Movie: (1977) Upon his return to Earth, an astronaut develops melting skin and murderous tendencies, and the authorities try to hush it all up.
First shown: 2/24/96
Opening: M&tB are playing a little hardball
Intro: Crow’s “Earth vs. Soup” screenplay is being made into a movie, with Dr. F. and Pearl in charge
Host segment 1: A script conference goes nowhere
Host segment 2: Crow shoots his movie
Host segment 3: Dr. F. leads a focus group
End: Crow learns the fate of his movie
Stinger: “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
(224 votes, average: 4.65 out of 5)
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• You can read Mary Jo’s thoughts on this episode here.
• Of course, this ep is dominated by the movie-making segments. The Brains openly admitted that this was their chance to get even with the Hollywood suits who made their lives a living hell during the making of MST3K: The Movie. If they saw it (and they probably didn’t) a few execs may have recognized themselves. In any case, the segments are great fun, the movie is dumb and a little drippy and the riffing is very memorable. A great episode.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “Volume XXXVI.”
• References.
• Trace and Mary Jo are pitch-perfect as smug studio heads and it’s nice to see Dr. F and Pearl working together, rather than being at odds. Trace’s running gag with the water bottles is classic.
• Callbacks: Tom is singing “Are you happy in your work” (from “I Accuse My Parents”) as segment 1 begins. M&tB sing a few bars from “Only Love.” (Sidehackers) “What’s the matter, don’t you like it?” (Brute Man) “You always were a good judge of men, Deathstalker.” (Deathstalker) “The melting man was found alive and of normal size” (Monster A-Go-Go).
• This is one of those movies where the Brains find themselves having to riff the same scene (in which our hero Steve gets a bloody nose) several times. They managed it remarkably well.
• Director Crow is wearing a Deep 13 hat.
• This is the movie that features the great “What did we learn?” conversation. They should have done it for every movie.
• A little behind-the-scenes note: Confused about the scene showing a girl sobbing in a police car and a photographer taking pictures of everything in sight? That’s because the scene just before it was cut from the MSTed version. In the scene, the photographer gets the girl model (played by Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith) to pose and bounce around, then forcibly removes her top after she refuses to. She starts hitting him as he continues to take pictures, and then trips over the Bill-Gates-look-alike corpse, making an oozy mess and screaming a lot. That’s why she’s crying in the police car, and that’s why the photographer happens to be there.
• Then-current reference: Now-forgotten sitcom “Caroline in the City.”
• Cast and crew roundup: Executive producer Max J. Rosenberg also worked on “The Deadly Bees.” Makeup/special effects guy Rick Baker also worked on “Track Of The Moon Beast” and “Squirm. Special effects guy Harry Woolman also worked on “Laserblast,” “Aent for H.A.R.M.” and “Hangar 18.” Assistant director Henning Schellerup also worked on “Hangar 18.” In front of the camera, Myron Healey was also in “The Unearthly.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Crist Ballas did hair and makeup for the only time this season. The focus group members were Paul, Jim, Beez, Ben Mooers, Helena Espinoza, Kelly Schrandt and Barbara Tebben.
• Fave riff: “You know, I’m actually starting to hate Hans Geiger.” Honorable mention: “Did they have a race horse tied up to the wall?”
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I loved the host segments which were a terrific satire of the movie making business. Crow really gets into it especially as the director which I found hilarious.
As for the movie, the gang does a good job but overall this is my least favorite of Season Seven. I’ve re-watched it several times but just can’t seem to get into it. Not that it didn’t have its moments.
I always get a good laugh early in the film when the Melting Man is chasing the chunky nurse and when they show it from the Melting Man’s POV it’s obvious the camera is on a rail, when Servo pipes up that he’s chasing her on roller blades.
And I also find the scene where the old couple for some inexplicable reason opt for a moment of childish rebellion to steal some lemons only to be killed by the Melting Man. Their attempts at being kittenish are so over-the-top I can’t help but laugh.
The movie itself is worth 2 stars but the strong host segments make this a 3 out of five for me.
I saw this at Meadowbrook Cinema 6 in Jackson Mississippi as a kid. That cinema must have had a low budget for film acquisition because I also saw Laserblast there … and a bunch of crazy kung-fu films. Even as a kid this movie was laughable, and memorably disappointing. Lots of padding, not enough melting! And never once do they show the rings of saturn, just bad stock footage of a solar flare.
Callback not listed by Sampo:
“I don’t follow you man .. no way” (San Francisco International)
Mike: “I had by breasts lowered and my hips pulled out at odd angles, hope that’s okay”
Crow: “Give her a wire monkey and see how she reacts”
Mike: “I think his shampoo had the wrong PH”
and tons of other great riffs!
Love how they integrated the Crackers subplot from the movie into the focus-group skit. In fact all of the skits in this episode based on their movie-making experiences are brilliant. If this is how focus-groups work it’s no wonder so many hollywood films suck!
Apparently Saturn is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the sun. :roll: Maybe those rings act as magnifiers or something. I would think the sun would look pretty puny from Saturn, but anyway…
I spell Atchka with a “p”, but it’s silent and invisible.
I liked this episode. Good, funny. Everyone already wrote all the lines I would have wrote as being my favorites. (I actually laughed more at these comments than the episode).
Burr DeBenning is one of the worst actors in MST history. Holy crap! no..neil..no.
And buy your own damn crackers, pal, you were out, too!
I agree also that the 70’s were slimy and sleezy and oily and…ick.
I noticed Crow did a little in-joke: When we see the silhouette of Melt in the dark, he says, “Which way am I facing?” He turns quickly and slyly to Mike for a moment.
I never thought Crow looked like he was facing toward the camera when in the theater, I never got how some people thought that. Oh, well. Optical illusion to some, I guess.
Well, I guess there are a FEW more lines I can name that I haven’t seen yet:
“This week on Emergency – Patient Drop-off.” – Crow
“This scene has been over several times and they just won’t admit it.” – Servo
“Steve II – Electric Boogaloo.” – Servo
“Losing his arm has given him the ability to run.” – Crow
(As Ted, about Neil, in a very bored and detached voice) “oh-god-he-was-a-very-close-and-vague-acquaintance-of-mine.” – Mike
(When Melt’s eyes are melting) “And he still sees 20/20.” – Crow
“And once again, we learn that NASA is staffed by two or three people, tops.” – Servo
My favorite has already been mentioned: “Ted Nelson was found alive, and of normal size – there was NO melting man.” – Crow
And Ted’s wife sleeps on (while her baby experiences the wonders of goof balls).
I also hear it as “Hotchka”
Andrew’s review at secretboxoftoys has an observation I liked:
“One part of this movie is actually quite touching with Steve stumbling into a cemetery and seeming to question God as to why this is happening to him.” After a shot of a cross atop a church, one can begin to view the melting, murderous Steve as a misunderstood, Christ-like figure. His life is sacrificed for man’s quest for space exploration.
Throughout the film, General Unearthly and Doctor Ted refer to a deadline of 7AM, but not why. Turns out there is another rocket launch scheduled for the next morning. This is the reason Ted wants to save/study what’s left of Steve – for science, to save lives! Even after murdering the sheriff before his very eyes, Ted still gives Steve the benefit of the doubt. Science!
The Incredible, Inedible Melting Man oozes nicely into the “cautionary tales of space travel” genre of Monster A Go Go and Night of the Blood Beast, except this one was made post-moon landing. It’s kinda the anti-2001:A Space Odyssey.
Another great episode from the short but sweet season 7. Good riffs and a funny movie make for a great time.
Also the most gory episode I can remember.
The biggest thing about this episode has to be the host segments though. Basically a satirization on what the crew went through making MST3K:TM. That plus getting cancelled a scant two episodes later must have been a kick in the pants for everyone involved at Best Brains Inc. Funny and yet somewhat sad stuff.
#52 – “Callback not listed by Sampo:
“I don’t follow you man .. no way” (San Francisco International)”
Servo says “MITCHELL!” at one point, too, if I remember correctly.
This was the first episode of MST3K I ever saw in full, and thus it was the episode that got me into the show. My favourite riff has always been “Marshmellows, I hate Marshmellows.” I also laughed really hard when the the sherrif exploded in the power lines. And the cat spilling the milk from the fridge, of course. Oh, too much to mention, this is still one of my favorites.
CROW: “Oh, why did I go on that high-phosphorous diet?”
Brilliant episode. Perfect movie, genius riffs, and the best host segments they ever did.
“Anybody else have “Seasons in the Sun” in their head now?”
I do now. Thanks.
“I found some lovely wild fennel, Steve!”
Ted “Crazy Legs” Nelson
“Go melt somewhere else, loser!”
“What a day this has been, what a rare mood I’m in!”
Classic.
I’m actually kinda so-so about this one.
There are a good bunch of quality riffs but the film is so drab and dark (literally) and they’re exactly right – everything is in the service of Baker getting to ‘abuse spirit gum and latex’. So it’s a bit of a gungy drag to me for long periods despite the other plusses.
The hits, though, are good ones. Dr Ted Nelson and his red-hot firecracker of a wife. The bizarre ‘journey of the head’. The IMM bursting into show tunes and so on.
There were a lot of Steve’s in Season 7. What with the “Planet of the Steve’s” in Blood Beast, and the melting Steve here. Was the Brute Man a Steve?
I also here “Hotchka”
As someone asked, did Ted Nelson think he could cure Melty? And if he did, he’d be stuck looking like a pile of thrown up ice cream for the rest of his life.
I think the Frankenstein riff is my favorite riff of all time. There’s something about the little girl running to mommy for comfort only to find pedantry that makes me laugh my rear off.
Should I have said,”Goodbye”…?
I think this may be my all-time favorite experiment. I literally laugh out loud every time I watch it, and it never seems to gets old. They really do hit the mark on every riff, and there’s no lulls or dead spots from beginning to end.
Enough cannot be said about the old-folks scene!
Ted Nelson is in a class all his own.
…a rubber novelty…
The “So they learned nothing!” exchange as the end credits roll make this ep. for me, riffing-wise. The host segments are fall-down funny. Up till I read the season 7 episode guide (on this very site plug! plug!) a while back, I had never put 2 and 2 together and associated it with MST3KTM’s making. Looking back now, kinda seems obvious. And, yeah I kinda thought Dr. Ted’s expletive had an “h” at the beginning too (not going to venture a spelling, tho’).
I’ve already given my review but, wow, I don’t think anyone has mentioned my fav scene of all time: the kind of white trashey girl who gets attacked by IMM and goes into hysterics. There are some really dark riffs. Defin. in my top 5 funnies scenes ever!
@ #63: No, the Brute Man was a Harold. But I know “Deathstalker” had a lot of utterances of the name Steve in the riffing (“Goodbye, Steve!”, etc.). It’s just one of those inherently funny names, I guess.
I put it to you that the scripting and casting of TIMM happened concurrent with the shooting of TIMM.
“Hey, you old people over there! You’re going to be in my movie! No, I’m not with Silver Key, now get busy writing your dialogue! Sunlight’s burning here, people!”
Actually, I heard that the old people funded the movie, so director Max Rosenberg gave them a part in the film as Mrs. Nelson’s mom and dad. And then the rest is history, as they say.
4 stars, but only because the movie is boring. The riffing is good. The host segments are great. (If Hollywood is only half as bone-headed as it is in those segments, then it is a scary place in which to do business.)
I think it’s funny that the Night of the Blood Beast featured the constant riff of “Steve” from M&TB. Then we get to this movie and it’s the main character that’s always calling out “Steve.”
That really does sorta look like a map of Vietnam there at the beginning.
I was young enough to find this movie a bit scary even when it first came out, but that passed REAL quick and is now a fave.
How many movies do end with a janitor scooping up the monster and putting him into a garbage can?
My guess? 1.
jjb3k
Oh, well they make it seem so effortless.
This movie is so very ’70s. I had flashbacks to my childhood every time they were in Dr. Ted Nelson’s house.
MIKE: “Karen and Richard Carpenter at home.”
I always thought it was Hotchka too.
I may end up being the last to comment, but I just can’t resist: This is easily one of my favorite episodes. I have a soft spot for the show’s 70s movies (Mitchell, Riding with Death, Pumaman, Laserblast, and so on), in part because they’re so inherently goofy, but also because the writers have such a rich, personal vein of experience to draw from for comedy.
I’m such a fan of this episode that when I was writing for an entertainment website (who shall remain nameless, for reasons I don’t want to get into), this was one of the episodes I said was a Rhino (back when they still had the license) must release:
I rewatched it again last night, and while I think it drags around the middle more than I remembered, it was still a joy. Some of my favorite parts:
Tom whispering, as Ted Nelson: “There’s a black guy in my office.”
“Bedpan? Bedpan! Oh, never mind.”
“Burger King command center.”
The goofy fisherman: “Jesus is coming on his magic spaceship.”
Ted Nelson, injecting his wife: “Now this may cause some gigantism.”
The logic in this movie just makes your head hurt. An astronaut goes rogue, so they send… one guy, maybe two, one of whom is a civilian? The office they work in is… a U-Stor-It? The nurse is so squeamish that she freaks and runs through a glass door? They spend four minutes of screen time on… crackers? (The edible kind, not the redneck couple, although they’re funny, too.) “Ted, you know I’m not married.”? It’s hard to be scary when it makes no sense, guys.
I’d also forgotten how dark this movie is. Not philosophically, although you could make that argument, but it just lacks lighting in so many of the night scenes. I guess, like Johnny in Planet of the Apes, this movie just doesn’t care. Either that or they blew all the money on the special effects.
The host segments are fantastic, some of the best the show has ever attempted, BECAUSE they’re so pointed, not in spite of being pointed, as some have suggested. You can just feel the pain of making the movie dripping off them. And Trace really makes the show, both as Crow (the flaky director, especially) and as Forrester (the flaky movie exec).
great episode. one of the best of a short but great season.
ribbit.
This was one of those episodes that was bolstered by the host segments. Having learned more about the back-story of making MST:TM, the segments have an added sting to them since I first watched this back in ’96. While driving home the frustrations of dealing with the hacks at Universal, they also made each sketch humorous in their own way. The big payoff was Dr. F’s incessant drinking from the water bottle, capped off with the jug that’s he’s carrying around by the end. “I think I can fit my head in here” always cracks me up!
As for the movie riffing, I would grade it somewhere between good to very good. There are brief moments of boredom here and there, but overall it wasn’t bad. Some of my fav riffs included:
– when Ted Nelson says,”You know, when people tell me to don’t worry, that’s when I start worrying”, Servo says, “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
– as The Melting Man, by now deforming to a near skeleton, comes out of the darkness, Crow chimes, “Well I won that scanner contest, but it came at a price!” I also enjoyed the “What I learned” riffing during the end credits: “I learned never to yell ‘I’m Dr. Ted Nelson!’ at anyone!”
There was also another callback that might have been missed: as the Melting Man is being shown on a hill with the sunset beyond him – a typical ’70’s shot – you hear M&tB softly singing the love song from “The Sidehackers”, “Only Love (Pads the Film)”. I love it when they go WAY BACK on a reference!
4 stars, due much to the host segments. Now onto one of my personal faves, “Escape 2000”, featuring the one-and-only Toblerone!
This episode is has taken over as my definitively favorite season 7 episode.
It slowly overtook my brain, but by the 8th or 9th viewing it completely won out as the the best of them.
I now consider it in my top 5 episodes of all time.
There’s too many great riffs to even mention.
I can still sit down and watch this one and laugh my head off even after seeing it in excess of probably about 20 times now.
I think the part that always comes to mind when I think about it is that mocking of the sound track the guys all did at one point for about a 3 minute stretch in the middle of the movie.
That makes me laugh out loud everytime!
Oddly, I am not all that keen on the host segments. But the quantity and quality of the riffing and the typical 70’s movie itself are enough to put it in my top 5.
“The Lord’s Main boosters are firing.”
I want to add that the host segments were far too long and boring, and though I normally enjoy the host segments, I made a special copy of this episode sans the in-between segments because by the time they end I have lost my ear to ear grin from the movie & the riffing.
I find this one best watched without the host segments, and for me that is rare. (The only other episode I ever did that with was the episode where Pearl has the space kids. I found that one annoying).
Still, as I said, I rate the movie & riffing as in the top five favorites of all-time for me.
This show is worth the price of admission just for the “Great Crackers Scene”, at least that’s what I call it.
Ted “Don’t we have any crackers?”
Wife “You could go to the store yourself ya know”
Weird Pause…..”So we don’t have any crackers then?!”
Your HopesIt is, breathing There are?Ten thousand pounds, in any area.Are lifelong effects, insist on getting.All They generally compare electric cigarettes, including trance and with you Even.And virus defense, actually give us.,
Judy what am I doing here?
I am a baseball man and I loved the opening. Tom does a good job of taunting Mike. Crow sits back there and calls everything a strike including the pitch the plunks Mike. They pick on the fact that most umpires have a strike call that sounds nothing like the word strike. (I think they are saying something like HI-reeeee.) But my favorite is Crow wearing his lacrosse net over his face as an umpire’s mask. Then it is followed up with the Bots picking on Mikes injuries. This includes Crow tricking Mike into saying “I was born on a pile of ****” and Tom doing a Jungle Goddess callback (the origin of calling Crow Art) and blends up a hamburger sammich with French fried potatoes.
Then we have the announcement of Earth vs. Soup. What can I say? Pearl and Clayton play it great: disinterested know it alls who control everything through condescension. Many of my favorite lines were already transcribed four years ago. I love how Crow caves on everything: the script, the shooting budget, casting… About that budget: $30 million doesn’t sound like a terribly small number in 1996 dollars. I’m sure that was on the smaller end but I doubt that number would have been prohibitive at that time. Look at today: there are Kickstarter movies (including the occasional good one) that gets made for less.
This is one of the few episodes were the Mads never introduce the film.
Check out the ‘70’s porn mustache on the title character in the movie opening before he starts melting.
I really like Clayton and Pearl taking a shuttle up to the SOL. Still I think it would have been better if they figured out a way to ride the Umbilicus up. The meeting itself was a hoot. I don’t work in Hollywood. I work in a construction related sub-industry and I’ve been through meetings just like that where people keep referring dated elevation drawings and nothing gets accomplished.
Now why don’t we see Clayton and Crow in the same shot?
The highlight of the film shooting host segment is Crow’s reason for being in the shot. He is perfectly correct that Coleman Francis put himself in the shot.
The Focus Group: Trace really shines here. He really delivers as the facilitator trying to get a group of disinterested people to give up some information. I wonder how much of this sketch is based in reality. Or more to the point, did any of the Best Brains witness a focus group discussing their movie?
I’ll second the notion that the “What have we learned segment” should have been used a lot more often.
So Crow’s movie is getting released as a trailer. What did he expect when he only had a one page script? I really loved the way Pearl justified the decision to release the film this way. You have to believe this is what they heard when they were told their film was going to be released in the traveling roll out that was used.
In closing, if you ever asked the question: What would happen if you took a 50’s monster movie and added 70’s smarm what would you get? The answer is The Incredible Melting Man.
Favorite Riffs:
The squeamish nurse is running hysterically. Mike “I’m not going to look silly in this shot will I? I will maintain my dignity.”
Dr. Nelson “Whenever someone tells me not to worry, that’s when I start to worry.”
Tom: “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
General Perry gets in the car. Mike as driver “Good morning sweet ‘ems.”
Melting man looks at his reflection. Mike “I think it’s starting to clear up a little.”
As the old couple attempts to flee on foot: Mike “There are yards of cable and 15 operators to run these people.”
Crow as the General raiding the fridge “Beer, turkey legs, strip down to my underwear and some porn. I’m all set.”
I’m siding with the minority opinion in that I don’t care for the host segments. Part of the reason is because they’re essentially therapeutic writing. While such activities may do the writer(s) good, I find they make for less than stellar entertainment. It’s why The Thing on the Doorstep is H.P. Lovecraft’s worst post-1926 story. It’s why I can’t get enough of David Drake’s RCN series, but his Hammer’s Slammers stories leave me cold. Another reason (and one I imagine some of you will disagree with) is that I find bile and resentment to be poor ingredients for comedy.
The last time we saw Myron Healey (General Perry) he was trying to save Grace Thomas (played by Allison Hayes) in 1957’s The Unearthly. Born Myron Daniel Healey on June 8, 1923 in Petaluma, California, this actor and occasional screenwriter was one of the most frequently seen heavies in films and television programs of the 1950s. Occasionally he played minor leads and sympathetic characters, but his stern good looks and rich deep voice made him a memorable villain, particularly in Westerns. He died on December 21, 2005 in Burbank, California. He was married four times and was the godson of noted horticulturist Luther Burbank. During World War II he joined the Army Air Corps and was a navigator and bombardier, flying many missions over Germany.
Favorite lines:
[Alex Rebar after seeing the sun through the rings of Saturn] Oh, that was one hot burrito.
[heavy nurse] Linda Ronstadt. Why is she running through the E-Z Mini Storage?
I’m a dried apple head.
[fisherman] Oh, its Bill Gates…Have you tried Windows 95 yet? [a dated reference?]
[Ted and Judy Nelson in Kitchen] Karen and Richard Carpenter at home.
[Judy] How long have I been 40 years older than you?
[sung to the tune of the old Hamm’s Beer ads] From the land of blood red waters.
[Helen and Harold] They were broad minded to cast aliens in this role…the incredible melting grandma…she looks like a Killer Klown from outer space.
Those old folks gave him a taste for aged meat.
Careful, the paneling is out acting you…you’re right, the paneling is less wooden than her.
[Myron Healey] But I did get the lead in the Coleman Francis story.
How long does it take to check a double wide?
[stain on kitchen wall] Did they have a racehorse tied up to the wall? Apparently deer have been nibbling at the woodwork.
[bums drinking] The answer to whatever happened to Jethro Tull.
The gooeyness of the long distance runner.
They turned “Barefoot in the Park” into an action movie.
[dead Sheriff] Karl Wallenda has burst into flames. The Sheriff is like an underground tire fire. Must have been dry, he’s really going up.
Oh, if I could just fart I would feel so much better.
So, how many monster movies end with a janitor scooping a monster into a garbage can?
Final Thought: They got their money’s worth out of Rick Baker. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
I’ve been watching this movie a lot recently, and my opinion is that it’s absolutely hilarious … up until the point where Jonathan Demme and his wife approach the double wide. Then it gets HORRIBLY dull and repetitive, and all Mike and the bots have to go on is an endless succession of “cracker” jokes (“I really liked the Jim Varney film”). It picks up a little at the climax, where Burr DeBenning’s non-acting is good for some chuckles (“Maybe he had a rider in this film where he didn’t have to act.”)
I do have to look away, though, when the melting man is on-screen. Boy, that’s nauseating.
If they saw it (and they probably didn’t) a few execs may have recognized themselves.
I very much doubt that. The thing about dickweeds is that they rarely (if ever) recognize themselves as such.
Sitting Duck 84> I don’t disagree in principal. By and large most theripeutic comedy doesn’t work. But the delivery counts too and the Brains play it right. Another reason it works so well in this case is that we the fans are sharing in the therapy. The fan who is upset about how their favorite cow town puppet show was treated by Hollywood is not only laughing at these segments but also sitting back and saying that “take that” to the Hollywood suites.
That reminds me, I’m out of crackers…
Great episode! Not one of my favorites, but still funny.
My theory is that somehow the radiation of the sun through Saturn’s rings caused (soon-to-be)Melty’s metabolism to accelerate to ridiculous levels, thus giving him heightened strength & speed. Unfortunately, the heat generated by this also causes him to melt.
Yes, I actually try to find (often pseudo) scientific explanations for the silly things we see in movies…
And I’ve always spelled it HODJKA! I wonder if it’s actually spelled in the script… HA!! like there was a script…
Good but not great episode IMO. The host segments were good but the movie monster was rather icky, although I think Squirm was ickier. So many completely stupid things happen in this movie as other commenters have said (NASA sending basically nobody to deal with a killer gooey killer astronaut who somehow moves faster despite melting and sticking to everything for instance).
Unlike others, I am not surprised that this amount of gore was allowed on CC, remember that gore is OK but sex is the big no-no on American TV. Plus CC did not (and still doesn’t) have to follow FCC rules, that’s why shows like Archer can have swearing. The only thing that has ever kept basic cable somewhat in line is advertiser pressure.
Hotcha!
This is a middle of the road episode, like all of Season 7 save Laserblast. A nice double feature with say, The Amazing Colossal Man or the Amazing Transparent Man. And the host segments were much better than the standard Mike-CC era fare.
Getting slowly better as we move on to Season 8!
Another thing about this movie that makes it prime riffing material is the dialogue delivery.
“Replace it with units of WHOLE BLOOD.” (Weird emphasis theirs.) You’re just EXPECTING a snarky remark after a line like that.
“Don’t you think you’d better… (pause) … call General Perry?” Hmm.. what could possibly go into that pause?
Never has there been such a helpful movie for riffing, really.
Beg to differ with Sampo – the host segments don’t dominate this ep. I think the segs and the movie are pretty evenly matched. The host segments are amusing, but only the focus group segment is actually funny.
The weird mix of nauseating visuals and odd character/dialogue elements (e.g., Dr. Ted Nelson’s obsession with crackers, the out-of-leftfield old man and woman scene, the bum scene), I think, is probably evidence of the fact that this movie started life as a spoofy comedy (probably not a good one at that), then was forced to assume its present lumpy dimensions as sci-fi sorta horror by producers who understandably feared that it wouldn’t have offered a good return on their investment. People like to slam producer interference, but I think in this one case the bean counters knew what was up.
I blame you, the 70s. It’s depressing to me to remember when TV and movies were trying to sell us on the idea of the New Male: passive, sensitive, given to share his feelings to strangers, etc… Alan Alda but more spineless, and no real convictions. Thus you get leading men like Jody (the most malleable man) from Touch of Satan and our hero today, Dr. Ted Nelson. Overly concerned about crackers and the fact that army generals sometimes hang up on him, however, not very concerned about his patient’s killing spree or pumping his wife full of barbituates. (Maybe that’s a separate 70s issue) Great riffing fodder (especially tough through the many dark forest scenes of MM walking around, but awful movie, painful in spots, almost loathsome in others. (see: Hobgoblins)
Nothing quite screams 1970s like the Nelson home. The dark wood cabinets and burnt orange laminate counter tops in the kitchen are a clue. But the real dead giveaway is the avocado green, low slung aircraft carrier style couch in the living room. No wonder the Doctor and his wife seemed to be on quaaludes.
This is the ONLY MST episode featuring a MVP from the World Series. Sure, MT&B mention Randy Johnson, but, this movie has 1968 World Series MVP Mickey Lolich playing a security guard (no, he isn’t the one who shoots Ted Nelson)- apparently Lolich’s agent got the part for the him- and, he is humiliated to this day. Nothing like winning 3 complete games in a series to being in a loser of a movie.
Oh, and it’s the only MST movie where a janitor scoops up a monster at the end. I love this show. MVP pitcher as a doughy security guard, and, a janitor scooping up a monster. They don’t make entertainment like they used to.
I’m just going to stand here and say I HATE HATE HATE HATE this episode. I’ve managed to sit through it twice – definitely the nadir of this season, heck the whole run of the show. Worse than Sidehackers, Monster A-Go-Go, Castle of Fu Manchu.. I’d even watch Hamlet again…maybe even twice! :shock:
I’m not even sure why…maybe it’s the depressing ending, the grossness (it’s hard for me to laugh when I feel like throwing up), etc. Even worse, the host segments are just bitter and nasty and unfunny. I feel like this episode was punishing me for some reason…
I love the incredi-meltable riffing. I never get sick of this one. And I never get sick at the sight of the melting man himself, so count me in as one of those for what it’s worth. And my fave host segment here is the focus group, I’ve often wondered how much such groups could be influenced by peer pressure. (“Should I raise my hand? No one else is rasing their hands, so I won’t either!”)
#85, thanks for the great Myron Healey information!
I think this movie monster had a fate that was worse than the fates of all the other MST3K’ed monsters. So you start out as an astronaut with an unflattering ‘stache, then you melt and die. It’s a little heartbreaking.
Speaking of unfair, why the devil are Mike and the bots so nasty about the affectionate oldsters??? And here I read, at post #70, that these actors helped the movie out, so it REALLY stings like lemon juice in a wound. Hey Mike and crew, here’s hoping you’ll be as (lemon) zestful as these characters are when you’re seniors. Just my opinion. Thank you, won’t you? :)