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Weekend Discussion Thread: MSTed Movie Characters Who Never Give UpJay asks:
I’m going to nominate Fingers O’Toole the comic relief guy from “Catalina Caper.” Despite numerous dunkings, he eventually got his man. 78 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: MSTed Movie Characters Who Never Give Up”Commenting at Satellite News
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despite being killed, Carrie ‘she’s so very’ never gave up on big stupid no matter how many times he walked her home and ignored her ruffles.
Phantom of Krankor never gave up, despite being defeated numerous times and using weapons that were useless against his opponent. Although he lost in the end, I would argue that people will remember him long after they have forgotten Prince of Space. He even showed up to lift Mike’s spirits during Invasion of the Neptune Men.
I’d have to hand it to Mitchel. Despite obstacles,henchmen,noisy kids,and a general lack of any real skills or charisma,he got both his men, the gal, and a Schlitz!
The cast of Hobgoblins. They pursued their goal of being repulsive throughout the film, and they never deviated from it. In the end, I think it’s clear they all succeeded.
Except for Mr. McCreedy, the old security guard. He managed to come across as quite likeable. What a slacker!
The woman in Space Mutiny who returned to her post even after being killed. That’s job dedication!
Definitely gonna have to go with Aram “My Nuts” Fingal. After they bungle and boggle his Fingal dopple, he sets out to rework the world around him into his own vision, and soon runs into problems. Once he realizes his actions in the virtual world effect the real world, he turns it into a crusade to get revenge against Really BIG Brother himself, the Fat Man. Despite being threatened, shot at, nearly drowned (apparently), watching his soup-loving mom get mowed down by a car, and having to basically move his way through the entire plot of “Casablanca” (all the while still being told off by the one person, Appolonia, who’s helping him/talking to him), he continues accessing and changing the real world. Oh, and his life is on a time limit as well, and his body is missing. Talk about pressure. But still, Fingal continues to stick it to the man, and finally, even after his fictional heroes are gunned down (terminated with extreme pork chops, as it were), he perseveres and gets to start a new life. And damn, he sure earned it after all of that.
Anyone else think a remake of this film would be cool? I’d watch it.
and let’s not forget the “I’m Coming” guy from Quest of the Delta Knights
Vadinho stuck with Pumaman despite him being the whiniest, most pathetic superhero ever.
Sure he desperately needed therapy, but Kenny in “Gamera” was one determined kid. He never gave up on telling people how misunderstood and basically good Gamera was. Even as he was endangering his own life and the lives of others, and the monstrous turtle was laying waste to Japan and killing thousands. (Hey, you never specified if the “never gave up” thing was rational or not.)
For me had have to go with Eegah. He lost his girl Roxy, got his Eegah crushed, and lost his beard he’d had been growing since 3000 B.C. Despite all that, he went out into an unfamiliar world to get Roxy back.
Ilya Muromets. Trust the plan!
I gotta go with Pendragon from The Undead. Despite being incredibly stupid and having the world’s largest chin-ass, he still kept trying to free Helaine from the tower of death. Even though she wasn’t there!
Gotta go with the Red Zone Cuba trio. They had one goal: “To get money… somehow,” by sticking together. When fighting Castro didn’t make them rich, they stuck together. When throwing the American Gothic guy down a well, murdering his daughter and stealing the legendary singing Buick didn’t do the trick… they stuck together. When hocking their Moses ring didn’t lead to untold wealth, they stuck together. And when the plan to woo Sgt. Justine’s wife then steal her tungsten fell apart… by God they were still chasing that dream together. That’s perseverance!
It seems to me that misogyny seems to bring out the “never give up” attitude. I have two candidates Watney and Deathstalker. Watney’s ever active mouth is either whining or insulting any and every woman in sight. Deathstalker, while not as mouthy, seemed to enjoy thrusting his sock stuffed package at every woman he encountered.
fyi, the comic relief guy from Catalina Caper does nearly the same exact character in the Hudson Bro’s Hysterical and Chevy Chase’s Under the Rainbow, 2 of my favorite movies of all time from the 80s. :)
Dr. Conway from The Unearthly never gave up on his dream of immortality in spite of all the catatonic and deformed mental patients he left in his wake.
Well, Bob Evel in Time Chasers never gave up—at least until that unfortunate tree incident.
Unlike Nick, who destroyed the four floppy discs with the key to time travel just because of a bit
of a kerfluffle with the apocalypse.
Has to be Max Keller from the Master Ninja “movies”. He never quits even though you wished he did…..
How about Geronimo? He gets shot, drowned, jailed on an hourly basis. I’m pretty sure he even suffered several heart attacks.
I think we can agree that Joe Don Baker never gave up. Even when he should have.
I found Troy from “Final Sacrifice” to be a can-do kind of guy. Even in the face of machete slashing, chain saw wielding cult members (not to mention a drunk, inept mentor in Zap), he persevered in finding out what happened to his father, aka Larry Csonka.
I’d say the main clone guy from Parts: The Clonus Horror.
*gunshot*
“Ow…”
*gunshot*
“Ow…
*shot-shot*
“Owwie…ow…”
Dr. Z. He may have been unsuccessful making a fish bride the first time, but dang it, he was bound and determined to make himself a compatible mate and use his spray bottle to create an army of evil fish. So he tried again to score a random blonde. Oh Dr. Z, you tried. You really did.
Anybody could make this list if they were coached by Chase Winstead:
And the Lord said laugh, children, laugh… o/’
The “monster” from Monster-A-Go-Go. He continued his rampage of terror and destruction, eventually causing the deployment of an entire army and bringing a city to a standstill, all despite the considerable handicap of not existing.
Then there’s the giant grasshoppers in Beginning of the End. They even climbed off postcards
in their quest to survive. Perhaps they should have taken the boat tour of the Chicago River,
visited the famous Loop… Anyway, one can’t help but feel Peter Graves was somehow partially
responsible for their attacking the City of Broad Shoulders, hogbutcher to the world…
By definition, the Incredible Melting Man was one who never gave up. He was dedicated to lumbering about aimlessly and terrifying people until he physically became unable to do so.
To a lesser extent, Dr. Ted Nelson never gave up his crusade of telling people that he was Dr. Ted Nelson until that security guard shot him in the face.
Sheriff Geronimo takes persistence deep into the classic definition of insanity, by doing the exact same thing over and over and over and over… No matter what the situation, his “go to” solution is always to head to that sleazy Maltese bar and threaten the owner.
Krankor is the same way. Despite constant warnings that his weapons are useless, and despite failing every single time, he just keeps trying to use his useless weapons against Prince of Space.
BTW, if we ever do a Weekend Discussion Thread on the subject of “most ineffectual hero”, Geronimo gets my vote. The villains are constantly escaping and outwitting him, he keeps ending up in jail, and when he promises to protect the bar owner’s girlfriend, she gets her throat slashed just two minutes later, while standing right next to him.
The people of Kalavala were really determined and never gave up, despite their hero being a total failure. Even when a witch physically steals the freaking _sun_, they still persevere.
I’m going with the Beast from “The Beast of Yucca Flats” – even at the end when he was lying on the ground, riddled with bullet holes, he still found the inner strength to reach out for that bunny. One last cuddle was all he needed. :bunny:
the people of japan who, aside from enduring the occasional visit from Gamera and Godzilla, went that extra mile and never gave up during the invasion from the Neptune men. one can count out many a nation after losing their ‘Hitler building’ but not the plucky Japanese.
How about Shep from “The Painted Hills?” Not only does she never give up on her master (even after his death), she makes it through being poisoned and then lures her master’s gold-mad killer up above the snowline until his trigger finger freezes. That sounds like perseverance to me.
Gotta go with Vadinho, from Pumaman. He was relentless in his quest to find the true Pumaman, no matter how many people he had to toss out of windows. Then, after his “hero” gives up, he’s still willing to strap on some TNT and walk straight into danger.
Mrs. March, from The Atomic Brain, is someone I would nominate for this Cat-egory. Even when she is given a taste if her own medicine and our heroine escapes, we can’t be certain Mrs. March has given up the chase.
The guy who attacked the Creeping Terror with a guitar. He went down fighting.
Dr Leopold from ‘Blood Waters Of Dr Z’. He spent years trying to create a manfish, and it worked! Sorta.
Lloyd Bridges hitting on Osa Massen in ‘Rocketship XM. He kept on all the way to their deaths. What a guy.
Pitch from ‘Santa Claus’ did his evilest best to stop Santa. I’m sure he got those three boy’s souls.
The ‘Teenage Strangler’ kept trying to strangle even with a couple bullets in him.
Beverly Garland from ‘It Conquered The World’ had more balls than her husband and actually went out to kill the alien.
I gotta give it up for the Creatch (aka The Gillman). Despite all the obstacles placed in his way, including his ultimate death (apparently), he got ahold of the object of his love. Way to go, buddy.
Also Beverly Garland as the lady sheriff in Gunslinger, who was determined to bring down her husband’s killer and various hired guns, plus ridding the town of dance hall girls.
Vy from “Tormented” certainly makes the cut, as the unstoppable ex-girlfriend from hell! She wasn’t about to let a little thing like dying keep her from destroying her former boyfriend and wrecking his impending marriage.
In “The Horror of Party Beach”, the one “character” who never gave up was…SODIUM! Even after giving direct proof of its usefulness against the monsters, poor sodium really had to hang in there while the wheels slooooowly turned in people’s heads. But eventually they caught on, and sodium was able to save the day.
Jet Jaguar. Despite being out-powered by the other three monsters, he keeps his strange-looking head held high, does his best, and ends the day by rocking out to his own theme song.
The Jimmy V Never Give Up You’ve Never Given Up On Anything Before Live Damn You Live! Award goes to Yuri from Werewilf. Yuri never gave up on finding the right hairstyle. Wait, his whole arc was one give up after another. Never mind.
Oh, how about that poor idiot at the end of THE BLOOD WATERS OF DOCTOR Z who goes through one agony after another only to arrive just in time to see his girlfriend walk into the sea to join the mad doctor in his quest to mutate in evil walking catfish?
So many great comments already. But how ’bout a big round of applause for Derek from Teenagers from Outer Space — despite being thin enough to blow away in a slight breeze, despite repeated threats of TORCHAA from his fellow space-teenagers, despite totally failing at lobster farming, despite clothing that labels him as a hopeless dork — by gosh, he didn’t give up and at the end he saved the world. I mean, SAVED THE WORLD. Of course, he blew himself up too, but … can’t have everything. Plucky little guy.
Certainly that boa-wearing (sheriff) Sgt. Ward from episode 1010 – IT LIVES BY NIGHT deserves consideration. Once he’s suspicious of Dr. “killer bat” Beck he chases him until he end up as bat chow himself.
How ’bout the Mr. Burns-like old lady from THE ATOMIC BRAIN. In spite of having her mind transferred into the body of a cat, & the death of the only doctor in the world capable of reversing the process, she determines to shadow the golddigging hussy that thwarted her plans & somehow get back her millions.
That’s called perseverance my friend, my friend.
Let’s face it, most of us, having our minds transferred into a cat would simply discover all the cool new places we could lick ourselves, try to score a six pack, & settle in for a long weekend.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Be fair. Our bland, blond, forgettable hero (I want to say Hank, but then I also don’t care) drove around the entire island of Manhattan despite having a specific address. With midtown traffic what it is, that should count for something.
Glenn the Amazing Colossal man. Died. PLUNGED TO HIS DEATH.
Then came back as the Amazing Colossal BEAST. That’s tenacity on a huge scale.
Truly an inspiration to us all.
Shoot! I didn’t realize you had beaten me to it.
Sorry.
But that whole licking thing? Pretty cool, huh?
Or, again, maybe that’s just me.
How about the Being From Another Planet? That gut was determined to get his glowing marbles back from the college students that bought them. Sure, a couple of them died, but he had to get home.
Or those two cops from “The Sinister Urge”. They managed to save the city from rampant pornography, mainly from their desks.
How about that minister in “The Days of Our Years”?
He watches his railroad-employee parishioners kill and maim themselves one by one until every ounce of joy and sunshine in life has been sucked into the void, yet keeps plugging away, preaching the gospel of “gentle pressure” in hopes that someday they’ll listen and the death and dismemberment will finally stop.
This far in the thread, and nobody’s even mentioned the nice British chap from “The Deadly Bees”, who didn’t even let the end of the movie stop him from making his appointed rounds?