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Sampo & Erhardt
Sci-Fi Archives
Visit our archives of the MST3K pages previously hosted by the Sci-Fi Channel's SCIFI.COM.
Short: (1952) A family appreciates the modern household appliances electricity makes possible. Movie: (1956) A neglected socialite leads an all-girl gang on a violent crime spree.
First shown: 10/8/94 Opening: Tom Servo has a new head! Intro: The Mads unveil their theme music, “Living in Deep 13,” and demand themes from M&tB. Tom is ready Host segment 1: Now, the Mads are promoting a radio station called Frank Host segment 2: Tom reenacts a tearful scene from “A Star is Born” Host segment 3: A rehearsal for Crow’s one man show about Keanu Reeves starring Mike! End: Mike and Crow reenact the gas station hold-up scene from the movie, they read a letter, the Mads are still turning their cranks to Frank! Stinger: “So what?” (215 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)
• I said in a previous thread that I consider this my “desert island” episode. I know, it may seem like a weird choice, but for me this episode has it all: (mostly) great host segments, classic short and great riffing of a movie (reportedly) written by Ed Wood. It all works.
• This episode is included in Shout! Factory’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXII.”
• References .
• Crow’s reaction to Servo’s new head is just one riotous moment of the brilliant opening bit. This is one of my all-time favorite openings.
• That brilliance is followed by the theme song intro. Frank and Trace are wonderful in Deep 13, Kevin is hilarious and then Trace caps it all off with two more great theme songs. Another classic.
• Tom’s theme song, for those not musically inclined, is set to the famous music of “Carmina Burana.”
• The short continues the fun. The first time I saw this, it took me a little while for me to figure out what the hell its point was. Eventually it’s becomes clear, but it takes its sweet time!
• The short was edited. It was even longer! You can see the full thing at archive.org.
• The term “squishy” immediately entered the MSTie lexicon.
• At one point in the short, Tom predicts the girl will say “oh dear” and then she does, to which he boastfully declares, “Did I call that?” They don’t do that too often and I’m glad, because it feels a little like cheating.
• Coming into the first segment, Tom is teaching mike to singing the “hum-didda-hee-hee” song, made famous in episode 421- Monster A-Go-Go.
• Amazingly there are still several radio stations called Frank. The bit is a local Minneapolis reference to a then-newly introduced country station called “Bob” that had the catchphrase “turn your knob to Bob.” That station was one of the first to have a person’s name. The gimmick has spread throughout the industry since then.
• Non-spaghetti-ball bumpers: datebook, beaker, bulletin board.
• Despite all the talk that Ed Wood wrote this screenplay, his name does not appear in the credits. Apparently the fact that he wrote it is mentioned in his various biographies. One commenter speculated that it may have been a union issue (no director is credited either).
• The “rape” scene was also an immediate sensation on MSTie internet forums. As noted in the ACEG, don’t get your hopes up, guys. This has never, ever happened.
• Segment 2 is really the only clunker in the episode. I remember when it first aired, people were baffled by it. What a parody of a scene from the Barbra Streisand version of “A Star is Born” has to do with this movie is beyond me. Kevin really gives it his all, though, you gotta admit that.
• Callbacks: “He’ll never touch you, Terry. You’re dirt.” (Teenage Crimewave) ”We shot that fat barkeep!” (The Beatniks)
• Stupidest line of dialog (which, even if he didn’t write it, sure sounds like Ed Wood’s writing): “What in the world is a pajama party?”
• Back to brilliance with the end segment. It just gets funnier the longer it goes on.
• Yes, the list of people Frank rattles off at the end is in Ward E.
• Cast and Crew Roundup: Producer Roy Reid also worked on “The Sinister Urge. Cinematographer William C. Thompson also worked on “Bride of the Monster,” “The Sinister Urge,” “Project Moon Base” and “Racket Girls.” Score composer Manuel Francisco a.k.a. Mischa Terr also worked on “The Sinister Urge,” “King Dinosaur,” “The Unearthly” and “Bloodlust!” In front of the camera I. Stanford Jolley was also in “The Rebel Set.” Timothy Farrell was also in “Racket Girls.” Harry Keatan was also in “The Sinister Urge.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu. This is the final episode with one Charles A. Zimmerman listed as an editor. He started about three quarters through season five. Crist Ballas is back doing hair and makeup. On “Forrester’s Theme Song” (which the rest of the world calls “Livin’ in Deep 13): Music by Michael J. Nelson; Lyrics by “Best Brains.” So I guess that makes them a collaborative effort.
• Fave riff from the short: “Double bag it, son!” Honorable mention: “I’m squishy and I need to move on it!”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Thousands of men flock to crime scene!” Honorable mention: “Rabbits…with…big…guns…and…good…aim…”
At the end of The She-Creature, Mike’s final line is, “Man, if there was ever a movie I wanted to throw into the stump grinder, this is the one!” And there’s no doubt that MSTies feel the same way about various other MSTed movies, that are not simply plain or boring, but generate full, unadulterated malice.
My top picks would definitely be:
The Mad Monster
The Projected Man
The Deadly Bees
Oh, no, none of those. My one choice is: Red. Zone. Cuba. If we rounded up every print and burned them, the world would be just fine, maybe better.
Short: (1956) A explanation of why boys should take shop class even if they think they’ll never need it. Movie: (1963) Conspiracy and adultery abound at a small skydiving school.
First shown: 8/27/94 Opening: Tom’s planetarium show is disrupted Intro: M&tB and the Mads compete in a swing choir competition Host segment 1: Mike’s shop class doesn’t go well Host segment 2: Crow puts himself in a “double jock lock” Host segment 3: Tom bombs Crow End: Crow and Tom struggle in their parachutes, letter, the Mads have switched to dodge ball Stinger: “I don’t know. I feel real free up there in the high blue sky.” (269 votes, average: 4.65 out of 5)
• I love this episode. We now begin our descent into the works of one Coleman Francis. Those wondering how he got the idea he could direct probably need look no further than the extensive list of bit parts he played in Hollywood over three decades. One begins to imagine Coleman, having spent so much time on movie sets, watching actual directors work, that he began to think he could do it himself. How wrong he was. That said, this movie is probably the best of Francis’ oeuvre, which isn’t saying much, but still. You almost get caught up in it. Not quite, but almost. Plus you’ve got a classic short and a series of host segments where poor Crow suffers one hilarious indignity after another. All in all, a winner in my book.
• This episode is featured in Rhino’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. 1.”
• References.
• The Servo in the opening is the one they use in theater (or one like it), just as Timmy the Dark Crow was the Crow they use in the theater. When they paint ’em black they make better silhouettes.
• The swing choir sketch is a classic. I had never heard of “swing choir” growing up. Our choirs were more of the “stand stock still in a robe” variety. But with the advent of “Glee” everybody understands now.
• The achingly funny short was shown at the Museum of TV event in Los Angeles in ’95. I think mentioned in a previous entry that it was really an epiphany for me, since I had never watched MST3K on a big screen with such a large group before. The crowd was just roaring with almost deafening gales of laughter. I’d seldom been in a crowd of people all laughing so hard and loud before. It really was an eye-opener.
• Tom Servo is quite correct about the “I can’t pay you but I can put your name in the credits cast list.” Word is that is exactly what it was.
• Kudos to Jef Maynard for the sawn-in-half Crow. Another great creation.
• My theory on they “why” of this movie is that Coleman guessed that sport skydiving was so novel and exciting to watch, in and of itself, that it would captivate America, and they wouldn’t notice the almost total lack of a plot.
• The ditty “sex for sundries is fun” was an immediate hit among internet MSTies.
• In addition to swing choir, I had never heard of a double jock lock. Apparently none of the bullies in my junior high school had heard of it either, thank goodness!
• I like coffee. It became an immediate catchphrase.
• Callbacks: “He’ll never touch you, Terry.” (Teenage Crimewave) ”Manos!” “No Lupita!” (from Santa Claus). “Why don’t they look?” (Last Clear Chance).
• But beyond all the other internet MSTie sensations that this episode created, far and away the hugest was Petey Plane. For a few days there, it was almost all anybody could talk about in the forums.
• Tom’s dialog in segment 3 (“splash one!”) echoes videos of laser-guided missile strikes that were being shown on TV a lot at the time.
• Jimmy Bryant may have been the only moderately talented person in the entire movie. His stuff is actually kinda good!
• Mike assumes Ike didn’t know this was going on, but since this movie was made in 1963, and he hadn’t been president for years … well, maybe he still might have objected.
• Cast and crew roundup: Cinematographer Austin McKinney was production supervisor on “The Beast of Yucca Flats.” Art director Mike Harrington also worked on “The Incredibly Strange Creatures…” Score composer John Bath also worked on “Red Zone Cuba.” Choreographer Robert Banas was an actor in “Daddy-O. In front of the camera: Titus Moede was in “Incredibly Strange Creatures.” Marcia Knight, Barbara Francis, Alan Francis, Ronald Francis were all in “Beast of Yucca Flats.” Frederic Downs was in “Red Zone Cuba,” “The Hellcats” and “Terror from the Year 5000.” Tony Cardoza produced and appeared in all three Francis films, as well as “The Hellcats.” Eric Tomlin is also in “The Hellcats” and”Beast of Yucca Flats.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Jim Mallon.
• Fave riff from the short: “And not a killer!” Honorable mention: “I can’t get this thing back in my pants, Earl.”
• Fave riff from movie: “This is typical of young directors: too many good ideas — or, in this case, none at all.” Honorable mention: “H.R. Haldemann on drums.”
Now that the Cubs are in the World Series (first time since 1945), what would you do if you had a four-hour layover in Chicago (from episode 419- REBEL SET). Me, I would try to catch a Blackhawks hockey game and maybe get some pizza at Rosati’s Pizza (you midwesterners/Chicago area fans would know what i am talking about).
As I noted in the episode guide: If it’s a plane layover, it would take you two hours to get into town from O’Hare and two to get back, so…
Me, I think I’d take the architecture boat tour of the Chicago River and note how the structures of so many of the buildings tend to draw my eyes upward … oh, okay, I’d go Navy Pier and get hammered.
You?
Update: To be fair, if anybody wants to describe their four-hour layover in Cleveland, go right ahead.
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