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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: (1946) A look at the Clyde Beatty circus, featuring legendary clown Emmett Kelly. Movie: (1959) Nordic fantasy tale, based loosely on the Kalevala, about a wicked witch’s schemes to get, and later regain, a magic mill.
First shown: 1/16/93 Opening: J&tB try to pose for a family photo Invention exchange: J&tB have invented Snack-tion; The Mads show off their “unhappy meals” Host segment 1: The bots have some ideas for clown acts but Joel is no help Host segment 2: So, what’s a sampo? Host segment 3: Gypsy’s presents her one-woman show: “Gypsy Rose…Me!” End: The bots are imprisoned wind, Joel reads a letter, Frank is also wind and still mad Stinger: “What’s going to happen to us now?!” (234 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)
• I just love this episode. Fun, goofy, watchable movie, great riffing, great host segments, one of this series’ crowning achievements and the beginning of what became known as the “Russo-Finnish trilogy,” a memorable trio of terrific episodes.
• This episode was included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: The 25th Anniversary Edition” aka Vol. XXVIII.”
• As you might have guessed, this episode had a big effect on me. For a long time it was my all-time favorite. Up until this point, on the Prodigy MST3K boards I had just been “Chris in Phila.” The night this was shown (or maybe the next day, I forget), I officially announced that I was taking the handle Sampo, and I’ve had it ever since.
• How do robots spit? I know, I know…
• The unhappy meals are truly an evil invention. I love Dr. F’s Charles Nelson Reilly laugh as he describes them.
• The announcer says “pamalino horses.” The hell?
• The circus in the short is never named, but it’s the Clyde Beatty Circus.
• The acrobat is both Dag Hammarskjöld and Albert Speer. Both references are pretty out of the blue…
• In the short, during the part toward the end when the lady is dancing with the elephants, you can easily see that one of the elephants has rolled in some poop. Gross.
• This movie (originally titled “Sampo” but cheesily renamed to trick American audiences into think it was sci-fi) was based on the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland. (As an aside, J.R.R. Tolkien was heavily influenced by the Kalevala, and his “Silmarillion” was originally begun as an attempt to create a sort of British Kalevala.)
• Increasingly obscure reference: “Hey, it’s Skylab!”
• The “Scandinavian sketch” is obviously drawn from their personal experiences. What I find amusing is how much those Minnesota accents sound like the accents of folks in the Northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, where I now live. There’s probably a linguistic explanation.
• As I noted in 1993 when I introduced this episode on national TV during Turkey Day, the movie DOES explain what a sampo is. J&tB are just in mid-riff when the explanation comes. I wonder if they did that on purpose, just so they can do the “what’s a sampo?” sketch?
• Local riff: “Mini golf at Crosslake.” It’s still around.
• I was very amused by Servo’s grumbling about “Half & Half.” This sounds like a disgruntled husband speaking from a real-life experience.
• Another obscure reference: Crow’s silly voiced: “I thought it was a costume ball!” is a reference to a movie called “Start the Revolution Without Me.”
• In the ’94 Turkey Day, in his introduction, Adam West mistakenly says that this is episode number 424.
• Callback: “I sing whenever I sing…” (Giant Gila Monster)
• Naughty riff: “HE’s got delusions of grandeur.
• There are not one but two Ross Perot references in this episode. I guess it counts as “then-topical” but I would hope most people would remember who he is.
• Of course, one highlight is the classic “failure” song. Joel even gets up to dance!
• Jim gives a real tour de force in “Gypsy Rose ME!”
• Tom gently joshes fellow Minnesota entertainer Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” during the long, tedious harp attack.
• Cast and crew wrapup: Russian director Alexsandr Ptushko also directed “The Magic Voyage of Sinbad” (originally “Sadko”) and “The Sword and the Dragon” (originally “Ilya Muromets”).
Georgiy Millyar was in “Jack Frost,” Mark Troyanovski was in “Magic Voyage of Sinbad,” the narrator, Marvin Miller, was also the narrator of “King Dinosaur” and “Phantom Planet” and Valentin Bryleyev was also in “Jack Frost.
• Creditwatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu. “Gypsy Rose Me” was written and arranged by Mike, with lyrics by Mary Jo.
• Fave riff from the short: “You know, don’t laugh, but, in a way, this is this town’s Passion Play.” Honorable mention: “A rogue elephant snaps its tether and kills a coolie.”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Great wedding. You get half a buzz on and you’re sent home with a torch.” Honorable mention: “I’m relative humidity. It’s not so much the heat as it is me.”
Meanwhile, at RiffTrax, it was MST3K Monday yesterday, and that meant the release of episode 1005- BLOOD WATERS OF DR. Z. The previous week it was 415- THE BEATNIKS (with short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 2).
And, he was never in a MSTed movie (or mentioned during a host segment, as far as I can tell) but we wanted to note the passing of the great George Kennedy, best known for “Cool Hand Luke,” the “Airport” movies and the “Naked Gun” movies.
Since this upcoming Sunday is the Oscars, what Oscar-winning (or even nominated) film do you think MST3K or Rifftrax should riff? I think “Gone With the Wind” or “Cleopatra” would be interesting to riff.
My now-disbanded private riffing group once did “Gone with the Wind” and “Gee!” it could definitely be done.
But my pick would be “Oklahoma.” SO much to work with.
Short: (1954) A look at the 40th annual carnival of the Toronto Skating Club. Movie: (1965) Authorities launch a search for an irradiated astronaut they believe has returned to Earth as a giant mutant.
First shown: 1/9/93 Opening: The bots have opened a micro-cheesery. Invention exchange: After making a wager on an action figure invention exchange, the Mads present Johnny Longtorso, and the bots present three non-violent action figures Host segment 1: Gypsy “doesn’t get” Crow (or is it Tom?) Host segment 2: Joel and Servo play keep-away from Crow Host segment 3: Examining “The Pina Colada Song” End: Joel knights Happy King Servo and Sir Giggles von Laffsalot Crow Stinger: Monster on the go-go (268 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)
• This is a deservedly famous episode featuring a deservedly infamous short and movie. There’s plenty for them to work with here and they knock it out of the park. The riffing is top-notch, the segments are all terrific, just a really strong episode — if you can take the movie.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s “The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 8.”
• References.
• Note that the title card only has a hyphen between “A” and the first “Go.” There is no hyphen between the first “Go” and the second “Go.”
• How could such a horrible movie have happened? “You know, four movies went into the making of this film,” Joel says at one point. He’s not far off. Bill Rebane made some of the movie, but ran out of money before it was completed. Meanwhile Herschell Gordon Lewis was looking for a co-feature with his recently completed movie “Moonshine Mountain,” and he needed it quickly. So he bought Rebane’s unfinished film, added some new scenes, and presto … a movie with no continuity and no sense.
• They mention the wonderful movie “Local Hero.” How come you never see that playing on any of the movie channels? It IS streaming, though. If you haven’t seen it, do.
• A hook falls off the peg board with a loud clang during the Mads’ invention exchange. They keep going. And there’s also a lovely crunch as Dr. F. steps toward the camera, right onto the blister packs on the floor.
• You can see Frank ALMOST crack up while singing the Johnny Longtorso theme song, as he actually does on the poopie reel.
• Frank does a nice little bit with the pitchpipe: he blows into several random pipes, making the whole thing pointless.
• Trace is hilarious as he introduces the movie, giving us Dr. F at perhaps his most maniacal. It’s an all-time favorite Trace moment for me.
• Terrific riffing in the short, and Joel doesn’t even try to keep them from getting too dark. The highlight is the great “pink girls” song.
• What does “with a filbert nut” mean? Joel sounds a little like Red Skelton when he says it. Is it a reference to him?
• Segment 1 is rightly famous. If you wanted to introduce the personalities of all three robots to newbie, this would do it very well in just a few minutes.
• Does ANYbody know what that song Crow is singing (“hum-did-a-hee-hee…”) is from? It’s one of the unsolved mysteries of this show. (Several different commenters are certain they know, but each thinks it comes from a different place.)
• Joel opens a can of “pop” (or as normal people call it, soda) in the theater! What a rebel!
• The workings of Tom’s hoverskirt are never explained in detail, but in segment two we see a new use demonstrated: sports!
• Is that a velcro ball Joel throws to Tom when they return to the theater? Still, it’s a pretty good toss.
• Then-topical riff: The now-forgotten Matthias Rust.
• J&tB do a little of the Richard Kiel voice they did a LOT in the last episode.
• When the movie ends up in what looks very much like Chicago’s Lower Wacker Drive, they begin to rattle off some great Chicago references, including McCormick Place and the Arie Crown Theater.
• Both a callback and a call-forward in closing segment: Joel crowns Tom a “happy king,” recalling the “Mr. B. Natural” short and Crow is holding the stick with the tiny Crow on it, which we will see again in jestering segment next season.
• Cast and crew roundup: Tom is right, nobody involved with this movie went on to do anything else. The exception is Bill Rebane who later gave us “Giant Spider Invasion.” But I have to assume the writers were just guessing.
• Creditswatch: Host segments directed by Joel Hodgson.
• Fave riff from the short: “Vomit sprays out in a beautiful Technicolor dream.” Honorable mention: “Now a clown will deliver her eulogy.”
• Fave riff from the movie: Narrator: “There is one terrifying word in the world of nuclear physics.” Tom: “Oops.” Honorable mention: “He made her bark!”
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