Short: (1947) A country family has a fun day at the state fair.
Movie: (1977) A failed Quinn Martin TV pilot follows an undercover agent battling a nefarious villain in Hawaii.
First shown: 10/1/94
Opening: M&tB are living in their own filth
Intro: The Mads obsess over cleanliness, cleaning up the SOL
Host segment 1: The bots thinks Mike is too nice, then they see what it would be like if Mike wasn’t nice
Host segment 2: Then they are shown what it would be like to live with a Crash Test Dummy
Host segment 3: And finally, they are shown what it would like to live with the Frugal Gourmet
End: M&tB have embraced the authentic Hawaiian lifestyle, Tom hulas a letter (then Mike reads it), the Mads are still obsessing
Stinger: “Aaaahhh! Johnny! Down there!”
(204 votes, average: 4.23 out of 5)
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• The short is another gem, and while the movie portion is okay, it’s hit-and-miss. The host segments are very memorable, and I recall they caused a bit of a stir when this show first aired. They caused a great deal of confusion for me: I had never heard of Canadian alt-rockers Crash Test Dummies (NOW I understand why it would be so horrible!–though actually I kinda like that “Superman” song) and I had never seen “This Boy’s Life” (NOW I know a thing or two about a thing or two). I was vaguely aware of the Frugal Gourmet, but not familiar enough to get the “don’t write in” stuff Mike does. Adding to my confusion, I had never heard of “Lovejoy” either. Just not something I had ever run across. So I spent a lot of this episode scratching my head wondering what the hell was going on.
• This episode is featured on Shout! Factory’s Vol. XXIII.
• Lots of props from previous eps are strewn about in the opener, but the smell was apparently coming from from a jester shoe from episode 505- THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD.
• Callbacks: Frank references “Outlaw” with his mention of a “disgusting worrrm!” (Others: “This looks like Daddy-O’s room,” and “This is so Mitchell” and ”There’s a lotta money here, Mitchell!”)
• Tom’s o/` With an awful lotta lettuce… o/` is a reference to the musical “Guys and Dolls.”
• Non-Spaghetti Ball Bumpers: beaker, film canister, bulletin board.
• Mike needs to come down an octave if he’s really going to do Brad Roberts.
• That’s Alex Hentiloff, the poor man’s Stuart Pankin, as the government scientist.
• Turns out living with the Frugal Gourmet was more traumatic than the Brains guessed…
• Self-reference: TV’s Frank named that boat!
• The bit at the end is a reference to an old Hawaiian Punch commercial. THAT I recognized!
• Wouldn’t this have been a better episode to do the Quinn-Martin Nature Preserve sketch?
• Slam on the Coast Guard outta nowhere!
• Cast and crew roundup: Set designer George R. Nelson also worked on “The Magic Sword.” In front of the camera, Roy Thinnes was in those awful General Hospital shorts. Ward Costello was also in “Terror from the Year 5000.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. “Controller” Tim Johnson appears for the first time and would remain for the rest of the series.
• Fave riff from the short: “The cows are furious!” Honorable mention: “Men are fools, dear. Remember that.”
• Fave riff from the feature: “Boy, it’s tough when ‘Barnaby Jones’ out-actions you.” Honorable mention: “This is Quinn Martin. We’re not going to series.” “…French, Italian, poppy seed, hot ranch…”
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This is one of my top 20!
I guess it’s a 70’s love thing.
“Mr. Jesus..you have a nasty habit of surviving”
“Ahh!…Jackie Mason body!”
Some might remember the head-priest (at the
church where the guy was lynched) played the
priest in ‘Harold & Maude’
HOTCHKA!
Rotten sex: “Fav moment from the movie: before a commercial break, Diamond Head has come out of the water and is calling (I believe) “Aunt Mary”, when Mike says, “He looks like Simon LeBon”, to which Crow/Trace starts laughing hysterically and causes Mike to do the same. Look for it, its one of their funnier in-the-theater moments I’ve seen.”
This is the kind of thing that I dearly love about latter MST3K… the “conversational” feel. Moments where they’re genuinely chuckling over each others’ lines really makes the whole thing feel more like it’s three funny guys genuinely seeing this for the first time and goofing on it, not three guys reading from a script and it says “laugh here” (a vibe I get from a good chunk of mid-CC-MST).
Joel’s snort of laughter at Crow’s creaky bedsprings gag in “Tormented” gets me every time. Mike totally losing it over the cranky shopkeeper in “Brute Man” is gold. Moments like that make the whole thing feel far more real to me.
Not to be disagreeable, but I actually loved this episode. I go back to it quite often.
Also JVC X’Eye is a great system. It played Genesis and Sega CD games better than the Genesis and the Sega CD. It also had a mic input and a feature that dropped mid-range frequencies (vocals), allowing for karaoke sing-a-longs.
Just went back and checked out the short again.
(Narrator)
“The Prize for the best calf goes to a girl.”
(Crow)
“The cows are furious!”
That cracks me up.
I absolutely love this episode. The short is fantastic. Favorite lines:
Mike: Hitler’s Death Car!
Crow: Later these moths will turn up in the mouth’s of Bob’s victims.
Agree with MikeH about how these cheesy 70s made for tv movies are right the MST wheelhouse.
One of my faves. Oh well.
I love code name diamond head.
when Tom makes fun of the music when he is sneaking into the bad guys apartment is one of my FAVORITE of the whole show.
“wah wah rua rua rua”
priceless.
I haven’t managed to sit through the whole movie yet, but I like the host segments. The first one reminds me of a roommate I had in college who was always leaving half-empty pop cans around, and I was always knocking them over, which would have been really annoying except that they always spilled on her stuff anyway.
So we open with Mike and the Bots living in their own filth. We see several old props in that pile of filth. Among the things there the most prominent is the box of Wild Rebels cereal from 207. I think just about everything possible is in that pile except the sensible brown slacks we’ve seen so much of lately.
Call back “And the crow goes wild…yeah” from Junior Rodeo Daredevils.
This short is pure gold. Nuff Said.
I have to say; the Bots sure display the correct reaction to living with Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies.
So Mike and the Bots spent the entire TV pilot, um, I mean movie, riffing about where they should recognize Eric Braeden from and riffing on Ian McShane being Lovejoy. Well I instantly recognized Braeden but I spent the entire TV pilot, um, I mean movie trying to figure out where I know McShane from. (I have no idea what Lovejoy is.) Finally I gave up and looked it up. The Dallas fanatic in me should have instantly recognized him as Don Lockwood from Sue Ellen’s final season of the show.
Favorite Riffs:
Short:
As the legal credit screen flashes by Mike fakes attempting to read it and Crow states “Hey! I didn’t finish.”
Narrator “The judge is deciding which one (cake) is best.” Tom as disinterested judge “ah, this one is good enough.”
Tom as Narrator “Women are excited by seeing the word ‘member’.”
Tom as young Johnny after the race “Dad I owe Big Lenny 42 large.”
Movie:
Mike as Eric Braeden after several riffs about trying to recall where Eric Braeden has appeared before “What the hell was I in? I know I know me.”
While playing cards: Mike “How much is four worth? Do you know?”
Crow “Is it just me or did nothing happen?”
A body floats in the water over a commercial break. Mike “One more minute and he gets his advanced beginners certificate.”
This one will always be near and dear to me as one rainy March afternoon in 1995 I was off from work and, with nothing better to do, flipped on the TV. It was a special “Free Preview” week of Comedy Central (our area only got it scrambled back then) and by chance tuned into this episode. I didn’t entirely get the premise right off, but was laughing hysterically at the riffs. I was hooked right then and haven’t turned back.
though it is probably one of the more overlooked ones, this one really does shine.
some great moments:
the reaction from M&tB when Zulu’s head pops up during Crow’s observation about the scenery.
Mike as the evil Boy Scout.
Mike’s CTD impersonaton is outstanding, and make the ‘Poopie’ outtakes from this segment even more hillarious.
the ‘masked avenger’ cow did get shafted
‘watch the boy on the left, his heart’s about to explode!’
quite a bit of scenery chewing and odd over the top performances, but hey it was the 70’s.
along with ‘SF International,’ this ep is one of those season 6 hidden gems.
and having Magic Voice stand out was a nice touch.
I’m not a medium, I’m a petite #3: Back on the SOL however, those 3 little vignettes are PRICELESS. Each one a gem. Mike in peak form. Pity he has now fallen so far since then.
Could you elaborate?
@ #32: Just because someone uses a riff doesn’t mean their performer wrote it. Otherwise, who would get the riffs written by Paul, Mary Jo, Frank, etc.?
Dan in WI #59: Call back “And the crow goes wild… yeah” from Junior Rodeo Daredevils.
Pedanticness Alert! That was a riff used during the short (which comes from Tom Slick) rather than a line from the short. So not a callback per se.
Anyone else find it a bit odd that Crow reads the story about the family living in its own filth in the Sports section?
I was a bit surprised how, during the short when the narrator talked about how the girl was powdering her pig to look whiter, that no one came up with a KKK-themed riff.
Favorite riffs:
“Brother Bob is interested in the butterfly collection.”
Too interested.
“Judging cakes ought to be fun.”
But this woman sucks the joy out of it.
Dad, I owe Big Lenny forty-two large.
This is a job for Regular Guy!
He’s been promoted to Monsignor.
Roy Thinnes! He’s a cop who doesn’t stay in line!
Even though there’s a caper, there’s still time for a scenic overlook.
This looks like a good place to put up the poison gas stand.
Hi, this is Quinn Martin. We’re not going to series.
When we last saw Roy Thinnes he was playing the unctuous Dr. Phil Brewer on General Hospital. In this episode—a failed Quinn Martin pilot—he’s a rather inept “spy” working for Aunt Mary and getting beat up all too frequently.
Favorite lines (A Day at the Fair):
“Judging cakes ought to be fun.” But this woman sucks the joy out of it.
A wheel slices into the crowd, killing three.
Come on you chunk of dog food. I’ve got a year’s allowance on you.
Quite a coup getting Clarence Darrow to judge.
Favorite lines (Code Name: Diamond Head):
Ah, Mr. Jesus, you have a nasty habit of surviving.
Ed Asner on ukulele.
No visible panty line [on Roy Thinnes]
The World of Susie Wong, C.P.A.
This is so almost Mitchell…it’s about 50 pounds short of Mitchell.
Fortunately polyester washes up so nice.
You know, there was a time when Roy Thinnes’ agent returned his calls.
The Coast Guard–for men too chicken to join the Navy.
This is like the end of ‘The Firm’ except it’s coherent.
Final Thought: I see why the pilot failed. I give this one 2 out of 5 stars.
“A Day at the Fair” is one of my all-time favorite shorts. When I heard them do their little “Silence of the Lambs” reference with “Later, the moths were found shoved down the throats of his victims.” I laughed so hard my eyes were watering. On of their all time greatest dark jokes!
I liked the Jeff Smith skit, they probably could have done 30 minutes of just that. Cutting up the bots and using them as cooking implements, awesome. The other host bits with Magic voice and alternate Mike seem just meh to me. The crsh-test dummies just seems less arbitrary and more childish, like with Counting Crows later. Though the bots reactions are nice.
from the short:
“His head’s gone, stop rubbing!”
“He realizes he had never known Cow until this moment.”
I did get the Lovejoy jokes right away, idk, maybe it’s because Lovejoy is semi-obscure that makes it more funny. I also like the skinny-woman riffs they tend to make when a too-thin female appears. (‘I didn’t know you could cook.’ “I didn’t know you could eat.”) That and the Hawaiian canned-items-only store are my faves.
One note about the short: every year I go to the county fair near my Mom’s place in PA, but they never had Hitler’s Death Car. However, back when I was a kid, they did have Hitler’s Bullet-Proof Car. Does that count?
Oh, and I’ll always remember Alex Hentiloff as Arnold Ripner, the ambulence-chasing lawyer who once sued Harris on “Barney Miller”.
The short is wonderful. I laugh every time I see the cake judge taking her job so seriously. First she feels it, then she eats just a pinch of it and smiles up at the wanna-be baker. You can imagine her spitting it out as soon as no one is looking.
The movie is a bit of a slog for me. I’ve never been a Quinn Martin fan, and this one isn’t even one of the better shows –err movies.
The host segments are fun, though. Mike & the Bots living in their own filth is a sketch they never would have gone in the Joel years, but is a lot of fun anyway. Reminds me of college days.
Frank, while scrubbing himself: “I’m down to original sin!”
4 stars on the strength of the short and host segs.
Oh, and I liked the first couple of Crash Test Dummies albums, but they lost their way after that. “Clark Kent, now there was a real gent.”
Sampo,
You mentioned that the Quinn Martin Nature Preserve sketch would be a better fit in this episode than in the episode where it appears (520 — Radar Secret Service).
Possible weekend discussion: What host segments would better fit in different episodes. One suggestion would be the Willy Waffle sketch appearing in episode 1012 which featured the short on which it was based. Another suggestion would be moving the “Mirror Mirror” host segments from Last of the Wild Horses to an episode that features a sci-fi movie like “Future War” or “Time Chasers.” Just a thought.
As I mentioned last time, this episode is a delightful dovetailing of two great MSTed genres – confusing spy movies and 1970s made-for-TV garbage. There’s literally an endless supply of stuff for Mike and the bots to rip into on this one, and they take full advantage of every opportunity they get.
I love the clean stuff in the opening, especially the way Forrester and Frank’s little repartee of cleanliness boasts escalates into all-out war. Frank’s disgusted “And you stopped!” kills me.
“A Day at the Fair” is still one of my favorite shorts, and one I don’t hear people talk about often. Lots of good ridiculous riffing on simple bass-ackwards country folk. “Scientists aren’t sure what this represents.” Mike really seems to enjoy doing the narrator voice in this one. I remember I almost fell on the floor the first time I heard “A wheel slices into the crowd, killing three!”
One commenter around here once said something about how MST3K can stimulate two parts of the brain at once with its double-leveled pop culture references. Good example in this one with the credit for Ward Costello: “Ward, would you see what little Elvis is up to?”
“I’d say he’s got about, oh, fifteen cents in his pocket!”
The “what if Mike was” segments, I’ll admit, are unfortunately rather obscure. You really have to have seen This Boy’s Life, heard the Crash Test Dummies, and know who the Frugal Gourmet is in order to have any hope of understanding them. But when you do, they’re hilarious. “Shut your pie-hole! I’m tryin’ to do a show here!”
“Well, this is a very nice place, I can see why families would want toAAAAHH!” I think that made me laugh for a minute straight the first time I saw it. :D
“There’s not a natural fiber on that man.”
So apparently, this was in fact filmed on location in Hawaii, but the director seemed to pick all the least exotic locations he could find. Like the all-cat food store and Daddy-O’s apartment, for instance.
A lot of muddling talky scenes in Season 6, and this episode is no exception. Case in point – the meeting between Tree and Diamond Head at the casino. “Is it just me, or did nothing happen?” Though I admit, I did stand up and take notice of those San Diego Chicken hula dancers. “Stomp, ladies and gentlemen!”
I love the running gag they do between this episode and “San Francisco International” where they try to change the channel during the commercial breaks. “Switch it over to ‘Name of the Game’, would you?”
“Hey look, TV’s Frank named that boat!”
My own personal “riffback” moment: the first time I saw this one, I took one look at the bearded Coast Guard guy and said “Hey, Jim Henson!” And then two seconds later, Mike says the same thing. (The guy even sounds kind of like Henson, too!)
So why does Tree just roll over and give up at the end? Talk about an anticlimax. “Oh, let me guess, the last words in this movie are going to be ‘Ahahahaha’.”
“Teets! Teets, it said it right there.” Nice callback to “Alien from L.A.” :)
Has anyone ever tracked down Melanie Munios, the only MSTie to have not one but two letters read on the air? I like Mike’s assumption that they’ll be getting letters from her every six weeks from now on.
I missed this episode during its initial run on Comedy Central, but finally, a few years ago when I filled out my complete series, I finally got a copy. This is the third time I’ve watched this one, and I have to say. . . . despite it growing on me since my initial viewing, it still qualifies as a good-not-great episode.
The short is really solid, not in my top 5, but good and workmanlike. In fact, the short (and the presence of Ian McShane) is what keeps this from being a dismal 2/5 episode. The movie itself is not very appealing, and the Host Segments are WEAK SAUCE, completely unfunny, not matter how good Mike’s impression of The Frugal Gourmet might be.
Also, the guy in the movie who they keep making jokes about not being able to tell who he is (“Who AM I?”) is an actor named Eric Braeden, who I instantly recognized as the evil Doctor Otto from 1971’s ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (my third favorite movie in the series). Also, in 2008, he was in one episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER as Robin’s dad, Robin Scherbatsky, Sr.
Also, there are no less than 12 references to LOVEJOY in this episode, which to me, seems like overkill. Remember, this comes right after an episode (Bloodlust!) which stars Mike Brady and they only did ONE Brady Bunch joke. Why the overkill on Lovejoy, a show that few had seen and/or remember…?
–
RIFFS:
–
short:
Mike: “No one can explain why father is 85.”
Crow: “Later these moths will turn up in the mouths of Bob’s victims.”
Mike: “And the crowd goes wild..”
Bots: “Yaaay.” ——————–Callback to “Junior Rodeo Daredevils” in #407
–
movie:
Lovejoy lights up a smoke,
Servo: “Little Maui-waui to start things off…”
Crow: “That’s the smallest pool table I’ve ever seen!”
Lovejoy changes disguises,
Mike: “Is he going as John Waters?”
Mike: “The all cat food store.”
Servo: “Gotta pick up a can of tampons for my girlfriend.” ——- :laugh: best riff in the episode!
Servo: “This is SO almost ‘Mitchell’..”
Mike: “Don’t you sass your Aunt Mary!”
Servo: “Hi. It’s Quinn Martin…we’re not going to series.”
–
Like I said, the short and McShane keep this one from being a total drag,
so I give it
3 Lovejoys out of 5.
Last week I remarked how “Uncle Jim’s Dairy Farm” held kinda diminishing returns for me–this week, it’s the opposite effect. “A Day at the Fair,” while perhaps not quite to the level of “Johnny at the Fair,” is a great short, and gets better each time I see it. I actually did a spit-take this time at the mention of “Johnny Olson” and the immediate reference to the long-standing “Price is Right” announcer. By the way, did anyone else notice that the kids change clothes during their “day” at the fair?–musta been one of the drunk carnies in charge of continuity.
I have to say, I probably wouldn’t have bothered rewatching the movie if I didn’t have the DVD–maybe I had my fill of these things in the 70s. I seem to remember this turning up as a late-night movie occasionally–but there’s nothing to distinguish it from all the other earth-toned, polyester, drowning-in-intrigue dreck that swarmed over 70s television even more than those godawful variety shows. Mike and the Bots do a good job, of course–and this is at least better than “San Francisco International,” but the movie, like that poor schlub who gets bell-towered at the start, screams “Ford Administration.”
Maybe the most distinctive feature of this episode is the large number of PBS/alt-radio references–Lovejoy, Frugal Gourmet, Crash Test Dummies: hardly mainstream stuff, really. And a lot of it, unfortunately, hasn’t lasted, so perhaps this episode seems more dated than some of the others?
Tom: But this woman sucks the joy out of it!
I love the idea that there could possibly be a woman who causes the tasting of cakes to become a source of despair for the entire human race.
One of my favorite shorts. But the movie! So, We have Roy Thinnes on one side, we have the hot, awesome guys: Ian McShane and Eric Braeden on the other side and Quinn Martin expects us to root for Thinnes?!?! No way!! The movie suffers a fatal flaw right from the start.
Mike and the bots are on fire with all the jokes in both the short and the movie!
Aw, I love this episode.
There’s just something about those 70s-didn’t-go-to-series-tv-movies that does it for me. San Francisco International is the other one in this category that I really adore.
The Lovejoy jokes NEVER get old, as far as I’m concerned.
And when Zulu pops his head in the door at the end, Crow’s riff is just “Hello there!” But the way Trace nails it so joyfully slays me every time.
While watching the movie, I kept wondering why Ian McShane didn’t play Diamondhead, and why Roy Thinnes was allowed anywhere near a camera.
Krasker – I was thinking the same thing! Mr. Thinnes is pretty unappealing as an action hero. Maybe if it had been picked up as a series, Ian McShane would have been a reoccurring villain, ala Professor Moriarty? He is a true MASTER of disguise after all.
My Dad was a big Lovejoy fan, so those riffs just slay me. (And occasionally shed a tear.) Wasn’t Lovejoy still airing on A&E when this episode originally aired? It was one of their most popular shows in the 90’s.
The way Mike and the Bots play at not quite recognizing Eric Braeden, seems to be toying with audience expectations of a “Colossus: The Forbin Project” riff that never ever comes.
And have people forgotten Roy Thinnes already had one Quinn Martin series under his belt? The ’60s cult classic “The Invaders”? I feel old…
RE: Jeff Smith. I knew him in the 70’s when I attended Stadium High School
(AKA Padua High in 10 Things I Hate About You) in Tacoma, not Seattle WA. He owned and operated a Deli/Restaurant, The Chaplin’s Pantry, a block away from the school and we got our lunch there almost every day. He really didn’t like us girls talking to his male employees any longer than we had too.
@71 – Also, there are no less than 12 references to LOVEJOY in this episode, which to me, seems like overkill. Remember, this comes right after an episode (Bloodlust!) which stars Mike Brady and they only did ONE Brady Bunch joke. Why the overkill on Lovejoy, a show that few had seen and/or remember…?
At the time, it was running on A&E (with Ian McShane), and being advertised on rather heavy nonstop rotation.
I don’t know WHAT particular dog of M&tB’s A&E Network had run over in the early 90’s day of cable, but between McShane/Lovejoy, the cottage industry of Jack Perkins jokes, and the neurotic association of Peter Graves with “Biography”, the preoccupation was starting to get rather unhealthy.
#3
Well, the retreads weren’t QUITE as played out in the 1970s, so give them THAT much, anyway.
Hong Kong Muldoon (number one super guy? NOT). Yeah, let’s (partially) entrust the fate of the country to a guy who loafs around on the dock and insists on fifty dollars for his every move. Did the Leonard Driscoll/M guy know Diamond Head had that low a set of standards for his sub-contractors? Diamond Head, Tso Tsing, Zulu, and Hong Kong, the crack spy unit that WILL make you believe that the US government staffs NASA with two, three people tops and gives them just a car and a helicopter.
“I’ve hired the [second] most incompetent agent ever!”
@49 – Also I didn’t know who Mike was ‘impressionating’ in the mean cub scout sketch so I didn’t get the reference but I still quoted it for years (“I know a thing or two about a thing or two!”).
Still, between this and “Mike’s brother Eddie” in “Time Chasers”, seems like we did get a fair share of sketch-themes about “Hey, there could be WORSE characters than Mike on the show, y’know, count your blessings!”
Protesting too much to old-show fans, perhaps? Nahh, couldn’t be. ;)
I think The Frugal Gourmet got yanked off of PBS even faster than CBS removed Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
I would watch the Frugal Gourmet when I was a kid. It played in the afternoon so I watched whenever I was off from school, before the station became nothing but kid’s shows all day. Who knew that he was like that?
EricJ: “I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s all I have to say I don’t like Mike and that’s al-”
Yeah, two skits, seperated by a few years is totally proof that everyone secretly shares your Mike hatred.
The premise for the potential series is okay, but it’s easy to see why this execution didn’t get picked up as a series. I remember lots of commercials for A&E’s Lovejoy at the time, though the brains may have over-referenced it. I give it a solid four stars, there are memorable bits like Crow imitating the shrill high notes when Johnny/Diamond Head/whatever is in danger of being trapped. The short is okay but not as memorable as many other shorts.
It’s a quick joke, but I always crack up when Mike (or Tom? Hard to tell) imitates the background music during the driving scene by pretending to be a trumpet (“Bah bah-dah bah bah…”).
Sitting Duck #62.
Jeepers, that was almost three years ago. I can only imagine that I was making some kind of indirect slam against riff-trax. Or maybe some of those books he wrote.
Well, while this episode didn’t put me to sleep, I didn’t laugh that much either. Definitely cracked some smiles though. I believe this was my first viewing of this experiment, but after getting through it, it’s entirely possible that I have this one on tape somewhere and just don’t remember a thing about it. Definitely a lower tier episode for me.
That’s all I can say about this one. Oh, and I’m glad they ripped on Crash Test Dummies as I absolutely despised that band back in their heyday.
EricJ: The only thing sadder than the fact that (if you’re who I think you are) you’ve been peddling this same insane troll logic for over fifteen years is that… nope, that’s it.
I adore every TV-movie episode. I enjoy the short as well, but, the movie riffing is among my favorite of the series.
Highlights:
Love the Mike host segments especially the DeNiro impression.
From the short:
“The cows are furious!”
From the film, one of my favorites:
“Damn it, security guard….this is not your personal war!”
“The jaunty Roy Thinnes theme…”
“OK, enough backstory.”
“Hi. It’s Quinn Martin…we’re not going to series.”
“Oh, let me guess, the last words in this movie are going to be ‘Ahahahaha’.”
“Aloha, folks…..nothing to see here….Aloha.”
“There’s my smile!”
“Boring.” -Crow’s delivery cracks me up.
My favorite moment of the episode and one of the all-time best MST moments:
The moment Zulu appears: “Well, this is a very nice place, I can see why families would want to…ahhh!!!!!!!!!!”
“I remember when we used to go out….he was so fun.”
“You are a delightful man.”
“Hey! What happened to Ian McShane?!?”
“He’s not really a perfectionist, is he?”
I also loved every Lovejoy riff.
This one is a classic, easily in my Top 10 Mike episodes.
I just watched this, and I was surprised. I love TV movie riffs, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I liked the short, but the movie got really stale fast and the host segments are pretty blah. San Francisco International is a far better TV pilot experience.
Code Name: Diamond Head fails the Bechdel Test. There is no instance of two female characters conversing, with Tso-tsing being the only speaking female character for most of the film.
Keyboards are suppose to be one of those items that are more bacteria-infested than toilet seats.
EricJ’s remarks in post #83 brings to mind literary critic S.T. Joshi and his hatred of the H.P. Lovecraft story The Dunwich Horror. Personally I like it, but can understand that it won’t appeal to everyone. However, it appears to drive Joshi into an incoherent rage. In particular, he seems to believe that every Lovecraft fanboy hates it as much as he does and any who claim otherwise are doing so out of petty spite (though I believe he’s mellowed out a bit on that point). Most notably, in his introduction to the story for the annotated collections released by Penguin, he quotes from a letter Lovecraft wrote to August Derleth concerning the story and draws a conclusion that is exact opposite of what almost anyone else would have come to.
Getting back on topic, I think those host segments would have been even more interesting done by Joel.
Did anyone else, during the first scene at the boat shop, initially think that Mustache Guy was shirtless?
Dyne #13: Judging contests, especially for food, at a local fair can be hell. I once judged cakes as part of a school fair. There were those that were good, those that were bad, and by the end they all began to taste the same. The worst part was that I had a few friends who’d entered.
Did they have the bad ones?
@ #70: Tree’s surrender, while anti-climatic, makes perfect sense in context. Since he’s essentially a mercenary, he has no incentive to risk his life in a situation where the odds are stacked against him.
Favorite riffs
“This is the fairground, where the fair is held.”
Any questions so far?
“But first, she must see what Mr. Olsen is taking to the fair.”
Oh not your gallstones, Henry.
Pickles pack the stands for the pickle races!
“Judging cakes ought to be fun.”
But this woman sucks the joy out of it.
Scientists aren’t sure what this represents.
Dad, I owe Big Lenny forty-two large.
“Well, the champion’s blue ribbon goes to a girl.”
The cows are furious!
This is a job for Regular Guy.
We’ll always have something or other.
He’s been promoted to monsignor.
You and your chaperone will travel to what is apparently Hawaii.
It’s been nice being down here in downtown Fargo, but I should be getting back to Hawaii.
It’s hard to organize a junta in Vacation Land.
In retrospect, the luggage scene was really fascinating.
Is it just me, or did nothing happen?
We’re so far down, we’ve got the bends.
And those of you who would like to be keelhauled, go to the right. Those of you to be pinswiggled, go to the left.
Excuse me. My underwear’s buzzing me.
It’s tough when Barnaby Jones out-actions you.
Even though there’s a caper, there’s still time for a scenic overlook.
Now back to Code Name: Diamond Head, starring that one guy.
She’s driving, so technically she’s an accessory to her own kidnapping.
If those pants were any tighter, they’d be behind her.
Tonight’s episode: No Soup with Buffet.
Stand by for mild interest on the high seas.
This is Quinn Martin. We’re not going to series.
I can see where a lot of people wouldn’t like this episode, but I love it, since I love to see any of the made-for-TV 1970s dreck attacked and riffed ruthlessly. Don’t think this is quite up there with Riding with Death or San Francisco International but it’s still one I’ll happily watch multiple times.
Part of the fun is the idiotic level of “spy-ness,” for lack of a better word (not enough coffee yet this morning). I mean, really, who wrote the spy parts of the movie, 10-year-old boys? I expected our hero to find a decoder ring in his breakfast cereal.
The short is a classic. Growing up with county fairs, and still living where the livestock judging and auction at the annual fair are huge deals, it’s especially funny because things haven’t changed all that much.
Favorite riffs: Any and all to do with the livestock. “The cows are furious!” (Furious Cows would be a good band name…. unless it was an all-female band.)
I absolutely love the short, but all of the 70s TV “movies” are pure TOTCHA! for me.
“Beauty and brains in the same lovely package.”
“Beauty” is by definition in a “lovely package” (is that a demeaning term? it sounds like a demeaning term); he needed a third concept.
McShane/Tree was a mercenary. Prof. Moriarty takes orders from NO ONE. Try to offer him money and you just bought your own death.
So, not really comparable is my point. ;-)
This is where Season 6 really starts to take off for me. We don’t get another average episode until Danger! Death Ray!!
Lots of winners here in the darkness of Season 6 (although this episode isn’t really that dark)
Droppo:
I also loved every Lovejoy riff.
Geez, you’re old. ;)
(For those who don’t remember:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F-nN3WDccs )
Anyone dubious about Tree being a “master of disguise” might want to recall Mission: Impossible, which regularly expected viewers to believe that AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ACTOR was in fact Martin Landau in disguise, that his false faces were utterly indistinguishable from the entirely undisguised human faces of other actors. You just roll with it, baby…