believe no one mentioned that bit from ACEG about a lawsuit changing the movie’s name to “She Was A Hippie Vampire”. Has anyone ever come across a copy of this movie with that title?
Does Time Warner or DC comics still hold a grudge?
Another early riff that never fails to crack me and friends up:
RAT FINK: “I will only say this once, so listen to me verrry carrrrefully…”
CROW: “Baskeyogleebulichklapulosbagulebululick…”
And did they make a joke at the part where the “woman device” somehow frees the Batgirls, or did they just count on the audience consistently exclaiming, “Oh, COME ON!” and drowning out their commentary?
Regarding the “woman device”, I think what the character in the movie actually said was homing device. Though he didn’t enunciate it very well so it did sound like he said woman device.
The first time I saw this one, I was wary ’cause I’d heard naught but horror stories of what a slog it is to get through. Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be, and I actually found myself laughing out loud numerous times. In these episodes where the movie is so bad that it threatens to overpower the riffing, the trick is to just focus exclusively on the riffing and let the movie exist primarily in the background. You’ll find a lot of great stuff if you expend less energy on hating the film.
I also agree that this episode features Kevin Murphy at his best – and loudest. Between “Oh, hi, Mrs. Grandy – AAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”, “STONE HIM! STOOONE HIM! Cheater! CHEATERRR!!!”, and “END!! ENNNNDDD!!!”, his vocal chords got a real workout this week. (Nobody double-screams quite like him.)
I hadn’t watched this in a LONG time (for good reason), but after reading and contributing to this thread, I felt maybe enough time had passed and I should give it another go. I couldn’t do it. I got about half-way through the feature, but I just can’t do it. Maybe I’ll try later. My face got hot and red and I felt dirty and sick inside and I had to look away. Deep hurting…. :cry:
Yes, they were all crying for this one to end…. One of my favs is in “Lost Continent”, when Joel finally cracks up after the bots are losing it. “WHO ARE YOU!?!?! WHERE ARE WE!?!?! CAN WE AT LEAST GET A FRAME OF REFERENCE!?!?!?!?!”