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Weekend Discussion Thread: More Screen Time

Murdock Hauser writes:

Is there a character from a MSTed movie you would’ve like to have seen a little more of? For me, Chris Mattling from “The Dead Talk Back” is that character. I thought he and Krasker’s character were perfect together. Now what say you?

I’d like to know a little more about the drunk Tom Waits guy stumbling around in the theater in “The Slime People.” I bet he had a back story…

What’s your pick?
(And keep those WD ideas coming!)

82 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: More Screen Time”

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  1. jay says:

    The Day The Earth Froze –

    The imp that had “delusions of grandeur” when he mounted the forge bellows. Did he go on to be featured in European Viagra commercials?

       7 likes

  2. Cornjob says:

    I’d like to see some more back story on the crew of Bacchus 3. How did this disparate group end up together? What were they doing before? Captain Joe alone has got to have seen a lot. I’d also like to nominate them to be our Star Force since I failed to put in my 3 cents on that topic. The Bacchus 3 crew has a well rounded set of skills and is usually on the job helping to protect the universe from mimes and smurfs. Sure there was a bit of an interstellar genocide on their watch, but nobody’s perfect. And without them, “We’re stuck here!”

       3 likes

  3. Bob Johnson says:

    he was also in the preceding “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (as his dialogue clearly indicates), where he had a much more prominent role.

    He also had much less of a Mexican(?) accent, and was not a comic relief character in the first film. Apparently he underwent some personality-changing trauma in between the two, perhaps caused by the loss of his first boat.

       2 likes

  4. Terry the Sensitive Knight says:

    There’s very little RADAR in “Radar Secret Service”

       3 likes

  5. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    BTW

    Son of Peanut: Especially the Scottish guy. Did he come to the U.S. on vacation just to see the skydivers

    This passage seems to imply that you think people in Scotland walk around in kilts all the time.

    They do not.

    ;-)

    A kilt isn’t a “costume,” it’s part of a larger ensemble. As I sort of kind of indicated, Groundskeeper Willie sometimes wears a kilt for no other reason than because he feels like it. Same thing.

    Besides, the “actor” was probably just a friend that Coleman Francis recruited as an extra. Maybe CF told him something to the effect of “wear something classy” for the film shoot and the “actor” thought that a kilt would be just the thing. In which case the “actor” was basically playing Himself.

    People are weird and they do weird things. Because they’re weird. ;-)

       2 likes

  6. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Anyway…

    How about Mary Ann Obringer (that’s what the IMDB says her name was), the piano student from “The Brute Man”? Did she go on to become the “booggie wooggie” sensation that she hoped to be?

       3 likes

  7. Torgover says:

    skrag2112: Most of the odd characters that just pop up in ‘The Skydivers’. Any of them might have a back story more interesting than the film itself.

    I’d like to have seen more of the blond woman.

       1 likes

  8. Lawgiver says:

    The little girl from Prince of Space. She seemed like the smartest one in the whole movie.

       2 likes

  9. Cameron Bane says:

    More Arthur Godfrey From “Angel’s Revenge” (or whatever it’s name was).

    I’d wager most of the posters here won’t remember, but those of us past a certain age will recall Godfrey pretty much dominated American TV in the 50’s. His onscreen persona was that of a genial Irish uncle (always happy, grinning “how are ya, how are ya, how are ya!”), while those who knew him off-screen basically said he was the Prince of Darkness. If only that darker side could have been brought to bear in its unshirted glory…

    I kid, I kid. I couldn’t stand him, in either his fifties persona or that drunken, leering lout he played in the movie.

       4 likes

  10. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Ray Dunakin: And what happened to the elves?? Maybe the kids are strike-breakers.

    Elves are a facet of Euro-centric gringo propaganda. Have you ever seen a Mexican elf? I suspect that you have not…

       2 likes

  11. IR5 says:

    touches no one’s life, then leaves:
    I Accuse My Parents: Perhaps more attention to the “mom is hot” woman from the start of the film(‘s flashback sequences)…so we can find out who the heck she WAS.

    I agree. I speculate Jimmy’s Parents were into some 1940’s version of Eyes Wide Shut at Jack Taylor’s house. Little Snow White and Walt Disney were swingers and I’d like to see the story.

       5 likes

  12. IR5 says:

    The Hunter from Outlaw of Gor. The man had a code. I picture him a Medieval Omar from the Wire. Would like 10 part Netflix series.

       3 likes

  13. Say No To Yes says:

    “Space Travelers” needs more Gene Hackman scenes… not only because he’s just so darned good in everything, but because he was by far the most interesting character in the film!

       3 likes

  14. Terry the Sensitive Knight says:

    Scarface aka Abe Lincoln: Time Cop from “Danger! Death Ray!!”, he gets killed off before we really learn who he is. Bart Fargo seems to have some sort of history with him, but danged if the movie doesn’t bother with it.

       5 likes

  15. mando3b says:

    The Bolarians from Space Mutiny: there is obviously a story here, but we don’t really know what it is. Sure, they’re priestesses, but what of? (I’m guessing one of the more progressive Protestant denominations . . . ) What are those squid-in-a-globe thingies supposed to do? Why are they always luring Kalgon’s Oak Ridge Boys into their room? If it’s *some*, they’re certainly not very choosy for nearly omniscient beings. Why do they know more about what’s going on on the Southern Sun than Commander Santa Claus does? They’ve only been there a few days. What are they doing when all that Big McLargehuge fighting is going on? What happens to them after the movie ends? Do they leave or get upgraded to a better room? And how could Crow think he’s a Bolarian? He doesn’t look anything like them . . .

       5 likes

  16. Sitting Duck says:

    mando3b:
    And how could Crow think he’s a Bolarian? He doesn’t look anything like them . . .

    He has a similar build. Certainly he looks more like one than Tom or Mike.

       3 likes

  17. mando3b says:

    Sitting Duck: He has a similar build. Certainly he looks more like one than Tom or Mike.

    Hmm . . . As a hetero male human being, I have to say that I don’t see it. Crow’s beak is much more prominent, for one thing. And the Bolarians’ salad-spinner crests much less so. Certainly, that doesn’t mean that Tom or Mike look like them, though. [But cf. ACEG, p. 121, where Mary Jo discusses why Servo gets dressed up in drag so much: “… he’s sort of, well, hippy, and full in the chest.” Be that as it may, it doesn’t appear that their heads are transparent like Servo’s, although this could simply be due to insufficient data–we don’t see them enough in the proper light.]

       1 likes

  18. Terry the Sensitive Knight says:

    Crow is the skinny supermodel to Servo’s curvy figure

       2 likes

  19. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    mando3b:
    And how could Crow think he’s a Bolarian? He doesn’t look anything like them . . .

    He doesn’t look like a frog, either (well, maybe around the eyes), but in “The Touch of Satan” he was briefly convinced that he was one. It’s just a thing Crow did now and then. He was a bear in “Jack Frost” and, uh, well, there were other instances not occurring to me at the moment aside from the next one.

    He even acknowledged it himself (while dressed as a Solarite) in “The Phantom Planet,” referring to “sick, amnesiac psychotic blackout[s].”

    “And you know what’s weird? I don’t even remember doing this! And it’s a very good costume!”*

    Mike used to do that sort of thing now and then too. Back in the Comedy Central years, he became Kenny G in “Bloodlust” (although on that single occasion he was at least aware that he was doing; “I’m going to go be Kenny G”), Carol Channing in “Red Zone Cuba”**, and, of course, Captain Janeway in “Laserblast.”

    During the SFC era, at the start of “Werewolf,” he was James Lipton. I’m sure there are other examples in both eras that I’m not recalling at the moment.

    In the pre-Mike years, Joel sometimes snapped and became, for example, a farmer, but I don’t think he became a PARTICULAR farmer, so that’s not quite the same thing. ;-)

    ===

    *In hindsight, one might wonder how Crow decided on the color scheme for a Solarite costume since the movie was, after all, in black-and-white.

    **On that occasion, Crow wondered where Mike got the Carol Channing wig, which implied that the SOL residents couldn’t get hold of Just About Anything Imaginable the moment they decided that they wanted it (for sketch purposes). What an odd notion…

       2 likes

  20. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    IR5: I agree. I speculate Jimmy’s Parents were into some 1940’s version of Eyes Wide Shut at Jack Taylor’s house. Little Snow White and Walt Disney were swingers and I’d like to see the story.

    In hindsight, she was probably just their wacky neighbor, but a little more explanation would’ve been nice. ;-)

       2 likes

  21. Ray Dunakin says:

    touches no one’s life, then leaves:
    **On that occasion, Crow wondered where Mike got the Carol Channing wig, which implied that the SOL residents couldn’t get hold of Just About Anything Imaginable the moment they decided that they wanted it (for sketch purposes). What an odd notion…

    The show made a hilarious reference to this during the intro to “Mitchell”, when Joel was showing the bots his replica of Monticello made from toothpicks. Crow ask him where he got all the toothpicks, and Joel says, “Are you kidding? We’re on a spaceship, this place is crawling with them!”

    That bit of sly, self-aware wit always cracked me up.

       6 likes

  22. I’m sure we’d all like to hear more about the many medical ailments of that kids mom from Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Borgine. And all we saw was the pilot of the Old Lady Gets Killed Show. She deserved a full season.

    What about those Film Ventures International credits people from Master Ninja and Cave Dwellers? Who the hell are they?

    Old Man Smoocher from The The Eye Creatures. Every single character from that movie was totally unappealing with the exception of the Old Man. Did the townsfolk make him that angry? It had to be them.

    Rock stupid hillbilly guy. I feel like we only got to see a very small portion of his stand up act.

    That man who said the made for TV hippie jacked him up. The whole assault story makes no sense to me. What diet gum does he recommend?

    An inside the actors studio sit down with the shoulder chomping closet beast from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die would surely be enlightening.

       2 likes

  23. touches no one’s life, then leaves: He doesn’t look like a frog, either (well, maybe around the eyes), but in “The Touch of Satan” he was briefly convinced that he was one. It’s just a thing Crow did now and then. He was a bear in “Jack Frost” and, uh, well, there were other instances not occurring to me at the moment aside from the next one.

    He even acknowledged it himself (while dressed as a Solarite) in “The Phantom Planet,” referring to “sick, amnesiac psychotic blackout[s].”

    “And you know what’s weird? I don’t even remember doing this! And it’s a very good costume!”

    Mike used to do that sort of thing now and then too. Back in the Comedy Central years, he became Kenny G in “Bloodlust” (although on that single occasion he was at least aware that he was doing; “I’m going to go be Kenny G”), Carol Channing in “Red Zone Cuba”**, and, of course, Captain Janeway in “Laserblast.”

    During the SFC era, at the start of “Werewolf,” he was James Lipton. I’m sure there are other examples in both eras that I’m not recalling at the moment.

    Followed, of course, by “meta” sketches where they make fun of how danged often they went to that well because they couldn’t think of anything else for host segments.
    Mike and Servo are as unimpressed at Crow’s Phantom Planet cosplay for the sake of wacky satirical comedy, as Crow and Servo are at Mike trying to imitate the “Mole People” Gesture Professor for the sake of hip movie-referencing.

       2 likes

  24. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    variation on our theme:

    Quoting Gene Siskel: “I always ask myself, ‘Is the movie that I am watching as interesting as a documentary of the same actors having lunch together?'”

    Slightly alter that to “Is the movie as interesting as a film about the movie’s CHARACTERS having lunch together would be?”

       2 likes

  25. Ray Dunakin says:

    The “Dr. Pepper” burglar guy in “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders” could have used some backstory to fill in his motivation a bit. Like, why does he break into cheesy novelty shops just to steal a cheap, ugly toy? Has he suffered some traumatic brain injury? Was he dropped on his head as an infant?

       4 likes

  26. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    jay:
    The Day The Earth Froze –

    The imp that had “delusions of grandeur” when he mounted the forge bellows.Did he go on to be featured in European Viagra commercials?

    From what I understand, European Viagra commercials sometimes feature talking pen|ses. I’d think that an imp would if anything be a step down from that…

       1 likes

  27. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Brock Lee Rubberband:
    Old Man Smoocher from The The Eye Creatures. Every single character from that movie was totally unappealing with the exception of the Old Man.

    I thought the aliens themselves were at least marginally intriguing. Really, the movie would probably have been improved on almost every level if it had been told from the aliens’ point of view instead. In fact, IMHO any number of movies could be improved by shifting the point of view from the humans to the “monsters.”

    Which is, of course, exactly what some of The Brains’ riffs manage to do, sort of. :-)

       1 likes

  28. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    Brock Lee Rubberband:
    What about those Film Ventures International credits people from…Cave Dwellers? Who the hell are they?

    They’re the hell from this film:

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054370/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

    Should anyone be interested, said film’s sequel is extensively reviewed here:

    https://www.agonybooth.com/thor-and-the-amazon-women-1963-part-1-776

    On a related note, the Venture International credits on “Pod People” are from this film, which has been riffed by Rifftrax:

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089185/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ql_stry_2

       2 likes

  29. Terry the Sensitive Knight says:

    touches no one’s life, then leaves: *In hindsight, one might wonder how Crow decided on the color scheme for a Solarite costume since the movie was, after all, in black-and-white.

    also, Bill’s the Phantom of Krankor outfit is bright yellow, seems appropriate

       1 likes

  30. GareChicago says:

    The Original EricJ: Followed, of course, by “meta” sketches where they make fun of how danged often they went to that well because they couldn’t think of anything else for host segments.
    Mike and Servo are as unimpressed at Crow’s Phantom Planet cosplay for the sake of wacky satirical comedy, as Crow and Servo are at Mike trying to imitate the “Mole People” Gesture Professor for the sake of hip movie-referencing.

    Gosh, you don’t like Mike’s version on MST3k? What a frikkin’ surprise!! WE GET IT.

    Faaaack off already.

       2 likes

  31. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    “Is there a character from a MSTed movie you would’ve like to have seen a little more of? For me, Chris Mattling from “The Dead Talk Back” is that character.”

    Made me think of that Exidor guy from “Mork and Mindy.” I was faintly surprised that the Brains didn’t pick up on that themselves.

       1 likes

  32. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    “Now, I envision [Bix Dugan] as pure energy[, pure thought, totally incorporeal, not life as we know it at all]…He’s plucky pure energy. Pure energy with a heart…Now, I envision a moment of truth…”

    Farmland:
    I’d like to see how Jesse and Big Stupid each wound up the way they did, but I guess an extended universe for The Girl in Lovers Lane is too much to ask for…

    On the contrary, any set of characters played by the same actor can, if one stretches select points far enough, be presumed to be the SAME character using a near-endless set of aliases.

    Based on Jack Elam’s career up to that point, for example, Jesse had apparently been alive since the 1870s or so. That’s bound to take a toll on a fella.

    Any other film directed by Charles R. Rondeau and/or written by Jo Heims has similar potential. Maybe they Just Didn’t Care but that’s no reason that we can’t. :-)

       1 likes

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