Short: (1952) A family appreciates the modern household appliances electricity makes possible.
Movie: (1956) A neglected socialite leads an all-girl gang on a violent crime spree.
First shown: 10/8/94
Opening: Tom Servo has a new head!
Intro: The Mads unveil their theme music, “Living in Deep 13,” and demand themes from M&tB. Tom is ready
Host segment 1: Now, the Mads are promoting a radio station called Frank
Host segment 2: Tom reenacts a tearful scene from “A Star is Born”
Host segment 3: A rehearsal for Crow’s one man show about Keanu Reeves starring Mike!
End: Mike and Crow reenact the gas station hold-up scene from the movie, they read a letter, the Mads are still turning their cranks to Frank!
Stinger: “So what?”
(212 votes, average: 4.49 out of 5)
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• I said in a previous thread that I consider this my “desert island” episode. I know, it may seem like a weird choice, but for me this episode has it all: (mostly) great host segments, classic short and great riffing of a movie (reportedly) written by Ed Wood. It all works.
• This episode is included in Shout! Factory’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXII.”
• References .
• Crow’s reaction to Servo’s new head is just one riotous moment of the brilliant opening bit. This is one of my all-time favorite openings.
• That brilliance is followed by the theme song intro. Frank and Trace are wonderful in Deep 13, Kevin is hilarious and then Trace caps it all off with two more great theme songs. Another classic.
• Tom’s theme song, for those not musically inclined, is set to the famous music of “Carmina Burana.”
• The short continues the fun. The first time I saw this, it took me a little while for me to figure out what the hell its point was. Eventually it’s becomes clear, but it takes its sweet time!
• The short was edited. It was even longer! You can see the full thing at archive.org.
• The term “squishy” immediately entered the MSTie lexicon.
• At one point in the short, Tom predicts the girl will say “oh dear” and then she does, to which he boastfully declares, “Did I call that?” They don’t do that too often and I’m glad, because it feels a little like cheating.
• Coming into the first segment, Tom is teaching mike to singing the “hum-didda-hee-hee” song, made famous in episode 421- Monster A-Go-Go.
• Amazingly there are still several radio stations called Frank. The bit is a local Minneapolis reference to a then-newly introduced country station called “Bob” that had the catchphrase “turn your knob to Bob.” That station was one of the first to have a person’s name. The gimmick has spread throughout the industry since then.
• Non-spaghetti-ball bumpers: datebook, beaker, bulletin board.
• Despite all the talk that Ed Wood wrote this screenplay, his name does not appear in the credits. Apparently the fact that he wrote it is mentioned in his various biographies. One commenter speculated that it may have been a union issue (no director is credited either).
• The “rape” scene was also an immediate sensation on MSTie internet forums. As noted in the ACEG, don’t get your hopes up, guys. This has never, ever happened.
• Segment 2 is really the only clunker in the episode. I remember when it first aired, people were baffled by it. What a parody of a scene from the Barbra Streisand version of “A Star is Born” has to do with this movie is beyond me. Kevin really gives it his all, though, you gotta admit that.
• Callbacks: “He’ll never touch you, Terry. You’re dirt.” (Teenage Crimewave) ”We shot that fat barkeep!” (The Beatniks)
• Stupidest line of dialog (which, even if he didn’t write it, sure sounds like Ed Wood’s writing): “What in the world is a pajama party?”
• Back to brilliance with the end segment. It just gets funnier the longer it goes on.
• Yes, the list of people Frank rattles off at the end is in Ward E.
• Cast and Crew Roundup: Producer Roy Reid also worked on “The Sinister Urge. Cinematographer William C. Thompson also worked on “Bride of the Monster,” “The Sinister Urge,” “Project Moon Base” and “Racket Girls.” Score composer Manuel Francisco a.k.a. Mischa Terr also worked on “The Sinister Urge,” “King Dinosaur,” “The Unearthly” and “Bloodlust!” In front of the camera I. Stanford Jolley was also in “The Rebel Set.” Timothy Farrell was also in “Racket Girls.” Harry Keatan was also in “The Sinister Urge.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu. This is the final episode with one Charles A. Zimmerman listed as an editor. He started about three quarters through season five. Crist Ballas is back doing hair and makeup. On “Forrester’s Theme Song” (which the rest of the world calls “Livin’ in Deep 13): Music by Michael J. Nelson; Lyrics by “Best Brains.” So I guess that makes them a collaborative effort.
• Fave riff from the short: “Double bag it, son!” Honorable mention: “I’m squishy and I need to move on it!”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Thousands of men flock to crime scene!” Honorable mention: “Rabbits…with…big…guns…and…good…aim…”
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The “Star Is Born” segement was funny exactly once. Back when I was in high school and Comedy Central aired MST reruns overnight, I would tape them all week and then watch them on the weekend with friends. One day I was trying to find the start of the newly recorded episodes on a tape and was rewinding in spurts to find the start. As fate would have it, I pushed Play and was presented with the exact start of the “Star” segment before I’d seen the entire episode. Servo in his wig screaming and screaming was so out of context and bizarre that my friends and I cracked up about it for nearly ten minutes. Now when I watch this episode, however, I fast forward through it. If I happen to fall asleep during this episode, that segment always wakes me up.
The short is classic though. We used to be confused as to why there’s a Sally in the acting credits, yet we don’t see Sally in the short. Was her scene edited out?
Ugh, we have Jack FM here in Baltimore. They play literally any kind of music, as long as it’s bland. People say they like it because it “occasionally” plays a good song, but I say that if you have crap thrown at you all day, you eventually get hit with a peanut.
Plus it’s completely automated, and I hate DJ-less radio.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever watched this episode. I have a copy of it, but I’ve never seen it…I’ll go fix that now.
I’ve always guessed that the “Called It” scene was a verbatim quote from the writer’s room. It’s funny, but it would be cheap if they did it every episode.
The “BOB” thing is always funny to me since I’m from the Minneapolis area and remember watching this episode and knowing exactly what they were making fun of. It sounded dorky then, and it sounds dorky now. “BOB” folded less than 5 years after it debuted, and there’s a “New BOB” in the Cities owned by different people now. There’s also a “Jack FM.” When our NPR station calls itself “Garrison 91” I’ll know we’ve gone too far.
Ed Wood really had some dark thoughts. I was a very innocent & young 13 year old when this episode aired on CC and didn’t really get the whole male rape scene. I didn’t see it again till a couple of years ago and “YIKES!” Funny, though it wouldn’t be my desert island episode (probably Space Mutiny).
I will say this – this is one of the more ambitious bad movies I’ve seen on MST. Sure Ed Wood is just making a movie, but the movie somehow puts in themes about violence, womens rights, sex, pregnancy, family, and communism! WHAT ON EARTH! Of course, Ed Wood handles none of these issues with any sort of directorial prowess, but I have to give him credit for trying. That said, sucky movie Ed.
Good episode, but I prefer Sinister Urge or Bride of the Monster of the Ed Wood MST3K.
There’s actually a Mike FM in Boston. It’s also a DJ-less mix of all kinds of popular music, which I actually really enjoy, because bad DJs make my head explode. So the station is ok by me. Mostly, though, I like its name. :)
And I LOVE this episode. Off to re-watch it!
TOTAL sleeper short for me. Upon the first viewing, I thought “M’eh. It’s pretty good.” But it’s amazing how many times it keeps popping up in my “favorite shorts” lists.
IMHO, this is the best of the “young girls acting naughty” group of movies. Such a downer, though, just like “Teenage Crimewave” and “High School Big Shot”. My kingdom for a good Western…
I love all of this episode’s host segments, even the Streisand one. Every time you think Servo’s calmed down, he launches into an even more hysterical fit, and combined with Kevin’s expert puppetry, it kills me every time I watch it.
The short is one of my all-time favorites – there’s so much good riffing in it. “You can barely see where you bit me!”
This is a good late-night episode, the kind I can enjoy more at 10:00 PM than I can at 2:00 PM. It’s weird how some episodes are better enjoyed when it’s dark out, but this is definitely one of them.
Unlike last week’s classic episode of “The Skydivers”, this episode ran out of steam for me, towards the end of the movie anyway. The short was another gem, between the “squishy” references and the Alexander Phipps jokes. I’m surprised this hasn’t shown up on any “Shorts” volumes yet; it would be a great suggestion to Shout! Factory if they plan on doing anything like making another disc specifically for “Shorts”.
Fav line from short: when the mom has dressed up to go out for the night, I think its Mike who says, “Is mom with the Guardian Angels?”, due in large part to her bright red berret.
The movie is actually watchable for me until the last ten to fifteen minutes, when the judge goes off on some moralistic tangent (twice), Paula winds up dying delivering her bastard child, and said child winds up in the foster care system due to the shortcomings of Paula’s parents. As an ending, its as depressing as “High School Big Shot”.
Other than that, the riffing is very good, and all but one of the host segments are funny. Way back, when the weekend thread concerned best and worst host segments of Season 6, I voted the “Ester Hoffman Howard” segment as the worst. It has nothing to do with the movie, it’s loud and annoying, and it goes NOWHERE!!! The last two segments, with Mike as Keanu Reeves, and Crow and Mike reenacting the gas station hold-up scene, make up for it though.
Fav lines: Mike (in a dull tone): “Oh no, not more money, the horror.”
Crow, during the accosting scene: “Dr. Forrester has sent us a great movie!” The excitement in his voice always gets me.
I also enjoy the remarks made towards the guy who used the phrase “mud butler”. You just can’t have enough “mud butlers” in your life, if you ask me.
What gave Ed Wood the audacity to not only film, but even conceptualize such a scenario as the now-infamous scene in this movie? Its obvious that Wood was looking for something so outrageous that it would attract interest in his movie. (It might have, if Paula had shed more clothing!) Sorry to say it, Eddy, but one suggestive scene can’t overcome a poor plot, bad acting, and a generally God-given ineptitiude on your part.
I love the short. the girl acting so lustly over the top for alexander phipps is hilarious. You are going to get the “reds”. I like the mike makes fun of the over top exitement alexander has for the dinner.
As for the movie. it is okay. after the first 20 mintues the riffing is not that good. the short and host segments make it for me, and the squishy girl.
The short is great; the movie is okay. (“She’s got a room on the four hundredth floor.”)
But the host segments are perhaps among the worst MST had ever done. During Segment 1, Frank tries very hard to convince us this skit is funny, which is the kiss of death. (I mean, I’d never heard of this “turn your knob to Bob” thing. Since I’m missing the reference, the whole thing just seems lame.) Segment 2 is just awful, even if you know the “Star is Born” reference, which makes it worse, because as stated before, it has nothing to do with anything. And Segment 3… look, saying that the skit is lame doesn’t make it any less lame (see Tom Servo’s “grasshopper standup routine” in Beginning of the End for another example).
The final bit IS funny, but that’s about it. I remember when I first saw this, I was convinced that MST was losing energy and enthusiasm. The writing was becoming slack and half-baked. Now, the riffing stands up enough so that I can enjoy the episode, but I tend to skip over all the host segments.
Trivia about the short: Bits of it appear on Yes’s 9012Live video (1985). The opening, in fact, is a scene cut from the MST version of the short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFkJBb4aJoI Alex’s mention of “big generators” would become the title of Yes’s next album.
XM Radio had a “Fred” station until recently. “Classic alternative” or whatever it’s called.
Finally decided on a unique handle for this place (I posted as Dyne until now).
I’ve only seen this one once and mostly had in on for background listening while working on a project so the details aren’t 100% fresh in mind.
Short:
* While watching this I couldn’t help but think of a fad of “electric” jokes that hit my high school while I attended. Example: “I recently bought an electric dishwasher, but I don’t have any electric dishes!”
* Who ever knew that “squishy” could have so many connotations?
* Favorite riff: “Thank goodness for my electric dress.”
Movie:
* What a downer. And yet I’ll wager that the leeches at CPS try to use it as a standard for their legalized child kidnapping.
* Favorite riff(s): The running gag of the ineptitude of the rape victim, but particularly Mike’s “Man Tells Attackers: ‘ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou!'”
Host segments:
* These are ones that just get funnier each time I watch it. Most notably Servo’s breakdowns, Crow robbing Mike, and Frank’s delivery of the various names during the end credits.
* Favorite segment moment: Mike’s Keanu Reeves impression.
D’oh! First post under the new handle and I spelled it wrong. :neutral:
I can only give this one 3 stars. but made up of components that get 1s,2s,4s and 5s.
The very good : “Living in Deep Thirteen”, Tom’s Carmina Burana, The Short ( Squishy ! ). The endless list of artists you can hear on Frank. Tom’s New Head.
The not-so-good : The subject film itself is interesting to watch, but the riffing seems so… light, both in frequency and severity. Compared to the short, they were almost riff-silent here.
The bad : Private Idaho Potato. A Star is Born.
( they mentioned the mad light by name in this ep )
I think the “Star is Born” bit is funny, mainly because it is just so over the top. Great work from Kevin.
I have the same problem with this short that I have with “Once Upon a Honeymoon”: what exactly are they trying to promote?
Favorite movie riff: (when the newspaper headline appears) “Refuses to file charges!”
Runner-up: (the guy shouting back to his girlfriend as he’s led into the woods) “Remember, honey, I’m doing this for you!”
I’ve never understood how Ed Wood got the label “worst director ever.” His films are horrible, yes, but they’re never boring. I’d rather watch an Ed Wood film than a Roger Corman or Bert I. Gordon flick any day.
The Violent Years has so much illogical crap flying every which way that you don’t know where to look. Girl-on-guy gang rape? Communists paying delinquents to commit acts of minor vandalism? And what is that judge’s problem anyway? Paula’s parents overindulged her, and weren’t around enough, but in all other ways they were attentive, loving and kind. In what way are they wholly responsible for Paula’s deliberate and malicious deceit?
Unfortunately, it seems like the riffers aren’t quite sure which way to look either, making the commentary a bit toothless and uneven. Great short though.
Finally! Sampo and I agree 100% on this. Definitely an island episode. This is a pitch perfect episode. Great short, great host segments, great movie, Ed Wood, and one of the funniest openings ever! Great stuff…
Two great episodes on a row? Yes. I just watched The Violent Years.
The short was weird and funny, what with the girl’s squishiness and how comfortable her brother and Alex are together in the bathroom. It was a bit more focused than the later short “Once Upon a Honeymoon.” I think Servo’s question to the latter, “Just what the heck was that about anyway,” fits here.
I enjoy how Servo breaks into song during this short. He does loud rendition of some Patty Duke Show lyrics.
The movie is a MST3K classic. They have lots of fun with this movie and the riffing is good throughout. That Communism sub-plot was odd. One classroom gets trashed and the Russkies win? (Although it could be seen as an unintentional metaphor for the many proxy wars that were fought in other nations during the Cold War.) :idea:
Anyway, great episode.
A favorite riff, “Count Juggula”
The host segments are good. Crow freaking out at Servo’s new head is hilarious. (I said this last week too, Trace is great making shriek.) The Deep 13 song is good.
Turn Your Crank to Frank! Not only is that good on it’s own, but I really enjoy constant promotion of the music that’s played on Frank. I really like it when Dr. F. appears in the hex-field, insisting Brooks and Dunn!
I only recently figured out what Servo was doing in his “A Star is Born” host segment. I didn’t like it at first but I now enjoy it for what it is. The movie is so awful that they can’t bother making a segment to tie into it. The other host segments follow this line of thinking. Even the last one, which is just Crow and Mike standing there, reenacting the gas station robbery, says that.
Up here in Maine we got 105.5 and 107.5 FRANK-FM, it’s classic hits and mostly dull, but with real DJs.
My fave is the end segment with Mike and Crow doing the holdup scene, cracks me up everytime!!
I recall that a few years back the ““Double bag it, son!” riff caused a great debate on the MST3K Discussion Board. Some felt it was a naughty riff while others felt it was not. I don’t really remember the contex of the riff at the moment. It got to the point where it was one of the questions we asked of Mike in an interview with him, and he claimed “It simply means that there are several heavy cans among your groceries and you need two bags so as to avoid breakage. (Would there be another meaning…?)”
So the debate rages on.
Yer out of yer devil ass mind! The Streisand bit kills!!! Hell, I can’t wait till I just start doing that at work!
A strange episode to be sure. The short, even after several viewings, still eludes me. What exactly is the point? Anybody? Anyway, the guys do well with it. Movie’s a lot of fun, even if the gang rape scene is just the fevered dream of a madman. The host segments are so-so for me though. Not bad but they’ve been better.
I am only aware of 2 naughty meanings to “Double bag it”. Are there others ?
One is the use of 2 condoms at the same time.
The other has to do with wearing a bag on your own head in case the bag comes off of your ( presumably hideous looking ) partner’s head.
Neither is very polite.
“The short, even after several viewings, still eludes me. What exactly is the point? Anybody? “
Electric kitchen appliances, I think. Or bacon.
One of my favorite eps, although “The Sinister Urge” would be my island episode. This is the one I asked myself, “the only thing Ed Wood did was write this?” Me thinks he spent some uncredited time in the director’s chair, or Bill Morgan followed his script to a T.
I agree with the most on the A Star is Born segment: it’s a bit overlong. But then again, I’ve never seen it, so it could be right on the money. On the plus side, “Livin’ in Deep 13” is probably my favorite song in the series.
Favorite line: “She died as she lived–failing algebra.”
H: “The short, even after several viewings, still eludes me. What exactly is the point? Anybody?”
The short was produced for the Edison Electric Institute, which explains why electric appliances are (the cause of and) the solution to everybody in the short’s problems.
There’s a radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area called “Alice”.
I’m amazed nobody has yet mentioned the return of Frank in season 8. Once I’d finally seen this episode, that little line in the Satellite Hootenanny segment has never failed to give me an extra chuckle.
.
BROOKS AND DUNN!!!!
.
…Wynonna.
“Oh, the bacon truck is here!”
I always enjoy the shorts, and this one is no different. Brother Bob seems every bit as wry as Robert Reed in Bloodlust, Judy can certainly pack it away, and the father looks like Anthony Hopkins.
As to the movie, skenderberg #16 said it all for me… Lovely over-the-top melodrama!
Sampo says:
March 5th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
H: “The short, even after several viewings, still eludes me. What exactly is the point? Anybody?”
The short was produced for the Edison Electric Institute, which explains why electric appliances are (the cause of and) the solution to everybody in the short’s problems.
Ok, I can see that. Certainly explains a lot …
One of my favorite shorts. Almost inpenetrable in its message. To this day I’m still not sure what its trying to sell me on.
The girl Judy is too weird. What girl gets hot over a guy talking about kitchen appliances and time saving methods? To me that would be a date killer. She must have a fetish for boring talk.
The movie is vintage Ed Wood. Characters who don’t behave like actual humans. Very old looking teenagers. Dialouge written by aliens. Perfect Woodian material.
Sampo Johnson is right!!
My all -time favorite episode. Great host segments(even the Streisand bit gives me the giggles), awesome short and the touch of Ed Wood.
BigZilla says:
March 5th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Ed Wood really had some dark thoughts.
If you think this was dark, you should check out Glen or Glenda. All I can say about that movie is WOW!.
I remember seeing the infamous “squishy” line in an old Nick-at-Nite promo. I cracked up when I realized this short was the source the first time I saw it.
Frank’s list of singers had me falling over, too. Living in the south, we have an abundance of country music stations, and they all advertised that way, by listing the artists they’d feature. The sillier Frank’s list gets, the more I enjoy it.
Speaking of which, our local named station is Simon, and plays about damn near everything, from oldies to recent pop and rock to country to comedy. It’s actually not half bad.
You’re confusing your Orffs.
“Carmina Burana” is the name of the Orff cantata, but the music to which Servo is belting out his (awesome!) theme song is the first piece in the cantata, “O Fortuna.” One of my all-time pieces of music – even before Tom ripped it off.
Yes, I’m a geek.
What’s with the view outside Paula’s cell window? Was the jail on the cliffs of Dover or something that there isn’t a horizon line or a building?
I think Ed was a hypocrite. In “Sinister Urge” he clearly seems to be trying to make a statement that “porn is bad.” But then he goes about demostrating, almost intricately, how the porn industry WORKS. Here, he shocks his audience with a harsh and brutal expose of just how freakin’ COOL it would be if teenage girls became rampant, sex-starved hooligans.
Just how “Glen or Glenda” seemed to be about how “sad” it is to be a transvestite – when in fact it was a “how-to” movie.
Think any high school girls ever saw this movie and said, “Hey, yeah! Why don’t WE get us some of that action!”? I bet Ed hoped so.
I like Ministry’s “So What” off their Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste album – samples this movie gratudiously.
All right, DrChad, all together now,
O Fortuna
Vitae luna
Semper variabilis…
And shouldn’t we give John Williams a little credit for the ‘Mike’ theme?
“The Bobby Knight Story”
I love this episode, but for some reason I always confuse it with “I Accuse My Parents,” probably because they both include courtroom scenes featuring a moralizing judge. Both are favorite episodes of mine as well.
The Streisand bit is just annoying to me, but I really like the rest of the host segments; they all feature classic lines that always make me laugh, such as “Am I out of Reba? Do I need more Reba?” and “It’s a potato! It’s funny!”
I find the short and the movie both to be pure gold. My favorite riff is, “My rape victim refuses to come with me to Lamaze class.” Speaking of whom, does anybody else think that guy looks like Gary Sinise?
Darthdemona said: “Speaking of whom, does anybody else think that guy looks like Gary Sinise?”
Yes! He totally does! Hehhe…
My fave riff:
Girl: “They’re shooting back!”
Tom: “Those BASTARDS!”
Say what you will about Ed wood but everything he has written or directed is something you just can’t stop watching. It may not be “good” but it definately gets your attention.
FYI a movie called “Plan 9”, a new remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space is due to be released o 9/9/09. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1238299/
This short… classic. I’m glad someone understands the point of it (to dabble in mushroom growing). There’s a Twilight Zone episode called “Young Man’s Fancy” where the lead character is named Alex. Xander Phipps.
In Atlanta we have Dave FM, it sucks.
Ed Wood is a legend. Unlike Coleman Francis, Ed Woods movies will live for ever. :lol:
A great ep. One that I watched recently and enjoyed more than ever…I think it holds up well and improves with viewings so I’ve decided to bump it up into my top twenty. In other words a classic ep.
Perfect short, film, and riffing. Host segs are great, too.
They seem to run out of energy, riffing wise, during the final courtroom scenes but, wow, try it at home sometime. They still do a valiant job.
It’s fun to show this ep to someone for the first time and watch them try to figure out what the short is all about (always seemed clear to me by the end though).
I watched the Violent Years for the first time MSTed, but was immediately famliar with one part of it. If you’re a Ministry fan you’ll know the song called “So What” which uses the judge’s dialogue to great effect and also, of course, our Violent girl’s final declaration as part of its chorus (and title obviously). Look for it on youtube if you like heavy industrial type music.
A+
Oh, I really love Frank’s bit at the end. I assume Mrs. Miller is a reference to McCabe and….? or is there another?
Mrs. Miller was a campy, unintentionally hilarious singer in the late 60s who warbled hits like “Downtown” and “Monday, Monday” like someone’s elderly aunt who insists on singing at your wedding. Kind of a Female Shatner in terms of camp quality — and both played up the joke later on.
“They seem to run out of energy, riffing wise, during the final courtroom scenes but, wow, try it at home sometime. They still do a valiant job.”
Eh, I still get my laughs in those final couple of scenes.
“In other news, Paula Parkins picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
“Here come da me!”
“She’s got a lovely room on the 400th floor.”
Man, I used to have to listen to BEN fm when I worked overnight at a store. There was like 1 good song out of every 5 songs, which is not a great ratio.