Short: (1951) Krog sends the thugs to bomb a volcano, which causes widespread flooding, for some reason. Cody tracks the thugs to a diner, where a fight ensues and Ted is kidnapped. He soon escapes and Cody is after them again.
Movie: (1964) A sportscaster/pilot flies into Los Angeles and finds it deserted. He soon learns that reptilian monsters from beneath the Earth have conquered the city. With the help of a scientist, his two daughters and a marine, he mounts a counter-offensive.
First shown: 12/30/89 (unconfirmed)
Opening: Joel and Tom are sleepy, but Crow is a morning bot; Joel explains the premise again
Invention exchange: Joel is playing three-card monty with the bots when the mads call. His invention is cartoon eyeglasses; theirs is screaming cotton candy
Host segment 1: Crow and Tom take Commando Cody to reality court
Host segment 2: J&tB discuss how dumb the movie is, and suggest ways to make it better
Host segment 3: Inspired by the movie, the Bots fill the SOL with smoke
End: Joel bakes a pie, letter, the Mads are sarcastically happy
(107 votes, average: 3.93 out of 5)
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• I’m not sure this one quite adds up to the sum of its parts. The riffing is about average for season one. The short, well, as you’ve been saying, Commando Cody is wearing thin. And then there’s the talky, foggy, completely nonsensical movie. I’d put this in the good-not-great column.
• References.
• This episode is included in Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXVII.
• This is the first episode in which they add a blue tint to a black-and-white movie, presumably to help shadowrama be more visible. It’s a practice that will continue into the fourth season. The previous time around, I said I couldn’t see it. But now that I am looking for it, it’s clear as day and I can’t imagine how I could have missed it. As one of the commenters noted, just look at the frame grabs at the top of the page, fer cryin’ out loud. The blue tint is obvious. Amazing.
• Joel is again in a robe (and so is Tom). They were going with the flow of a Saturday morning show.
• Joel calls Tom Servo “Crow” and Servo corrects him.
• Joel calls the Mads “quasi-evil.” Hmm.
• Again, both inventions are props from Joel’s standup act.
• The theater seats are black again and they stay that way, I believe, thanks to the blue tint.
• Crow and Joel again duck out of the way so people can read the text at the beginning of the short. Again, Tom doesn’t bother.
• Segment 1 is pretty much a continuation of the segment from the previous show where they again rail against the absurdity of the way Cody’s rocket belt supposedly works.
• Segments 2 and 3 do a good job of summing up most of what’s wrong with this stooopid movie. One thing they missed: The opening few minutes, with our hero flying in to L.A., do not in any way suggest that he is flying close to the surface of the ocean, which the characters later insist he MUST have done. Our hero also says he “came through something rough.” Again, the scene in which he approaching the airport in his plane does not show this at all.
• Joel does the “Love-ly…love-ly” riff for the second week in a row.
• One thing about first season episodes is that they seemed to be following the movie more closely than they would be in later seasons. At least Josh was. At one point in this episode, Servo points out: “Why are the guys carrying guns? They have no effect on the Slime People! We know that!” Leaving aside the fact that it’s a major state park riff, it’s hard to imagine that kind of a plot-intensive riff in later seasons.
• No Tom Servo in the closing segment.
• One of the dumbest lines of dialog ever: “Now, we’ve always known that there are fish in the ocean, haven’t we?”
• Stinger suggestion: The drunk looter in the theater.
• Cast and crew roundup: Producer ?Joseph F. Robertson also produced “The Crawling Hand” and “Agent For H.A.R.M.” Cinematographer William Troiano also worked on “Wild, Wild World of Batwoman.” Special effects guy Charles Duncan also worked on “The Crawling Hand” and “The Phantom Planet.” Sound Mixer Rod Sutton also worked on :Hangar 18,” “King Dinosaur” and “It Lives By Night.” In front of the camera, John Close was in “Beginning of the End” and “The Deadly Mantis.” Blair Robertson was also in “Agent for H.A.R.M.” Bob Herron was also in “Mole People.” Jock Putnam was also in “The Crawling Hand.” (106)
• CreditsWatch: Melanie Hartley was an additional production assistants and Jim Erickson was, again, the additional production staff.
• Fave riff from the short: “Come and get me! I’m a fuzzy little rabbit! I’m bring bad!” Honorable mention: “Hip? Not! Ick!”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Honestly, Bonnie, the slime you bring home.” Honorable mention: “What it is, Dr. Bro?!”
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Wow Crow really is an obnoxious morning bot. Kill him.
Here we have the return of the black theater seats.
Okay I’ve enjoyed the Commando Cody shorts for the most part. In the earliest episodes they did seem to provide the most gold. But I’m starting to see why the brains got sick of them. They are so incredibly repetitive. Was is that common to jump out of rolling cars in those days?
That second host segment is really good on two different levels. First off I think this is where we see the birth of Crow the screenplay writer. Sure here’s starting off with a far flung idea like an applesauce monster. But some day that creativity will culminate the classic we know as Earth vs. Soup. Secondly I love they way the mock their own show premise with such straight faces. Here all the questions Joel must have asked himself when fleshing out the premise for the show are vocalized and in turn every solution he came up with is shot down pretty quick. Yet in actuality even it is all dismissed out of hand here we did a great little cow town puppet show to enjoy.
Overall I would say this episode was a tale of two halves. The first half was a poor season 1 show. Then shortly before the second host segment suddenly it turned into a very nice season 2 episode.
Favorite Riffs:
A buss tray is tossed:
Crow: He’d like that to go.
Tom: Right in the kidney beans.
Joel: Right in the cream corn
Crow: Right in the liver and onions
Joel: Right in the Salisbury steak.
Professor: Now we’ve always know there are fish in the ocean
Joel: That’s a little far fetched for me.
I definitely see the blue tint on the B&W films. It didn’t strike me until I saw “Lost Continent”. That episode goes along fine, but when they show the stinger it’s a standard monochrome. For me it really stood out, but I suspect many never notice it.
This was one of only two network episodes I was never able to catch as a broadcast, so I didn’t see it until I got a tape from someone I met at the first Conventio-Con in 1994. I was amazed at just how funny it was and as usual, the Commando Cody stuff is just brilliantly funny. I love the host segment where they take Cody to reality court. The movie was perfect fodder for the show and I have only good things to say about this episode. I hope it makes it to a Shout! Factory DVD release.
I’ve always found those “blue tint” effects on the films a little odd, but I guess they just did it so the theater seats could stay black. They DID seem to eventually find out another effect to keep the original B&W and still keep the black theater seats by season 4, though.
I’m a bit surprised Rhino never tried releasing this episode on DVD when they still had the rights to Mst3k, since they had the rights to this film at some point. Ah well. I still imagine on volume 22 this might be one of the eps.
I really liked this episode. The host segments, the short, and the movie. I felt the riffing here on chapter 6 of Commando Cody was actually a little better than the two chapters from last week. I also think the monsters looked cool and a little chilling in the fog scenes. Once they were in the wheat grass in the clear day light they gave me a silly The Eye Creatures vibe.
My copy of SLIME PEOPLE is on it’s last legs so the third act in the heavy fog is hard to watch. I truly can not make out a thing until the fog is lifted. I second for a Shout! Factory release if possible.
My score for episode 108: 3.5 of 5.
Sorry, tried to email this but it didn’t work-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsrBIGpXK-8
It’s the Servo Men’s Choir LIVE.
Say what you will, this movie’s fog machine was
clearly on steroids.
It would be interesting to compare the percentage of
injuries/deaths jumping from a car in real life vs.
Hollywood survival rate.
Blue tint> You really don’t notice it when viewing the show in a vacuum. But just take a look at the title cards which Sampo posted with the reviews. In fact take a look today while you can still see the title cards from both 107 & 108 on the same home page with just a little scrolling. When you lay them “side by side” then you say “oh yeah I guess it is blue.”
Does this movie have do anything with song Weird Al song ” Slime People from outer Space?” Just wondering. Nice song. Always was connected the two in my head.
2 stars. (Should be higher – the riffing was good, it’s just a hard episode to watch)
Actually enjoyed the Cody short this week, as it featured a fair amount of action, but THE SLIME PEOPLE, whoa, what a drag.
Starts off nicely enough with an apocalyptic/siege movie premise, but it was a big mistake to have almost half of the movie take place covered in fog. Made even worse for me having to watch a lo-res DAP copy on an HDTV – I really got spoiled having so many of the previous Season One episodes available on crisp-looking DVD’s. So even though I don’t care much for this episode, I’d like to see it released, eventually.
It’s another one of those monster movies in which the impending doom of strange invaders gets sidetracked by romantic subplots among it’s characters ( EYE CREATURES, PARTY BEACH, etc. – in fact, I bet you could make a long list of “Horror Movie Hook-Ups” ). I guess hormones rage when the end is near. Still, it’s creepy when the dad smiles at the fact that his girls are about to get laid. At least the guys are handsome, heroic, and resourceful…
A more radical interpretation of the movie is suggested by Servo’s observation during the main titles that it’s “the story of Hollywood in the early days” (ironic that Josh was the first of the cast to defect there). Seeing as how the lead character is a sportscaster and a fair amount of the action takes place in a TV studio, maybe the titular “slime people” are the human residents of Los Angeles?
• Joel: They’ll be surfin’ in Boston. (A Beach Boys reference, to a non-existing lyric from “Surfin’ USA.” Could have sworn it was in there, but no.)
• All: Serpentine! (The first time this soon-to-be chestnut appears on MST. It’s from THE IN-LAWS)
• (18:15) – During the opening credits of the film, Joel makes reference to a famous Christian poem, “Footprints (in the sand).”
• OK, why do the slime people carry spears? Do they possess metal-working technology underground? Blacksmiths and slime seem incompatible. Or did they find metal poles above ground and adapt them? Granted they do have the fog-making machine, but that seemed more organic, from what I could (barely) see.
• A missed riff @ minute 42
Cal: One minute there was just a fog and next… it got thick, and hard.
Prof. Galbraith: Well did you touch it? Was it hot or cold or rough or smooth or what?
• A brief section of this episode provides a good example of an easy, obvious riff (a “state park joke” as the Brains call them) followed immediately by a clever, subtle one (so subtle in fact, I had to rewind it numerous times to catch what was really being remarked upon )
@ 47:50 (Car pulls up driveway, dramatic music plays)
Servo: Such dramatic driving music! [BAD]
Cut to: (interior of house, kitchen, where the older sister is at an open cupboard. She then walks over to the table where two men are sitting)
Crow: Hey, nice cups. [GOOD]
Now, he says this just as she’s at the cupboard, so we barely get a chance to see what’s inside. It seems like a pointless joke… at first. But as she crosses the kitchen, there are no riffs, leading one to watch the scene more closely, when you’ll notice her pointy bra. Why not riff on that? Oh, he just did! Crow’s actually suggesting we check out her rack. Brilliant.
• Joel eats a lot of grapes in this one. Since the buttons first appeared on the desk, they seem to be featuring them a lot.
• Servo: She’s probably having the slime of her life.
————
TRIVIA QUESTION:
Our hero enters the world of THE SLIME PEOPLE flying a single engine propeller driven plane, an aircraft seen in many MST episodes over the years.
Can you name any other movies or shorts that feature this type of plane?
————
I made a blog post of some images from this film along with links to some online reviews. You can clearly see the color tint in one screen grab I made versus other shots taken from the original movie.
The fog effects make viewing really tough to enjoy the riffing……the pain level for me is quite high……a Shout! release would be very nice indeed.
The show is still getting better and this film is at least more watchable (for me at least) than some of the other bw sci-fi flicks featured so far. It’s enjoyable in a silly naive sorta way.
Commando Cody however, is starting to bore me … i thought i enjoyed these serials, and I do in small doses. but week after week it starts to feel like the same thing over & over … and over. They are interesting in some ways even without the riffing, the “Moon goons” using human mafia guys to get money by bank robbery? Huh? I thought the moon people were advanced? .. just a show.
Favorite line:
“Now, we’ve always known there are fish living in the sea, right?”
Joel: “That’s going a little too far..”
Also:
Man holding goat: “I’ve decided to do a book exposing all the insanity around here”
Crow: “I call it The Dictionary”
2.49 Stars
@MiqeldotCom I agree that this is a better movie than most others they showed first season, at least as far as old black and white B-movies go. It’s a terrible movie to be sure, but more fun to watch on it’s own merits than stuff like “Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy”, “Mad Monster”, or “The Corpse Vanishes”. As early season one shows, when they were still finding their legs on MST3K, those are just barely watchable, but on their own all three would no doubt be intolerable and torturous experiences. But I could easily see myself sitting around with some friends watching a non-MST version of “The Slime People” and having a lot of fun with it.
As for the Commando Cody serials I have always liked those a great deal. I wish they had done the entire serial. Maybe not two at a time like the did a few times, but it would have been nice to see the whole thing riffed. In fact I wished they had done more serials in the later seasons as well, though I can live without Phantom Creeps. Even though there are some memorable riffs in it that serial bores me terribly. There are a lot of other MUCH better serials around (and by better I mean more fun to watch, and also highly riffable) that they could have chosen over that one.
Anyway I’m currently nearing the end of season one in my own “watching all of MST3K from the beginning” winter project, and so I just watched this episode the other night. I also didn’t really see the blue tint as much in this episode, at least not on my DVD copy, which granted looks like it’s from an SLP recording, and is not of the highest quality. It looked more like they just lightened the film instead. I don’t know what’s going on in those screengrabs above. My copy doesn’t look anywhere near as heavily tinted as that.
Don’t have much memory of this episode which means it can’t be that great. Still, glad we’re discussing these, it’s always nice to see other peoples perspectives.
To #14 Because you don’t have much memory of this episode that means it can’t be that great. I didn’t realize you have made yourself the authority on which episodes are considered good or not.
The blue tint explained! I certainly noticed it, but didn’t really give it any thought. I guess I just figured it was the print they were working with. But it seems to be most pronounced here and in Untamed Youth, if memory serves.
And while Commando Cody is dull as dishwater (I remember seeing a photo of him as a wee lad and thinking how incredibly cool those movies must be– a guy in a jetpack! Fighting crime!), this is another one of those movies that I absolutely love to watch regardless of the riffing quality. Not that I’d track down a copy of the standalone film or anything, but I find it hugely appealing for some reason. Maybe just because it’s so damn weird. The ineptitude helps, too. And the fact that it isn’t a complete talkfest. And one of the gals was pretty cute. And I suppose any movie that falls back on “ordinary table salt” is good for a laugh. All right, I have no idea why I find The Slime People so pleasant to watch. The title? Maybe it’s the title…
I’ve changed my mind. This was not a good episode at all. One viewing is all you need. To #15(JJK), thanks for bringing us the attention of other people’s posts by negatively commenting on someones comment. Do you have anything to offer this thread or just take up space?
To #17 I have something to offer to this thread. Just because someone can’t remember an episode has nothing to do if was good or bad. Don’t comment on an episode unless you remember it.
Has this been out on DVD? I don’t remember it, sorry JJK.
Doesn’t Susan Hart, who plays the older sister, have control of all the MST riffed James H. Nicholson films and is holding up possible DVD releases? Or am I remembering that wrong?
JJK> I have no good way to prove it, but post #17 wasn’t me. Post #1 was me. Compare #17 in tone to post #1 and decide for yourself if both those posts were written by the same person. I’m not going to name any specific names, but long story short I’ve ruffled some feathers here and that person is taking their revenge by posting in my name rather than confront me directly. Such is life. *shrugs* Personally I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, but I’m sorry to see someone else being drug into it.
JCC:
Unfortunetly, yes. She’s never licensed her films to ANYONE, and that includes MST versions.
I still find it funny how it’s so obvious that she was in this film, even though she constantly denies it.
My half-ass review from the discussion board.
108- The Slime People, with short, Commando Cody Chapter 6.
Movie Plot: From IMDB, After Los Angeles is invaded by an army of subterranean monsters a small group of people must fight for survival in the deserted metropolis.
Host Segments:
Opening: Joel and Servo have trouble waking up, but Crow is a chipper, morning bot.
Invention Exchange: Joel’s cartoon goggles, and Dr. F’s screaming cotten candy.
Segment 1: Commando Cody on trial.
Segment 2: The robots try to think up a better movie than “The Slime People.”
Segment 3: The Bots fill the ship in an attempt to scare Joel.
Ending: Joel bakes a pie for everyone (except Servo, for reasons unknown).
Fav. riff from shor:
(flood occurs)
Servo: “Whoops! The water broke!”
Fav. riff from the movie:
Crow: “Boy, I bet that’d be real scary if we could see what it was.”
Best segment: The Commando Cody Trial is cute. Although not that funny.
Worst segment: The invention exchange is not very clever as it usually is.
Overall: Okay, I’m going to confess something. This one is a “cheater” review. Note that I didn’t have a list of memorable riffs, or a list of actual comments. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have the time (or patience) to sit through this episode. I have been getting a busy hectic schedule with work and school. I just didn’t have a time to do a proper review. The riffs that are listed as my “favorites” are actually riffs that were written at Mighty Jack’s site, and I just picked the two I liked best. Really none of the other riffs stood out to me. The movie is dark and dreary, and the riffs may be plentiful (as opposed to most season 1 shows), but clever, funny riffs are far and few between. It’s only marginally better than ep. 101 IMO.
Rating: **1/2
#20
“Susan Hart, who plays the older sister, have control of all the MST riffed James H. Nicholson”an
================================
Do you know what these movies are? So one can know which may take some time to appear.
I’m left to wonder why Dan or anyone else would defend themself to JJK? When klisch@14 says he doesn’t have much memory of this episode so that means it can’t be great, he’s making a PERSONAL observation, not proclaiming hinself as an authority. he follows this by saying it’s great to get other people’s perspective. Only conclusion…..JJK is an ass for pouncing on this.
That said, this was a fair to middling episode, a further step in the show’s developing process. Like most, I have no love for Commander Cody, but they are at least well riffed.
Well said ThorneSherman. That’s exactly it, my personal thought on the episode. I guess I could have worded it better to make it sound less hateful. Next week I’ll put more zing into it. Since season 1 has started I look forward each Thursday to discuss it and read others opinions.
Never saw this one.
“I Accuse My Parents” is extremely blue, at least on D.V.D. The rest of the black and white movies I’ve seen from Season 4 onward seemed to be lightened instead of colored (i.e. the black in the movie is really dark grey).
This is decent. As an avowed Radar Men From The Moon fan, even I have to admit it’s getting repetitive. I like it but it’s the same thing every week! The movie’s decent- nothing special. I see the blue tint but there are others where it’s more obvious. Look at Daddy-O and Alphabet Antics for good examples. Host segments are good mostly but again nothing special.
#24
We know she owns
309 Amazing Collosal Man
311 It Conquered the World
809 I was a teenage werewolf
807 Terror from the year 5000
313 Earth Vs the spider
315 teenage Caveman
317 Viking women and the sea serpeant
319 War of the Collosal beast
808 She- Creature
Are definatly owned by the Samual Arkoff Estate.
307 Daddy-o
806 Undead
most likely apart of the Arkoff Estate as well.
I was surprised that Finnias #10 gave this episode only 2 stars.
This is actually a good “50s era Drive-In scifi” movie. You have
to make allowances for the lack of budget,
but then you usually did.
The riffing is first rate and well within season 2 standards.
Even the Commando Cody short was in good form.
I loved these when I was growing up on local T.V. stations Saturday mornings.
I just can’t get over Clayton Moore as a bad guy.
I hear his voice and all I can think of is the Lone Ranger.
I keep expecting him to finish a sentence with, “OK Tonto?”
Been a few years since I’ve seen this episode… is this the one with the “Three Splooges” riff? Probably my favorite “dirty” riff ever.
My DAP copy of this one has a rather plain looking “Comedy Central” logo in the corner of the screen sometimes. When exactly did The Comedy Channel become Comedy Central? I thought that was later? My copy must be from a rerun.
I like this one okay. It drags a bit from its doofiness, and yeah, the Radar Men from the Moon shorts are getting repetitive and bland. But it’s got its moments. The Host Segments are good, the second one is very meta.
I like Joel’s robe. Very suave.
Something I’ve noticed so far: There seem to be quite a bit of puns used, from KTMA through Season 1 so far. As I recall, in later seasons, there seemed to be a “no pun-ing” rule in effect for Joel and the Bots (or was it Mike and the Bots?) and I wondered if that was because they did it to death early on and decided (rightly so) that it was lame.
RIFFS:
From the short: Joel: “I said jelly-rolls, not payrolls!”
From the movie: Joel: “They’re all on their way to a George Romero film festival!”
Richard @ 31: “I was surprised that Finnias #10 gave this episode only 2 stars.”?
Yeah, considering the length of my post and how many laughs there are in this episode, that seems too harsh a verdict. I may have to raise it to a 3. But I’m grading based on my overall enjoyment, and while this is definitely better than the early part of the season (Mad Crawling Aztec Robot Corpses, etc.), I just find the viewing experience of this one to be a pain. Mainly due to the poor video quality of a movie filmed under the cover of fog. And you’re right, this is a fun low-budget sci-fi film. If I had watched this on my laptop, like I often do, it might have softened the blow. But in HD it was torture.
And to everyone on this thread, whatever happened with someone posting here with another person’s name is just wrong. Totally unacceptable and ban-worthy.
I also don’t consider responses such as “I don’t remember/never saw this one” worthy of posting. Or reading. All it says is that you “just didn’t care.”
Just too much fog in this episode for it to be enjoyable for me. I think the riffings good but once outside you can’t see. There was less fog in john carpenters THE FOG!!
Richard the Lion-Footed
#30
Thanks for the list. At least some can be seen on Youtube (Earth vs. Spider)
for example. Curious why she doesn’t want to pick up some cash for rights.
A cinema purist?
A long time ago someone on the Internet had completely transcribed this episode and Robot Holocaust. Anybody remember these? It might have been on one of the websites that mst3kinfo linked when the show was still on.
Somebody already stole my thunder but I want to second “The Three Spooges” as the dirtiest riff they ever made.
After several episodes midway through Season One which were quite good and showed the promise of things to come in subsequent seasons this one was a bit of a backslide for me. While I enjoyed the earlier episodes of the “Pumpkin Boy” serial by this point they were starting to get a bit tedious. As for the main feature, it was just ok. It had its moments but wasn’t as good as the recent previous outings like “The Corpse Vanishes”, “The Crawling Hand” and “Robot Monster”. Like I said, an okay episode but not particularly memorable. 3 stars out of five.
Whenever watch this I think to myself, “I know this isn’t a rock ’em sock ’em laugh riot, but I’m having a darn good time anyway”
There’s something about the movie that tickles me. Maybe it’s Bonnie acting all hyper and happy in the midst of the devastation. Or maybe it’s Tolliver’s goat! Whatever the reason, I enjoy this hard to see flick, and the riffing offers up just enough laughs to make it one I happily re-visit. To be honest, I get a bigger kick out of this, than the much heralded Robot Monster (which makes my current website grades for each, a sham. lol)
This one of the two best eps of Season One (haven’t seen them all though). Watched this on youtube a while back but skipped the Cody short, I have to admit. Really funny movie–as mentioned above the goat and all that and I love the fog scenes (but then again I love all of Manos, the refueling scenes in starfighters, and…).
I would love to see Slime People re-riffed. Are you listening Cinematic Titanic?
@Watch-out-for-Snakes #33
I know that when Comedy Channel and HA joined to form CTV they were just starting the reruns of the second season. I know this because we didn’t have Comedy Channel where I lived (we has HA instead) and I remember that the first MST episode CTV showed right after the change over was 201 Rocketship XM. I remember that well, because it was the first episode I ever saw, and Frank’s introduction was VERY memorable to me as he became and instant hero of mine. In a matter of only a couple of months I believe CTV changed to Comedy Central, and while the second season was still showing on Comedy Central on Saturdays they were repeating the first season episodes on Friday mornings, which is how I first saw them (thanks to my family’s VCR anyway, since I taught myself how to set the timer to record them while I was in school. Sadly I didn’t keep many of those recordings). Anyway I’d guess that most of the higher quality season 1 recordings floating around out there now probably came from those later Friday morning reruns rather than the original Comedy Channel showings. I know that not long after that Best Brains asked Comedy Central stop to rerunning the first season episodes altogether, and aside from a couple of exceptions they didn’t show any of them after than. I remember them showing Robot Monster again a few years later, because that is how I was able to get it on tape, and I think they ran at least one other season 1 episode around that time as well, but I don’t think it was Slime People (though I may be wrong). So your Comedy Central recording of Slime People must have been made in the brief time between when CTV changed it’s name to Comedy Central, and when Comedy Central stopped showing season 1 episodes. I’ll have to check my copy to see if it has a Comedy Central logo as well.
“My DAP copy of this one has a rather plain looking “Comedy Central” logo in the corner of the screen sometimes.”
Ditto. My copy also has an effect whereby all the red things in the host segments – Joel’s robe, Tom’s torso – shimmer with an electronic static effect, just like Automan. I assume the show was taped and then duped and then duped again. I’m glad that videotape has died. I never liked it. The tapes were clunky and the whole medium just felt dirty and sordid because of the association with porn and video nasties. When I think of videotape I think of Cannibal Holocaust and that Duran Duran video, you know the one.
“Our hero enters the world of THE SLIME PEOPLE flying a single engine propeller driven plane, an aircraft seen in many MST episodes over the years.”
Tom identifies it as a Piper Cub, but it’s not. I think it’s a Cessna 172.
“Can you name any other movies or shorts that feature this type of plane?”
The first film that comes to mind – and you’ve probably thought of it too – is Fathom, a 1967 caper starring Raquel Welch. I have not seen this film, but based on the stills that I have just downloaded to my hard drive, it seems to consist entirely of Raquel Welch in a green bikini.
The opening consists of a tracking shot of Welch’s legs:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xurqo_raquel-welch-in-fathom-1967_shortfilms
Obviously the producers were not dummies. The more I read about this film the more I wish that MST3K had covered it, but alas it was not to be. I’m sure there have been some MST3K films with light aircraft, but I can’t think of any. Which is odd because the dramatic possibilities are endless; you can skydive from them, use them to escape from Cuba, and also use them as a deadly accurate aerial sniping platform.*
Hey, Crow just said “simple bru-blue screen tricks” and they didn’t do another take. I know we’re supposed to talk about the MST3K treatment of The Slime People rather than Raquel Welch’s legs, but the film bores me – it has a slight Dawn of the Dead vibe but no vim – and so does the riffing, which is slow and dull. Why are the military forces engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the slime people?
“Unharden that man”, eh.
* AFAIK Time Chasers has a different aeroplane (more struts) but it could be a later model of the 172.
@ #43: Wow, that’s quite a clip. Thanks for that. I’ve seen parts of Fathom but never that opening. It’s as sexy as Skydivers should have been, if Coleman Francis had had a budget, or any talent.
But no, the wasn’t the answer I was looking for. Since you were the only one who responded to my Trivia Question I am going to assume I didn’t phrase it right (back in comment #10). I was thinking more generally about small planes as in Time Chasers (which you mentioned – so you win a no-prize), SF International, and Commando Cody (from the same episode as Slime People). I should have just asked for lists of MST episodes that feature ANY airplanes (SST, Starfighters, Lost Continent, etc.). Not quite a subject worthy of in-depth discussion. My bad.
“no-prize”
Ah. I assumed you were referencing the Coleman Francis Cantos, which revolved around Francis’ Cessna. I think that “Colman Francis’ Cessna” would be a good name for a punk band.
Having said that, the IMDB trivia entry for Night Train to Mundo Feeenay says that Francis had a Cessna 170, not a 172, and they may well be right. The 170 was a taildragger – which matches the aeroplane in Francis’ films – whereas the 172 had modern-style tricycle gear as per the aircraft in The Slime People. Apparently Coleman’s plane is still airworthy. Three days after watching The Slime People I have forgotten almost everything about it. There was a bunch of newscasts, and a cinema… and then some fog. The riffing seemed to pick up about 3/4 into the film, but then faded away again.
The more I think about Coleman Francis the more I think about him. Actor, pilot, father, director, he achieved more with his life than anybody on this page, including me, purely through force of will. That’s what it’s all about. Force of will. And after finishing off his trilogy he apparently had the courage to finish himself off quickly, at the height of his physical and mental powers, without hanging around into old age and physical decrepitude. Most people don’t have that courage. Coleman Francis did.
“Not quite a subject worthy of in-depth discussion. My bad.”
I’m not one of the regulars, so I tend to join these discussions after everybody else has said their piece; there’ll be a couple of blog spam posts but not much after this, and on March 14 the comments will be closed and that will be that. Over time the pool of MST3K fans will gradually diminish, and eventually something will happen to mst3kinfo.com and the discussions will be lost, and trillions of years after that all matter in the universe will radiate into energy which will slowly cool forever.
And trillions of years after *that* the universe will be reborn, and someone will come up with a idea for a television programme in which a weird, creative person and his robot friends make funny comments about cheesy films. But in this universe he or she will be hit by a car and killed before having a chance to tell anybody about his idea; but other people will have other ideas.
Look, I’m clicking. I’m clicking. No smiley. Clicking. No smiley.
Possible stinger for this one:
Tolliver & the goat: “I’ve decided to do a book exposing all the insanity that’s been going on around here.”
This one’s OK, but not one of the best.
Hey folks, I noticed several posts wanting a Shout release of Slime People its on volume 27 aong with 204 Rocket Attack USA, 523 Village of the Giants and 804 Deadly Mantis.. Currently $31.49 on Amazon
Let me clarify my last post. I failed to notice that the people wanting a shout release were posting almost 3 years ago Sheesh, I promise I wont post any more untill AFTER I have had my coffee Sorry folks. The master did not approve
The Green Slime passes the Bechdel Test. Lisa and Bonnie exchange remarks about some skanky marinade they come across.
For a stinger, I’d say the above instance of the Bechdel Test being passed.
A then-current reference can be found on the DVD menu. Anyone else remember the Pink Slime hullabaloo?
Is that Kevin as the cotton candy?
Does anyone (outside of old serials), when confronted with an approaching out-of-control vehicle, ever react to it by jumping out of their own car?
That had to be the least suspenseful cliffhanger of the series, seeing as how Cody was still wearing his flying suit.
Then current reference: Hi-C Ecto-Cooler.
Favorite riffs
“You think we’ll meet them on the road?”
Of course you will. You did last week.
Finally, I come in, and you two aren’t fighting anybody.
Crooks are always dropping obvious clues like that. It’s really a desperate cry for help.
You know, there’s nothing like being in a gunfight with six hundred pounds of high-test nitro rocket fuel on your back.
The Slime People. The story of Hollywood in the early days.
“Will someone please tell me what’s happened?”
Well, you signed a contract that your agent couldn’t get you out of.
Wow, and the dipstick on this thing is enormous.
Well you’re a pretty big dipstick yourself, old man.
Why did a goofy old apocalypse have to happen right when my acne was clearing up?
“Are we going to be on television?”
Yes, but our Nielsen rating won’t be very high.
Do you have a hall pass, Bonnie? I’ll have to shoot you if you don’t.
And remember folks, even at the end of the world, signal those turns.
If you drag out our rotting, broken carcasses, it means it didn’t work out very well.
Looks like Tolliver is this week’s special.
“Fear killed Tolliver.”
I thought it was those big guys in the costumes.
No professor’s daughter is worthy that.
Well Cal, you’ve been really worthless. A coward and a tower of Jell-O. Thanks for your help.
Not a great episode, I could only make it halfway through. Maybe I worked in television too long, I just can’t buy any kind of news anchor as a heroic figure. Plus the romantic subplots were so forced it was painful. Host segment 1 seemed like the kind of skit they did later but it was much funnier later, guess they had to work up to it. This one isn’t in my rewatch pile to say the least.