Movie: (1978 original TV show episodes; 1986 compilation movie) Alien marauder Ken becomes a fugitive from his home planet, then joins the Earth spaceship Bacchus 3 to fight against his former masters. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Rita is sent with a deadly mission.
First shown: 2/5/89
Opening: Dr. E. calls Dr. F., who is attending a mad scientists’ convention in Las Vegas
Host segment 1: Servo and Gypsy have disassembled Crow
Host segment 2: Ever notice how you never see certain celebrities in the same room together? Joel and Servo discuss
Host segment 3: Joel hosts a robot dance competition
End: Joel announces the formation of the fan club
• The third-season riffing of this movie is one of the most seminal episodes in the series, so I guessed that this version was going to really pale in comparison, and it does. Plus, Trace is AWOL again, making it an even weaker incarnation. But if you take it on its own merits and don’t compare it, you can definitely see them getting stronger and more comfortable in the format.
• The Mad Scientist Convention would come up again in season one.
• Once again Servo sits in Crow’s seat (as he did in episode K06- GAMERA VS. GAOS) – Josh probably preferred not to have to crawl so far during the exits and entrances. Although he does not appear in the episode, Trace is still listed as a writer, puppeteer and “mad scientist” in the credits.
• The second half of this “movie,” Fugitive Alien 2, was done in episode K03, of which no fan copy exists.
• References.
• The opening is really pretty funny; Josh is channeling Bob Newhart. Meanwhile Joel is disturbingly distraught. “I MISS MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY! GET ME DOWN!” Acting!
• Servo cracks Joel up with his “Strawberry Fields” parody. Despite the lack of Crow, Tom Servo really takes up the slack in the theater. It feels like he has many more riffs than Joel, but the two of them seem very in sync.
• One thing about this version: We get to see a lot of footage that was cut from the season three version.
• I wonder if that’s Kevin running Gypsy in the segments where Servo is there.
• It was a fairly typical February night in Minneapolis the night this show aired: a balmy 1 degree at 7 p.m.
• So many riffs from the third-season version are ingrained in me. Every time Ken says “Rita!” I reflexively say “Meter maid!”; every time anybody says “Rocky!” I reflexively say “Again?”): but it’s especially true of the score, and the lyrics that the Brains wrote for that music. I defy you to sit through this version and NOT burst out with o/` “He tried to kill me with a forklift…” o/`
• Josh genuinely amuses Joel up with his dance competition comments during segment 3.
• I’ve been meaning to mention this for several episodes: “Heavy on the 30-weight,” which Joel says to Cambot in several episodes, is a Firesign Theatre reference.
• Joel seems a little distracted during the closing.
• Fave riff: “Don’t you have, like, a Highlights Magazine I could wait with?” Honorable mention: o/` …and no refrigerator to stick on to. o/`
