First shown: 6/7/97
Opening: Mike has a moustache and the bots like it–sort of
Intro: Three runaway space children awaken the campers
Host segment 1: The campers are forced to play games with the kids
Host segment 2: M&TB help Pearl out by putting on a public TV show
Host segment 3: Pearl, Bobo and Observer have “that” chat with the kids
End: Crow has a nosejob, and Tom has written a poem for the kids
Stinger: “Sure!”
(123 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)
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Let’s get started…today!
• Paul’s take on the episode is here.
• As I mentioned in last week’s discussion thread, I think this is a (comparatively) well-written and thought-provoking story, even if it is hamfistedly acted and directed. Still, it’s in color, it’s in focus, and its budget was (compared to most other MSTed movies) pretty big, so it’s pretty easy to look at, which helps make it a very watchable episode. The riffing starts slowly, but builds, and by the time of the campfire love scene they are really clicking. The segments—featuring a new, brief, story arc with the temperamental and omnipotent space children—are fun. Not sensational, but there are definitely some laughs there.
• Just to make a fool of me, the guys completely disregard what I said recently about them usually showing restraint when a popular TV actor shows up. The presence of Dick Sergeant prompts quite a large number of “Bewitched” jokes and references.
• I enjoyed Mike’s use of the famous line from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” I’ve used it myself a time or two since this episode aired. It does have a certain insouciance.
• Daleism: Shot of man’s hand on podium. Servo: “Hey it’s…oh, I thought it was Dale.”
• For those of you playing along at home, this movie was shot a year after Keenan Wynn did “Laserblast,” so pretty much the same Keenan-ey era.
• Speaking of Keenan, I always feel sorry for the Nobels. This complete stranger shows up on their doorstep and they pretty much do the right thing right down the line, and they get blown up as a reward. Sheesh.
• Nice use of Dorf technology during the segments. It works especially well on Paul, for some reason.
• As Dr. F learned when he asked M&TB for help with his bed and breakfast, NEVER ask M&TB for help! Pearl learns this in segment 2.
• They would actually DO “The Space Children” next season.
• There’s a residual Adam Duritz riff.
• Best host segment line: “Tanta Bobo has to go see Uncle Reconstructive Urologist.”
• Mary Jo is hilarious in the “facts of life” segment.
• Fave riff: “She really WAS on top of old smokey, wasn’t she?”
Gotta see this one! My experience is limited pretty much to the SciFi channel rerun era (2003-2004).
Rompero…demented genuis. My friends and I stillgo around saying “Agua” to each other for a guaranteed laugh.
The “Old Smokey” riff never fails to elicit a chuckle!
Did anyone ever hang their curtains halfway down the window as seen in Keenan Wynn’s house? That was jarringly bad set decoration, or an amazingly inept way to provide character to the room!!
Hey, bobhoncho’s back!
This has to be one of the best eps to come out of BBI. And I think this one has the best stinger. Oh, in case anyone asks, that huge tape that Richard watches the background story on is U-Matic (aka 3/4″ BETA). Besides all this, there is only one word I can think of for this ep, “Biography!”
Good to be back on the boards!
If I remember correctly from the Director’s Commentary on a commercial release of Parts/Clonus/Etc, the budget worked out to something like $200,000, or a touch over what the average episode of the Original Star Trek cost a decade earlier. The movie doesn’t look bad to start with, but knowing it was made on that kind of money it looks, you know, like a real grown-up professional movie.
As I recall the director also mentioned that the animation for the What Cloning Is expository lump was recycled from some Nova-type science show by the expedient of a friend who worked on that show leaving a copy around where it could happen to be “borrowed” by Team Clonus. You’ve got to like that sort of movie-making spunk.
I agree that this is one of the rare movies where it seems they actually swung for the fences. The problems were all over the place, obviously, but part of it actually kept my interest.
I agree that the Bewitched jokes were a little too much, but it’s not like Dick Sargent was known for anything else. I still laugh every time they start in with the “Mr. York?” stuff. I’m also surprised they kept the “Horse With No Name” jokes down to only one.
Still, the clothes alone could have given them enough material to do two rounds of this movie.
Watched this when it came out. I thought this was one of MST3K’s weaker efforts. It didn’t help that the movie was dreadful…
Good episode, and funny host segment story arc.
BTW: Bobo is saying “Tante” Which is German, for Aunt. Goes right along with the family names for Grandma Pearl, Uncle Brain Guy.
I like how there’s all the futuristic medical science, which we have yet to perfect even today, and yet in the film, it’s a reality in the 70s, and apparently as far back as the 30s. So, in a world with perfect human clones, and apparently advanced medical transplant and heal abilities, plus cryogenics that apparently work, you’re still stuck with channel knob TVs.
Keenan wasn’t as crazied-up as he was in Laserblast, sadly.
I like that Peter Graves allows his nephew to be drowned, his brother to some off-screen fate, and he’s run-thru with a fire poker, but has no issue showing up to a press conference seemingly the next day, chin up. Boy, talk about going all out to get those votes!
Clonus apparently just about a mile away from the suburbs, surrounded by one chain link fence, and an old barbwire fence that’s practically falling down. Tight, tight security, there.
The Childrens television parody that mike and the bots perform is one the funniest moments in television history. I really mean that, It’s histerical.
my favorite riff, what happens if your clone is hard drinking. we need your kidney to keep your clone alive. Go eat a mushroom mario.
I always laugh at this one. clones are really stupid. I alwaya laugh at the fact they seem to nothing but a endless track meet.
This probably the one episode that I really don’t get why they chose the stinger. I know M&TB snigger at the line in the episode, but I fail to see what is so funny or strange…
On the other hand, Mike’s disturbing silver pants? Fun-nie!
This is one of the few episodes I remember watching back when it first aired. The “On top of old smokey” riffs were some of the funniest ever in MST history.
Also, no mention of the lawsuit? I thought that was a big moment for MSTies
This one was pretty good MST wise. The 70′s produced a lot of ‘nugget of a great concept, exceptionally bad in execution’, what should have been straight to video, messterpieces. I saw many of these in the movie houses in New Yawk so there were a lot of cat calls and giggles during the showings.
The vapid, dour, naive, bland, insipid hero(?)and fellow clones had as much vigor as hospital food. They are then herded by a handful of puffy hatted, polyestered, track suited, ear wigged, dull witted, pretentious, rent-a cop drop outs. This bunch should have been isolated in an area away from everyone.
The scientists and politicians were pretty despicable. Anyone with any sort of a redeeming quality was snuffed or labotted out very brutally including clone daddy, clone bro, clone kitten and the Nobels.
The riffing was great and the movie was pretty ripe for it. The host segments were done very well also. The evil trio are really starting to jell well. Pearl really developing into her own. Bill getting more comfortable with CTR and as Observer. I totaled up a 4.5 on this one.
What a crazy episode this turned out to be. “Parts – The Clonus Horror” aka “Clonus” is one of my favorites from the Sci-fi Channel years, but I admit its because of personal reasons.
The movie itself isn’t really horrible, not in the way “Giant Spider Invasion” was. There is more skill in front of and behind the camera this time. “Clonus” has a solid script that mixes the idea of clone farms for body parts with 70’s paranoia and conspiracy theory. Obviously, budget played a part in the way the film turned out. Some of the acting is less then stellar, the action scenes are restricted and clunky, the dialogue could have used another layer of polish or two, or three. But for all that, the movie moves fairly quickly, and actually creates some tension. Because it was made during the 70’s there is that over-riding feeling of grim fate hanging over the movie. As we get nearer and nearer to the end, we begin to realize that this isn’t going to turn out well for just about all the characters involved. It appears that Clonus may be exposed at the end of the film, but all of our leads pay the price. Style wise, the movie actually reminds me a great deal of George Lucas’ first film “THX – 1138”. They even have similar tones and ideas at their core. “Clonus” is not a bad movie, just one that was limited by budget and time. Of course some will point out that Michael Bay had a much larger budget and more time and still didn’t do the story justice – maybe the story isn’t made for film? I disagree, a shift away from Mr. Bay’s skill of creating pop-trash and more toward a solid thriller director, and “The Island” could have been a classic.
For Mike and bots the movie offers lots of material to work with. First off you’ve got the famous faces here: Peter Graves, Dick Sergeant, and Keenan Wynn. You’ve got two small college campuses being used as the top secret facility. Our heroic young leads both have interesting faces and acting tweeks that lend to comedy. Then there’s just the over-riding goofiness of the clone behavior itself. I think the director was hoping for childlike innocence, and a bit of unease. Unfortunately, he ends up with some really silly sequences. The whole “America” idea seems like a commentary of some kind, but is heavy handed. It plays right into the riffing and makes for some great lines. Even the dower ending provides laughs. The only drawback for the riffing is the endless “Biography” lines. A little would have been fine, and there are some clever ones, but they really killed that riff. For me it’s about as annoying as the “Are you ready for some football?” riffs of “Laserblast”. Luckily, the rate of the riffs is high enough that I can enjoy most of the other laughs served up.
The host segments are a mixed bag. The space children should be funny, and while they do provide some humor for the most part it doesn’t quite click with me. I do love how Brain Guy is horrible at Candyland and tries to cheat. I also enjoy Bobo attempting to explain the facts of life to Paul. And speaking of Paul, he’s disturbing as a child. For my money the best scene is when Mike and Bots attempt to create their own children’s show. I love Tom’s inane yet insane laugh, and the cute little song about A and 3. Then there is the unspeakable horror of the Agua segment. Wow, funny and yet brain scarring.
I also wanna say that the interview with the director on the Rhino DVD was really interesting and I thought the shout out he gave to all the MST fans out there was great. I just might have to pick up the un-riffed version of the film, because the trailer showed lots of scenes we didn’t get to see in the riffed version.
Normally a four star episode (what with Biography and uneven host segments) – but there is one element that pushes this into a favorite episode category. “Clonus” was filmed locally. I attended one of the colleges in the film (now a University) and my wife attended the other. The rocks over looking “America” are passed by whenever we head out toward LA, and we can’t help but make some reference to “Clonus” when we see them. This episode is a blast for not only my family, but most of the folks I’ve shown it to (especially other alums of the colleges featured). So that is why “Clonus” is a five star episode in my book. Well, that and giving us the phrase “Clone-daddy”.
Scariest Moment! – Did shivers run down anyone else’s spine at the end after Richard enters Lena’s room, is captured, her lobotomized body is turned to face him, and she just stands there with that creepy smile on her face? Hands down, THE scariest scene in a MST3K movie.
Graboidz #3 – When we moved into our house a few years ago, there WERE curtains halfway down the windows. They were quickly removed.
All I can say is, five billion “Biography” references and not one “Airplane!” reference is a darn shame. “Say, Richard, have you ever seen a grown clone naked?”
It’s just so HARD to take Dick Sargent seriously as an evil scientist, so every “Bewitched” reference made me laugh. Although I was geeky enough to know that Dick Sargent and Marion “Aunt Clara” Lorne were never on the show at the same time.
And YES to the fact that Timothy Donnelly “looks like the guy from Three’s Company.” “Larry Dallas is the Saint.” I thought it WAS Richard Kline at first glance.
If you’ve ever seen a site called the Agony Booth, there’s a fascinating interview with Robert Fiveson about the making of this movie. Apparently he ascribes the use of “america” as “70s f***-you-ism.” So Crow wasn’t too off when he said “Oh, some social commentary about how we bag and freeze people in America, I suppose.”
Oh yes… Lurene Tuttle, who plays Keenan Wynn’s wife, had a long career in radio and early television as a character actress. She played the mother of Red Skelton’s “Mean Widda Kid”, for instance.
“Today we learned A and 3, today we learned A and 3. MOO!” And a small touch that makes me laugh heavily is that not only the children and Bobo are rapt, but BRAINGUY is, too!!
Favorite riffs:
“Thank you, nurse, that was a lovely aria.”
“Do you realize how much I HATE YOU???”
Agua. Thuh-ree. Buh-link. Agua.
3 stars. I don’t mean to be cranky, but I NEVER liked this one that much, the unpleasantness of the movie almost drowns out good riffing and brilliant host segs. The count down.. 98, 97… thuh-ree, has become part of our family’s phrase book. The Xuxa take-off was inspired. Agua ! Uncle Urologist.. priceless. The description of the ape mating process ranks up there with Whorf’s description of the Klingon counterpart in my pantheon of mating humor.
But I really dis-like the subject movie. And all the gushing last week about how well written this one is just adds to the distaste.
Sampo: You mentioned in last weekend’s thread that you liked the plot twists in this movie. What were they precisely ? Doesn’t everything workout as expected ? thought provoking ? in exactly what way ? That cloning raises ethical issues ? C’mon.
Anyway let me just add..
Agua !
Also, I forgot to mention, I was really disappointed that Tim Donnelly is in this movie (sans moustache) and M&TB don’t make a single “Emergency!” reference. A simple “Shut up, Chet!” would have sufficed. If you guys remember, Donnelly played fireman and comic relief Chet Kelly in “Emergency!” M&TB passed up on a great opportunity. Although, maybe they just didn’t realize that he was Chet.
Oh, another point: What was the up-sell on America? I mean, you look at the lifestyle that the Clones live, and then watch the video about America, and it appears that all America offers is additional clothing options and tennis!
This one’s a genuine five-star for me, but I have to disagree with Sampo: The best host segment line has to be, “Mike’s Moustache To World: I Hate You, And I’m Cutting Myself Off From All Human Contact!” The whole opening bit with the moustache always kills.
And this one is just endlessly quotable to me, with so many classic riffs. “Oh! Oh, we’ve found it, this is the Horror…” “This is our ‘ool’, notice there’s no ‘p’ in it!” “Paulette Breen, who turned down perfectly innocent sexual advances on the set of ‘parts’, and who will never work in this town again.” “Oh, I see e.e. cummings wrote this.” “The ‘Go As Slow As You Can Without Falling Over’ race.” And so many, many more.
The movie itself isn’t bad, either; goofy at times, but it’s got a certain fundamental earnestness to it that I admire. It’s got a solid ethical dilemma at its heart, and it explores it honestly, which carries it through the silliness and plot holes without too much damage. My one complaint is that I would reverse the final shots; we already know that Clone-Boy didn’t survive, so shots of him frozen all sad-looking aren’t that shocking. While “Tell us about…Clonus” is a legitimately good twist ending.
“Hey, a Testostarossa!”
For me the host segments with the Space Children actually outshine the movie. There’s something about the endless Candyland game (I’ve been there, man), Pearl, Observer & Bobo explaining the facts of life to the kids (especially Pearl’s beautifully obscure analogies, given while she throws back a martini), and most of all M&tBs and their highly disturbing Mexican children’s show.
The movie itself certainly has the feel of many a late 70s movie, very depressing but with a tiny sliver of hope at the end. It especially captures the fears at the time that this was going to be our future, with clones created and exploited at will: “I’m a clone / I know it and I’m fine / I’m one and more are on the way…We destroyed the government / We’re destroying time / No more problems on the way…” (Alice Cooper, “Clones”).
Still, the plot leaves me with questions, like, isn’t it extremely impractical and horribly expensive to have a clone farm? Why not just lobotomize them all? Why on earth would a clone have a birthmark just like its original, but not have the same mental acuity? Questions, questions.
This was the first episode I ever watched
my favorite host segment line:
“going is for BABIES.”
I’d like to briefly mention that one of my favorite riffs in this episode is Tom Servo referencing “Koyaanisqatsi.” I believe it happened twice.
When I first watched this episode with my girlfriend, we had both seen Koyaanisqatsi the previous week. (I had had to watch it for a school assignment.) The riff was funny for two reasons:
1. I’d seen the episode many times before, but this riff had always gone straight over my head. It had never even registered before.
2. My girlfriend was forced to remember the incredibly boredom and pretentiousness of that movie, which she never forgave me for showing her. This may not sound funny, but if you’d been there, it would have been great. “… oh God no!!” were her exact words I think.
I guess it just demonstrates how infinitely re-watchable MST3K is.
…the hell? I had no idea the Água thing was about Xuxa! So that means Crow and Servo are Paquitas, huh? Sexy.
Anyway, I would like to apologize on behalf of all Brazilian People for bringing such evil to the world.
Okay I remember Keenan Wynn as (the second) Digger Barnes on Dallas. Yet I get the impression most of you are attaching some cult type status to him. Where else should he be remembered from?
I’m a big fan of this one. “Only you can prevent crotch fires!”
One thing I noticed about this film was the prominently placed NBC microphone flags at the end. How desperate was the Peacock to pay for product placement in this clunker? (I do know that NBC was at their nadir when this movie was made. They were on the verge of going under.)
There’s a weekend thread topic idea: Memorable Product Placement in an MSTed Film. Example: “Don’t forget to buy CARNATION ICE CREAM!”
Ah, shades of Laserblast, another film with Keenan Wynn and sheet cake.
“The International Jeffrey Games!”
Professor Darrin and Dr. Super Mario Brothers. Man, I laughed so hard at all the little Nintendo music/sound effects. The Bewitched jokes were pretty good tii. (“Are you and Dick York friends?”)
“Baaaaaaaa-link.”
“It’s easy to get hurt.” “Like when I got my butt caught in the toaster.” Not long after this episode aired, I had one of my Windows alert .wav files set to that particular clip.
These might be my favorite host segments of the Sci-Fi era. I love the interaction between Bridget’s confused space-child and Mary Jo’s increasingly colorful metaphors for love. Best Mary Jo moment on the show for me.
(stage whisper) “Dick Sargent’s a Communist!”
Am I wrong, or is this the first film to feature Old Milwaukee as a major plot point?
They do a lot of clone jokes before the movie actually gets into the clone plot. I wonder if this is why I was only medium on this episode when it first aired.
I’d like to point out that Clone Boy clearly doesn’t have a VHS tape with him when he leaves the compound, or when he’s running through the fields, or climbing the rocks, or crashing his bike into Keenen Wynn’s trash pile.
You know, there are parts of this movie I like. I think the basic story is sound. I like some of the camera-work, such as the shot of Clone Boy hiding on top of the elevator (that said, some of the actual framing is terrible: see crotch fires). The shot of the Small Nose woman turning around at the end is genuinely creepy. And most of the supporting cast is pretty good (obviously). I’d argue this as one of the best movies they ever did…
Why does Clonus pay undercover motorcyclists to randomly cruise around James Galway’s porn theater?
“You one of those pre-verts?” (Say, did they make any references to his character in The Great Race? I only just thought of that. It seems like an obvious source, but I can’t think of any jokes based off that…)
For me, one of the funniest moments isn’t from the riffing… It’s the moment when the movie explodes the old people. It’s meant to be shocking, but there’s nothing leading up to it at all. It looks like a Monty Python sketch.
So, the guy on the phone and then who turns up at the end to be the head of Clonus… Are we supposed to care about him for some reason? (Oh, and his name is Walker. George Walker. Egads, George *Herbert* Walker?!?!)
And I’ll echo the comment about wondering why the stinger was supposed to be funny. But someone in the cast must have really thought it was hilarious, as it shows up again during the out-take from DANGER: DIABOLIK when the crew put a bunch of bad movie moments up during the filming of that episode…
Dr. Strangelove (he’s Major Bat Guano) mostly… Also, The Great Race and a bunch of secondary roles over the years…
Average episode as far as I’m concerned. Some really funny lines, but the dull dreariness of the film drags it down a bit. One thing I never understood was why M&TB thought that their was some sort of jealousy/resentment between Peter Graves and James Arness. Did they have a feud in real life? Or were they just trying to make Peter out to be a bitter failure? As Mr. Graves is probably one of the most talented actors (IMO) to appear in the films they do, it seems strange that they tear him down more than actors of far less ability, I guess, is what I’m saying.
NBC is on the verge of going under NOW! And, it’s all Jay Leno’s fault! Well, the press is blaming him anyway.
I love this episode! One of my favs from season 8.
I always liked the Ted Turner joke near the end.
Watch out for the microphone that pops down when we see Peter Graves on his yacht.
I saw The Island in theaters. It’s not terrible, but I found it more hokey than Clonus.
I do like this episode, and there are some really funny riffs going on, but I too get a bit sick of the “Biography” jokes. Especially when they just say “Biography” as Peter Graves waves to a crowd. I hoped that they’d mix it up with some Mission: Impossible jokes, or Airplane! (as has been noted already). Pretty minor gripe, I suppose. Fave riffs:
“Professor Darren and Dr. Super Mario Brother.”
“It’s the go as slow as you can without tipping over race.” – I find myself saying this when caught up in traffic snarls.
“I think Yoshi parked on 7.”
“Malibu Barbie’s down!”
“Have some sun, my little friend.”
Clone: “Guides may do strange things sometimes. Eat.” Bill: “ME.” This one gets me every time.
This one always provokes an odd reaction in me. I see it up there on the shelf, waiting to be viewed, and I often skip over it in favor of lighter fare.
But then, when I’ve exhausted all possibilities and I think, “Damn, I guess I have to watch this one,” it never fails to crack me up. For some reason, I always remember Clonus being worse than it really is.
I recall Keenan Wynn from a bunch of Disney movies, as the loud-mouthed industrial tycoon bad guy stereotype. He was in one of the old Flubber movies (not sure which), one of the Herbie movies (not sure which), one of the Kurt “the computer wore tennis shoes” type flicks (you see where I’m going with this…)
I just noticed that there are a *lot* of boom-mikes in this one, but M&TB leave most of them alone…
Sampo: “The presence of Dick Sergeant prompts quite a large number of ‘Bewitched’ jokes and references.”
The funny part is you don’t even mention the metric ton of “Biography” references, although the commenters have made up for it. By the end, they’re pretty much shouting “Biography!” every time Graves appears on screen, and yet they keep going.
The “buh-link” thing is another one of those jokes where they’re making fun of something that only seems silly because they cut out the explanation. Clonus makes sure the clones are docile by retarding their mental development, which results in the slow blinking. Clone-Boy and his Clone-Sweetie are controls with normal mental development (signified by their special ear tags), although why Clonus would have such controls, I can’t fathom; you can see how well it worked out for them.
I thought the “agua!” bit was a reference to a cartoon segment from “Sesame Street.” I remember one with “agua” said in that raspy way.
#37: ESPECIALLY since people seem to be surprised when Richard actually starts thinking for himself. Notice the awkward conversation between the Time-Life Operator and Richard about Richard’s slowing down during the race. Why would they be so shocked when Richard wants to do things differently?
And wow, great job monitoring Richard there. All he has to do is “sneak” around and the guides lose their peripheral vision (as is their wont). And why does Richard immediately assume Milwaukee is a place on a map? How would he know what a map was, anyway?
It’s NOT that well-written, but A for effort, I suppose.
Great episode. The movie and the riffing were both enjoyable for me. Mr. Wynn and his wife getting blown up came out of nowhere and had me rolling as much as any riff. The cover up was so sloppy at Clonus that its quite surprising it took about 40 years for it to be exposed.
The host segments didn’t strike me as all that funny other than the spanish langauge kid’s show. That was certainly an iconic segment of the sci-fi years.
Very nice. I like this one quite a bit. Movie’s good, M+TB do well with it. Host segments are good, enjoyable.
>>>So, the guy on the phone and then who turns up at the end to be the head of Clonus… Are we supposed to care about him for some reason?
He’s the guy who got parts from George (“Later ON.”). George was HIS clone (and they’re the same actor, he’s just in age makeup “later on”): Two Richards, two Georges. He’s also the guy who says “That’s our boy” after Jeff Knight/Peter Graves’s speech at the beginning of the movie; thus the movie starts with him, Jeff, and frozen bodies, and ends the same way (in case it was unclear to some, after Jeff was stabbed in the heart, he got Clone-Richard’s heart, one’s brother’s clone being almost as good as one’s personal clone, I guess). Since he’s the guy who was paying Clonus money for security, he’s presumably its financial backer.
None of which would necessarily make us care about him, though…
I’m not sure I would’ve caught some of those details without having read this:
http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Parts__The_Clonus_Horror_1979.aspx
The reviewer SORT OF concurs with several correspondents here: “If not for the idiotic dialogue, incompetent direction, horrific acting, non-existent budget, and relentless parade of goofy imagery, this possibly —- POSSIBLY —- could have been a decent movie.”
In some spots he clearly places his comments right between one piece of dialogue and another, making for a sort of pseudo-riffing quality.
The trouble is whenever someone is talking about coming to America a certaiun song keeps running through my mind
Neil Diamond – Coming to America
And for your further (enjoyment?)
Far
We’ve been travelling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They’re coming to America
Never looking back again
They’re coming to America
Home, don’t it seem so far away
Oh, we’re travelling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we’ll say our grace
Freedom’s light burning warm
Freedom’s light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They’re coming to America
Every time that flag’s unfurled
They’re coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They’re coming to America
Got a dream they’ve come to share
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today
My country ’tis of thee
(Today)
Sweet land of liberty
(today)
Of thee I sing
(today)
Of thee I sing
(today)
(today)
(today)
(today
I’d rank this one in their very good category. Not quite good enough to be a classic as there are parts where their riffing drags a bit compared to elsewhere in the film where it has the usual crackling delivery.
Once again another strong series of host segments as the continuity thread in this season kept getting stronger thanks to each new situation Pearl and company kept getting into. Really enjoying the characters of Pearl, Bobo and Observer by this point as you can see them developing with each episode in this series.
So, not one of their classics like “The Giant Spider Invasion” but this one does rank amongst their better efforts in Season Eight and is in my opinion one of the reasons this particular season ranks amongst the best in series history.
Four and a half stars.
ck #43- THANKS. You’ve successfully ruined my entire day.
Ack! Totally screwed up the quoting on that message… My reply starts with “Ah! Thanks.” Sorry about that, Chief.
(Wish we could edit posts on here…)
As far as the eyepatch goes, Walker had presumably just had his eye replaced (if you look at Frozen George Clone in the giant freezer wrap, you can just barely see that he has an eye missing).
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the “shrine to Dolly the sheep” joke, a rare example of a riff that debatably dates the ep in a good way, reminding us of why ethical issues surrounding cloning were being discussed more in the late ’90s. The timeliness of 811′s debut might be why I always thought of this as being a genuinely thought-provoking movie despite the somewhat predictable plot, airtight security, and casting of a woman with the most obvious nose job in the history of film as a clone (if you know of a more obvious case, please share; no, the late Michael Jackson’s doesn’t count because it didn’t really clash with his other features at the bitter end)
And yet, when I was showing all my tapes to friends for the first time 3 or 4 years ago, around 20 minutes in, their jaws dropped at the fact that, “They MSTed a movie this GOOD?!” Those 2 watch a lot more recent horrible movies, which likely made Clonus look a LOT better by comparisson.
The video store I worked at had a copy titled “The Clonus Horror”. Now I wish I’d bothered to watch it and Devilfish uncut.
I’ll pick, “Uhhh…what’s he doing to the garbage?”,”Say, you one a’ them there pre-verts?” as my favorite conjoined riff.
Two runners-up near the beginning:
“The secret Sid and Marty Kroft training grounds!”
“Um, guys? This is the 50 yard dash…”
After he finds the can, they did a “The Gods Must Be Crazy” riff, right? That popped into my head the moment I saw it in the stream, so it seemed to take forever for them to say it.
So, during his escape, did the sniper actually shoot our young carp-faced hero both times, or are we supposed to assume he just ducked because he heard the second shot? Was a second wound addressed in a cut scene? Regardless, it gave us one of the best single-ep running gags:
“*BANG* ow *B-KOW* ow *per-TWEE* ow! *P-TANG* ow…”
Unlike “Biography!”, that would’ve never gotten old, even if they’d kept doing it until he snuck back into Clonus at the end.
The first couple times I saw this, I could’ve sworn they did a Thundercats riff! After Clone-Richard gets to town and starts walking through a crowd, it sounded like Crow said, “Hey, Lion-o!”, but upon closer examination, it’s clearly “Lionel”. I’m still not sure which Lionel they meant.
I’ve also never seen anyone get through the kids’ show segment without totally cracking up. Overall, a great ep, if not quite a personal favorite. Partly because it gets extremely overshadowed by next week’s experiment…
#26 Dan in WI: Here are just a few movies Keenan Wynn has been in: Bikini Beach(as Harvey Huntington Honeywagon 3rd),Angels in the Outfield(1951),Kiss Me Kate(1953),The Long,Long Trailer(Lucille Ball,Desi Arnez,jr.)A Hole in the Head,The Absent-Minded Professor,Dr.Strangelove,The Great Race(Tony Curtis/Jack Lemmon),The Patsy(Jerry Lewis)and Herbie Rides Again;just to name a few…One of my favorite eps from the sci-fi era,but I do agree that M&TB should’ve done more than just say “Biography” whenever Peter Graves was on screen.He was also in Stalag 17 with William Holden,too,besides “Airplane”.Another great character actor like Keenan.
Maybe the ending’s “surprise” was supposed to be the sudden “call-back” to George…except that he died in like the first quarter of the movie and affected NOTHING.
If the speaker at the end had turned out to be the person LENA was cloned from, that MIGHT’ve had more meaning…except she didn’t really do anything in the movie either.
If any other clone had played a major role in the film, then having THAT clone’s “original” be revealed as the mastermind could’ve been meaningful:
“So the guy who fought Clonus was the clone of the guy who STARTED it in the first place. He (or rather Clonus, his creation/extension of himself) killed his clone but not before his clone had set into action the destruction of his creation/extension of himself (Clonus…if it had in fact been destroyed). He destroyed himself…and then he destroyed himself AGAIN. Deep, huh?”
I believe this is the first Sci-Fi era ep I saw all the way through (though not my first ever ep or anything).
The first part, at the clone farm, or clone community college, or clone industrial park, or whatever it is, is pretty dang good. Having survived the seventies, I have particular fondness for, get all of, the jokes aimed at that era. The campfire stuff and anything having to do with the no-nosed girl are great.
But the most hilarious scene is when our silly clone boy visits “Dad” and meets the guy he was cloned from or whatever. They get a lot of lovely milelage from clone boy’s wimpiness.
Still, it’s a bit slow it, um, parts, and parts of the ep, like the Graves/Biography stuff, leaves me cold. I’d say this a PARTly great and PARTly so so ep. A mixed bag of PARTS.
Eh…yikes.
And no I don’t this film is any better than your average msted movie. The budget doesn’t help. It’s just really bad.
B+
and who could forget Keenan Wynn as the voice of the Winter Warlock in “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”? (won’t be long before it’s time to watch that again)
It seems I always have to mention something in the movie that bugged me. So here goes… I haven’t seen this one in awhile – not one of my faves. But, isn’t there a scene where the older “daddy clone” of our young hero is talking about how evil the whole cloning thing is, and being very ethical and stuff. And in just a few minutes he is completely turned around in his thinking, and decides that well maybe it’s not so bad afterall. I seem to remember getting whiplash from that particular moral 180.
Iggy Pop’s Brother Steve Pop, #37, thanks for mentioning the whole matter of control clones vs. the rest which have been “altered” mentally. I admit I heard the guard mention two “controls” who had met, but guess I assumed that that was the term for clones in general. Why? I obviously just didn’t pay enough attention to the details of the movie, and your explanation helps clarify something that definitely didn’t make sense. (Boy, the things I learn on this site…)
i’m with the minority on this one – one of my least favorite episodes & in my view one of the worst movies they did! after reading several favorable references to it on this site, i watched again about a month ago. i had forgotten how much i did like the space children bit – especially “agua” & the sex talk. but still found the movie to be awful to the point that i have trouble remembering many riffs.
as sampo has often noted, one person’s favorite is anothers least liked!
#24 – they threw out Koyaanisqatsi references left and right. There’s a project for someone with some time on their hands.
I dig the Mario jokes. If I remember correctly, they hum a little Mario music while the mustachioed doctor is working at one point in the film.
#29, let me point out AGAIN, that the tape Richard finds is 3/4″ BETA. It’s WAY too big to be a VHS tape, man. Sorry to correct.
Another one of my faves. The scene where Keenan & Wife bicker and explode is easily one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I also love Servo going “Oww!” every time someone shoots a gun. “He’s taking a lot of hits.”, says Crow.
Oh, yeah, the “old smokey” scene … apparently that shot got framed like that because it had been a long night of filming, they were running out of time (and budget), the actor playing the girlfriend was being difficult, and, well, sometimes you just can’t re-set the whole scene yet again and have to accept the best take you got even though it’s got an embarrassing thing in it.
The Director’s Commentary on the un-MiSTed DVD release a couple years ago has a lot of sympathy-generating revelations like that.
Ah, fair enough…
Of course, the fact that the tape is bigger than a VHS makes it even more obvious that he can’t possibly have it hidden in his pocket…
While the movie riffs and host segments are priceless, the movie itself is soul-crushingly depressing for me so I hardly, if ever, watch it.
Of course, being a fan of running gags, I do love the groin fire and Dr. Super Mario Bros. jokes.
I’ll hop on the bandwagon to call the kid’s show the funniest host segment in this episode, and quite possibly the funniest in the whole season. Much like the Captain Mike Janeway segment in Laserblast, it’s ROFL worthy.
Dick Sargeant and the Bewitched riffs overkill?
How bout them beating the living crap out of Peter Graves and Biography!
Swear every scene with him had a Biography riff, strange little to no Mission: Impossible! riffs.
-cs™
another of my favs from season 8….what dreary tv movie that only watchable with mike and the bots……it’s been awhile I need to dig this out and watch it again
Not a big favorite of mine. Through all the comparisons to the movie “The Island,” I’m always surprised no one compares “Parts” to the movie “Coma.” If you haven’t seen “Coma” — and I remember it as a pretty decent flick, though I was a kid when I saw it, so forget that recommendation, come to think of it — “Coma” has a LOT in common with “Clonus.”
From comments above, about the Brazilian singer Xuxa (on whose childrens’ show the AGUA sketch is apparently based), I decided to go online and find out about this Xuxa person.
Wow.
The second-best selling singer in Brazilian HISTORY, the #1 single in Brazilian HISTORY, the #1 Children’s TV show and Kids’ record in WORLD HISTORY.
Now go on Youtube and watch a little. Find a performance of her WORLD WIDE HIT (I forget the title, find it online).
I don’t want to sound all culturally insensitive or anything. But what a bunch of crap.
I appreciated this episode a lot because…. well, I am a clone. I was raised in a facility much like the one depicted in the movie– the accuracy of some of the scenes was stunning, to say the least. One thing was different, though: Where I was they didn’t bag the clones. No, they encased them in large, clear Lucite “tombs” after they were fast-frozen. I remember the party for Jack when he finally went to America. We did have cake, ice cream, played some games, wrestled (I lost to Jack, which I must admit I did on purpose– it was HIS day, after all). I bumped into him about eight years ago. He was playing major league baseball as a third-baseman. I am not at liberty to say anything more, out of respect to Jack.
One day, though, I found out what was going on, what they were doing to my fellow Clonies (that was what I found out we were actually called by the doctors and scientists, Clonie), and I had to escape. My girlfriend, Jenny, didn’t want me to go but I told her I had to, I had to find my Clone-Daddy, I just had to connect to him. She wanted to come with me but I told her she should stay behind and I would come back for her. I miss Jenny so much.
I have been seeking my clone-daddy for a long time, and had nearly given up. After watching this episode, though, it gave me new hope and inspiration. I am sad to say that I haven’t found my clone-daddy yet but I am ever vigilant. One day I will find my clone-daddy.
Clone-daddy? Are you out there?
Clone-daddy
Part of my life
Each cell within me
Came from you
We are connected
In this world, Clone-Daddy
You are me and I am you
We are we and us and me and you
Clone-Daddy, do you know I exist?
Do you dream of meeting me
Like I dream of meeting you?
Reach out to me, Clone-Daddy
Please find your Clone-Boy
Or let me know where you are
And I will be by your side
Clone-Daddy? I love you.
I like to watch this episode after my nightly glass of cottage cheese.
I’ve professed my respect for Clonus already, but I can’t remember if I shared my foundational reason for it. When I first recorded this episode, my taped died halfway through, right at the point that Richard declared he was going to sneak in to “America” to find out what was going on. Although I hated to admit it, I was really annoyed because I really wanted to find out what happened! Would Richard discover that he was a clone? Would the secret get exposed and all the senators have to answer for it all? I guess what I’m getting at is that, despite the low budget and clunky dialogue, the movie apparently managed to instill enough suspense and interest to make me really want to know how it turned out. And that indicates at least some nugget of successful filmmaking lies at the core of this B-grade movie.
I finally saw the end when I successfully recorded the whole episode a couple of years later, and was mildly disappointed with the rest of the film. The tension fizzles out after the first half. But still, I give Clonus some credit, and after the whole “The Island” fiasco, and seeing the interview with the director on the Rhino DVD, I have a certain fondness for the film.
As for my favorite character, they’re all pretty dumb and annoying in their own way. But I’m going to pick Senator Knight, mainly because his characterization is so believable. While Richard Knight and his son are blandly moralistic, and the Clonus staff are thoroughly “2D-evil,” I totally buy Graves as the scumbag senator. Thoroughly self-absorbed and without a trace of compassion, the way the senator justifies his obviously selfish desires paints a pretty accurate picture of how most of our leaders probably think about themselves, with total assurance of their own in importance compared to the rest of us plebes. Sorry to be so cynical. Anyway, I think Graves pulls it off convincingly.
I’ll admit I wasn’t a big fan of the omnipotent children storyline, although Pearl’s reactions to them are pretty amusing. Mary Jo always puts in such a great performance.
#66 Do you mean “Ilariê”? It’s supposed to say some satanic stuff if you play it backwards, or so I heard
Check it out, pure 80′s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJX314oNSfQ
Don’t blame me, though. I’ve always liked Angélica best.
This episode was a highlight for me-as a gamer-due to the many Super Mario jokes due to the guy who looked like Mario (even though he was balding and wore glasses). There was even a guy who was a dead ringer for Luigi in the scene where they iced the clone known as George.
Here’s a list of the Mario jokes in this episode:
1: Mike: Professor Daren and Dr. Super Mario Brother.
2: Servo: (sings the Mario theme)
3: Servo: Ah…go eat a mushroom, Mario!
4: Crow: (as Dr. Mario as they prepare to kill George) Dr. Luigi will be assisting me here.
5: Mike: (As Dr. Mario in the elevator) I think Yoshi parked up on seven.
6: As the doctors argue about the escaped clone, Servo and Mike have a duet of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros. This song was also hummed by Mike in the scene where George was put in a body bag and frozen.
“You know – ANY ending would make me happier than I’ve ever been.”
I liked this episode. I fast-forwarded the host segments – except Crow’s nose job. I really just don’t like Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo.
The boom mike made quite a few appearances in this flick. Oopsie.
They did kind of overdo the Biography gags. They should’ve sprinkled in some Mission:Impossible and Airplane! gags to keep it fresh.
A few good lines:
“So, they took the blood out of his right arm and put it into his LEFT arm.” – Mike
“Now, let’s put out our flaming crotches and we’ll find your nose.” – Mike
“Now I get it – I don’t understand a THING!” – Mike
“This is probably the most interest ANYONE’S shown in Milwaukee.” – Mike
“Convenient that he happened into the Department of Backstory.” – Servo
“Even though I’ve never seen one of these things, I’m completely terrified!” – Crow
“Do you realize how much I HATE YOU!” – Crow
“I can’t hear what they’re saying, and quite frankly, I don’t care.” – Crow
“Door to door Biography – I’d like to tell you about the fascinating life of Charles Grodin.” – Servo
“Some coffee for your thugs?” – Crow
“Huge lamps of the ’70′s – tonight on Biography.” – Mike
“Mistakes were made, brothers were killed.” – Crow
“Never store combustibles near your old people.” – Crow
“Uh – later, a guy is somewhere in the dark doing – something…” – Mike
“Often, James Arness’ mother would remark to friends that she loved her son, Peter Graves, so very, very much, while she hated James Arness and cursed the day her womb had been blighted with such a creature. James Arness – ugly and stupid – tonight on Biography.” – Servo
(Okay, I know I said they overdid the Biography jokes, but those ones WERE pretty funny).
TODAY!!
When the main character is escaping from the cloning facility, Mike says “He’s running through fields of wheat.” What is this a reference to? Even though I have no idea what they are talking about, I crack up every time…
First episode I saw. As I’ve watched it more since it came to DVD, it has become one of my favs. But still, too much BIOGRAPHY!
I was stunned when this movie got a very sympathetic review in the New York Times when it was released on DVD a few years back. They didn’t even mention that it had been on MST3K!
Say, anyone who saw The Island–was Clonus better?
Good episode. One of the best from Volume 12. THE ISLAND was okay, but too much action. It wasn’t as scary as PARTS.
CROW: “And the food…”
Well…even though the host segments are hilarious, this is an episode that I actively avoid. The movie’s just so dour and depressing…and you gotta admit…NOT MUCH HAPPENS! It’s mostly just “talky” with a lot of people engaging in arguments about morality, and it seems to just go on and on…yet another ninety minute movie that seems five hours long. I tend to imagine that this is how a movie would have turned out if Robert Lippert had been still been making films in the 70′s.
“Fields of WHEAT.” That’s a Woody Allen reference, correct?
#73: Woody Allen, “Love and Death.”
Bob Honcho #4 & 58:
Although Sony made both the 3/4″ U-matic and the 1/2″ Betamax, they have nothing else to do with each other. (There’s no such thing as a 3/4″ Beta.)
“This is our ool, notice there’s no P in it!”-Crow.
Say, what’s the name of the Star Trek episode from whence the omnipotent space children hail?
There’s something I always liked about how the children dominate this ep, and the arc for the next two is everyone else waiting around as Pearl gets rid of them. A nice way of fulfilling SciFi channel’s mandate without really restricting themselves, and nicely contrasting how the Rome arc from 816 to 820 would have the most rigid sense of continuity with their series of sting-music-enhanced cliffhangers.
The movies for the second half of season 8 yielded much better results than the John Agar film festival promised by Pearl, although that was just as classic a last line as the previous experiment’s, “Brain Guy, send ‘em the movie…AGAIN!”
I’ll speak up in favor of the overabundance of Biography jokes.
My sister and I couldn’t get enough of it when we first watched this episode. We’d randomly say it to each other for days afterwards. Even now, one of us will occasionally sneak in a “on biography” in out best Peter Graves.
#15 That face!!!! That was hands down, the scariest moment in a mistie; That disturbed me more than anything I’ve seen in a long time. That was Exorcist scary for me – yikes. She had a yummy bod though.
I must admit i really do like this movie… and am less impressed than usual by the repetitiveness of the jokes Mike and the Bots do here.
Maybe it’s the interview with the director or just the 70′s-ishness i grew up with but i have sympathies for a (probably) strong script that was undercut in execution. The concepts play out okay, and things like the ‘controls’ or clone-Richard’s friend being the clone of the boss of Clonus made sense after a few viewings (us MSTies have probably watched it more than anyone else). My suggestion would be to have the movie play out completely from the clone POV; if you didn’t get the parts at the beginning with the Senator it would look like an M Night Shyamalan film, with the clones completely confused by the outside world.
By the way, am i wrong or is there nudity here with the models in the clone-bags at the beginning? And is that the only MST3K nudity?
The Bolern @ 82. There are 2 references really :
The omnipotent children with the funny hand gestures come from ‘And the Children Shall Lead’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Children_Shall_Lead
The unseen omnipotent parents with an unruly omnipotent child come from ‘The Squire of Gothos’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squire_of_Gothos
The Bolern @ 82. There are 2 references really :
The omnipotent children with the funny hand gestures come from ‘And the Children Shall Lead’.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Children_Shall_Lead
The unseen omnipotent parents with an unruly omnipotent child come from ‘The Squire of Gothos’.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squire_of_Gothos
personal aside of dubious interest to others.
( first, I love both Mike and Joel so no sh*t ok ? )
This is one of the few episodes, if not the only episode, where I found myself thinking how well the other host would have done. I almost NEVER think about Mike hosting Joel episodes or vice versa.
but Clonus.. for some reason that I can’t put into words, I think Joel and Clonus would have been a particulalry good fit. Not necessarily better than Mike, but both different and good. Maybe it’s the seventies… the authoritarianism…
Maybe it’s the birthmark, which looks like a deformed nipple, taking me back to Manos and “nipples, many shapes many size, some on my back”.
#73
“When the main character is escaping from the cloning facility, Mike says “He’s running through fields of wheat.” What is this a reference to?”
=================================
Could it have also been an allusion to North By Northwst?
#73, et al. I thought the reference to “wheat” (which they make in some other eps as well), was from the Woody Allen flick, “Murder in Manhattan”. He is stuck in an elevator with Diane Keaton and is getting muy claustrophobic and hyperventilating. He is imagining being a stallion running through “fields of wheat”. I could be so wrong, haven’t seen that movie in awhile. Pretty sure it is from some Woody flick, though.
Double post, sorry. Have we done a thread yet about obscure (to you) references, and how you eventually learned what it meant? Not counting Sampo explaining it. I have a couple funny ones. Ok, they are funny to me. All right, just to me.
This is one of those episodes that I don’t watch that often, but when I do, I say to myself, why don’t I watch this more often!
The movie itself is just BAD, I don’t care what anyone says. Our insipid ignoramus of a hero, his noseless girlfriend, the ridiculous clone “lifestyle,” the breathless yet totally lame conspiracy of it all — it’s all ripe MST fodder.
The ‘space children’ arc was perhaps my least favorite of the Season 8 host storylines, but this movie did yield 2 great bits — the Anglo vs. Latino childrens’ shows (perfect parodies of both!) and Crow’s nose job, which never fails to crack me up.
Petite @ 87. Your remarks relative to host switching I think would make for a very interesting thread.
Heads up Sampo!
#80, Oops, my mistake! I kinda forgot that so many people called the format ’3/4″ BETA’ when that’s really not correct. Maybe Wikipedia has a picture of the inside of the tape. That will solve the problem!
but Clonus.. for some reason that I can’t put into words, I think Joel and Clonus would have been a particulalry good fit. Not necessarily better than Mike, but both different and good. Maybe it’s the seventies… the authoritarianism…
I think you’re on to something. parts reminded me a little of Stranded in Space, one of the better Joel-era MST3K movies. The cheesy ’70s look, the generic portrayal of a cliched dystopian society, the excessive earnestness are in both. Oh, and in both the hero gets temporary help from an old guy with old-fashioned values who’s doomed to die before accomplishing anything useful.
@73&89 et al–I was thinking Woody Allen’s Love and Death, where he starts staring off into the distance and muttering about fields of wheat.
Another classic episode! 4 stars. Something about cheezy 70′s films really seems to click for the writers.
Fairly entertaining movie (though the ‘Clonus’ premise is obsolete now, since we’ve learned to grow entire organs using stem-cells) + yet another appearance from Peter Graves (and more & more riffs on ‘Biography’).
On Mike’s moustache:
Tom: “you’ve given me the confidence that i need, I’m gonna go get a spiral cut ham and staple it to my top lip”
“Delicious hot-dog water”
Too many to list, but the riffs on the girl’s nose-job are well deserved … Crow’s nose-job at the end is really really funny & interesting how much the different beak makes him look like an infant.
The kids TV show segment is pure gold, Mike’s Xuxa impression and silver costume is hilarious and a little disturbing!
The “facts of life” segment is funny as well, great job on the pan across the various perspectives offered by Pearl, Observer and Bobo.
Kevin’s delivery is especially hilarious when he’s saying “a really good mate’s gonna be able to out-run you for a bit, just grab a leg and hang on tight! You’re gonna get kicked, that’s just part of it …”
I don’t know if the Space Children are drawn from any particular Star Trek episode. When Pearl finally gets them back to Mum and Dad the dialogue is straight out of “The Squire of Gothos”, but nothing else matches. Maybe they’re from some Next-Generation pap?
#85 bad wolf: “By the way, am i wrong or is there nudity here with the models in the clone-bags at the beginning? And is that the only MST3K nudity?”
There was definitely frozen-clone nudity in the uncut film, so maybe a stray nipple or two made it into the background of the MST cut. I’ve never noticed any, myself.
I think it would have been a lot funnier if Richard had been running around with one of those gigantic white Videodiscs under his turtleneck.
#99, Do you mean a LaserDisc? That would have been impossible for both the obvious reason (that they would spot him with it) and because recordable LaserDisc’s never existed. Plus, the video quality was too poor on that recording.
One of my favorite Sci-Fi episodes. “AGUA!!”
Okay, I correct myself, my response is to #100, although I’m pretty sure that when I was typing that response (#101), I was #100. What the heck happened?
#101bobhoncho – No, I don’t mean LaserDisc. In the late 70′s/early 80′s there were these big white plastic things called videodiscs. they had a very narrow reel of film inside and the players were about the size of an AMC Pacer. My uncle had one right alongside his double decker VCR, and they both had matching fake-wood panelling.
This was the first episode I ever saw on TV, so it holds a special nostalgic factor for me.
“Will you wipe me, clone daddy?”
@bobhoncho : I’ve seen that order/number of posts change too. Sometimes when I post, my message appears before messages that already existed when I posted mine (but with an earlier timestamp)… Odd…
One of the best episodes from season 8. I watch this one once a year. 5 Stars.
I tend to agree with most of what has already been said above.
My fave riff: Hey, didn’t you play Dick York on Bewitched?
Trashman- Me too! I think the first episode you see always holds a special place in your heart. I loved this one especially because at the time I really enjoyed watching Biography, so those jokes never get old for me!
I never liked the space kids, but I DO really enjoy the sketches with Pearl et al giving them the facts of life, and playing Candyland.
But I don’t care for the kids’ stupid magic words.
The children’s little chants seem to be a reference to the ST:TOS episode “Miri,” with possibly a dash of “And the Children Shall Lead” thrown in.
My favorite moment in the host segments for this episode is Mike’s Belloq impression. “Too bad… the Hovitos could have warned you–if only you spoke Hovitos.”
I agree that “Clonus” isn’t too bad of a movie, actually. Could’ve been better, yeah, but not unsalvagable.
As for the ep, the Xuxa-inspired kids’ show was a hoot, as was “the talk” and Mike’s Belloq callback. I’m a bit surprised no one has mentioned Mike’s positive/negative reinforcement talk to the kids to get them to not send the movie. Best doubletalk since Michael Palin in “The Rutles”.
Migel@#97: I can’t believe I forgot to mention, “It’s yummy hot-dog water, mmmmmmmmm…” As nauseating as everything in the previous ep was, that might just be my pick for the most disgusting riff they ever did. “Disgusting” being a very subjective term.
I felt this way even before Robot Chicken showed me where hot dog vendors use the facilities…
I can probably count on one hand the episodes of Bewitched I’ve seen, so I honestly can’t recall who was Darren in either of them. All this Dick Sergeant talk just makes me think of the issue of ‘Dork’ with the Devil Puppet strip claiming Bewitched had such a strong following in Japan that the Dick-to-Dick transition briefly sparked riots. Evan Dorkin seemed to use Devil Puppet to weave irrelevant historical facts and thought provoking fiction together, and since I don’t care enough to do homework on this, but do know that the first Gundam model kits caused a stampede that hospitalized eight customers in a Japanese department store, I choose to believe this actually happened.
Of couse, if any of you can prove that these events did not occur, please inform me and forgive my misquoting of Criswell.
Also, for me, the Biography jokes being run into the ground beforehand never detracts from the humor of their closing credits routine.
I love this whole episode so much.
“So life’s a constant, non-competitive track meet?”
#113-Stampedes over Gundam models is believable, people here actually got crushed to death because of “beanie babies”. Something about those things mad people insane. If you look them up on ebay, they’re not going for much. Trivia: Eileen Dietz had a small role in this-here’s she’s normal and good looking but in The Exorcist she was the very briefly glimpsed demon face during Father Karras’ nightmare. “Parts: The Visible Pantyline Horror” Will I watch this one again? SURE!
#100 / #101
Videdisc were a vinyl disc stored in a plastic caddy, which when inserted into the player, the disc was extracted by the player and the caddy removed set aside by the user. They then had to reinsert the caddy, pull it out, and reinsert and remove the caddy again to play side 2. The disc was read with a needle stylus, like a normal audio record. They were also pressed at a factory, like a vinyl record. I am not aware of this format ever being available as an end-user recordable format.
Laserdisc, on the other hand, was available in a recordable form – Recordable LaserVision was it’s commercial name. Just like a big CD-R. Once recorded, the discs would play in any normal Laserdisc player. They were great for frame-accurate recoding, when paired with an Amiga Video Toaster for capturing rendered Lightwave animations.
Like a DVD-R, they looked bluish, or purple, but were in a caddy, like a Videodisc, but with a shutter-door which which the recorder unit opened to access the disc. They could be removed from the caddy once recording was complete, for loading into a normal Laserdisc player.
Ridiculously expensive (A Sony creation, I believe), but if you wanted the best quality video capture of your Lightwave animations, this was the format to have. Probably the ultimate frame-accurate recorder of the time.
I love Crow’s raspy, obnoxious “AGUAAA!” during the Spanish kids show spoof. Also as a gamer I appreciated all the Nintendo related digs at Mr. York’s assistant “Dr. Mario.” And it has Peter Graves which is a good excuse for some “Biography!” I just wish Bill would have tossed in just one University of Minnesota callback line.
Fave lines:
Tom: “Eh, go eat a mushroom, Mario!”
Mike: “I have Yoshi parked on the next floor.”
At the end when the girlfriend gives her goofy/creepy post-lobotomy smile and Tom does their trademark nasally “Hoiiiii!” lol
I NEVER thought “Parts:The Clonus Horror” was great or even decent. The funny thing here is it sucks just as bad and is EQUALLY depressing as other 1970′s Sci Fi shlock they riffed on like “Laserblast” and “The Incredible Melting Man.”
I MIGHT have preferred Joel riffing on this (I have to agree that I think he does better with 1970′s Sci Fi/Fantasy shlock but fwiw I think Mike does better with 1980′s Sci Fi/Fantasy shlock so go figure…) but I think Mike did VERY admirably considering the film he, Kevin & Bill were given.
When I read about the MST3K-on-The-Sci-Fi-Channel years I usually end up thinking something like “Why didn’t the Sci Fi channel give them better films to riff on? Did Mike, Kev & Bill just ask them for the worst flicks they had in the vault?” Sci Fi played a lot of bad or at least decent-but-still-bad Sci Fi/Fantasy films when they had MST (I remember them playing “Flash Gordon” and “Zardoz” back then and knew MST would have A LOT of fun with those flicks.)
I STILL can’t believe Sci Fi couldn’t give them better but just as depressing 70′s Sci Fi to riff on like “Soylent Green” or the 1978 remake of “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” (maybe “Altered States” would’ve been too much to ask? What about “Quintet”?) Heck even
“Saturn 3″ or “The Martian Chronicles” would’ve been FAR better than “Parts” or “The Incredible Melting Man.”
I was still hoping that Pearl would do a Dr. F type move and simply give them a 2 part TV episode as a “movie.” And you KNOW what fun they’d have with a 2 parter from let’s say “The Man From Atlantis”, “Buck Rogers In The 25th Century” or the 1970′s version of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Finally I mostly agree with the “Too much ‘on Biography’” riffing but I guess that was Graves’ most recent show and they just stuck with it. It’s still funny but they really shoudl’ve switched it up with Mission:Impossible jokes too.
NOTE: When I had taken the online survey for the Rifftrax-Do-Plan-9-Live Event I suggested that they riff on the 00′s version of “Battlestar Galactica.” I think they’d probably have as much with that as they would with the 1970′s version don’t you?
NOTE PT. 2: I’ve read somewhere that XUXA used to be a porn star before becoming a kid show host/goddess. Anybody if that’s true or not? Also how do you pronounce XUXA? Is it like “shoo-sha” or “zoo-za”?
I’m way too late for my normal lengthy review/movie quote list, so let me just add this one anti-”Just a show I should really just relax” observation:
Where were Tom and Crow during the time it took for Mike to grow the moustache?
Wow, two weeks ina row where the ep were discussing is on commercial dvd! (it will make three weeks on the following episode, for those fortuneate enough to have Volume 9). If nothing else, its nice to see these shows in high-quality rather than VHS.
I’m REALLY late on this post, so let me just say that this is one of those movies that I don’t go to very often yet enjoy every time I do. Very good riffs, great host segments (if you don’t mind a healthy dose of Pearl et al), and a movie that’s just bad enough to take swings at. Like Fiveson’s interview mentioned, the concept is actually intriguing, it’s just the follow through that’s messed up.