So this week’s question from me is: What bits, songs, chunks of episodes or entire episodes do you have memorized? And are there any stories that go with why you’ve committed them to memory?
Me personally, there are big chunks of “Manos” I know by heart — and how sad is that?? And I know the words to a LOT of the songs by heart, largely because in the ’90s I had a set of cassette tapes I’d thrown together that contained songs and musical sections from the movies, that I played in my car constantly.
What about you?
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Oops. Forgot Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It’s a family tradition.
I probably, at one time, could do 90% of the season one eps, and I still can pretty much do the first half hour or so of The Black Scorpion. I haven’t watched it that much recently to keep up, I mean, I’m no Montag.
My partner and I have memorized “When Loving Lovers Love” from “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank,” and plan to perform it at our wedding, when California gives us back right to the gay marriage they gave us and then took away.
I have to say that I have most of Time Chasers memorized.
And I know it really isn’t exactly the topic at hand, but a friend of mine and I always remembered two riffs from two different MST episodes that we haven’t seen since they first aired in the 90’s. That would be the one from Riding with Death (Fruit Fly the Magician) and Puma Man (when you want the taste of bacon in a dip).
Angels Revenge, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Santa Claus (the other one), and I’m probably leaving some out. Lots of the shorts, probably most of them.
“Don’t be too hard on her, dear – you’ll give her the reds.”
Most of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Bride of the Monster, and Monster A-Go Go.
Sometimes having parts of MST3K memorized gets me funny looks. For example, when the “I’m fartin’ Monopoly cards!” line from Overdrawn at the Memory Bank pops into my head and I start laughing like a fool. Really annoying, especially when it happens in church.
I watched the uncut Space Mutiny (by choice, out of morbid curiosity), and was surprised at how many of the riffs I was muttering during the whole thing. I’ve got the opening credits sequence down perfectly. Yay?
Flag On The Moon, how did it get there?
I mostly have bits and pieces here and there memorized. One of my co-workers has Warrior of the Lost World nearly memorized.
I’ve got many moments memorized, but worked hard to learn the item which for me sums up Bill Corbett’s time on the SOL, the Cigarette Hag poem from “The Deadly Bees.”
What I find interesting are all the things I didn’t even realize I had memorized. There are many times when I say a riff to myself thinking it’s original then suddenly Joel, Mike or the ‘Bots say it. They’re in my head, man!
I practically know Laserblast by heart. Besides watching it about 10 times I put the audio on my Ipod and listen to it while I work. That probably added about another 20 times listening to it. I know most of the jokes, but it’s still fun.
An MST3k Group on Yahoo (now defunct) I belonged to used to have a “ID the Riff” contest on the forum. People would write out a riff and the one who could identify which episode and when would write the next one.
It was semi-sick how many of them I used to get. I even know most of that action set skit from “Gamera vs. Baragon”, the “Snow Thrills” bit, “Catching Ross” and the “KLAK Holiday Recipe” skit.
I can’t watch a non-MSTied version of these movies or shorts without the riffs running in my head.
I too have most of MST3K:TM memorized along with my very favorite episode, “The Touch Of Satan”. As for individual moments, both of the MST Christmas songs (“A Patrick Swayze Christmas” and “Merry Christmas… If That’s Okay”) are on a compilation cd I made of songs from classic Christmas specials so I hear them (and sing along) practically non-stop every holiday season. Also have Mr. B Natural pretty much memorized and dozens upon dozens of catch phrases.
Most of Werewolf, Prince of Space…and the record riffs from Invasion of the Neptune Men. I can also recite quite a bit of Radar Secret Service. There are loads of riffs I remember from multiple episodes.
Oh, and …
“Hired!
I hope I don’t get fired!
In 40 years I’ll be retired
But for now, I’m simply hired.
I got a job today!
I’m selling Chevrolet!
I’m taking home good pay.
I just got hired!
He got a job today! (Yeah, me!)
He’s selling Chevrolet!
He’s taking home good pay.
He just got hired.
…and so on. :)
“That’s not Sparky…he had skin!” Teenagers From Outer Space. Gets me every time!
I don’t have an ENTIRE short or movie memorized but I do have a high percentage of the riffs memorized so I can think it before they say it. I have most of the song “When Loving Lovers Love” memorized. I really do like pie.
#27, Cambottalks:
Are you sure the longest name isn’t Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?
Oh God, I’ve memorized so much! Mostly individual riffs, which I bust out whenever the occasion is appropriate, but I do have whole sections of specific episodes embedded in my memory too. Big chunks of “Manos”, “Jack Frost”, “Zombie Nightmare”, and other episodes I’ve seen a million times. And of course, the songs – I sometimes find myself absent-mindedly singing “Tubular Boobular Joy” from “Outlaw” and have to stop myself because I realize I’m in public.
Lsst night I was watching monster movies. Among them was the un-mstied version of GODZILLA vs THE SEA MONSTER. I found I knew about twenty minutes worth of riffs from the episode.
Including:
Godzilla rubs the side of his nose(?) “That’s right baby, I’m bad to the bone.” (Favorite riff)
Every time the micro-twins bow their heads: “We’re filled with shame.”
And when the gang is sneaking behind a fake bush I couldn’t help humming that short piece of music from “The Pajama Game” (I think that’s what it’s from.)
I came into this world just knowing the lyrics to Idiot Control Now, but there was a time when I was part of walk-a-thon and I thought it would be funny if told people I was walking for H.E.L.P.I.N.G. C.H.I.L.D.R.E.N. T.H.R.O.U.G.H. R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H. A.N.D. D.E.V.E.L.O.P.M.E.N.T. I went through more trouble memorizing that one than anything else from the show since all I had at the time was a VHS to keep rewinding to make sure I was catching the words right.
Huge chunks of I Accuse My Parents, Legend Of Boggy Creek II(pretty much from Old Man Crenshaw’s first appearance on), Mitchell, Cave Dwellers, Warrior Of The Lost World (especially the Megaweapon sequence, I would put that in the MST classics time vault for sure), Red Zone Cuba (“AAAAGH!! I think I broke my neck on that jump cut!!” and “I want to hurt this movie back…” spring out of me when watching a particularly dismal Hollywood flick), and more, I’m sure, but Manos and The Day The Earth Froze, along with their respective shorts, are pretty much burned into my memory due to those being the episodes we would pass around and show to people most often back in the day. I have many, many, MANY of the songs memorized as well, not only from the sketches but also the ones they sang along with the film soundtracks, like the “Ator flies, and so does my heart…..” bit from Cave Dwellers, and the end credits Joe Don Baker-bashing from Final Justice-“Eat, Eat, EAT, EAT,….”. Oh, and pretty much all of Aquatic Wizards. Sketch songs I have memorized include Creepy Girl, The Gamera Fight Song, The Greatest Frank Of All, Clown In The Sky, When Loving Lovers Love, and The United Servo Men’s Chorus, natch. :cigarette:
Oh, and just to throw my hat into the watching the non-MSTed version ring, Ator The Blademaster came on late night TV once years ago and I was able to do pretty well, to my shame.
A whole bunch of the host segment songs, thanks to the Clowns in the Sky CDs. In high school German class, a friend and I translated the sketch from “The Giant Gila Monster” where Joel creates a malt shop into German, having memorized the original dialogue.
How much O’Keeffe? Miles O’Keeffe!
Rocketship X-M was the first episode I ever taped and consequently there was a time when I could walk through the whole durn thing going riff for riff. For whatever reason that dinner host segment from It Conquered The World seems to stick in my mind. I remember transcribing it for Ward E without using much pause and play. “I’ve never seen Spam served so many ways, especially in the Jello.”
Of course, there’s that one song that most if not all of us have memorized (“In the not too distant future…”)
I’ve got a lot of Pod People and Cave Dwellers memorized, as that was all I had to watch for a few years.
Then there are the episodes I have absolutely nothing memorized from — like Master Ninja II. I’ve seen it several times (in fact I just saw it today), but I can’t for the life of me remember any of it.
“You and your friends are the only creeps in here.” “Three on one is not much fun.” “You’re square, baby, so square you look like a box.” Yes, sadly I have a lot of the dialogue to Wild Rebels memorized. It was the first episode we ever saw and there’s a lot of fondness for it around here and thanks to the nice commercial DVD release we’ve seen it a lot in recent years. The Wild Rebels Cereal Commercial song is one we know pretty well.
There are numerous episodes I’ve from which I have much memorized. My wife and I have been MSTies for more than 2 decades. Even our teenage son now drops quotes from MST3K because I still watch it so much and he’s really come to enjoy many episodes. Monster A-Go Go with Circus On Ice is one episode we can quote quite a bit. Rocketship X-M is my favorite episode and I have it near memorized. First Spaceship On Venus is my son’s favorite episode and one of my favorites too and also makes the nearly memorized list. Then there’s Manos, Lost Continent and more.
I’ve memorized Joel’s memories of the sixties from “Catalina Caper”.
“silly rabbi, kicks are for trids” – wild rebels :giggle:
I used to work at a video store and the only MST3K we had was “The Movie” so I would slap this on all the time on the tv we had set up. It got so a few kids from around the plaza would come in and hang out and watch it while I worked. I can pretty much recite the movie word-for-word, even all these years later. The bonus would be that I converted someone onto Mystery Science Theater by having that movie playing so often!
The Orville Popcorn sketch. And MICHAEL J. NELSON IS “LORD OF THE DANCE!”
Tom:
Tibby O Tibby,
My heart is a mess
I don’t have a protective shell over my chest
so people can hurt me with the cruel things they do
But Tibby sweet Tibby I know that you hurt too.
Crow:
Tibby O Tibby my fine little fella
Even though you gave the whole family salmonella!
Doh I guess I don’t remember all of it after all but this is one of my favorite songs. Unfortunately my brain is good at remembering about 75% of various skits and some episodes but never 100% of anything.
I have my favorite song, The Fugitive Alien Medley, memorized.
Oh and the Pina Colada host segment sketch.
‘Leather Coat’ song from The Beatniks.
and of course ‘Man is a feeling creature’ speech from Peter Graves in It Conquered The World.
Patrick swasy X maxx. “He Tried to kill me with a Forklift.”
Most of the songs. Almost all Outlaw because it was only MSt3k I owned for while.
HUM HUM HUM HUM HUM!
HUM HUM HUM HUM HUM!
SWORD AND MAGIC HELMET!
MAGIC HELMET-HEY!
I WISH I HAD A SPECIAL PURPLE PHONE TO MATCH MY PURPLE GYPSY COLOUR!
I WISH I HAD A PHONE WITH A COMBINED KENNER EASY BAKE OVEN!
I WISH I HAD A PHONE CONNECTED TO HALF OF A OCELOT!
(What’s an ocelot?)
I WISH I HAD ONE OF THOSE THINGS WITH A THING ON IT AND A THING AND IT WAS CHEAP AND ALL MY FRIENDS WOULD CALL AND CHAT WITH ME!
(Here you go!)
OH WOW!
HELLO, HELLO!
HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!
I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU SAY GOODBYE, I SAY HELLO!
AND IF YOU SAY GOODBYE, I’LL SOCK YOU IN THE EYE,
AND LINE YOU UP AGAINST THE WALL AND POP GOES THE WEASEL!
AND IF YOU SAY GOODBYE, SHE’LL SOCK YOU IN THE EYE,
AND LINE YOU UP AGAINST THE WALL AND POP GOES THE WEASEL!
(Brought to you by your phone council reminding you to decorate your house with phones.)
PHONES!
I love Gypsy’s phone song so much.
I sing the Canada song myself quite often, though I have no inherent disrespect for our clunky nanny-state northern brethren.
26 @cambot: its a land I must “eschew”; that is, shun.
and later in the song, they are “Franco-philic,” that is, French-loving.
Some of my original tapes were Gamera v Guiron and Giant Spider Invasion, so I can pretty much recite them; and Overdrawn is so far off the goofy-meter, and unique in its public video kind of way, I think i remembered it after only one watching. I like to yell “FINGALLLLLLLLLLL!” while I’m getting fat on Flav-o-fives.
Andy Rooney retired last night – thank God I had the Andy-Rooney-Off memorized, so I could regale my friends at work with it!
“…And sometimes it’s kind of a slow fast.”
@90. I thought he said “Franco-phonic,” meaning, French-speaking.
also for me “Man is a feeling creature” and the song “When loving lovers love”
Interestingly, considering the memorizations of Sampo, I have all the music from Manos memorized since I made a cassette tape of the un-msted version of Manos that I played in the car for a long time. (and the looks from people on the road never failed to give me a smile).
A lot of the in-movie music I have also memorized incl Diabolic, Danger Death Ray,
Final Justice including the ‘Steal your Lunch’ song at the end, Wild Rebels, and all my other favorites.
I’m pretty well versed on the Red Zone Cuba dialogue as well.
I can also watch the whole movies, riffs and all, of a lot of my favorite episodes in my own head, ala brain guy. Especially Track of the Moonbeast, Riding with Death, and Girl in Gold Boots.
When I awake from a nap I sometimes like to shout (for no particular reason),
“I FORGOT THE LIQUOR STORES CLOSE AT EIGHT…….”
even though I’m not a drinker, and (generally speaking) have absolutely no need to monitor the closing times of local liquor stores in our area.
I’d like to believe that somewhere, in some small way, Zap Rowsdower, and by association, Troy McGreggor, would somehow be proud….. :drool:
Frank: Hike..hike..hike..hike your pants up, hike..hike..hike..hike your pants up…
Dr. Forrester: Frank!!!
Frank: Hike..hike…hike..hike the football
There are so many great lines in “Angels’ Revenge” that I have most of them memorized. The phrase “Jack’s not getting paid enough to run” comes up almost daily when I don’t feel like doing something.
#95 – often when I yawn and stretch, I like to purr “Mmmm. ROWSDOWER.” Trips my wife out!
I challenge anyone to a “Jack Frost”-off. It is the one thing in my life I’ve probably watched the most. Suffice to say, I know it from beginning to end (the entire movie and their riffs). “The invasion of the Matrushka people”. Hahaha… “Let’s go frighten small children, shall we?”
Others would be “Prince of Space”, “Space Mutiny”, and the movie, but not to that degree. Oh! And “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is a yearly tradition.
Robot Monster (Including the Commando Cody Shorts)
Catalina Caper
Wild Rebels
Master Ninja I and II
Peter Graves speech at the end of It Conquered the World
Most of Lost Continent