Which MST3K character, main or supporting, would have the most interesting origin story and/or what might the facts of their origin story be?
How did Calgan become the head of the Enforcers and why is he so upset?
Was Torgo, like Mike, a normal man and might one of Manos’ brides have indeed been Torgo’s own before being taken over by the power of Manos?
Despite the rigors and discipline of obvious combat training, why is Deathstalker so laid back?
Has Mr. B Natural ever failed to bring a tormented soul into the musical fold?
Eegah?
Batwoman and Rat Fink seem to know each other. What is THAT about??
Your pick?
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I know many films have done origins of Santa, but what about the specific one from “Santa Claus”?
How did he meet Merlyn? How did he get all those kids to come work for him? What happened during his first encounter with Pitch? Did he originally have real reindeer that died and were replaced by the creepy wind-up toys or did Merlyn accidentally turn them into toys?
Richard Burton from Gamera vs. Guiron
what was the flippin’ deal with the traffic accidents???
is this what caused him to give up cruising space for groovie chicks and take up drinking and acting?
How about a prequel for “Warrior of the Lost World”? How did the nuclear war start? How did the governments collapse? How did Omega take control? And how did the Rider (alias The Paper Chase Guy) fit into all this? Did he grow up in the post-nuclear wastelands? Was he a disillusioned ex-cop, like Mad Max? How did he end up with Einstein the motorcycle?
just where did Crenshaw come from in “Boggy Creek 2…”?
Nuveena from Design For Dreaming –
Nuveena dreams of unbridled avarice and conspicuous consumption leading us to wonder what her waking life is like. Is she, in fact, mired in multigenerational poverty, working three jobs and barely keeping her five children fed? Is the occasional man in her life usually a worthless lothario with no ambition past his next six pack? Perhaps the televangelist she watches on her old analog TV tells her that if she will only send him some money all the things she dreams of will be hers. Ah, Nuveena. “To sleep – Perchance to dream.”
Mitchell during his academy days, guzzling Shlitz and cheating on tests. We then see him briefly as a beat cop, cleaning up the streets with his unique ability to tie rags onto car bumpers. Flunking the detective exam, Mitchell is promoted anyway when he comes across compromising photos of the Chief while rifling through his desk.
He parked his pickup back in the day, and there ain’t been no way out since then! What more do you need from this character of such depth? :D
Did Kor from Wizards of the Lost Kingdom gain his Conqueror title from fighting a dragon that had a sudden aneurism or from beating the Frogger high score?
I always figured WOTLW was a sequel to Puma Man. Donald Pleaseance faked his death at the end of that film (just like at the end of Warrior), then eventually replicated the Aztec mask’s powers in order to gain the mind control powers he uses to take over the world.
Still don’t know how the Paper Chase guy fits in, though he might be the son of Trash from Escape 2000.
The Hitler building from Invasion of the Neptune Men. What was its original, pre-war purpose, and at what point did it start wearing Hitler’s image? Why was it still Hitler-marked after the war? Was it mocked and shunned by the other buildings, and if so, did that make the building mad, make it mean-mad? Did it long to have that image removed from its edifice, or was it proud of it? And how did the people working in the building feel about it all? That building could have had a 26-episode series all by itself: Mighty Time of the Yikes! And then Sandy Frank could have condensed it into an incomprehensible 2-hour movie.
Cherokee Jack. How did he get that name? How did he become a pilot? Did he serve in a war? His shady character makes me think he’s done lots of morally ambiguous things. The way he “recruits” people for the Cuba invasion makes me think he secretly works for the CIA or some other government agency. Who is he? We have a right to know.
Oh, Lordy, do I want to know the full story of the the Coo-Coo Pilgrim Sisters in The Crawling Eye. I want to know their faves and their turn-offs, I want to see their head shots, I want contact information for their agent.
Ma-RONE a mi.
I also want to know where that 1954 300SL in Screaming Skull came from. Even then, those things were incredible rarities; the Interwebs says that only 154 were built in ’54. That beast is worth several times the budget for the whole flick.
By that reckoning, what about Geronimo from “Final Justice”? He seems to have Native American ancestry, but to what extent? Did it have some bearing on his choice to be a police officer? He said he got a stomach wound some time earlier; which bad guy was he after that time? And how did he end up assigned to that Texas backwater station? Just who did he kill on that day he “bagged his limit”?
I’d like to know the backstory on Deathstalkers potato-eating girlfriend.
Although, there are rumors she was hanging out by the pool with Spuds McKenzie…….
I’d like to see Shep and Jonathan’s adventures coming to California before the events of The Painted Hills. Did Jonathan shoot three bison, but was only able to carry back 150 pounds of meat? Did Shep lose her family to dysentery? Did they ford the river, or caulk the wagon and try to float across?
Just how DID the grocer in The Brute Man get so incredibly grumpy and bitter?!?
Good question. Maybe it was loaned to the production by the owners of the house? Or it was supposed to be the spirit of the first dead wife?
Sending you each a hug on this Columbus Day Weekend.
Rifftrax is having a sale. Get 15% off riffs with coupon code DISCOVER (discount excludes gift cards and pre-orders of physical media) this weekend.
Also, Kevin is recommending his favorite Rifftrax movies all this month on his Twitter.
Tor happy as professor in Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley. Then Tor forced out during Red Scare. Tor use professional networking to find Dr. Vornoff. Tor not happy working outside field, but Tor makes living. Vornoff calls Tor ‘Lobo’, but maybe that heroin talking, not Vornoff. Tor keep head down, mouth shut.
Why did Rowsdower even join the Ziox cult in the first place?
He came off as a loner to me.
Maybe a family tragedy, or perhaps a scorned love, has set him on this path.
I would like to know where the name Zap comes from.
Is this a simple nickname, or are his parents just twisted individuals?
the old security guy from ‘Hobgoblins.’
what exactly did he do in the army? was it PTSD’s that led to his security career or low SAT’s?
how did he get the hobgoblins into the vault?
did he feel ANY guilt for letting his friends the hobgoblins destroy the lives of those around him?
how long did it take for him to wish death upon his mouth breathing Walkman partner?
The origin story for “X Marks The Spot”s Joe Doaks might be interesting.
What’s with the acceptance of strangers just walking through your vehicle like it happens all the time.
If that’s so, he should start charging tolls.
I would love to see this guy in a cold sweat, his conscience gripped with fear, as he finally gives in and…
gets his car inspected.
Bondo the Angel kicks back with a cocktail or two with Judge God to celebrate.
Why did he still feel the need to lie about his age, even in death?
You WERE 45! Deal with it.
Well, maybe he has amnesia from walking diagonally into that car.
We can finally learn just how many kids Joe REALLY has in that school!
Also,
Before angelhood, Bondo the Human learns the hypotenuse of a triangle in traffic is the shortest road to the hospital when he is run down on the way to a geometry test after his Scarecrow audition.
<b?Batwoman and Rat Fink seem to know each other. What is THAT about??
It’s about the fact that they didn’t begin their careers as a super-hero and super-villain, respectively, right there in the movie. Both of them had clearly been around for quite some time.
They were each other’s archenemies. That seemed…so obvious. Oh well. :-)
I’ll agree that it would definitely be at least moderately interesting to look into their pasts. Just for starters, super-heroes who open schools for new super-heroes (as The Girls Who Are Dediated To Batwoman seem to be) are usually super-heroes with a lot of experience in the job. At the time of the film, actress Katherine Victor was about 43 years old and for a super-hero, that’s, well, that’s pretty much old, all right. Steve Brodie was even older that, so think how old he must’ve been by the time of “Giant Spider Invasion.” But never mind that.
As I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before, the footage of Ratfink lurking outside was taken from “Attack of the Aztec Mummy” (1957), where the villain was known as…
wait for it…
wait for it…
THE BAT.
So if Ratfink and the Bat are one the same, that means that as of “Wild World of Batwoman” (1966), his career had spanned at least nine years and crossed international borders. Food for thought at the very least. :-)
Also in 1966, our own Ray Dennis Steckler brought the world “Rat Pfink a Boo Boo,” with the “Rat Fink” name now used by a super-hero.
AFAIK Rifftrax has yet to tackle “Rat Pfink a Boo Boo” and one really has to wonder why. It starts out as a regular crime drama (ala the many such dramas that MST3K riffed over the years) then suddenly turns into a Batman-and-Robin knockoff (because apparently even Steckler got bored with his own plot). That’s different.
“Rat Pfink a Boo Boo” itself is sort of a sequel to Steckler’s “Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters” from 1965. At least, it had a few of the same characters. But that’s not really our story…
ADDENDUM:
So, if Jerry Warren films (Batwoman) connect to Aztec Mummy films (there were eight of them altogether, including our own “The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy”) and to Ray Dennis Steckler films (Rat Pfink), well, there’s a cinematic universe right there for ya. :-)
The nickname “Zap” originated in high school and it referred to the impressively rapid way Rowsdower could make a beer disappear before sundown. Not long after high school Zap accidentally entered the Ziox cult after filling out paperwork for what he thought was a Wholesale Club membership. To his credit he was a bit suspicious of the mandatory arm tattoo.
Touches:
“Rat Pfink a Boo Boo”!
Apparently, the title was a misprint and Steckler was too cheap to pay $40 to have the word “a” changed to “and”.
The star of the film steps into a closet (!) with a costar, and they emerge in costumes as “Rat Pfink” and “Boo Boo”.
And what’s with our young hero escaping his Bridezilla Jr. at the beginning?
I have the feeling we actually are watching the self-conscious sequel to an earlier Corman fantasy, long since lost to history after they changed the title.
But then, had that same feeling about Paul & Bigfoot’s past acquaintance, sharing those Cokes and special moments before the events of “Cry Wilderness”.
Let me be quite blunt about this: if I found out that MY first wife was, sadly, deceased, and that HER spirit was now in a pristine 1954 MB 300SL with matching numbers, I would immediately throw myself under a bus and be joined with her in mechanical bliss for all eternity, or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first.
I always assumed that “Zap Rowsdower” was some traditional Ziox name; and as a linguist/historian kind of guy, I’ve always wanted to know the backstory of the Ziox civilization–Where did they come from? If they were so advanced, why were they stuck just in the backwoods of Alberta? Why didn’t they build more than one cardboard-paper mache city that could float out of the ground when cheap sets were pushed over? What was different about their genetic make-up that they burst into flames after being shot in the butt? What is their language like? Is the cult leader’s irritatingly nasal, adenoidal voice what a Zioxian accent sounds like? And what does “Zap Rowsdower” mean in Zioxian? “Beer on Sun”, “Heart Exploding”, “Too Much Mousse”?
And what about Yuri from “Werewolf”? How does a sexual predator and violent psychopath wide up in archeology, of all things? What was the criminal organization that he used to belong to? (I imagine him playing a sort of Joe Pesci-from-Goodfellas role whatever it was.) What was it that Neil saw in him that he would a.) hire him in the first place and b.) never confront him about his behavior, even as he disrupts the dig and uses the find of the century as an offensive weapon against an oily, irritating, but otherwise harmless “writer”? Ick, there is probably a really nasty backstory to that relationship that I don’t really want to know, but would love to find out anyway . . .
Escape 2000
WHERE THE HELL DID TRASH’S FATHER LIVE???!!!
Somewhere in the Bronx. That’s all we know.
Did Troy of “The Final Sacrifice” even have a mom? Who was she? What happened to her? And what the holy hockey puck kind of a dad was his father, seeing as how Troy seemed to think that ROWSDOWER, of all people, made a fine father figure substitute? While we’re out in the woods of southern Alberta, what does Pipper live on, the delicious flesh of his enemies? The mind boggles.
In the beginning, Coily was one of God’s springs.
Then one day, he becomes seduced by the idea of world domination and starts hanging around a crooked crowd.
Coily gets all bent out of shape and then gets caught stalking Joan Crawford in the form of a wire hanger.
He is sentenced to community service, into a scared straight program that teaches ignorant people the importance of springs.
Coily is given strict instructions to immediately back down if the subject starts showing signs of remorse or crying.
He may not be happy with his situation now, but he knows his army of darkness await his next move!
Is it wrong that my first thought is that this sounds like some sort of “My Mother the Car” reboot?
Anyway, how about some background on Dr. Connery from “Operation Double 007”. The guy knows martial arts, can read lips, is a gifted surgeon and Olympic-class archer, and a talented hypnotist. Where did he learn all of those things? Is he some kind of Doc Savage-type hero, trained from childhood? And then there’s he’s unseen brother, the British agent. Where was he while his brother was developing all these skills?
Agent for H.A.R.M.
What was the deal with the morgue attendant (played by the ubiquitous Robert Donner (who was also Fingers O’Toole in Catalina Caper and later played Exidor on Mork & Mindy)… did he introduce EVERY corpse like they were talk show guests and he was the show’s announcer?
“Mr. Chance? Dr. Steffanik? May I present Mr. Henry Manson…”
And then Corbett’s Crow sings the Carson theme music.
Mine goes in-universe:
Just where did M Waverly come from? The answer being he was developed in a lab that worked on Kenny from “South Park”. They figured, if they could develop the means to survive being killed and coming back OK later in a biological being*, could the same be done in robot form? They even based it partly on Crow’s ability to be mangled in many ways and come back in one piece. The gambit worked (gambit being the name of the prototype), and M Waverly was… born.
*The final debate on the biological being was actually not on Kenny, who was/is an animated variant, but on that Mary Edith Burrell-look-a-like woman in “Space Mutiny”.
I want to know what horrible thing happened to the malt shop keeper in “The Crawling Hand” that made him despise dancing so much. Jilted in front of the whole class? Pants fell down during the slow dance? Embittered doesn’t even come close to the man’s personality afterward.
Flag on the moon- how’d it get there?
Probably like to learn more about the Master- what was he doing before leading a cult of ladies and a Torgo out in the desert? I get the feeling he was either in sales or a frustrated artist.
The workshop kids in “Santa Claus”.
The narrator tells us they’re from all around the world, but how are they with Santa now? One of the kids even has to ask Santa what people eat on Earth, so he obviously has never been down there. What gives?
Hobgoblins: How many emcees did Club Scum interview before they settled on one that sleazy? Did Road Rash get a vote? What was the audition like? What do those people do during the day? Are they school principals, do they work in the local dairy, or what?
The Old Hag/Baba Yaga in Jack Frost.
What was her childhood like? Did she know Gandalf and his wizard pals? Was she ever at Hogwarts and maybe have a fling with Godrick Griffindor and/or Salizar Slitherin? I’d like some magical background on her.
“Silver Ore” the shocking descent of Silver Morgan from nice young schoolgirl to delinquent in Girls Town. Probably started out chewing gum, then got her ears pierced, and next thing you know she’s wearing makeup and touching boys on the arm. It’s Tragic-ville, Daddy-o.
“The Many Loves of Serafina Garcia”, none of whom knew that they were one.
Aw, what the heck, let’s make it a trilogy. “The Mean Streets of Jimmy Parlow” in which we follow the plucky Jimmy from his youth battling the toughs of Rockcliffe Park, Ottowa, to his struggles to stay true to his unique musical style in Hollywood.
Naw, but she did double-date with Leon Trotsky.
(And if you catch that reference, you need to spend a LOT less time watching old movies.)
That dune buggy guy from ‘Girl in Gold Boots’, what’s his story?
And are his tires filled with water???
Don’t tell ME how to spend my leisure time! :D
Sheriff Greydon Clark mentioned something about an incident with a Senator’s brother, so there’s an entire film’s worth of story boiled down to about a minutes’ worth of dialogue.
I’ve been thinking about this. I bet he was a successful banker and pillar of the community in some swank Atlanta suburb, and then inherited some Arkansas riverfront property from his crazy cousin; he moved there, went native, saw the little creature, and the rest is history. Kinda Beverly Hillbillies in reverse.
However, per Wikipedia:
“According to Steckler, however, the choice of title was deliberate: “The real story is that my little girl, when we were shooting this one fight scene, kept chanting, ‘Rat pfink a boo boo, rat pfink a boo boo…’ And that sounded great! But when I tell people the real story, they don’t wanna hear it, so you better print the legend.””
Personally, I like that explanation better. :-)