Movie: (1977) Upon his return to Earth, an astronaut develops melting skin and murderous tendencies, and the authorities try to hush it all up.
First shown: 2/24/96
Opening: M&tB are playing a little hardball
Intro: Crow’s “Earth vs. Soup” screenplay is being made into a movie, with Dr. F. and Pearl in charge
Host segment 1: A script conference goes nowhere
Host segment 2: Crow shoots his movie
Host segment 3: Dr. F. leads a focus group
End: Crow learns the fate of his movie
Stinger: “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
(224 votes, average: 4.65 out of 5)
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• You can read Mary Jo’s thoughts on this episode here.
• Of course, this ep is dominated by the movie-making segments. The Brains openly admitted that this was their chance to get even with the Hollywood suits who made their lives a living hell during the making of MST3K: The Movie. If they saw it (and they probably didn’t) a few execs may have recognized themselves. In any case, the segments are great fun, the movie is dumb and a little drippy and the riffing is very memorable. A great episode.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “Volume XXXVI.”
• References.
• Trace and Mary Jo are pitch-perfect as smug studio heads and it’s nice to see Dr. F and Pearl working together, rather than being at odds. Trace’s running gag with the water bottles is classic.
• Callbacks: Tom is singing “Are you happy in your work” (from “I Accuse My Parents”) as segment 1 begins. M&tB sing a few bars from “Only Love.” (Sidehackers) “What’s the matter, don’t you like it?” (Brute Man) “You always were a good judge of men, Deathstalker.” (Deathstalker) “The melting man was found alive and of normal size” (Monster A-Go-Go).
• This is one of those movies where the Brains find themselves having to riff the same scene (in which our hero Steve gets a bloody nose) several times. They managed it remarkably well.
• Director Crow is wearing a Deep 13 hat.
• This is the movie that features the great “What did we learn?” conversation. They should have done it for every movie.
• A little behind-the-scenes note: Confused about the scene showing a girl sobbing in a police car and a photographer taking pictures of everything in sight? That’s because the scene just before it was cut from the MSTed version. In the scene, the photographer gets the girl model (played by Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith) to pose and bounce around, then forcibly removes her top after she refuses to. She starts hitting him as he continues to take pictures, and then trips over the Bill-Gates-look-alike corpse, making an oozy mess and screaming a lot. That’s why she’s crying in the police car, and that’s why the photographer happens to be there.
• Then-current reference: Now-forgotten sitcom “Caroline in the City.”
• Cast and crew roundup: Executive producer Max J. Rosenberg also worked on “The Deadly Bees.” Makeup/special effects guy Rick Baker also worked on “Track Of The Moon Beast” and “Squirm. Special effects guy Harry Woolman also worked on “Laserblast,” “Aent for H.A.R.M.” and “Hangar 18.” Assistant director Henning Schellerup also worked on “Hangar 18.” In front of the camera, Myron Healey was also in “The Unearthly.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Crist Ballas did hair and makeup for the only time this season. The focus group members were Paul, Jim, Beez, Ben Mooers, Helena Espinoza, Kelly Schrandt and Barbara Tebben.
• Fave riff: “You know, I’m actually starting to hate Hans Geiger.” Honorable mention: “Did they have a race horse tied up to the wall?”
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AJKA will always always always make me laugh.
I went to school with Mel Tingman. Nice enough guy, but I wouldn’t say he was all that great.
What, no love for Servo singing the Ted Nelson theme?
“They shrunk me and I’m trapped on this huge log!” Ah, forced perspective.
“He’s off the ramp!”
Personally, I like to refer to this movie as The Ick From Outer Space
One of my all time favorites. I could write several paragraphs about why I love this one, but I got too many quotes to get through! (I will point out, though, that the general in this movie was the star of “The Unearthly!)
Pearl: Okay, great, Art- I have looked over your script…
Crow: Oh, good, let me just say I will not have the script be tampered with.
Pearl: …and clearly there are some major script revisions necessary .
Crow: Good, good, absolutely.
Dr. F: Hal Needham once said ‘Give me a Firebird and a dilapidated building and I’ll give you drama.
“This is incredible! Nobody’s ever seen anything like this!”
Tom: Uh, we’re still on the pad, Ron.
“Magnificent! You’ve never seen anything until you’ve seen the sun through the rings of Saturn!”
Crow: That’s not what that is, but we’ll show you a film that kind of suggests that…
Crow: Hmmm, melted at 1:30, again at 4.
Tom: Marshmallows, I hate marshmallows!
“Don’t quote me on this, but this wasn’t any animal.”
Crow: I had misidentified her as an elk.
Dr. Ted Nelson: Judy’s pregnant again.
Dr. Mod: Hey, that’s great.
Tom: Isn’t it?
Ted: Yeah, great, thanks.
Mike: Yeah, I’m so happy.
Ted: It’s our third try, you know?
Crow: If she messes it up this time, she’s gone!
Ted: I sure hope this business doesn’t screw things up.
Dr. Mod: How many weeks is she?
Dr. Ted: Fourteen.
Tom: A little young to be pregnant?
Dr. Mod: I suppose you’ll have to tell her.
Crow: That she’s pregnant? Yeah.
“Whenever someone tells me not to worry, that’s when I start to worry.”
Tom: Well, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Tom: So, how’s your body coming?
Mike: I had my breasts lowered and my hips pulled out at weird angles, I hope that’s okay.
Crow: Her area dominates her front side.
Tom: General wants me to find the AADJKA! melting man.
Dr. Ted: Steve escaped.
Mrs. Ted: Oh god.
Tom: Attchka?
Mrs. Ted: What are you going to do?
Crow: First, I’m gonna lose a little weight.
Dr. Ted: Uh, did you get some crackers? I told you yesterday that we needed some crackers.
Mrs. Ted: Oh, I forgot.
Tom: Attchka!
Mike: They made a mistake and just followed the actors home!
Dr. Ted: So… we don’t have any crackers?
Mrs. Ted: Ted? Steve?
Crow: Raging Bull!
Dr. Ted: Steve?
Tom: Steve had crackers!
Dr. Ted: I have to go out and find Steve.
Mrs. Ted: Why you?
Dr. Ted: Because no one else is supposed to know…
Crow: Rye crisps? Sociables? Anything?
“Are you playing some kind of game?”
Mike: Or are you a melting man whose gonna eat my face?
Crow: What? Look back? Mom, I don’t want to be in dad’s movie!
“Come out, it’s not fair!”
Tom: Well, I’m tryin’ to kill you, there are no rules per se!
Tom: It was probably pretty hard to love kids back in the 70s.
Crow: Hey, no screaming unless melting man are after you!
“A Frankenstein, a Frankenstein!”
Crow: No,, Frankenstein wasn’t the actual monster, he was the doctor?
“Can you hear me Steve? I’m all alone! I want to help you!”
Tom: I want to share my secrets with you, just call!
Mike: I’ve been a sheriff most of this movie and I’ve never seen anything like this!
Mike: It was broad-minded of them to cast aliens in these roles.
Helen: Maybe we should stop to buy them a gift.
Harold: Like what?
Helen: Oh…
Crow: …Rubber Novelty?
Helen: ..candy, or flowers…
Tom: A lemur…
Harold: I don’t like giving flowers as a present, they die so fast, and Judy should not be eating candy when she’s pregnant.
Mike (as Helen): My mother ate candy, I turned out fine!
Tom: Did someone switch reels on us?
Mike: The Incredible Melting Grandma!
Tom: This is still better than Mrs. Doubtfire…
Crow (as melting man): Boy, they could knock the buzzards off a garbage scow!
Helen: Oh, look, an orange grove!
Tom: I’m gonna squeeze one of them and let the juice run down my body!
Harold: Helen?
Crow: Look, there’s a dead turtle, let’s bring that!
Tom: She’s the Cracked magazine guy!
Crow: I’m an imp!
Mike: She looks like a Killer Klown From Outer Space
Tom (as melting man): Ugh, no more of that scene, it really gets to me!
Crow: And they were never seen again- Cross your fingers.
Tom: Just pick your lemons and leave, Clara Pellar!
“The old ticker is really going!”
Crow: And so is the heart!
“Why don’t we stop in town and get a nice bottle of wine…”
Tom: …And drink it in the car.
Crow: Remember when everyone had one of those black light moth posters?
I got more quotes, be back later…
Mike: I think his shampoo had the wrong PH.
I’ll have to watch this one again. The only thing I remember about it was how disgusting it was, and that I’d probably never watch it again. This time through, I’ll try to ignore the goop and focus on the riffs (the samples of which made me chuckle, so maybe my first impression was wrong?).
Hands down, this is my favorite Season 7 episode, and one of my favorites of the entire series! It’s a rare breed of episode, one where there isn’t a single bad riff throughout the entire thing. I’ve laughed so hard watching this episode that there were literally tears streaming down my face, it’s that good!
I can’t list my favorite riffs, otherwise I’d be here all day. Certain scenes just seem to present more than enough opportunities for hilarity, like Melting Man flipping out and chasing the nurse (“Keith Moon in the hospital”, “Pff, he’s on rollerblades!”, “Now, I’m gonna maintain my dignity in this shot, right?”) or the old couple picking lemons for no reason (“It was broad-minded of them to cast aliens in these roles”, “Let’s hide in one of your skin flaps!”, “There are yards of cable and 15 operators required to run these people”) or the scene in the white trash house (“Are there still tickets for .38 Special?”, “You know, I’m surprised these people don’t still have their Christmas lights up”, “Dear God, I HATE THIS WALLPAPER!”), etc. It’s all brilliant!
I’m always doubled over with laughter at the scene transcribed above where Ted Nelson is talking about his pregnant wife (“If she screws up this time, she’s had it!”, “Hey, are we moving or is it the building?”, “So when do you think the people who work here are coming back?”). The very character of Dr. Ted Nelson is brilliant riffing fodder. “Guess I’ve been behaving like kind of an ass lately, huh?” “What do you in the audience think?”
The host segments are great slams on Universal. As someone who didn’t think MST3K: The Movie was all it could have been, I enjoyed seeing the Brains’ take on script conferences and test screenings (“How many would like to see Julia Ormond naked?”, “If you had a rat cage strapped to your face…”). It’s the best way to work through the pain. Crow as director is hilarious – another one of Trace’s finest moments! “You’re right in the shot.” “Ah! So I am. And suddenly YOU’VE become the director? Well, I guess we can’t film today, Mr. Bacon isn’t very happy…”
You know, I’ve tried to work “Aadjgka” (my preferred spelling) into my everyday vocabulary, but it’s hard to make yourself say one specific expletive whenever you get hurt or something.
This one is BY FAR my favorite episode of Season 7 and one my all-time favorite Mike episodes.
First of all, the movie is a gift in that is has to be one of the worst, most incompetently made films I’ve ever seen.
The acting is hilariously bad…best exemplified by our “hero,” Ted Nelson. And the remarkably stilted delivery (which we’re treated to over and over again) of the line: “you’ve never seen anything (awkward pause) until you’ve seen the sun through rings of Saturn.”
There are several laugh out loud WTF moments and scenes:
1. Aatchka! Hilarious and never gets old.
2, That whole weird scene with the kids and the cigarettes. Why?!?
and, far and away, my favorite…
3. The old couple. What a bizarre combination of writing, acting, casting and directing. Why was this scene necessary? Was it supposed to be funny? And the riffing during this scene is as good as it gets.
Again, as I’ve made clear many times, I loathe Pearl. And while I find her character intolerable and have a negative reaction every time she’s on screen….this episode provides a slightly less negative reaction b/c she’s kind of playing another character…the detached studio exec. I still hate that she gets more lines and is more in view than Dr. F in those host segments (which have a funny premise)…but, at least it didn’t entail her mugging for the camera or screaming “Clayton” over and over again.
If this was a Frank-era episode, it would likely be in my top 5 of all-time.
As is, it’s a top 10 Mike episode with some of the best riffing they ever did and one of the best suited films for MST ever.
Accordingly, Droppo awards it 5 stars.
This is the only Season 7 episode that I’ve had absolutely no encounters with in one way or another, but from the comments so far it sounds like I’ll have to get my hands on it ASAP.
I especially want to see the part where Dr. Ted thinks shouting, “I’m Dr. Ted Nelson!” over and over will have any kind of authoritative effect.
Since most of the funny comments that were mentioned are among mine, I’ll just bring up one scientific wonder:
How does MELTING somehow increase your strength?
I just never got that.
Also, I like how they comment near the end of the movie how much quicker and more agile Melts (as I dub him) is after he loses his arm. (I should try skiing!)
And of course, the lines that sum the whole thing up:
“How many monster movies end with a janitor scooping the monster into a trash can?”
and
“I learned that some people can ABUSE spirit gum and latex.”
“How many monster movies end with the monster being swept into a garbage can?”
“Whoa, no relation to Dr. Ted Nelson.”
“GOT MILK?!”
“He’s in with some kid getting his tonsils out.”
“That’s some weak Kool-aid.”
” You want to talk to Maude Frickert?”
I skipped all of season 7 so again, can’t comment but I’ll run this past a few of you.
Has anyone watched an MSTied movie and forgot about the riffing and actually cared about the outcome? That happened to me in A Touch of Satan. Yeah, I know, weird, but I wonder if that has happened to anyone else.
For me, this movie is like the Mr. Creosote sketch in “The Meaning of Life”. I just can’t watch them; they’re both just too…YECHH!!! I have listened to IMM, though, and the riffing is great.
The host segments are absolutely priceless; one of the best sequences in the show’s history, and certainly their most pointed satire. And Universal/Grammercy deserve every bit of it.
I’d love to see a future release of MST3K-TM include this episode, along with a “making of” segment about how the Brains put it together. And, if they have any guts, someone from U/G could show up and respond.
Yes, this one is one of my favorite episodes of all time.
“It’s basically the same story as Frosty the Snowman.”
It seems to have everything that makes a movie MSTable: inane plot (the rings of Saturn are made up of dust and ice–what would that do to sunlight, and very distant sunlight, to make someone crave human flesh and melt?), a big dumb if really moist monster, bad acting, weird locations (why is the hospital in a UStoreIt–and what’s with that weird moving platform?), and of course the surreal scene with the two bizarre old people (“She’s got huge bird feet!”) as the purported comic relief (“You know how the citrus industry tempts them”). All good stuff.
I do have recollections of “The Incredible Melting Man” playing in theaters in 1977, and it was actually advertised on radio a lot. I seem to remember (I was 10 at the time) it being fairly controversial if not banned outright (this was near Boston) and thus wanting to see it all that much more. After finally having seen it on MST, I’m very glad I saved myself the childhood trauma. Score one for parental authority!
A great episode. Lots of good material to work with. As already indicated, the host segments were a much-needed exorcism of all the frustration the group had built up during their film-making venture. This is how comedians achieve catharsis – satire.
My favorite part of the film is the two randy old folks. Bizarre? Sure. But their performance not only was very riffable but showed more character in about five minutes than all the other actors combined. Case in point, Ted Nelson’s not-so-urgent cries of “no neal, don’t….my god neal stop…you’re hurting him…”
Regarding the scene with the kids and the cigarettes, I mentioned this before in a post, but it supports my assertion of a distinct penchant for cynicism, despair and meanness in films of the 70’s. Bad lighting, ugly fashion, poor hygiene, disfunctional relationships, all seem to be staples of 70’s filmmaking, perhaps designed to maintain the “malaise” (to borrow a Carterism) weighing everyone down. Since, we can’t have perky kids running around wrecking all that gloom, let’s be sure to show our little tots being deviant and wrong. Note that the same didn’t seem to apply for television (eg, the Brady’s).
Undoubtedly my favorite episode of Season 7 and possibly one of my top five favorite episodes of the entire series.
Interesting that this is the messiest film that they’ve ever done. All the gore and ugliness was a shock the first time around. Even so, it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of this episode.
In the brief blurb about this episode in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Mary Jo Pehl says that this could have possibly edged out “Manos” as the worst film that they’ve ever done. I don’t know that I’d agree with that, but I’d be interested to see why MJP (and the others, if that’s the case) would feel that way.
As far as the skits are concerned, it’s both satisfying to see the Brains skewer Universal for what happened during the movie shoot and alarming to see how venomous the skits are. You can tell that there’s a lot of resentment in those skits, which is uncharacteristic of the gang. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, it’s just something of a surprise.
At the same time, I can only wonder how the show would’ve been if the skits revolved around the movie (an Incredible Melting Crow skit would have been great).
It was fun to see the hero from “The Unearthly” in this movie. I couldn’t even recognize him the first time around.
Ted Nelson might be one of the most fun-to-riff and laughable characters ever to grace an MST3K feature. Burr DeBenning brings almost nothing to the movie, such as how he stares blankly while the Melting Man goes after the sheriff. And then you have the character going “ADJKA!,” whining about crackers, clumsily attempting to console his wife, and trying to stop the security guards by yelling “I’M DOCTOR TED NELSON!”
Considering how fiercely they riffed on Ted Nelson, I would have loved to have been in the writing room for this episode.
All instances of the Ted Nelson theme song were hilarious, one of my favorite parts of this episode (especially Servo’s “Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed Nelson’snothere! Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed Nelsonisn’taround”).
The entire scene where Ted Nelson (along with the other doctor and the general) talks to his wife on the phone might be one of my all-time favorite MST moments. The gang was on fire here with such quips as:
-“Any crackers yet?”
-“I swiped a Moon Pie and they caught me”,
-“Hey, you wanna come over and eat, too bad, you can’t.”
-“I’m gonna warn you, I’m in a WILD mood.”
-“Jeez, this is sitcom noir!”
I can’t tell you how hard I laughed at this first time around, same deal as the elderly people going to steal fruit (Tom’s “Did someone switch reels on us” and Crow’s exasperated “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” are perfect). It was so bizarre and out-of-place, that scene. It seemed so random the first time around.
Finally, the “things I learned” series of jokes over the end credits was simply hilarious.
Some of my favorite riffs:
(Alex Rebar’s name appears) “Is he the guy they jam into freeway overpasses?”
“I don’t think the happy clown therapy is helping…”
“I’m a dried apple head! You can find me in a store in Door County!”
“I like the haphazard array of medical tools!”
“He’s talking to himself like Grandma…”
“Are we moving or is it the building?”
“1600 hours… so, like, five months from now?”
“General wants me to find the ADJKA!! melting man.”
“Oh, he’s bursting with flavor, too!”
“They shrunk me and I’m trapped on this huge log!”
“I’ve been a sheriff most of this movie and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Houston, put Mr. Woodman on. Kotter has a nosebleed.”
“You know how the citrus industry tempts them!”
“I won that scanning contest, but it cost me!”
“He’s Pillsbury Cinnamon Glaze Man.”
“You know, your Melting Man’s diet consists solely of eucalyptus leaves – and human flesh.”
“Ah, that’s what this movie needed: COUNTRY MUSIC!”
“I did get the lead in The Coleman Francis Story.”
“Didn’t she sit behind the Sweathogs?”
“The answer to: whatever happened to Jethro Tull?”
“Have you noticed how not a single power plant in not a single movie has ever been locked or inaccessible?”
“Hey, this would make an excellent fort!” “No time.”
“Your melting was completely cosmetic and it wasn’t covered by your medical plan!”
“Maybe there was a rider in his contract that he’d be in the film but he wouldn’t act.”
“HE WAS MY RIDE BACK!”
“Someone’s gonna throw him on a hockey rink.”
“This is what it looks like behind Chili’s.”
#10 CMWaters and #14 Richard R. have already pointed out the absurdity of the scientific premise of the movie. Somehow solar radiation is amplified by Saturn? Everyone melts but still manage to pilot themselves back to Earth? Having your flesh melt away at a constant rate not only makes you cannibalistic but also gives you super-human speed and strength?
I remember watching this with my fellow MST friends in grad school, and we ranked this one pretty high on our “absurd science” list. This gets me thinking of a potential future discussion topic: What is the lamest scientific explanation and/or plot device given in a MST movie?
For me it’s tough to choose, but I think my top three are:
1)Beginning of the End: Peter Graves’ “radiation makes photosynthesis, the growing process, occur day and night.” So be sure to fertilize your plants with lots of uranium!
2)Space Mutiny: David Ryder’s “high-density de-atomizer escape system.” If only it really had pulled apart all his atoms.
3)The Undead: Quentis merging with Diana’s brainwaves to travel back in time, sans clothes. Of course his wristwatch survives the psychic teleport perfectly intact.
By the way, you can hear a bit of the missing scene in the MST version: Just before Colonel Unearthly Healy leaves the plane, there’s a brief woman’s scream, which sounds very weird out of context.
And I always spelled it “Otchka!”
Also, let’s not forget the director of “The Silence of the Lambs” playing the doomed husband of the stoned redneck lady. Talk about a slow start in your career.
One of my all-time favorites. Bad acting, horrible ’70’s lighting, everyone looking pale and sweaty, the oddly compelling senior citizen sex scene. You couldn’t ask for much more from this film.
Fav riff: “I am definitely NOT Dr. Ted Nelson!”
Well, looks like I’m here to be the wet blanket pain in the ass. Another mediocre ep for me. The whole thing with Crow’s screenplay bored the crap out of me. I’m not a fan of most of the host segments that continue through the whole episode. “Laserblast” is the only ep from Season 7 that I like. This one is one big snore for me. Okay, back to the love fest! :)
“WHAT IS HAPPENING!?”, which Crow shouts as the crazy old couple ramble on, has become part of my everyday vernacular. Ted Nelson is hilarious. He just has so much contempt for everyone and everything. All he wants to do is settle in and watch TV for the evening and people keep making him do his job. Hilarious episode.
“He’s dressed like every high school burnout.”
I spelled it (in my head), Achka.
Tim should just post next time “Ibid”. We get it dude, Take a nap and set the alarm for “8:01”.
Love it. I just dug the whole idea of riffing this movie. Didn’t think much of the riffing when it first aired but I love it now. Probably I was turned off by what a dismal little film it is. When this movie came out when I was a kid it looked like the scariest movie imaginable judging from the ads. I think it was a shock to see how lame it really was.
Well, count me as another one who loves this episode. In fact, i was so struck by the total incompentce of our main hero that I named my Playstation Network ID after him (it’s TedNelsonIsBest…hit me up if anyone out there has a PS3 as well). The scene where he screams “I’m Dr. Ted Nelson!” at the cops, who promptly shoot him in the head, is one of my favorites of the whole show. :grin:
Everything in this one is perfect. The riffing, the host segments…everything. I’m suprised Comedy Central let them do such a gooey movie (that scene of Bill Gates’ head busting open is pretty nasty). I’m sure it’s because they just didn’t care anymore.
It’s interesting to see that people involved in this film would go on to do better things. Not only Rick Baker and Jonathan Demme (director of Silence of the Lambs) but also Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith, who shows up in “Laserblast” and one of my favorite exploitation films of all time, Massacre at Central High.
Oh, and i always figured Ted was saying “Hotchka!”
Love this episode. Seriously love it. Love the host segments, the riffing…I can watch this any time, and always find something to laugh at.
One of my favorite parts is the scene in the cemetery, with dialog from Melt’s recurring flashback, interspersed with riffs: “Resurrection in T-minus 15…” “The Lord’s main booster rockets have ignited.”
The odd scene with the wife mumbling to herself while cleaning up the milk the cat spilled (!?) in the kitchen is funny all on its own, but the comments M&tBs make add a nice punch.
And, Nicias, (#17), if you haven’t emailed Sampo to suggest your idea of “absurd science” as a weekend topic, please do – that would be interesting, and enjoyable!
#26 – Thanks. I’ll do that. I wasn’t sure what the usual method was for suggesting topics, being a relatively new user to the site.
You know, I compare this movie to the Mr. Creosote sketch too… in that the gore is so over-the-top goofy it fails to register as gross to me. And I’ve never been a fan of gore. As John Cleese once said, losing a finger is disgusting, but a whole hand is funny.
That said, it definitely is a standout episode if only for its moistness, but the quality of the riffs continues the trend of really strong episodes in 7. The “What did we learn” bit really does remind me of Season 1; they seemed to be “presenting” the movie more in those days (if that makes any sense). I half-expected some RAM chips to play in to this episode.
The revelation about the photographer at the murder scene only makes me loathe this movie more. The dude assaulted his model and the cops are just letting him wander around taking pictures of everything? The hell, movie?
Wow, JCC. I hearby issue an apology for having the temerity to express my opinion. I promise to only post opinions that mirror your own.
This is without a doubt one of the best episodes “MST3K” ever did. Unlike many episodes, there’s not a slow or weak stretch to it. From beginning to end, the riffing, the host segments, all stellar.
I am very surprised Comedy Central let this run unaltered. The bit with the severed head falling on the rocks and splitting open, in slow motion no less, made me wince. Definitely the goriest “MST3K.” They even got away with saying “Jesus”, which is still a network/basic cable no-no. As someone posted before, CC must not have cared too much. That would explain the pot-smoking in “Laserblast”.
The old people with the lemons… Crow sums it up best with his incredulous “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”
My favorite line: “OH! He threw HIMSELF up!”
Second favorite: “Who else knows about this?” “Well, me and half a nurse.”
Third favorite: “Now let’s get cracking on that script.”
Oh, and does anyone know who Jonathan Demme played?
The nurse chasing sequence is one of my all time favorite moments from any MST3K movie.
#25-The Professor:
Same Here! That’s exactly the way I had always interpreted it – “HOTCHKA!”
Like some others, it took me two or three viewings of the movie to get past the sheer nastiness of the visuals, and to a point where I came to appreciate how consistent and gut-bustingly funny the riffing is. Besides the COMPLETELY lame, un-scientific and unexplained premise, every single performance (with the exception of the kinky old couple) is just so…expressionless, unemotional, and blase. It’s like the craft services table was stocked with noting but big piles of Valium.
Of course, the host segments….nothing short of GENIUS! Extremely well executed, and well-deserved revenge (“…a dish best served cold”). You can just FEEL their collective venom permeate the air with each and every word. (I, also, would LOVE to be a fly on the wall, and witness the reaction of the “studio suits” to viewing those segments!)
This is a good one but not as high up on my list as it is for others. The host segments are a lot of fun and so’s the movie but nothing really sticks out for me.
Defintely the ickiest movie MST3K ever did (“Mitchell” running a close second). The lesson I learned? Never yell “I’m Dr. Ted Nelson!” at cops.
“The George Hamilton Story!”
Oh, how I love this episode. Loads of great memories from when this first premiered; I’d been wanting to see this movie for years (for the early work by Baker, of course), so I was ecstatic when it was announced. My favorite of what I consider a stellar season. Watching it gives me serious nostalgia.
And I always spelled it as “Otchka” as well.
“I pulled her wisdom teeth out through her skull.”
“Oh, he’s been to a movie theater.”
“This would be going so much better if he had eaten some crackers!”
“Let’s hide in one of your skin flaps!”
“Won that little scanning contest, but it cost me.”
“Rubbery trolls everywhere mourn her passing.”
“You know, he may not recover from this.”
#31 – Yes!!! Definitly the biggest WTF? moment in the whole movie. I mean…that long “U-StoreIt” shot goes on FOREVER…..and worst of all…THERE’S NOTHING CHASING HER! And then, the delightful cherry on top of it all is that hysterically funny “camcorder on rollerblades” shot. 24 karat Bad Movie GOLD, I tell ya!
#32 rockyjones – (I, also, would LOVE to be a fly on the wall, and witness the reaction of the “studio suits” to viewing those segments!)
They probably were too busy doing lines of blow off the asses of $1000 hookers to notice.
No, really. I can’t imagine anyone at the studio would gave a damn even if they knew such bits existed. I know we all love MST3K, but really… the Brains are not exactly Hollywood powerhouses. At best, “bug on a windshield” level slight annoyance for maybe three seconds.
#37 – M: Yeah…you’re probably right. I guess you’re pretty much unaffected by satire when you’re soul is dead. LOL
…that’s “your”, not “you’re”…..the second “you’re”, not the first one…. :roll:
…I mean the THIRD “you’re”…..not the second “you’re”….
help me!!!!
I like all the season 7 eps and this one is no exception. It’s funny that the gore grossed some of y’all out but it didn’t bother me and I’m usually very squeamish. I can’t even watch toenail fungus commercials b/c they make me feel faint.
Fave riff:
Melting Man in space capsule: “I.M.U.”
Mike (I think): “You are not me, stop saying that!”
The best thing about this one though is the little trick I learned to get songs unstuck from your head. I just say out loud “Try humming Seasons in the Sun, that should dislodge it” and I kid you not, it works every time :mrgreen: . Sometimes I might have to say it twice within a span of a few minutes but it never fails. The best part though is you don’t have to actually hum it, just say those magic words and the song will be gone. I’ve thankfully never gotten ‘Seasons in the Sun’ then stuck there in its place but if I ever do, I’m screwed.
By my rankings my third fav ep of all time.
An absolute classic of the first rank.
There are so many good riffs in this ep, and they land me on the floor everytime, that I don’t even want to mention them for fear they will become too familiar and when I next view this perfect ep it won’t be as funny.
Don’t agree Sampo, sorry. The host segs are very good and memorable in this ep but in no way overshadow the movie which is a perfect pick. (that only happens in a few eps like Last of the Wild Horses).
This ep combines what I like best in MST. A really dark, dark horrible film that inspires quite dark riffing. A silly monster, a wretched script, inept direction and acting. And an ending from hell.
Ahtchka! (actually what cracks me up most about that scene is Dr. Ted Nelson’s obsession with crackers.
P. S. Who has seen the unmsted version? Lots of melting was cut out and quite a few other scenes, including lovely “Rainbeux’s” topless scene (you know, the chick from Laserblast). It’s worth watching in its own right.
“It’s free, and it’s fun, and it’ll be sad when we find the head”
When I was a kid the title of the movie facinated me. I ran into it while I was looking through a catalogue of VHS titles once (my parents owned a video store), and the concept of a melting man sounded sickening and creepy.
I had all but forgotten about the title until I saw it in the ACEG. I was even more intrigued to see what kind of movie it could be, especially if it was being riffed.
Well I finally got to see this episode last week and all I can say is :shock:
Like a few others on here, I was surprised that Comedy Central let them show this. The gore effects take up most of the movie and they are pretty squishy. It didn’t bother me or my wife, but as evidanced by some of the comments on here it could get to people.
Still Dr. Ted Nelson is now one of my favorite characters in a MST3K film (up there with Trumpy and Ator). His dispair over crackers, his doping up of his wife, and his constant shouting of his name at the end just made him one of the most incompitent heros I’ve seen.
Lots of great riffing and very little in the way of slow spots in this one. Much like “Deathstalker”, it seems that Mike and bots just come out swinging in this one and don’t let up. And even the repeated flashbacks are handled very well.
As someone mentioned above, I don’t know what it is about many of the movies of the 70’s that seems coated in this grim, gritty and angsty layer of ooze. This would make a good companion piece with “Mitchell” – but then you’d have to take a shower, or watch something that was pure goofy cheese from the 80’s, like “Hobgoblins”! :twisted:
I guess I must be another one of the “squeamish ones”; I remember laughing quite a bit when I saw this episode, but it was a nervous laughter, if that makes any sense. Still, for me there’s a pleasant tiny “They just didn’t care” touch at the very end, where the next (apparently also doomed) rocket launch uses stock footage of Saturn IBs… and one shot is of a rocket with an Apollo spacecraft on top, and the next shot is of a rocket without one.
OMG, Ted Nelson has to be the most whiny spineless character seen in a long time. Burr did a great job as a whine-ass. The whole crackers bit, what’s so damn special about having crackers? There’s been times when we have dinner and we forgot an item, I have never whined that much about a missing side item. His wife’s facial expression never changes. Also at the end of the film, why was Ted trying to save the melting man? Did he have a cure for him? Do you thing Steve would logically listen to him and go back to the lab with him? And imagine the mess he would have left in his car if they did go back.
Overall a real funny film, I also loved Dr. Forrester’s obsession with bottled water. “Mother I think I can get my head in here”
I love this episode. I saw the movie on tv in the 5th grade and liked it then.
I am a life long chronic clinical depressive. Before I was put on high grade anti-depressants around my 21st birthday I had a lot of really far out symptoms, including a feeling of emotionally collapsing/dissolving/disintigrating/rotting.
For this reason the Melting Man is possibly the movie monster I relate to the most, aside from the walking dead in Lucio Fulce’s movie “Zombie”.
I even felt a profound nausousness that can best be described as needing to “throw myself up”, as crow aptly put it. Throw in a sense of worthlessness, like being garbage that need to be scraped up and thrown away, and… Hey, I AM MELTING MAN!
Oh wait, I’m not. Sorry about that. Anyway, the meds are good. And if I keep improving my doctor says I might be able to take that job at the post office.
This episode reminds us how funny dissolving can be if viewed from the right perspective.
I just don’t understand white people.
Sometimes, in my darkest hours, I find that I must restrain myself from walking up to a security guard and screaming “I’m Ted Nelson!”
This may be my favorite episode. There are so many moments that set me off laughing merely by thinking of them.
Here I’ll just note the first host segment, where Tom beans Mike as Umpire Crow yells “Heeerrraaikke.” Comedians should be judged by how many laughs they generate when they take a shot to the head — if you can’t get a laugh with that, you’re just not funny.