Movie: (1967) A famed plastic surgeon/hypnotist/championship archer, whose brother is a “top agent,” is recruited to stop a villain and his scheme involving radioactive rugs.
First shown: 9/11/93
Opening: Tom is enjoying Joel’s home movies; Crow is scared
Invention exchange: The Mads show off Frank’s Lederhosen-hosen, Crow has invented Sara, the bobbin’ buzzard
Host segment 1: Joel’s is an evil supervillian! “I know!”
Host segment 2: J&tB parallel the lives of Sean and Neil
Host segment 3: While Joel tries to hypnotize Tom, Torgo returns in Deep 13
End: Dr. F. uses his magnetizer, much to J&tB’s dismay
Stinger: Mr. “Thunderball” pushes the button
(80 votes, average: 4.74 out of 5)
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• When I converted my ancient VHS tapes to DVD, the one containing this episode was the only one that failed to function. A pal of mine (now, sadly, no longer with us) provided me with a fresh copy. Thanks, buddy. (The last time around, this item led to a discussion of my rickety computer set up. If you’re interested, I did eventually get that mac mini — which, about a year later, died one morning and I had to get a newer one, which is working splendidly, thank you — but I am still struggling with slow and spotty Verizon DSL.)
• This episode appears in Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXV, as “Operation Kid Brother.” They had to use the alternate title to get the rights.
• References.
• This is episode is fun, and funny, but I don’t love it quite as much as the previous couple of shows. The host segments are hit and miss, for one thing. But an even bigger problem for me is that I never understood the bad guy’s plan. Or is it plans? The last time through I pointed to this site, which does a pretty good job of explaining what the heck is going on, but even he gets confused.
• I previously claimed that this is the first mention of swing choir. A commenter proved me wrong.
• Frank really commits to the lederhosen bit. You have to wonder how they felt doing some of those bits, without any audience to tell them if it was hilarious or dreadful. In the absence of feedback, they just committed.
• The Bobbin’ Buzzard is a lovely prop. Kudos to Jef Maynard or whoever was responsible.
• This movie may very well have the greatest theme song of any MSTed movie.
• Callbacks: “Hooray for Santy Claus!” (Santa Claus Conquers the Martians). Tom does the “That must be one of those [fill in noun here]s I’ve heard them talk…about…so…much…lately…” bit twice (Gamera). “There WAS no Yashuko.” (Monster-A-Go-Go). “To see your land!” (Magic Voyage of Sinbad).
• Obscure reference: “Michael, I want all the episodes of Captain Nice burned.”
• If you think this was Neil’s one and only film role, you’re mistaken. He was also in “The Body Stealers” in the 1970s, then he “retired” for a while, but ten years later he returned to movies and has been working intermittently since then. Once you get show bidness in the blood…
• Literary riff: “She thinks she’s in Dresden during the war.”
• The Rodney King incident is still on the writers’ minds.
• Joel makes a rare entrance through the “G” door in the first segment. This segment is a good example of what I call an “aren’t they adorable” sketch. It only works because, at this point, all Joel has to do is look at the camera and arch an eyebrow and we laugh. If you showed this sketch to somebody with no knowledge of the show or its performers, they’d be probably be baffled as to what’s funny about it. But fans who know and love the characters get it. I think it’s hilarious.
• Kevin really tapped into his Catholic upbringing during the nun scene.
• Crow does his Phyllis Diller impression twice, using the same line: “I’m looking for Fang!” (Fang was an invention of Diller’s from her standup days: a boorish husband she could mock. The reason he does it is because the lady’s wacky hat looks like something Diller might have worn in those days.)
• Segment two reminds me of one of those long, over-written, complicated sketches from season two. But you can sense Mike Nelson’s influence: it makes reference to a cheese factory.
• During the weird hijacking scene, Tom notes that the melody in the score sounds very similar to the classic kids’ hymn “Jesus Loves Me.” But what’s interesting is that this mockery displeases Joel, who makes him stop singing it.
• The last time around, I wondered why Beta wants to kill his own henchbabes. A commenter set me straight and this time I realized that Beta himself explains this during the party scene. I must have missed it in a previous viewing.
• Mike returns, eight episodes later, as Torgo. With the lag time these episodes had, I’m guessing the Brains had only recently picked up on the rave reviews from fans about “Manos.”
• Yet another “wha-happa?” “Wha happa” is to season 5 what “I thought you were Dale” was to season 8.
• Dr. F. is nice and evil in the closing segment. Oh, and nice job of building the magnetizer, which looks a LOT like the one in the movie. This was one of those prop-heavy episodes Jef Maynard talked about in the documentary about the show.
• Cast and crew roundup: Director Alberto de Martino also directed “The Pumaman.” Scriptwriter Frank Walker also wrote “Devil Fish.” Costumer Gaia Romanini also worked on “Hercules.” Score composer Ennio Morricone also provided music for “Diabolik.”
In front of the camera, Adolfo Celi was also in “Diabolik.” Lois Maxwell did voice work for “Invaders from the Deep.” Guido Lollobrigida was also in “The Pumaman.”
• Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Manager of Business Affairs Heide A. LeClerc becomes Heide A. LeClerc-Becker. Alpine horn provided by: Josef Diethelm. (Diethelm was the front man for a Twin Cities polka band.)
• Fave riff: “Do I have enough time to beat up the band?” Honorable mention: “Oh, who’s the sign for?”
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Agreed. The movie itself negatively impacts enjoyment, and I have to assume that it made it harder to MSTify… a viscious cycle. I watched it again recently, good enough episode, but weaker than its episodic neighbors.
I like this episode, but the movie sucks for the simple fact that they completely ram Neil’s spyness down our throats. Super Dragon was camp, but Double 007 is serious about itself. I hate this movie.
The “I know!” segment where Joel is the evil guy is HILARIOUS! It’s very Monty Python-esque in the way it just repeats on and on, but we don’t care because it’s so good!
Does anyone else think that Joel’s exaggerated air drumming during the title sequence theme song was improvised? I do, because Crow leans over and stares at him; something that Trace always did when Joel was off-script.
My full review is here but, I’ve been a bit lazy and may not have it done until this afternoon.
God, I LOVE this episode! Easily one of the best of Season 5, and the second-best Italian spy movie episode ever (right behind “Danger!! Death Ray”). The riffs in the first theater segment are just one hit after another, and it keeps compounding from there to the point where I’m literally wheezing with laughter by the end.
It’s hard to explain my love for this episode without going into too much detail – the riffing is just really, really good. I could cite my favorites (“Yuck, she’s FlowBeeing his back!”, “Ah, this is Bob ‘Going-To-My-Imminent-Death’ Hope”, “Here come the CLOWNS!”, “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and go to sleeple!”, “We just came to beat everyone up! We’re leavin’, bye!”, “It’s a Penguins song”, “I’ve lost my cigarette” “And my dignity”, “Some people can’t get up no matter how many alarms they set”, “Good God, I’m ugly. Scared my own children right out of the nursery this morning”, “Sorry, I’m…three minutes…late.” “That’s…okay. We’re a pretty…loose…group”), but I’d be here all day, transcribing about 85% of the episode.
my favorite. herbie’s gone banasas, and come one guys he’s neil connery we should he able to get neil connery.
this is a great episode. i just love all of the references to sean that is in the movie. i laugh at the hypnosis he does. all he has to do stare at you and he controls you. then there is the woman dressing like animals to steal that car. (we going to hit le pew’s place). because one looks like a skunk.it does sound like jesus love me.
The first time I saw this episode, I thought the Mads were just mocking how ridiculous the spy was going to be when they mentioned that the film starred Sean Connery’s brother. Imagine my surprise when the star actually *was* Sean Connery’s brother!
As for the episode itself, I absolutely love the bad spy genre, so I enjoy it for that. That said, I think Secret Agent: Super Dragon and especially Agent for HARM are far superior, probably because the films are inherently dorkier and therefore easier fodder for the Brains.
What exactly is “Wha happa?”
I agree this movie takes itself too seriously (apart from the weird bit where the henchbabes change from Gay Nineties gear to cat costumes) to really be a lot of fun. There’s one really disturbing bit, in fact. Yashuka, his longtime assistant, is kidnapped and tortured, then finally rescued. Neil uses his goofball “powers” to try to extricate information from her, but she is shot and killed. Neil doesn’t seem to even care about this. He just acts as if nothing had happened. Good grief, even James Bond showed emotion if a woman he cared for had been shot down in cold blood. I just thought that was extremely unpleasant and made the rest of the movie hard(er) to watch. However, Adolfo Celi’s scenery-chewing (which is worse in Diabolik) has its riffable moments, as well as the bizarre costumes worn by a number of the ladies.
I never thought of Joel’s “I know!” bit as just coasting on how cute Joel is trying to swagger, but you may have a point. Although the bots’ calling Joel out on the periscope being a cheesy prop is pretty funny in and of itself.
The best riff, though, is:
Lady: “You’ve been reading too many novels by Fleming.”
Tom: “Jerry Fleming, Ian’s brother.”
This is my favorite of the five spy movies (if you count “Million Eyes of Su-Maru” from KTMA) they did. Okay, Neil isn’t really up to the task, but it has a good supporting cast, losts of action and a great theme song. And Moneypenny gets out from behind her desk, carries a gun and actually gets to use it.
This one also has some great riffing, two of the better inventions (notice Joel start to crack-up during Crow’s “Bobbing Buzzard” song) and I really liked host segments 1 & 2 (nice reference to “Zardoz”).
Oh, and I’m pretty sure swing choir is what we called glee club in my elementary school days.
I wonder if swing chior is gaining any popularity thanks to the rise of Disney’s “High School Musical” twaddle?
And, you know, I’ve been in a few Oktoberfest biergartens where lederhosenhosen would have been nice to have…
Brandon #6 – I always thought “wha happa” was a reference to the way Bugs Bunny used to say it in countless Looney Tunes.
Sampo – If the evil guy needs more henchbabes trained, I’ll volunteer. It’s a beautiful job, but someone’s gotta do it!
By the way, what the heck is Crow referring to when he says “I’m looking for Fang! Ha ha!”?
I think Mary Jo explained the “wha happa” thing way back at the 2001 Columbia University reunion. Let me see if I can remember exactly what she said: she had a childhood (maybe high school) friend with a prosthetic arm and a speech impediment. They were playing some kind of game with their friends, and someone accidentally pulled off the arm. The girl’s reaction: “Wha happa?” No, I’m not making that up, but whether Mary Jo was is up for debate, I guess. :???:
Anyhow, 508:
Best riff: “It’s… OK… we’re… a pretty… loose… group.”
Also: “I have an announcement to make.” “I’m Rue McClanahan!”
And finally: “New city ordinance: All buildings must be painted beige.”
I very much enjoyed this episode, and the part that really makes me roll on the floor with tears and laughter is right at the beginning when the main song of being belted out…”Heee helps me, Heeee…” and so on. Tom Servo bursts out with his beautiful voice and sings, “Heeee sat on his glasses once!” That kills me every time!
“His favorite movie is Turner and Hoooooch!”
Gizmonic Temp asks,
By the way, what the heck is Crow referring to when he says “I’m looking for Fang! Ha ha!”?
Sampo has previously written,
• Crow does his Phyllis Diller twice, using the same line: “I’m looking for Fang!” (Fang was an invention of Diller’s from her standup days: a boorish husband she could mock.)
If you need further explanation, there’s really very little to be had. Crow is riffing on the women’s outfits, which closely resemble something Phyllis Diller would have worn. The sentence itself means little, other than to reference Fang.
Anyway … episode comments.
This is one of my very favorites. Aside from the great lines others have listed, I enjoy some of the quieter riffs that I didn’t notice until much later viewings.
When Neil is in the little hat (“Take off the tamoshanter! Operation Double-OO Girl Scout!”), he’s reading the cable from the Minister of Hell. He then looks up at M, and Joel says, “I can’t read.”
Later, after meeting Bernie from Room 222 in the Malaga garden, Moneypenny leads him away, as Tom mutters, “I have a caregiver.”
Later, after Operation Double-00 Hee-Haw, Tom bends a famed Bond tagline into “Watch Bond Take Shorthand!”
What I’d like to know, however, what does “The Alps are beautiful, but dumb” mean, or refer to?
Regarding swing choir, I was well-aware of it in my youth. It was big (in High School chorus circles) in Iowa. Our HS swing choir even had a high-falutin’ name: “Starburst, Inc.” (Yes, really) It is very similar to a Glee Club, as we also had a Girls Glee Club, known as “The Satin Dolls” (Yes, really). It was more akin to a Junior Varsity Swing Choir. There was no Boys Glee Club, mainly because the best male singers were already in swing choir (often regardless of their ability to move while singing) and the others weren’t interested.
This is one of my favourites :smile: The “I know” host segment is hilarious
I was going to post my thoughts on the movie, but it looks like Sampo already did. Thanks Sampo!
I had no idea this episode was so polarizing. From the comments, it looks like most people either loved it or hated it. Personally, I thought it was hilarious.
Response to #7: Here’s another hilarious sibling riff: “Prepare to meet Cali’s brother, near hell!”
Cubby #15 – Thanks. :???: Well, I feel like a dork. Honestly, my eyes just skipped over that bullet in Sampo’s comments. (You buy that?)
Yes, we growing up in CT had swing choir, and its various allied musical demons as well…
Ian Fleming did have a brother who was a writer. But his name was Peter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fleming#Bibliography
Did I miss anyone commenting on the ultra-lamo fact that the main characters’s name in this movie is… Neil Connery ?
( & sorry Sampo old man, but it’s Neil, not Neal )
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0175227/
Yes, we growing up in CT had swing choir, and its various allied musical demons as well…
Ian Fleming did have a brother who was a writer. But his name was Peter.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fleming#Bibliography
Did I miss anyone commenting on the ultra-lamo fact that the main character’s name in this movie is… Neil Connery ?
( & sorry Sampo old man, but it’s Neil, not Neal )
imdb.com/name/nm0175227/
Sampo, when you have “Intellectual Riff:” (or worse yet, “Obscure Riff:”) and then just present the riff with no explanation, it’s intensely frustrating when the reader doesn’t get the riff. (I did this time, but I imagine that every time, there are readers saying, “Fine, it’s obscure. So what the hell does it MEAN?!”)
( Erhardt old man, FYI it seems that whatever-it-is-that-does-that does not like it when I add links to my posts, but only when I do it from work, see double-post-spam issue some weeks ago )
( oh and sorry, I think I keep spelling your name wrong )
re #21
“She thinks she’s in Dresden during the war.”
Refers to Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-5, no ? Billy Pilgrim unstuck in time, sometimes ending up in Dresden….
Keeping in mind that Mike is a big Vonnegut fan.
“New city ordinance: All buildings must be painted beige!”
Actually, I think that’s a “state park joke,” i.e. Monaco really does have that ordinance! :smile:
Riff that catches me off guard every time… “I can’t read.” It just perfectly captures the expression on Neil’s face. :) I’m laughing just thinking about it.
I’m not a medium #20 – I noticed that ultra-lamo fact, too. I BELIEVE the film makers HAD to do that to avoid copyright/trademark/license problems. They couldn’t call him “Bond”, so they called him “Connery” so that everyone would associate him with Sean, and therefore James Bond. It’s the same reason that “Miss Moneypenny” was “Miss Maxwell”.
:oops: “Alternate vibrators inserted.” :oops:
A good one for me. I love the theme song. They just keep going and going and going. The “I know” segment is made even funnier by the fact that Joel’s holding a Kit-Kat like a cigar. As the ACEG said, a very full ending.
The movie, not great but I’ve seen worse Bond ripoffs. The host segments work for the most part.
Kevin is also a big Vonnegut fan (remember the incident in the ACEG).
There’s a riff in this episode that some YouTube members including myself noticed but when the scene changes to the nuclear missile facility, Joel and the Bots start humming what sounds like the Red Dwarf theme.
By the way, I also loved Joel’s “I know.”
Sampo, my friend, don’t tell me you’re not on the Digital Archive Project train! They have all the episodes available as AVIs, and a huge portion of them available as DVDs… (Only the non-officially released ones, of course.) A quick check tells me that, yep, episode 508 is available.
I always appreciated the wardrobe in this movie. Thair Beta’s caftan during the party scene is really eye-catching.
The Bobbin’ Buzzard is a terrific sketch, especially when Joel cracks up over Crow’s song.
A solid episode, really…”I know!”
I generally don’t like the spy movie episodes of MST because the genre itself is so profoundly uninteresting to me, but this episode is a delight. I think it’s because it’s so ridiculous to the point of self-parody. Also, the host segments in this one are awesome. Mike as Torgo is always great, and Joel’s supervillian sketch is brilliant. It seems that he’s finally got the hang of being evil after failing miserably during “Manos”. (Say, did anyone else make that connection? Perhaps that’s why they brought Mike back as Torgo.)
As to the movie…someone must be dubbing Neil, right? Because he doesn’t have a trace of an accent, and not even Sean can ever quite overcome it. Was everyone being dubbed, or just him?
Omega #28 : It could well be Kevin that I am thinking of.. you mean the meeting-KV-in-the- bar-and-getting-snubbed story ?
Re #29: SAMPO ?!?! Hie thee to a DAPery !!!!!
Patrick ( #29 ) : What’s your ratio ?
The “I know” sketch is one of my favorite Joel moments. After the left the show, word had gone around that one of the reasons was discomfort with being a performer. Now that he’s saying it had to do with creative differences with Jim Mallon that fact is thrown into question, but in any case, Joel is awesome in the sketch, and would really only work with Joel doing it. A shining moment.
I think my ratio is something like 1.3 right now, although I haven’t checked it since I grabbed the new Jungle Goddess release.
1.335 and rising!
Darthdemona #31 – When I was watching this last night, I was struck by Beta’s dub as it sounds exactly like Dr. Sikarna’s dub from “211: First Spaceship on Venus”.
not bad kids, ( 3.330 )
About DAP: I simply do not have the technological capability. If somebody wants to buy me a computer made in this millennium, I’ll look into it. Until then, I rely on the kindness of fellow MSTies. :wink:
Advanced gizmonics not required. All you need is broadband and some hard drive space. Join us…..
IANAMIAP: You have successfully identified two things I do not have.
( sir, you have left me speechless )
Patrick @29:
Mine’s nicer. :razz:
(Besides, Sampo does all this on a steam-powered TRS-80.)
( and he runs this TRS-80 in a cave…. ? )
The guy who dubbed Neil’s voice also did Hercules.
I have one question: what do you mean by a sketch being over-written? It can be badly written, well written too long and so on, but what is over-written and why do you think they are too complicated? Just wondering. Take it easy.
Sampo: I think the henchgals were just on lone from Alpha. And when Beta decided to take over, he thought they might get in the way.
#31 Darthdemona: Maybe they brought Torgo back because Neil kind of looked like him when he was wearing his overalls and straw hat?
This is a so-so ep for me. But liked their version of the theme song.
Joel: “Heee likes to wear mittens.”
Crow: “Heee has a deviated sep-tum.”
Also liked Joel’s line: “Are we gonna die? We’re really not that far away.”
I’ll be waiting in the b-aa-h.
(Or whatever that guy said).
Also: How the heck did Moneypenny, I mean Maxwell, see that pilot well enough to WAVE to him?
Sampo #41 – God bless you, sir. It takes a strong person to get on in this day with no broadband. I DO have broadband, but no cell phone; a fact I wear like a badge of honor.
Mrbat423 #45 Hercules?! Are you sure? Steve Reeves or Alan Steel or Reg Park? Certainly not Steve (may peace be upon him).
Hench gals were on LOAN not lone. Ooops.
re: #23
Thanks, but as I said, I got it. I’m just saying that labelling a riff as “Obscure Riff” or “Intellectual Riff” is acknowledging that many people won’t get it. If you do that, but don’t explain it, the label might as well be “Riff About Which I’m Rubbing It in That Many of You Didn’t Get It.”