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Post by foreign object on Jun 11, 2018 6:07:54 GMT -5
Enjoying these reviews! "Gravity at work" is one of those lines that pops into my head whenever I see an older woman in need of some "help". One of my favorite riffs ever. And Harvey B Dunn and his trained bird. What can you say? I think "Gramps" was his greatest performance. I also agree on Monster A Go Go. So many Msties hate this film and it truly is awful, but the riffing really pulls it out of the fire. Keep up the good work.
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 11, 2018 13:17:38 GMT -5
Wow! Feedback! Thanks! It means a lot to me.
Programming note: After the review for 424, I'm going to circle back to Season 1. I skipped over it when I started this, partly because I didn't own any tapes for those episodes, partly because I always avoided that season from reputation alone. Well, it's been 11 years and I'd like to think I'm a bit wiser and more mature than I was as a university Freshman. Plus, having reviewed some of the best MST has to offer, I think it'll help when reviewing some of its worst.
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Post by foreign object on Jun 11, 2018 17:45:17 GMT -5
I recently completed the entire series collection so I figured I would start in broadcast order (from Season 1 on) One thing that I found noticeable was how the show got better as season one progressed and it grows on you with repeated viewings. Still not very good compared to the following seasons but not that bitter a pill to swallow.
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 11, 2018 22:34:46 GMT -5
I am Kolos. I review the place while the Master is away.
Next episode!
424-Manos: The Hands of Fate w/Short: Hired! Part 2
Short:
The same schlubby car sales manager from before gets a new appreciation for mentoring his subordinates after getting a pep talk from his nutty old dad.
Movie:
A charming tale about the rise and fall of the English aristocracy, told from the point of view of a young man’s rags-to-riches story, set against the bucolic, rolling hills of the English countryside. Grand cinematography, long shots combined with natural lighting, gives an authentic flare, and evokes the work of the great European naturalist painters.
Oh, no…wait. I was thinking about Barry Lyndon.
This is a zero-budget hunk of crap made by a literal fertilizer salesman. Shot in the middle of nowhere, starring no one, featuring infuriating inappropriate music. Like a Rob Zombie movie, if made in the 60’s.
Where to begin? Describing the plot of this movie is self-defeating. You know Manos already. And if you don’t…go in cold. Its the only way. Its how I first saw it as a young boy, innocent and pure. Before this movie took that innocence from me. People seemed to laugh more back then…there were concerts in the park…
Host Segments:
Prologue: The bots think everything Joel does or say is brilliant. Segment 1: Chocolate bunny guillotine. The Cartuner. Segment 2: Joel and the bots go on vacation using the blue screen. The bots break down. Frank apologizes. Segment 3: Monster talk. Segment 4: Joel is The Master. Dr. F apologizes. Segment 5: Tom and Crow wrestle. Torgo’s pizza.
Things that I noticed:
-Per the slate card, this episode was filmed (or edited) on 1/13/1993, a mere 5 business days after 423. Perhaps they were shot near-concurrently so they could finish up the season quickly and go on vacation. No one wants to be working in Minnesota in January, after-all.
-If you look, there’s a pre-cut bunny head already in the guillotine. Dr. F just places the whole bunny behind it.
-Also in Segment 1, note Frank’s fake breastplate. He’s later nursing the chocolate bunny with a carrot.
-The “PART II” over the beginning of Hired is very obvious and very distracting.
-In Segment 2, Frank is doing a Jimmy Stewart impression. It isn’t very good.
-Note the dim overhead lighting at the beginning of Segment 5 on the SOL bridge. Very reminiscent of how the lighting will look later in the series.
-The copyright lists 1992 at the end of the episode, even though this episode was made and released in 1993.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Tom: A dotted trail showing where anthropomorphic jackals have chased little Billy!
-Joel: Work, booze, work.
-Joel: Flying elves are back!
-Tom: I’m beginning to sober up and you’re scaring me!
-Crow: It’s Dr. Giggles!
-Joel: Visit beautiful ground zero.
-Joel: This is just one guy talking. Just one guy. Just one guy.
-Crow: Joel, this is gonna turn into a snuff film.
-Tom: Its Hawaiian Tropic for that savage buzz.
-Joel: Manos: The Hands of Fate was filmed on location in a vacant lot.
-Joel: Every frame of this movie looks like someone’s last known photograph.
-Crow: Why, its oily, sleazy talk.
-Crow: That’s a real bitch, daddy.
-Crow: What is that? Joel: A symbol of their love? Crow: Well it’s not framed very well.
-Crow: Designing Women, the lost episodes.
-Joel: DO SOMETHING!
-Crow: Oh, thank you very much, a shot in the face.
-(Tom’s entire driving diatribe)
Overall:
*deep sigh*
This movie takes something from me every time I see it. I try to watch it sparingly. It is ugly and hateful. Malevolent. I’m not sure how a film this incompetent can be those things, but it is. And more. It’s the photo-negative of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. They both elicit the same sense of dread from me. But let’s start elsewhere…
The short is great. One of their best. A real shame they had to split it in two, but the great meat of it is in this half. They fly through it, find all the weird absurdities and have a ball.
The host segments are all good. Good, not…great. But very solid. Segment 3 is essentially the same Monster sketch from the last episode, only with form and shape. I’m not a fan of the “Joel and the bots break down” sketches (see: Castle of Fu Manchu), but they’re actually deserved here and feel cathartic in the moment.
I talked in the Monster A-Go Go review about how riffing around a bad movie, and not getting dragged down by it makes the REALLY bad films go down much easier. They split the difference here. They’re INTO the plot, and their morale goes down with it. And it would’ve been wrong to do otherwise. But they’re not wallowing, while riffing. The riffing is infinitely quotable. They keep a brisk pace and never completely abandon you to the film. Its the only way to get through the movie. But that doesn’t make it a wholly enjoyable experience.
When this episode gets cited as “the greatest” or “the best” episode, it can be easy to dismiss. “Oh, its just over-hyped. Nothing can live up to those lofty declarations”. It’s certainly the “most” something episode. Extreme? Unpleasant? Memorable? All possibilities. But “best” is very subjective, and this film is far too icky for positive emotions.
You should see this episode. It is essential. Quintessential, even. Definitive. THE episode. But I can’t in good conscience give it a perfect grade. Manos: The Hands of Fate does not deserve perfection.
Score: A
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 12, 2018 22:39:12 GMT -5
I say! I can’t see the review! Its a bit foggy!
Next episode!
101-The Crawling Eye .
Movie:
In the Alps, two psychic sisters travel by train through the mountains, when the younger, Anne, gets a vision that they should get off at Trollenberg. They meet a stiff UN official played by Forrest Tucker.
Well, it turns out there are giant, tentacled, alien crawling eyes occupying the mountain. They emit a radioactive fog and have a penchant for ripping people’s heads off. Forrest Tucker consults with a scientist friend that looks exactly like Groucho Marx. Anne has a psychic connection to the eyes that does nothing and goes nowhere. They firebomb the eyes into oblivion, the end.
Host Segments:
Prologue: N/A Segment 1: The Mads move in to Deep 13 and try to avoid suspicion. Electric bagpipes. Canine antiperspirant. Segment 2: Head talk. Segment 3: Gypsy uncoiled herself. Segment 4: Talking about giant eyes. Segment 5: Good ting/bad thing.
Things that I noticed:
-In the opening intro, note that the scene with Demon Dogs from 102 is prominently featured. That, plus the fact that 102 aired on the Comedy Channel first leads me to believe that this was the SECOND episode shot for the first season. There is precedent to this claim, being the much ballyhooed 104 kerfuffle. As you may be aware, episode 104 WASN’T the fourth episode shot, it was the thirteenth. But when they were to start producing episode 104, the network couldn’t come up with the film rights, so they moved on to 105, causing much confusion. Regardless, I’m of the theory that this was actually the SECOND episode produced, not the first.
-No Prologue! They wouldn’t come up with that until 106.
-Josh has an earring on his left ear.
-The bots have a fresh, BRIGHT coat of paint on them. The light may just be very harsh.
-In the theater, Tom hangs out at the edge of the screen for a few seconds before being carried in. Also, Crow’s net is on the verge of falling off the entire film.
-Also, the theater seats are a light gray. And they haven’t yet gotten the chromakey effect quite right yet.
-The Mads note how the film has a terrible audio track, and man were they right. Loud and fuzzy, some parts barely audible.
-In Segment 3, Servo’s mouth is white. Joel removes Gypsy’s eye and puts it back with Velcro. We get a whole bunch of details about how Gypsy works that are never heard again.
-Gypsy’s mouth makes an awful noise when it opens. A close-up in Segment 5 reveals that she has a more-complicated mechanism than she would later, a string and pulley system on both sides of her mouth.
-This episode is only 91 minutes long, shorter than the 97 minutes standard in the first 3 seasons, even shorter than the 92 minute standard for later seasons.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Crow: She could eat corn-on-the-cobb through a picket fence.
-Tom: Must be his overnight gun.
-Joel: This is front page stuff: Girl has vision!
-Crow: Let’s get the dog drunk next.
-Crow: He’s wearing Mr. Spock’s jammies.
-Tom: Someone with a really big butt sat there.
Overall:
Boring movie? Long stretches of quiet? Many missed riff opportunities? Multiple Josh Weinstein sightings? It must be MST3K Season 1!
Ohhhhh boy. Coming off of the highs of late Season 4, this is a shock. Almost hard to believe its the same show.
Let’s get down to brass tacks. This was a bad movie choice. Outside the last 15 minutes, it’s a complete bore. The minimum riffing doesn’t help. At this point, they’re commenting solely off what they see. The plot, such as it is. They’re watching the movie and going with what they’re given, which isn’t much. In later seasons, the riffing employs more free association, which helps when the movie doesn’t give you much. They’re also repeating the same riff several times, and they weren’t great to begin with. Another annoyance is calling out what’s going to happen in the movie, before it happens, a habit they get out of by early Season 2.
The host segments are cute. Cute but that’s it.
Its hard to find something to say about an episode that has so little in it. Grading it is going to be tough. I know that there are worse episodes in Season 1. But there are also better. And I have to grade based on the show on the whole.
Score: D
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 13, 2018 22:31:17 GMT -5
Oh, I’d hate to review a butt like that.
Next episode!
102-The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy w/Short: Commando Cody and The Radar Men From the Moon 1 .
Short:
Effeminate Moonmen use their atomic death rays to destroy vital Earth infrastructure. Presumably so they can more easily colonize. Commando Cody, kind of a cheap Rocketeer, flies to the moon with his dead weight friends to confront the Moon people, who obligingly tell him their evil plan, how their weapons work, and all their Google passwords.
Movie:
Told via a series of several flashbacks, some within each other. A Mexican scientist, Edward, details to his guests his discovery of an Aztec mummy, even though his guests were there for it and already know all about it. Conveniently, his daughter was the mummy’s love in a past life, so she’s ripe for abducting, which does happen to her several times throughout the film. The evil Dr. Krupp wants the Aztec treasures and makes a boxy robot to fight the mummy, which it does, for all of 10 seconds.
Host Segments:
Prologue: N/A Segment 1: The Mads discuss going to the Mad Scientist Convention. The airbag helmet. The Chalkman. Segment 2: Demon Dogs start massing on the ship. Segment 3: Enoch the king of the demon dogs appears and offers peach. Then Gypsy eats him. Segment 4: Crow pretends to be Enoch. Segment 5: The demon dogs invade the ship.
Things that I noticed:
-Watching a taped copy from November ‘95 when BBI relented and let Comedy Central show some season 1 episodes. It goes straight to commercial after the opening intro.
-This episode is 99 minutes long, 2 minutes longer than the early standard running time. They apparently hadn’t hit on a standard yet.
-The bots aren’t in Segment 1 at all.
-The booby-trap in Segment 1 is some nice physical humor. Trace pulls it off beautifully. Josh…less so.
-Joel puts his hand over a singing woman’s mouth, partially muting her. Its a clever gag, but it breaks the narrative logic of the show. Its distracting and takes you out of the experience. Same thing with the cue cards bit they do later in the season. And the urinating scene this same episode. And a few other visual/audio gags they do throughout Season 1. They all smell of Joel’s over-inventiveness. Sure enough, their obtrusive ilk would return in Season 11 to distract from the movie.
-This early iteration of Gypsy features long, clear plastic tubes coming out of the back of her head.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Dr. F: The third time, I used the incendiaries. It didn’t make the building blow up, it just made it burn…really quickly. God, that was beautiful, wasn’t it?
-Tom: Oh, I hate to shoot a butt like that.
-Tom: I thought that was a smoke detector!
-Edward: Its about the Aztec breastplate and bracelet, gentlemen. Joel: I put them on at night and dance.
-Tom: The evil Judge Robert Bork.
-Tom: It’s an Aztec IUD.
-Enoch: Let us explain pleasantries, then we will drink Tranya. Crow: From a bowl on the floor, boy?
-Crow: Every good laboratory has a pit full of rattlers.
-Joel: All mummies carry pliers.
Overall:
God the movie in this episode is slow and boring. I can’t imagine what the people watching the show’s premiere were thinking as they watched an uninteresting movie, with sparse riffing under it. I don’t think any of them thought it would last 10 seasons. This episode certainly doesn’t warrant it.
Of course, this early in the season, when talking about quality, its a question of small intervals. “Good” isn’t that good. And “godawful” is just a bit worse than that. And only 2 episodes in, comparisons don’t mean much. But this episode is much worse than 101. The movie is a complete turd. Nothing happens. Less than nothing. And the short is nearly as inert, but it does have a few moments.
Just…a really bad episode.
Score: D-
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 17, 2018 20:11:39 GMT -5
No one reviews from my girl!
Next episode!
103-The Mad Monster w/Short: Commando Cody and The Radar Men From the Moon 2
Short:
Thanks to the editor, Cody escapes and regroups with his useless friends. He then steals a raygun and gets trapped in a melting cave. I’m sure he dies. There couldn’t possibly be much more of this short…
Movie:
A decidedly mad doctor injects his gardener (a down-on-his-luck Glenn Strange!) with wolf’s blood, thereby turning him into a werewolf. The mad doctor hallucinates his professional rivals and shows off, but his imaginary enemies give him lip, so he decides to use his new creation to kill them all. I DID say he was mad.
The doctor’s gardener acts real dumb and dopey throughout the film, between fits of wolfman-ism. The doctor’s daughter falls for a reporter, and they both investigate her father’s very obvious murders.
Host Segments:
Prologue: N/A Segment 1: The Mads discuss how they became mad scientists. Joel’s hell in a handbag. The acetylene-powered thunder lizard. Segment 2: Tom hits on a blender. Segment 3: Discussing the wolfman. Segment 4: Joel switches Tom and Crow’s heads. Segment 5: Good thing/bad thing.
Things that I noticed:
-Dr. F is controlling the camera with what appears to be a TV antenna.
-An addition to the SOL set this week: a pair of novelty light on the sides of the doors. Well…they were trying.
-Note Dr. F’s racist slant-eye glasses during the invention. Oh the things you could get away with in the 80’s.
-That hell in a handbag looks INCREDIBLY dangerous. Joel nearly burn himself.
-I’ve never been a fan of Servo’s personality under Josh, as a supposed ladies man. But Segment 2 is one of the few times it was really funny.
-They’re still playing with the shadowrama. Its thicker now, and usually black, bu t it randomly changes to a light gray.
-They added a “blip” noise for the end of Segment 5 when Dr. F ends the broadcast.
-There’s a new “A Best Brains Production” card at the end of the episode, with quiet “science” sounds going on.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Crow: How come they got Groucho Marx mustaches on their helmets?
-Crow: Someone’s gonna snag their jammies on something sharp.
-Crow: I didn’t know they had plywood on the Moon.
-Tom: Nobody drinks from my gal!
-Crow: Kitty!
-Joel: Hair designs by Shemp Howard.
-Tom: I may be mad, but you’re transparent.
-Tom: Now I’m gonna go turn my daughter into a woodchuck.
-Tom: Looks like Popeye got that operation he always wanted.
-Tom: That’s a really bad toupee.
-Tom: Why does he have to kill them to prove a point? Can’t he show them a pie chart or something?
Overall:
It wasn’t as bad as the prior episode. Talk about damning with faint praise. There’s more going on in the movie. The short is about the same. The riffing is a tick better. A little thicker. The host segments actually seem somewhat written this week. Even if the best segment (Tom’s blender) is a rehash of a KTMA sketch. Its uh…still not very good. A stinker of an episode. But not the WORST episode of all time, that’s for sure.
Score: D
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 17, 2018 21:56:36 GMT -5
(Note: We’re skipping 104 for now and doing it at the end of Season 1, as it was the last episode made and broadcast)
I know this review looks suspicious, but I’m going to need more proof.
Next episode!
105-The Corpse Vanishes w/Short: Commando Cody and The Radar Men From the Moon 3
Short:
Another Commando Cody. He does space stuff. He’s kind of lame. Moonmen shoot at him and blow up a bridge. What else could you want?
Movie:
Bela Lugosi is back! Or actually, he’s on the show for the first time. And he’s not a hopeless, near-death drug addict! He plays Dr. Lorenze, and he’s abducting dead brides this time instead of alive ones. He gives them smelly orchids that puts them under, but doesn’t actually kill them. The brides’ blood revives his spooky, bitchy wife.
A newspaper reporter spends a spooky, scary night at his house while investigating, but other than that, the plot sits still for a solid three-fourths of the film until the reporter decides to set up a sting by staging a wedding to trap Lorenze and gets abducted herself.
Host Segments:
Prologue: N/A Segment 1: Dr. F gives Dr. E gifts from the Mad Scientist Convention. Joel’s chiro-gyro. Flame flower. Segment 2: Tom reads TigerBot. Segment 3: The bots play tag. Segment 4: Joel gets a haircut. Segment 5: Goof thing/bad thing. Tom tries to think of a good thing and his head explodes.
Things that I noticed:
-This episode is only 89 minutes long.
-The theater seats in this episode appear green, though it looks like they’ve standardized the theater seat shape and size.
-In Segment 2, the doors aren’t completely closed.
-The movie itself is very hard to see. It’s very bright.
-In Segment 3, Joel and the bots run down the corridor.
-Segment 4 is the first mention of a “hot fish shop” on the show.
-Another intrusive sight-gag: Joel uses a push broom to “clean” the actor’s suits.
Favorite riffs or quotes:[/b]
-Tom: It’s his crotch-mounted cordless phone.
-Tom: Nipple, nipple, tweak, tweak, fly!
-Tom: Looks like the Macy’s parade gone awry.
-Crow: Why does Earth have a shadow?
-Crow: Wow! Data! He’s dreamy!
-Crow: You may now bury the bride.
-Joel: Aw, man. They’re taking the cake back.
-Crow: I’m getting buried in the morning.
-Crow: It’s a hot rod.
-Crow: All that for a little maple syrup.
-Joel: Now I can have the rich taste of bride any time.
-Crow: I call it “bitchy”.
-Joel: This closet is huge. Tom: Its a drive-in closet.
-Crow: They ended rolling that fire truck right there on the Main Street. Gasoline and clown white all over the road. You know, those clown shoes burn like black tires…why, they’re still picking up clown noses. They called the coroner…they still managed to cram all 200 of those clowns into that little bitty wagon.
-Joel: That’s the price you pay for being a sideshow passaround.
Overall:
The movie is dull as a beige room and the short is completely forgettable. But the riffing is progressively getting tighter with every episode. The host segments this week are a bit better. Another KTMA re-do with the haircut, but its a good one, probably the best host segment so far. The pieces are slowly coming together.
The show is verrry slowly finding its legs, but I still wouldn’t recommend this episode.
Score: D+
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 18, 2018 21:02:46 GMT -5
No reviewing, not allowed.
Next episode!
106-The Crawling Hand
Movie:
An astronaut goes to the Moon and en route back comes under the power of some alien force that wants him to kill everything and everyone. Well, his arm does, anyways. His capsule is remotely destroyed by two NASA-esque administrators, one played by Moon from Beatniks, Peter Breck (though much more sedately this time).
Meanwhile, a mopey pre-med student, Paul, and his Swedish girlfriend go to the beach where Paul finds the severed lower arm of the dead astronaut. Paul does the only rational thing and takes the arm home and puts it with his preserves. The hand wastes no time killing his landlady and Paul is naturally made into a suspect by the Sheriff, Alan Hale, Jr. The hand tries to strangle Paul, but doesn’t finish the job, and he himself becomes possessed and tries to kill everyone he can, though he isn’t very good at it.
Paul eventually finds the hand, takes it to the local dump, where cats eat it. Yup, our monster is stripped of all its meaty bits by feral cats. A little anti-climactic.
Two terribly unfunny undertakers round out the cast.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel explains the premise of the show. Segment 1: Joel’s safety saw. The Mads’ limb lengthener. Segment 2: Joel and the bots go bowling. Segment 3: Joel and the bots are attacked by hands and do their best Shatner impressions. Segment 4: Why are hands scary? Segment 5: Good thing/bad thing. Letters.
Things that I noticed:
-This episode was included (begrudgingly) by BBI in the 1995 Turkey Day Marathon. Of the 4 episodes Comedy Central showed that month as part of the “MST Anthology”, this is the one the Brains agreed to put in the official marathon. It gives a pretty good indication that of the Season 1 episodes available, this episode was the one they were least embarrassed about.
-The Prologue makes its overdue debut! Really, a great addition. Especially having the credits go through the doors and onto the bridge. Makes everything flow much better.
-Also making her national debut: Magic Voice!
-And a final debut! The desk buttons!
-Joel starts to introduce the vaccu-flowers in Segment 1. They’re a leftover from the earliest episodes of KTMA.
-The theater seats are still green, though a slightly different shade.
-The joke in Segment 2 about how Crow is always scissors in rock-paper-scissors would return for a sketch in episode 415.
-Tom’s beak is finally painted silver.
-Segment 3 is the first appearance of “I thought you were Dale”.
-Segment 5 features the first batch of letters for the national show.
Favorite riffs or quotes:[/b]
-Tom: Hairstyles by Gordon of Gotham.
-Joel: Max Headroom’s dad.
-Crow: I think he’s taken acting lessons from William Shatner.
-Tom: New! Oxygen-lite!
-Tom: Meet some football teams…
-Crow: “Stacked” means you’re really smart.
-Crow: Why’s she wearing a swimsuit with a codpiece?
-Joel: It’s a beach thermometer.
-Joel: I can’t believe she’s got to do that scene again.
-Crow: I think she’s doing Mrs. Captain Kirk.
-Crow: Prince is pretty small.
-Tom: I slept with THAT!
-Alan Hale: We can’t buck ‘em, not yet. All: What?!
-Crow: It’s an Elvis zombie!
-Tom: Wow, look, she really is smart.
Overall:
A quantum leap in quality over the previous batch of episodes. No Commando Cody! A movie you can both see AND hear! A semi-interesting plot! One of the better episodes of Season 1, and the first decent episode of the national series. The show has nearly molted into it’s final form, with the addition of the Prologue.
The riffing has also taken a step forward. They’re now commenting WITH the movie, instead of ON it. As in, they’re beginning to riff with the dialogue and not just what they see on the screen. However, there are still big empty spaces, and easy home run moments are notably limp. This is also the first movie that is somewhat interesting to watch on its own. I swear, it has real, competent direction! The strangling scene in the diner, with the music and flashing lights wouldn’t be out of place in a Tarantino film.
The host segments are still ok-to-lame. The inventions are both forgettable prop comedy. Segment 4 is a complete turd. The bowling sketch is gutterball. The Shatner bit in Segment 2 and 5 were pretty funy, though.
A better episode, but still a ways to go. Rome wasn’t built in a day, I suppose.
Score: C
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 21, 2018 19:58:58 GMT -5
To live like the hu-man, to review like the hu-man.
Next episode!
107-Robot Monster w/Shorts: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From The Moon Parts 4 & 5
Short:
Who cares? A double dose of boring gray crap. Lots of flying and fighting and shooting and women getting knocked out cold.
Movie:
Should be called “Picnic at Boring Rock.” One of the absolute worst movies ever made, and one of the top 5 worst ever featured on the show. Framed as a demented little boy’s fever dream. Mountains of stock footage. Cheap props. No sets to speak of. And a rummage bin monster, Ro-Man. Set in some post-apocalypse, Ro-Man terrorizes the last people left on Earth with more boring stock footage and his bubble machine.
Characters throw out dialogue that doesn’t mean anything. Ro-Man pontificates about nothing. Stuff just happens and they film it to fill time. Just…awful.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel explains the premise of the show again. Segment 1: The flammable woopie cushion. The cumber-bubble-bund. Segment 2: The physics of Commando Cody. Tom’s head explodes. As does Crow’s and Cambot’s. Segment 3: Crow and Tom Servo play Ro-Man and Joel panics. Segment 4: Discussing surrealism. Segment 5: Discussing the film while wearing trash bags.
Things that I noticed:
-The Prologue may be the first appearance of Joel’s red smoking jacket.
-The bots are finally in Segment 1!
-More open flames in the Invention Exchange! The cumber-bubble-bund is tamer…if not lamer.
-Still adjusting the color-mixing. The theater seats are still slightly green, though now much closer to black. The films themselves are darker than in previous episodes
-Josh sneezes very loudly in the first movie segment and plays it off with some nice improv.
-More distracting visual gags in the theater: Joel takes out a giant dart during the 2nd short.
-Man, poor George Nader. I know his career never really took off, but he didn’t deserve to be in this movie.
-The fan club address pops up in the last theater segment for the first time.
Favorite riffs or quotes:[/b]
-Tom: Upon further review, the refs find that Cody is dead. The play stands: Cody is dead.
-Crow: This bra is coming along nicely.
-Tom: Hire someone else? I wonder if Kelly has a thug department.
-Joel: If only we could use our arms.
-Joel: Stop torturing that cat.
-Crow: A picnic at the slag heap, thanks Mom!
-Joel: What kind of universe is this when they alter your clothing when you sleep?
-Crow: They come from a planet where they evolved from apes and water coolers.
-Tom: The screen turned back into a refrigerator. -Tom: What’s so scary about an alien that looks like the mascot of a college football team?
-Tom: When are we going to see the other three Banana Splits?
-Crow: Oh no, he’s fitting her for a gorilla suit!
-Tom: Johnny, have you been in my cleaning solutions?
Overall:
My first reaction is that I wish they watched this movie a few seasons later when they were riffing at full speed. But even then, this movie is just…bizarre and disorienting, and I’m not sure it would’ve had an overtly positive result.
Outside the movie, the host segments are beginning to show a little more consistency. Segment 2 is written about as well as anything from Season 2 or 3. Segment 3 is goofy fun that ends on just the right note. Segment 4 is an interesting concept, just not executed very well. Segments 1 and 5 are flat and bad.
The riffing does what it can, with what they’re given, with the writing available at this point. Which isn’t too much. But its not BAD. There are a few laugh out loud moments. The shorts, while not interesting in the least, at least aren’t riff dead zones. Its a workmanlike episode. Not as good as Crawling Hand, but that’s mostly due to the bizarre nature of the film and the double dose of Commando Cody.
Score: C-
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 22, 2018 21:32:52 GMT -5
I can’t see what I’m reviewing, the fog is too thick.
Next episode!
108-The Slime People w/Short: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From The Moon Part 6
Short:
Incompetent Moonmen get desperate and just plan to blow up volcanoes and quicken Earth’s defenselessness. Not as exciting as it sounds.
Movie:
Butt ugly slime people emerge from the sewers of LA and spread a thick, impenetrable fog. And kill people. But mostly just the fog thing. Everyone evacuates or dies except for a professor and his daughters, plus a pilot they picked up. They all hole up in a movie studio with a hunky heartthrob. They go out and about to scavenge and run into a nutty goat man.
Then the fog gets thicker and the movie becomes literally unwatchable.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Crow is a morning person, Joel and Tom aren’t. Segment 1: Cartoon goggles. Screaming cotton candy. Segment 2: The trial of Commando Cody. Segment 3: Pitching movie ideas. Breaking the fourth wall. Segment 4: The bots fill the bridge with fog. Segment 5: Joel makes a pie and gypsy eats it. Letters.
Things that I noticed:
-Crow’s hand is unpainted and blue in the Prologue.
-Josh’s hair is higher and “madder” this week.
-Another first. Segment 1 is the first time Deep 13 is presented with a Dutch angle to the camera.
-You can hear the bots all the way down the corridor after Movie Sign.
-The theater seats are finally black.
-Segment 2 is incredibly low-rent. The judge costumes are nothing more than cut pieces of felt for the bots, and a black sheet thrown over the shoulders and belted at the waist for Joel. Joel’s gavel is just a hammer.
-Joel plays with the robots while they talk, switching Crow’s arms on/off and removing Tom’s head and hand. Notable mostly because it means Crow’s arms are still made of the very rare Genie lamps and not just molds.
-Man, meat sure was cheap in the 50’s.
Favorite riffs or quotes:[/b]
-Tom: They’re all short-order crooks.
-Joel: Steve, have you ever really looked at a squirrel, I mean really, up close.
-Tom: The Slime People. The story of Hollywood in the early days.
-Professor: Now, we all know that there are fish in the ocean… Joel: Whoah, that’s too much for me.
-Tom: It’s Roger Ebert!
-Crow: It’s Tom Waits on a bender.
-Tom: Don’t point that goat at me, it might go off.
-Crow: I bet that’d be scary if we could make out what it was.
-Tom: She’s probably having the slime of her life.
-Crow: Looks like one long, boring commercial for London Fog raincoats.
Overall:
An inert short combined with an inert movie makes for an inert episode. A step back from the last 2 episodes, and its mostly due to the film choice. The riffing does what it can with another Cody short and a film that does nothing, but it can’t escape the fog. Though a lot of the riffing could be better, much of the last half of the film is just saying “slime” in somewhat creative ways.
The host segments are ok. It’s nice to have the bots involved in the Prologue and Segment 1. The inventions are cute. Segment 2 was good. Segments 3 and 4 meander and don’t go anywhere, with Segment 4 being suspiciously similar to the other “talk about the movie’s faults” segments from prior episodes. And Segment 5…well, yeah, just ends.
So, a step down. Can’t win ‘em all.
Score: D+
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 23, 2018 15:34:39 GMT -5
Got a review you need to write? Might I suggest a handful of velvety SPACOM?
Next episode!
109-Project Moonbase w/Short: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From The Moon Parts 7 & 8
Shorts:
No, no, no, no. No. More. Commando. Cody. Make it stop.
Movie:
In the futuristic world of 1970, where the most futuristic thing is tiny ties for men, the United States controls the spaceways with their newfangled space station. The enemies of freedom, you know…COMMIES, want to sabotage it.
The best pilot in the US Space Command (SPACOM) is Colonel Briteis, a perky and seasoned professional…woman! Yes, she’s a woman. With a high-ranking job. And because of it, every man she comes across hates her everloving guts. Seriously, she’s treated like a garbage scow by her superiors, her subordinates, everyone. Her commanding officer threatens to spank her for god’s sake. To be fair, she does have a bit of an attitude, but I blame the writing.
Anywho, she’s chosen to do the first lunar circumlunar flight, over her subordinate, Bill. The bad guys place a double of a civilian scientist on board, who promptly messes things up and forces them all to land on the Moon without enough fuel to take back off.
Well, spy dies, they establish contact with Earth and their superiors immediately dictate that Bill and Briteis get married. Because of morals and all. As a last insult to the viewer, Briteis demands the before she marries Bill, he has to be promoted over her. Because she’s a woman.
An elderly lady President makes a last-minute cameo as a nodding wink to the audience that their sexism was all in good fun. But it probably wasn’t.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel introduces the show. Segment 1: Juggling water. Insect-a-sketch. Segment 2: Tom and Crow play Commando Cody. Segment 3: Future tie fashions. Segment 4: SPACOM! Segment 5: Tom and Crow read letters while upside down.
Things that I noticed:
-Josh’s Dr. E voice is particularly annoying this episode.
-Whoever thought it was a good idea to try and fit the entire 12-part Commando Cody serial into the season needed to be fired. Thankfully the pain doesn’t last much longer…
-More distracting visual gags: Joel holds up Batman-esque fight “noises”, like “Oof”, “Pow”.
-Segment 2 is the first time we see the windows on the bridge. Really, it’s the first time we see more of the bridge than just the desk.
-The movie is somehow based on a story by Robert Heinlein. I can’t imagine he meant it to be this sexist. But you never know.
-Segment 3 is the first mention of the word “Hexfield”.
-You can see the top of Josh’s head in Segment 3.
-Even MORE distracting visual gags: Joel holds up cue cards when Dr. Bellows sounds like he can’t remember his lines.
-Even in the future, the fact the European commie types don’t follow baseball is their ultimate undoing.
-After the movie ends, it looks like someone leans back in and picks something up off the floor.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Dr. F: Very nice, Larry, now make me a picture of Jokey Smurf.
-Tom: Back at the Cody Institute for people that almost die every week.
-Tom: Oh, I’m not sorry about that one, it felt wonderful…Ugh…I shouldn’t have done that in a pressure suit.
-Joel: You know, these moon men have uses for plywood we haven't even dreamed of yet.
-Tom: By 1977, hotpants became the height of fashion.
-Joel: Inspector 12, he checked my underwear.
-Tom: Sorry I blew up like that.
-Tom: Funny how science figures into space travel.
-Tom: She enters the scene like a float. Crow: Does the term “drop anchor” mean anything?
-Joel: The tie of the future will be cut short to eliminate the morning question, “Is it appropriate to tuck my tie into my pants?”
-All: Or large barge.
-Crow: This is the future when they sold the Dodgers back to Brooklyn.
-Crow: Battery pack separating from Frisbee.
-Tom: It’s hard to take anyone in a flannel skullcap seriously.
-Dr. F: You want color? Talk to Ted Turner.
Overall:
Ahhh…another quality film choice. Only the 2nd of the season after Crawling Hand, but boy does it make a difference. The two Cody shorts are, admittedly, a dead zone. I’m tired of seeing them. I hate them. They diligently riff on them, with the occasional good line, but they’re mostly a filler in this episode. The REAL meat is the movie. This hateful, offensive, dumb movie. I love it. And the riffing is on point throughout. Very sharp for Season 1.
The host segments are bit less mixed than usual. Segments 1, 2 and 4 are good, with 4 being the standout. Possibly the best segment of the season so far. They’re starting to slightly mix things up in the Prologue and Segment 5, so they’re not complete wastes.
Even though a solid quarter of the episode is Commando Cody, the movie carries the episode so well, and the Segments are good enough, that I’m giving this episode the highest grade of the season (again, so far). It JUST edges out Crawling Hand.
Score: C+
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 24, 2018 20:26:40 GMT -5
You and your review are doomed.
Next episode!
110-Robot Holocaust w/Short: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From The Moon Part 9
Short:
I’ll see you in Hell, Commando Cody, you bullet-headed dope.
Movie:
In a decidedly 80’s post-apocalypse, community theater rejects cosplay as Mad Max types and LARP in Central Park. Bits of better 80’s sci-fi and fantasy films are liberally ripped off in order to make the movie interesting, to no avail.
Most of humanity has been wiped out and the remainder lives in a domed city, where the air quality is controlled by a vague robotic overlord known as the Dark One and his incomprehensible assistant, Valeria from their headquarters, The Power Station. A wooden, halting professor type discovers a way to breath the poison air the Dark One uses to control people, and is taken away. His daughter goes on a quest to save him, joined by a prerequisite hero-type, Neo, who is perfect in a every way, can communicate telepathically, breath poisoned air, and anything else the plot demands. A lame paper-mâché robot joins them, as do other movie stereotypes they meet on the way.
The lame paper-mâché robot serves as a deus ex machina several times throughout the film by utilizing various useful powers he didn’t mention until they were needed. The halting professor guy is exposed to the Dark One and is turned into an avocado. Valeria gets her face blown off.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel lays out the premise of the show in a bluesy way. Segment 1: Nitro-burning funny pipe. Emotive ski mask. Segment 2: Tom and Crow are in the We Zone and demand things of Joel. Segment 3: Joel and the bots put on a sketch with a laugh track. Segment 4: Tom plays post-apocalyptic, but Joel and Crow leave. Segment 5: Name the Plan Guy contest. Letters.
Things that I noticed:
-Crow’s mouth is controlled by a thick rod. Strange, as this wasn’t the case previously. His mouth is also very skewed off to one side.
-You can see Trace’s head in Segment 1.
-Considering most of the Inventions are based around both Joel’s stand-up act AND open flames, I can only guess what comedy club owners thought about having so much dangerous fire on their stages.
-Mercifully, wonderfully, the film “breaks” partway through the short. And we never, ever have to sit through another Commando Cody again. Amen.
-Color! Finally!
-The music in the movie is later heard as the soundtrack for Laserblast.
-Segment 2 is out of order. The scene they’re parodying is later in the film.
-Early in the movie, Crow remarks that the women of the She Zone look like the roadshow production of Cats. Tom remarks he’ll “be back again and again”. This is an obscure reference to an SNL sketch from 1986 where a hypnotist on Broadway makes his audience give him rave reviews where they all proclaim, woodenly “I loved it. It was much better than Cats. I am going to see it again and again.”
-This is the first time they sit in the theater during the end credits of a movie. I’m pretty sure it was improvised.
-Joel carries Crow out of the theater. Tom explains that he needs to be lifted over a heating grid to get out of the theater.
-Segment 5 is the first contest on the national show.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Crow: By this time my lungs were aching for air.
-Joel: Ted, I can’t keep covering for you at the office.
-Narrator: The world had been brought to its knees by the the…Robot Holocaust. Tom: By the…titles.
-Tom: Must be cold in that room.
-Joel: I’m gonna die if they start dancing cheek-to-cheek.
-Tom: I guess it’s a wasteland if you don’t count that big city behind them.
-Tom: It’s the Bangles!
-Crow: Is she Wendy or Lisa?
-Joel: I don’t think my socks have ever gotten that bad.
-Tom: This movie is just socks and violence.
-Crow: Who’s the guy in the Huggies? Tom: That Depends.
-Joel: A being so hideously expensive, we couldn’t show it on this film.
-Neo: If they knew we were coming… Joel: They’d have baked a cake.
-Joel: You think they shop at the same place Mad Max does?
-Crow: Kitty!
-Crow: Dad, you’re a tulip bulb.
-Crow: Better dead than a spread.
Overall:
The first movie in Season 1 that I can definitely say I wished they had done in Season 3 or later. The film’s potential is totally wasted with the skimpy writing of Season 1, even if the writing got better as the season’s gone on. Although, the sketches this episode and the riffing both seem to have taken a step back. This combined with Crow’s odd mouth rod in this episode makes me think that this episode may have been shot earlier, out of order.
Regardless, the episode is big step down from Project Moonbase. Very disappointing. There’s A LOT going on in the movie, even if it is monotonous and redundant, but they just don’t do much with it. The host segments are pointless and go nowhere, particularly Segment 3. Segment 2 has promise, but stalls out. Same with Segment 4.
A big let-down of an episode.
Score: C-
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jun 28, 2018 21:11:41 GMT -5
The gravity is turned off…so I have…to…review…sloooowly…
Next episode!
111-Moon Zero Two
Movie:
In the far-off year of 2021, man is living on the Moon! And it’s a groovy scene, man. Very mod. The Moon is now colonized. And by colonized, I mean it’s as colonized as the Old West, with saloons and outposts and wild frontiers and bad guys and so forth. That guy from The Andromeda Strain is Captain Kemp, the first man on Mars, now just a scrap collector.
A woman from Earth convinces Kemp to take her to the far side of the Moon to look for her lost brother. Meanwhile, a rich jerk, Hubbard, hires Kemp to crash land an asteroid made of pure sapphire into the Moon. Those two plots collide in a predictable way, complete with stand-offs, shoot-outs, and anything else a bunch of late-60’s Brits remembered to rip off from both Space and Western films and then cram together.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel introduces the show. Segment 1: Teleported food. Celebrity vomiting toothpaste. Segment 2: A tribute to Neil Armstrong. Segment 3: Games of the future. Segment 4: Zero gravity fighting. Segment 5: Good thing/bad thing. Letters.
Things that I noticed:
-Crow’s mouth is still controlled by a thick string.
-The bots are in the Prologue and Segment 1, but don’t say anything.
-Magic Voice’s “30 seconds to Commercial Sign” is partly muted, Alex Carr’s mic must’ve been off.
-I have no idea what game Joel is playing at the beginning of Segment 1, it’s some kind of air-driven or possibly magnetic ball game where you try to get the ball through hoops. It’s really cool. Wish I knew what it was.
-I never noticed previously, but Joel’s mic is clearly visible during the Invention Exchange on his jumpsuit.
-I can’t be 100% sure, but the celebrity toothpaste invention may very well be the first NOT based on Joel’s stand-up.
-Distracting but welcome visual gag: Joel go-go dances during the groovy credits. But it’s actually funny, so it gets a pass.
-While mentioned in jest, the opening cartoon WAS in fact made by the same guy that did the animated Beatles movies, Jack Stokes. Moon Zero Two was his first credit after Yellow Submarine.
-The set design of this film is very, very 60’s. But it’s colorful and vibrant and interesting to look at and fun to watch on it’s own. It’s the best-looking film of Season 1.
-The towering henchman, Harry, is played by a veteran English comic from the “Carry On” series of films, best known for his dim-witted characters.
-This movie has some talent behind it. Besides the aforementioned James Olson, cartoon and the big goon, the film was directed by Roy Ward Baker of “A Night to Remember” the Hammer version of “Quartermass”, etc. The music is by Academy Award winning composer Don Ellis of “The French Connection” and “The Seven-Ups”. The special effects were led by Les Bowie, who would go on to win an Academy Award for his work in the 1978 “Superman” movie. And Carol Cleveland of Monty Python fame plays the Hostess in the moon tram.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Tom: Look at that, he’s beating the titles out of him.
-Joel: Hey, it’s Donald Trump, he’s chasing the good guys away. That doesn’t make sense. Tom: It makes PERFECT sense.
-Joel: It’s a renegade air conditioning unit.
-Crow: Hey, he flipped him off.
-Tom: In the future, bras will grow on the Moon.
-Crow: They’re wearing Othello game-pieces on their heads.
-Tom: It’s Moon Zero Mostel.
-Tom: Well, I’m not going to be the community chest anymore.
-Kemp: You mean crash it. And that’s against the law in a big way. Crow: Just ask John Landis.
-Tom: Pretty soon they’re gonna get those big foam “We’re Number 1” hands.
-Crow: Anyone know where a guy could get some Armor All around here?
-Crow: It looks like his stone passed him.
-Joel: And so they set out in the wiener car in search of the giant kielbasa.
-Tom: Timpani guns!
Overall:
Another big step forward. This movie is full of potential, and while they don’t take full advantage of it, they certainly don’t squander it. In a few episodes, the writing for the theater segments has REALLY matured. Much more structured, with built-in joke responses, banter, etc. Much more naturally riffing WITH the movie than AT the movie, like they were earlier in the season. Josh, Joel and Trace are also more noticeably comfortable reading off a script, timing, etc. The host segments are still fairly under-developed, but the riffing is really good (for Season 1, natch).
This is usually my pick for film I wish they’d re-done later in the series. And while the film isn’t really “bad” enough to make the cut against most of the other films they’ve shown (it’s more goofy than bad), I could see it very easily fitting in with the film selection of, say, Season 10. It was made competently, but cheaply, like most Hammer films. You can really see the Hammer touch in the set designs and costuming. Thorough and vivid, but cheap. Same with dialogue and acting. Good, for what they could afford. It has a certain charm to it. I honestly think it’s one of the best movies they’ve ever done.
Anyways, the host segments, as I said, are under-developed. Like a lot of Season 1 sketches, they really don’t go anywhere. The Buzz Aldrin sketch and zero gravity fighting in particular. The Prologue is still a wasted sketch at this point. Segment 5 is a recycle of prior Segment 5’s.
If you removed the host segments and stapled in generic sketches from later in the series, you might mistake this for a Season 2 episode, just based on the riffing. And I mean that in a good way. I’m very conflicted on what to rate this episode. It’s better than Crawling Hand and Project Moonbase, but I almost don’t want to put it in the “B” range. If I used such ratings, this episode might be a “C++”, but I don’t so I’m going to have to bite the bullet on this…
Score: B-
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Post by Diet Kolos on Jul 2, 2018 20:20:44 GMT -5
No you ain’t gonna make an episode reviewer outta me.
Next episode!
112-Untamed Youth
Movie:
Mamie Van Doren and her sister are travelling across the Midwest on their way to LA when they’re picked up by a belligerent fat-ass cop and railroaded through the corrupt local legal system. They’re sentenced to a month of of hard labor picking cotton. Conveniently, it’s owned by a Tropp, a big chiseled slab of meat, who happens to be shacking up with the lady Judge sending every teen available his way.
Mamie sings several songs for no reason, as does short-lived (literally) teen singer Eddie Cochran. There are also a few dance numbers for no discernible reason.
Tropp’s operation is corrupt, from getting cheap labor, to sleeping with the teens, to feeding the inmates dog food. The Judge’s son arrives home from college to work on the farm (did I mention the Judge sold it to Tropp for cheap, too?) and immediately realizes something is amiss and begins to unravel the whole thing.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Joel introduces the show, Tom has a tapeworm Segment 1: Never-light pipe. Tongue puppets. Segment 2: A tribute to Greg Brady. Segment 3: Crow has a flashback to the time they plugged Gypsy into Cambot to see what she’s thinking about. It’s Richard Basehart and RAM chips. Segment 4: Gypsy tries to make cotton, but is broken. Tom doesn’t help. Segment 5: Discussing the dopey guy, letters.
Things that I noticed:
-Crow still has the thick mouth string.
-The bots are in the Prologue and Segment 1, and they’re finally saying and doing stuff!
-Crow’s paint job is notably shabby this episode.
-I NEVER wanted to be that close to Josh Weinstein as we are for the tongue puppet bit.
-They’ve adjusted the tint of the film, instead of the seats, so the seats don’t blend into the film. They’ve tinted the film very slightly blue. They’d continue this through Season 3, when the blue tint becomes VERY severe. They’d finally figure out a good balance by the end of Season 3.
-Some people SWEAR they must’ve been high to write the show, or that Joel was always high, etc. I never believed this, of course. BUT. In Segment 2, I’m 90% sure Joel is stoned off his ass. His eyes are red and squinty. He nearly falls over. He talks slowly and can barely remember his lines, constantly looking off-camera. If he’s not high, he must’ve been very, very tired.
-In the 20th Anniversary DVD special interview, Josh Weinstein admitted that while they never did any drugs, they did shoot an episode while drinking, once. This episode, as a matter of fact. So, maybe Joel’s just drunk.
-Also in Segment 2, note that Joel’s neck has no make-up, as his neck is covered in red bumps. I’m not sure if it’s razor burn or acne, but it’s very noticeable.
-This episode, by my count, features the first callbacks of the national series. They reference “No dancing” from 106-Crawling Hand and “SPACOM” from 109-Project Moonbase.
-In Segment 3, Gypsy’s mouth mechanism has been re-jiggered, so instead of the complex and noisy lever and pulley system, it’s the more modern string-from-the bottom design. It’s still noisy, however when her mouth clacks shut.
-Gypsy enters the theater for the first time to synthesize cotton.
-This episode appears heavily Gypsy-centric. I’m assuming it’s to show off her new mouth mechanism.
-You can clearly see Josh in Segment 4.
-Also in Segment 4, one of the rare instances of Joel getting mad and yelling.
-Lots of casual racism in the movie. “Italian haircut” “Wetbacks” Etc.
Favorite riffs or quotes:
-Dr F: It stars Mamie Van Hooter.
-Joel: It looks like he’s playing football against Claude Rains University.
-Judge: You are vagrants, without visible means of support. Crow: I wouldn’t say that…
-Crow: Tire farmin’. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.
-Crow: Am I the sultriest person you’ve ever seen in your whole life?
-Joel: Body by Bob Denver.
-Crow: Looks like he’s driving the swamp from M*A*S*H.
-Joel: She ate too much cotton.
-Tom: That phone doesn’t look like it was designed for a human head.
-Crow: Gettin’ rid of slavery, really groovy man.
-Crow: Up to Mount Pilot? I’ll go get my one bullet.
-Joel: Maybe the dog food is really good for them; she’s got a nice shiny coat.
Overall:
Another decent episode. Riffing may be a touch denser, but not better than the last episode. Sketches are varied, they’re finally fully utilizing all 5 segments. Maybe not to their fullest potential, but the Prologue is more than just a rote intro and Segment 5 is more than just “what did you think of the movie?”
I’m not too big on the Greg Brady stuff running through the episode. It MIGHT be worth a sketch, like the Earl Holliman bit in 418. Only the sketch here is long, boring and badly executed. But it certainly isn’t worth a running joke through the whole film. She IS man-ish, granted. But the Greg Brady jokes lands once and is bad from there on. It shows the level of writing this early on, in that there isn’t much.
Anyways…The Gypsy sketches are a mixed bag. Segment 3 has a useless framing device, doesn’t have much of a joke, and ends suddenly. Segment 4 has a lot going on, and Tom’s goading of Gypsy is funny. The Prologue and Segment 1 are fine. Segment 5, while it’s nice to have SOMETHING happen, I’m not sure why they chose the goofy guy bit for this segment. If anything, they should’ve used Segment 2 or 3 for a more in-depth sketch on the subject and bumped the Greg Brady bit to Segment 5 and shortened it. I will say that Joel’s goofy guy impression is pretty funny.
Roughly equal to 111 in quality, which is about as good you’re going to get in Season 1, really. But it solidifies the nice plateau of semi-respectable quality they established at the end of this season. It took a long, long time to get here, but finally, we have…somewhat watchable episodes….
Score: B-
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