Movie: (1980) After discovering that he has inherited super powers, a mild-mannered young professor must do battle with a villain using a mind-control device.
First shown: 4/4/98
Opening: Tom has short man’s disease
Intro: Tom is better; Pearl’s ball is somewhat under-attended, while Observer has Ortega and some buddies over
Host segment 1: Mike offends Shelli the Nanite, so his dry look does not come out well
Host segment 2: Mike has been chosen to be Coatimundi Man
Host segment 3: Crow and Tom capture the mind of Roger Whitaker
End: Crow resigns briefly; while a guest finally arrives at Pearl’s party
Stinger: Puma Man is defenestrated
(378 votes, average: 4.70 out of 5)
Loading...
• This is a beloved episode, so beloved that the last time we did a poll of fans to find out which episode they wanted to see released on DVD, this one was at the top of the list. Me, I’d call this one good, not great. The movie is incredibly stupid and reasonably watchable and the riffing is top-notch, but the host segments range from only mildly funny to not.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXIX.”
• Paul’s take is here.
• References.
• A lot of people assumed this movie was somehow a ripoff of the TV show “Greatest American Hero.” After all, the story line is remarkably similar and the flying sequences are practically identical. But the TV show hit the air waves a year after this movie came out. Call it parallel development.
• Watch Pearl’s beauty mark. It moves around quite a bit.
• The intro segment marks the first instance of segments that mention how Observer has begun to develop a, um, personal life outside Pearl’s orbit. In this case, instead of buying into the whole “ball” thing Pearl has going on, he simply begs off because a gang of pals is over to watch “Sliders” (remember “Sliders”?). That’s Beez and Patrick as the pals, and of course Paul as Ortega.
• When Servo hits the theater for the first time, he still has his wig on.
• Of course that’s once again Mary Jo as Shelli, the spiteful hairdessing nanite in segment 1.
• Following segment 2, Mike still has coatimundi hat on, prompting Servo to make a little host segment callback: He quietly says “Bold, Mike” (a reference to the famous barbecue sauce sketch in which he wore the same hat, or one very like it).
• Cast and crew roundup: scriptwriter Massimo De Rita was assistant executive director on “Hercules.”
In front of the camera, Donald Pleasence was also in “Warrior of the Lost World,” Miguel Angel Fuentes was also in “Deathstalker III.” Benito Stefanelli was also in “Secret Agent Super Dragon” and Guido Lollobrigida was also “Operation Double 007.”
• CreditsWatch: Directed by Mike. Intern Scott Bowman begins a six-episode stint.
• Fave riff: “It’s S&M day at the Field Museum.” Honorable mention: “Donald’s only use of the word ‘comb’.”
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
Ahh, ThePumaMan aka “Constantly-Out-Of-His-League Man.” Great episode, I really liked the host segments for my part. If not for Hobgoblins and Warwilf this would easily be my favorite ep of the season.
Do the Hustle!!
#21, you’re right. It is a sort-of Super Fuzz-like character. I’ve mentioned that movie to a few people, who are around my age, but no one seems to recall that movie. I loved it as a kid, for some reason, but haven’t seen it in probably 20 years. I will admit that each viewing, the enjoyment factor went from liking Super Fuzz himself, to just liking that it’s so ridiculous.
Much like the Puma Man.
JJK says:
February 4, 2010 at 2:31 pm
How this could be anyone’s favorite episode is beyond me. It has everything bad about the 80’s. Bad hair, bad clothes, bad acting in a movie that looks like a cheesy made for TV movie even though it isn’t. Donald Pleasance should be ashamed of himself if he wasn’t already dead.
Um, for all the reasons you just mentioned?? ;-)
Pumaman and Cave Dwellers really sum up why I prefer newer movies on MST3K. They are so much more cheesier than any older movie could ever be.
I love this episode. The host segments are good, the first one is especially refreshing after last week’s awful Andy Rooney off. Pearl’s failed ball is well done and it’s always funny to see Servo in a dress. The hairdo segment is okay, a little too literal, but it had a very well made skull cap for Mike to wear. Coatamundi Man was pretty good. The last segment is great and I really like Kevin as Roger Whittaker.
The movie is fun to watch. It’s so goofy and pleasant at the same time. The riffing is well done.
Favorite riff: “A sweater that says, ‘I’ve read the works of Alan Alda.'”
“There’s only yoooooo in my life”
“Aztechnology”
And he *immediately* defiles the holy gift he’s been given!
Being a big Carl Sagan fan I have to say my favorite riff is in this episode and it’s a very quietly spoken, “Billions and billions of Pumamen,” by Tom Servo.
Oh, man, Super Fuzz! That was when Ernest Borgnine was well known from his roles in things I’d seen like The Posiedon Adventure and The Black Hole (well before Merlin’s Magical Shop!)
As for Sliders’ changing cast, Rembrandt “Crying Man” Brown, played by Cleavant Derricks, was the only cast member to last from pilot to series end. The final season of that show was miserable, though, not that the season before was so awesome, but it was at least bearable. Only until John Rhys-Davies leaves is the show really what I’d call “good.”
One of my favorite moments (not mentioned yet) was when when Vadinho picked up our confused hero and gently dropped him out the window. Firstly, what if he was wrong and the guy wasn’t Pumaman? He was willing to risk killing him to find out. Secondly, rather than just push him out at the shoulders THROUGH the window, Vadinho gently lifts him as a groom would lift his blushing bride to carry her over the threshhold and gingerly deposits him feet-first. Remember, you don’t want to hurt anyone when you’re dropping them to their doom!
I seem to remember reading something about Donald Pleasance having a reputation during his lean years (the 80’s) for NEVER TURNING DOWN ANY ROLE HE WAS OFFERED. Hence, Pumaman.
I did think this was some Euro version of Greatest American Hero…Crow even did a riff on the theme song: ‘Believe it or not, this movie’s still on, it should have ended two hours agooo…!’ Also, to whoever said Crow said, ‘Donald Pleasance’s only use for the word ‘comb,” it was actually Tom who said it.
So was Pumaman The Worst super hero Or worst religion? Realy the Final Safice relgioon mad more seen than that one did, Then they matted in the air EWWW.
So was Blondie just a temp worker at EvilCo? There was one disagreement and she just decided to stop being evil? Did the vinyl uniforms come up in the interview?
A pretty lame movie all around, but it may have been slightly improved if there were more than two musical pieces, and if those pieces actually had some danger and tension.
Hilarious episode though. I had no idea who Roger Whitaker was before this episode, but that’s what I like about the MST3k gang, they can spin comedy gold from somewhat obscure folk/soft pop artists.
This one is in my top ten. It has all the perfect ingredients for a great ep: top-notch riffing inspired by a movie that is at once obscure and familiar, that has a goofy villian, a silly seventies look, a vapid hero, a lame walking onion sidekick, etc etc…Favorite scenes are the first flying sequence, and our hero pretending to be dead…Any film where people are randomly thrown out of windows (also a hilarious sequence) is bound to be great fodder for the Brains.
This is one first eps I taped (on a visit back to the States) and so have probably watched more than any other. It’s a classic.
A+
And during the one instance of slower, gentler theme music, their harmonizing was so perfect that text doesn’t do it justic:
CROW: Puma Maaannn, when will he find love,
Servo: POO-maa-mannnnn…
The way Vadinho completely outclasses the hero he’s sidekicked to reminded all my college MSTie associates of Bruce Lee as Kato. I never saw those reruns, but he overshadowed his hero so much, they couldn’t quite recall just who he was. The Green…Lantern? Arrow? Giant? Oh right, The Green Yellowjacket! No, that’s not right, it’ll come to me…well, whoever the series was named after, they all agreed it should have been called “The Kato Show”.
We also speculated as to whether Vadinho was given more to do at the last minute once producers realized their star couldn’t convincingly take on a whole army of thugs, no matter how good the green-screen was.
There also seems to be confusion about all the Americans in London getting tossed out of windows in the beginning. Someone on IMDB thought Vadinho was using process of elimination to find the one who could land on his feet, making him a Super-Sidekick/Serial-Killer. Now, I can see someone thinking that because he does toss Tony out a window, but Vadinho clearly knew who Tony was, and seemed to do it more to convince him that he was Pumaman. Donald’s henchmen were clearly the ones splatting every Yank to see who flew.
But that brings up an even more confusing point: Kobras (is that right? As the only star-power, Mr. Pleasance apparently made his character’s identity irrelevant) was totally unconcerned about making those murders look like suicides, even though it was to weed out a Pyoo-maman that he had no concrete proof even existed. So when he thinks he’s killed Pumaman an hour later, why is he so concerned about his death appearing to be an accident that HE WON’T LET HIS THUGS SHOOT HIM TO MAKE SURE?! Even accepting all the other absurdities, this makes no sense. As long as Tony’s body is found in that costume, it’s going to arouse a lot of suspicion/publicity anyway, and Kobras could just mind-control any nosy cops. And if I recall from “Roger and Me”, a guy donning a superhero costume and getting shot dead, tragically does happen from time to time in real life.
In last weekend’s discussion, someone mentioned an early scene the Brains cut out where Tony’s little buddy is established before SANDWICHMAN teleports into his fire truck. Even though that does make the scene a bit less confusing, something about it still makes me wonder if this wasn’t the bombed pilot for a TV series repackaged into a movie. It just seemed like a perfectly formulaic moment where every week, halfway through an ep, Tony would drop in on him for whatever gadget he needed, find him doing yet another odd job, and get him fired from it for the sake of comic relief. Was this always intended for theatrical release?
I never saw it uncut, but did see its case in a video store, which wisely didn’t show a single HOOman being from the film; just a cat sihlouette running past the mask, and the question: “CAN…MANKIND…BE SAVED?” Well yeah, but not by this guy.
Videohound’s guide to sci-fi films, published shortly before the switch to SciFi Channel, gives this one it’s lowest possible “WOOF!”, and speculates that it may have THE worst flying effects ever.
Oh yeah, and that same video store had “Quest for the 7 Cities”, starring Donald Pleasance in practically the same role, but in an even more ridiculous movie about him getting members of a lost tribe of Amazon women addicted to drugs so he can find their treasure. No, they didn’t have the budget for more than 1 city. And we learn that jungle people apparently live for well over a hundred years because they’re not contaminated by the toxins of Man’s world. And I can’t remember a single thing about the protaganists, so they must have been even lamer than Tony. There are other eerie similarities to PUMAMAN though, so you may find it well worth your time to seek it out as well. Or not.
Kill an old mannnn,
Roast-all-his-flesh-off…
“JJK: It has everything bad about the 80’s.”
And that is exactly why it’s so gosh darn perfect for riffing. Love it.
“Now, they’re going, to boff in the air…”
I forgot to add how much I love how Servo says “Who will most likely be wearing her THONG…”. Also, giant moles moving around someone’s face from scene to scene is silly, but always funny to me.
“…like it’s…obvious?” You mean it isn’t? I just naturally assumed that anyone trying to dominate the world would want Barbara Feldon on their side first. Kinda like Sidney Crosby in a fantasy hockey draft, some things just go without saying.
Hey, has there been any kind of updae on if SF were able to find the film’s rights holders?
>>>why is he so concerned about his death appearing to be an accident that HE WON’T LET HIS THUGS SHOOT HIM TO MAKE SURE?
Well, to play along with the movie, Tony was seen at the party, in Jane’s company, by multiple people. If he was found murdered, Jane would be questioned, and her role as Kobras’s pawn might have been uncovered. Or something like that.
BTW, here’s a review of a relatively similar super-hero movie from the same general timeframe:
http://www.jabootu.com/supersonic.htm
And here’s a 10-page (!) review of our movie itself, complete with references to cut scenes (such as fire truck guy’s earlier scene):
http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Pumaman_1980.aspx
My favorite riff : “I hate it when Aztecs force their way into your hotel room and make you try on belts.”
Just remembered my favorite riff:
“I wish Poaching-Protected-Species-Man would show up and put an end to this little scene.”
“Oh, you could always call Ted-Nugent-Man.”
If I’d had the time, money, and fast enough connection to invest in ‘City of Heroes’, I would’ve immediately made a Ted-Nugent-Man. Anyone know if any player created a Pumaman for that game?
A puma’s the same cat as a cougar or mountain lion, but technically not a panther since the black panther is technically a type of jaguar, right?
“Oh, so this lousy movie ruins a perfectly good Jaguar!”
And as for not being known for their flying ability…there was Transformer in 1988 called Quickswitch who turned into 6 different things, one of which was “Flying Puma mode”. The “flying” part may have been entirely due to leftover wing-kibble from his other modes being left jutting off the creature’s stomach, but is there some mythology that bestows flying ability on pumas more than other cats? The lion/eagle combo of a griffon in the only example I can think of that’s actually mythical.
Yeah, I know, the one henchman’s throwaway line about him leaping like a cat was supposed to convey that he wasn’t technically “flying”, but said leaping ability only worked the way it did given his additional air-walking power. Then again, there were those cats that could just leap all the way to other planets in H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”.
Dammit, now even I don’t know what I was getting at. Just that besides “Your hands are (invisible) claws!”, his abilities were entirely non-cat-related, leaving me wondering if his name was changed at the last minute.
“Ripping through solid steel doors: not a problem.
Subduing stocky senior citizens: thaaat’s another story…”
Besides Puma-man and Deathstalker and the warriors from Hell( he’s one of body guards to the princess) has the actor who played Vadinho appeared in another movies that the guys riffed? I could have sworen I’ve seen him in something else.
Oh how I love this one. Just pure goofiness all around. I have not read anyone mention the scene where Semi Competent Aztec Man punches out Pumaman. That has to be one of the most satisfying moments in any film they have ever taken on. The part where the fly crawls over Pumaman’s face though – yuck.
And take that member’s of Boston!
Where’s the rating thing?
Technically, a puma is a cougar.
I think the seemingly non-puma powers may relate to the whole “puma god” concept. A puma god could have generic god powers as well as puma-esque specific powers.
It just occurred to me that there should’ve been at least one riff for presumably cartoondom’s most famous puma, Pete Puma. “Uh-heeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
Or maybe a reference to the fast-talking bunny from the same cartoon (“Rabbit’s Kin”): “Myheartpounded, mylegstrembled, Iwasfrozenwithfear!”
Mmm . . . Pumaman.
Top three.
As to pryonunciation, I’m not sure how the original Quechua word was pronounced, but probably not the same as it is in Spanish (which is where we borrowed it from). I opt for pooma, although that’s a lesser-used term in the Midwest: we usually say cougar or mountain lion. (The genus name is indeed *Puma,* though, although that includes a much smaller cat species as well.)
But Wikipedia considers “cougar” to be preferred too, of which I approve. :grin:
I dressed up as Pumaman for Halloween . . . twice . . . the only times I have done so since the age of 12. I’m working on a career in paleontology, so the fit is too perfect.
I want to give this episode 5 stars but I can’t.
Please Sampo, put up the rating thingy so we can push the button.
Being old school, back when I mostly preferred Comedy Central episodes, this was one of the first SciFi era episodes that I found memorable and really loved. The movie, as Sampo said, was just goofy as hell. This was, at the time, one of the handful of SciFi episodes I had actually seen. Now, I love all seasons and eras of MST3k, and this one still fits nicely in my top 25 favorite episodes. Great fun!
Interestingly enough, Sampo seems to count off a bit for host segments, whereas I’ve never found them to truly hinder an episode. If the segments are not particularly memorable, I just see them as a break from the movie. The good ones really stick with you, but the movie and the riffing are 99% responsible for my opinion of the episode. I never skip them, but honestly, unless they have some direct connection with the movie, I forget which segment is in which episode. I do agree with Sampo that these are not great host segments, but I hold a special place in my heart for Roger Whittaker and Zamfir (master of the pan flute), because they both had hilariously memorable, cheap 1-800 commercials for their “Greatest Hits” records back in the 80’s (the 1980’s, Tom Servo). A bit off topic, but what particular attributes help to qualify a pan flute tune as a “greatest hit?”
You kids, with your hula hoops and your flying pumas.
CP-Thanks for the info. on pronunciation. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 50s and no one spoke english very well so it was left up to the good sisters to correct us and Sister H used to get her point across with a yardstick.
so,i remember two things- my name is Vadinho, “i’m an onion” and how hot Jane is
“Believe it or not, this movie’s still on, it should’ve ended three hours ago-o-o…”
“Everybody was disco fighting”
“Take that members of Boston!”
“I’m confused! Now, I’m happy!”
“Big Bird casual wear.”
“I’m John Davidson-man and I’m not sensing danger”
I barely remember anything about this episode since I have only seen it once. The one thing I will never forget though is the “When you want the taste of bacon in a dip” line. My friend and I were almost crying from laughter. Time for Youtube!
I have some friends who play in an Irish bar band in the NJ-NY metro area, and they’re really very good. Some nights I sit near the stage and write little one-liners for them to say between songs. One night we got caught on the idea of creating a sort of tag-line for the name of the group. One was, “They’re magically delicious!” which went well with the Irish theme. But the crowd favorite was, “When you want the taste of bacon in a dip!”
Seriously, it brought the house down. Still used occasionally.
One of my favorite episodes! This film is so absurd, it’s hard to tell if it’s supposed to be silly or deadly serious. The lackluster costumes, the ineptitude of our heroes, the rock-bottom special effects and the groovy disco soundtrack make this one amazingly bad film. PumaMan is to the superhero genre as Danger!Deathray is to spy movies.
The more memorable MST3K films often have those totally bizarre, unexplained “what the hell?!” moments. For PumaMan, the crowning weirdity has to be the head statues. Why does the alien psychic mask construct crude paper mache busts of people, which must then be hooked up to electrodes? Who thought this up? More importantly, WHY? Is this ever explained? Perhaps another scene cut for time?
My favorite character: Vadinho. Sure he’s mindlessly devoted to his ridiculous alien/puma cult, but he’s the only one even halfway effective at achieving his goals.
My favorite line: “Prepare the effeminate mobile!” I’ve watched this episode dozens of times, and I break into uncontrollable laughter every time this line is spoken. I can’t even type it without giggling.
#32 Atomic Wobble – You make a good point about Dobson. The whole Dutch ambassador thing never made any sense. Is he supposed to be the British ambassador to the Netherlands or the Dutch ambassador to England? Neither makes sense: Dobson clearly isn’t Dutch and his daughter has an American accent. The Dutch embassy itself appears to be entirely devoid of Dutch people! What gives?!
…still wanna push the button… :sad:
#32 Atomic WOMBLE – My apologizes for mispelling your callsign.
I kiss my frog in honor of this subject…
/Pumaman is one of the only films I ever seen before it was a subject on MST3K…
//wasn’t it meant to try to cash in on Richard Donner’s Superman?
#73: Yeah, I can’t believe I forgot about that! Possibly the funniest part of the whole episode, because of the jump-cut right after Vadinho knocks him out that leaves you thinking he then stuffed Tony into the napsack on his shoulder for about 5 seconds before we actually see how small it is. Tom’s riff of: “HRRP! HRRP! LRT MH RRT UV HRRR! YUH HRRV NR RGHT TR DRR THS TR MRR! R’M THE PURMHMRRN!!” is probably the funniest instance ever of the ‘bots giving muffled voice to someone supposedly trapped inside something onscreen.
I also liked the line just prior, when his sidekick tells Pumaman that since the bad guys think he’s dead, “They will leave you alone now.” CROW: “Ah, the goal of every great hero: to be left alone.” Drives home just how pathetic our title character is, but I sort of identify, since that was also my personal goal throughout most of the public school system.
“Gee, maybe now would be a good time to HOP AROUND LIKE AN IDIOT!”
“I think he officially ‘BONKED’ them.”
This episode holds a special place in my heart because I first saw a clip a few years ago on YouTube in one of those fan-made “best-of MST3K” video compilations. It was the scene where our “hero” first flies (“Pu-ma–man, He flies like a moron!”). I couldn’t believe this was a real movie. Being a fan of 60’s & 70’s Italian cinema (mainly art-house and giallo/horror) this was a revelation.
At this time in my life I was pretty familiar with MST, owned all the Rhino box sets and assumed the episodes released on DVD were selected based on their quality and popularity. As I found fan-made websites online I learned more about the show and the tragic reality that many classic episodes were considered “highly unlikely” for DVD licensing. Viewing that clip convinced me that I would have to take the next step into MST fanaticism and obtain the entire run of the show, using DAP and torrents. It took me a few weeks (months, maybe), but it’s been well worth it. It helped that my Phillips DVD player supports .avi and .mpg files.
I used to visit Satellite News and not know what the hell you people were talking about. Now I know, and enjoy sharing factoids and opinions as we do these episode guides. I continue to buy all the new DVD releases, partially for the quality upgrades, but also to support the Brains.
That being said, this is a 4 star episode for me (ratings, Sampo?). The movie itself is more laugh-inducing than the riffing. I always love me some Donald Pleasence and Sydne Rome is foxy in a Cheryl Ladd-on-acid kinda way.
“Amelia Airhead”
#91 The Bolem said: Tom’s riff of: “HRRP! HRRP! LRT MH RRT UV HRRR! YUH HRRV NR RGHT TR DRR THS TR MRR! R’M THE PURMHMRRN!!” is probably the funniest instance ever of the ‘bots giving muffled voice to someone supposedly trapped inside something onscreen.
You have quite a talent of transcribing muffled protestations from the inside of a sack!
“Oh, Thepumaman, there’s only you in my life…”
It’s really hard to believe anyone could ever have thought this movie would turn out well. How did the director, camera operator, sound recordist, boom mike operator, etc. even keep straight faces during production? Maybe they didn’t, and they had to ADR half the scenes because of the crew’s laughter.
In the last scene, Mike just goes ahead and calls Vadinho “Vidalia.” Are Vidalia onions sold all over the country? The name is trademarked now, and by law only 20 counties in south-central Georgia can officially grow them (that may sound like a lot to some of you, but bear in mind that Georgia has 159 counties.)
Thanks to The Agony Booth, I have located this clip featuring Walter G. Alton on the Daily Show’s official site. I certainly hope he’s a better lawyer than an actor (although really, there’s nowhere to go but up.)
One of the best episodes of season 9, if not the entire series. Just love how incredibly fun, goofy, and corny the movie is. The riffing is top notch, I’m remembering a part where Pleasance has gathered all the world leaders in his mansion. When one of the guys start talking and sounds vaguely like Peter Sellers/Inspector Closeau, Servo riffs about his “chimpanzee minkey.” Too funny!
P.S. Sampo, what is up with the “good, not great” rating for this episode? Are you kidding me? The only reason you seem to give this lowered rating is because of the skits. Get over it, the majority of the show is riffing, that’s the point of the show, and it’s why we watch the show. I don’t care how bad the skits are (and the host segments we’re much worse in the Sci-Fi era than the Comedy Central Era), if the riffing is good, then the episode is good. The segments are just extra fluff. (watch Mike Nelson’s interview on the Special Features of the 20th Anniversary DVD release). Yes, the Sci-Fi segments leave alot to be desired, but the riffing during the Sci-Fi years was just as good, if not better than Comedy Central years. Pumaman is an example of some of the best riffing the show ever did, and is defintely a Top 10 episode.
This is in my top 5. I bust a gut at the moment when Tony walks into a wall, there’s the weird sound effect, and they go to commercial. I make sure not to have a drink in my mouth for that bit. The riffing is amazing-“You are right, brother” Orville or Wilbur? About pronunciation, Pyuma is just the dialect over there. They say tuna the same way (at least Nigel Tufnel does :razz: ) We don’t even pronounce ‘controversy’ the same way. Not that the English language makes any logical sense anyway. “All aboard!”
I agree with Sampo – segments are lame, but PUMAMAN is a classic episode; fall-down funny, a great one for anyone unfamiliar with MST3K (although my fave still remains DAY THE EARTH FROZE).
>>>Why does the alien psychic mask construct crude paper mache busts of people, which must then be hooked up to electrodes?
Possibly it made more sense in the 1970s (then again, what didn’t?), the heyday of the “ancient technology left by alien astronauts” concept, of which “The Gods Coming From Other Worlds” and their mask seem a prime example. Any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic and all that…
One of my favorites. The movie itself is so awesomely bad that it makes up for the fact that most of the host segments (except for Castle Forrester & Coatamundi Man) are kind of meh. It’s definitely one of the most quotable (everyone’s covered that well). It’s definitely high on the list of ones that you should show to someone new to MST3k so they can “get” it.
“My name is Pleasance, and I am FUNKY.”