…things that they missed. The one that comes to mind for me is from Warrior of the Lost World, where the repeatedly referred to Robert Ginty as the “Paper Chase guy,” without ever noting his role in Baa Baa Black Sheep (or doing it so subtly that I missed it). It stands out to me because the show is one of the formative programs of my youth.
Along the same lines, alert reader Glenn chimes in with a suggestion that he says…
…definitely falls into the category of “Monday morning quarterbacking” and in no way is meant as a slight to the quick comic minds that have brought us all such pleasure over the years. But, as Horace reminds us, even the worthy Homer nods (thanks, Wikiquotes!). You might call this “Missed riffs:” Where do you think there is an obvious place for a riff in a MSTed film or short that were left without one, and what riff would you suggest?
What made me think of this is the short “Are You Ready for Marriage?,” which I show every year to students in my first-year seminar. When Larry and his buddy Phil walk into the malt shop after Larry and Sue have decided to get married, Phil says, “Engaged? What are you going to use for money?” Every time I see that scene, I hear in my mind a squeaky adolescent male voice saying, “Bottle caps!” Does this happen to anyone else, or do I have a more deeply-rooted problem?
Well, Glenn, I think I speak for all of us here when I say that the answer to both questions is yes. :-)
So, everybody remembers that nobody mentioned “Battlestar Galactica” in “Space Mutiny” or “Beverly Hillbillies” in “Space Children,” but are there any other riffs or references you think they ought to have done? Let’s hear ’em.
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“Slime People”. Oh so many missed opportunities in “Slime People”.
Such as the ‘News Report’ of the army fighting the Slime People and all we hear are some gunshot sounds from offscreen. All I could think of were lines like: “We would love to show you the actual fighting but our budget won’t allow it.” Or “Gee, wouldn’t they be embarassed if it was just some kid with a ‘War Sounds’ record with the volume turned up really high.”
And the fact that, beyond the cast, we only see a handful of extras and I just kept thinking “Yeah, we picked these guys up hanging out at the mall and gave them free lunch. Didn’t even tell them we were actually shooting a movie.”
P.S. Re: “Cowboys and Aliens”. The movie is actually based off a graphic novel by Platinum Studios. I don’t know if the writer of the GN was inspired by anything else. Platinum, however, did some ‘gaming of the system’ to boost the GN’s sales numbers back when it first came out in the early 2000’s.
Okay, I’m taking off my comic book geek hat now.
This is generic: Anytime I see a door close and the camera holds on the closed door for a second, I expect to hear some muffled screaming, laughing or moans of passion.
Like TEENAGERS FROM SPACE when Servo makes cries of “HELP” from the car trunk.
This is not just MST3K but any movie.
oh yeah, COWBOYS AND ALIENS was GREAT!.
It’s a better western than SILVERADO. (That’s not really saying much I know.)
I wouldn’t bother mentioning this again, but since the new Thundercats cartoon debuted less than 24 hours ago, I must reiterate just how much Krankor’s 3-barreled cannon looks like it was torn right off the back of the Thundertank. Some further speculation on whether Prince of Space’s enemy aliens are related to Mutant Vulturemen might have broken up the string of chicken jokes, but…well, ya kinda’ hadta’ be there.
And in Invasion of the Neptune Men, were there any Robby the Robot or Lost in Space jokes when the aliens were onscreen, or would that have been too easy/blasphemous as their heads were clearly rip-offs of Robby, emphasized by the kids having a RTR toy?
I’m probably only wondering this because I’d love to see Rifftrax tackle “The Man Who Saves the Earth”, better known as Turkish Star Wars, to see if their take on the robot strangling the little boy would be: “This time, I AM the danger! Has your mind been sufficiently blown, Turkish-Will-Robinson?!” I know they’re probably just lucky Lucas didn’t sue them for riffing the Holiday Special, but I can dream.
In Girls’ Town a nun asks Mamie Van Doren, “Do you deny this?” And I always thought the perfect riff would have been, “Deny it?! I supplied it!”
Watching the BIRDEMIC Rifftrax, I was surprised they didn’t have a joke for Natalie’s horribly filthy feet during her hotel-room love scene with Rod
What no Ginsu knife references in “Gamera vs. Guiron”?
I’ll throw in their failure to recognize Ron Wood in “The Deadly Bees” and, to a lesser extent, Sonny Chiba in “Invasion of the Neptune Men”.
Post-MST, we could’ve had “Sex and the City” refs in “City Limits” and “Deadwood” for “Code Name: Diamond Head”.
I was surprised they cut out a really dumb line in This Planet Earth, about the name of the cat.
“His name is neutron. We call him that because he’s so positive”
Unless it was meant to be ironic, the writer of that didn’t even have a high school knowledge of physics. Not surprising, given how awful the rest of the movie is.
But there are a lot of things to make fun of in that line, but they cut it from the movie…
Johnny At the Fair:
“And then the cop took Johnny to somewhere he hadn’t expected to go see…”
(naively enthusiastic Joel delivery) “Oh, hey, look, it’s the Lost Child exhibit!”
No Torgo references in Gorgo? Why?!
In Village of the Giants, Johnny Crawford was dangled between the breasts (paper mache) of one of the giants for several scenes. I was surprised M&TBs did’nt do motor boat sounds in unison?
#4 hit on one of mine – in the 2 MST3K experiments featuring John Philip Law, M&TB give no clue that they know who he is.
#18 – A Jack Parr riff in Spider Island would have been the funniest riff of the season.
#33 – That’s the biggest one for me – the chord in Santa Claus whenever the devil appears that sounds just like the chord in “Bennie and the Jets”. I end up singing “Bennie and the Jets” every time that chord is played.
This topic gives me another chance to spout my pet theory about “Space Mutiny” and “Battlestar Galactica”. I think it’s a generational thing. I’m about the same age as the Brains, and I wouldn’t have recognized the footage. And I’ve read that BG’s biggest audience was children. I’ll bet that most of the people who recognized the footage are younger.
Both “Boggy Creek 2: And The Legend Continues” and “Space Mutiny” were well known bad movies amongst me and my friends and family for a while before MST did them, and while I still like the MST takes on them (especially Space Mutiny) there are many missed opportunities in both episodes. There are several moments in “Boggy Creek 2” that were amongst our personal favorite moments to mock and laugh at that were totally ignored by the Brains. I never could understand how they didn’t find any humor in them. And aside from the ripped off Battlestar Galactica effects stuff in Space Mutiny there are several other moments in that as well that my friends and I loved to laugh at but were either glossed over with a minimal amount of riffing, or totally ignored on MST. All the Boggy Creek movies were favorites just discovered in the video store over the years, but how we discovered Space Mutiny was funny. A friend and I were at Best Buy and in the VHS section we found the tape of Space Mutiny. On the front it had a laughably awful painting of who we both (as huge nerds) instantly recognized as Reb Brown. So I grabbed it up and turned it over only to see Battlestar Galactica screenshots on the back. We sat there laughing our butts off for about five minutes, and never put the tape down until it was in the VCR at my friends house. We watched it twice that night, and regularly there after. I often said that I should just buy another copy and mail it to Best Brains, but I never did. Then about three years later they did it anyway.
@44 Thank you for saying Clancy Brown. That’s been bothering me for years. Not constantly. But now I can clearly see boingman saying, “the enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand”.
I’ve said this a hundred times. Parts: the Clonus Horror lead actor was Chet the fireman on ‘Emergency!’
There was no excuse for missing that.The guy was in every episode but a few.
The guy didn’t have his mustache in the movie, so apparently it was too hard for them to notice him. They know of the show because they’ve referenced it in many riffs, (‘Rampart’ and all that). My guess is that none of them wached it much though. It was one of the most popular and longest running shows of the 70’s, but I guess they must have been busy watching other shows.
Note –
I’ve ashed into my keyboard so much that the keys are tough & sticky and thats why my spelling is getting worse and worse. I go through a keyboard every six months I’d say because I eat, drink and smoke right over it.
Thats not as bad as a friend of mine who uses the spaces between the F1-F12 keys as an cigarette holder. I never set mine down though.
Watching FUGITIVE ALIEN right now.
Heckraiser says: “Baccus 3, You haven’t seen the last of me.”
(Firesign Theatre Reference) : “No, but the first of you turns my stomach!”
#66>Manny Sanguillen
Do you mean Chet Kelley? He had a mustache and was stocky. (And collected various types of barbed wire.)
Also stop smoking and drinking right over your keyboard and you won’t have problems with it anymore. (Although there is still the danger of air-born human dander.)
It’s always amazed me that, early in “The Projected Man”, when Paul is describing to Dr. Hill how his discovery works, they completely miss the opportunity to make (what to me is) the most obvious joke/comparison…
“It’s WONKAVISION!”
#66: Thank you for mentioning that! It has always driven me crazy, trying to remember where else I knew that guy from!
In Invasion USA, greasy reporter comes into the bar and tells the bombshell that the commies nuked a shipyard in Seattle, the reply goes:
Bombshell: “Oh no!”
Reporter: “Oh yes!”
I always add a Kool-aide Man “Oh yeah!” after that.
#59 I’d blame the studio for anything cut from the movie. We really need Criterion to liberate the original cut from the vault or something, like they did with Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
#63 How do you explain the Battlestar Galactica riff in San Francisco International then?
#1-Crow said “Doctor Who….the hell cares” in Overdawn.
#44-I too wished for a Kurgan/Clancy Brown reference in “Are You Ready for Marriage” due to the resemblance. About BSG/Space Mutiny, others have theorized that because the SciFi channel had acquired the rights to the original BSG, they (SciFi) thought it shouldn’t be subjected to harsh riffing. I know there are many instances of missed riffs throughout the show though my mind is presently drawing a blank so I’ll repost if I think of them.
I think either Trace or Frank was a fan of Battlestar Galactica. Or they just liked making fun of it. With them not there, the Space Mutiny episode we know was created, tragically and epically devoid of Battlestar Galactica FX being pointed out riffs. The world died a little and it made 9/11 possible.
Sometimes they just barely reference these things and you think they didn’t. Village of the Giants has Toni Basil in it and Servo does a line from Hey Mickey about as fast and as quiet as he can. I only noticed it when I watched the episode looking for Toni Basil. I wonder if they just couldn’t do it in a funny way.
A lot of people mention Forrest J. Ackermann’s cameo in Future War too. That guy was an awesome individual but I have no idea if recognizing him would have improved the episode.
I always thought that for the many “Gamera” extravaganzas everytime a character would say “Look, It’s Gamera”, the riff would have been along the lines of “Alright everybody stand still and say cheese.” This would evovle into “O.K. say cheese” or even into just “Cheese!”. I guess that would become tired and old after a while as the Main character’s names is repeated so often throughout the films. Of course Joel could always have come back with the oft-time quoted “Enough of that” or one of the bots, probably Tom, would state “Let’s move on”.
In “This Island Earth” in the MST3K Movie the one and only Coleman Francis has a bit part as the Interociter catalog deliveryman but no comment on that from the gang. I can’t believe they actually missed that, it was probably the suits who kept them from riffing on it … too obscure for the non-fan.
#79 – When I first saw that, I actually posed the question somewhere asking if BB had realised who that was. The reply I got was that, yes, they were aware. I actually think that the riff they came up with has a nice little double edge to it. They say “Sort this, deliver that. I’ll make them all pay!” It has a reference to him as a postman, but can also be seen as Coleman hating his role as a postman, and wanting to make his own movies.
That’s my opinion, of course…
Luke A. #8: Everytime I watch “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” I can’t help but thinking that the big monster in the end looks more like Sloth from “The Goonies” than Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
I would rather have Sloth from Fullmetal Alchemist. ;)
re 38. Thanks for pointing that out about Kenneth MacDonald. I love the Stooges, but never made the connection of him to She Creature. And I’m one of the few people who think She Creature is a great episode, so will have to watch for him next time I see it.
Obscure, unless you’ve seen The Loved One as many times as I have (forty-plus, and rising):
In EITHER Giant Spider Invasion or Touch of Satan, there’s no riffs on the unbelievably awesome Robert Easton referencing Dusty Acres.
Sigh.
Any of these would have worked any time he showed up in either movie:
“Y’all take it easy now, y’hear?”
“Ah shore do feel bad about yore uncle. He’s the one that learned me good English.”
DUSTY: “Oh, I say, things are getting a bit dikey.”
SIR FRANCIS: “Dicey, Dusty, dicey.”
@Canucklehead: I also always took Postman Francis’ “sort this, deliver that, I’ll make them all pay” riff as a subtle reference to his future film career. I don’t know if that’s really how BB intended it, but I enjoy it a lot more with that interpretation.
@Spalanzani I prefer that interpretation too. It just adds so much to the MST3K legend that is Coleman Francis…
Re-Watched “First Spaceship on Venus” recently too and was really surprised none of the guys made any EPCOT jokes with the big building shaped like a giant golfball.
Lee Van Cleef stars in three movies MST did – It Conquered the World, and the Master Ninjas – but not one reference to Escape from NY? And IS there a Wild World of Batwoman reference in Giant Spider Invasion? Vaaaaance! is in it.
First of all, I agree TOTALLY with the post about “Batwoman”(#47); I could not believe they never once commented on the resemblance between the mad scientist and Doctor F.
Second– the first time I saw the short “Days of Our Years” was with a friend of mine, and when they showed the scene where the new father (complete with dark glasses) was tending to his child, Ricky IMMEDIATELY went “Pretty woman, walking down the street…” in full song. I had to stop the tape because I was laughing so hard. To this day, I laugh just as hard at that recollection as I do at Mike’s comment “Here’s your bottle…” when the new father hands his child a toy train.
I don’t remember any references to THE GODFATHER in honor of Gianni Russo in LASERBLAST.
If we can expand this to CT and RT:
During the Film Crew disc of “Killers from Space”, when we hear that Peter Graves’ callsign at the beginning is “Tar Baby”, I’d have expected the following exchange between two of the riffers:
“Tar Baby?”
-“Ofay.”
“Colored.”
-“Redneck!”
“Jungle Bunny!”
-“PECKERWOOD!”
“SPEARCHUCKER!”
-“WHITE TRASH!”
And when CT riffed on “Danger on Tiki Island”, when the cuckold scientist is describing the mutated crab he finds, I’d have expected this: “Strangely enough, he also became greedy and opened an undersea restaurant.”
On the other hand, everyone at MST, CT & RT have all come up with loads of riffs I’d never have thought of, so they’re still leading the pack.
Honestly the only glaring moment I noticed is the one noted in the article we’re commenting in. The lack of Battlestar Galactica references in Space Mutiny.
I was waiting a long time in Puma Man for a Greatest American Hero reference and finally got it at the end when Crow riffed the theme song. The same happened with Space Mutiny. After they left the theater for the last time in Space Mutiny the only thing on my mind was “How did they not notice?”
The most perfect riff/callback ever came at the end of The Undead when Satan was laughing at the plight of Ratcliff and Mike said “You’re stuck here!”. A callback to season 3’s Fugitive Alien. At least they recognized their own material…most of the time anyway.
“Time of the Apes” features a major character named Gay Bar.
I ask you.
I was always surprised by the no mention of Mario Bava directing DANGER DIABOLIK.
He was rather prolific and influential, don’t you know.
His son, Lamberto, director of DEVIL FISH, was rather less so.
Rifftrax’s doing on JJ ABrams’ Star Trek had one line that screamed for an oldie.
Computer: Ambassador Spock, you are on a collision course.
Now say it with me: WITH WACKINESS!
In Prince of Space, Prince of Space says something about not wanting to get too close to Phantom of Krankor’s foul breath, an appropriate choice of words to use against chicken-men. Foul/fowl! But Mike and the ‘bots said nothing. Nothing!
Oh well. That’s still my favorite episode.
When I was watching Rifftrax’s take on Transformers, I was suprised to hear no “Lost In Space” references. When Optimus and the Autobots were generally making a mess of Sam’s garden, all I could think of was “YOU BUBBLE-HEADED BOOBY! YOU PATHETIC WASTE OF SCRAP METAL!”
“#63 How do you explain the Battlestar Galactica riff in San Francisco International then?”
IIRC, they refer to a case where a teen supposedly killed himself because BG was cancelled. They don’t refer to any element of the show.
And I’m not saying they never saw a frame of the show, just that they might not have had a visual memory of it.
@97 – IIRC, they refer to a case where a teen supposedly killed himself because BG was cancelled.
Was that before or after “Galactica 1980”?
My list of missed jokes (besides the obvious ones):
-The Puma Man: A joke that mentions how Vadinho looks like a large, Indian version of Courage from the Sid and Marty Krofft show The Bugaloos.
-Adventures of a Chipmunk Family (Rifftrax): Two major ones that come to mind:
1. A Yogi Bear joke, given how the music at the beginning is the same music used in the original Yogi Bear cartoon.
2. A crack at the best Alvin and the Chipmunks film out there, The Chipmunk Adventure (the 1987 animated film where the Chipmunks and Chipettes go on a race around the world that’s a cover for a diamond smuggling ring).
I do remember by the time the movie actually came out in 1996, a number of fans were miffed that there weren’t any riffs connecting This Island Earth’s Brak with his Space Ghost villain namesake…even though back when the riffs were written in 1994/95 the …Coast to Coast show might have still been just a bit too under the radar for the gang.