Disc 1: The Black
Scorpion
The Black Scorpion
is an early Joel episode (with even just a little bit of an explanation of
what’s going on at the beginning of the show). This is when Josh Weinstein was
doing the voice of Tom Servo. The Black
Scorpion begins with shots of volcanoes and lots of narration, leading the
guys to joke: “And then tragedy struck.
We ran out of stock footage.” When two characters find a damaged car, one
asks, “What could do this to a car out
here?” Crow responds, “Well, I’m no
insurance adjuster, but a big truck or the neighborhood kids could have.”
The gang applauds every time the two men introduce
themselves, and they do it often. When a woman asks the two men how things are
in town, Crow answers: “Well, the milling
festival is over, ended in a weird steak fight. Found a baby, though. Gave it
to a priest. And that pretty much sums up where we are in the movie.” That
part cracked me up so much that I had to watch it three or four times. It’s
Crow’s delivery of “Found a baby, though.
Gave it to a priest” that is so bloody funny.
During one of the breaks, the gang goofs around with
subtitles while trying out their Spanish. This episode has a few references to M.A.S.H. and references to Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop
Worrying And Love The Bomb.
This DVD includes Stinger
Of Death: Making “The Black Scorpion,” which provides some information on
some of the creative team behind The
Black Scorpion, including Jack Dietz, the producer, and Edward Ludwig, the
director. The DVD also includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
Disc 2: Outlaw
Outlaw is one
of the first Mike Nelson episodes. Outlaw
(also known as Outlaw Of Gor and Gor II) is a terrible science fiction
film that stars a very bored Jack Palance. The gang of course does Jack Palance
impressions throughout the film, and all of that stuff is great. This is a
seriously funny episode (often the worst films make the best episodes). At the
beginning of the film, someone says, “Gor
is a harsh world, and she breeds harsh people.” Tom Servo adds, “But the rents are reasonable.” Crow
says, “Sorry, folks, we simply could not
afford to have special effects.” There is a seriously annoying character in
the film, and it’s not long before the gang starts chanting, “Kill him.” When a woman kisses this
character, the gang jokes, “Mmm, you
smell like comic books.”
After the cheapest sword prop is stuck into a bad guy,
the guys joke, “A sword, a gel pack, and
a stunt man all for a dollar twenty-five.” Not only are the props cheap,
but they’re handled poorly. At one point the hero throws a sword at a villain, and
it clearly hits him hilt first. So the villain turns the sword around to
correct for the mistake, leading Mike to say, “Oh, thank you, I’ll just stab myself here.” And about one of the
sets, they joke, “The world’s first
successful paper mache village.”
This episode has one of the best break segments of the
series. The gang sings a delicious song about breasts that even includes a
reference to an old television commercial for Slinky. And there are plenty of
pop culture references in the episode, including references to Jesus Christ Superstar, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Happy Days, Star Trek, They Live, The
Who, Supertramp, It’s A Beautiful Day (the gang sings, “White slave in a golden cage”) and Emerson, Lake And Palmer.
This DVD includes three special features. The first, Writer Of Gore: The Novels Of John Norman,
is an interview with Richard Curtis, John Norman’s agent/publisher. John Norman
is also a teacher, and under his real name has written two works of philosophy.
It’s interesting that the rising tide of feminism was to blame for the fall in
popularity of the books. The second special feature, Director Of Gor: On Set With John “Bud” Cardos, is an interview
with director John “Bud” Cardos. He’s not on a set, as the title seems to
suggest. This is a new interview, in which he talks about the sets and the
actors and so on. The third special feature, Producer Of Gor: Adventures With Harry Alan Towers, is an interview
with Danny Lerner, who was the production manager on Outlaw. He talks about Harry Alan Towers, who also produced Fu
Manchu movies, plus Jess Franco’s films. Lerner also talks a bit about certain
cast members.
Disc 3: The
Projected Man
The Projected Man
is a later Mike Nelson episode, featuring Pearl, and with Bill Corbett doing
the voice of Crow. The Projected Man
is a British film, leading to lots of delightfully bad accents from the gang as
well as their repeated use of the word “knickers.” At the beginning when a
woman parks her car, Crow jokes, “Ah,
parking – what a way to establish character and create tension.” When the
woman’s watch spins backward, the gang jokes, “Kcot kcit, kcot kcit.” There’s a character named Mitchell, which
allows for references to the film of that name, which MST3K tore apart in an earlier episode. And when one characters
says, “Mitchell, I want you to regard
what I’m about to say as highly confidential,” the guys quip, “I’m a shemale.”
The Projected Man is a rather dull film, and the
gang constantly rips on it for that. When one character gets a bit upset while
on the phone, they remark, “The bickering
explodes across the screen.” And when scientists demonstrate their work by
trying to project a rat from one cage to another, Crow says, “Yes, no more tedious carrying rats across the
room.” When Mitchell says, “He was
obviously trying to project himself,” Mike adds, “Into a different movie.” There is a little bit of excitement,
however, when a cute blonde slips out of her clothes, leading Crow to exclaim,
“I declare this movie suddenly great.”
There are pop culture references to Duran Duran, The
Beatles, Petula Clark, Charlie Parker, Pete Townshend, and This Is Spinal Tap.
The DVD includes Shock
To The System: Creating The Projected Man, a short featurette in which film
historian Tom Weaver talks about the film, including how the director was fired
and replaced. The theatrical trailer is also included, but it’s full screen so
the edges are cut off.
Disc 4: It Lives
By Night
It Lives By Night
is one of the final episodes of the series, and is a film about a man who
begins turning into a bat after being bitten by one. At the beginning, when a
woman is shown in bed next to a man who is tossing and turning, Crow quips, “Alanis Morissette – no wonder he’s having a
nightmare.” (I appreciate that, because I cannot think of a more irritating
singer than Alanis Morissette.) When the man chooses work over pleasure with
his wife, Mike responds for the woman, “I’ll
hit the snooze button on my biological clock.” When this couple strays from
a cave tour and immediately gets into trouble, Mike says, “Finally an excuse to drink my urine.” Later, when a doctor hands a
nurse a used needle, the gang jokes, “Here,
dump that in the ocean.” When the woman stops the man from leaving the
hotel room, she says, “No, the police may
be watching,” and Crow adds, “I told
them they could.” When the man begins acting like a bat, Crow says, “It’d be a better movie if he had gotten
bitten by a cow.” Indeed.
There are lots of Mary Tyler Moore references in this
episode, due to the female lead’s resemblance to her. There are also references
to Eyes Of Laura Mars, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Joe
Cocker, Olivia Newton-John, Ozzy Osbourne (when a bat is on screen, the gang
jokes, “Please, just hide me from Ozzy
Osbourne”) and Wings (the gang sings, “Bat
on the run”).
This disc includes a trailer for “The Frank,” which has a
funny Star Wars reference.
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