Short: (1963) From the soap opera “General Hospital,” Cynthia and Phil have it out.
Movie: (1954) Edited-together episodes of the TV series “Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.” Our hero tries to save the inhabitants of two worlds that are about to collide, but evil Queen Cleolanta stands in his way.
First shown: 11/28/92
Opening: Crow is selling true grit
Invention exchange: The Mads present Sugary Deep 13 toothpaste; J&tB demonstrate the rock & wreck guitar
Host segment 1: Crow and Tom serenade Gypsy with “The Gypsy Moons”
Host segment 2: J&tB present a commercial for John Banner-grams
Host segment 3: J&tB read through Crow’s latest screenplay: a space opera
End: Joel reads a letter, John Banner visits on the Hexfield; then the SOL sends Deep 13 a Banner-gram
Stinger: “Boopie!”
(199 votes, average: 4.23 out of 5)
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• A lot of folks love this one and it definitely has a lot going for it besides the aggressive geniality of John Banner. This is the most bearable of the three GH segments and its also the most fun of the Rocky Jones outings, so it’s basically watchable all the way through. Combine that with pretty decent host segments and some strong riffing and you’ve got a winner.
• This episode is included in Shout! Factory’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XVIII.”
• References.
• A commenter noticed something I never did before: there’s no “the” on the title card. (Maybe that’s where they got the extra “the” in “Attack of the the Eye Creatures?”) Anyway, in keeping with our policy to list the title as it appears on the title card, the header has now been changed.
• The 1992 Turkey Day marathon was over, but this was the third new episode in four days. MSTies had a wonderful weekend.
• I remember seeing ads when I was a kid trying to get me to sell Grit. But I’ve never seen it on news stands or anything. It’s still around. Is it a Midwestern thing?
• Dr. F’s invention is extra evil this week. Conversely, Joel’s doesn’t look that well-put-together.
• Nice to see they called an unofficial moratorium on “Oh, is the great [name here] going to direct?” riff. Funny back in season two, but…
• I love Crow’s riff: “Orbit? What does that mean?” a reference to the painful explanation of what an orbit is in a previous Rocky Jones episode.
• Callback: “Yew and yor dawtah aw doomt!” (Robot Holocaust) “But you don’t love Ken.” (An almost instant callback to the General Hospital short minutes earlier.) “Not since Fire Maidens of Outer Space…”
• Great song in this episode, but note the then-current reference to Stacy Koon. Yow. Another then-current reference: “Say the secret word and Bill Cosby rips off your show.” I’d totally forgotten Bill Cosby’s miserable attempt to revive “You Bet Your Life.”
• Firesign Theatre reference: “He’s not your son, Fred.”
• Dumb movie question: The space station doesn’t have any ability to propel itself? Not even some little thruster rockets? Seems like a design flaw. Or a plot contrivance.
• Occasionally you pick up a new word from these movies. I’d never heard of a “suzerain” before.
• Is it just me or is Cleolanta kinda hot? Headstrong and evil, sure, but still, rrowr.
• Only after repeat viewings did it hit me why the symbol of Bavaro’s world is a lightning bolt–’cause the planet has lightning a lot of the time. I never made the connection before.
• Satellite News’ Erhardt, dressed as Bavaro, introduced this episode in the 1993 Turkey Day bumpers.
• I like Tom Servo’s beak moving as he reads over Joel’s shoulder. Mike is so klandinkto as John Banner! (Hi, Bavaro.)
• Joel says “Gimme that pinkle, Weekie!” They keep going.
• Cast and crew roundup: Naturally, many of the same people who worked on “Manhunt in Space” also worked on this one, including executive producer Guy V. Thayer Jr., producer Roland Reed, associate producer Arthur Pierson, director Hollingsworth Morse, assistant director Dick Moder, editors Fred Maguire and S. Roy Luby, special effects guy Jack R. Glass (who also worked on “Project Moon Base”), costumer Berman Costumes, production manager Richard L’Estrange, art director McClure Capps, sound guy Joel Moss (who also worked on “Project Moon Base”) and music Conductor Alexander Laszlo (who also worked on “Attack of the Giant Leeches and “Night of the Blood Beast”).
In front of the camera, there’s Richard Crane, Scotty Beckett, Sally Mansfield, Robert Lyden, Maurice Cass, Charles Meredith, Patsy Parsons and Harry Lauter, all from “Manhunt in Space.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Sarah E. Wisner joins the staff as production assistant, Ellie McDonough’s old role before her recent promotion. Patrick Brantseg joins the staff as prop assistant, after interning for the first half of the season. This was intern Kelly Ann Nathe’s last episode. “Ammendment” is still spelled wrong.
• Fave riff from the short: “Would you folks break it up? Your party’s depressing everyone in the building.” Honorable mention: “How can you not love a skull like this?”
• Fave riff: “Horowitz is visibly shaken…” Honorable mention: “…would get beat up in the third grade.”
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“At once, my Suzerain.” –“Stop calling me that!” …I like the word suzerain.
A fun episode, I enjoy the dark riffs at the expense of all the irrepressibly good-natured spacefolk, which is everybody except the Queen. Some movies I forget the minute after I watched them, or just never knew what was going on; but Crash of (the) Moons I watched once and remembered everything, maybe because it’s a part II and we already know most characters, simple as they are. The sequence is great in the hallways of Ophecius with the wife, and Rocky, and Winky, all in various rooms, drugged, sleeping, feigning sleep, sneaking out, sneaking back, being watched through little doors, guards pushing various buttons; what a wonderfully dumb exercise. I feel a little sorry for the women with their frowsy or just weird (Atlasan’s wife) costumes, they can’t compete with Cleolanta’s evening gown, plunging neckline, and tiara.
BTW, the re-breakable guitar would be an awesome and practical invention. I once carried around a $1.50 flea market guitar, re-worked it so it was playable, just in case I wanted to break it onstage or toss it dramatically to a fan. i ain’t breaking my Les Paul for nobody, even if I’m Pete Townsend. I never did break the spare, though we did violently destroy a vacuum cleaner for our 12 fans.
I never noticed the missing “The” until today. That is funny that the next episode featured a movie with an extra “The” though. Weird. Yeah, that’s what it is. Weird.
“[W]e did violently destroy a vacuum cleaner for our 12 fans.” I now want to go to one of your shows, Fred B. My dogs regularly try to destroy my vacuum cleaner, but I don’t find that nearly as entertaining.
I can’t agree with you, Sampo; I think this GH segment is only so-so. For my money, you just can’t top the hospital piece from Manhunt in Space, which gave us the wonderful “Check out Nurseferatu!” and “It’s the Dark Nurse of the Soul!” riffs. Plus Servo’s imitating that poor woman’s voice never gets old.
However, this ep has the real John Banner and Mike’s version, too, and that’s worth a lot.
Of the two Rocky Jones episodes, this is my favorite – not just because of the genial John Banner and his chronic inability to pronounce “Bobby”, but because of Cleolanta, one of the more interesting MSTed villains. She kinda feels like she belongs in a better movie than this.
It’s with this episode that the Brains finally remember why they quit riffing serials in Season 2 – they’re too long and confusing. Soap operas are in the same vein, and thus, we bid goodbye to the General Hospital experiment in this episode. Reportedly, when Comedy Central cancelled MST3K in 1996, one way they opted to have the show continue on a smaller budget was to cut it down to half an hour and have Mike and the bots riff old sitcoms. Maybe this was where they got that idea.
Wikipedia has a Phil Brewer page if you want to check out what happened to some of those GH characters. Phil was a real tool. I didn’t like Roy Thinnes here, and I liked him even less in Code Name: Diamond Head. I do, however, love both Rocky Jones episodes since the cheesy 50s Sci-Fi movies make for some of my favorite episodes. For what it’s worth Wikipedia also has a page for Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, which gives a little background for some of the characters. It lists “Crash of the Moons” as an alternate title, so apparently someone added “the” at some point.
@jjb3k:
No, Joel and the bots themselves brought up the spectre of sitcom riffing way back in a host segment for… a season 2 episode I think? Someone will surely help my memory out on this one but Crow and Servo come up with an idea for a TV show where a guy is marooned on a deserted island, builds robots pals from the wreckage of his ship, and then is sent horrible episodes of TV shows by “two evil Commodores”. Joel tells them it will never fly.
Re: “Grit” — no, it’s not just a midwestern thing because I visited a family friend in Florida back in the 1980’s and she had a subscription.
Re: “General Hospital” — one of the problems is that the guys are also very obviously only taking *part* of each GH episode rather than riffing an entire episode. So we’re really getting a skewed view. I imagine they took the scenes and segments that they felt they could riff the best but it feels a bit less fulfilling than with getting a whole short or even with getting a whole (or nearly so) episode of a serial.
Re: The movie….
Count me as an odd woman out — I liked “Manhunt in Space” much more than this one. This one had the better written script but I just didn’t find the riffing as much fun nor did I like the host segments as well.
It wasn’t bad it’s just that this was a ‘meh’ one for me.
Here’s the link to Crash of the Moon with Crow’s Tele-play. Skip to 3:57 and enjoy!
“Today we learned a great fringleworm!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV2VsIThPJg&feature=related
I…don’t actually like John Banner in this ep very much. This is partly why I, too, prefer “Manhunt in Space” to “Crash of Moons” (man, that just feels weird to omit the article).
And for my money the General Hospital short featuring the hiatus hernia is aces, light years beyond the on in this ep. The cake party comes in second for me.
This is another favorite of mine, although the GH shorts tend to fall into the “so-bad-they-drag-down-the-riffing” territory. The movie and host segments come to the rescue, though. Love the song Gypsy Moon. Has anyone else noticed that Kevin has a great voice for these 1920’s quasi-vaudevillian melodies? He can even sound like he’s coming through an old radio.
So is this the episode where we got the phrase “Poopie”? :silly:
One of my top ten favorite episodes!
This is also my fave GH short. The Haunted Hill chick was only on the show a year, I’m curious how it turned out, not good I suppose.
And Rocky may be smooth, but he does in fact have a nice pooper.
Some fave moments:
“come to dark side…dark side huh?”
The Gypsy Moons! My fave Gypsy moment
Love all the “try to understand…I’m a magic man” riffs
“you can have some from my mouth”
“Bob Saget ladies and gentleman, Bob Saget”
“Banner time!”
“oh, I’ve had this happen before”
“yes pound sign?”
“you hit my tricycle!”
“oh no crash of the moons is on!”
“look out here comes Craig T Nelson”
So many, I’ll stop there.
My dad has a cheap DVD set of Sci-Fi Television featuring every episode of Rocky Jones. We’ve been watching it off and on and I must say it actually is a pretty entertaining series.
Man…what exciting stuff didn’t make the cut in the G Hospital shorts?
I agree with the “dated references” stuff…you have no idea what in the future is going to be “dated” and what will still be relevant…other than sex, death and taxes of course.
“Frank! Stop bogarting that toothpaste!!” :cigarette:
I’ve never cared much for this episode or Manhunt In Space. They always put me to sleep!
It looks like I’m the only one here who feels that way. And apparently, I’m the only one here to actually have sold Grit! Yes, in the mid-80s, I sold Grit newspaper. Instead of going door to door, I stood in front of my local Safeway. It was like an Avon thing. You pay a base price for the papers, you sell them at full price, and you keep the profit. I made a few bucks back when I was 12 selling it. So when I saw this episode for the first time a few years ago (must have missed it during the original run), I about busted a gut at the opening bit. Crow even had the bag like they would send you to sell it from! I don’t think it was ever a newsstand paper. I think it was strictly a buy it from your neighborhood Grit salesperson type thing. From what I could gather from all the comic books I used to read then (it’s not a comic book, it’s a graphic novel!), it looked like selling Grit was popular in the 70s, along with the other ads for Amway type stuff you could sell to earn points for prizes. Ah, nostalgia.
Man, CRASH OF MOONS sounds so weird….can’t believe I never noticed that the “the” wasn’t there….oh well, no matter, either way this is an okay, so-so, middle of the road episode for me. I like it better than MANHUNT IN SPACE, but just barely. In fact, both of those round out my bottom two episodes for Season 4 so far during this re-watch… But CRASH OF MOONS isn’t all bad, I like the opening and the Invention Exchange, and the closing bit is funny too (“Poopie!!”); the Host Segments are pretty good, some good moments, but nothing stellar. The riffing is only okay by Season 4 standards; they did better with less in the previous episode (FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE).
The adventures of Rocky and Winky have never done much for me…they continue that tradition…..
Also: the General Hospital shorts are not very good either….just sayin’……
–
RIFFS AND THINGS:
Short:
Crow: “Ironically I’m putting clothes ON you..”
Crow: “Life getting you down? Headache pain? Try booze..”
–
Movie:
Joel: “Wow. That’s really. . .not. . .that cool.” —–My sentiments exactly..
Servo: “Get ready for NO ACTION!”
——
Joel: “Poopie?” ——-yeah, is this where the MST phrase comes from? I coulda swore it was spoken in an earlier episode than this, by Frank possibly? Somebody help me out here…
——
Joel: “Looks like the Land of Dairy Queen gone wrong.”
Crow: “Even in the future, booze satisfies…”
All 3: “Piiiiiiiiiigs iiiiiiiiiin Spaaaaaaaace!!”
movie: “Run quickly, Bobby!”
Crow: “It’d be so nice if you weren’t here!”
–
I can only give this episode 3/5 Banner-Grams
I have a special place in my heart for this episode. Crash of (the) Moons was my first episode of MST3K ever! Saw it when I tuned in to check out the new channel on cable provider; Comedy Central. It just so happened to be the ’93 Turkey Day Marathon, a little after noon. All day long I was wondering if the channel had any other shows, yet was mesmerized by this new (to me), yet kind of cheesy, yet oddly captivating and hysterical show.
Imagine how delighted I was when it finally came out on DVD. :dog:
Instead of ‘dated’ how about contemperous (supplied spellcheck free !). :chic:
@Watch-Out-For-Snakes,
You’re not wrong. The guys had used “poopie” at least twice before this — most recently at the end of “Tormented” — Frank is lying on the floor, drawing with sidewalk chalk and singing about Dr. Forrester having a fatal accident. Clay comes by and leaves a grenade and when Frank realizes this he says “poopie!” just before we go to black and then hear the sound of the grenade.
Of course, considering that the guys had a lot of overlap where they were watching a movie for an episode they would do several weeks down the line then filming the episode for a movie they had watched several weeks ago it’s possible they had already watched “Crash of Moons” before they filmed “Tormented” so the word may have entered their lexicon before the episode in question was filmed.
i’m a little sorry that Crow never got to take that trip to Winnipeg, i think he would have enjoyed himself. after all when i think of band trips and Winnipeg i think ‘Funkytown, here i come!’
I rather think “Poopie” is a G-rated interjection of dismay, as Stressfactor 68 chronicles. “Boopy” as the Banner-ism of ‘Bobby’ is independent of that and is only used a few times in reference to this movie. Mike is a good Banner, but I would’ve liked to see Kevin or Frank (y’know, real doughy guys) take on the Banner role. Flesh it out, as it were.
@52: The scientific Law of the Conservation of Thes is in full effect here.
I didn’t like this episode as much as Manhunt in Space like some of you. No disappearing rockets or spaceships hooking up and the riffing and host segments I don’t think are as good either. I think this episode might have worked better if they had saved it for a different season, as it is it’s too close to Manhunt in Space in the episode order and a little too familiar. Enjoyed Mike’s Banner though (Mike really was good in anything).
Yes, Cleolanta is quite the looker…….
Are there any Rocky Jones aficionados who can provide a definitive spellings for some of the names in the series? I ask because Wikipedia claims that “Cleolanthe” is the suzerain of “Ophiuchius.” Both seem unlikely (though possible) spellings to me, but I can’t imagine that whoever had the knowledge and dedication to create the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger Wiki page would get that sort of thing wrong. The Wiki also says Rocky Jones was featured in four issues of Charlton Comics’ Space Adventures series, maybe that’s the source of the strange spelling?
Man, those General Hospital sequences are in rough shape, but I love ’em, especially the cheezy organ soundtrack. Between the pregnant pauses and painfully dated social attitiudes they’re riffing gold. I imagine the poor quality was the biggest reason the Brains didn’t do any more, but I wish we’d gotten more soaps. And more Rocky Jones, too.
#21: In case it matters, Bill Cosby and Groucho Marx were good friends (until, you know, Groucho’s death in 1977, after which they grew apart) back when Cosby was a young up-and-comer comedian. The idea of reviving “You Bet Your Life” first came up in the 1970s, when the original was in reruns, and Groucho suggested Cosby as a candidate to do so. For whatever reasons, that didn’t pan out, but when Cosby’s version finally appeared in the 1990s, he was basically doing what Groucho had WANTED him to do twenty years earlier.
At least, that’s what I remember reading in an issue of TV Guide years ago.
So “rip off” might be a bit harsh, is what I’m saying.
In may last few viewings of this episode, I started to notice that Rocky tends to say “Crash of Moons” in dialogue, as well. Until today’s post, I thought the actor was making a mistake.
@35: Professor Newton is really a proto-First Doctor in both manner and appearance. I doubt William Harntell ever saw the Rocky Jones series, but it’s eerie.
Where did the spelling of “Atlasan” come from? It’s always sounded like “Ampersand” to my ears.
Groucho Marx, Art Linklater, pshaw. Let’s not forgot his otherwise forgettable remake of One Foot In The Grave, wherein Cosby ripped himself off. “We’ll call it Cosby, and Felicia can play my wife again. Rizza razza Jello pudding.”
But if The Cos did earn any bad karma from those shows, that god-awful I Spy movie balanced the scales. The Eddie Murphy problem must be solved. Permanently. :-P
@14: Sampo, thanks for explaining reference. As a 28-year-old whippersnapper MSTie, it helps. It doesn’t always make the episode funnier, but at least it helps me understand more of it. These explanations are like the footnotes in a good edition of Shakespeare, Dante, or Milton. Part of the fun in watching an MST3K episode is trying to decode what all the refs mean.
@19: Yes, I remember Carrot Top. *shudder* I don’t think much of him (or about him), but when I was in Las Vegas last December, I saw a 80-foot-high picture of Carrot Top. Any town that permits a picture that tall of Carrot Top is lacking in the taste department.
@28: The gypsy moons song isn’t the best in the show, but it’s probably the best at showing how versatile Mike was as a songwriter. They guy could adapt his tunes to many different styles. He should write a musical. You know you’d pay to see it. And it’d be much better than the tripe that’s come to Broadway for the past 3 years or so.
@33: According to Wikipedia, most of the Rocky Jones storylines lasted 3 episodes, including both of the MST3K “movies.”
@69: I spent an afternoon in Winnipeg when I was 17. It was about as exciting as you imagine it would be. That’s still my only visit so far to Canada.
Dr. F. clearly says “Crash of the Moons” when he introduces the movie. I think that’s where we all got the extra “the.”
I agree with the people who like “Manhunt in Space” better. Possibly because I’ve never seen “Hogan’s Heroes,” I don’t care much for the John Banner skits and riffs. But Mike as Winky is hilarious. And don’t get me started about Winky’s gay nightlife or all the jokes at Bobby’s expense in the other episode.
As I said in the comments for “Manhunt in Space,” I think that the Rocky Jones “movies” are some of the best material that MST3K riffed on. If you cut some slack because it was written for children and it’s the 1950’s, it’s actually quite good. The writing is excellent and the characters are more developed than what we usually see in MST3K kids’ movies (like “The Magic Sword” or the Christmas films). I’ve never seen an MST3K movie unriffed, but I’ve considered getting the Rocky Jones DVDs from Netflix.
I agree with the positive posts above. This is a fun episode all around. I too was a bit surprised that the story was actually pretty good and well written. Add fine riffing and host segments and you have yourself a winner.
4 out of 5 stars for me.
My problem with “dated references” is I’m not sure it was being used correctly. If the show references things from many different time periods why would mentioning something that was then current date the episode?
There are so many reasons to love this episode, but in my social circle it’s special for one particular reason: “a shoe string and a picture of Eve Arden.” Crow says it for the very first time in the Grit host segment, and my family and I have been saying it ever since. (After this, it becomes a minor recurring riff in the theater segments.)
I have no idea what that line references — there has to be more to it than an absurd take on the crappy Grit prizes, right? — but it became a running gag every time my family and friends made a plan or a list of some kind. The line is so absurd it never fails to get a laugh.
Over the years I’ve tried to figure out where that joke came from, but I’ve had no luck so far. (I’ve also become quite a fan of the talented Ms. Arden.)
Can anyone shed some light on this? Or am I just over thinking it?
Despite the title card of “Crash of Moons” I looked at the Shout! Factory cover on my shelf this weekend. It says “Crash of the Moons.”
The controversy continues.
Love this episode, maybe even more than Manhunt. Fun movie, great riffing, good host segments and opening. Great run of episodes they never equaled, IMO.
Favorite lines…
I can’t take a crap. Bobby’s my witness.
I didn’t get to wear puppy toes by being stupid!
Say the secret word and Bill Cosby rips your show off.
The first time I watched this, it was on the vol. 18 boxset. At the time, I thought it was a big disappointment, especially since it came out of season 4, when the show began to get really good. Having re-watched it in the last few days, I did like it a -little- better than my initial viewing, but I still can’t think of very many stand-out jokes. Middle of the road for me.
I think what hurts the episode for me is that nearly the whole “Crash of Moons” movie is in very claustrophobic settings, inside the spaceship, and many of the shots were the crew at the ship control panel. Visually, it was boring.
If you use Google Images to search for Patsy Parsons(Cleolanta) you get one pretty revealing picture of her.
Interestingly she only did one other TVs series after Rocky Jones.
Well, aren’t I a latecomer?
OH, THIS EPISODE IS SO WONDERFUL AND FUNNY! WITH THE HILARIOUS RIFFING AND THE AWESOME HOST SEGMENTS, IT’S A KNOCKOUT FOR ME! SOME DAY, I WISH MY SON WOULD GROW UP TO BE LIKE THIS EPISODE!
Thanks for pointing out that “Suzerain”is a real word-I’ve watched this episode many times and assumed it was made up for this movie-Cleolanta IS so hot it seemed appropriate to make up titles for her!
Anyone beside me notice Joel’s hand moving the “waves” during Host Segment 1?
I think this is a great episode. What are the odds that it would come up in rotation on John Banner’s birth date/date of death?
From the General Hospital short:
“Ironically I’m putting clothes ON you! ”
From the movie:
The rapid riffs on the credits were great; notables I remember:
“The Patsy Parsons Project”
“Guy Roe vs Wade”
“Dick Lestrange when you’re a stranger”
“Oz never give nothing to Bill Tinsman that he didn’t already have…”
And Crow’s “Oh, is the great Hollingswood Worth going to direct?” being disqualified by the judges was a brilliant touch.
“We act only in self preservation” — “We’re Republicans”
“Atlasan (Ampersand?) report to the landing Bay.” — “I’m coming you great cow!” from Fawlty Towers, right? There was an earlier reference to Sybil Fawlty
Great visual riff, as professor Newton (“love your fig cookies”) stands with the bolt emblem over his head – “If not may lightning strike me dead”
“Professor, where’s the little prince? — “That’s rather personal isn’t it?”
Love the “tele play” skit – the ongoing theme of Crow as an aspiring screenplay writer is wonderful. :D
3 times, I think, variants of “… please understand” — “I’m a magic man. ..”
“You know their luggage will probably end up on Jupiter … thank you!”
“Thank you very very very very very much.” John Cleese as Robin Hood in Time Bandits?
A very merry poopie to Banner.
So was there anything behind using the tv shows? Seems like it could have been testing the waters of doing a shorter version of the show.
There was never any plan to do a shorter version of the show. They just wanted to riff things like this Rocky Jones, Master Ninja, etc… and the only way to do it was to stitch together a couple episodes to fill the MST time block.
Crash of the Moons passes the Bechdel Test. Cleolanta grills Trinka about her subversive activities.
Some might say that Joel should have gotten it right in the Winky for that true grit crack.
It does seem kind of weird that Rocky has no compunctions about giving orders to Drake.
What’s that music playing during HS #2? It’s naggingly familiar.
@ #21: That is correct, and he did a poor job of it. Linkletter just let the kids say their stuff, providing no more than the occasional pained expression. Cosby however felt the need to upstage them.
@ #35: I said it before in the Manhunt in Space discussion, but other than the costume, Professor Newton doesn’t really look much like the First Doctor.
@ #77: IIRC it was Bridget who wrote the lyrics of Gypsy Moon. Mike just did the music.
Favorite riffs
Will you folks break it up? Your party is depressing everyone in the building.
The depressing thing is this is in color.
Oh sweet cake, you’re the only one who understands me.
“I didn’t know where you lived, until now.”
Now I’ll be lurking in shadowy doorways.
Crash of the Moons. Two frat boys in a butt-on collision.
Lego Hospital. Snap Tight Hernia sold separately.
“Won’t Rocky be surprised?”
When I tell him I’m pregnant.
“Has Professor Newton rechecked his figures?”
Have you checked his credentials?
Plop plop, fizz fizz. Oh what a bad film it is.
Say the Secret Word and Bill Cosby rips your show off.
You see guys, when a spaceship loves a space station very, very much, you get this here.
“Or like Winky, my son would, uh…”
Would get beat up in the third grade.
Even in the future, booze satisfies.
Not since Fire Maidens from Outer Space has there been a ladder scene so compelling.
So that’s when I got into stamps. It’s fun!
We’re selling candy, send boys like us to Jupiter.
Are you still sore at me for turning you in?
Stand by for more inaction.
I’m afraid he’s an infant, but he will grow out of it.
The Lockhorns in the Twenty-Fifth Century.
You know, we shouldn’t sublet to Axl Rose.
“Professor, where’s the little prince?”
That’s a little personal, isn’t it?
Bobby, you’re a bad person and nobody likes you.
I’m alone with Winky and Bobby. Get me out of here!
It must have been up through the mid-80’s, because so help me, I actually remember seeing a few copies still around, in a garage or church backroom up in the Maine woods one time.
“Sort of a newspaper” would be summing it up, as it was more like USA Today cross-hybrided with Reader’s Digest or the Farmer’s Almanac. Okay enough I guess, but not the sort of thing you’d find in the big college towns with their own local independent newspapers.
Like the first Fantasy Baseball games, it was sort of independent startup they HAD to advertise in comic books, before the Internet was invented.
An above average episode for me. John Banner is the true star of this one, both in the movie & out.
As others have mentioned, the science in this movie just bugs me. I know, it’s before we even really got out into space, but still… you have a space station that apparently orbits nothing with no thrusters, verniers, or anything else to move it around. Despite them passing right next to it, neither of the moons gravity fields manage to grab up (or for that matter rip apart) the station. In fact, gravity apparently only barely exists since it’s supposedly the atmosphere chain that holds the moons together, not gravity. Also, how does 2 moons crashing together not cause horrific apocalyptic devastation on the other Gypsy Moon?
As another poster mentioned, since the Gypsy Moons wander about from system to system, how do they not freeze over? In fact, where is the sun (or whatever each system’s main star is)? How do they travel between star systems in these rockets?! How do they evacuate an entire planet with 30-some odd rockets?!! What about scarecrow’s brain?!!! … wait, I might of lost my train of thought there.
The lack of Doctor Who comments is probably that none of them had seen the Hartnell episodes. I’d guess that what Doctor Who they’d seen was probably Tom Baker episodes.
A commenter noticed something I never did before: there’s no “the” on the title card. (Maybe that’s where they got the extra “the” in “Attack of the the Eye Creatures?”) Anyway, in keeping with our policy to list the title as it appears on the title card, the header has now been changed.
The design of the title card kind of makes it look like the crashing moons knocked out the “the”…
Is it just me or is Cleolanta kinda hot? Headstrong and evil, sure, but still, rrowr.
“Ooh, she’s angry when she’s beautiful.”
This is a 4-year-old comment, but:
touches no one’s life, then leaves says:
In case it matters, Bill Cosby and Groucho Marx were good friends (until, you know, Groucho’s death in 1977, after which they grew apart)
XD
Am I the only one to hear “Ol’ feces” every time they said the planet’s name?
Fans of Sally Mansfield should check out Olivia Holt, very similar faces.
“Stop torturing me, Ethel!”
M’eh, I dunno. She might be hotter if she wasn’t such a tacky dresser.
Like many of you, I’m sure, I like to watch this one as part of a “double feature” with Manhunt In Space, with the second segment of that old GH episode in between.
At first, I liked Manhunt much better than this one, until one day a couple of years ago when, for some reason, the scene where they’re pretending to be knocked out and it turns into a slow-motion door-slamming farce scene suddenly got a huge laff out of me. Joel’s riff in that scene “Tripping — still works in the future!” totally busted me up, and now I love this one every bit as much as Manhunt In Space.
I just love that nuttiness at the end, with Cleolanta’s lieutenants in a panicked rush to board the ship, shoving Cleolanta aside to climb the ladder, with Joel’s attendant riff “Wrestle the Queen, two dollars!” followed moments later by Crow, as Prof. Newton: “I’ve got two dollars, I’ll wrestle the Queen…!” Truly an all-time MST3K moment.
Also, am I the only one here who absolutely loves the GH segments? As a young boy about the time that GH episode originally aired — circa 1963 or ’64 — both of my parents were working and my grandmother looked after my sisters and I during the day. Every day I’d come home from school to find Grandma planted on the sofa watching her “stories” — among them, General Hospital. So, I remembered the characters — though not the plotline — and seeing MST3K riffing on my grandma’s dumb ol’ soap operas thoroughly cracked me up, and also brought back some fond memories.
Seeing the bang-up job they did on that one GH episode from the mid ’60s made me wish MST3K had riffed more old ’60s soap-opera episodes.