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Episode guide: 912- The Screaming Skull (with short ‘Robot Rumpus’)

912s

Short: (1956) A Gumby cartoon. Gumby builds robots to do his chores for him.
Movie: (1958) Newly married headcase Jenni sees human skulls everywhere in her new home.

First shown: 8/29/98
Opening: Tom has become a beautiful butterfly
Intro: Tom’s still a butterfly, but you can’t really tell; Pearl, Observer and Bobo pull a not-so-fast one on M&tB
Host segment 1: The bots try to work through the pain of the Gumby short
Host segment 2: The bots try to scam a free coffin
Host segment 3: Crow, disguised as a screaming skull, freaks Mike out
End: The coffin arrives from Coffins Etc.; Bobo fails to pull an even-less fast one on M&tB
Stinger: Hubby flings his stool.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (289 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5)

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• This is another one of those episode where the spectacularly funny short outshines some decent riffing on a drab, dull movie. I wonder how it even came up that they would be able to use this cartoon. The segments are hit and miss, but a couple of them are real classics.
• Bill’s thoughts on the episode are here.
References.
• This episode is featured on Shout’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXXI.
• This was the last episode of the show broadcast on Sci Fi Channel, January 31, 2004.
• Nice build on Servo in the opening segment; kudos to whoever did it.
• Watch Mike as Servo explains his metamorphosis. His reactions are great.
• The opening bit in the castle is one of those long-walk-for-a-little-bit gags, but I have to admit everybody’s costumes are pretty funny.
• I wonder why Pearl didn’t mention the short in her intro.
• M&tB are still wearing their costumes as they enter the theater.
• The short is simply sublime, hilarious from start to finish. The reaction by fans was overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of calls for more cartoons.
• Fave riff from the short: “Thank goodness for the internal genitalia!”
• Alex Nicol, who plays unhinged gardener Mickey, was also the director. So I think you can pretty much blame him for this movie.
• Again, another nice build for segment 1. And the segment is hilarious, a rare look at the world through the eyes of the bots.
• Last time around I wrote a long plea for somebody to explain the movie to me, and I got several good responses. As I understand it, we are to believe that, in addition to the skulls evil hubby Eric was placing around the house, the ghost of Eric’s dead first wife was capable of conjuring up tangible, corporeal objects (see the skeleton in the wedding dress, which is clearly a physical object–though it is transparent as it runs around the garden) in revenge for what we assume was his murder of her?
• This may not be the worst print of a movie they ever riffed, but it’s up there.
• That’s Barb Tebben as the as operator at Coffins Etc.
• Arty riff: “Pinched lady at Giverny.”
• Jenni disrobes down to her underwear at one point, and I think the movie was trying to titilate the audience a bit, but jeez-louise that is the least sexy bra ever.
• Segment 3 is an all-time favorite, one of those Looney Tunes-style segments that works perfectly. I particularly like the way Mike keeps screaming in horror as he carefully selects just the right golf club.
• Also note, right at the end of the sketch, Mike’s elbow accidentally(?) brushes against Servo’s head — and of course it immediately falls off.
• That’s Patrick in the closing bit as the delivery guy. His “this must be a great place to work” comment is probably something they heard at BBI a lot.
• I have to assume Kevin was boiling in that costume inside a costume.
• And the episode closes out with a little blast from the past: a forced perspective gag. Paging Joel…
• Cast and crew roundup: Executive producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson worked on too many MST3K movies to name. In front of the camera, Peggy Webber was in “Space Children.”
• Creditwatch: Directed by Kevin. Andrea DuCane couldn’t do hair and makeup this episode (the only episode in season 9 where she didn’t) so Mary K. Flaa took her place. Barry Schulman, who renewed them one last time just before getting canned, gets a special mention in the credits.
• Fave riff: “Wow, too bad. So…some?” Honorable mention: “GET A BOX!”

200 Replies to “Episode guide: 912- The Screaming Skull (with short ‘Robot Rumpus’)”

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  1. I'm Evil says:

    “It’s like they had two servings of tension they tried to stretch out for seven people.”

    That’s a pretty good summation of this film, or as Mike put it, “okay, you’ve established enough mood, lets move on to plot.”

    Plenty of good moments in this episode–I particularly like the guys’ reactions to the cuts back and forth from husband and wife when they seem like they are in separate dimensions–but I feel like this one never really gets any sustained momentum. Also, hard to imagine this scaring anyone, even in 1958.

    In answer to Sampo’s question on what the hey was going on, I took it as signs that Jenni really was crazy and some of those things were signs of/ figments of her insanity.

    At the risk of getting shouted down, I really didn’t care for the short, but it may have been a case of expectations–I really thought they would tee off on it, but it never takes off for me. I do like the bots’ reaction at the end “They’ve hung his head up!”

    MO this is an episode where the host segments outshine the movie. I particularly like Tom’s call to scam a free casket and Mike’s bot abuse. The “skull Crow” hangs together pretty well while Mike pummels it–good build.

    Discussion topic: Who would you rather be stuck on a desert island with, Peggy Webber’s Jenni from “The Screaming Skull,” or Peggy Webber’s constantly negative Anne from “The Space Children”? I’d bet the underwire overwire bra goes with either one.

    Favorite riff: Van Gogh’s “Hooooowdeeee!”
    Runner up: Out of my way!

       8 likes

  2. klisch says:

    Okay, all together now, “O-ver-ra-ted *clap, clap, clap, clap, clap* O-ver-ra-ted *clap, clap, clap, clap, clap*.” Other than the hilarious Gumby short, this movie goes into my top 10 worst episodes they’ve done. Riffing couldn’t save it, just drab and dull.

    Favorite line: “Well this just squares my breasts.”

       1 likes

  3. Fingal Dopple says:

    This episode features my favorite all-time riff…although to many it probably seems pretty innocuous.

    It’s during that dreadfully long scene where our female lead is contemplating whether or not she may or may not have heard something. At one point…Crow leaps out of his chair and screams “Can we help you movie lady!!!! Do you need a push or something?” For some reason, that gets me every time (I’m chuckling as I type this)…Bill’s timing is just perfect…and the delivery is spot on. He perfectly matches what the audience is feeling. Just an absolute winner. One of my favorite episodes.

       5 likes

  4. MikeH says:

    I’m in agreement too, short much better than the film, cause I only remember stuff from the gumby short.

    “This is CNN”
    “Robot Rump?”
    “Mrs Gumby is stacked”
    “Maybe we can have some white rice too”

       2 likes

  5. Colossus Prime says:

    Hey, a movie that I have a story for. :)

    Years ago I was visiting a girlfriend at her college. She had a few early classes so I just relaxed in her room, I had brought a few movies and tapes with MST3K on them to kill the time. As I was watching The Screaming Skull a friend of hers came into the room to wait for her. He sat down and asked what I was watching, so I paused it and gave him the run down. A few more friends came in and joined us and by the time my girlfriend got back to the room there were about six of us sitting around laughing. After I left apparently a few of her friends kept asking for me to send her some episodes, which I happily obliged. So while I don’t know how much it spread, I had a hand in getting at least six people into MST3K in one sitting by complete accident.

    Just such a weird opening segment, brilliant but weird. I love the follow up of Tom being back to normal with a completely non-sensical explanation. And yes the way Mike looks up at the antennae which are “so thin they’re invisible” as well as how he was clearly amusing himself inside of his own head before Servo showed up, are all brilliant. And the whole penguin costume thing is hysterical especially with Brain Guy and Bobo’s slow realization of how stupid their plan was. But yeah, all of it is just really, really weird.

    The Crow as the screaming skull bit is simply, too, funny to put into words. Kudos for the highly durable Crow skull prop. And this makes two episodes in a row where someone comes up to the satellite willy-nilly. It never gets old to me. We also get another moment of Mike’s expressions translating to the expressionless robots as they are duped by Bobo.

    The movie has so many great running gags about people ignoring the obvious, how depressed JennI is and Mickey as a deranged homicidal creep. This is one of those movies that could be better with just a little re-writing to remove those really, really ridiculous elements like Reverend Snow just accepting Eric’s ineffectual psychological treatment plans for his clearly insane wife.

    And to Sampo’s curiousity, I always took it as a combination of all two things; Eric trying to scare Jenni while unaware that there really was a super natural presence out for him.

    Short:
    Crow: One of my class mates died in the kiln today, mother.

    Movie:
    Eric: Jenni, this is Mickey.
    Crow: Mickey’s a wide awake nightmare.

    Jenni: When I was a little girl I used to want to be a caterpillar.
    Crow: I wanted that, too, and it worked out.

    Mike: Oh, he’s growing pot.
    Crow: Get a box!
    Both from when Mickey is rambling and picking up and dropping flower pots.

       8 likes

  6. Joseph Nebus says:

    “The Screaming Skull” makes you really appreciate how good “Rebecca” is. I admit a weird fascination with the MST3K movies that barely try to disguise how they’re ripoffs of real movies.

       2 likes

  7. rcfagnan says:

    “Awww, I thought there was gonna be robot rump!” “The movie’s title should have been “Screaming semicolon Skull.” I guess I’m in the minority, because I think this ep’s REALLY good. Host segments, short, and movie all seem to be clicking on all cylinders. The actual movie itself is VERY dull (which usually for me are the most difficult to watch), but there’s enough “Huh?!” moments and top-notch riffing for me to enjoy it. My opinion, for what it’s worth.

       8 likes

  8. dafs says:

    re: #6

    I dunno why I never thought of that! Mickey isn’t exactly Mrs. Danvers, is he?

       1 likes

  9. robot rump! says:

    i too love the short. would have really loved to have seen more, especially in the Joel era. My take on the movie is this…
    1. the director hates humanity and wanted to punish us with this film.
    2. the husband in the movie marries then kills the first wife, moves on to wife 2 whom he AGAIN marries and playing on some incident where she walked in on her parents or something, tries to make her coo coo for coco puffs by playing haunted house with her. only it would appear that the ghost of wife 1 wants some revenge. and as the Klingons say “revenge is a dish best served cold and in a drab, lifeless movie.” so we have husband biting it as if anyone cared and mickey kept his urine soaked shack in the back.
    3. did i mention that the director hated humanity…?

       1 likes

  10. ck says:

    This episode must be a favorite for psychiatrists,
    given the need of any robots viewing the short for
    years of powerful Adlerian therapy. :shock: :shock:

       0 likes

  11. ck says:

    P. S. Gumby’s parents were obviously devotees of “tough love.”

       0 likes

  12. pumafan says:

    Fingal dopple — I’m with you brother (or sister!). I laughed until I cried at that one. It perfectly sums up the whole spirit of the show.

       0 likes

  13. Joseph Nebus says:

    Whoa. According to the IMDB Trivia page, this was a double-feature with Terror From The Year 5000 … and this was the top half of the bill. Terror may be about as terrifying as a Mary Worth garden party but it’s still way the stronger movie.

    Also apparently the movie’s original rip-off source was a short story by Francis Marion Crawford which I haven’t had time to read. Huh.

       2 likes

  14. swh1939 says:

    Am I correct in remembering that this was the final re-run episode of MST3K ever?

       1 likes

  15. Tim S. Turner says:

    My favorite riff:
    “Trick or Treat for calcium!”

       0 likes

  16. Wilford B. Wolf says:

    Of course, this movie prompted the question in me “Why do lousy movies have such sweet cars?” (The Mercedes Gull-Wing is a 50’s classic)

       1 likes

  17. trickymutha says:

    I for one like Uncle Lady

       2 likes

  18. Sitting Duck says:

    Shalen of Mutant Reviewers From Hell took a crack at the un-MSTed version.

    http://mutantreviewers.com/rscreamingskull.html

       0 likes

  19. Thomas K. Dye says:

    While the short is funny, I like the a LOT movie better than I expected. I have no idea how they did it, but they made a dreary “mystery” funny: “Is he reading from a report?” “She had one nostril enlarged for the role.” “It’s the Show Us Your Live Wife and Win a Million Dollars people.”

    Also, I loved the bit where Eric repeatedly slaps Mickey and Three Stooges slap effects are foleyed in. Mike and the Bots notice it, too, and play it for everything it’s worth. “Stop hitting me, Moe!”

       4 likes

  20. Sitting Duck says:

    Oh, and I give this episode five stars. Must say I’m a bit confounded by low average rating this one has received so far (3.85 as I write this). So people, give it some hotpad love.

       2 likes

  21. Finnias Jones says:

    Damn, I need more pigs’ blood.

    Four stars. Solid riffing on a dull movie, made better by the Gumby short and a couple of great host segments.

    Habitat AGAINST Humanity.

    Saw this one a lot in those final Sci-Fi Saturday morning repeat years. Would wake up, make breakfast, then sit down only to find THIS snooze-fest was on again. I finally decided to start taping the series when >poof< it was off the air forever. No onscreen announcement, no nothing. So because I have it captured on VHS, I always misremember it as being readily available on DVD. Over time, it's grown on me.

    Can we help you, movie lady? Do you need a push or something?

    I shouldn’t really like this one at all, but the central performance by Peggy Webber carries the movie. She is both sympathetic and (somewhat) sexy. Her inner strength comes through even while being abused by both her onscreen husband (whose dickishness is apparent 5 minutes in) and her offscreen director (who mostly forces her to grimace, scream, and undress — sort of the Lars Von Trier approach to actresses). I can imagine the time it took on-set for the lighting and camera guys to catch the light shining through her translucent nightgown as she goes down the stairs and retreats from the skull before the fireplace. Hot stuff!

    They have two servings of tension that they’re trying to serve to seven people.

    Her lengthy scenes of walking around the haunted house are similar to last year’s Paranormal Activity (which Rifftrax recently tackled) and House of the Devil. There is something archetypal about the lone woman exploring a dark house (anima/unconscious, etc.); that sensation of “nothing is happening” is part of the horror movie ritual.

    Host segments: Some great ones on the SOL, particularly Free Coffin and Crow-Skull, but the Castle F. animal costume stuff is no good. Tom’s proboscis is a delight. Kevin quotes one of my favorite Elton John songs (Someone Saved My Life Tonight). And the bots’ reenactment of the short contains two phrases I love:
    You wanna unpack that for me?
    Please Mike, just work the lumps!

    Random notes:
    • Mickey (the director/gardener) not only resembles Eric Clapton, but also Beach Boy Brian Wilson during his “crazy hermit” phase.
    • Servo suggests the bots “neck” with Mike, then they make kissy noises at him. Kinda creepy.
    • Mike, on the score: At least some oboe player got a paycheck out of all this horse hockey.
    Gandalf’s outside, scratching things on the door… (nerds!)

       11 likes

  22. Raptorial Talon says:

    I do have to agree that the short is much more lively and well-paced than the movie, and that the host segments are high points, but the film portion is still quite watchable. Dreary as hell? Yes, but buoyed up by pretty solid riffing.

    As for the storyline . . . well obviously there’s an actual pissed-off ghost! As with the film’s other red herrings, the wife’s apparent “insanity” (which may be true to a small degree) is just a cover for the final twist of an actual ghost. And since ghosts have, well, ghostish powers, the tangible existence of a skeleton in a dress doesn’t need a rational explanation. We can assume Wife #1 just really, really hated the idea of hubby going all insurance fraud on Wife #2.

       3 likes

  23. Finnias Jones says:

    #14:
    Yes according to the Broadcast Schedule Archive on this very website this was the LAST EPISODE of the show broadcast on Sci Fi Channel, January 31, 2004 @ 9am. Surprised Sampo didn’t highlight this.

       0 likes

  24. Kenneth Morgan says:

    As I recall, there’s a quick throwaway Torgo reference in ralation to Mickey. I was surprised that there weren’t more; Mickey is practically Torgo’s long-lost twin.

    The short and the related host segment far exceeded the movie, and I agree that the Crow-Skull segment is tremendously funny.

       1 likes

  25. M "AAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAA!" Sipher says:

    “Crow skull” marks the second time MST has truly made me laugh so hard I was in pain. Bill has a wonderful scream, both the fakey “rar” he tries to scare Mike with, and his howls of pain as Mike pummels him. Combined with Mike’s great yelling while very carefully selecting a club (and Crow’s panicky muttered “don’t let him hit me!”), and it’s a skit that threatens to make one pee themselves.

    I completely agree… watching Mike’s silent reactions to skits is half the fun. He’s got a wonderfully expressive face. Well, it is a big face, makes it easier.

    I actually really enjoy the movie portion of this one. It’s dull and drab and goes nowhere slowly, yes. But by this point, the SOL crew had some real teeth in their commentary that they didn’t quite have back in, say, the days of Ring of Terror, plus a healthy dose of pure absurdity (“Do you need a push or something?”), so it ends up a lot more fun.

    Since this movie, the term “Styrofoam peanut” has entered my regular lexicon for entertainment. Whole episodes of a TV series can be a Styrofoam peanut.

       6 likes

  26. Dark Grandma of Death says:

    Is there any other MSTied movie that has only five characters?

    This has long been one of my go-to episodes for dreary days, maybe because it’s such a dreary little movie. The Gumby short is lots of fun, and Crow as the screaming skull is one of our family’s favorite host segments.

    I very much appreciated Alex Nicol’s performance as Mickey. Perhaps as the director, he felt that no one else could do justice to the tortured, nuanced character of Mickey. Or he just wanted to save money by reducing the number of actors.

    Fave riffs: “Alas, poor Yorick, she threw him well.”
    “Why can’t you kill like the other husbands?”

       4 likes

  27. bad wolf says:

    #14 & 23 — and that’s why it’s one of only a couple episodes i have on tape; i didn’t have cable and when i realized they were going to stop re-running it i had a friend tape the last couple of episodes. i think the second-to-last must have been Boggy Creek II.

       0 likes

  28. Dave says:

    Raised Catholic, I never fail to laugh at the religious stuff:
    “Ok I’ll climb in and you confess through the little hole.”
    “I bought some cool ranch flavored host.”
    “My wife and I have an understanding.”

       2 likes

  29. Bat Masterson says:

    “We brought you a night basket!”

       2 likes

  30. jjb3k says:

    When I had all the SciFi episodes on my hard drive, this was one of my heavy rotation episodes. The Gumby short gets it off to a great start (“Don’t you worry your squishy little head about it!”), and that carries over well into the movie. I’m one of those fans who doesn’t mind if the movie is a big bland ball of nothing – it just means that the guys don’t have to focus on story or anything and can just lob riff after riff without stopping. Episodes like “Monster A-Go Go” and “The Starfighters” fit well into this category, and they’re among my all-time favorites. This one is no exception.

    Words can’t describe how hard I was laughing the first time I heard Crow bellow “GET A BOX!” while Mickey fumbles with the flowerpots. Such a simple riff, but it hits head-on.

    At first, I thought Peggy Weber was kinda cute…and then the movie got to that shot of her looking down at the skull on her doorstep and screaming. Ew. It looks like her lips are made of rubber.

       5 likes

  31. Fingal Dopple says:

    Y’Know it’s funny…Crow does have a few outbursts in this one. It always seemed like pre-Mike it was Joel who was prone to those types of displays. It’s interesting how that dynamic evolved over time.

       1 likes

  32. Zee says:

    Great episode. The little robots from segment 1 fueled my already flaming desire for MST3K action figures. Thanks I finally have ’em thanks (sort of) thanks to Shout Factory.

       2 likes

  33. “The movie that dares to graphically depict sometimes seeing peacocks and sometimes not seeing peacocks!”

       6 likes

  34. This is one of my faves, so five stars.

    “Mickey, CNN, Atlanta”

    It was a rainy day-and he shot her.”

       4 likes

  35. Cabbage Patch Elvis says:

    “This film should have been called Looking for Mickey!”

    This is one of those episodes that takes several viewings getting into. Of course, the Gumby short’s fantastic. “Pay for my head bump surgery and I’ll get you down!” I’d never made the connection between this film and Rebecca, but I don’t think I’d watched Rebecca until fairly recently (the last 5 years or so). The Uncle Lady jokes are a little mean, but still really funny. It’s not riff-specific, but I like how this movie just sort of throws up it’s hands towards the end, with Eric wandering around the lawn until he falls into the pond. Thanks, movie. I can’t recall the riff, but I love the shot of the wife’s face where one nostril seems WAY bigger than the other one.

       4 likes

  36. And it’s obvious that all Jenni needs is a good #&*%.

       2 likes

  37. creepygirl says:

    This is a middle of the road episode for me. I have not seen it in years and just watched it 30 minutes ago. I agree with earlier posts that the short is great and O-BOY is the film dull. Mike and the Bots did keep things moving riff-wise, but there were long segments of pure bordom within the film. I will also agree the host segments were on the mark. I wonder if that is because they actully pertained to the movie and short. They just were not abstract skits out of no where. I’m sure this episode will show up soon on a Shout! Factory release sometime and I’m looking forward to a good copy. My VHS looks like someone put this ep in the dishwasher. :lol:

       0 likes

  38. Zee says:

    Re: #26: “Is there any other MSTied movie that has only five characters?”

    Good question. “King Dinosaur” has four characters and a narrator. “The Killer Shrews”, “The Atomic Brain”, “Night of the Blood Beast”, and “Terror From the Year 5000” have pretty limited casts too.

       3 likes

  39. M "I Left A Victim In The Oven!" Sipher says:

    #30: I have to agree… it’s movies like this, Starfighters and the like that end up among my favorites -well, later-season ones anyway- simply because it does allow a far greater density of riffs, plus it makes them work just a little bit harder on said riffs. They turn to absurdity and more conversational humor, and that makes me happy. The Film Crew’s Hollywood After Dark is another great example.

       2 likes

  40. Fart Bargo says:

    A good, solid not great, episode for many of the reasons stated above. The Gumby episodes is in my top five shorts wise. I grew up when Gumby was Barny, was the Tele Tubbies… so I loved the robot episode as it was a childhood favorite. Steller riffing and host segs on the short. Mrs Gumbo tickles me to no end with her ‘reverse hair-do'(front bangs at nape/back flip at brow).

    The movie is D&D no doubt, but not enough to bog down the solid riffing. Loved the Snagglepuss reference to Micky! The one riff I expected but never noticed is Tom intoning Jenni’s voice ‘The sand is getting into everything!’, throw back to Space Children. I guess all the memory lane aspects DULLED the D&D effect, thank the gods.

       2 likes

  41. Smoothie of Great Power says:

    Ah yes, while not the best, this episode has a place in my heart for one good solid reason: In March of 2003, it became the very first MST3K episode I ever got to see and record off the air on TV, despite being at 7:00 am on a Saturday while I was still in school. It turned out to be a very, VERY wonderful introduction to the Sci-Fi episodes. Devil Fish was the second, so I need to go back and comment in that thread after this.

    Short:
    * Having grown up watching Gumby cartoons as a kid, this became the first example of something I loved being riffed to pieces on MST3K. I laughed. Hard. (Joel read’s in one of the letters in Warrior of the Lost World where the writer’s dad didn’t like how they riffed on what he paid good money to see as a kid.)
    * Despite how often I watch this, I always pick up on a joke that I didn’t quite understand beforehand each time.
    * Other good claymation icons of the time they could have inserted jokes about include the California Raisins and the Noid, or even Michael Jackson (see the movie “Moonwalker”).
    * Favorite riffs:
    “I’ll take the company car.” – Mike
    “Oh, bad move. Robots do not fight clean. You know that, Mike.” – Crow
    “They hung his head! This is worse then Se7en!” – Servo

    Movie:
    * For me, THIS is what epitomizes a bad B-Movie: stagnant plot, vague characters (I do like the reverend though), cheezy effects, and the absurd idea that the audience would take it an angstrom as seriously as the producers (free coffin indeed). Maybe that’s another reason why I like this one more than others.
    * Note that Mike still has his dog ears well into the opening credits.
    * Lord of the Rings reference: “Gandalf’s outside, scratching things on the door post.”
    * Favorite riffs:
    “Martin Luther’s nailing EACH thesis individually.” – Mike
    “I don’t know how to put this tent up!” – Crow
    “Okay who turned up the heat in the hot tub!” – Servo

    Host Segments:
    * Segment 3. Enough said.

    Things I Learned from this Episode:
    * As fun as it may sound, it is NOT a good idea to try and throw an anvil through your dad.
    * Skulls have their own set of vocal chords.
    * Looking for Mickey is the sure-fire way to summon a ghost.
    * There’s a Society for Unstrangled Wives.

       2 likes

  42. Smoothie of Great Power says:

    #26 “Is there any other MSTied movie that has only five characters?”

    Night of the Blood Beast comes close with only six.

    And yes, I’m going to say they’re all named Steve.

       3 likes

  43. Bat Masterson says:

    Oh I can’t believe I forgot:

    “He’s having his own three legged race!”

       3 likes

  44. H says:

    I enjoy this one. While it’s true the short outshines the movie, the movie is pretty good for me too. Host segments are a lot of fun as well, especially the intro stuff.

       1 likes

  45. fruitypebbles says:

    @ #36- *Really?*

       2 likes

  46. CG says:

    “Sublime” is definitely the word for the short. Top-notch from beginning to end.

    As for the movie, I have a quick story. Several years ago I was watched a very bizarre episode of The Twilight Zone. In the story, a newlywed couple is about to depart on their honeymoon and stops by the house to pick up some last-minute things. The husband starts acting very strangely – he keeps saying that he misses his mother, that he wants to see her again, that he doesn’t want to get married because he wants to live with his mom to keep her company. Weird, I know. In the final scene, the poor wife runs upstairs to find her husband changed into a boy, and he says that he’s going off to live with his mother forever. (To steal a riff from Merlin’s Shop: “Based on a story by Sigmund Freud!”)

    That viewing experience was strange enough, but when the credits started rolling, I spotted a familiar name: Alex Nicol. I went “WAIT A MINUTE,” looked it up, and sure enough, our beloved Mickey had played the part of the creepy Oedipal husband. It blew my mind.

    Other notes:

    The music is definitely interesting in the movie. (“My Sharona!” “Mickey’s…theme! Mickeystheme!” “Wow, it’s Mr. McFeeley’s music! Busy day, busy day!”)

    All of my favorite riffs have already been quoted (“Habitat AGAINST Humanity!”, “Mickey, CNN, Atlanta,” “Alas, poor Yorick, she threw him well!”) I also love the scene in the short where Gumbo (haha, love the name) comes home to find his wife and son in a clay ball, and listening to the M+TB go “What?” and laugh. As for the movie, the “gay beekeeper,” the depressing Henry James novel that the wife was reading, the skull’s “PARTAYYYY!” and Mickey’s “EX-it! Stage left, even!”

    Oh, and regarding all of the peacocks outside of the mansion: I kinda wish that this episode had been produced ten years later, because they could’ve done a riff on “Malfoy Manor.”

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  47. Ator In Flight says:

    I haven’t seen this episode in a while,but it was better than I remember. Of course the short is a classic and outshines the movie. I’ll give it 5 stars for the short alone. I just LOVE Gumby’s voice.

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  48. I like to think that a parrot got into the skull and made it move around, just like in those Three Stooges shorts.

    What did they make the Crow skull out of? Normally, the robot’s heads would fall off if someone so much as looked at them. Mike beats the bejeezus out of the Crow skull and it stays intact. They must have been using some strong material.

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  49. Edge10 says:

    I’d like to add one question to Sampo’s list of questions about the movie…

    What about Scarecrow’s brain?!

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  50. mikek says:

    I’ll review it later, but I just want throw this question out there early on.

    Is there any plausible explanation for the riff made by Mike, “Do you like mayonnaise?”

    Crow doesn’t get it, but Servo says he does. I thought it was something but, now I think it was just a random, nonsensical, creepy riff.

    :?:

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