Movie: (1984) When some alien eggs hatch, it spells trouble for a pair of poachers, a vacationing singer and his entourage and an isolated family.
First shown: 6/15/91
Opening: J&tB are having an arts chautauqua
Invention exchange: After a brief scene from “An Officer and a Gentlemen,” Joel demonstrates his monster chord; while the Mads have invented a public domain karaoke machine
Host segment 1: J&tB record “Idiot Control Now” and it stinks!
Host segment 2: J&tB present New Age music from Some Guys in Space
Host segment 3: “You are magic, aren’t you, Trumpy?”
End: J&tB sing, “A Clown in the Sky”
Stinger: “It stinks!”
(218 votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)
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• People adore this episode. In the ACEG it’s described as a “fan favorite.” But I gotta say this is number-one in my list of “sleeping pill” episodes. Don’t get me wrong: the riffing is great and the host segments are ALL winners (which is a rarity). But the movie just puts me to sleep. Maybe it’s all the fog and new agey music. I did make it through this viewing without dozing off, but I was getting pretty drowsy by the end.
• This movie was originally released in Spain as “Los Nuevos Extraterrestres.” For the American video release it was called “The Unearthling,” but you might also have seen it titled “Extra-Terrestrial Visitors,” “Tales Of Trumpy” or “The Return Of E.T.”
• References.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s “The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 2.”
• Kevin croaks out the word “merchant” in the opening bit–they keep going.
• The blowed-up bots are the handywork of newly arrived Toolmaster Jef.
• Dr. F mentions the once-trendy clothing retail chain Chess King. They would be gone in four years.
• Frank addresses Jerry the Mole Person but we never see him.
• Despite the fact that the bots have just been badly blowed up, the regular bots walk into the theater a moment later. Joel covers by mumbling “Good thing we got those re-…um…those new heads on…”
• FVI used clips from a movie called “Galaxy Invader” for the titles. That movie would later be riffed by RiffTrax.
• The last time we had an episode with two songs was 202- THE SIDE HACKERS. We wouldn’t get another one until episode 521- SANTA CLAUS.
• Callback: “Puma? Puma!” (Ring of Terror)
• That’s makeup lady (and occasional writer) Faye Berkholder as the recording studio assistant in Deep 13, her one and only appearance on the show. A lot of people thought it was Bridget for a long time.
• Kevin sort of coughs/clears his throat at one point in the theater. They keep going.
• During the wall of keyboards sketch, Crow has a bit of sammich on his beak. Another nice touch from Jef. Also–Why is Joel staring down at the floor while he’s talking? Is he reading his lines?
• A lot of people had no idea about the origin of that voice Crow does when he does Trumpy. “He’s like a poh-tay-toe!” He’s doing a vague impression of The Elephant Man from the movie of the same name.
• Also, a lot people had no idea who McCloud was. Dennis Weaver, we hardly knew ye.
• That said, they ran the “Chief? McCloud!” bit right into the ground. A running gag is one thing, but sheesh.
• Vaguely dirty riff: “That trunk could come in handy for hard to reach places!”
• Goof: When Joel says “Trumpy, you can do STUPID things!” in the theater, he’s referencing a line by the little kid, Tommy, who says: “Trumpy, you can do magic things!” Unfortunately Joel does that riff about 10 minutes BEFORE the Tommy says the original line. Another example of what happens when you watch a movie five or six times in a week. You can lose track of when stuff happens.
• The house in this movie is MUCH bigger on the inside than it looks like on the outside. It appears to have three or four guest bedrooms and endless hallways (and a door to the outside in the bathroom off one of the bedrooms, though which evil Trumpy escapes after killing the girl in the shower). Is it a TARDIS house?
• Cast and crew roundup: The only person credited for this movie that has a credit in any other MSTed movie is, once again, scoremeister Karl Michael Demer, who was Film Ventures International’s go-to credits music guy.
• CreditsWatch: Unbelievable: After two episodes where it didn’t appear, “Special Guest Villians” (misspelled) returns. Starting with this episode and continuing through most of the season: “Host Segments Directed by Jim Mallon.” And an important first in this episode: “Toolmaster: Jef Maynard.” Mike and Kevin get the credit for “A Clown in the Sky.” Trace gets a solo Art Direction credit (no Joel, for the only time during his tenure at the show). A new credit appears: “Post Production Coordination.” It’s Alex (already listed as “Production Manager”) and Jann (already listed as “Production Coordinator”). Sheesh. Another new credit: “Prop Assistant.” This week it’s one Barb Oswald, who will get the gig in two more eps this season.
• Fave riff: “Hi! We’re the cast from ‘Straw Dogs’.” Honorable mention: “Hear that? Sounds like Norm Abrams being killed by a giant chicken.”
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Loved seeing Frank wear the “I’m a virgin” t-shirt and uttering the line, “He’s the best” in his super gay voice. Classic stuff.
I’ve seen Galaxy Invader as well. If you’re familiar with Alien Factor, it’s by the same people, only worse.
“Pod People” wasn’t born a classic “MST3K” episode (though it was up to that moniker from the quality of the riffs alone, a rare instance in which an experiment doesn’t have ‘peak’ or ‘valley’ periods but runs at a constant, even pace of ‘very funny’ through all 96 minutes) but a lot of factors contributed to it becoming a rock star. It was on heavy rotation until the show’s last days on Comedy Central (that’s almost six years of exposure on marathons, late nights, regularly-scheduled repeats, etc.), one of the handful of shows that aired on syndication during the “MST Hour” year and one of the first released on VHS and later DVD. When new people discovered “MST3K” during the Sci-Fi Channel years and went to the video store looking to rent more this is one of the first episodes they got a hold of. Other “MST3K” shows also got this same exposure but only in “Pod People” did old/new fans felt every single element of the “MST3K” formula clicking at near-perfection. I know I didn’t get that feeling from “Monster A Go-Go” or “The Beatniks” (good as they were at delivering on other aspects of the “MST3K” premise).
Here you’ve got musicality (two songs, both classics, plus three more music-based skits), spot-on host segments (see before), classic lines (too many to quote), torture (the show rarely showed the captives as suffering from being shown the bad movies and the Mads studying/looking at them; the few times they did though, like “Manos” and here during the ‘SOL gone haywire’ segment, it fuses the comedy gold with the often-forgotten premise of people/bots being held against their will to bring in the often-overlooked element of pathos) and, first and foremost, a bad movie that you can clearly place on a quality scale next to the hit movie it’s trying to rip-off. Everyone’s seen “E.T.” and even if they hated it it’s obvious quality filmmaking and production effort went into its creation. “Pod People” is clearly going after the same family market but then the story has these left (egg poachers, angry old coot) and right turns (the kids in the rock band, Molly bonding with one of the girls), along with the deaths and violence and ****ty SFX overkill, that all intersect into the Trumpy/Tommy relationship that’s supposed to be the core of the movie but it’s only about a third. J&TB’s make fun of this, but one of “Pod People’s” strengths is that there are several movies here (A, B, C, D for ‘Dumb’ :beauty: ) and that allows the editor to keep cutting away to another location and then back (whether it makes sense for the plot or not), which minimizes (though it doesn’t eliminate) being completely overwhelmed by the foggy, almost monochrome outdoors photography. And like many here, it took me too many views to realize that the movie is basically a massacre in which only a handful of cast members (including the unlikable rock star fella) survive. This inability of the movie’s obvious dark streak (along with the bleak cinematography) to overwhelm our perception of “Pod People” as basically a cute-as-pie, child-friendly “MST3K” family experiment is proof of how The Brains managed to make something so hard look so easy and effortless.
FIVE STARS for “Pod People,” for my money THE first fully-formed “MST3K” classic experiment. I’ve seen it twice the last couple of weeks, and both times I was laughing like an idiot… control now! :fighterf: You could almost say they had to do 47 episodes (21 on KTMA and 26 on the Comedy Channel over two seasons) to get to the point they were comfortable-enough in the formula and themselves to crank out “Pod People” as just the 3rd or 24 contractually-ordered episodes. I love that “Pod People” became a classic even though it was a regularly-scheduled episode in the rotation. Other classic episodes like “Manos,” “Laserblast” and “Mitchell” were great too, but the timing and decision of the Brains to choose them (Joel/Mike transition, season finale, etc.) influenced heavily fan perception of these as classics. “Pod People” earned its reputation the hard way: by being just another “MST3K” experiment in a crowded field (back when Comedy Central showed the show wall-to-wall), and standing out on its own. The first “Godzilla” experiment on Season 2 comes close, but the cultural barrier/goofiness can’t compete with Trumpy’s ability to do stupid things (and for us to want to rewatch them over and over again). Favorite riff: (for absolutely no reason other than Joel’s voice cracks me up every time) ‘My… baby!’ :soldier:
“Y’know, Pod People got no reason to live.” A really good episode, but still not one of my favorites.
“People adore this episode.”
Damn, I guess.
I want to live in the main house from this film.
I’m with the crowd that ranks this amongst the best in series history. Definitely one of the all-time great episodes, which never fails to make me howl with laughter. This episode is the one where, finally, the Brains have their true break out performance. Thankfully, this wouldn’t be the last one. They came very close with earlier episodes like “Cave Dwellers” and “Godzilla vs Megalon”, but for me this is the first of what I consider the MST3K “Gold Standard” episodes. The host segments are terrific, and the riffing is fantastic throughout, as this butt of a film just serves up scene after scene of comic gold, most of which has already been noted here by other posters. Hands down, one of the funniest host segments ever is “Idiot Control Now”, where they parody the recording studio scene from early in the film. And sorry, Sampo, but I loved the “Chief?” “McCloud!” running gag. An enthusiastic five out of five rating from me! “Idiot control now!”
#22: why would this kid who has JUST HATCHED the damn monster assume it would know who its mother was and where it came from?
Because little kids often don’t think the same way as adults. Maybe, once Trumpy was his size, Tommy expected Trumpy to know everything about his mother that Tommy knew about HIS mother, like it was an inborn instinct thing OSLT. That could make perfect sense to a kid. When I was a little kid I thought a person had to be a mayor, who ran a town, and then a governor, who ran a state, before he could be a president, who ran the country. Made perfect sense at the time. :-)
Ahh, this is the episode that turned me into the MST3K addict that I still am today! First it was the Alf-ish looking Trumpy, the dopey kid who befriends him, the greasy guys with the easy girlfriends and a spinning game of Simon. Then they showed me TV’s Frank in a “I’m a Virgin” t-shirt and I lost it! An all time best episode that brings back alot of great memories!
#52: I’ve seen Galaxy Invader as well. If you’re familiar with Alien Factor, it’s by the same people, only worse.
Cinematic Titanic tackled Alien Factor, which, like Galaxy Invader, was about people hunting extraterrestrials (perhaps it was a theme, like Bert I. Gordon and enormousnessness). Really wish Cinematic Titanic would release some more DVDs (although it HAS released Alien Factor, meaning, Wait, those are two separate ideas…).
@38: I like the song, too!
As far as the “Chief? McCloud?” riffs. I don’t think it’s too overdone. I think it’s just the Brains’ way of pointing out that much of this movie is taken up by people looking for other people.
There are at least 3 monsters… possibly 4. There is (1) Trumpy, (2) the one that is shot and self-buried at the end (3) the remaining “adult” Trumpy. I think that the fourth one is the monster that kills the band leader’s friend at the rangers’ cabin. The cabin is far away enough that Rick and the old guy have to drive there (for two seasons!), but right after they get back, one of the adult monsters is found in the bathroom of the house. There’s no way that the cabin monster could have made it back to the house that quickly.
And about the faux feminism in this movie. Wouldn’t the scene where Laura (the first girl to die) invites herself to the camping trip be a better time for the other women to assert their feminism? Instead, they just buy the line that Rick’s womanizing is “just part of his act.” Ouch, this movie hurts so much.
Like many, this was my first exposure to the show. It was on syndication as the Mystery Science Theater Hour in my local market, and my family caught most of the second half. We fell in love with the show immediately. It would be about 8 years, though, before I saw the first half of the movie. I love it anyway.
In my opinion, this was the best episode up to that point, the best Season 3 episode, and one of the best Joel-era episodes. It has so much going for it.
One of my first episodes and the first episode I purchased on tape. I’ve seen this too many times to count.
Funny though, I watched it again last night (in anticipation of this thread) and noticed for the first time Gypsy on the ceiling during the wacky host segment. MST3K, the gift that keeps giving.
It is a horribly slow movie, with a horrible ending. Poor Trumpy! But it is one of my faves.
Some fave lines:
“Puma? Puma? Speilberg?”
“I’m doing a one man show, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen”
“Food, eating, the theater!”
“Oh, fun!”
“Well, time to start camping….”
“Boy Ringo did some bad songs but this is embarrassing”
“Goodnight Chief, goodnight McCloud”
“Someone hit the kid in the head with a Sledgehammer”
And when the bearded guys looking up the tree with the lightning flash. When the guys go “Huzzah!” I crack up.
Also love Tom trying to follow the chick in her underwear off screen. “saaayyy….”
But my favorite riff of all, Tom giggling at the gay sterotype. No need to say a word. Classic.
Lastly, in the movie shown at the beginning…is that Steven from the Alien Factor?
Did anyone else yet mention the “lost footage” aspect of this episode? If not, here goes …
The MST3k Hour version of “Pod People” contains 20 seconds more movie footage than the regular version does. In the regular aired version, Tommy shows Trumpy a jigsaw puzzle. When Trumpy doesn’t understand it, Tommy looks for something else to show. This is when the show breaks for commercial and when it returns Tommy is in mid-sentence saying, “… cheating. You must teach me some day.” In the MST3k Hour version when it comes back from commercial, Trumpy magically assembles the puzzle in seconds. When Tommy sees this, he asks, “How did you do that?” Tom Servo observes, “More importantly … why did you do that?” Tommy tells Trumpy that’s cheating.
If Shout! Factory ever gets the rights for a DVD re-release of this episode, I’d like to have the MST3K Hour wraps and this footage.
In reference to my question above, I just looked it up! It is! And its a Don Dohler movie with a lot of the Alien Factor cast. I must see this movie Galaxy Invader.
Lost Continent had rock climbing. Pod People had fog.
And the roads. The roads were in a terrible condition.
I give this episode 5 stars.
Solid top ten for me. Host segments, songs and riffing are all superior. I found the movie pretty dopey and was pretty impressed with the huge bar in the house. The weird kid and psycho uncle, who yelled about everything and carted a rifle where ever he went, and Trumpy reminded me a bit of Eraserhead.
#45 – Speaking of some horrible movies the director of this fine film made, I heartily recommend everyone track down a copy of Slugs on DVD (does not surface very often, but it IS out there). Slugs, actually based on a novel, is FANTASTICALLY awful and hilarious, for different reasons than this movie. The dude who plays the bastard lead singer’s manager? friend? counselor? anyway, whatever role he’s supposed to be playing in Pod People, he shows up in Slugs and has a very juicy death scene involving blood worms (I think). Slugs would be the kind of movie I would have loved to see MST do if they had been allowed to / had been interested in dipping into R-rated territory (without the censorship they sometimes imposed on some movies, of course).
Is Pod People the first movie on MST3K to have the phrase “son of a —-” in the movie?
#58 – and it turns out they just have to be part of the Illuminati.
It’s adorable how the movie uses prop pictures of Presidents to make it look like it’s taking place in America.
April DeWetpants #64 – “Galaxy Invader” is in both of the 50 or 100 Sci-Fi movie packs from Mill Creek Entertainment if you’re interested in scoring some other bad movies too (and if you are so hot to see “Galaxy Invader”, I imagine you are).
Hands the best episode of MST3K of all Time.
All of the host segments have some musical aspect, Good Riffing, Watchably bad movie.
Perfect. I still repeat the Leslie Nealson jokes to this day.
#58 “It’s adorable how the movie uses prop pictures of Presidents to make it look like it’s taking place in America. ”
And let’s not forget the pennants from American pro-sports teams in the boy’s room, nor the product placement of Kellog’s cereal and Planter’s peanuts.
@38 & 61: A little while back I did look around for info on that song and couldn’t find anything. I’m not sure I like it,but it fascinates me for some reason.
Oh, yeah, one of those classic “introduce the movie lines…” “It has nothing to do with pods, it has nothing to do with people, it has everything to do with hurting.” Very true.
#73
Don’t forget the Sprite logo on the house?!
With all of this “Galaxy Invader” talk, I forgot what I was originally going to mention. “Pod People” marks one of the best times in the show’s history. Three of the past five shows are “Enshrined” on my review site by Msties. It wouldn’t be until show #501 when the recent group of shows was this good. Sure, “Cave Dwellers” and “Pod People” being among the first VHS releases helps, but the latter part of season two is when the show really started taking form.
I’m NOT a virgin.
HUZZAH! Just a 4-star for me, but with some really great bits. Music from Some Guys in Space is hilarious, and “It stinks!” is my go to response when my wife asks my opinion about almost anything.
The late J. Piquer Simon who Directed this, did other movies, as mentioned Slugs, but he did Pieces, Endless Decent, the Sea Serpent, Where Time Began (aka the Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth)
It is kind of odd that MST3K never did a Don Dohler film such as Galaxy Invader..however the Cinematic Titanic did one – The Alien Factor
This episode was pretty much – that their CD release was called ” Clown in the Sky ”
Now that’s the big time ;)
Damn I cant type * this episode was pretty much * (insert) a major episode due to the Clowns in the Sky song
This one is hit-or-miss with me. Don’t get me wrong; the movie sucks on toast, the kid was dubbed by an 80-year-old woman, the band makes my ears bleed every time I hear that…song (couldn’t think of a better word), the riffing itself is middle of the road. Some stuff just doesn’t make me laugh. I can watch this one many times over without getting tired. I do love the host segments, though. I crack up during “You’re magic, aren’t you Trumpy?” sketch. The Mad’s expessions are classic!
About the song: Yes, Tracy does blast like a foghorn. I will give Peter Brady that much. Tracy was the Samantha Jones of her day! Good grief she was slutty!
Was this another Film Ventures “classic”? I don’t know how else to explain the opening with a completely different movie!
If I had to give a star rating: 5 1/2.
By the way, the song is “Hear The Engines Roll Now”.
@71 thanks for the info. MST actually got me into the old sci-fi movies…good and bad.
Someone mentioned it before. But another of my fave things is the picture of George Washington on the wall. For years I wondered what the hell is that picture of Washington on the wall.
Of course, that was before the internet.
I always laughed at “Chief?” “McCloud!” even before I had any idea what they were referencing, and I still laugh at it, just because the delivery sells it. This episode remains a favorite of mine.
Has it been explicitly noted that every host segment in this show (except the “arts chautauqua” opening) is music-related? Both inventions are musical, the two songs, “Music from Some Guys in Space,” and the almost-dialogue-free Magic Trumpy sketch. I wonder if they planned it that way, and if so, why. Not that I’m knocking it, because it works so well. Speaking of “Music from…” Tom’s impression of the announcer from “Hearts of Space” is pretty much dead-on. It’s like the radio just fires quaaludes out of the speakers at you.
Why the movie’s the way it is: apparently, it started as a horror flick, but someone decided it should feature cute, cuddly aliens to cash in on E.T., resulting in the film divided against itself that we know today.
Oh, and: after J&TB leave for the “Idiot Control” segment, the guy in the “I’m a Virgin” shirt has another line, but we don’t hear it. Anyone know what it was?
#67–Slugs is available from Netflix. The Gary Sandy/Andy Travis from WKRP looking guy is credited as Emilio Linder in Slugs, but Emil Linder in Pod People. The movie is only slightly more watchable than Pod People. Again, they are trying to make you believe that it was filmed in the U.S. (and perhaps a few exterior shots were), but this has Euro-trash written all over it.
@58, 73…
I used to think that this movie was filmed in California, but with a Mexican/Spanish cast. IMDB says that it was filed in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range in Spain, though. IMDB also says that film was made in both French and Spanish and that the cast had to learn both languages. It’s clear, though, that the Branis’ copy is a dubbed from the Spanish version. When Tommy says to Trumpy, “You’ve got to hide!” His lips are clearly saying, “¡Escóndate!” which literally means “Hide!”
And the dubbing is probably the best dubbing of any MST3K film. The translations aren’t as awkward as in the Russo-Finnish films and the lip synch is much closer than what we usually see in the Japanese movies.
One of the best episodes of the series. As a big fan of bad 80s movies and of MST3K season three, this is one of my favorites.
Before Pod People I thought teen slasher films and children’s movies couldn’t go together, and then the movie proved to me that this was the case. Young people that have no singing talent going on a sex camping trip, poachers, a strange family that lives in the middle of nowhere, and a meteor full of alien eggs that manages to crash into the planet without shattering them. Quite the combination. I think most of the movie’s inadequacies have been covered already, so I won’t add much more.
The movie’s indecision with the genre and tone it tried to take made for great riffing material. Most jokes hit their mark here. I typed most because “Chief?” “McCloud!” was run so far into the ground by the end of the episode that I wouldn’t try to defend its overuse. Great stuff otherwise.
Host segments were all amazing as well. Recreating the song and trumpy’s magic scene, and the new-age wall of keyboards are some of the best on-topic sketches the show ever did. Clown in the Sky was a great ending song to boot.
Blasphemy, Sampo! I know, I know….to each his own….BUT, to quote Tim McCarver: “IN MAH VIEW…..”
Pod People is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Arguably the best host segments in the entire series along with non-stop 5 star riffing.
Trumpy? The band? The kid? It just doesn’t get any better.
I’ve never particularly cared for this movie, but I LOVE the host segments. All of them are classics.
Ugh. Watching this one is a chore, not a pleasure for me. Its odd, the riffing is great and the movie is so dismal. I hate that stuck up lead singer (the “It stinks!” guy…which if you read his lips, seems more like he actually said “shove it!” ) , there is absolutely no sunlit scenes and trumpy is a joke. Those poachers really seemed to hate wildlife, too. On the other hand, Tom’s wall of keyboards, and quips like ‘music by bay area performers, with lists of medications’ ‘snoremaster of tralfamadore’, etc…the crew put in an A-plus effort on this dog.
Along with “Time of the Apes” and “Cave Dwellers”, “Pod People was one of the episodes that got my hooked on MST3K. 20 years later, it still holds up in my eyes. I can watch it and still laugh my hinder off. It’s another one of those episodes that I recommend to people who know nothing about MST3K watch to learn what a great, funny show it really was.
As for “Galaxy Invader”, I stumbled across it a few weeks ago, not even knowing it was the movie used in the intro of “Pod People”. I was watching it on one of those Mill Creek 50 Sci-Fi movie packs and thought, “What a minute? Have I seen this before? This movie wasn’t used on MST3K. How is it that I know some of these scenes?” For those that haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and look it up. It’s hilarious and I really, REALLY wish Cinematic Titanic would use it!
#63 – swh1939
You’re not alone. I remember watching the MST3K Hour version of Pod People long before watching the Rhino VHS version and wondering why there were a few missing moments from the Rhino release. I vaguely remember a riff about “stop motion” over a shot of Trumpy putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
Assuming that I’m not misremembering things, can anyone here (Sampo, et al) help us figure out the mystery of this missing footage?
That said, spectacular episode, one of my favorites.
favorite scene: The shirt and matching sofa set.
ooo, not bad
hi gang
oh, the new Vogue is here
Molly is the television working?
yes i think so
good I dont want to miss Dallas
your friend just died and youre gonna miss Dallas??
How could you watch TV the way things are now?
Because if i didnt I’ll go in hysterecs
its not working!
i’m in HYSTERECS!!
Ack! I didn’t think I would have much to say about “Pod People,” and here I am coming back on the discussion board for my third post.
One of my favorite–and most underrated riffs–of the entire series is in this episode. After Laura dies, the female friend watching over her runs into the kitchen where everyone else in the house is eating breakfast. Joel says in a female voice, “Quick! Everyone! Big sale on flannel!” and all the movie characters get up and run to see the dead girl. As they leave Tom quietly says, “Did she say flannel?” It’s SO hilarious… I’m surprised no one’s mentioned it yet.
Wow, I love this episode.
I had a serious “WTF” moment when I first saw this episode. The people who made this must have A) wanted to rip-off E.T. and B) were probably high. This is an excellent episode. 5/5
Btw…… IT STINKS!
;)
Sampo’s Theorem is in full swing with this one, I see.
I’m firmly in the “love it!” camp. It’s such a lame, stupid ripoff of a movie, and the Brains do a great job tearing into it.
And some days while out driving, feeling the wind in my eyes, I wish I had idiot control now….
Droppo–Just so nobody misunderstands: I do like this episode! As I noted, one thing that makes it remarkable is that every single host segment is witty and on-target. Not a single clunker, which almost never happens. And the riffing is just great too, as I said. It’s just that all the fog and the droning music puts me to sleep. Not sure if I’d put this in my top 10 but definitely my top 20.
Oh and: slam on Chess King spokesmodel Lou Gramm outta NOWHERE!
I do remember when this came out, my mom was a big fan of Windham Hill albums. I would listen to a few and be amazed when 10 minutes in, it’s the same stuff, it never changes. I was so annoyed, because I only knew 2 chords and 2 keys on the piano yet I clearly could noodle around on a keyboard for an hour and fill time with stuff just as non-compositional as these guys; only I wasn’t getting any money. I should’ve gone into new age but at least I have my dignity. It’s around here somewhere, under my VHS copy of Pod People.
In fairness to Windham Hill, they didn’t just or even primarily release ambient/space music. Sturgeon’s Law applies as usual, really.
Another oddity: I’ve never been sure if Greg Brady’s “It stinks!” gesture is intended as irony or if it’s just a different meaning than we use. In parts of Europe, I’m told, it can mean “zero” or “worthless,” but according to some Spain isn’t one of those parts. Am I overthinking this movie? Probably.
Another one of my ALL-TIME Favorites from the J&TB era of MST3K. All the host segments are FANTASTIC and the riffing is steady & very funny throughout.
Oh and to whoever suggests this film is slow should remember 2 words: “Rock Climbing” and most of Robert L. Lippert’s films + flicks like “Manos” & “First Spaceship On Venus.” IMHO those films are Cinematic Molasses way more than “Pod People” EVER could be :-))
I never thought the film was slow just confusing. It still leaves me with questions like:
1. If “Evil Trumpy” killed the hunters for destroying the eggs then why didn’t it kill Tommy? He did steal the last living egg didn’t he?
2. What did “Evil Trumpy” do to the slutty daughter of the label exec. after she fell off the cliff? Was she still alive but then Evil Trumpy killed what’s left of her or was it checking to see if she knew about where the last egg was or what?
Anyway, next to “Cave Dwellers”, “Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster”,
“Daddy-O”, “Time Of The Apes” and a few others “Pod People” made me a big time fan of MST3K and this episode still holds up very well today :-)