Movie: (1952) A sea-going adventurer sets sail to find the bluebird of happiness, which he believes will help his down-on-its-luck hometown.
First shown: 8/14/93
Opening: J&tB are presenters and nominees at the SOL-tie awards
Invention exchange: The Mads present chin-derwear, while J&tB show off the rat pack chess set
Host segment 1: J&tB have a meeting of the Junior Jester Club
Host segment 2: J&tB are the bearded town council debating the Sinbad problem
Host segment 3: Crow’s lifelong quest thingy goes awry
End: The bots are amazed by Joel’s channel cat puppet, letter, Frank meets Mr. Fistie
Stinger: Laughing horse
(152 votes, average: 4.55 out of 5)
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• Oh my, oh my, oh my, what a wonderful episode. An all-time fave. Everything works, everything clicks. Great invention exchanges, great host segments, great riffing and a well-shot, expensive — albeit weird — movie. Despite my personal attachment to “The Day the Earth Froze,” I have to say this is the best of the Russo-Finnish movie episodes.
• This episode was included in Shout! Factory’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XX.”
• You gotta assume the opening is perhaps a reflection on their “always a nominee, never a winner” TV award history.
• Both inventions, chin-derwear and the Rat Pack chess set, are not just clever, they are downright witty.
• That’s Mike, of course, attempting Frank Sinatra. He doesn’t sound much like ol’ Blue Eyes, but he has the intonation down pretty good. In any case, as we approach the switch in hosts, Mike is seen and heard more and more.
• He’s not Sinbad, and director Aleksandr Ptushko never intended him to be. But when this Soviet-financed film was released to American audiences, the lead character was given the name “Sinbad” in hopes of fooling American moms and dads, who, the American importers knew, would never allow their kids to see a movie made by commies.
• Comedy Central used this episode for a contest: viewers were asked to write in and guess what the riff would be after Morgana (or whatever her name was) said “You seem troubled.” The correct answer was: “Have some Prozac.” The winner was a lady in New Jersey named Susan Schneider (she’s at the beginning of this collection of ’93 Turkey Day bumpers) who was on, I forget, either Prodigy or AOL. The prize was one of those god-awful giant-screen rear-projection TVs that were unaccountably popular at the time (and five grand, which was pretty sweet, even if the ridiculous TV took up half the space in her rec room). She threw a party and invited some of the folks she knew on line for the weekend — a decision she came to regret, but that’s another story for another day. I’m sure that behemoth she won is moldering in a landfill somewhere now.
• Crow the jester is carrying the little mini Crow last seen in the possession of Sir Giggles Von Laughs-a-lot.
• Again, the writing in the Junior Jester Club sketch is off-handedly brilliant.
• J&tB are still wearing jester hats when they enter the theater after the first segment. Also, Crow has no net for a lot of the riffing.
• Arty reference: “I can’t tell if that’s a Magritte or a hole in the wall.” Did Magritte do many giant frescos?
• Odd riff: “…and a tetherball.” What’s that about?
• Too-harsh riff?: “Jell-O tonight!”
• Did anybody else notice a similarity between the creepy laughing horse in this movie and the creepy laughing reindeer in “Santa Claus”?
• As if the segments up to this point haven’t been great, the second sketch is a riot, maybe one of their best. It even has an ending! “I wanna be the Labor MP from Brixton!”
• Callback: “Tom Stewart killed me!” (Tormented), “Please give my best wishes to everybody!” (Minsky the robot in last week’s episode) “A sampo?” (Day the Earth Froze), “Hikeeba!” (Women of the Prehistoric Planet).
• This is one of those episodes with some theater business: First Joel and Crow drift off under the spell of the magic bird, then off goes Crow on his lifelong quest thingy. I love how Crow flies in from above upon his return. I guess Jef Maynard or somebody was up on a ladder next to the riffing chairs?
• Obscure reference: the infant of Prague.
• The movie was already really strange, but in the last 15 minutes it really gets goofy.
• Gypsy seems a little hungry in the final segment.
• Firesign Theatre reference: “Those eyes! Weird!”
• There are not one but two uses of “wha happa?” in this episode.
• And just to finish things off, the appearance of an instant classic bit, Mr. Fistie!
• Cast and crew roundup: Some of the same folks worked on “The Sword and the Dragon,” including cinematographer Fyodor Provorov, costumer Olga Kruchinina, art director Yevgeni Kumankov and actors Sergei Stolyarov, Yelena Myshkova and Sovol (a.k.a. Sergei) Martinson. Actor Mikhail Troyanovsky was also in “The Day the Earth Froze.” And of course Alfred Pusco a.k.a. Aleksandr Ptushko, also directed “The Day The Earth Froze” and “The Sword and the Dragon.”
• CreditsWatch: Andrea J. DuCane is back for a 14-episode run doing hair and makeup. Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy.
• Fave riff: “And stock up on socks! You know, you’re never gonna have this chance again!” Honorable mention: “Is this really the best away team he could have chosen?”
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This is one of my top 10 favorites and one that I would show anyone who has not seen MST3K.
The movie is easy to follow (sort of ) and the riffing just ads to the weirdness.
Fave riff: While under the sea with Neptune & his Wife, the fish comes by and says ” I gotta go swim with Luca Brasi.”
Still getting “Failed to verify referrer” when I try to vote on this episode.
Quite possibly my favorite episode of all time. There, I said it. The Junior Jesters Club segment burrowed deep into my son’s and my subconscious and quickly worked its way into our daily conversations. To this day, whenever any of us has had a rough day at work or worked, studied, etc. extra hard, we state “jestering is grueling.” Did I mention I love this episode?
I remember I guessed right on the Prozac name the line contest and was mailed a comedy central shirt. This is a very colorful Russo-Finnish episode, known as Sadko in Russia.
Everything is great in this, the movie, segments a lot of fun :)
Love that octopus at the end
Joel’s hair- parted and fuzzy
Joels Knees- present in this episode
Crows Voice – a far cry from baby crow
Dr. F’s hair – somewhere in this season Trace cut his one long hair that was all pony-tailed off.
On that note, time to go on the Magic Voyage of therapy
Santa bites the Bishop???
My all time favorite episode.
I LOVE this episode! :inlove:
Not much to add, except…
“Fork all of ya!”
This episode was much better than I remembered, I love these goofy Russo-Finnish movies and the riffing was up to the task. The bird of happiness, seahorse escape, Neptune blathering with his wife all made me think this movie is taking the good stuff. Both the opening and closing segments were absolutely hilarious to bookend the episode. And Sampo, you can’t forget “Mr. B. Natural practice” in the callback listings.
Favorite line:
“When jesters drink”
Missed riff: When Sinbad is trying to do his own wealth distribution, this scene was crying out for a “This redistribution of wealth is trickier than I thought” Monty Python reference.
Dated riff:
“This is the latest Taster’s Choice ad.” I had totally forgot about those and now remember how much I hated them.
“There’s a squirrel in there!!!”
This is easily my least favorite of the Russo-Finnish trilogy, and probably the only one I don’t think I could sit through unriffed. The host segments are all brilliant, though. Once again, Crow moves his lips while someone (this time Gypsy) reads lines. Later, Crow comes crashing into the theater. Inspired stuff.
This is the first time I noticed that Frank and Dr F not only swap places just before movie sign, but they’ve swapped chinderwear!
Fave riff: [Do you have the bird of happiness?] “No, but we have a chicken that’s pretty friendly.”
4 Stars
Kevin Murphy’s perfect mob-goon response to “Howard Johnson” inquiring of Sinbad, “Where is this bird supposedly flying?”: (“Did I tell you to talk?!”)
Two of many of Trace’s quick, snappy shots.
“Here! Let me see!”: (“Scram!”)
“I’ll handle this wastrel”: (“Watch this!”)
This is by far the best of the Russo-Finnish episodes. Season five just keeps knocking ’em right out of the park. Just like 502 “Hercules,” this is a perfect, classic episode from beginning to end.
Five Stars….yes indeed!
OH Skinbag is a hoot. I love this episode. This is an episode I would recommend to a new fan after getting a few other episodes under their belt. That way they’ll get more enjoyment from this well written highlight episode. Again, this is a great episode. :heart:
I never saw this episode until it was released by Shout!, but “Jack Frost” was my all time favorite and I heard this was in a similar vein, so I had high expectations, especially with all the love given to it… but it ultimately struck me as “meh.”
The basic brief is no longer so snowy white after they get switched. Ewww….
Here’s a page I found that tells the Sadko story: http://www.artrusse.ca/Byliny/sadko.htm That page also has a link to the Ilya Muromets legend.
Favorite Riff – Tom Servo as the catfish: “Kill me! Kill me!”
This is one of the best ones they did. Top ten for sure.
For the longest time, I never liked Joel. He was always bugging me and I always wanted to watch Mike instead. But then I came across this episode and when Joel went: “What is this?”, I laughed out loud. Mike is still my favorite, but Joel has won me over now.
I love all the Russo-Finnish episodes so this is one of my favorites. The MST3K crew at the top of their game. Interesting movie with great riffing and very inventive host segments. To me this is the reason the show was created in the first place. Great stuff!
The original “Sadko,” in Russian with English subtitles, starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1lSfKqgGKQ
I can see why Kevin appreciated the cinematography, even if the film is as weird as all get-out. It’s actually an adaptation of a Rimsky-Korsakov opera, so the musical bits make a bit of sense (although the “Al Martino” version in our film deserves everything it gets from the SOL crew). In the opera, Sadko is a musician who enrages the merchants of Novgorod (I guess it’s the Novgorod chamber of commerce we see in the film) by refusing to sing and by insulting them–he is expelled from the hall, and wanders by Lake Ilmen, where he falls in love with Princess Volkhova, the sea-king’s daughter (conveniently forgetting that he’s married to the woman who in the film is suffering from that rare condition, luberia). Volkhova promises him a golden fish, just as in the film, but in the opera Sadko decides to go to sea to seek his fortune, hearing about different lands from a Viking, a Hindu, and a Venetian. There’s no “bluebird of happiness” nonsense, which, of course, can’t set up the “no place like home” message at the end. There’s also none of the proto-Marxist redistribution of wealth at the beginning, either. We don’t even get any scenes in exotic lands, since after Sadko decides to leave we get basically a title-card that reads “12 years later…” and we’re at sea after all the supposed adventures. The ship gets becalmed (not caught in a storm), which Sadko sees as the sea-king’s displeasure at having ditched his daughter. Sadko and Volkhova get married, and a ghost helps them escape to shore (no, really). Lyubava (Luberia in the film) is heard grieving for her lost husband, and Volkhova, graciously turning herself into a river, frees Sadko from his (actually illegal, as far as these things go in operas) marriage. He returns to Novgorod and Lyubava, and they live happily ever after.
Not especially goofy for a 19th-century opera; only slightly goofy as a piece of Russian folklore made into a movie; the real silliness is pretending this has anything to do with Sinbad–“I thought Sinbad wore baggy pants and a vest with no shirt”: Joel rightly calls it.
All the same–this is a magnificent episode, with lots of great riffing and some of the best host segments they ever did.
One question: does anyone know why Crow would want to be the “Labour member from Brixton” in 1993? I tried to find out if there’s any significance to the joke, but it escapes me. Loved the name mix-ups, though: “Skinbag” and the like.
For the record, this episode is on Shout’s Vol. XX.
I only saw this for the first time when the DVD was released. I can’t say I’m totally in love with it (although sometimes it takes me several viewings before I “get” one)…
Blast Hardcheese, apparently the Labor MP thing is a call-back, although Google isn’t helping me figure out what it is a reference to.
And if I hadn’t watched Secret Agent Super Dragon last week, I never would have caught the “Please give my best wishes to everybody!” joke…
“Women be different from men, you see!”
“Hoist the failure sails, men, we’re goin’ home!”
This is one of those episodes that’d be really good to show to someone who’s never seen the show and is skeptical about it. The movie isn’t bad, but it is incredibly insane, and the riffing just makes it even more enjoyable.
I agree that the Rat Pack Chess Set is one of their all-time best invention exchanges. I kinda want to see it exist in real life.
Dance scenes seem to bring out the best in the Brains, and this movie’s got a ton of ’em, from the banquet full of cavorting jesters (“Help me, I don’t know how to stop!”) to the unbelievable underwater jam session at the end. When the bird flies in and lands on Sadko’s shoulder and Joel says “Wait a minute, how does that work?”, I swear I lose it every time.
All the stuff with the Lady of the Lake or whoever she is, that’s all great too. “Everybody! Just the goldfish now!” “All right, I love this lake!” “Oh, by the way, I left $10,000 in the blubbublbublb…”
I adore the host segment with Joel, Crow, and Servo as the old wise dudes or whoever from the movie. “I thought we just sold each other fish!”
“Due east…” “Defeats Truman.” That’s one of those perfect clever riffs that comes right out of nowhere and just knocks you down with how great it is.
There seems to be a theme among these Ptushko films of heroes who go out on this amazing epic mystical journey, fail miserably, and still get a hero’s welcome when they come home. Is that a common thing in Russian folklore?
I love Gypsy trying to eat the catfish at the end. It’s a cute little throwback to Season 1 where she’d just eat stuff for no reason.
Not only is he not Sinbad, this movie’s not any part Finnish (nor is “Ilya Muromets/The Sword and the Dragon.”) Not a lone Finn in the credits.
As for the localization, IMDb reports that Francis Ford Coppola was the “script adaptor” for the English version. No joke.
My favorite part of this episode is Joel’s fish puppet in the last host segment. I love how the bots just can’t figure out how Joel’s recreating the fish from the movie. Truly brilliant.
I have revisited this since my post in 08 (wow, how four years fly by).
Have to say this is in my bottom ten and can’t quite get why this is such a favorite but that’s the way it is. It does have its moments–what MST doesn’t? But I find the riffing weak, sparse, and the film dull. I’m split on the Russo stuff. Day the Earth Froze and Jack Frost are excellent, this and Sword and the Dragon relatively weak.
C-
@72 – Not only is he not Sinbad, this movie’s not any part Finnish (nor is “Ilya Muromets/The Sword and the Dragon.”) Not a lone Finn in the credits.
Never could understand that: In MVOS, which is clearly Russian, Servo keeps making Finnish jokes, and in Sword & the Dragon, which is more Balkan, M&tB make Swedish/Bergman jokes…Don’t any of the Brains own an atlas??
Have they never heard the calls of exotic lands? (“whistle! Hey, Sinbad, over here!”)
And while it’s a few years too late to correct @1’s post, the correct riff is
“Sinbad went to the shores of the Enchanted Sea” “…And made a magic BM.”
One riff that always cracks me up silly, along with:
Sea king boo-hooing
“‘Somebody pulled my tail, buh-huh…'”
“Boy, HE’S started early.”
Great, great episode. One of my Top 3 – probably the current #1.
One of my favorite openings, inventions exchanges, and the host segments are very good, though Crow’s lifelong journey thing is kind of meh.
Riffing is top notch and relentless. So many favorite lines.
They started early today.
Take it easy buddy, I have an exoskeleton!
If I could just do my opening joke…women be different from men (love how Trace cracks up at that)
He just brought the level of discourse way down
We have a pretty friendly chicken
We don’t know anything!
Looks like they sailed right into the rinse cycle
I’ve glued you all to the boat and put rods in your limbs for a reason
We’ve lost two guys, you don’t need to go now
And I like Sinbad’s singing. :-P
For the record, Sadko and Ilya Muromets are Russian folk tales and Day The Earth Froze is the Finnish Legend of Lemminkainnen. Father Frost is mostly Russian but has variations of the character in other eastern european and scandanavian countries. America’s version is Jack Frost which is why they changed the title to that when it played in the US.
Always a favorite episode around my house as I recounted in my much earlier post under “Bob” above at #30. “He’s not Sinbad” is something that me, my wife and son all use occasionally. This one never gets old the movie is so entertaining and the jokes are so creative. Some of the best host segments ever.
Why do I now see “Failed To Verify Referrer” sometimes when I try to click a star rating on these postings? I never used to have any trouble, this is a recent development.
The contest wasn’t to guess what the riff was, it was to make suggestions and the winner’s riff was used in the episode.
So we’ve got a Russian folk tale via opera via Russo-Finnish socialist cinema that then gets an odd Arabian(?) Sindbad story plastered over it “What’s up Tiger Lily?” style which ends up in Neptune’s court. What’s not to like? Did Muslims ever pray much to Neptune ever?
This is a pretty great episode, not an all time classic, but solid. The “chinderwear” is pretty witty but the Rat Pack board game is only so-so. All the Host Segments are solid, even though HS#3 is obscenely a setup for Crow to fall from the ceiling into the theater after the return from break. Which is fine by me, because it’s funny.
The movie has its dry patches, there’s the singing, and notSinbad running around.., but the riffing is strong throughout and the last 15 minutes of the movie truly have to be seen, things get REALLY weird. The laughing horse puts this one over the top for me.
RIFFS:
Joel: “It’s the Ozark Mountain Daredevils taking out the laundry.”
Crow: “Santa, be reasonable.”
Crow: “Hey, those ships have scoliosis.”
Joel: “Oh wow, I’m tripping!”
Joel: “There he is now, standing on an air mattress!”
Crow: “Sir, we’re underwater but we still have standards.”
Joel: “STOP LOOKING INTO MY SOUL!”
–
–
-Not bad for a notSinbad,
4/5
–
And seriosuly, what’s up with the “FAILED TO VERIFY REFERRER” things popping up at the star-ratings thing up there? This is the third episode in a row where this has been going on.. Why can’t I vote?
@79 – No, the contest was to guess which of three possible riffs would be used, and sweepstaked winning guesses from there. (You’d have lost if you picked “I guess the Grail wasn’t dishwasher-safe”.)
@76 – We have a pretty friendly chicken
Just too many good riffs. :)
– “Hear my song of happiness…”
“Awrk, ‘song of happiness’, (whistle)!”
– “Ah, the Vikings of Sinbad.”
– “We come to trade GOODS, and see your LAND!”
“‘We’ll turn right AROUND, and LEAVE!'”
– “Now, don’t I look better with my head?”
“I dunno, let’s try it the other way and see!”
– “Look, there:” (long shot of…something)
“I see it”
“KEEP looking.”
“I’m looking, I’m looking!”
“Now take a big, steamy gawk…”
“Stop it! Stop it!”
Loved this one. Honestly, from the description I thought this would turn out to be one of the duller eps but to my surprise I laughed througout.
I’m kind of surprised though, considering the gang’s penchant for “Wizard of Oz” jokes that we didn’t get a “There’s no place like home” ref for the ending here since it seems pretty much exactly the same message.
#71: “In a Russian tragedy, everybody dies. In a Russian comedy, everybody dies too. But they die happy.”* — Barry Farber, in the Journal of Petroleum Technology
So as far failure being an acceptable finish for a Russian story, well, you know, there’s THAT, anyway.
===
*I first came across the basic gist of this aphorism years ago, but this is the first cited source I came across when I yahoo-searched
This would be in my top 25 episodes…
probably top 15…
“Can I get some more water please?”
“Skinbag!”
“It’s not Sinbad.”
That’s all I remember for some reason. Strange.
“I have Luberia.”
Yeah, this was the contest one? I guess this around the time the big change happened for show. LIke most people, I didn’t know the real reason behind it.
A train of thought can be a silly thing. While watching anime the other night, a monster named “Dogbar,” appeared. That made me think “Dove bar?” much like Servo after hearing Durbar’s name in “Sword and the Dragon,” leading to thinking of the guy who appears in both that and this film, and woke up this morning to find it this week’s episode.
STROKE! STROKE! STROKE! DROWN! DROWN! (gurggle)
Such a great episode. Love all the Russo-Finnish movies (even if some aren’t all that Finnish). So over-the-top & brilliantly strange.
The Magic Voyage of He’s Not Sinbad fails the Bechdel Test. There is no instance of two female characters conversing.
Probably shouldn’t have included any blue in Joel’s jester hat, at least not in a shade that matched their blue screen.
Then current reference: Crystal Pepsi.
@ #80: Dagon probably would have been more appropriate.
@ #84: No one dies in Nicolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector (though technically Gogol was Ukrainian).
Favorite riffs
“While the wealthy merchants seemed richer than ever.”
Yet they also looked like crap.
Next up on Slave Search, funny slave Carrot Top.
“What did you sell your freedom for?”
Some Knicks tickets.
I give up my hat, and now I’m the jerk.
If you must jest, don’t drink.
Here on the north side of Persia, it’s Prince Spaghetti Day.
I never knew Arabia was so Russian.
“Have you got the Bird of Happiness?”
We have a pretty friendly chicken.
Please spare my trinket stand.
That’s not the Bluebird of Happiness, it’s the Penguin of Giddiness.
Hoist the Failure Sails, mates. We’re going home.
Sir, we’re underwater, but we still have standards.
Stroke, stroke, stroke, drown, drown.
“I know about you Luberia.”
Hey, that cleared up!
Go away, big plague here. Go away, death and stuff.
I believe that the Labour Member from Brixton riff is a Monty Python reference, possibly to their Election Night sketch.
off topic:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/04/28/alec-baldwin-to-revive-match-game-this-summer.html?intcmp=hpff
hope the new show does something with this.
I posted this on the Discussion Board a few years ago – I wonder how many of you have noticed this, or at lease read about it when I posted it on the forums (copied and pasted here):
This is a particularly good one, and it’s obscure enough that I’ve never seen it mentioned anywhere: In “The Magic Voyage of Sinbad/Sadko/Torvol”, when he’s talking to the crowd (I think it’s around the time that Crow says “..he’s still fillerbustering!”), there’s a bit of awesomeness:
Take a look at that crowd: they aren’t all real people! In like the second and maybe 4th row, those are paper-maiche dummies! Apparently they didn’t have enough people handy to make an effective crowd scene (should’ve brought in some of the 130,000 extras from “Sword and the Dragon”), so they filled the audience with what are upon closer inspection, dummies. I mean, besides the already present contingent of actors.
It appears that they’re all hooked together too, like mounted on a board or something, as when one of them moves, they all do.
Enjoy, won’t you?
Gare
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC77T9AhnbXNa_iQ-r0yw6ug
We found Debbie Tobin!
Well, it was pre-CGI after all.
Susan Schneider? Robin Williams’ wife?
“This has all the earmarks of a run on the bank!”
I’m sort of surprised that the Brains got away with Frank’s little, er, bit of relaxation in the Invention Exchange. I saw the original Poopie! reel before I saw the episode itself and I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way THAT was part of the actual sketch!’ but here we are…
Another movie that I bet would actually look rather impressive in its proper screen ratio and strong color. Not sure I could still stand the plot though.
I hadn’t seen this one in while, but knowing it was coming up in this post i rewatched it again. Still not one of my all time favorites but I can see why its so popular. Good riffing and some memorable host segments. A good Joel episode although my pick for best Joel ep is still Fire Maidens.
Oldie but a goodie from the Muppets:
Statler: Was that Sinbad?
Waldorf: No, but it was certainly Sung Bad!
Geezers laugh…
And from Johnny Carson’s Amazing Karnak:
A: Sinbad
Q: Give a two-word summary of the Bible.
#92: Well, whaddya know.
Look at the lower left, second row up. Sinbad has the dummy contingent locked up.