Short: (1941) A Chevrolet sales manager wonders why his team is having trouble selling their product door-to-door.
Movie: (1956) A mad scientist’s efforts to create a race of supermen attract the attention of a reporter and the police.

First shown: 1/23/93
Opening: Joel gets to see what Crow is dreaming … and soon regrets it
Invention exchange: The tough love seat, microwave Faith Popcorn
Host segment 1: “Hired!” the musical
Host segment 2: Joel, Tom and Crow’s discussion rambles from the lame octopus to food monsters
Host segment 3: Willy the Waffle returns to defend advertising
End: Cambot re-edits the ending of the movie, letter, the Mads are playing Bela and Tor
Stinger: Bela has looked better
(233 votes, average: 4.61 out of 5)
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• I try not to overuse the already-overused word “classic” but this is one. It’s got a wacky short, an Ed Wood movie (probably his most competent, which isn’t saying much) and we’ve all seen all that backstory in the “Ed Wood” film. The host segments are good to fair, but they’re certainly not awful, and the riffing is top-notch.
• This episode was included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XIX.”
• This show first aired three days after the beginning of the Clinton administration. It was certainly made before then, but probably after Bubba’s election, which allows Crow to talk about “The Bush Administration” in the past tense early in the short.
• Joel’s horrified, slightly nauseated take to the camera at the end of the opening is great.
• Then-topical: Faith Popcorn (though she would probably disagree that she isn’t still topical; she’s still around).
• At what point were door-to-door car salesmen discontinued? I never knew they existed before this short.
• If you look carefully you’ll notice that one of the houses the salesman visits is the house where Gilbert the spring lover lived in “A Case of Spring Fever.”
• “Hired, the Musical” is a lot of fun. I especially like Joel’s pained takes to the camera when Gypsy sings.
• My old copy of this episode (before it was released on DVD) is from January, 1995, and it features some fairly hilarious commercials for The Sporting News, in which they attempt to sell you a subscription on the quaint notion of not being able to get out-of-town scores in your local paper. If only somebody would invent the internet!
• Segment 2 is what the kids today call “random.” I have a feeling it’s a slightly stylized version of a actual conversation among the Brains.
• In this movie, Bela does his classic “sleep” bit, complete with the hand gesture. And yet the cast have been referencing it for at least two seasons. Were they just making a reference to a movie they assumed we’d seen?
• Crow references two elements of the classic driver’s ed Smith System: “Hands at 10 and 2” and “watch your space cushion.” Can anybody name the other three?
• Tom Servo does a lovely Flash Bazbo impression.
• The scene where the captain goes to see the file lady who has a pencil behind her ear when shot from behind, and doesn’t have one when she’s shot from the front, brought back a great memory: I remember pointing it out to my daughter, who was about six at the time, and I remember she found it hilarious and asked me to rerun it over and over.
• The random segment 2 is followed by the complete non-sequitur of segment 3. What does advertising have to do with anything?
• As is often the case, you can often spot where BBI has made cuts for times: usually at the spots where the commercials have been inserted.
• Callbacks: Tom says: “Weird! That’s what it is. Weird.” (Ring of Terror); “Hi, Bavaro.” (Crash of Moons); Willy says “Knew your father I did!” (Mr B Natural); I’m a Grimault warrior!” (Viking Women)
• It’s pronounced REK-yah-veek! As in: “One day in Iceland can Reykjavik!”
• I wonder how many other military bases were showing eps on their TV stations?
• Cast and crew roundup: Of course, Eddie also directed “The Sinister Urge” and wrote the script for “The Violent Years.” Conrad Brooks was also in “The Sinister Urge,” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats.” Eddie Parker was one of the stuntmen who played the mutant monster in “This Island Earth” and had a bit part in “Undersea Kingdom.” Screenwriter Alex Gordon was the producer for “The She-Creature.” Cinematographer William C. Thompson also worked on “The Violent Years,” “The Sinister Urge,” “Project Moon Base” and “Racket Girls.” Make up guy Louis J. Haszillo also worked on “The Girl in Lovers Lane.” Make up guy Harry Thomas also worked on “Project Moonbase,” “Racket Girls,” “The Mad Monster,” “The Unearthly,” “Invasion USA,” “High School Big Shot” and “Night of the Blood Beast.” Sound guy Lyle Willey also worked on “Robot Monster.” Technical advisor Igo Kantor also worked on “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” and did music editing for “The Human Duplicators.” Score composer Frank Worth acted in “The Beatniks.”
In front of the camera, of course, Bela was in “The Corpse Vanishes” and “The Phantom Creeps.” Tor was also in “The Unearthly” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats. Harvey B. Dunn was in “The Sinister Urge” and “Teenagers From Outer Space.” George Becwar was also in “War of the Colossal Beast.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Camera: John Finley. “Hired! Song” written and arranged by Micheal J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. “This episode dedicated to the spirit of William A. Murphy. Thanks, Dad.”
• Fave line from short: “You’ve killed again, haven’t you, son?” Honorable mention: “…And I don’t have a car … HEY!”
• Fave riff from feature: “Nobody’s kissin’ the bird today…” Honorable mention: “Tor go to DeVry.”