Short: (1954) An industrial number showcasing the attributes of grocery store refrigeration units, with the help of shapely model.
Movie: (1957) A paranormal researcher claims he has invented a device that will permit communication with the dead. Oh, it’s true.
First shown: 7/30/94
Opening: Gypsy calls a fire drill
Intro: Dr. F. tries pin-point cigarette marketing on Mike
Host segment 1: Crow’s radio talk show: “The Dead Talk Back”
Host segment 2: M&tB are “The Dead”
Host segment 3: Dr. F. tries his hand at interrogation and Frank quickly cracks; meanwhile, the guitar solo continues
End: Crow is still playing, Tom is acting up, Gypsy starts another fire drill, Mike reads a letter, Dr. F. practices his crossbow skills
Stinger: Woman screams after seeing dead body
(254 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)
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• This is a weird episode, featuring an odd short and even odder movie. It’s fun, but not a favorite of mine.
• This episode was included on Rhino’s Vol. 8.
• Though clearly made in the ’50s, the movie was never released until it was discovered and purchased by a low-budget video company in the 1990s.
• I wonder if the fire drill segment led to the later fire safety PSA that they did.
• It’s the “umbilicon” again in this episode.
• The short is a bit of departure. This is what is known as an “industrial,” quite a different animal from the mental hygiene shorts they’d mostly done up until now. I’m not sure it always works for MST3K, as in this case. This may be my least favorite short MST3K ever did.
• Callback: “Plenty of lip and tongue action” (from the speech short). Frank says “I killed that fat barkeep” (The Beatniks)
• Spaghetti ball bumpers: beaker, film canister, book.
• Then-current reference: “James Farentino visits Tina Sinatra.” Farentino was charged with stalking his former girlfriend, Tina Sinatra, in 1993.
• “Oh, its true!” became a frequent callback in many future episodes.
• Segment 1 features the voice of Trace, one of the few times he ever did a “guest spot” on the show.
• Say what you want, Churchill was right about the Bills.
• The Rhino release of this episode had some encoding problems and was reissued.
• I was never much of a deadhead. I liked ’em, but a little guitar jamming goes a long way for me. Gypsy seems pretty natural as one, though.
• The closeup on Crow’s guitar gives us a close look at the stick that controls Gypsy’s jaw.
• Later in segment 2, Mike is folding Crow’s sensible slacks. He really DID get a lot of wear out of them!
• I had a nice Twitter DM back and forth with Andy LaCasse, who performed the “cheesy guitar solo.”
LaCasse said: “The director [that would have been Jim, he directed the host segments for that episode] kept laughing out loud and asking me if I could make it more grating and irritating. I said I could, and I did!”
He also recalls: “I brought my 1-year-old daughter, Kayla, with me to the studio. The writers whisked her away for a while. Later, the video guys [that would have been Brad and Tim] let her play with the controls on the video editing machine. The scene had already been shot, so I followed Crow’s hands as he played.”
On the technical side, he notes: “I played a cheap copy of a Fender Stratocaster with EMG pickups through a Big Jam Spit Wah pedal straight into the MST3K video editor.”
“My daughter had a great time and the writers adored her,” he concluded. “I had a blast! Definitely a career highlight for me. It’s still on my résumé.”
• Crow is still wearing his Grateful Dead costume when he reenters the theater. Mike removes it.
• No cast and crew roundup this week. Similar to “Teenage Strangler,” this appears to have been a cast that largely never did anything else.
• Creditswatch: Host segments directed by Jim Mallon. Sarah Wisner does Post Production Coordination with Ellen McDonough for two episodes, instead of Jann Johnson. This is the last of three episodes where Tim Scott gets an audio mixing credit. This is the first of five episodes where Brad Keely gets a lighting credit. This is the last time we see Director of Operations Jeffrey P. Young in the credits. (He lasted all of three episodes and I would LOVE to heard THAT backstage story.) “Cosmic Freight Train” written and arranged by: Michael J. Nelson, Paul Chaplin and David Sussman.
• Fave riff from the short: “But don’t put your tongue on it!” Honorable mention: “Wow, that was close. She was mad!”
• Fave riff from the movie: “Well! I’m going home for lunch.” Honorable mention: “…than springtime are you, sir.”
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An enjoyable short, but the episode is solid gold, easily one of my favorites.
It’s a bizarre movie with a wildly bizarre main character… the whole thing gave the gang a lot of great riffing material.
Crow’s Bill Cosby impression was certainly a highlight for me.
Love this one. But I tend to love the gray little movies where gray little people do absolutely nothing. Though they are ripe for riffing, they seem to be particularly painful. Radar Secret Service, anyone? All of the movie hightlights already noted, plus….
“Arrest him for the accent!” “Actors, we are ROLLING!” “let’s see, 14 minutes to live, wonder if I can get a pizza in that time” “Actually, it has been awhile since the last crossbow murder.”
The whole Kruger interrogation scene is one of my alltime faves. Not to mention the rooming house freak show. This is probably a movie I would enjoy on its own, without MST. Just love it. Am I weird?
It’s *quaint*. I guess that’s it.
“The Dead, could you turn your radio down, please?”
I love this episode, maybe not in my ‘top ten’ but it’s memorable and has some great riffing. I really like the fact that it was ressurected from nowheresville after being lost for almost 40 years.
Looking at IMDB it appears there are two other movies by the same writer/producer, one is called “The Body Is a Shell”(1957) and also stars the goofy radio operator guy listed as “Andre Farnese”! I really want to see this now … just to see if Farnese has the same hairstyle ;)
I’ll chime in as adoring this one. The opening monologue with Krasner is letter-perfect (“Have you found a job yet?” “I put in some applications!”), the riffing on Krasner’s faintly pathetic life never gets old (“I’ve known you for a long time.” “You know not kneeing you in the groin is a constant struggle.”) And there’s just a certain deranged goofiness to it I love.
It’s like the person who wrote this movie lived a life just like this, and thought everyone else did too, so he didn’t have to justify or explain anyone’s behavior in the movie.
(That, and I’ll admit, the Dead gag cracks me up every time.)
I have to go along with the post above at #39. The last I heard here was that there was nothing Rhino could do about the video quality defects in small parts of this episode and that they were not going to replace it. Has something changed since then? If so, I guess most of us are stuck at this point with what we got upon release. :cry:
The problem with MST3K releases is that you don’t dare wait for a second print run, because if there is a problem with the rights to one of the film’s in the set then you’ll have missed owning it altogether when the set is withdrawn. I always buy these as soon as they are available, but I guess that means sometimes we get stuck with overlooked errors in first print runs. Hopefully, Shout Factory will have better quality control than Rhino and better reliability when it comes to the rights over the movies in each episode.
Cabbage Patch Elvis stole my band candy line :wink: . As a band nerd, I worked very hard selling all that candy and would pedal my little legs off around the neighborhood trying to unload it. I don’t mind telling you, I was usually the top seller. Does that make me a selling wizard? :lol:
I love the short! As has been mentioned, Servo’s excitement over the freezers is hilarious. “What? Mine doesn’t have that? Now I want this one!” :mad: Gotta get me some of that frozen cotton, it looks yummy! Of course the scab on the pizza dominatrix’ knee is a little off putting. :sad:
The movie is great too with solid riffing. Is it just me or is anyone else complete mystified by the opening scene? What do those people in their cars have to do with the rest of the film? :???:
Somebody mentioned Radar Secret Service earlier and even though I’ve seen that one a couple of times, I can’t remember a dang thing that happened or even a single riff. It’s like there is a black hole in my mind and films like Yankee Doodle Dandy and Radar Secret Service live there.
TELEKEENIS! Wouldn’t this film go well with Teenage Strangler? They both have that community theater feel. Although that film had somewhat likeable characters like Mikey. This one had the weird mom who won’t stop eating and her two creepy little moppets. And the lead detective looks like his face is melting. Did he get rubbed down with baby oil? Ooh, ick. Sorry about that last comment…
Sshh……jazz. :arrow: :cool:
toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot.
toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot.
toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot. toot-ta-toot-toot.
“A Child’s Introduction to Jazz.”
Was it me or did Mike nearly start laughing during the antics of the final segment? Between Crow’s guitar solo, Tom’s narration, and Gypsy’s second fire drill, I think I would be laughing my ass off.
In what parallel universe did Rhino reissue this?
They never should have used a damaged video master to begin with. :cry:
My copy I recorded off Comedy Central and later transferred to DVD. It looks good enough that I’ve never been tempted to shell out money for the Rhino DVD, particularly given the defect.
Well, on popping this one in last night I kind of remembered liking the short and being so-so on the movie…actually turned out to be the other way around. The short is decent–I think mainly because of Tom’s freezer obsession–but for some reason it just *seems* like they should be doing more with this one.
Plenty of good riffs noted above, so I won’t beat them to death.
Did anyone else think Krasker looked like Mario Lopez (if Mario went a little crazy with the streaks and highlights)?
Also in the opening bit with the stalker and the couple making out (how did this connect to the rest of the movie?) they seem to be in right hand drive cars. Also when Petini is driving his VW bug to get rid of his shoes the car is right hand drive. Was this stock footage of some sort or maybe did they flip the film in the editing room…or is this yet another sign of my madness?
Sell it, Frank! Make it sizzle!
I’m just as much a completist/perfectionist as anyone here, being one a’ them MSTie/Transfans, but I have to say, in the big scheme of things, the glitch isn’t THAT bad. I mean, it’s still watchable, unlike, say, THE STINGER TO THE ATOMIC BRAIN!
I used to harp on Rhino for going about its business with the dilligence of, well, a stampeding rhino, for such f#@&-ups as “Heavy Metal War” in Transformers Season 1, and completely botching their VHS treatment of VR.5 (has that one come out on DVD yet?), but that same recklessness is likely the only reason we got #212 on DVD, so I consider a few seconds of a wonky top of the screen small po-TAY-toes that I just let slide.
I’m not saying a remastered version wouldn’t be nice…
I did receive an email from DrRhino and replacements were not mailed out, they said it was the transfer..here is a copy of it : :arrow:
Thank you for your email. The problems with this particular title (i.e. picture quality) were due to the source material. So, were not able to issue corrected replacement discs.
If you have any other problems with your disc besides picture quality, please let me know. I should be able to replace your disc for you.
This is also a favorite episode of mine. The movie’s makers seemed to know what they wanted to do, if not how to actually do it. They had a cast of defined characters (though sketchy, at least they tried), and they knew where they wanted to go and did their best to set it up. Compare this to a movie like Future War, which I just finished watching, where the crew had no idea from shot to shot what the hell they were doing or why. It’s this little bit of maybe sorta talent that makes The Dead Talk Back shine a wee bit more than the rest of the dreck.
This is a good episode to play in the background while you do other things. In fact, I had no idea the glitches were even on the DVD till I read about it online somewhere and paid attention at the right spot.
Some of my favorite lines:
“Define arrested.” (Kills me every time. Can’t really say why.)
“A crossbow killing. But I had nothing to do with this one!” (Absurd.)
“I started sharpening a curtain rod then things kinda got out of hand.” (Or something like that. It’s the dark comments that strike me as the funniest.)
“I believe they were boogers.” (It’s Crow’s pronunciation that gets me.)
And Mike and the bots’ reaction to Keskin’s grave alarm. The fact that the character thinks it’s a great and needful invention cracks me up.
Why does he have a body in his basement at the start of the movie?
The recording session scene was more like – – –
TOOT – toot,toot – TOOT – – – no ta’s
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a favorite episode, but I enjoy it a lot. Both the short aand movie are really dull, but have enough goofy elements to give M&tB stuff to latch on to.
Also, Frank’s performance in the pinpoint marketing segment is one of my favorite Frank moments. Complete apathy to complete buy-in.
Ang – as for the opening scene. It took me many times watching the movie, but I think it is supposed to be the chick who gets killed and her boyfriend (the one she talks to on the phone – I can’t stay cooped up in the house, etc….) and the stalker is the murderer blowing a chance to kill her. I think. Or not. Thank you, won’t you?
“The recording session scene was more like – – -”
Wow, thanks for the heads up. Thirty lashes with a wet noodle. BTW, when typing anal retentive, is it okay for me to use a hyphen, or not?
No, it was more like:
Dooo-Doodleoodleoodle-oooo
Doodleoodleoodle-oooo
Doodleoodleoodle-oooo-doo-doo…-
No, wait, that was the band Asia…
This was one of my favorites. I just like the movie for some reason. Favorite riff:
That’s why I’m wearing my (pause) pajamas.
I’m glad my Rhino copy doesn’t have whatever defects you guys are talking about.
Of course, it must, but I’ve never noticed a problem.
pearliemae said it very well – this is one of those grey little movies with grey little people. Those movies just sit on my head the whole time.
I love the short, though, which has one of my favorite riffs ever, only because of the perfect inflection in Mike’s voice. I’m going to paraphrase:
Narrator: This model uses a revolutionary new technique in refrigeration.
Mike: Coldness!
The movie is a doze off dull but if you can stay awake for Crow as Jerry Garcia and the guitar solo you will have a “LOL” moment or 2 :mrgreen:
I have a soft spot for the riffing on the movie, and just how odd the whole movie is. The ‘coffin alarm’ always makes me laugh (“It’s hard for him to make friends.”), and the conclusion defies all logic. No jury in the world would be able to keep a straight face during that trial. The short is slow, but does have a few great lines. The whole Grateful Dead thing is (I think) the weakest part of this episode. I didn’t know until recently that this movie was shot in the 50s but discovered in ’93. Very, very strange.
Three of my favorite riffs were from this movie, a bit of a sleeper that never fails to entertain me everytime I watch.
-Tom (unable to contain his rage): “That’s because you’re talking to a razer in a glass.” It really brings home the utter goofiness of the movie.
-Crow: “I’d ask them to leave but they’d think I was racist.”
-Mike: “And Spooner Wisconsin was never the same.” I have been to Spooner and for some reason have found it a very easy place to make fun of. I don’t know why.
What I think we’re all missing here is how much better this movie would in wide screen.
to I’m evil: that wouldn’t happen to be alittle dig on our resident film-making genius, who recently dissed our fav cow-town puppet show, would it? :smile:
Damn those Best Brains for not bringing Aldo Farnese to us in brilliant, vivid widescreen!
Well, I was a dedicated Deadhead for many years (I used to schedule my vacations around their tours) and I thought the Grateful Dead parody was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen. The first time I saw it I thought I was gonna choke, I laughed so hard. From the slow shuffle rhythm to Mike’s song lyrics to Gypsy’s twirling — they got it all way too right for comfort.
Love the movie, too, but I have t admit, I almost never watch the short. That short subjectively is about 9 hours long.
#s 79 and 80: Ah yes, film-school-boy. What a happy coincidence that we happened to start discussing this ep right when that tirade was brought to our attention, as this movie is the ultimate counterpoint to his argument: A film that, if not for MST3K, would never have been seen at all, by anyone. Period. The same was more or less true of “Teenage Strangler”; did they riff any other unreleased wonders?
I love this ep. Watched most of it for the first time in a while the other night and was pleased at the way it holds up.
The Selling Wizard must have been a difficult one to write for. It contains no real narrative and is extremely repetative. The Brains do the best they can but not a fav of mine either.
The film, on the other, is a super choice. I love its dank, filmed in the basement with a flashlight quality. Off-kilter films work extremely well with MST and this no exception. The riffing when good is extremely good as it is during the opening scenes, some of the “interrogation scenes” and the medium-petite finale.
Still, there are a number of missed opportunities. During the initial dinner scene where we first meet our cast of koo-koo krazy characters they don’t take advantage of giving each character a riff as they would have in other eps. Also, check out some of the weird paintings on the wall in some other scenes. I think really missed something there.
A great one, probably in my top fifty or close to being so anyway. Still I can’t give it more than:
A-
I had taped over this when I recorded it off the TV. Um… now I know why. I saw the comments and thought, maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remember and I taped over it by ACCIDENT. So I stupidly bought Volume 8 from MST3K web site. Why? Because we’re a sick bunch who need every stinkin’ ep in the universe to feel complete, I guess. Sad, really. Oh, well. So now I have this, and two other eps that I TAPED OVER – probably for a REASON – “Hobgoblins” and “Phantom Planet”. Haven’t seen those two in a while and haven’t rewatched them yet.
At least I have a good version of “Monster A Go-Go” (an also spotty ep, but that one I had at least kept a tape of, so I know I kinda like).
There were some moments in this, most of which have already been mentioned.
The guys imitations of Krasker are good for a laugh. Some of the lines mentioned already were funny. (The woman saying she couldn’t hear anything and Tom saying, “That’s because it’s a RAZOR BLADE IN A GLASS!” et. al.)
The short was definitely a snoozer.
In the movie, when that combo is playing, the guy in the booth gives the “okay” sign – they missed an opportunity to say, “It stinks!”
I love poor old Mister Krasner. You get the feeling this is a real person and he wrote the movie, trying desperately to convince us he’s this really cool detective-scientist type but unable to evade his own inherent loserdom.
I really liked this one. The movie is of course just terrible but for me it had a likeable terribleness to it, which made rich fodder for Mike and the ‘Bots. My favorite line is in the film’s opening minutes when Krasner claims he had a radio which can communicate with the dead. “Oh, it’s true, it can be done”…to which Crow replies, “My mom said so!” I’m giggling over that just thinking about it.
And I enjoyed the Deadhead hosting segments with Crow/Jerry Garcia just going on and on and on with his guitar solo. Just a fun episode and among my favs.
Hey fellow Mysties: “Freak Freely, Dudes!!”
This movie is notable to me for featuring the most incredibly unlikable character in any movie, ever. In all of about three seconds of the parapsychologist’s dramatic William Shatner-esque monologue I wanted to crush the life out of him.
I gotta say, I’m a fan of both the short and the movie here. Liked the host segments, too. So whatever floats one’s boat, I suppose.
THE SHORT:
– although I never want to see another ice cream feezer again as long as I live, I think they did a good job with this short. I liked the riffing better than, say, with the truly bizarre “Once Upon a Honeymoon”, a short that more or less makes fun of itself and seems to know how ridiculous it is. “Selling Wizard” is more serious, I guess I like it when they do more serious ones (“Are You Ready for Marriage?” is another one I really like).
– Mike: “Leni Riefenstahl’s most powerful film!”
– Narrator: “You! The ice cream manufacturer!”
Crow: “UP AGAINST THE WALL!! SPREAD “EM!!”
– Mike: “Meanwhile, the Soviets were launching Sputnik.”
– and of course, Tom’s sudden obsessive need for a freezer.
THE MOVIE:
– as a few other people have mentioned, what keeps this movie from being forgettable, for me, is the insane cast of characters. There’s never a dull moment, not with the frosty-haired weirdo pseudo-scientist, the nutty Bible-thumper, the Teutonic pervert, the perpetually-eating landlady and her foul-mouthed grandkids, and of course the nervous dork who ate all his band candy. In fact, the actual killer might be the most boring character in the movie.
– probably my favorite part of the movie is when we finally see the much-anticipated bongo players and Tom starts singing “Sympathy for the Devil” :cool:
– “GOD I love water…I think I love it too much.”
– Crow: “Benny’s Not-So-Great Sandwiches is around the corner.”
– “I had a story in HIGHLIGHTS!!”
– I much enjoyed the host segments, especially Dead Guy Call-In Radio and the Grateful Dead homage (I’m not a Deadhead but I know several). Crow’s guitar solo is drawn-out, sure, but not nearly as hard to watch as the never-ending Urkel impersenation during “San Francisco International”. My god was that painful :P . I’ll take the ‘Dead over Urkel any day. I especially liked Gypsy’s line, “…and then the MOON came out, and it was like Jerry WILLED it!”
I really liked The Selling Wizard on its own merits. The girl in the title role is really cute, and I love the vivid backgrounds–the ’50s was the height of “bright colors for the sake of bright colors” and this short really captures the flavor of that kind of cinematic Americana. Nobody would bother anymore making an industrial film as saturated as a Douglas Sirk picture. The riffing is icing on the cake.
i do like this one alot even though admittedly i don’t watch it as much as i could. this was technically the first one i saw with my folks. although they came in towards the end of it. i remember them laughing when ‘O Canada’ was sung as the nerdy, non-san fran killer guy stood up. Yep Winnie pegged the Bills dead on. Sorry Buffalo, i know you have enough to deal with just being in Buffalo. Lastly a big WTF for the horn that you sound if you’re ever buried by accident.
The fire drill was charming in a cute sort of way.
But the pinpoint marketing: I should have loved this but for some reason it just fell flat for me.
Dead Sport Talk host segment: It’s a cute touch having these great historical figures more interested in the Buffalo Bills than their historical contributions. But this topic probably makes this the champion dated reference host segment.
There are a couple of Wisconsin references this week. Spooner, WI gets a mention during the movie riffing and Gypsy mentions the famed Alpine Valley music Amphitheater near East Troy, WI.
What to do while listening to the Dead: play chess, read War and Peace, fold sensible slacks…
So TV’s Frank shot JR Ewing. I knew it.
Favorite Riffs:
Short:
Narrator “The newest refrigeration system yet developed.” Mike “coldness”
Movie:
Crow as Renee walks around in her nightie “NC-17 1950’s style.”
As the detective narates the upcoming murder: Crow “you know the murder is not going to be that suspenseful when it happens.”
Wow, that was a long string of episodes without official DVD releases! I’m afraid now i think of the episode order as being the order the DVDs were released. Either i never had the problem or i never noticed it… must have been a pretty big problem to get so many complaints.
Anyway, this episode was a surprise joy for me, looked like both parts would be just dull but it really picked up with the colorful industrial short, weird mystery and spot-on riffing.
As someone who saw his share of Dead shows and, more importantly, spent time with Deadheads, Gypsy’s rap was too funny and way too accurate. From the description of the setlist to “…and then the moon came out and it was if Jerry willed it,” I’d heard it before, and in all sincerity too.
I really like the short in this one-just something not really “all there” about the “Pizza Dominatrix” that’s at times creepy or hilarious.
As for the sketches, I thought Nelson Cigarettes was a cute bit, reminiscent of Mr. Butts on Doonesbury. The Dead parody was right on, though, for just like a real Grateful Dead solo, you could either listen in bliss for hours or you want it to stop immediately.
Although the short is a bit hard to get through I love this episode overall. I cannot see what they were going for with Krasker; the guy comes off a crank with delusions of grandeur, yet the police treat him like some kind of Holmesian consulting detective for no apparent reason.
‘You have some odd methods Henry, but you do get results’. Really???? All he does is basically put a razor blade in a glass. Sherlock he ain’t. MST fodder he definitely is.
Shot in 1957, the film was never seen outside of an editing machine until 1993, when it was discovered by Sinister Cinema at the old offices of Headliner Productions. Sinister bought the rights to sell it on video in 1993. It gained the most attention when it was shown on “Mystery Science Theater 3000” .
Favorite lines:
The first movie filmed entirely with flashlights.
James Farentino visits Tina Sinatra.
“Don’t you start on me now!” It’s not all glamour being a Fleet Farm underwear model you know.
A gut shot model will often hide in the woods up to three hours.
Arrest him for the accent.
Oh, another senseless drive-by filming.
[of Krasher] He got kind of carried away with the Frost and Streak kit didn’t he?
He’s in a metaphysical snit.
I think his hair is Bermuda grass.
So, big deal, my stools float.
Final Thought: This one was an ordeal, again. I give this one 2 out of 5 stars.
“You monkey-eyed kraut-packer!!”
Not my favorite, but as a (probably) life-long resident of Western New York, i’m glad to know that everyone in the afterlife is busy agonizing over the Buffalo Bills, too…
I think Krasker’s a lot like what a mad scientist would be like in real life.
@96 atomic womble-
Wait, so the police DON’T regularly consult with creepy little inventors/scientists who are obsessed with dead people (and communication with such), live in a boarding house with even crazier roomates, and works out of a ‘laboratory’ that’s obviously his mother’s basement?
Huh… you must live in a different town than me.
That said, I thought both the movie & the short were hilarious.