Short: (1951) Four college girls major in home economics.
Movie: (1957) Viking women set sail to rescue their men who have been enslaved by barbarians.
First shown: 10/26/91
Opening: Joel says: Consider the lowly waffle
Invention exchange: Joel continues to consider waffles; The Mads demonstrate their meat re-animator, Joel shows off an iron that turns waffles into pancakes
Host segment 1: Joel has reprogrammed the bots to love waffles and asks them to suggest new uses for waffles
Host segment 2: “Waffles!”
Host segment 3: Willy the Waffle gives a spirited defense of waffles
End: The Waffle song, Dr. F is “re-animating” Frank
Stinger: “But you don’t understand! I’m a PRINCE!”
(98 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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• Let me just say: waffles. Things get into the heads of the Brains during the course of doing an episode, and sometimes it just leaks out. I think this is one of those times. All in all, this one is lots of fun. The movie is, if such a thing is possible, even lamer and sillier than “Teenage Caveman” and the riffing is solid. As for the host segments, well: waffles.
• This episode will be included in Shout!Factory’s “The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. XXXIV.”
• The clip from “The Crawling Eye” that has been part of the intro since the first season has been replaced with Godzilla’s tail slide attack from episode 212- GODZILLA VS. MEGALON.
• Dr. F calls Joel “Aunt Jemima” twice in one segment.
• Trace’s expressions during the invention exchange are priceless.
• Tom and Crow both make LOTR references at the beginning, though Crow says “I’m ashamed I know that.”
• Callback: Tom rediscovers the Creepy Girl (Catalina Caper). It’s a calamity! (Gamera vs Guiron) “The law is the word…” (Teenage Caveman)
• In segment two, after Joel delivers his line, he throws the plate up in the air, and then has to duck out of the way of it.
• Tom and Crow are already in theater when Joel arrives after segment 2.
• How many now-middle-aged people had the problem of not being allowed to stay up and watch “Love, American Style”? I know *I* did.
• As has been chronicled, the Willy the waffle bit is based on the “Case of Spring Fever” short, which they watched during this season but never riffed until season 10.
• Joel’s line “We got a party to go to” at the end of segment 3 is a “Laugh-In” reference.
• Crow still has his Willy the Waffle outfit on when entering the theater after segment 3.
• Then-current reference: Rosie Ruiz.
• This commercial is referenced again. I thought I would let younger viewers know where it comes from.
• The show ends with a great song, but how come there’s no “lyrics and music” credit for it in the credits. Guess it was a group effort?
• Backstage stuff: In far shots, the sea serpent was actually special effects guy Irving Block’s finger, covered with clay, with a fin stuck on it. Really. And, of course, this is yet another Corman movie largely shot in Bronson Canyon.
• Oh, and just for the record, Jonathan Haze does NOT play the prince, as some, including whoever wrote the episode summary in the ACEG, think.
• Cast and crew roundup: cinematographer Monroe P. Askins also did “The Human Duplicators. Special effects guy Jack Rabin also worked on “Robot Monster,” “Rocketship X-M and “Invasion USA.” Special effects guy Irving A. Block also worked on “Rocketship XM” Special effects guy Louis DeWitt also worked on “The Phantom Planet.” Makeup guy Harry Ross also worked on “The Mad Monster” and “Lost Continent.” Assistant director Robert Kinoshita also worked on “The Phantom Planet.” In front of the camera, Sally Todd was also in “The Unearthly.”
• CreditsWatch: Andrea DuCane came in to do makeup for the only time this season. Trace and Frank are still “villains” and Dr. F’s last name is still spelled “Forrestor.”
• Fave riff from the short: “Kegs will be tapped. Men will be used.” Honorable mention: “…while Kay struggles with basic motor skills.”
• Fave riff: “…and no time to figure out how we saw all that!” Honorable mention: “Not a chest hair among ‘em” and “I’m Todd the Baptist!”
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Ok, well let me start by saying that this ep is evil! I’m on a low cab diet and love waffles. I was drooling right along with the robots in segment 1.
I have to say this episode has my favorite short. The lines “‘Kay too…’ K2, the mountain?” “Ray the whimsical lampshade” and “look, look, look at my crotch!” all magnificent
Pancakes. Oh, I blew it.
The Short: one of the best; “They’re strangely drawn to this mystic fountain…”
I suspect that the whole Waffle theme for this experiment was based on the Viking brand waffle iron, hence Vikings = waffles. When I was a kid someone gave me a Viking waffle iron for a birthday (I think my Norwegian grandmother) and I appreciated waffles for while. Plus it had a cool logo.
Also, I don’t know if it was insulting to these Minnesota scandinavians that a bunch of soft-spoken hairless crop-topped california surfer types were playing the viking men in this ep …
Waffles instead of stuffing or potatoes? I can’t say that thought ever occurred to me. But it might be okay. I’ll have to try it.
Once again Frank very convincingly sells his questions about waffles. I love those facial nuances of his performance.
This was my first viewing of this episode. I’ve read a lot about the waffle theme. I was under the impression that all the host segments where inspired by A Case of Spring Fever. So I was confused as I really didn’t see the connection, until the third host segment. It all makes sense now. But the question remains: Why did they sit on the Spring Fever short for seven years before riffing it?
As for the meat reanimator, I see real possibilities here. You could kill and freeze the meant, then reanimate it, butcher it and grill it up fresh. That way it is never frozen between the butchering and cooking.
“Iowa State College, the high school after high school”: This instantly reminded me of the fictional Grant College from the TV classic Family Ties. There is a Grant College near everyone.
Apparently one of Roger Corman’s secrets to making 10 million movies was brevity. Teenage Cavemen needed two shorts to pad out its episode with Viking Women took one short that clocks in at over 20 minutes.
We have an Over the Top riff. That has to be Mike’s influence.
Favorite Riffs:
Short Narrator “This one [assembly] was for girls only.” Tom “The Chippendales were in town.”
Female Speaker “Today I would like to tell you about several girls I know.” Crow “And why I’m being fired.”
Narrator “At first it [dorm room] looks bare and not very friendly.” Tom “Who? Her roommate”
Joel “This is getting weird. There is a silhouette of theater seats in front of that movie.” (I love a good meta riff.)
Joel “Look there’s a sale at Penney’s.”
Woman is tossed in the funeral fire. Joel “Well son you have a hot chick waiting for you in the afterlife.”
Tom “You know this home economics film really took a weird turn somewhere along the line.”
We should do a weekend discussion on alternate host segments for this episode. Waffles? Really? Think about all the great stuff they could have done with Home Economics! Such a great short, wasted on waffles.
It just bugs me, that’s all. Cool episode though!
Oh, I forgot to mention that this episode has one of my FAVORITE stingers. :laugh:
“I’m a PRINCE!” Really? You don’t say!
In the short, when Kay meets her roommate, what is Crow’s “HI! How ya *doin’*? We’re gonna have a *swell* time! We’re gonna be *pals*!” (or words to that effect) supposed to be a RIFFerence to? He sounds a little like Curly Howard, but no obvious connection suggests itself. Anyone? Think about it, won’t you? Thank you.
IMHO “We’re gonna be *pals*!” would’ve made a good recurring riff for suitably mooded first meetings in future episodes — e.g. when it would seem to be totally inappropriate to the meeting scene’s mood (c’mon, hear it in your heads) — but I’m not sure it was ever used again. Shrug.
“Iowa State College, the high school after high school.”
This was extra funny to me, since I went to high school the next town over from Ames and half of my high school class went there.
Fave riff from the short? “What are you going to do?” “I’m going to take Bob for all he’s got!”
My fave riff in the movie still is when Sonny Bono makes his entrance. Joel: “Hello, Girls!” I don’t really know if that’s a direct reference to someone or not, but I love the commitment Joel gives the line.
I don’t comment often, but I had to this time. You see, I’ve been waiting for this one to come up, it was the very first MST3K episode I ever saw. Allow my share my story, if I may.
It was in September of 1995, I was ten years old, and I grew up in a small town in Northeast Tennessee–that didn’t get Comedy Central till 2001. But our local Fox station began running “The Mystery Science Theater Hour” on Saturday nights at 7. I was channel surfing one night, and came across what looked like an old movie on channel 9–I was just starting to really get into classic films. I discovered the Marx Brothers when I was seven, and I was a huge Abbot and Costello fan at this age. I stopped because I was surprised to see an older movie on channel 9, they usually ran a lot of TV reruns, and or bad 80s films that were cheap to get. So I put the remote down and decided to see what film this was–it was the middle of the short.
I watched then I noticed someone said something when no one on screen was talking, then my young mind began to wonder, “Why is there a candy machine, a man, and a bird at the bottom of the screen?” I kept staring trying to figure out what I was seeing, then it came. The girls walking down the campus with the gang singing the first line of The Monkees theme song–earlier that year I began to really get into The Monkees. So that was the first click in my head that made me stay with it. Then they toss out the Lou Costello reference, and it really clicked with me then. My sense of humor was always a bit different then the other kids, so when they left the theater and I was shown robot puppets geeking out over waffles, it made a big impact on me. That week at school I told all my friends about “this amazing show I saw this weekend”, they thought I was crazy. It wasn’t till next week did I see the show all the way through, and I was amazed that no one I knew had heard of this show. You know how you find things that no one else knows about (it seems), so you kinda feel like it’s yours? That’s how I felt about MST, like it was my own little Saturday night club house. We didn’t have the internet so I had no way of looking anything up about the show.
Needless to say I was hooked on the show, I watched it every week, and taped the first part of “Herc vs The Moon Men”, which was the last episode my Fox station aired–it wasn’t till Rhino released the DVD did I ever finally see the 2nd half. It also wasn’t till I got the Rhino VHS of “Mitchell” did I see that the show really was two hours, and not hosted by that “weird old guy.” We did get Sci-Fi, so you can imagine my delight stumbling across their “home game” showing, and noticing a very familiar row of seats at the bottom of the screen. With that, I was finally able to get some of my friends to see the show, and they started to laugh just as hard as I was.
So that ladies and gents is how I found our favorite show. As I grew older and discovered more movies and pop culture, I found I got more and more of the jokes. But even at ten, I knew “I’m not sure what this show is, but I really, really, like it.”
#8/touches no one’s life, then leaves
Okay, that was weird. While I was reading your post I heard this in the background:
“You settle down now… ’cause we’re gonna be pals… RIGHT?! Nice and cozy. Just like old friends.”
It was the scene where the cop taunts the (captured) creature in Young Frankenstein. I don’t know if that’s the RIFFerence (I haven’t seen Viking Women in years), but it was a very surreal coincidence. :)
(I mean, the line was spoken on screen literally the second I was reading it in the post. I was like, “What the hell just happened?”)
To me, perhaps the most memorable short, with frenetic riff pacing, multiple illegal drug references and Kevin/Tom seemingly at the pinnacle of some manic episode keening “How do ya solve a problem like a college girl?…”
Easily one of the best shorts in all of MST3K. The riffing gets surprisingly dark at times, e.g. with Joel’s “Tragedy struck: a lone gunman!” and someone else makes sounds of rifle fire. Or, “Everybody will die! I will dump pig’s blood on Carrie!” I also love how the heroine’s parents are said to be Robert McNamara and Ayn Rand.
As for the subject matter, I’ve long thought that “Home Economics Story”, desperately outdated as it is, actually manages to be slightly more progressive than some. A couple other of the MST3K shorts, e.g. “Is This Love?”, clearly assume that the only reason any woman goes to college and gets a job afterward is as a stopgap before marriage. Get married, you’re supposed to quit. “Home Economics Story”‘s not untainted with that (e.g. in speaking of “the all-important job of being Mrs. Johnson”) but at least it does also suggest that getting some kind of education and a job in industry is a valid and long-term option for women, not just something to pass the time until finding a husband.
By the way, it is still possible to major in home economics.
I’ve never gotten into the movie, just like I’ve never gotten into any of the Corman-based MST3K features. I do concede that it gave us one of MST3K’s most enduring riffs, “A Grimauld warrior is supposed to be brave!”
Look, Look, Look at my crotch!
Look, Look, Look at my crotch!
LooooooooooK, Look at My Crotch!!!
And they said some funny stuph during the short too.
I love how Tom Servo quietly mutters “Pancakes!” the very last time they all yell “Waffles” on the SOL. Possibly the best episode of all time.
This is also the episode in which the CRAWLING EYE clip in the intro is replaced with Godzilla’s tail slide attack. Interestingly, the shadowrama during that is from the short.
I haven’t seen this episode in a while (outside of watching the short, anyway).. too bad the rights to all these AIP films are all tied up. A Corman MST3K set would be excellent.
The movie has imprinted me with the memory of one of the male actors. When the Viking ladies finally reach the mine where their men have been laboring for the past few years, the “head prisoner” is played by a blond Nordic type is who is so emotionless that it seems the Grimalds had him drained of blood, testosterone and serotonin and injected with Botox just before undergoing electro-convulsive therapy. He makes Peter Graves seem like Brian Blessed. (He’s a bit on the dull side, is what I’m saying).
Another episode with a great short and fun host segments, but a Corman flick I just can’t seem to get into. Still plenty of good riffs in the main feature though, and the stinger moment really is a classic.
As has been mentioned, we know that Host Segment 3 was inspired by the short A Case of Spring Fever, which was featured on the show years later. Do you suppose that there were other host segments inspired by shorts or movies that they watched but ultimately never featured on the show?
Not my favorite episode, but one of my favorite shorts. IIRC, there was a person on ratmm who had an aunt who studied Home Economics at the same school (the high school after high school).
“Pancakes” is easily my favourite bit on the Poopie tape – the off camera reactions are great.
@ #17: I also noticed that one Viking. Like an adolescent Peter Graves still groggy from recent dental surgery, patiently awaiting the first wispy blond chest hairs that would never appear.
So, the movie clocks in at 66 minutes, according the IMDb. Gosh. I know Corman was working on a tight budget, but maybe if the movie opened with the viking women’s beloved men sailing off into the unknown, the stoic ladies bravely holding back tears over their men who might never return? Possibly a thrilling foreshadowing of the tempest that would ultimately drive the plot? No, no, no. This is a Roger Corman movie. Start with a tedious exposition dump as a bunch of interchangeable noncharacters toss a spear at a tree. And, being a Corman movie, naturally it’s the same spear over and over. There’s this oft-cited rule in filmmaking, Roger – Show, Don’t Tell. Y’see, film is a visual medium and – – Y’know what? Screw it. I have no idea how Roger Corman has a decades-long filmmaking career and I never will.
When discussing the “worst” movies featured on MST3k, the same handful of notable oddballs get tossed around – your Creeping Terrors, your Monsters A-Go-Go, your Manoseses, but let us remember: those films are all memorably bad. Awful, putrid, brain-searingly stupid, pointless drivel, sure. But they stick with us, and we love them for it. I modestly propose that The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent is a far more insidious, dare I say EVIL mockery of the motion picture arts. A man was given a few thousand dollars and a mandate to fill sixty to seventy minutes of film, and By God, Corman did just that and not a drop more. Hell, the man had three more of these turd to crank out that week if he wanted his paycheck from Arkoff – there was no time for, y’know, effort. He had no intention of making a decent movie – that wasn’t his job. This crass, contemptible mockery of cinema is as deserving of being called a movie as two saltines held together by ketchup constitute a sandwich. Not because it’s dull, not because it’s stupid, but because it’s an artless, soulless example of poor, lazy filmmaking for the worst of reasons. It’s not not the product of a determined but deranged mad auteur. Not a feverish fiasco of incomptence and ego. It’s not even schlock – I can accept schlock. Hell, I can enjoy schlock. But The Viking Women was no more than an emotionless exercise in turning two dimes into ten dimes, without the slightest passing interest in crafting something that might amuse, entertain, thrill, or even stave off sleep, and for this reason I arguethat it’s the worst movie ever featured on Mystery Science Theater. Prove me wrong, friends.
I think I need a shower, a nap, and a good, long cry. Maybe a cocktail or three.
Easily in my top ten, a perfect example of why I love the 50’s B-Movie episodes the best. A outdated pandering 50’s values short, combinded with a insanely low budgeted Corman film?! Perfection. The waffle segments are probably some of my favorite host segments, with Willy The Waffle (DID YOU KNOW COMMUNISM IN RUSSIA WOULD HAVE NEVER FALLEN IF NOT FOR WAFFLES?! Hey, Boris Yelton is in the Red Square giving everyone waffles. We’ll never crush them now!) flooring me everytime. The Waffle Song is also hilarious, with a tendency to get stuck in my head after watching this episode.
The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent was shot in 10 days by Roger Corman at the end of 1957 in Bronson Canyon (as usual) , the Iverson Ranch (a popular Western setting on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley near Chatsworth), and Leo Carrillo State Beach in California. According to Corman, “My problem started on day one of our water location work. We lost our leading lady. She had been under contract to a studio and taken this job, her first independent work, with some reluctance. Abby Dalton was cast as the second lead.” According to Jack Bohrer (the assistant director), “We were all supposed to meet on a corner at six a.m. and bus to Paradise Cove. The equipment was on its way. There were four girls in skimpy rawhide Viking outfits, one agent, and me. The agent wouldn’t let the lead girl sign. He thought he had a real star there. The girl and her agent probably assumed they could pressure Roger into more money. Big mistake. So I called Roger at the location. He was always there an hour ahead of everyone. I told him the situation and asked what we should do. ‘Make Abby the lead,’ he said without hesitating. ‘Move all the other girls up one spot in the cast. Have the girls learn their lines on the bus ride to the beach. Tell the agent to get lost.’ ‘What about the last part—the lead’s sister?’ ‘Get Abby’s sister. She’s one of the extras anyway’.”
So that is how Abby Dalton (born Marlene Wasden in 1935 in Las Vegas, NV) got the lead. As for her “co-star” Brad (Bradford) Jackson, he was born Herman Budlow in Ann Arbor, MI in 1928. He plays Vedric, and why all the fuss over this bozo is a real mystery. On the DVD commentary of “It Came from Outer Space” Tom Weaver stated, “…the young actor who just called John Putnam odd, is an odd actor named Brad Jackson who was then a brand new Universal contractee. ‘It Came from Outer Space’ was his first picture there. Later on he was the star of Roger Corman’s ‘Viking Women and the Sea Serpent’. Michael Forest who was in Viking Women with Jackson tells me that on that picture Jackson was very aloof and withdrawn and that when he did say something everybody kind of rolled their eyes because it was usually something very strange. Another actor from the 50s, Ken Miller, told me Jackson was into the occult and reincarnation and that he was so spooky about it that in Miller’s opinion that’s why eventually people stopped hiring him.”
The cast includes a few Corman regulars including: Susan Cabot (born Harriet Shapiro in 1927 in Boston, MA) is probably best remembered for her role as a cosmetics executive seeking the fountain of youth and getting stung in “The Wasp Woman”. Richard Devon, Betsy Jones-Moreland, and Jonathan Haze (who played Ottar, the blond curly haired stowaway NOT the whiny prince) have many Corman films on their resumes. As for the whiny prince, he was played by Jay Sayer (born in 1932 in Manhattan, NY) he appeared in four other Corman films between 1957 and 1958 (Teenage Doll, Sorority Girl, War of the Satellites, and Machine Gun Kelly). I think the confusion arises because the two actors are of similar height and coloring (Haze was not a blond), and Haze frequently played a nerdy character.
This episode included a short called “The Home Economics Story.” A few of my favorite riffs:
“…She was sitting in the study hall”…with a loaded gun.
Shut up grandma, you’re lucky to have a job.
“Kay’s home would be like this” [a room with black walls and yellow curtains]…a dungeon.
Here’s the dorm mother affectionately known as horse face.
Kegs will be tapped, men will be used.
Hey look, it’s Lou Costello in drag.
Here she designs pants for Chuckles the Clown.
Oh, no. You put the laundry in the composting toilet.
Favorite riffs from the movie:
[Goldman and Block] Oh, and here’s a couple of guys from hearty Norwegian stock.
Corman the Barbarian.
So, the Vikings gave us the underwire bra.
“Ah, Senya my son.” Freddie Mercury.
Come on, squeal like Ned Beatty.
Oh, come on, Delta Burke could fit through that window.
“You’re a strange woman dark one.” Oh, you’re wearing a shag rug and you think she’s strange.
[Crow/Trace in his best James “North by Northwest” Mason voice] She really got under your skin didn’t she Mr. Kaplan.
I’m going to have to give this one three out of five stars. The Home Economics short was great, but the Corman flicks are a little hard to get through, despite their short running time.
Thanks, CT Himes, for the reminder about the intro. Now added.
Touches No One Life: It may be a reference to something I’m not getting, but I always thought the joke was more along the lines of “oh great, I am going to have to listen to THIS VOICE for the next four years.”
“…and so Strider and Gildor accompanied Frodo to Rivendell.” Funny how that sounds a lot less geeky 20 years later. Well, okay, a little less.
You can call him Ottar all you want, but his name is Todd, dammit. Todd, the Littlest Viking. The movie never explained why he didn’t sail off with the other men, did it? Strange, the rest of the plot was so well thought out…
#25–I think they stated in the dialog that the men sailed off some time before (a few months or years, its was unclear) and that Ottar/Todd was too young (the character, not the actor).
Was I imagining things or did Dr F call Joel “Aunt Jemimah” twice within just a couple of minutes?
I found the short grueling. Every time the music would start, I’d think “Great, they’re about to wrap it up!” then the music would stop and the “short” would just keep going. But I enjoyed the main feature. Is it dry? Yep! The actors wooden? Yep! Extremely low-budget? Sure! Still, the film wasn’t unwatchable. Four star ep for me. Nooo waffles!
#20 Sharktopus – I actually like the Corman films, but I love your expose.
Like No. 10, LeWriter Boy, I also had only the first half of the MST Hour’s Viking Women until Rhino came out with the episode. Same also with Hercules and the Moon Men. Spent years wondering how the movies turned out.
Favorite riff: Easily “You know this home economics film really took a weird turn somewhere along the line.” Use it, or a variation of it, during many movies we watch.
I think it would have been better if the Mads would have kept the “Pancakes” mistake as the host segment. Crazier then “Waffles.”
Trenchant commentary indeed, there is much to be said for your observations, Sharktopus… and very enjoyable backstory, Tom Carberry.
#13 – I agree with you about the Home Economics short. It does actually show the uses of it in the job market and not just the homemaker side. Still outdated, but at least they were trying.
Sampo,
June Kenney, who was probably the shortest Viking Woman was also in Bloodlust! with Mr. Brady and was Merrit Stone’s daughter in Earth vs The Spider. And she was in an episode of Fireside Theater too. What a cutie.
The Home Economics story holds a special place for me as my maternal grandmother majored in home economics in college. I do not know what she learned in college but it gave her the know-how to rule three generations of my family. It did not, however, get her a husband. She earned my grandfather through her willingness to talk to the odd young man wandering aimlessly about the quad with a five-iron. So, for the single fellas out there, empirical evidence shows this will get you a date.
Most of what there is to say about Viking Women has been covered so far, but – again, speaking personally – it is the source for one of my verbal ticks. Whenever I fail spectacularly at a rather mundane task I will remark to myself, with proper piteous intonation, that I am a Grimauld warrior.
Failed to open pickle jar? Grimauld warrior.
Pushed on door when I should have pulled? Grimauld warrior.
Dropped ice cream cone? Grimauld warrior.
It is the gift that keeps on giving.
If this ever makes it to dvd release I want the pancake blooper as an extra. It’s short, but man it sure is funny. (:rotfl:)
Has Joel ever adressed whether that was a genuine goof or if he was just fooling around? Has anyone ever asked?
Y’know, I’m still not sure what the words are to Gypsy’s verse of the Waffle Song. Yeah, they’re on the screen, what was Jim actually saying?
And E is for Eggs!
So that song is from an old Puffa Puffa Rice cereal commercial. I’ve been wondering where that was from for the longest time. Now all these years later I finally get it.
Sampo, thanks for that “Puffa Puffa Rice” commercial. That was my era as a kid but I don’t remember the ad. My mother didn’t buy that cereal for me so maybe that explains it.
For those of you who just can’t get enough of The Home Economics Story, there is a longer version (unmistied, of course) in two parts which can be found at http://www.archive.org.
And for years I’ve been puzzling over the reference “Is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?”. I finally got off my duff and looked it up. I have never been a Frank Zappa fan (don’t hit me!), but I’m getting the CD from my library so I can hear the song it comes from, Camarillo Brillo, which all of you already knew. The interwebs are a marvelous invention!
Okay, while a stretch why not have a feminist college course
use this episode and short as a 50s proto-female empowerment
theme? Hmm? After all, the women are getting an education in
preperation for legitimate independent careers and Roger’s Vikes
do take aggressive (if not aleays wildly successful) independent actions
rather then passively waiting for their mates.
Oh, and while the Navy SEALS originated only during WWII and with
John F. Kennedy’s administration who from the movie/short would have
made possible female SEALS? Or what about culling all of MST3000 land?
I’d start with Spider Island Babs and the Vulcan roommate in the short
about her roommate not wanting to wait to get married (the one where
they (her BOYFRIEND not the vulcan lady!) elope.
I feel that I should state, in the spirit of full disclosure, that my enmity for Roger Corman may be have been exacerbated by a certain unauthorized biopic that premiered on the accursed SyFy channel. Litigation is still pending.
So who else had waffles today? :eat:
i don’t really recall alot of the actual movie. the short is bizarre and pretty good. the two moments that stop me are “what?! we have to be subjucated to men?” and of course, the “5 pound potty” remark to which Joe exclaims “5 pound potty? My, she must have had a big breakfast!” these kill me each time i stop by on ‘youtube.’
JUNE KENNEY! YAY! Having said that I’d rather watch the short over the movie. Somehow Corman and company have made a movie about hot, butt kicking Viking women a chore to watch. The Prince guy delivers big time though, great over the top performance. Kay from the short is a cutie.
“I took several heavy blows to the cheek with a lead pipe…”
@touches no one’s life, then leaves says:
Now that you say it, you’re right. Put that one on the big list of Coulda Been A Catchphrase lines. (Possible weekend discussion topic?)
Another episode where the host segments and short overpowered the main feature, which wasn’t easy, because it’s a Corman flick, which always seems to bring out the best in the Brains. The “Waffles” segments and the short “The Home Economics Story” were flat out hilarious, while the movie was memorable (for me, at least) for the catchline “I’m a Grimauld warrior!” Overall, a very funny episode. 4 out of 5 stars.
It’s been 20 years since this episode aired, but strangely, I have never been waited on in a restaurant or waffle house by someone named Chad.
I thought the short was dull, so was the movie, but the monster is cool although he was swimming in soapy suddy water :)
I guess Waffles was on the mind at that time..Joel got his hair cut again…
Joels Hair
Joels Knees
Hey Leggo my Eggo
Pancakes (POOPIE !!)
Waffles rule the universe
Therapy therapy therapy round and round we go
Waffles?
The longest titled movie ever MSTed until “The Incredibly Stupid Creatures Who Stopped Thinking and Made a Really Bad Movie,” or something like that…
It’s a little disturbing to think that when they finally meet the sea serpent, it’s actually just the special effects guy’s finger. So, in a Roger Corman movie, the climax is a bunch of women meeting the finger.
(I don’t know why I said that…) :-)
This short is also one of my faves, the whole 50’s vibe. Makes me thank the heavens that I didn’t live in that decade.
Oh and by the way, look, look, look at my crotch!
MAN that is a long title! I’m just going to keep referring to it as VIKING WOMAN AND THE SEA SERPENT.
This is a great one, not quite a 5 star, but really great. The short is a 5 star affair, lots of great riffs, and the Corman movie is short enough to not overstay its welcome, but it does sort of have that Corman-drag that his movies seem to have more often than not.
The Host Segments are enjoyably wacky, although if you had no tolerance for waffles I’d imagine you’d feel otherwise. In HS#3, Crow as Willie the Waffle says, “Who the hell are you to decide who lives and who dies?,” which is funny because 1) it is a hilarious line and 2) Crow says he wants that exact power in ‘SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS.’
Overall, this is a 4/5 ep.
RIFFS AND THINGS:
SHORT–
Joel: “Iowa State College: The High School after High School.” —–I too went to one of those for a couple years; it was called a “community college,” and I referred to it as “high school plus.”
Crow: “Pssst. Cheryl. Got any shovies?”
Crow: “She was eating cubes of mescaline Jello.”
in response to Kay’s seating preference,
Crow: “In case she barfs; she’s got a tender tummy.”
Joel: “Here’s the dorm mother, affectionately known as ‘Horseface.'”
Joel: “Now she’ll race down to the Jean-Luc Godard film festival at the campus theater.”
Servo: “Smells like high grade weed in here.”
Crow: “Hi, uh, you got a bong?”
Servo: “Kegs will be tapped. Men will be used.”
Crow: “Is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?” —-ZAPPA!!
All of them: “LOOK LOOK LOOK AT MY CROTCH! LOOOOOOOK AT MY CROTCH!!”
Joel, in screechy child voice: “What? We have to be subjugate to men!?!?!”
Joel: “Five pound potty? She had a big breakfast, my goodness.” ——Damn, what a nasty joke!
.VIKING MOVIE——-
Crow: “All my Vikings.”
in response to the ladies leaving for the voyage,
Crow: “If this was reality they’d still be waiting on each other to get ready.” —–oh, so true!
churning water of the sea serpent,
Joel: “Oh, no it’s the rinse cycle!”
Joel: “I’ll never drink vodka from a watermelon again.”
Joel: “Freddie Mercury!?” —-that guy TOTALLY looked like him!
Joel: “Hey, it’s the dogs from Teenage Caveman.” —and the tree, the cave, the valley. . .
Joel: “AH, Gamera!”
Crow: “Wow the classic Mannix disarm, with a solo karate chop!”
and to end all this nonsense,
he have Dr Clayton Forrester during the end sequence,
DR F: “Waffles are nothing but a vehicle for butter and syrup.”
.
mmmmmmmmmmmmm…..vehicle. . . ..
4/5.
5 stars, after seeing this episode back when it first aired, I was truly hooked on the show and taped the rebroadcast the next day to start my mammoth VHS collection of seasons 1-7. I especially loved the short being from Iowa State College which I think gets referred to as ISU somewhere, the high school after high school. I was attending Idaho State University at the time this episode came out and it too was a high school after high school. And Corman movies are always great for the show, this was one of the best. Even the defense of waffles and the song are great, I still know the waffle song by heart. And I could watch Viking women all day…
The Home Economics short is one of my “comfort food” shorts that I can watch over and over again. I do agree with the other person who said that the short seems to have several false endings, I guess because of the way the music is used. That gives the short the feeling of going on forever, but it’s hilarious.
The movie really does seem to go on forever, and there’s little redemption. The riffing is funny, but the movie is such a non-entity that it’s a horrible slog to get through.