Movie: (1956) An American cowboy living in Mexico discovers his cattle are being eaten by something, and eventually he finds out what it is.
Opening: Painting day on the SOL
Invention exchange: Jonah has the Disco Cannon; Kinga asks “What if the Titanic had hot water?”
Segment 1: Tom and Crow describe their ideal monster movies
Segment 2: Tom unveils his new fashion line, “The style of Hollow Mountain”
Segment 3: Tom and Crow are festival creatures making Jonah and the Mads increasingly distraught
Closing: How movies would be improved if characters were eaten by dinosaurs
Stinger: Sarita speaks softly and throws a big stick
(42 votes, average: 3.98 out of 5)
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• This one was pretty good. I laughed a lot. The movie is one of those incredibly stupid but watchable bits of nonsense and the riffing and host segments are generally where they should be. The festival creatures sketch is a riot.
• Callbacks: “Watch out for snakes!” (Eegah!), “This is where the fish lives” (The Touch of Satan).
• Speaking of callbacks, what about “milling about”—a phrase used during season one to describe a Mexican town? Did Joel resurrect that one?
• Many many years ago, in the early days of the web, I stumbled upon a homemade site that celebrated (a little too much, it seemed to me) movie characters caught in quicksand. I forget if this one was included, but it should have been.
• Crow makes a reference to “special parts.”
• I love the running gag of Margaritathe maid dashing off to see her favorite TV show
• Crow sings a version of the theme song. Tom says “Meta!!”
• Cast and crew roundup: Co-director Edward Nassau supervised the dinosaur sequences in “The Lost Continent.” Producer Edward Nassour was animation supervisor on that movie as well. Willis O’Brien, who did design work, worked on “The Black Scorpion.” Writer Willis H. O’Brien was supervisor of special effects for “The Black Scorpion.” Margarito Luna was a crane operator for “The Black Scorpion.” Composer Raul Lavista was musical director on “Samson vs. the Vampire Women. Visual effects artist Jack Rabin was special photographic effects creator for “The Saga of the Viking Women,” “Rocketship X-M” and “Invasion USA.”
In front of the camera, Mario Navarro, Pascual Garcia Pena, Roberto Contreras were in “The Black Scorpion.” Guillermo Hernandez was in “The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy” and “Samson vs the Vampire Women.” Margarito Luna was in “Samson vs the Vampire Women.”
• Fave riff: “Has anyone seen my accent” Honorable mention: “I mind! Get this gringo off me!”
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Finally, disco is considered a good thing. :-)
Wasn’t it long ago established that the movies were themselves nightmare fuel? Does that mean that the movies are self-sustaining, virtual perpetual motion machines? No wonder a noticeable number of them keep just starting over.
Baron’s voice is just fine. Back in the day on the old show, I couldn’t tell anyone apart either, and with time, I did. Baron is Baron, and let’s let him be Baron. His voice is great the way it is.
This statement astounds me. Joel, Josh, Trace, Kevin, Mike, and Bill all had incredibly different, and distinctive voices.
One of my biggest complaints about season 11 is that I have NO clue who is talking in the theatre. I never had that problem in any of the previous 10 seasons . . . regardless of cast.
Okay, so, you’re being chased by a dinosaur at least three or four times taller than you are.
You’re running, and the dinosaur is running after you.
How do you make the dinosaur stop chasing you?
How do you get the dinosaur to stop running?
YOU REPEATEDLY SHOOT HIM IN THE LEG, YOU IMBECILE! THE LEG! IT’S A MUCH EASIER AND MUCH CLOSER SHOT, YOU’RE PRACTICALLY FACE-TO-FACE WITH HIS KNEECAP! REPEATEDLY SHOOTING HIM IN THE FACE IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT AND WILL ONLY MAKE HIM ANGRIER! SHOOT HIM IN THE FRICKIN’ LEG!
There. I said it. I feel better now.
Although some are comparing Panchito favorably with the Cry Wilderness kid, IMHO it’s important to remember that the latter kid had a mission statement –to save the life of his beloved father, to protect his father just as his father has protected him all his life — entrusted to him by a quasi-mystic entity.
Although similarly devoted to his own father (and, in a way, feeling just as obliged to protect his father, who’s mostly threatened by no one but himself), Panchito’s just pretty much winging it throughout the whole movie. And no, he didn’t think he was going to hydroplane, he was panicking and reacting solely to the flight-not-fight instinct, and instincts demand to be obeyed, not questioned. People terrified of imminent death don’t tend to think things through very well.
Okay, so, Panchito stands there, patiently listening to Pancho’s instructions about what to do while he (Pancho) is gone. Then Pancho starts to leave and Panchito is desperate to prevent his departure. Uh, yeah, the interval for registering dissent was about five minutes ago, kid. It’s not like it would’ve been all that hard to derail Pancho’s train of thought.
Later, Panchito is preparing to run away to search for his father, at which point he is told that his father is dead. What exactly kept him from running away prior to that juncture? It’s like he was getting the script pages only two seconds before he spoke or acted. If you’re going to be disobedient, CHOOSE your MOMENTS, kid.
Oh well. So it goes.
Anyway…
Panchito: “Pop-pa!”
Don’t preach!
Panchito: “Pop-pa!”
Smurf!
Panchito: “Pop-pa!”
Matic Bubble!
Panchito: “Pop-pa!”
Can of Pringles!
Panchito: “Pop-pa!”
Cap in yo’ #ss!
C’mon, NuBrains, those were EASY.
Too easy…?
Was it one of the serials that was edited into a film at one point? Because then it’s a movie just like the others. ;-)
I just keep coming back to that image of a tough gunslinger mosying into the roughneck saloon…with his ventriloquist’s dummy…
And the two other guys. “We’re, uh, we’re not with him, we just happened to walk in at the same time…”
As it so happens, it was. The title used for that version was Radio Ranch.
On YET ANOTHER note, the fact that Kinga keeps stealing invention exchange ideas is just another example of how her heart simply isn’t in the whole “mad/evil scientist” thing. Be your own person, Kinga. Find your bliss and follow it and at the end of the day you’ll be glad you did unless you aren’t. Think about it, won’t you? Thank you.
Kinga obviously wants not just power but MONEY (even her wedding is intended as a ratings ploy, nothing more). If Dr. Forrester had been in it for the MONEY, he probably could’ve earned fortunes from some of his relatively practical inventions (I mean, what has life taught us if not that some people will buy ANYTHING…?).* But who cares about money, this is SCIENCE, you blockhead! Dr. F wasn’t just mad, he wasn’t just evil, he was impractical. Even the world conquest thing was secondary, since he rarely mentioned it on the show (in the “Livin’ in Deep 13” lyrics, for instance), only outlining it for us in the movie.
Dr. F proved that if you couldn’t go mad with power, going mad without power was almost as good. As I said in an earlier thread, no one could accuse Dr. F of not enjoying life. ;-)
In fact, unless I’m mistaken, wasn’t Forrester and Erhardt’s original explanation for the experiment that they were selling the results to the TV ratings industry OSLT? Maybe Kinga is more on Dr. F’s page than she seems to be after all. :-)
So, Josh for whatever reason (“I think my neck got broken on that segueway!”) didn’t make the Rifftrax cut (which allowed all the other Cinematic Titanic alumni in), but could there be a chance of him reprising the Dr. Erhardt role for a guest appearance or two? Seriously, viewers have spent two decades occasionally harboring idle curiosity about what ultimately happened to him in-continuity.
===
*Joel Robinson could’ve fared even better in that venue, but he was too laid-back and at peace with himself to sweat the benjamins, man. That’s why he was able to enjoy life quite thoroughly as a janitor (a JANITOR!) despite being grossly overqualified for the position; it was honest, rewarding, yet not particularly demanding work that didn’t involve hassles with THE MAN (he would’ve told that jerk co-worker in “Good Will Hunting” yeah, like, whatever, buddy). In fact, the key to being a good janitor, as with being a good house-elf, is for no one to even realize that you’re THERE because you keep things in such great shape. No one thinks about the janitor until something goes WRONG.
Then he was on the Satellite where money wouldn’t do him any good anyway — and did Joel ever make any serious effort to escape the Satellite or did he take the course of least resistance and just accept that he’d probably spend the rest of his life there? — and even after his escape, he didn’t pursue money per se, only another place to be laid-back and at peace with himself, to keep busy and achieve job satisfaction. Really, Joel was basically a hippie who cut his hair more often than most, that’s all.
Another good janitor, Ardy in Deep 14, is also basically ignored unless he calls attention to himself, which makes me wonder if “R.D.” (who is of course played by J.H.) might really be J.R. (and no Dallas jokes, please)…
There is a precedent for the Mads stealing inventions from the crew of the SOL. This happened for much of season 2. In fact they blatantly ripped off the BGC-19 in the very same episode Joel first introduced it.
“Owie, owie, owie! I didn’t know it was wrong to steal! Who are you to judge?”
At least until Frank left and his dear old mother showed up…
Season 7 was not kind to Dr. F
:/
a Season 3 example is Frank ripping off Joel’s cheese phone, and then eating it “including some of the parts that weren’t edible”
That kid’s father has to be the stupidest character in the history of horror movies. What part of going into a swamp where something that abducts cattle is a good idea?
Also, did he have the kid when he was 50?
But one of my favorite episodes of the new season, because it’s a classic B movie.
So, anyone else think that, now that the Beast is gone, Panchito will STILL insist on searching for his father? I mean, okay, there was a dinosaur but, really, what did that PROVE?
Poor ridiculous sap kid…
Reflecting on an earlier topic, when Jimmy emptied his gun at the Beast and then threw the gun itself at the Beast, he was doing exactly what criminals did to Superman countless times in “The Adventures of Superman.” There’s no way Joel would’ve missed riffing on that. :-|
Well, yeah, but they didn’t do it several times in a row. There are levels.
Anyway, back off-topic, if Erhardt WERE to return, I think Josh should play the part more as himself (better looks, lower voice) to emphasize that some people (even mad scientists) actually do CHANGE over time…
…Whereas I’m sure that, if Dr. F returned, he’d be pretty much the same, because why tamper with the “perfect” mad scientist? ;-)
Regarding earlier discussion of Servo voices, Kevin-Servo (with the deep voice) lasted from Season 2 to Season 10. No other Bot-voice lasted that long (unless I’m wrong), and no human characters lasted that long. No matter who the face of MST3K might be, if it has a voice, it’s Kevin’s. IMHO. Whether or not that means anything is of course subjective.
Agree 1000%!!!!!
It’s like people just somehow lose all capacity for rational thought when they’re being chased by a dinosaur three or four times taller than they are.
If he had the presence of mind to flee, then stop and shoot, then flee, then stop and shoot again, he had the presence of mind to think about the best PLACE to shoot.
Besides, I’ve lost count (well, okay, I was never actually counting in the first place, but still) of how many times people around here, as well as the Brains themselves, have been merciless in their judgment of panic-stricken characters. For example, again, no, Panchito wasn’t planning to hydroplane, Panchito is, like, NINE and wasn’t planning anything but to run-run-run further and further away from the danger. And out of nowhere we’re cutting characters slack now? Well, whatever.
Oh, I’m sure there are candidates for that title that would make Pancho look to be of at least average intelligence.
He’s probably not quite as old as he looks (being a laborer under the hot Mexican sun and taking the glug-glug-glug into account; besides, after his wife died, he probably stopped caring much about his appearance, anyway), but even if he was, well, why not? After all, if a noticeable percentage of women didn’t have below-average standards, humanity probably would’ve died out a long time ago.
Added riff to the “lots of cows” scene in the last part of the movie:
“How now, brown cows?”
“How what?”
“Huh?”
“How now what? How do the cows do what? What kind of an answer are you gonna get from a bunch of cows, anyway?”
“It’s not a bunch, it’s a herd.”
“Huh?”
“A cow herd.”
“Beg pardon?”
“Cow herd!”
“A cow heard what?”
“Not heard what, herd! Cow herd!”
“A cow heard what? I’m not asking if they heard you, I’m asking what you’re asking a bunch of cows to begin with!”
“Not bunch, herd! Herd of cows!”
“Certainly I’ve heard of cows, ya DOPE! Any fool knows a cow when he sees one!”
(with thanks to Abbott and Costello)
For those willing to “settle” for Servo’s new voice, does anyone really think it could make a success of a singing choir if given the opportunity? Oh, I Don’t Think So.
Servo sings! And whatever this new voice’s merits, he could never out-sing Kevin.
It’s not my intention to per se *complain* about the new Servo voice, you understand. I’m just saying there’s room for improvement there. I think there’s room for improvement in any number of aspects of the reboot/return/re-whatever. I’m just not getting OBNOXIOUS about it, that’s all.
For example, all the frills on the new Deep 13 yet no visits to other parts of the Satellite of Love yet? Does Servo’s room still look much as it did in the movie or did he lose his shorts in the crash? Does Cambot even HAVE a room?
For that matter, now that there are all these fancy cameras, how about a LOOK at Cambot every now and then aside from the credits? (’cause there could be mirrors in some of the other parts of the Satellite, see? I mean, literally, see) Does Cambot have a VOICE? How is it that the movies ALMOST never affect him (see, I remember Danger Death Ray, too)?
Not really the same sort of perspective, but since Joel, Mike, and Jonah (again, an actor who kept his first name but changed his last name, WHY?) presumably all arrived in turn with nothing but the jumpsuits on their backs, where did Joel and Mike get their possessions (books, for instance) and why can’t Jonah do likewise? Now that I think about it, where did the Bots, who (prior to Crow’s 11-year sojourn to Wisconsin) have never really had any opportunity to shop, get THEIR possessions? Where did Servo gets his underwear collection in the first place?
The obvious guess is that the Satellite is equipped with a 24th-century-style replicator (a basic science fact which would at least explain how the human du jour eats), but we can afford to SHOW it now, right?
And if Jonah knows that he is being transported to a duplication of the show intro every week (yet he seems so surprised during the intro itself every time), doesn’t that clearly imply that he knows that he’s on a SHOW every week and that millions of people in turn know that he’s the hostage of a supposed “evil woman” yet…Just Don’t Care? That’s gotta sting.
And why don’t the Bots get little one-liners during Robot Roll Call like they used to? Why do Kinga and Max end every episode dressed like the Dream Police? And the Skeleton Crew, what’s THEIR deal? Are they clones like the Imperial Stormtroopers, Selenites or other Moon-types in disguise, or what? And why does that one guy get to have a FACE when the others don’t? What does it all meeeeeeannnnn?!
So I’ve reached the point of babbling like a crazy person, what are you, PAYING me for my commentary? ;-)
For me this was the first episode that really seemed to be working all the way around from a production stand point. The riffing was paced better and the host segments were pretty darn funny. The real issue is the movie itself. Wow, what a whole lot of nothing for the bulk of the running time. Certainly one of the most dull monster movies I’ve ever seen and maybe even one of the most dull westerns. But once our Allosaurus starts rampaging it really gets hilarious. The first viewing I was on floor laughing at all of his tongue antics. That said, Jonah and the bots do a solid job with the film. It has some very funny moments. I think if you enjoy slow talky westerns than you’ll find more to enjoy in this episode, but all in all an average episode.
Check out my full review here: http://romansreviews.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-beast-of-hollow-mountain-1956-mst3k.html