{"id":878,"date":"2016-05-19T08:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/?p=878"},"modified":"2015-12-12T10:44:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-12T15:44:54","slug":"episode-guide-508-operation-double-007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/?p=878","title":{"rendered":"Episode guide: 508- Operation Double 007"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Movie:<\/strong> (1967) A famed plastic surgeon\/hypnotist\/championship archer, whose brother is a “top agent,” is recruited to stop a villain and his scheme involving radioactive rugs.<\/p>\n

First shown:<\/strong> 9\/11\/93
\nOpening:<\/strong> Tom is enjoying Joel’s home movies; Crow is scared
\nInvention exchange:<\/strong> The Mads show off Frank’s Lederhosen-hosen, Crow has invented Sara, the bobbin’ buzzard
\nHost segment 1:<\/strong> Joel’s is an evil supervillian! “I know!”
\nHost segment 2:<\/strong> J&tB parallel the lives of Sean and Neil
\nHost segment 3:<\/strong> While Joel tries to hypnotize Tom, Torgo returns in Deep 13
\nEnd:<\/strong> Dr. F. uses his magnetizer, much to J&tB’s dismay
\nStinger:<\/strong> Mr. “Thunderball” pushes the button
\n

\u2022 When I converted my ancient VHS tapes to DVD, the one containing this episode was the only one that failed to function. A pal of mine (now, sadly, no longer with us) provided me with a fresh copy. Thanks, buddy. (The last time around, this item led to a discussion of my rickety computer set up. If you’re interested, I did eventually get that mac mini \u2014 which, about a year later, died one morning and I had to get a newer one, which is working splendidly, thank you \u2014 but I am still struggling with slow and spotty Verizon DSL.)
\n\u2022 This episode appears in Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXV, as “Operation Kid Brother.” They had to use the alternate title to get the rights.
\n\u2022 References<\/a>.
\n\u2022 This is episode is fun, and funny, but I don\u2019t love it quite as much as the previous couple of shows. The host segments are hit and miss, for one thing. But an even bigger problem for me is that I never understood the bad guy\u2019s plan. Or is it plans? The last time through I pointed to this site, which does a pretty good job of explaining what the heck is going on<\/a>, but even he gets confused.
\n\u2022 I previously claimed that this is the first mention of swing choir. A commenter proved me wrong.
\n\u2022 Frank really commits to the lederhosen bit. You have to wonder how they felt doing some of those bits, without any audience to tell them if it was hilarious or dreadful. In the absence of feedback, they just committed.
\n\u2022 The Bobbin\u2019 Buzzard is a lovely prop. Kudos to Jef Maynard or whoever was responsible.
\n\u2022 This movie may very well have the greatest theme song of any MSTed movie.
\n\u2022 Callbacks: “Hooray for Santy Claus!” (Santa Claus Conquers the Martians). Tom does the \u201cThat must be one of those [fill in noun here]s I\u2019ve heard them talk\u2026about\u2026so\u2026much\u2026lately\u2026\u201d bit twice (Gamera). “There WAS no Yashuko.” (Monster-A-Go-Go). \u201cTo see your land!\u201d (Magic Voyage of Sinbad).
\n\u2022 Obscure reference: \u201cMichael, I want all the episodes of Captain Nice<\/a> burned.\u201d
\n\u2022 If you think this was Neil’s one and only film role, you’re mistaken. He was also in \u201cThe Body Stealers\u201d in the 1970s, then he “retired” for a while, but ten years later he returned to movies and has been working intermittently since then. Once you get show bidness in the blood\u2026
\n\u2022 Literary riff: “She thinks she’s in Dresden during the war.”
\n\u2022 The Rodney King incident is still on the writers\u2019 minds.
\n\u2022 Joel makes a rare entrance through the “G” door in the first segment. This segment is a good example of what I call an \u201caren\u2019t they adorable\u201d sketch. It only works because, at this point, all Joel has to do is look at the camera and arch an eyebrow and we laugh. If you showed this sketch to somebody with no knowledge of the show or its performers, they\u2019d be probably be baffled as to what\u2019s funny about it. But fans who know and love the characters get it. I think it’s hilarious.
\n\u2022 Kevin really tapped into his Catholic upbringing during the nun scene.
\n\u2022 Crow does his Phyllis Diller impression twice, using the same line: \u201cI\u2019m looking for Fang!\u201d (Fang was an invention of Diller\u2019s from her standup days: a boorish husband she could mock. The reason he does it is because the lady’s wacky hat looks like something Diller might have worn in those days.)
\n\u2022 Segment two reminds me of one of those long, over-written, complicated sketches from season two. But you can sense Mike Nelson\u2019s influence: it makes reference to a cheese factory.
\n\u2022 During the weird hijacking scene, Tom notes that the melody in the score sounds very similar to the classic kids\u2019 hymn \u201cJesus Loves Me.\u201d But what\u2019s interesting is that this mockery displeases Joel, who makes him stop singing it.
\n\u2022 The last time around, I wondered why Beta wants to kill his own henchbabes. A commenter set me straight and this time I realized that Beta himself explains this during the party scene. I must have missed it in a previous viewing.
\n\u2022 Mike returns, eight episodes later, as Torgo. With the lag time these episodes had, I\u2019m guessing the Brains had only recently picked up on the rave reviews from fans about \u201cManos.\u201d
\n\u2022 Yet another \u201cwha-happa?\u201d \u201cWha happa\u201d is to season 5 what \u201cI thought you were Dale\u201d was to season 8.
\n\u2022 Dr. F. is nice and evil in the closing segment. Oh, and nice job of building the magnetizer, which looks a LOT like the one in the movie. This was one of those prop-heavy episodes Jef Maynard talked about in the documentary about the show.
\n\u2022 Cast and crew roundup: Director Alberto de Martino also directed \u201cThe Pumaman.\u201d Scriptwriter Frank Walker also wrote “Devil Fish.” Costumer Gaia Romanini also worked on “Hercules.” Score composer Ennio Morricone also provided music for “Diabolik.”
\nIn front of the camera, Adolfo Celi was also in “Diabolik.” Lois Maxwell did voice work for “Invaders from the Deep.” Guido Lollobrigida was also in “The Pumaman.”
\n\u2022 Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Manager of Business Affairs Heide A. LeClerc becomes Heide A. LeClerc-Becker. Alpine horn provided by: Josef Diethelm. (Diethelm was the front man for a Twin Cities polka band.)
\n\u2022 Fave riff: “Do I have enough time to beat up the band?” Honorable mention: \u201cOh, who\u2019s the sign for?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

Movie: (1967) A famed plastic surgeon\/hypnotist\/championship archer, whose brother is a “top agent,” is recruited to stop a villain and his scheme involving radioactive rugs.<\/p>\n

First shown: 9\/11\/93 Opening: Tom is enjoying Joel’s home movies; Crow is scared Invention exchange: The Mads show off Frank’s Lederhosen-hosen, Crow has invented Sara, the bobbin’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-episode-guide","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21752,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/21752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mst3kinfo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}