Movie: (1957) A swarm of giant grasshoppers, inadvertently created by a radioactive experiment, heads for Chicago.
First shown: 11/25/93
Opening: During a group sing, M&tB get a wrong number
Invention exchange: The Mads present the re-comfy bike, M&tB show off their new playing cards
Host segment 1: Mike calls the Mads and catches them off guard
Host segment 2: Crow unveils his latest screenplay: “Just Plain Peter: The U of M Years”
Host segment 3: Tom’s standup routine is heavy on grasshopper jokes
End: The bots post-card, Bert I. Gordon special effects, Mads are boxing
Stinger: “Alright, men. Into the woods!”
(231 votes, average: 4.32 out of 5)
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• This one’s a bit of a change of pace, literally: Bert I. Gordon slows things down and grinds out the filler thoughout a drab, monster-free first half — but that just leaves plenty of room for the riffs. Once the grasshoppers and Peter Graves arrive, things really pick up. The host segments are fun, especially Crow’s newest screenplay.
• References.
• Mary Jo is VERY good at playing those trailer trash gals. Maybe a little TOO good. That’s Paul yelling in the background.
• The playing cards bit, which I think even they realized was a little wifty, would be parodied in season six.
• Some grasshoppers were harmed in the making of this movie: According to reports, the grasshopper wranglers started with 200 of the little guys. During the filming, they began to cannibalize one another, and by the time the last shots were done, only a dozen were left.
• When we started doing the Mike episodes, somebody in the comments said it was the beginning of an era when the Mads became more effeminate, and yeah, I guess there was a bit of an upswing of that kind of comedy. Segment one is a good example.
• Rhino really screwed the pooch on the packaging for this one: Joel’s picture is on the package and he is touted as the star. On the menus, you can hear Arch Hall Jr. croon “Vicky.” Bleah.
• Tom begins to sing a few bars of George Michael’s “Faith” before Mike and Crow threaten him.
• Callbacks: What would Mitchell do? “…sing whenever I sing…” (Giant Gila Monster) Trumpy! (Pod People)
• In the theater somebody who is not Mike coughs. I think it’s Kevin.
• Cast and crew roundup: I’m not going to recite the whole Bert I. Gordon litany. Screenwriter Fred Freiberger was the producer for the “Space: 1999” episodes that appeared in “Cosmic Princess. Cinematographer Jack Marta also worked on “Earth Vs. The Spider” and “War of the Colossal Beast.” Editor Aaron Stell also worked on “The Giant Gila Monster” and “Killer Shrews.” Flora Gordon also helped with special effects on “Amazing Colossal Man,” “Earth Vs. The Spider,” “War of the Colossal Beast,” “Magic Sword” and “Village of the Giants. Special effects guy Dean Duncan Parkin was an actor in “War of the Colossal Beast. Production manager James Harris also worked on “Amazing Colossal Man.” Art director Walter Keller also worked on “Earth Vs. The Spider” and “War of the Colossal Beast.” Sound guy Dick Tyler Sr. also worked on “Radar Men from the Moon.” Our old pal score composer Albert Glasser did music for too many movies to name.
In front of the camera, I’m not going to recite the Peter Graves litany again. Morris Ankrum was also in “Rocketship XM.” James Seay was also in “Amazing Colossal Man.” Hank Patterson was also in “Amazing Colossal Man” and “Earth vs. the Spider. John Close was also in “The Slime People” and “The Deadly Mantis.” Rayford Barnes was in “Mitchell.” Don C. Harvey was also in “Revenge of the Creature.” Larry J. Blake was also in “Teen-Age Crime Wave.” Eileen Janssen was also in “The Space Children.” Patricia Dean was also in “The Girl in Lovers Lane.” Peggie Castle was also in “Invasion U.S.A.” Pierre Watkin was also in “Radar Secret Service.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. This was Stephanie Hynes last episode as an intern. There’s a special item at the end: “Shot entirely in Minneapolis, home of the University of Minnesota.”
• Fave riff: “Look, we’ll move to the loop to Schaumburg!” Honorable mention: “Yeah, terrible. Martinis?”
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For the guy who was hoping for some Peter Graves Mission Impossible references- The Film Crew’s ‘Killers From Space’ has a very funny part involving Peter Graves and Mission Impossible.
Peggie Castle died at 45 of cirrhosis. I almost don’t understand how that’s even possible.
And yes, she was hot.
oh, i see from various on-line reference sources that the justifiably admired Peggie Castle will be Mstied again in Seasons 7’s Invasion USA.
I watched this one again last night and noticed I got my riffs mixed up. “Oh my god, it’s my dad!” is from Creeping Terror. The one from this that I wanted to reference is along the same vein though when the girl screams at the beginning and Mike says, “It might be my parents!”
Nothing more to add to these already great posts other than this is a favorite. Peter Graves at the University of Minnesota is so much better than Crow’s earlier work, Earth vs Soup.
The movie will begin when my ride gets here.
Anyone else remember or have a copy of the the adds for this episode?
All I can recall is that it involved Tom Servo in front of the Comedy Club “wall” from the 3rd host segment . . .
I think this is a great ep. Unlike the previous ep(Alien of L.A.), Beginning has really grown on me. The opening is a bit slow, but they do some of the best giant monster riffs of the show’s entire run. Host segs are memorable and Mike is very much at ease here.
As for the Mad getting Femy at this point: I think the, uh, development of their relationship was probably somewhat conscious (they do seem to increasingl become a lovably perverted domestic couple at this point)and no doubt an attempt to keep their partnership from growing stale. It worked as far as I’m concerned. If I’m not mistaken this reaches it apotheosis in Red Zone Cuba.
A-
Fave riff: “We gotta get organized, people! We should not be losing to grasshoppers!” (Mike)
Fave riff: “Hey Diane Arbus, maybe you want to, oh I don’t know, take a picture!?”
“If you could see my hands right now you’d be horrified” (Tom)
Lots of classic movie references in this episode, but surprisingly no Wizard of Oz references.
It’s fun seeing clips from this movie in the “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” 3D attraction at Disneyland/World.
Favorite Riff
Mike: “Have you ever associated with crickets? Have you ever taken part in a plague? Have you eaten crops in excess of one million dollars?!”
What I love to do is take the Amazing Collossal Episode Guide and read the review of the movie VERY illiterally. It actually comes out like an end of the world movie like you’d think a movie with that title would be about… The only problem is line 8; word 9, otherwise it seems like there’s another movie altogether.
I showed this to my entomology professor in college. She was flabbergasted that Segment 3 got everything completely right.
I didn’t see this episode for years after it came out. I remember thinking, the first time we hear the giant grasshopper chirping, “What, did a super Saiyan just show up?” Love the “Your New Richmond High School Marching Band!” riff by Tom over the Glasser music in the opening credits. Another reference (two eps in a row now!) to where my dad grew up, the New Richmond/Somerset WI area. “She’s got her radio tuned to the All-Marching Band station: All Souza, all the time.”
Re: Thanos6
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Brains did some reasonable research to get things as right as possible. It’s a very weird effect but having material intended to be comic filler be as accurate as possible to reality tends to make it funnier. I guess the solid realism makes the impact of the jokes more sound.
(Other people have tapped into this too: BIll Amend’s comic strip Fox Trot, for example, is famous in nerdly circles for featuring thoroughly correct physics or calculus or programming jokes in the margins.)
It also thrills people who Really Know these fields and are shocked to see them correct.
Anyway, the comic principle of adding in more reality to make the thing funny may also be part of why humorous science fiction is very often the most scientifically rigorous as well. Notice, for example, how Mystery Science Theater 3000 would do better with time-travel plots than, say, all of Deep Space Nine and Voyager put together.
This is a rarity for me…I HATE this episode! I can’t pinpoint a particular reason for this, I suppose its a combination of the movie’s ineptitude and M&tB’s inability to capture my interest on this one. I told a fellow MSTie about my feelings towards this ep, and his first reaction was whether or not I hated Peter Graves. Personally, I can’t think of anything he’s said or done to make me mad at him; perhaps in my subconscience I think of him as being overrated somehow. Then again, what has he done lately to make me feel that way? I mean, being host of A&E’s Biography for awhile isn’t exactly the kind of gig some A-list actor longs for, right?
Well, whatever the reason, I just can’t sit through this one. The only humorous moment for me is when Mike checks in on the Mads unexpectedly and is horrified by what he sees. I do have the oop dvd of this, and what I’m about to confess is sacreligous in MSTie-dom: I’d consider selling my copy for the right price. Yes, that’s how little this experiment means to me.
Maybe I had a childhood issue with grasshoppers….
Gotta agree with you, Sampo, this one was a bit of a letdown after the last three movies. It has it moments, especially when they’re slagging on the composer at the start of the film but wasn’t a particularly memorable episode.
How come nobody mentioned that the rear projection ‘car driving’ screen always showed the same 30 seconds of footage. Am I the only one who noticed? The first part of the movie features it about four times – two lane dirt road. First a black car passes. Then a white car. Cut away, cut back, hello black car! Where is white car? Oh there he is!
So they mention every town except my hometown of Naperville – so far the Black Scorpion is the only one (I *THINK* it was that one) that made an EXTREMELY vague, random reference :P
Uranium – 235, I too noticed that the same segment of rear projection film was used over and over. I’m betting Bert I. was saving money doing that.
Here’s a question for the class: I bought a Rhino copy of this movie shortly before it was taken off the market. The box the movie came in says on the back, under Special Features, “2 Movies on one disc. Includes uncut version of the film.” Only the DVD in the box is clearly a one-sided movie, as it has a Mystery Science Theater 3000 label on one side. Did anyone buy the DVD when it first came out where it does indeed have the uncut version on the reverse side?
re: #60
“If you could see my hands right now, you’d be horrified.”
YES! That’s the riff that puts me on the floor every time, and one of the main reasons I LOVE this show. Until Tom utters this phrase, you don’t even notice anything unusual about the fact that Peter has his hands buried in the pockets of his lab coat.
if Fred Ziffel can’t save the day, what hope is there for the rest of us?
The seal of the state of Wisconsin patch debuts on Mike’s jumpsuit in this episode.
Did they really have corded car phones like we see Audrey using in the film at that time? If so, what technology did they run on? It sure seems out of place to me.
The calling the Mads host segment is great. It’s been said before and I’ll say it again. The expression on the faces of the Bots is priceless.
Peter Graves at the University of Minnesota. There is so much to love here. One example is right after Tom berates Crow for redundancy we get Act XV of the screen play where Crow rehashes his favorite lines from earlier in the screenplay. But in the end Crow has convinced me that Peter Graves attended the University of Minnesota. He has accomplished his goal.
Credits Watch: This week we are informed:
Shot entirely in Minneapolis
Home of the
University of Minnesota
I’m going to invoke Sampo’s Theorem. Sampo himself seems to be in the minority on the episode. For my money this is the first homerun of the Mike era. Granted it is not booming 440ft. home to center but instead a cheap 330ft. home down the right field line. But it is still a homerun none-the-less. I’ve always felt that these ‘50’s black and white thrillers are the best MST fodder and this one reinforces that for me. For whatever reason the in theater riffs are at their strongest for me.
Favorite Riffs:
Commenting on the “wipe” used during the opening credits:
Mike “Is this a flashback to previous credits.”
Crow “Could I get some Dramamine for this credit sequence?”
Audrey approaches her top down convertible: Tom “I locked my keys in the car… oh.” (This one always gets me.)
A grasshopper attacks Frank: Mike “He’s signing AHHHH”
Colonel “Sergeant?” Crow “Have these people killed.”
Crow sings “We’re not afraid of big old bugs.” Mike & Tom “Army guys like big old hugs.”
Ed Wainwright “Here’s the spot Tom.” Mike “He wet ‘em right here.”
During a battle with the grasshoppers: Mike “I think we should have waited for the sanctions to take effect.”
A grasshopper falls to the military: Crow “They got Jiminy. Get ‘em.”
During talk of nuking Chicago the General admits it would make the site of the city unusable. “I realize that.” Crow “I just don’t care.”
Ed Wainwright shows the captive grasshopper dead. Tom: “The bug fell and hit his head against the bars if anybody asks, right?”
The soldier on the roof is killed. Mike as Ed to Audrey “you want to take over that watch post honey?”
I remember this episode making my mom laugh while she was battling cancer.
“oh I wish the Larson’s clean up their yard.”
and
“This was no boating accident!”
were two of her favs… I’ll be forever grateful to this silly little show for those moments.
“What would Mitchell do right now?”
I read in an interview that Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad’s father was in this film. Apparently he was a struggling actor for many years. I believe he played a soldier.
This is one of those movies I saw on AMC (speaking of Breaking Bad) back when they only showed movies and I wondered why it had never been mstied so I was very pleased when they got to it.
grasshoppers…bane of alumni of the University of Minnesota…..:eek:
This is an early Mike era favorite of mine. Once the grasshoppers show up, the movie is kind of fun. The split screen effects are pretty good. The postcard building, not so much. Trace’s awesome talent is on display again as he manages to make Crow look absolutely terrified. Guess this show must have pre-dated “Biography” on A&E or we would have been hearing about it. The Mads definitely start to become more… domestic about here.
Four Stars
@ #72: Wikipedia’s entry on car phones was less than helpful on identifying when they first came into existence. However, I recall an episode of the radio anthology The Whistler where the twist involved the existance of a car phone.
This episode is a Trope Namer over at TVTropes, for The Mountains of Illinois.
Beginning of the End gets an homage in the fantasy cyberpunk tabletop RPG Shadowrun. The Bug City supplement details how Chicago gets infested with insect spirits, to which the government responds by detonating a nuke in their nest.
On my Shout Factory DVD, there’s something in the copyright line during the film’s opening credits which gets blotted out. Did this also occur in the broadcast and/or the Rhino DVD?
When it gets announced that the grasshoppers have entered the Southside, I’m a bit surprised there were no riffs concerning the gangs.
IMO Host Segment 3 worked too well. I’m guessing that the point was to emphasize how the style of stand-up comedy Tom was emulating just isn’t funny. As a result, the host segment is a bit of a drag.
Favorite riffs:
“Hey, I’m vindicated! How many dead?”
“Hey General, where ya goin’?”
“I’m going to Decatur. I’m gonna shoot that paper-hangin’ son of a bitch.”
“They’re not gonna let us drop the bomb. Don’t answer.”
“They’ve gotten hold of firearms and they’re drunk!”
“It’s gotta be a trick! There can’t be that many lady grasshoppers in Lake Michigan.”
Another pain parade from one Bert I. Gordon, this one involving giant mutated grasshoppers and the city of Chicago. And yes, I know, this is so NOT Illinois. Audrey Ames, an enterprising journalist, tries to get the scoop on giant grasshoppers accidentally created at the Department of Agriculture, Illinois Station was played by Peggie Castle. Married four times, she was born December 22, 1927 in Appalachia, Virginia. The tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde was actually spotted by a talent scout while she was lunching in a Beverly Hills restaurant. In her films she was usually somebody’s “woman” rather than a girlfriend, and her career was confined to mostly “B”-grade action pictures, dramas or westerns. She left show business in 1962. She later developed an alcohol problem and died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1973 at age 45.
Favorite lines:
Folks, we’ll start the movie as soon as our ride gets here.
She’s got her radio tuned to the Marching Band station…All Sousa, all the time.
Your Hover Buick will get you there in style, Hover Buick.
“Look Lady, just detour, will you please.” Don’t make me pull you from your car and beat you with my nightstick.
Guys, this is so NOT Illinois.
“If you’d like to sit in.” I’ve got a clarinet in my car.
We’re working overtime to keep Dom DeLuise fed.
“Barton, take Miss Ames to Ludlow. And I hope you have a strong stomach.” Gabe Kaplan is performing.
Wanna stop and loot?
This was no boating accident.
Hey, Diane Arbus, why don’t you take a picture?
Joad’s are armed to the teeth.
That’s one of my favorite mountains in Illinois back there.
Just help yourself to a gun Peter.
There’s your answer, a fine pilsner.
All quiet on the western suburbs.
“…increasing intensity until it reaches ear shattering proportion.” Sounds like Mariah Carey.
You’re dead Graves. I’ve got friends. This is a dead man I’m looking at.
“…and get that thing out of here.” Bug fell and hit his head against the bars if anyone asks, right?
Final Thought: Crow’s slack jawed response to a little glimpse of Clay and Frank’s everyday life is classic. I give this one 4 out of 5 stars.
Un-Msted, this is possibly my favorite of a favorite genre of film, the “big bug” movies. My only complaint on this one is an audio one-you would think BB would have the sound mix between riffers and movie figured out by now, but I’ve had a hard time hearing M&TB at different points during this one back when it was on tv and on subsequent vhs and dvd releases. It’s the only episode that I have this complaint about.
Whining aside, fun stuff here. The Peter Graves bio-pic is priceless, as is the Mads watching Vicki. That really cracked me up back when this first aired. And, I think this is where “I regret nothing!!!” entered my lexicon.
Years ago, I was listening to Fresh Air and Bryan Cranston was being interviewed by David Bianculli. Late in the interview (around the 13:00 mark), talking about his parents’ acting careers, Cranston reveals that his father is in Beginning of the End:
… I remember him mostly dying in everything I saw him do. Whether he was a soldier on the top of the roof in “The Day the … End of The World,” I forget the name, the sci-fi film where the large grasshoppers that took over the city. He was in that saying “Section Eight is fine AAAGGGHHHH!” And we’d see him die …
Joe Cranston isn’t credited in the film or at IMDB (and I think the guy who says something like that is credited as someone else anyway), but it was a fun little mention.
I always remember this movie as the only one I watched with my family. We had all just eaten Thanksgiving Dinner, and I knew it was premiering (or it was the evening re-run of the premiere, whatever) and said we should watch it. Which we did. The biggest laugh for everyone else was when they were touring the devastation and Tom says, “So … wanna stop and loot?” My biggest laugh that night was (and pretty much still is):
Announcer: The giant locusts have reached the Chicago South Side and nearby suburbs!
Crow: They control the cement business!
So, more complaints about the package (not really much of a problem by my accounts), but Sampo doesn’t bother to mention the story about the DVD going out of print and becoming collectible briefly, or how it is now available from Shout with a new package, or also as an iTunes download.
This episode is better than it should be. The first host segment is a classic, made even better by the sparring match at the end, and they’ve done so many of these big critter movies by this point that the riffs almost write themselves. And they don’t overdo the Peter Graves/”Biography” jokes the way they would later in “Clonus.”
In addition to Audrey Ames’s hotness, there should be some mention of the fact that, by 1950s standards, the men in the film actually take her seriously. A lot of people seem to know her work, and she seems to have a pretty strong reputation as a journalist. Despite that intriguing set-up, of course, she doesn’t really do a whole lot after the first act: once Peter Graves and his University-of-Minnesota-Trained Awesomeness come on the screen, she becomes little more than eye candy. Still, it’s refreshing to see a cheesy bug movie that has a female lead that does a little more than just scream and run around in tight sweaters.
Dan in WI: IMDb mentions in its “Goofs” section that there is no radio antenna on the car for her…um…mobile phone. So I’m guessing it’s radio technology. My question is whether this was something that would identify Ms Ames as someone important enough to have one of these gizmos–I’m willing to bet that not every reporter had a phone in the car back in 1957. In fact…did *anyone* have a phone in their car in 1957?
Toots 69, if you’re still around, my DVD copy has the uncut version on the other side. Or it did until I gave my copy to my sister and family in Chicago; I figured they would appreciate the many chi-town references. When I visit Chicago i still have an urge to crawl up the side of the Wrigley bldg.
The Mads At Home is one of the all-time great segments, executed perfectly: not icky, just femmy. “Vicki’s on!”
Oh, and “I LOVE men who use fairy-tale imagery!”
Damn Nazi grasshopers!
I love this episode, too many great things to count. From the “disturbing” peek at Dr Forrester and Frank’s daily lives to Crow’s brilliant screenplay, which reminds us from a fact usually overlook in American History, the fact that Peter Graves went to the University of Minnesotta, thank you.
There was a callback I don’t think anyone else has mentioned: “Jimmy’s mom’s serving meat loaf.” I think that’s an I Accuse My Parents callback, which I only think of because that is my all time favorite MST episode.
As for this episode, I didn’t remember it as being great but my recent viewing has me thinking it’s pretty good. Crow’s great Peter Graves impression had me dying of laughter in host segment 2, the repetition and redundancy just made it funnier. I always love ’50s monster movies in MST episodes, as far as I was concerned, they could have done nothing but Bert I. Gordon and Roger Corman dreck. A couple of my favorite lines:
When Mike is talking about movies back in his day-
“Sometimes we had to wait 4 hours for something to happen.”
“Have you ever associated with crickets?”
#80: Really? More than Them! and Tarantula?
First of all: BAH-BAHM! Buh buh buh buh buh BAH-BAAAHHMM!!!
I wasn’t crazy about this episode at first, but it’s kinda grown on me over the years. It has the Peter Graves sketch – to this day whenever I see him, I have to say ‘I’m Peter Graves’ in my best Crow-as-Peter-Graves voice.
I loved the Recomfy bike. This thing would revolutionize the workout industry. I also love femmy Mads.
Not to go too much off-topic, but I think this episode is one that’s still available instantly on Netflix. All I know is they used to have all the Gameras, the first three Season One eps, and quite a few Season Ten. I wish they’d have more streaming MST3K, especially now that so many great episodes are being released.
This episode is one of the ‘only okay’ early Mike ones. Not as dreary and nearly unwatchable as next episode, but pretty boring and non-descript. I just bought it as a Shout! single during the $5 sale at (I can’t remember the website now, but I heard about it here). Taped it as it aired, but almost never re-watch it. It’s just kinda ‘there’. And the Mads becoming gay roommates is a great example of the show changing outside of Joel/Mike hosting that I hated. It seems lazy and seems to follow the South Park (I know this was well before South Park) idea that if it’s gay, it’s therefore funny. But it isn’t. It’s just lame. I guess now that I think about it, it’s one of the things that makes me like the Mike years notably less, and that’s that the Mads appearances are rarely ever funny now. On SciFi, I liked the Brain Guys, etc, but loathed Mrs. Forester, which explains why Season 8 is my favorite of the Mike era. It’s also why I like watching these on DVDs because I can easily skip past the host segments which, Crow’s Peter Graves at the University of Minnesota being a notable exception, are largely unfunny and forced. Outlaw’s coming up, so maybe I’ll rewatch that so I can comment, but this is a pretty forgettable run in my opinion. Not bad, but nothing great.
I found a site that shows the history of the mobile phone: http://www.wb6nvh.com/Carphone.htm Surprisingly, they’ve been around since the 40s! Since this was the Bell System I’m a little surprised mobile phones weren’t covered in Century 21 Calling.
I wonder what Albert Glasser’s version of the haunting Torgo theme would sound like…
#90:
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
BUM BA DA BUM BA DA BUM BUM BUM BUM
I remember this being a long one for me. Maybe I was just still recovering from Joel leaving.
“I’m Peter Graves, and I went to the University of Minnesota.”
#82 – Yes, I paid a (somewhat premium) eBay price for the Rhino single a few years back (not nearly what I paid for Vols. 9 and 10, but still).
“Hey Diane Arbus, maybe you want to, oh I don’t know, Take A Picture!”
I love that line and the visual that accompanies it of our hard bitten war correspondent just sitting there with her camera in her lap while a giant grasshopper eats a man. Photo opportunity of the century right in front of you? No thanks, I’ll pass.
“You bred them? Yes, and then I deep fry them”
I love the Private Life of Dr. F and Frank. It’s so funny and I love that Frank’s excited at watching Vicky.
You know, I can’t help but feel that Peter Graves was in some
way partially responsible for the giant grasshopper invasion.
No, really.
1950s era scientists. Why don’t they listen?
#96 …and why don’t they look?
Not a really awesome episode for me, but boy did I watch it to death!
“Wait! This isn’t a stick shift….AHHHHH!”
This is another great Mike Season 5 episode, and there aren’t that many of them. (For my money, Mike gets going in Season 6..) Anytime Peter Graves shows up, you know it’s going to be a party, not to mention the big ol’ bugs of Bert I. Gordon, this is a lively episode, the second half especially. Unfortunately we are left with another pair of subpar inventions for the Exchange, but Host Segment #1 is great, and I really like HS#2 as well. HS#3 is the clunker of the group, but what do you expect from a Sinbad impersonation..?
In HS#1, I don’t think they were trying to portray the Mads as gay per-se (but it does come off a bit like that) but more like they are not as tough or mean as they appear regularly, like a secret glimpse into their personal lives, in which they are just a couple gals…having a good time…watching Vicki…..hmmm…..maybe I need to rethink my opening statement..?
Also, like a lot of commenters here (apparently), I am from Illinois, so all the references hit home. Way up at comment #29 the town that I spent my college years in, Carbondale (SIU!), is mentioned. The southern part of Illinois is very nice, it has “rolling hills” and a nice forest system and things like that. THIS movie, however, is so NOT filmed in Illinois… I was born and raised in a small town in the mid-eastern part of the state, called Olney. It’s the home of the white squirrels. Very flat landscape, corn fields and soy as far as you can see. So once again, this was so NOT Illinois…
AND
Just today, I bought a used copy of the Rhino BEGINNING OF THE END dvd for $8 at a CDGameExchange, complete with Joel’s mistaken face and name all over it. Also, my copy is a single sided disc (still has the uncut movie on there) but apparently there is also a dual-sided disc version? Is that right? Which came first? Are both rare? Which is more collectible? Why did Rhino do that??
ALSO
at the same time I bought all four dvds of THE FILM CREW, for $2.50 each!! One of which, KILLERS FROM SPACE, stars…..PETER GRAVES!! :shock:
–
RIFFS:
Mike: “Folks, we’ll start the movie as soon as our ride gets here.”
Mike: “Guys, this is so NOT Illinois.”
Servo: “Wanna stop and loot?”
Servo: “What would Mitchell do right now?”
Crow (as bug): “Hey, do you guys know where we can get some weed around here?”
Mike: “Thank you, Sgt. Whisper-Thin.”
–
a solid episode, this Mike guy is going to do just fine…
4/5
#13 Dyne- There is a lone M:I reference in 311- It Conquered The World. The Brains had a policy at one point about not making too many jokes about actors’ other, better-known roles because they worried fans might find it annoying. The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide mentions this rule in the section on 607- Bloodlust!, in order to explain why they only made one Brady Bunch joke about Robert Reed. You can also see it in effect in 407- The Killer Shrews (which starred James Best from Dukes of Hazzard) and any of the Beverly Garland movies. It didn’t seem to be a strict rule though, because they make Mannix references almost every time Mike Connors is on screen in 503- Swamp Diamonds.
“What the..? I keep getting three inches!”