Since we’ve gotten started with favorite cast moments, let’s move on to everybody’s favorite mad scientist, Trace Beaulieu.
Here are mine, in episode order:
• 210- KING DINOSAUR–Crow asks “Am I qualified?” A classic bit, with great writing and a great performance. “Crush someone with an emotional word or an enigmatic look.”
• 307- DADDY-O–Trace is great as an increasingly frustrated Dr. F. in the famous “broken button” bit.
• 315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN–Dr. F and Frank battle it out. Great physical comedy.
• 323- THE CASTLE OF FU-MANCHU–Dr. F and Frank try to riff. Trace is great as he goes from supremely confident to dejected in a matter of moments.
• 320- THE UNEARTHLY–Hard pills to swallow. This may be my all-time Trace moment. This is about as mad as it gets.
• 403- CITY LIMITS–“Oh Kim Catrall.” Kim loved it. How can WE argue?
• 411- THE MAGIC SWORD–“Estelle.” The thing I love about when Trace sings is that, well, not to put too fine a point on it, um, he can’t (and I doubt he’d argue with that statement). But he totally commits anyway and that makes it work.
• 503- SWAMP DIAMONDS–The bots are obsessed with the ‘Spock in love’ “Star Trek” episode. A supreme geek moment, beautifully played.
• 609- THE SKY DIVERS–Swing choir competition. Another case where the bit only works if the performer totally commits. He does and it does.
• 624- SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN– “Who will I kill?” A complicated number, with elaborate lyrics, carefully planned movements and a tune that’s not really in his key. He pulls it all together for a memorable moment.
• 706- LASERBLAST–Dr. F. becomes unstuck in time. The “2001” parody, his last performance on the show, became an immediate classic.
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Weekend Discussion Thread: Favorite Trace Moments58 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Favorite Trace Moments”Commenting at Satellite News
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Where to start? I love Trace’s voice. Crow could say almost anything, and it’s funny to me.
Crow’s diatribe against first pregnant mothers and then babies in Night of the Blood Sausage, I mean Beast.–“Just bend over and smooch my ever-widening a–”
Crow has a hard day in Skydivers but learns to persevere.–“Come on, struggle with me, Tom.”
Many may poo-poo it, but I like Crow’s song about Tom Dewy in Brute Man, at least I think that it was in that episode.–“I mean, wh-wh-why would he be bound to die?”
When Crow catches on fire and then becomes an inferno in Danger! Deathray, Trace’s panicy screams are just perfect.
And Trace does a fantastic Riddler and Charles Nelson Reily.
And many, many more.
How could I forget, “I wanna decide who lives, and who dies”? Me, too, Crow. Me, too
And his ideal father: “He despenses homespun wisdom and displays solid midwestern values while crushing all who block his path.”
And “I’m Peter Graves.”
Jeez, I could go on for a while.
One of my absolute favorite Trace moments is the chinderwear moment on the poopie reel:
My favorite moment is also from Poopie:
Between takes, Trace sprays some Pam in his mouth, much to the horror of some of the crew. He looks at the camera as if say “not bad!”
As Crow, I’d add his performance as Crow as Gene Rayburn (and the rest of the “Match Game” cast) in “Give ’em Hell, BLANK” from “Hercules” (Show 502). I particularly like how he gets all self-reflective, then fortunately snaps out of it.
As Forrester, I’d add his duet with Frank for “Livin’ in Deep 13” in “The Violent Years” (Show 610). Maybe not as elaboate as the swing choir routine in the previous ep, but it’s OK. (By the way, did we ever figure out just what a “swing choir” is?)
And the list just wouldn’t be complete without his triumphant entrance (complete with gold cape) in the live show during ConventioCon I, and the Trace/Forrester tribute video during ConventioCon II. (And I’d love to see both eventually featured in a futute DVD release.)
I like Trace’s Australian accent on the Poopie Parade of Values segment of the MST Scrapbook tape.
#5:
Swing choir is sometimes called show choir. You sing a bunch of cheesy show tunes, or regular songs re-arragned in a jazz-light sorta way. There’s sometimes dancing-in-place involved.
“You do it. I’m bitter.” – I had a .wav file of this line that I set up to play everytime I got a new e-mail at work.
Dr. F’s opening monologue from the movie is great, too: “I’m a naughty boy! Naughty! Naughty! Naughty!”
TO: Evan K (Reply 7)
As I believe I noted the last time this was brought up, swing choir sounds like what we had in elementary school, except there it was called “glee club”.
I’ve thought of another great, albeit lesser-known, Trace moment: Trace field-stripping Crow at the Museum of Tv & Radio MST3K symposium. (“THIS IS MY ROBOT! THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT, BUT THIS ONE IS MINE!”)
Unfortunately, the only place I know of to see it is the Paley Center for Media, located near West 52nd and 5th in New York City.
Since I always think of Dr. F first when I hear Trace’s name, most of these are of Deep 13’s resident mad scientist.
Beginning of the End – Frank and Dr. F at home, Peter Graves attends the University of Minnesota.
The Unearthly – Hard Pills to Swallow.
The Day the Earth Froze – Unhappy Meals.
Samson vs. the Vampire Women – “Who Will I Kill?”
Skydivers – Swing choir competition (Trace’s expressions and victory dance are priceless.)
Monster A-Go-Go – Johnny Longtorso.
Godzilla vs. Megalon – The exceedingly dark Orville Redenbacher sketch.
Ah, Crow. My favorite character on MST3K. And Dr. F, always good for a laugh. Trace is great. I’m going to have to really sit and think about this one, ’cause there’s sooooo many moments I like, it’s going to take awhile. :mrgreen:
One brilliant Trace moment is from 518- The Atomic Brain, where Trace does Crow imitating Forrester, and then Trace does Forrester imitating Crow! Was always impressed by that. I hope Sampo comments on this when he does 518 next week.
Beginning of the End: Dr.F and Frank having a little “Me Time”, much to Mike and the ‘bots horror. Classic.
Monster-a-go-go: at the beginning of the movie, Tom and Joel brace themselves for the movie to be truly aweful, Crow doesnt give up so easily…then does. “I’m going to riff away like nobodys buisness!”… “Ah who am i kidding, its going to suck!”
Invasion USA: Dr F. does a psychological experiment on Crow, and Crow inevitably chooses the wire mother over Dr. F…Frank as the control group as the pin-cushion is priceless too.
Last of the wild horses: I gotta say it was the coolest thing to see Dr F and Frank riffing the first part of the movie.
Racket Girls: Dr F. Is going to translate the movie in semaphore. A classic reference to the Monty Python sketch. Did anyone else notice how Trace seems to do most of the Monty Python references during the show?
#619, Red Zone Cuba
I know a lot of folks don’t like this one because he’s bandaged and immobilized as Dr. F for most of the host segments, but it’s one of them “character development” kind of deals. We learn a bit about the background of this Mad, and his inner motivations. I think. Sed Frank: “Oh, that posture! Let’s have at it!”
Whoever was Jimmy Carter on the phone delivers a knockout performance, too!
Good ol’ Trace. Just hearing his voice makes me smile. It’s so damn versatile, it’s surprising he never went the voice acting route. One of my favorite things he ever did was his valley girl voice in Cave Dwellers. Even thinking of him saying “Dod?” makes me laugh. It makes me sad they never really brought it back (to my knowledge). It would have been perfect in Alien from L.A.
For me, Crow’s best moments are when he’s trying (and failing) to be “creative.” With that in mind, I’d pick
313 – EARTH VS. THE SPIDER: Earth vs. Soup.
as the very best. Similarly, in
515 – WILD, WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN
GRR. it posted before I was done for some reason.
Anyway, the “Cheating” sketch stands out for me for Crow, there.
Personally, I think the Pizza & Pasta ad from the KTMA days is an amusing moment, and vaguely makes me wish there had been other Mads advertising spots. I guess the closest we ever got to that again was the Live Meat restaurant from the end of season one.
Also, anytime he gleefully tortured frank was great; someday I’d like to see the Turkey Day ’92 (I think that’s the one) bumpers on DVD.
MASTER NINJA I – The Van Patton Project. Crow’s feverish unction underlines the absurdity of all such conspiracy theories.
BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS — The hubristic pomposity of Forrester’s opening campaign speech always gets me.
DEATHSTALKER — Crow’s (Escobar’s) new hair. Honestly, I didn’t even realize he was wearing a hairpiece.
Anytime Trace did his Charles Nelson Reilly or Alan Sues. His dead-on imitation of the fey father in Catalina Caper always got me. As Crow his monologue after X Marks the Spot. I gotta agree with the choice of Crow catching on fire on Danger! Death Ray! The segment in Kitten with a Whip where Crow goes down the umbilicus to Deep 13 and confronts Dr. F. Especially the part where he asks Frank to put a giant mouse trap out with a nut-rageous bar on it, and when Frank gets caught he gives this fantastic take! The segment in Brute Man where Dr. F deals with Pearl’s date.
Sampo I think you’ve taken a wrong turn here… you should have split Trace’s work as Dr. C.D.S. Forrester from Trace as Crow. Each series of performances is more than worthy enough to be parsed seperately.
My fave Dr. F moments:
610.The Violent Years… The Living in Deep 13 duet with TV’s Frank.
706.Laserblast… 2001 : A Trace Odyssey
509 Girl in Lovers Lane… That last tiny bit of invention exchange ( Evil Baseball Events ), after the Don Martin Shoes, we’ve returned to Deep 13, and Frank has suggested Poopie Night. And this is too much even for Dr F. : “Frank, I’m not saying it’s not funny but What ? You’re gonna give kids Poop ?” The perfect delivery of a perfect line. Out of character and in character at the same time. Great stuff.
Good Work Mr. B !
My top picks (Earth vs. Soup and “Cheating”) have already been mentioned, so I’d add:
320, “The Unearthly” – Dr. F’s refusal to do Dead End Kids-schtick slowly transforming into a great impression.
321, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” – The one, the only, “Let’s Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas.” Not just the song, but Trace’s delivery of lines like “I’ll smash your kneecaps if you bastards touch my car.”
419, “The Rebel Set” – Crow’s answer to what he’d do in Chicago. “It would be Tuesday, so admission is free at the Art Institute.”
514, “Wild Wild World of Batwoman” – there’s something great about Trace’s delivery of the Dr. F line, “okay, I’ll take your advice.” It always gets me.
K19: Hangar 18. Tom Servo goes into this long rant as a car salesman, and at the end Crow goes to Joel “I think you spanked the wrong robot.” They cap eachothers jokes alot in KTMA, that ones the funniest.
317: Viking Women and the Sea Serpent. Forrestor punishing Frank over the waffle.
506: Eegah! Albeit mean, the stuff Crow says about hillbilly-type people. Delivered great. (-but mean!)
507: I Accuse My Parents. Crow blurting out that Jimmy’s “…kinda stupid!”
613: The Sinister Urge. Actually seeing Dr. Forrester subdued (although he’s able to escape too easily.)
My all time fave Trace moments??
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians= “Lets Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas” Just classic.
EEGAH= Invention Exchange! “Since Frank’s blood is a previously unkown type, the money THAT”LL bring in…WHY??!! Because it’s science, THATS why!” I love it!
The Brain that Wouldn’t Die= “Good God, calm down! It’s just an umbrella with gutters!” And I loved how he called Mike so many different names, “Mark”, “Mitch”, “Marv”
There are so many more.
I love Trace’s expression during Frank’s confession in The Dead Talk Back.
Dr. F……..best mad scientist EVER!
Crow tearfully reads his essay that sticks it to the man, “The Miss Saigon Syndrome” in Castle of Fu Manchu.
For me, it’s too awkward seeing MST without Trace as Crow/Dr. F.
The last host segment of Outlaw (of Gor), when the waltzing Dr. F and Frank break out into the 20’s style dancing. Dr. F is just so gangly and goofy, and it cracks me the hell up every single time.
I thought Trace always did the best celebrity impersonations.
I liked his Trumpy voice in POD PEOPLE: “Food, eating, the theatre!”
He was great as Sir Giggles Von Laughsalot at the end of MONSTER A GO GO, especially his little scepter voice: “yeah!”
I too love seeing Crow burned beyond recognition as Dr. F comments (ironically) in THE UNEARTHLY after filming a funny home video.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Crow’s innocence as his evil dark specter Timmy terrorizes the ship in FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE
Trace did the puppeteering for Crow as well, right? Fantastic job, even after a half pan of lemon bars.
I don’t even know where to start- well so many of my favorite moments have already been listed…Trace has that something special where he can say anything and make it funny.
During this one moment in Hercules Unchained (I’m pretty sure), our star had just rambled something and Crow says: “Heh heh heh…what the hecks he talkin about?” and timing is just so perfect that it had my friends and I rolling on the floor. Something that simple he made so hilarious.
And yes, the way he made Crow so life like it impressive and I love him for it.
Danger Death Ray where Crow’s eyes suddenly catch fire has to be my all time favorite Trace moment. The fact that Trace was fast enough to realize Crow was on fire and to improvise some anguished screams just showed how skilled the puppeteers were in the later seasons.
Another bit I loved was Crow’s “Is it 11:30” scene in Beast of Yucca Flats. I was surprised when I read that the skit was based on an actual habit of Frank’s.
Trace always did the best screams. His impression of Madame in Cave Dwellers cracks me up so much.
My personal favorite is his “stepping out frank” from sinister urge. Not really sure why but the whole gonna get blown up and are tied to a chair but somehow I can still simply untie myself and leave to go to arbys always gets me. As for my favorite trace crow moments it’s hard to peg down one in paticular but in bloodlust he has the hodown and goes just nuts towards the end and it kicks my arse everytime I see it. Although crows trying to fight the mikey glasses in teenage strangler also is great.
Gamera Vs. Zigra: We see a glimpse of female panties underneath a mini-skirt. Tom: “I see London, I see France….” Then Crow says in a deep, masculine voice “I see Heaven!”. Then Joel laughs, being one of the very few times you hear Joel laugh at something the bots have said.
Only because of Trace making Crow so lovable do you actually root for him to get Earth Vs. Soup and Peter Graves at the U of M off the ground. As Dr. F, i particularly enjoy the voodoo dancing in Zombie Nightmare. It’s safe to say that I would have probably not fallen for the show so hard had it not been for Trace. Hope he keeps riffing!
By Season 7, I thought that Trace had become the show’s go-to guy; the news that he was leaving was devastating. Luckily, Bill Corbett proved wise enough to do his own thing rather than go all Curly Joe Dorita on us.
Anyway, my favorite moments not already mentioned:
Deathstalker: “Art” as the Golden Man reading to Pearl from a dirty book;
Incredible Melting Man: Dr. F running the focus group on Earth vs Soup first into the ground, and then into madness (“You have a rat cage strapped to your face . . .)
You know what I love about Dr. F? The hair.
I once told a friend that, of all the songs in the show, “Oh Kim Catrall” is quite possibly my favorite. He told me I was crazy. But how can you not like it? Trace has no tune to go with, just his own voice, and it works out to be one of the best musical moments ever.
Trace played the “spaz” card so amazingly well that any moment when Forrester starts screaming or Crow does his excited fanbot gasps, my admiration for him grows even more.
“You’re not my real FATHER!”
Crow in “Manos”: “You see this butt? Kick this butt.” “Oh, look, there’s a field…and another field…and another field…” “Something’s gaining on us – oh, wait, it’s just the top, I’m INTENSELY STUPID.”
Crow in “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”: When the “chief” Martian is going to Chochum for advise and says of Martian children, “They sleep not, they eat not..” Crow: “They ARE not.” Then, when Chochum goes on forever about the state of Martian children: “Look, you’re breaking my heart, Gramps, can you get ON with it!”
“‘Enter’, what happened to ‘come in’?”
“Tonight, I’m a space pirate! Permission to come aboard!”
And when reading his Christmas essay he inverts the words – “no ever kid gets them.”
And to the elves – “GENTLEMAN what is the PROBLEM…”
Cave Dwellers: “This is the part of the movie we like to call: ‘She had to ask’.”
His debate with Servo over the gender of Mr. B Natural.
“THIS is CNN!”
“Honey, I’m ho…oh, yeah, you’re dead.”
“Tonight’s episode – Johnathan Livingston MURDER!”
“Yeah, when you get near a sentence, let us know.”
(Singing) “I’m stupid, yes, indeed, I’m stupid..”
“My, my, my, MY GOD!”
And many more…
Crow’s anguish upon seeing Mr. B dancing and prancing about gets me every time:
“Oh my God; please say that isn’t happening!”
Trace was definitely one of my favourite things about this show. :smile:
question : How does Trace pronounce his last name? The town of Beaulieu in England is pronounced BYOO-Lee. The original French should be something like BO-Lyuh.
Can someone asked him ?
I’m having trouble narrowing it down because I just love Trace Beaulieu, and nearly everything mentioned here makes me smile to remember it. From his versatility as a voice actor to the adorable charm of his Crow, and his willingness to be wildly goofy as Forrester, there are just too many examples to mention. Or I could try…
“I must warn you, I’m only a torso.”
“You do it, I’m bitter.”
“crow@biteme.com”
hard pill to swallow of course
crow on fire
Forrester dancing
“I wanna decide who lives and who dies!”
“You have stolen painted eggs in a time of famine. Off with their head Frank.”
“Loveable harlequinn! I am harlequinn.”
“It’s Coco the Terrible!” (was that Crow? sounds like Crow in my head…)
Yesterday I was trying to remember what episode this comes from:
“It would take a scientist to explain, and I’m just too mad.”
…and I can’t.
Going to split this one up too.
Crow moments (Host segments):
Wild Wild World of Batwoman – Using soup to try and sneak into the meeting.
Beginning of the End – Peter Graves goes to the U of M, of course.
Danger! Death Ray – I’ll hop onto the bandwagon of his agonizing screams when his eyes catch fire.
Crow moments (Film segments):
Magic Voyage of Sinbad – Crow comes flying into the theater after returning from his “lifelong” journey.
Wild Wild World of Batwoman – “That’s five, he’s got a volleyball team.”
Deathstalker – “Horses are what we ride!” gets me every time.
Dr. F. moments:
The Unearthly – Hard pills to swallow.
Attack of the Giant Leeches – What he’d wear to take over the world.
Eegah – The idea and decision to drain Frank’s blood coming within seconds.
As both Crow/Dr. F.:
His Charles Nelson Riley laugh.
RE: Post 44 from I’m not a medium, I’m a petite
At a cast appearance, I’m not sure which one, Trace was asked this. He said the proper pronounciation is “baloo”.
And, during the Q&A at the MST3K symposium at the Museum of TV & Radio, an audience member asked, “What the hell kind of name is ‘Trace’?” Trace’s reply: “Thanks for the question, Dad.”
Why does Dr. F rule? “Well, it would take a scientist to explain.”
Coming late to the party on this discussion, and many of my favorites have been mentioned, but I’ll add a couple noteworthy moments:
*War of the Colossal Beast – Crow’s “I’m here for the Old Gringo audition” is priceless; he does indeed do a killer Peck!
*Secret Agent Super Dragon – Dr. F’s supervillain symposium. Trace is especially great here, so businesslike and ignoring Frank’s insolence (but of course makes up for it at last).
*Operation Double 007 – Crow’s Bobbin’ Buzzard, and his song about same. Love that Joel actually laughs.
More than half the humor of MST came from the delivery of the lines, and Trace excelled at that.
Re #47, nethgan : thx again, over on this side too… :D