Movie: (1955) Sequel to “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” in which the creature is at last captured and taken to a Florida aquarium for “study.”
First shown: 2/1/97
Opening: Mike, Tom and Gypsy reappear on the bridge of the SOL. They find Crow already there, but he seems different. As they are about to crash into Earth, Mike saves the ship but cripples it. They contact the planet, and it’s NOT Dr. Forrester who responds
Intro: After a good scream, Prof. Bobo and Dr. Peanut explain just what’s been happening on Earth lately. Bobo sends a bad movie because it’s “Ape Law”
Host segment 1: Servo tries to repair the SOL’s engines with a little help from the nanites. Crow still seems different
Host segment 2: An irate Phil the alien demands to speak to Servo
Host segment 3: Crow may be different, but he makes a great espresso
End: The bots make an embarrassing discovery about the love lives of Mike’s descendants. Then they learn who The Lawgiver is
Stinger: John Agar swims softly and carries a big stick
(257 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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• When the show was canceled (by Sci-Fi), we learned that Sci-Fi was simply going to delete the MST3K section of their web site including the episode guide entries the cast had written. We asked if we could have them. They agreed, as long as we designed new web pages for the text. We took the stuff and ran. The upshot is that you can still read the episode guide entries they did for seasons eight through ten here. You’re welcome. Bill offers his thoughts on this episode here.
• This episode is included in Shout! Factory’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXV.
•The stretch between the end of season 7 and the beginning of season 8 was 259 days, the longest amount of time MSTies had to wait between episodes (not counting wait between seasons 10 and 11, of course),
• I was incredibly nervous about this episode. I guess I should have had more confidence in them, but, at the time, I really didn’t know what to expect. All that long summer, fall and winter I began to wonder if maybe MST3K was just a ridiculous chance thing, and whether they could catch lightning in a bottle again. And it seemed to me that in the last CC episode the writers had painted themselves into a pretty tight corner. Could they get out of it with their usual aplomb? Sci-Fi Channel sent me a preview tape of the first show, and on the day it arrived I practically dashed to the TV and shoved it into the VCR. I was pleasantly surprised and hugely relieved.
Using the narrative economy this show is known for, it took them less than five minutes to extricate themselves from that corner, set the premise back up and get back into the theater. Was the opening bit terribly funny? No, but it was silly, and that was enough. I think that segment was much more about pushing the reset button than about the big yuks. And once they were back in the theater again, everything started to click into place. Almost immediately the riffs got funnier and funnier, and when Crow sings: “Egrets, I’ve had a few…” I cracked up and said to myself: “They’re back.”
• Of course, with this episode, we have another new version (or verse, as I prefer to say) of the theme song, and all-new visuals. But the new lyrics were a bit of a problem. They set out the new “endless chase” premise, including the Widowmaker space ship, etc. The problem is that in this episode, the “endless chase” has not yet begun, and after coming to grips with that premise, viewers then have to re-adjust to the whole “Planet of the Apes” thing that we are introduced to here. When this show first aired, more than a few viewers expressed confusion at this, wondering which premise the show was going with — the endless chase or the ape business. It would take several episodes before they figured out that the Ape premise was only a temporary sub-plot to the larger endless chase scenario.
• And, of course, with this episode Bill Corbett took over as Crow. Erhardt and I visited the studio the week before the show aired. See our report here.
It was there that Bill forthrightly said to us: “Crow has had a stroke.” And, yes, there definitely was a settling-in period for Bill’s Crow (those with long memories will recall that it also took several episodes for Kevin to settle into the Tom Servo character and voice). But the process was already under way by the end of this episode.
• And there are an array of new characters: Drs. Bobo and Peanut, the nanites and a completely revamped Pearl. I really do give Mary Jo a lot of credit for finding the funny in her character. Even when she was essentially a straight woman, setting up punch lines for Kevin or Bill, she did it well.
• Younger fans may perhaps wonder why one of the apes is playing with a suitcase in the background. That’s a reference to an old American Tourister commercial, in which they demonstrated their suitcases’ strength by throwing it into a cage with an angry gorilla.
• Gone, of course, is Deep 13. In its place (for now) is a set the cast called “Deep Ape” though it was never called that on the show.
• On the SOL, things are, well, darker. Gone for good is the brightly lit SOL of, say, season three. It’s just part of the look of this later period, largely the creation of Jeff Stonehouse, who liked it better. It took some getting used to.
• I have to say that I was never really comfortable with the whole “Crow doesn’t remember Mike” concept and I was glad when it only lasted a few episodes.
• In the opening, Crow is reading George Magazine, a “politics-as-lifestyle” glossy co-founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. It folded in 2001.
• Mike is almost unrecognizable in the ape makeup as Peanut, but the voice is a dead giveaway. That’s Jim and Bill in the background in the ape costumes — the first time Jim actually appeared in a sketch in several seasons.
• Bobo says he is descended from Godo. Unfortunately Godo is a character in “Time of the Apes” who was NOT an ape. Oops.
• There were some complaints, I remember, following Mike’s line: “Crow, this is what we’ve been doing for seven years!” That’s certainly not true of Mike’s character, but then again, it’s just a show, I should really just relax.
• Callback: During segment one, Tom says, “jerking around must have cause a flameout,” a line from “This Island Earth.” I also thought it was interesting that one of Mike’s first segments when he started as host had him on the floor helping the bots who were digging around in the wiring below the deck, and that’s again what he’s doing in one of his first segments on the new channel. Coincidence? Possibly.
• Segment 1, in which the nanites are introduced, is a lot of fun. Of course that’s Kevin and Paul as Wade and Ned, respectively. It’s another tightly written, very funny, spot.
• Segment 2 introduces yet another running gag — the notion that Tom has had all sorts of wild adventures out in the galaxy. They kind of toy with the idea but it never really pays off. That’s Bill, of course, as Phil the alien.
• Again and again in this episode, all sorts of odd fish float into view and the riffers give them all sorts of weird and silly voices. Funny stuff.
• Segment 3 is kinda silly but doesn’t go much of anywhere.
• The final bit is carried entirely by Mary Jo’s energy. Her explanations make no sense, but she makes them with such bravada that it works.
• Cast and crew roundup: Okay, now begins a stretch of Universal B-movies, most of which were created by the same bunch of people. So strap in: producer William Alland also produced “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis” (for which he also got a story credit) “The Space Children” and “This Island Earth.” Director Jack Arnold also directed “The Space Children.” Scriptwriter Martin Berkeley also wrote “The Deadly Mantis.” Somebody whip up some gowns! Jay A. Morley Jr. did for this movie and also did for “The Mole People” and “The Deadly Mantis.” Makeup guy Bud Westmore also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Leech Woman,” “San Francisco International,” “The Thing That Couldn’t Die and “This Island Earth.” Hair stylist Joan St. Oegger also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Amazing Colossal Man” and “This Island Earth.” Art director Alexander Golitzen also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “Kitten With A Whip” and “This Island Earth.” Set designer Russell A. Gausman also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “The Brute Man” and “This Island Earth.” Set designer Julia Heron also worked “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.” Sound person Leslie I. Carey also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.” Music director Joseph Gershenson also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “Kitten with a Whip,” “This Island Earth” and he produced “The Leech Woman.” Score composer Herman Stein also worked on “The Mole People” and “This Island Earth.” Score composer Henry Mancini also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.”
In front of the camera: John Agar also appears in “The Mole People,” and “Women of the Prehistoric Planet.” Nestor Paiva also appeared in “The Mole People.” Robert B. Williams appeared in “This Island Earth.” Brett Halsey also appeared in “Girl in Lovers Lane.” Ned LeFevre also appeared in “The Deadly Mantis.” Don C. Harvey also appeared in “Beginning of the End.” Bob Wehling wrote the script for “Eegah.” Robert Hoy also appeared in “The Mole People” and “Master Ninja II.” Sidney Mason also appeared in “Teenage Crime Wave.” Lori Nelson also appeared in “Untamed Youth.”
• CreditsWatch: The “produced and directed by,” “directed by” and “produced by” credits will change hands all season. This week the show was produced and directed by Jim, with Kevin listed as “associate producer.” Jim is also listed as a contributing writer. Something called “Blue Thumb Scenic” gets a set design credit. Patrick Brantseg — intern in season 4 and “utility infielder” in seasons 5 and 6 (he doesn’t seem to have worked on season 7) — now takes over as “art director.” Brad Keely returns as “technical supervisor.” Beth “Beez” McKeever takes the place of Jef Maynard, taking the title of “prop diva.” Barb Tebben takes the place of Julie Walker as “Info Club poobah.” We say hello to production manager Jill Roozenboom, grip Mike Parker and interns Elliot Cobb and Mytch Parks.
• Fave riff: “Of course, a couple of the chimps drowned…” Honorable mention: “Does he got a thing?”
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Also, I believe this was the first epiosde to air in the UK. And thank goodness it did!
Once Bill stopped straining to stretch his vocal cords to comport with how a puppet would sound–as if there is such a thing–his rendition of Crow was a pleasant surprise. This and the next few episodes, which are nevertheless very funny, are slightly bogged down by this breaking in period. The running TV variety show gag was a spot on way to get things rolling and acclimate the audience to the new fella, and I don’t mean Mike.
Randy
Funny, I came in late after this show had already started, they were in the theater and I remember thinking that Crow seemed ticked off about something! I had been so disconnected from the show for a couple of years-missed most of 6 and all of season 7– I didnt realize that Frank-n-Forrester had left! Talk about confusion!! But I laughed, and I loved it! Its all good!
OWCHEE WA WA: I AWARD THIS MOVIE TEN STARS!
I love the movie, and I love the episode. I also cannot claim a long history with the show, which is to say that I didn’t start watching actual episodes until after I had seen the Movie, and that was in the last year of the show’s existence. (And because we didn’t have cable, I was limited to episodes a friend of mine had on tape, and REVENGE OF THE CREATURE was one of them.)
On a certain level I feel a little sorry for (some) long-time fans of the show, since I didn’t have to adjust to all that change. I watched episodes RANDOMLY. Sometimes it was Joel, somtimes it was Mike. Sometimes it was Bill’s Crow, sometimes Trace’s. In fact, I didn’t immediately KNOW that Bill’s Crow was different. Yes, I missed a lot–but at least I didn’t feel compelled to send Kevin Murphy a huge banner that read, “I HATE TOM SERVO’S NEW VOICE.” :smile:
It was weird seeing new sets and characters after 7 seasons, but I had no trouble getting used to them.
Poor Professor Bobo seemed to suffer from Homer Simpson Disease. He just got more and more stupid as the show went on.
This is the episode that really introduced me to the cloying, unctuous presence of John Agar. I can’t believe he was once married to Shirley Temple. What did she see in him? However, what a surprise to see Clint Eastwood in his first film! I love how Mike and the bots gasped when he came into view. Crow’s line “This guy is bad. This is his first and last film.” is the best line of the episode.
Was the “Line too hot for TV” the “What’s a taboo, really?” when the heroine was taking off her clothes in front of Chris the Dog? I have a VHS copy of the first 3 eps as first run. Too bad my VHS player and modern technology don’t seem to work.
I remeber Watch this epidoe with hope. This was after I think 96 mst3k con where one sci fi excutive (Not bonnie hammer some other guy) came to con. We all intodued to Billat con but it was hopeful times.
Ofcorse the sci fi ecustive (who name I can’t remeber ) left and went to work for USA network and Bonnie took over and everything went down hill. But at lest we got 3 more season of our favorite show. That more than Pushing Dasies got.
Now sci fi is just sad and USA has really great program irionic I think not.
I know I should really just relax, but what the heck happened here? The show comes back and we get the SOL crew despite a cast change, but now its Planet of the Apes 3000. And Pearl as the big bad guy? Not buying it. I enjoyed the Sci-Fi series, but not as much as what I was used to on Comedy Central. Sci-Fi must have really given them a decent production budget to allow for all these changes, but I wasn’t fond of it. Am I afraid of change? All I know is I felt the show didn’t need another wacky premise.
If only I had known what a lynchpin Dr. Forrester was to the whole thing. With him gone, all heck broke loose.
Am I the only person who noticed that when reviewing the apes’ rise through Mike’s lineage they start with his grandson? While Mike never took off his wedding ring on the show, they never talk about him being married let alone having children. I just always found that odd that they didn’t start with a grand-nephew or something.
Anyways, I loved this episode and actually liked the introduction of a story line. While the point of the show was never really about the characters so much as just making fun of movies, it made me care about them all the more. And in the end it’s the reason I get choked up every time I watch the last episode.
My favorite line: “The creature from Calumet Harbor!” I lived in northwest Indiana, and I did not see that line coming.
I’m sure people are gonna lay into me for saying this, but here goes….
As much as I absolutely LOVE MST3K, this was the beginning of the end of it, for me. First we lose Trace, who was excellent, both as a writer and performer, but he was replaced by Bill, whose voice grates on me and whose delivery was much more negative and biting than Trace’s Crow ever was. I think he was (and still is) kind of riding on the coattails of Mike and Kevin, and quite frankly isn’t up to par with the rest of Best Brains.
The Planet of the Apes skit (Bobo, Brainguy) was kind of funny – for about 2 host segments. Then it quickly got old. I didn’t see why it needed to be stretched out for 3 entire seasons, but oh well. That, coupled with Sci-Fi’s stringent rule that absolutely ALL their content had to be science fiction-related, (thereby forcing the Brains to do almost nothing but space movies), really brought the show down, in my opinion.
I wanted to like it…a lot. But it just wasn’t happening, and I found myself clinging to it in reminiscence of the older ones. It had its moments, of course, but I don’t think it ever consistently hit that high mark again.
Oh I forgot to ask: What band played that “In the year 2525” song? I watched 801 in January with a friend who’d never heard of it, and therefore didn’t get the joke about why they landed in that year. I’d have never heard the song either were it not for an eccentric high school english teacher.
Yes, Patrick, you are fairly doomed for that one.
But we’re all friends here.
Ah this is where I came in. Didn’t really know what I was in for but afterwords we found my new obsession. The movie is bad and the riffing is good. To me bill is crow (though trace is a great performer), and bobo would steal the show. My favorite riff is “Henry rollins to the rescue” and that bit with the wire and the tree is just awesome.
2525: Zager and Evans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2-Kmiic
Longtime fan of the show since season 2. I add my minority opinion that the SciFi era shows were not as good as the preceding HA!/Comedy Channel/Comedy Central seasons. There were a few episodes I enjoyed, but overall, I thought the riffing was just not as good as in the past.
As others have stated, the loss of Trace was huge, from a writing and performing standpoint; I don’t think the show ever recovered from that. Bill did the best he could, almost literally picking up the Crow puppet less than a week before season 8 began taping (if I recall the facts correcty). I give him credit for surviving and thriving in such a difficult situation.
I know most here disagree with this opinion…and some of you only know of the SciFi era, but we’re all entitled to our opinions. At least we can all agree that we enjoy MST3K.
It’s nice to at least be able to post opinions about this in a relaxed manner, as opposed to the angry fight-filled days we had to live through back in the America Online board posting days.
#57: I see your plothole and raise you a trope. :D
What’s great about getting into the show post-airing is the fact that I simply jumped around seasons and, subsequently, cast changes. From season 9 to 3 to 6 to 4 to 10…it made very little difference to me, and it still doesn’t. In fact, it took me a while to have it click that Crow as voiced by two different people (forgive me), and switching between Pearl and Dr. F was easy too.
Though when you’ve done all that, it’s a bit jarring to watch the first episode of an era, particularly the
SyfySci-Fi era. It’s probably the one time I went “What happened to Crow?”. Sure, I’d heard the jokes (“Crow had a stroke”) and explanations, but wow is it weird to actually see it. XDSo for me, this episode is business as usual. Good episode, not great, but solid, and especially worthy as such given the major changes the crew had to deal with.
This movie makes me want to own a painting monkey who wears a jumpsuit more than any other movie.
Well, I’m surprised to see that I’m not the only one to think that the SciFi Channel episodes weren’t all that hot!
Ironically, even though the SciFi era was what introduced me to MST3K (this was the first full episode I saw, shortly after obtaining Seasons 8, 9, and 10 in 2005 via a friend who had access to the DAP), I still have a much, much stronger attachment to the Comedy Central episodes. The dynamic between the characters – and the performers – just feels better there. Season 8 ushers in some darker humor and some nastier behavior both in and out of the theater, and it’s not quite as funny to me as the goofier, lighthearted tone of the first seven seasons.
The show took a lot of hits with this episode, and most of it had to do with Trace’s departure. I don’t hate Bill (in fact, I think he’s pretty damn funny), but he’s just not Crow. Trace is Crow. There’s no replacing a legend. Also, I’m one of the handful of people who liked Pearl better in Season 7 than throughout the entire SciFi era. She’s funnier to me when she’s the passive-aggressive tormentor to Dr. Forrester rather than the inexplicably evil tormentor to Mike and the bots. I never even understood why she inherited the movie-watching experiment if she had such disdain for Dr. F’s experiment in the past.
The riffing in this one is fairly middle-of-the-road for me. But in the Brains’ defense, they hadn’t done this for almost a year. I’m willing to give them a grace period to get back in the game (“The Leech Woman” and “The Mole People” are pretty shaky too; I don’t think the riffing got back to the Season 4-7 level of hilarity until “The Deadly Mantis”). And again, they were missing one of their cornerstone writers. They had to get back into a rhythm.
Still, this episode is pretty good. And on the whole, I’ll admit that the SciFi era is okay. It’s just not the pinnacle of the show, nor does it come close to equaling it. To me, none of the final three seasons’ episodes will ever quite achieve the same level of hilarity as “Monster A-Go Go” or “Operation Double 007” or “Outlaw” or “Danger!! Death Ray” or “The Incredible Melting Man”, but they give me some good solid laughs. Just not as many as their predecessors.
A great episode for me…new charatures, new sets. Did I lament the lose of Trace? Yes. Did I embrace Bill taking over on Crow? Yes. I am a firm believer that the show got better with each subsequent season. I enjoyed that Mary Jo, Bill and Kevin got moved to the fore front as hosts. I loved watching them develope their charatures over time. This movie only lead me to think that great days are ahead. Great job on the transition to the Sci Fi era.
This is the first MST ep we got to see when it originally aired…before this, we didn’t have cable and watched earlier eps on tapes from friends and those that Rhino had released (and on the MST Hour). Like a few others here, I had seen episodes with Joel and Mike, in no particular order, so had no strong feelings about who was the “best” at anything. So Bill as Crow was just not a huge difference to me, though I can certainly understand how jarring it might have been to people. I did feel that Bill got better later, as he adjusted to his role and gave his own take on Crow, rather than trying to emulate Trace’s version. And when I watch this episode now, I have a definite sense that the Brains needed time to shift gears, to become accustomed to all the major changes they’d experienced. I don’t think it’s one of their best, but I think they did a fine job, all things considered.
One of the posters on another thread (Crowschmo, maybe?) suggested that Crow should have come back, looking like Crow but as Crow’s cousin, or second cousin, or whatever. I think this would have been fun, maybe opening up the whole Patty Duke idea to play with (how exactly do cousins look identical? Is there a major ick factor there, or what?), and allowing Bill to be his own Crow right off the mark.
In any case, I was really happy to be able to watch new episodes of the show thanks to our newfangled CABLE!
jjb3k, #67, I also felt that Deadly Mantis was the first really solid, funny episode in the new season.
“Christopher J. Dog, you get back here.” (Or something to that effect). :lol:
Okay, that was only one of the few big laughs for this episode for me.
And so it begins.
#30 – fireballil – Pearl was trying to prove she loved her son by blaming Mike? But SHE killed him. That harpy knows no love. Heh, heh. Well, I tried to like Pearl, ’cause I like Mary Jo, but it just didn’t quite work for me.
#43 – rcfagnan – That’s what I was going to say! (About the new “Crow” actually being Timmy, I mean). Hm. Different voice. Different personality. Doesn’t remember Mike? Could that be because he was expecting Joel? I pose it to you, viewers, that THAT robot is no Crow!!
But anyway…
“Gowns! There’s gonna be gowns in this movie!”
“Egrets – I’ve had a few.”
Good lines by Tim– I mean Crow. I didn’t like the fact that Bill’s Crow was supposed to be the same character as Trace’s (or was he?), but if I just imagined him to be a DIFFERENT Crow, I could appreciate him more.
“Eh -CRAM it Nature!”
Some good Servo lines:
“Yep – I gotta go make the lagoon a little blacker.”
“Damn it, Jim – I’m a milkman, not a doctor!”
I also thought it strange that they explained the ape thing by way of Mike’s “descendents”. Just a thing they threw in there to see if we were paying attention?
I think when we see birds, Servo sings a bit from that annoying little kids’ song that they sang ad nauseum in the background from the movie, “The Birds”.
When we see a guy in a white straw hat, he sings a bit like Leon Redbone.
Missed opportunity: When we see the Gill Man’s physical exam report, lady scientist, or scientist student, whatever she was, starts writing “large”… Hello??!! He has a large WHAT?! (I think it was written under the heading “lungs”, but they still could have had fun with that.
A so-so episode for me overall. And it just wasn’t the same “Without a Trace”. :cry:
#69 – adoptadog – Yes that was me who said this Crow should’ve been the other Crow’s cousin or duplicate or whatever. The REAL Crow could’ve left him on the SOL to watch over things while he went to look for Joel.
I also wanted to add that this episode – the riffing and host segments – felt a little forced. Like they were trying a little too hard to get back in the swing of things and to get the new scenario started.
As for the movie…was anyone else slightly upset by the relationship between our leading lady and Chris the dog? No, not THAT, I mean how completely unconcerned she was when he just disappeared after frantically barking at something outside. True he was a stray she only picked up a few weeks before, and she couldn’t know he died defending her from the Creature, but still, even if I didn’t particularly like my dog, I’d be concerned about it vanishing…
After seeing 801 maybe 5 or 6 times, I finally saw “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” last fall, not only in an old theater in Redford, Michigan, but in glorious, skull-splitting 3-D! I’m not kidding about the headache; even with an intermission, I had to take frequent breaks from the glasses. I’m guessing that’s common knowledge to a lot of you, but I’d previously only used 3-D glasses for comic books.
The audience cracked up every time the Creature’s arm (or the like) would jut out to exploit the effect, and my mom claims that audiences back in the ’50s wouldn’t have done that. Do you think MST3K has changed the way we watch movies in such a general way that it affects even crowds that haven’t seen the show, or does everything just get more laughable given enough time/distance?
#65 – I was just mentioning it as an observation that I always found interesting, not necessarily a plot hole. Also I present this as an explination and not an attempt to start some sort of argument :)
I think my big disappointment with this episode is, if I remember correctly as somebody else has pointed out, Magic Voice was gone. I always thought MV was a cute concept. Otherwise it was pretty satisfying for me.
I think Crow’s riff about Clint Eastwood, “This guy’s bad. This is first and last film,” would make a great introduction to some sort of tribute Mr. Eastwood.
Just a great episode for me. I’m originally from Minnesota, and loved the early days, but something with the Sci Fi years really clicked for me (and my wife). We absolutely love the old B&W monster movies, so that helped.
Loved the “Charlton Heston fish locator” riff, and like Sampo, when I heard “Egrets, I’ve had a few…” I knew the magic was still there.
Nothing but good memories about this episode… except noting that it was almost thirteen years ago… can’t believe it’s been that long.
I agree with Patrick. Of the SciFi run, I really enjoyed this episode (mainly because it was a 50’s B&W film instead of a lame 70’s/80’s one). But losing Trace, after losing Frank, and to a lesser extent (because I was a fan of Mike as host) losing Joel, hurt too much.
They certainly set up a lot of new gimmicks in this episode, some of which (like the nanites) it’s hard to imagine they ever got along without, and some of which (like Tom’s sordid past) didn’t really ever grow into much.
I never quite got what they were striving for with the “Crow Doesn’t Remember Mike” bit, except maybe to try distracting the audience from Crow’s new voice by giving them this odd development to puzzle out. Was it ever given a complete explanation?
Another neat little callback to former episodes was the Laserblast neck-grenades that Lawgiver Pearl was wearing.
It was bold of them to try rebuilding their stock of references from scratch. I don’t know if the impetus came from Sci-Fi Channel or their own feeling that they should try making the show more accessible but it’s neat watching an episode with so few riffs you had to watch the show before to quite get.
#74: Oh, I know I know. I wasn’t intending that. I just like to present tropes whenever I can. XD
Did anyone notice you can see Bill’s head during a few of the theater segments in the gap between Crow’s seat and the seat on his right.
A new beginning! After wrapping things up on CC and possibly the end of the show, this is a pretty strong opener. No need to have anything ‘really’ make sense (“it’s just a show … “)
The intro to Bill as CROW is a matter of some debate, but i like what Corbit brought to the show .. yes nobody can replace what Trace did … but Bill had a good voice, funny delivery & lots of personality to bring to the character once he got comfortable operating the puppet.
The explanation of crow’s new voice and personality seems to be that he has aged and grown a bit more crabby after spending hundreds of years at the edge of the universe.
The opening segment does the quadruple job of re-introducing the show, giving Crows backstory, setting up a ‘planet of the apes’ parody, and introducing the new character of Professor Bobo and bringing back Pearl as the ‘Law Giver’.
I remember seeing this on first airing and the commercial break spanning “ARRRRGGGHHHH” scream between the SOL & Bobo really made me laugh and feel like “THEY’RE BACK” HELL YEAH!!!!
Also Kevin’s delivery is genius when Bobo interrupts Mike’s “You finally Did it”, with “Damn us all to hell, … I know, Yes, Yes, It’s a madhouse …. well, now Apes rule the world and everything you’ve ever known or loved is no more, bla bla bla”
Just before the movie start, when Mike and Crow are arguing over whether Mike remembers him, the bitterness in Crow’s voice when he says “I Don’t” still cracks me up every time. It’s a new Crow but one that I can quickly learn to love.
I’d give it 3.5 stars, I’m not a huge fan of this episode or the movie, but it’s a solid opener for the new season, cast changes and new network. While watching this today, I’m sort of re-living the surge of happiness I felt when I saw my favorite show had somewow survived cancellation on CC and was back in action! Joel, Frank and Trace are gone, the SOL looks different, but the show is still FUNNY! Different, for sure, but still cracking me up.
I like the Nanites … thought it was a good way of incorporating current (sci-fi and real) technology developments into the storyline. The debt collector looking for Servo segment doesn’t do much for me, but i love the line “Tell it to Star-Fleet pal, things are tough all over!”
Memorable riffs:
Crow “Everybody’s drifted off to the “‘world of barnacles” exhibit.”
“you have the right to remain amphibious, if you cannot afford an icthyologist(sp?) one will be appointed to you”
Mike: during shot of audience watching “Flippy, the ‘educated’ porpoise … “Well, it’s better than killing ourselves”
Tom “i can still get into the shorts i wore in kindergarten!”
“Aquarium of the damned”
“So how come you’re not shocking the grouper, he’s no prince”
“Air tanks by Hebrew International Franks”
I think the whole “Crow doesn’t remember Mike” thing is funny because even though Bill is new, the character he’s playing has been around longer than Mike’s character. Seven years of experience with Tom and Gypsy isn’t quite the same as two and a half years with Mike.
I also think it’s funny that Mike had the “We did this for seven years” line when they got back into the theater. I assume it was supposed to be Tom’s line and they just screwed up.
Magic Voice technically came back to the ship, but her contributions were extremely rare. Her most notable appearance was in “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” when she said that they were switching to auxilary power and warned them about a hull breach.
I think it’s strange how some people dislike the SCI-FI episodes because the sketches are more “embarrassing”. Seriously? So the Minnesota puppet show with the goofy costumes and cheap sets lost some of it’s class when they added a talking ape and went to Ancient Rome? :)
BRA! BRA!
Well, here we go. As I’ve said before, the Sci-Fi eps are weaker than the rest of the series, though still very funny much of the time. The lack of variety in the movies in the first half of this season made it a little harder to get through. And the new meaner, harsher style is evident.
Still, there are moments. One of my favorite moments in the whole series is in the opening of this episode, which I’m going to paraphrase:
Bobo: Everything you ever knew and loved is.. no.. more. Now, your movie today –
M&TB: Movies?!?!?! Why are you showing us movies?!?!
Bobo: (shrugs) Ape law!
And I agree with some of the other folks – I love Bill, love him as Observer, love him in Rifftrax, thought his Crow-like character was very funny in a Bill-like way, but it’s not Crow.
A thing to note: this is the first episode since 105 (?) that the doorway sequence doesn’t bridge the gap of the theme song and the SOL bridge.
Also the footage of them returning to the ship is the same of them leaving the ship in 706…I think.
Crowschmo: I was trying to think like Pearl there. She’d never blame herself(remember, she said she got busy and left the reborn Clay), so she had to blame someone for his going and doing the same thing again. It took me a few eps to get used to Pearl, and then they go and blow up the ape planet. Oh, well. LOL
My cable provider at the time didn’t provide Comedy Central, so this was the first episode I ever saw. Having never watched the Joel/Trace/Frank years until after the series ended, this was the definite “golden age” of the era for me.
While I acknowledge that Trace was a wonderful Crow, I’ll always prefer Bill’s harder edge to it. The explanation that he’s been living in isolation for five hundred years helps keep the idea that they’re the same character plausible, and even the SOL is darker to reflect this personality shift. Not remembering Mike worked for me, because, in the grand scheme of things, Crow only lived with Mike for roughly a year-and-a-half out of five centuries.
I think the concept of “an endless chase” starting here with Ape Earth is the series’ most fertile eras for host segments, and I’m always baffled by the extreme hate for them (both by fans and by the Brains). Changing up the location every four to six episodes allowed for a plethora of sci-fi parodies and also helped disguise the fact that Trace was no longer around. Honestly, would it be any better had this episode started with Pearl running Deep 13?
And speaking of Pearl, her “recreation” in this episode was also a brilliant bit of character tweaking. I loved how she was now an evil trailer park queen trucking through the cosmos. Season 8 Pearl will always be my favorite version, and I never cared when they tried to make her an actual mad scientist.
Replying to post 50, Magic Voice did indeed reappear once or twice in the Sci-Fi years, but was never mentioned by name except for the credits. I believe it was Beez who took over the role.
I think these discussions for the Sci-Fi episodes will cement the fact that there is no ‘better or worse,’ it’s when people started watching that makes the difference for them. Sure, I have a soft spot for the Comedy Central era, but, you know, it’s the same show, and I would even say the theater segments are more sharply written and leaner in the Sci-Fi era.
I found the film to be decent though nothing special, and the host segments pretty much the same. But it’s an important one for setting up the new presentation, premise and even new Crow of the show and better things would lie ahead.
Mike made Peanut a charmingly nice idiot, but there was only room for one alpha monkey in the Forrester Gang ;)
I also saw Mike years first, so I don’t quite get the (relative) animosity of some to Mike and Pearl. I find the rapport of Mrs. Forester, Brain Guy, and professor Bobo a bit superior to Dr. F. and TV’s Frank. Preferences may well have to do with who you see first. For example, the first Dr. Who’s I saw featured Tom Baker, so I’ve always liked his Dr. Who best.
P.S, I think I first got interested in mst3000 with the Rowsdower Final Sacrifice (first one I saw?) when I heard a Tolkien allusion and realized it wasn’t just a kiddie show with puppets.
my dad had to tape these and mail them to me in college… no sci-fi at the time.
i think i actually drove home (3 hours) to get it… & i think i watched it there when i got there.
my parents didn’t mind… it was the only time i’d come home in a while.
Ah, season 8. Took me some time to adjust to Crow’s new voice and the absense of Forrester but all in all, they continued to get better. With the exception of Devil Doll (only because the Sci-Fi channel would repeat this episode on a weekly basis) this season was the best.
I was very excited about seeing this episode since I’d heard of the show’s return to TV during the summer of ’96. I was even more intrigued about how they’d continue the show when news broke about Trace’s departure. So I had what you could call unattainable expectations for their comeback…
…that said, I found the first episode of the Sci-Fi era to be flat. While I do think they did a good job reinventing the flow of the host segments – hey, why not open with a parody of “Planet of the Apes”, seeing as how the original premise involves a guy and his robots trapped in space! – but it’s obvious the time off from continual riffing hurt their overall performance. Truth be told, I’ll always give them a mulligan for the first few episodes of the season, due to the long layover as well as the choice of movies The Sci-Fi Channel forced them to riff on in the first 6 episodes or so. By mid-to-late season, when they ripped the s**t out of movies like “Jack Frost”, “Devil Doll”, “Incredibly Strange…” and “Time Chasers”, they really had found their groove again, and Season 8 wound up being the best during this era of the show.
From what I remember, it did take some adjustment to get used to Bill’s voice. He was great as Observer, and I’m sure he had some influence on the jokes becoming darker in the writing room, but in the first handful of eps, his voice does come across as shrill. Pearl’s new expanded role was also something of a viewing shock, but much like the quality of the episodes themselves, her performances got better as the season progressed. She’d never be the same quality of villian as Dr. F was, though.
Yeah, the determining factor is only when you started watching the show.
It reminds me of when I started to watch “Chico and the Man”. I really loved the show, and that little kid. Then I found out there were some episodes before that with some guy named Freddie Prinze. Okay, I guess, but they don’t measure up to the eps with the little kid.
Not only when a person started watching the show ( in terms of season 1, season 2… ) but also how old that person was at the time.
When I discovered the show sometime during season 2 ( maybe even late season 1 ), I was roughly the ripe old age of 28. I get the impression that that is at the older end of the current MSTie age spectrum. Maybe those extra years of heartache, bitterness and cynicism made it easier for me to adjust to the show’s changes, than if I had started watching as a teen-ager.
Though to possibly refute my own argument, try as I might, I can’t get into CT.
Again, I think this is a very strong ep.
Oh I almost forgot. Is there a ‘call-forward’ in this episode to next week’s Leech Woman ? At some point one of our lads says a man’s name ( Clete ? Neil ? ) in the same voice and tone used to riff on the shrill fiance in L.W. as she shreiks “Neil, Neil”
( Of ocurse, within Leech Woman, Neil Neil itself is an inter-movie call back to Jed Jed )