Movie: (1975) A meteor crashes in Wisconsin, laden with the eggs of otherworldly spiders. Incompetent local officials try to respond.
First shown: 5/31/97
Opening: Tom shows spirit, but Mike and Crow only offer MRxL
Intro: The campers recall their trip, Tom portages and Pearl shares some pod-like “zucchini”
Host segment 1: Pod-Gypsy suggests sleep, but Mike is suspicious
Host segment 2: Mike and the bots try to stay awake, while Bobo is skeptical
Host segment 3: Pod-Servo seems convincing, until asked about his “collection”
End: Bobo saves the day, but Pearl declares movie sign … again!
Stinger: Pthpthpthp!
(325 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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• At last. With this episode you can sense that the channel begins to trust BBI more, and the result is a memorable gem. We get the first color movie of the Sci-Fi Channel era, and what a movie! A real departure from the sameness of the film choices up to this point. The segments playfully take on another classic sci-fi trope and the riffing is top-of-the-line. All-in-all a landmark, breakthrough episode.
• Get Paul’s rather dyspeptic take here, which includes some mild satirical slander to which director Bill Rebane himself, in humorless email to us, took personal offense, causing us to add a disclaimer on that page.
• References.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 10
• Callback: “Down and down…” (The Mole People), “Somebody tampered in God’s domain,” (Bride of the Monster), “Did you beef?” (I Was a Teenage Werewolf).
• During the intro, Tom gets even for getting clobbered during the very similar “board routine” in episode 614- San Francisco International.
• Of course, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers'” (and other pod-based horror movies) have their turn at being parodied.
• Bill Williams, who played bar owner Dutch, and Barbara Hale, who played scientist Jenny Langer, were real-life husband and wife, and their son is William Katt, best remembered for his starring role in TV’s “The Greatest American Hero.”
• Daleism: As the we see the dying girl’s hand: “He thought I was Dale!”
• When amped-up Crow is in the theater, a heart beating sound effect continues for several minutes.
• The giant spider sat on a Volkswagen chassis; a driver and another eight men were inside to control each leg. That must have been fun.
• Those who’d never seen “MST3K: The Movie” were probably baffled by the host segment reference to Tom Servo’s underwear collection.
• Of course, the cry “PACKERS!!!!” became an immediate catchphrase.
In fact in February of 2011, on the night the Packers DID, in fact, win the Super Bowl, I was retweeted hundreds of times after I tweeted this Youtube video.
• In 2013, what was left of the giant spider, a rusting metal frame, was stolen from a field in Merrill.
• Cast and crew roundup: Producer-Director Bill Rebane also did “Monster A Go-Go.” Assistant director/unit manager Barbara Rebane did the costumes for “Monster A Go-Go.” In front of the camera, Steve Brodie was also in “Wild World of Batwoman.” Alan Hale Jr. was also in “The Crawling Hand” and “Angels Revenge.” Robert Easton (who also got a screenwriter credit for this movie) did the voices in the British 1965 TV series “Stingray,” episodes of which were included in the the TV-movie that was featured in episode K01-INVADERS FROM THE DEEP. He was also in “The Touch Of Satan.”
• CreditsWatch: Jim is listed as producer for the last time in the series. Kevin is director. He is also associate producer for the last time. Interns Tamara Melloy and Randy Smith begin a four-episode stint.
• Fave riff: “I hate it when a movie kills off a beloved character … this is great, though!” Honorable mention: “His Hagar slacks have a waistband with repressed memories.” “Admit it! You felt something when I rolled on you!”
• Oh, and remember: honor the umlaut!
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Bolem – I liked your comments in post #89. I hadn’t realize what a dupe I’ve been all these years. It made me a little embarrassed about all the cheezy crap strewn throughout my home, from my DEVO hat to the Superfriends dvd I’m currently watching. Ah, well. GO PACKERS! WHOOOOOOO!
About the giant spider in this movie. As bad as the whole movie is, I think it doesn’t get silly until the giant spider makes its first appearance. Even the medium-sized fake spider is okay. It’s clearly fake but not enough to take me out of the movie.
The giant spider is essentially a parade float. It’s not even shaped like a spider. Had there been at least one smaller body segment at the front, it would have gone a long way to make the spider look decent. But no, it’s just one round body with a face and but that look the same. It’s sad when even the monster in The Creeping Terror outshines you.
Elvis@#101: Errr…you mean the 20-year cycle of pop-culture rehash being timed to make us buy stuff? I certainly didn’t mean to make anyone else feel like a dupe, since my basement and spare bedroom have probably got 3 or 4 dupes-worth of comparable stuff.
And about that wiki-link in #98: There’s still an active fan-movement to bring back SURGE!? Man, I should’ve never given up my campaign to have Dr. Slice resurrected just because it was hopeless and silly. Now THAT was a unique pop that only lasted about a month.
“There are many arguments to be made about Bill Corbett’s inferiority to Trace Beaulieu, some better than others, but lamenting Corbett’s failure to make one Trek-related comment about one actress is probably the silliest argument to date.”
What about my argument that Trace was better because he had plumper eyebrows?
Yes, that’s what I was talking about, Willis. I don’t take any personal offense. But if they are pandering to my sense of nostalgia and buying power, where the hell are my Thundarr the Barbarian and (Adam West)Batman dvds already!!! No, I’m just gazing into the deep, dark, truthful mirror. And I look FANTASTIC. One memory of Surge: I work with a guy who, when it was available, would buy and drink Surge soley so that he could use a Sharpie and write a P into the logo to make it say Spurge, then drink it in front of someone to see who thought he was clever. I think he may still be waiting…
Err… the Willis I’m talking about is the Bolem #103.
This episode was fun and I have watched it multiple times over the years. Landmark episode? I can’t agree with that. Enjoyable, though.
Leslie Parrish (Ev Kester) is the soulmate of writer Richard Bach, most famous for “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and “Illusions”. She was featured prominently in “The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story” and “One”.
I liked “Illusions” so much that I read it in one evening well over 10 years ago, and I enjoyed “The Bridge Across Forever” a lot, too.
What always sticks out to me is how both Robert Easton movies feature conspicuous jabs at “Holy Rollers.”
They are almost the only MST’d movies that do this, apart from “The Dead Talk Back.”
One memory of seeing this for the first time that I can’t believe I forgot until now:
Leech Woman was my first SciFi ep, and it was just such a letdown that she never actually turned into some sort of leech monster. While I eventually got over it, I was still so disillusioned by halfway through my first viewing of #810 (probably the late July rerun) I was convinced that all those tarantulas meant it was a giant invasion of slightly-larger-than-average spiders. I therefore cannot describe the joy I felt as that dresser drawer opened, prompting, “We’re your dirty socks! Wash Us!” It just kinda’ made me believe again, y’know?
The next minute must’ve been the first time I actually heard, “I’m a Woozle, and my name is Peanut”, after reading the explaination in ACEG. Jeff Dunham riffs are becoming more topical than ever now that he’s getting his own show. ACEG expresses confusion over just what a woozle is, but I’d just assume he means the woozles from Winnie the Pooh. However those woozles were just mispronounced weasels, and Dunham’s puppet is some sort of primate with a humanish purple head. The only thing I remember from seeing his bits when I was 8 are the jalapeno on a stick.
In fact, the bit I most clearly remember is it crying from the prop box, “Help! There’s a big, black, hairy tarantula…on a stiiiiick.” Wow. Circle of life.
fathermushroom says:
October 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
“What always sticks out to me is how both Robert Easton movies feature conspicuous jabs at “Holy Rollers.”
They are almost the only MST’d movies that do this, apart from “The Dead Talk Back.” ”
Good observation. Robert Easton is also in the movie Paint Your Wagon, an over-budget musical starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin. That movie also has a frontier preacher that no one takes seriously.
Cabbage Patch Elvis #105: But if they are pandering to my sense of nostalgia and buying power, where the hell are my Thundarr the Barbarian and (Adam West)Batman dvds already!!!
I have no idea about Thundarr, but if you go to TV Shows on DVD and look up the news items for Batman, you’ll find an article detailing all the legal issues that prevent it from being released on DVD.
“Sounds like a nice place, wish we could see it.”
The lighting in this stinkburger WAS quite dreadful.
I wasn’t too thrilled with this episode. I wasn’t bored to tears, but I wasn’t really laughing alot, either. A few giggles here and there. Overall, I could mostly leave it.
Host segments were boring. MRxL? (Kevin DID do a spot-on impression of an annoying cheerleader though).
One of the better lines: “And somewhere in the world, a helicopter exists.” – Mike.
Sitting Duck @111. Excellent suggestion, thx.
Just watched this again, and here are my favorite lines:
1.Don Juan DeStinko.
2.I just caught a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror.
3.Ev: Looks like you could use a drink.
Tom Servo: “And a shower and a job”
4.Im heading over to Taco John’s until this blows over.
5. Pancakes? Ill be right over!
6. Woo, he stood up, he should get hazzard pay for this.
7. Maybe If I kill myself, people will remember me fondly.
8. They keep their garbage in the refridgrator?
9. An afternoon with Sandra Locke.
10. My toenail finaly fell off.
Finally! A film in color! Slimy, greasy, puke-inducing ’70’s style color, but color nonetheless. As Sampo noted, this experiment is a radical departure from the usual fare of movies MST had been doing, and I think the jolt of doing something different inspired the writers in a big way. This is truly a Season 8 gem, and the season really takes off from here imo.
I should mention that this is an ep that took its time growing on me. When I first watched it, I was so sickened by several of the characters and the plot, I purposely avoided watching it for afew years afterwards. Then I gave it a chance about three months ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The riffing is lively and constant, and the host segments parody one of my fave sci-fi/horror movies. I particularly loved Gypsy’s little ditty, very unlike her to sing something so dark.
One personal note: during the sketch with Bobo trying to take the zuccini away from Pearl, she screeches in a high-pitched tone. My cat was in the room with me at the time, and the sound freaked him out! He jumped out of the chair he was resting on, ears pricked up, looking around the room confused. It added an extra dab of comedy to the viewing experience.
The whole “Packers!” thing is something I can’t really enjoy. It was those same Packers that beat my beloved New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, so whenever that joke springs up, bad memories come flooding back of Brett “I’m retired…no wait! I’m not!” Favre running to the sidelines celebrating. Sorry.
Finally, I’m alittle embarassed to admit this, but I think Leslie Parrish is pretty hot as a white trash woman in this movie. She portrays a redneck woman very well in this. I’d definitely buy her a Bloody Mary (minus the furry spider) anytime. She’s not as hot a white trash lady as “Liz Baby” from Attack of the Giant Leeches, but the actress is easy on the eyes.
“With this episode you can sense that the channel begins to trust BBI more, and the result is the first of a memorable stretch of episodes”
Sorry, Sampo, but I’m not sure what the above quote means. Are you saying that at this point the Sci-Fi channel (not the SyFy channel or the Sigh-Figh channel yet) let the BBI more freely chose their films? I’ve heard that before but never that this is the point of departure, at least officially. Can you confirm for this geek?
Well, it’s not from the 50’s and yes why not have a break from the McCarthy/Freud/Jitterbug era? It’s a fun movie and a fun ep but just a solid one that does lose its momentum at times. I really love the redneck scenes. When the Brains do redneck it’s gonna be fun, as in Incredible Melting Man (which is much better).
I think folks are way more enthusiastic about this one, than this here me, but, yep, that might just be the moonshine talkin’
See ya all later this week fer some Clonin’!
B+
Bill Rebane is selling autographed copies of his Special Edition DVD on the official Giant Spider Invasion site.
http://www.giantspiderinvasion.com
This episode has contributed to my life in an indelible way – every time (and I do mean every time) I hear a friend or a family member make a lame joke, I reply with “Not a joke, but an incredible simulation!” I even use it as a saver whenever I tell a joke that doesn’t go over well!
“Well, m’ thumb’s clean off now…” I don’t know why, but that makes me laugh so hard I wheeze. Actually, a lot of this episode does that to me. “Aw, right in the middle of my heart attack!”
I’m not a huge SciFi era fan, but this episode is definitely up there with my favorites from Seasons 5, 6, and 7. There’s a playful energy coursing through the theater that results in the strongest riffing of any Season 8 episode so far. “I found another body…” “Well good, ’cause yours was gettin’ kinda gross.”
Oh, and PACKERS!
I also like this episode for the fact that it makes fun of Packers fans. As a humble Chicago Bears fan, it was a lot of fun.
I’m generalizing here but I think one of the reasons this episode stands out in the Season 8 chronology is that this incarnation of the MST crew does a better job riffing the more modern-era films. The string of B&W Universal films preceding this might have been more lively and memorable had Joel, Trace and Frank been present in the writing room.
This is the first of the great “Hick Horror” Quadrilogy of the Sci-Fi years: 810 – The Giant Spider Invasion, 908 – The Touch Of Satan, 1006 – Boggy Creek II , and 1012 – Squirm. For whatever reason, the comedic chemistry of Mike, Bill, and Kevin (along with the other writers) is just right for skewering these supernatural redneck stories.
Fav riff’s:
Crow- “A showered person, thank god!”
Tom- “Honey, MIT called!”
And of course, the endless cries of “Packers!”
Something just occurred to me about the end; after the pods are killed and the real bots emerge, Crow says, “They had us tied up”, to explain how they just immediately walked back onto the bridge. That doesn’t explain why Pearl and Observer don’t remember the last 2 hours, but it may also have been an intentional shot at what was left unexplained in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. (I haven’t seen either remake) The original classic never explained what happens to original human after they’re replaced by a pod (a mass grave would’ve warranted mention), and when Becky falls asleep near the end, she simply wakes up a second later in allegiance with the pods, apparently not replaced as much as assimilated!
Don’t get me wrong, the original IOTBS is probably the most disturbing and timeless of all movies fueled by cold-war paranoia…despite the fact that it doesn’t seem to have its own rules straight, which is even more impressive.
And for that matter, the spare Observer robe indicates that they duplicated his “body” as well, but wouldn’t it make more sense for a pod replicating him to just become a copy of his brain and control the same host/symbiote body?
Yeah, yeah, it’s just a show. One with enough layers to be worth dissecting.
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One of my favorite episodes, 5 stars. All of the host segments are good. MRxL! All of the cries of “Packers!” were of course meant to be insulting to Packers fans(Most of the writers are Vikings fans), but I never found it insulting and use it whenever football season rolls about. Two years ago, I even got to use “Packers won the Superbowl! Wooo!”(Hopefully I can use that phrase again sometime soon for their 5th Superbowl win). I suppose its like when Saturday Night Live did the Superfans sketches and Bears fans loved it. This film has the 2nd highest riffs per minute of any Sci-Fi channel era movie and 10th highest overall. The movie after next has the highest of any Sci-Fi era movie.
Sampo, I wonder if you were responsible for Kevin and Bill to respond to the tweets of “Packers won the Superbowl!”
Favorite Lines:
(Shot of a dingy house with two hicks outside)
Servo: Brett Favre at home. (Something both Vikings and Packers fans can appreciate after 2009. Even with the attempts at reconciliation going on, many of us Packers fans still hold grudges at Favre’s “Defecting to the Enemy”)
[Mike and the ‘bots all react with utter revulsion as Kester drops his pants, exposing filthy red long underwear.]
Mike: Ugh, he’s pink!
Servo: I don’t know how, but I think I just became sterile!
Crow: [cheering] Go spiders! Go spiders! Go go spiders!
Ev: You look like you could use a drink.
Servo [as Ev]: And a shower, and a job.
Kester: I found another body.
Mike: (As Ev) Good, ’cause yours was getting kind of gross.
Kester: A human body.
Crow: It was walking along the side of the road and I killed it.
Servo: Dutch would only give me 39 cents a pound.
Kester: They’ll find all that grass we’re growing!
Servo: Lawns are illegal in Wisconsin?
Servo: You know, he inflates his wattle to attract women.
Kester: You wouldn’t know rabbit turds from Rice Krispies!
Crow: Snap, crackle, poop.
Mike: They saved a lot buying the old Gein place.
Servo: Lion’s Club medium-rare chicken booth
Mike: Basted with sun-brewed mayonnaise
Mike: It’s befuddlin’ my dumb cracker mind!
Servo: I hope that bomb didn’t land on our pile of tires and our busted refrigerator in the yard and the rusted chassis of our 68 Impala!
PACKERS!!!
Always a fun time watching this episode.
So how exactly does the greasy, long john wearing, back trussing hick get to sex up the local floozy? I just don’t see it. I think she would be more into the high school boys that got left back a few times. Oh wait he pays her money. No wonder he and Ev live so poorly..all their money goes to floozies.
Packers!
In the role reversal department, can’t you just see Trace’s Crow doing the spirit routine with Tom mocking him instead of the way it was presented? Yet there is no way Bill could pull it off. Either way Kevin does it just a little too well and that frightens me.
Then there is Tom portaging. We’ve already seen the board routine on this show so this fell flat for me.
As for the storyline in the rest of the host segments… There is some clever mixed in here and there, but I never really laughed. It’s the kind of thing that I feel like I should have enjoyed more than I did.
They’ve watched movies much worse than this. There have been characters less likeable than these. But I think this is the most repulsive movie they’ve ever watched. And just think, they had to see it twice.
There is a ton of absurd in this movie. But what takes the cake for me is the thought of that one white trash guy being a diamond expert.
I see my Alma matter the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point was listed in the credits. I thought I recognized one of the stairwells in the film from the science building. I presume the planetarium was shot there two. I was only in there a handful of times close to 20 years ago so my memory is hazy, but I have to say that didn’t look familiar.
In closing as a resident of Wisconsin, I feel I owe the rest of you an apology for this movie. I really am sorry.
Favorite Riffs:
The meteorite crashes. Crow “Hooterville was decimated by scud missiles that day.”
Alan Hale “I wonder why she hung up on me.” Crow “Maybe your bodily funk travels over the phone lines.”
Animal carcasses are shown. Mike “Were we supposed to be feeding the cattle?”
Mike “You know this movie tested well with sexual predators.”
Mike as Alan in the bar: “I gotta go drain the little buddy. I’ll be right back.”
The Giant Spider Invasion fails the Bechdel Test. The only conversation between two female characters is when Dr. Langer introduces Dr. Vance to Mary.
BTW I’ve finally gotten around to updating the Bechdel Test results. Here’s the list of updated titles.
Being surprised that a scientist happens to be a woman could pass muster in the Fifties when such were still relatively uncommon. But it really stretches credibility in a more modern film.
Love how they did up Crow as all hopped up on stimulants. Though personally I thought Surge was gross.
Johnny Ryde #19: Since the SoL is orbiting the camping planet, several hundred years in our future… who is Mike saying “We’ll be right back” to when they go to commercial?
Probably just doing it out of habit.
@ #120: You’ll pardon if I come across as an anal retentive etymology weenie, but the correct word is tetralogy.
Favorite riffs:
I’m Ready for some muskrat lovin’.
Pull up, Laika! Pull up!
Hooterville was decimated by Scud missiles that day.
I figure we can have sex ’til this blows over.
Not a joke, but an incredible simulation.
Ignore the blood here.
Shot on location in Ms. Herberger’s bio class.
Well, Bessie’d been depressed, but I didn’t think she’d do this.
The hills are alive with the stink of that guy.
You know, this movie tested well with sexual predators.
I’ve gotta go drain the little buddy.
The doctor should have been more specific when he told her to get plenty of fluids.
Charlotte’s doing bachelor parties now.
I feel shaky, oh so trembly, I’ve had whiskey and vodka and gin!
Real Stories of the Fake Highway Patrol.
Walking Tall 3: The High Cholestorol Years.
“What’s a space warp?”
We made it up.
I hate it when a movie kills off a beloved character. This is great, though.
Barbara Hale and Doughy Guy in The Defiant Ones.
Is this going to be another case of a scientist declaring martial law?
(Sort of callback to Revenge of the Creature)
I guess somebody tampered in God’s domain or something.
Bill Rebane has his very own webpage. Here’s a link to his memories of Giant Spider Invasion and some info about the rediscovery of the frame of the Volkswagon spider and its display in the metropolis of Gleason (just north of Merrill which is just north of Wausau which is just north of Stevens Point which is just north of Portage which is jus north of Madison which is a little northwest of Chicago — that’s how I had to give directions to my home when I lived in Merrill). http://www.billrebanenews.com/v3/archives/20080703_giant_spider_invasion_link_to_county's_moviemaking/
The part of Ev Kester was played by Leslie Parrish. Born Marjorie Hellen on March 13, 1935 in Melrose, Massachusetts, she started as a model, and in 1955 became an actress. She acted under her birth name, Marjorie Helen, until 1959. Afterwards she was known as Leslie Parrish. She appeared in more than 100 TV shows. She is known as one of the first women producers. She’s always had a passion for music. She was involved in social causes such as the Vietnam War. She met the airplane pilot/writer Richard D. Bach during the making of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973), and they married in 1977. They divorced in 1997.
Favorite Lines:
Special, but unknown guest star [Leslie Parrish].
How can you have a guest star in a movie?
Bill Rebane, one of the finest directors to come out of north central Wisconsin.
[Davy and Ev on the porch] Casual day at Hazelton. She’s drinking fermented yoohoo.
They saved a lot buying the old Gein place. I suppose I should move grandma’s body out of the den now.
The movie that takes the bold step of not including the audience.
[Dan Kester/Robert Easton] Our proud Viking heritage.
And the movie ramps up its repulsion.
[Dr. Langer/Barbara Hale] Hey it’s Della Street. It’s the hot line to Paul’s operatives.
“…collapsed stars.” Like Robert Downey.
[Dr. Vance/Steve Brodie] He’s got a hatchet wound.
McRib sandwich with McFlys…Cow tipping gone horribly wrong.
This movie tested well with sexual predators.
[Helga the waitress without bra] Welcome to Hooters.
[Ev pouring booze] The doctor should have been more specific when he told her to get plenty of fluids.
“Lay off the booze, Ev, and they’ll go away.” You know in her defense, laying off the booze would mean seeing him sober.
Guys, I think we are deep into film student territory here.
The family in Tobacco Road had a nicer farm than this.
Bill Rebane’s trademark: a shot of crumpled underpants.
The diamond anniversary ring: tell her you’d marry her right out of high school all over again.
[Cousin Billy/Paul Bentzen] Charles Manson, jeweler. His hair started a grease fire.
Barbara Hale and Doughy Guy in “The Defiant Ones.”
Is this going to be another case of a scientist declaring Marshall Law…Where’s John Agar when you need him?
I am death, destroyer of lawns.
Final Thought: This one is starting to grow on me. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
Well, I better finish my Silverfish en Croute…
Crow’s cheerful-sounding digs are the ones that dig deepest into my funnybone.
“Want a piece of milk?”
“You know when Barbara Hale won her Oscar for this, she made a touching speech where she said, in effect, VA-AAAANNNNNNNNNN!!“
This is a particularly grotty movie. It looks icky and dirty. Watching it makes me want to take a shower or at least bust out the Clorox.
But Robert Eastman is A LOT of fun as an actor. Love his performance.
I’ve lived in Wisconsin for 50 years, and I can honestly say I’ve rarely met anyone like these characters, nor has my Packer-shareholder sister who lives in Arkansas. The one person I do know like them right now is actually from upstate New York. Of course, I don’t get out very much…
The episodes with 70s movies are probably my least favorite in the series. There are only three or four of them I enjoy, and this is not one of them. I do like the host segments, though. And it’s almost the time of year for me to don my Aaron Rodgers jersey and root for the PACKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I never wear a cheesehead, though. Too heavy, and they give me a headache. I used to have some foam cheese earrings, but I had an allergy to the metal wires. I still wore them until I lost one. It was the least I could do for the team, and I’m sure my playing through pain helped them have many victories.
I have most of the Perry Mason series on DVD. Barbara Hale looked almost the same back then.
“Hey, it’s in color.”
Well, thank god. Listen, I like black and white movies as much as the next guy, but the previous 9 episodes were starting to blend together in all of their grayness… things were starting to get. . . samesy. With The Giant Spider Invasion, season 8 really starts to break open, when things start to get “pleasant and quality,” if you will.
The Body Snatchers parody running through the Host Segments is great. Pearl and Brain Guy are really good, but Bobo has some of the best moments and he gets a chance to shine here. I like that they give a callback to his lineage. Always nice to hear about Godo and Chim Chim.
The Host Segments proper are all great; Pod Gypsy, jittery Crow, and Servo’s underwear collection all make me laugh. I like Crow’s line in HS#3: “Frankly, I don’t see why we need a Servo at all.”
As for the movie, compared to some of the previous episodes, The Giant Spider Invasion is simultaneously a breath of fresh air and also a stinky, gross 70s mess. I love it. The special effects are so goofily charming and the story and plot are. . .wait, what is the story? Some alien spiders land in the boonies and the scientists use something that causes a reverse explosion to make it melt? Is that about right? I’m not really sure what some of the plot mechanics are in this movie, but it doesn’t really matter because the riffing is great and Mike and the Bots seem to be having a blast watching this cheeseburger.
Wisconsin auteur Bill Rebane is the man behind Monster A Go-Go, although only partly, as he was unable to finish the film due to underfunding, so Rebane sold the footage to Herschell Gordon Lewis, who completed the movie and released it (with Rebane’s name still attached). I think we all know how that one turned out. . . . The only other Bill Rebane movie I’ve see is 1983’s Demons of Ludlow, which is about a haunted piano and is just as weird as that brief description implies (if you like cheese, seek it out).
I watched Pete’s Dragon (you know, the Disney movie) earlier this summer and was surprised to see Robert Easton (the greasy Kestor) as one of the singing and dancing townsfolk of Passamaquaoddy (or whatever). The movie also has Jim Backus in it, so I was doing all sorts of MST jokes in my head, which helped, as Pete’s Dragon isn’t really that great of a movie..
—
RIFFS:
Mike: “Hey it’s a giant spider invasion of savings at Menards!”
Crow: “Go spiders! Go spiders! Go spiders!”
Crow: “Moses! Move the bike.”
Mike: “This movie played well with sexual predators.”
spider in blender,
Crow: “Weeeeeeee!” —–i still find this gross (#68)
Crow: “Snuffaluffagus! No!!”
Mike: “The shroud of Debbie.”
screen goes black,
Crow: “Are we dead, Mike?”
Crow: “It came from planet gross-out.”
Servo: “I ate too much ice cream.”
–
Great episode,
the first classic of the Sci-Fi era,
and oh yeah,
PACKERS WON THE SUPER BOWL!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
5/5!
–
–
“now send ’em the movie again!”
All I can say is Go Packers!
I’ve always loved this episode, one of my favorites, and even without Mike & The Bots, the movie is an entertainingly awful mess. Sure, the film is at worst repulsive and at best, erm, just 1970’s-ish, but there’s still something intoxicating about it. Or maybe that’s just due to all of the screentime Ev gets, I don’t know.
This ep and the next were the one-two punch that moved me from casual fan to hardcore MSTie, and, IMO, it was here that season 8 really hit its stride, which lasted until the end of the season. Frankly, from this episode to the season’s end, I consider that the best of the Sci-Fi era (and I really like the Sci-Fi years as a whole).
How could they say Leslie Parrish was unknown? Every Star Trek fan knows Leslie Parrish and the cloth that Bill Theiss draped over her (affixed with double-sided tape, so we’re told.) Still don’t know how you can be a guest star in a movie, though.
(I already said this in 2009… that’ll teach me to do a ctrl-F.)
Hi, I’m Dr. J.R. Vance from NASA
(Tom S) I’m Doctorr vancesenpansen vlasser
peed my pants laughing so hard… loved this episode… gonna go watch it again.
About a week or two before the 2011 Super bowl, my family and I actually watched this episode. I like to think we helped in some small karmic way. Also SSUURRGGEE!!!
Spiders are creepy
I live on the east coast (NJ) and we don’t have Menard’s here. In July, I made a pilgrimage to visit my sister in Indiana so I got to say, “It’s a giant spider invasion of savings at Menard’s!” like, every ten feet.
I really wish I had known Robert Easton’s story before he died, I would’ve enjoyed seeing him pop up in things like this all the more if I knew just how amazing of a person he was.
I play golf, and I write catchphrases on a lot of my golf balls so I don’t lose them or confuse them with somebody else’s. Anyway, I pay homage to this episode by writing “MRxL” on some of them. And “Packers”, but that, of course, has nothing to do with this episode. I just love the Packers.
Woo! Packers! PACKERS!
“Hey, Honey, I’m home!”
“Honey, Packers won the Super Bowl! Woo!”
One of the top 5 Sci-Fi episodes for sure! This episode is entertaining all the way through and I loved all the character bashing which was as much fun as the backwards hicks in the swamp village in Giant Leeches. You can tell the Brains are taking a special glee in trashing what was their home area for a lot of them. I generally don’t care for the Sci-Fi episodes a whole lot but this one was a classic, 5 stars!
Whenever we have trouble nailing down a solution at a company meeting, I blurt out “its befuddling my dumb cracker mind”!—-LOVE this episode, definitely top 10!
“They’re throw pillows. They’re throw pillows!”
Easily one of my all-time favorite episodes.
Oh yes, I probably watch this one at least once every three months. A big favorite.
There’s a riff in this that pops into my head quite frequently. When Vance is incredulous that Dr. Langer is actually the woman he sees before him, not her husband, father, brother, father-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, grandfather, step-father, male cousin, etc., Tom riffs, “Humor of the 1840s!”
Well, “humor of the 1840s” pops up into my head any time I run into an extremely backwards joke, a joke that’s so ignorant it borders on hostility. It’s the all-purpose can opener of riffs!
One of the truly iconic films of the entire run. Up there with MANOS and Bill Rebane’s other cinematic abortion MONSTER A-GO-GO. Greasy pot farmer, his pickled wife, a whore who serves funnel cakes, beer and spaghetti between tricks, Alan and Barbara Hale’s gaggingly bad performances, Steve Brodie’s turn as a befuddled misogynistic scientist, and a VW bug dressed up as a giant spider. What’s not to love?
Bill Rebane did THIS movie, AND also did “Monster A Go-Go,” and found Bill’s remarks “personally offensive?
If I had paid money to see these films I would have been so offended I would have started a class action suit!
Amazing what some people do and THEN get offended by other’s “actions.”
“I knew Bessie’d been depressed, but I never thought she’d do this.”
One of their best episodes ever.