Short: (1954) A look at the 40th annual carnival of the Toronto Skating Club.
Movie: (1965) Authorities launch a search for an irradiated astronaut they believe has returned to Earth as a giant mutant.
First shown: 1/9/93
Opening: The bots have opened a micro-cheesery.
Invention exchange: After making a wager on an action figure invention exchange, the Mads present Johnny Longtorso, and the bots present three non-violent action figures
Host segment 1: Gypsy “doesn’t get” Crow (or is it Tom?)
Host segment 2: Joel and Servo play keep-away from Crow
Host segment 3: Examining “The Pina Colada Song”
End: Joel knights Happy King Servo and Sir Giggles von Laffsalot Crow
Stinger: Monster on the go-go
(266 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)
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• This is a deservedly famous episode featuring a deservedly infamous short and movie. There’s plenty for them to work with here and they knock it out of the park. The riffing is top-notch, the segments are all terrific, just a really strong episode — if you can take the movie.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s “The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 8.”
• References.
• Note that the title card only has a hyphen between “A” and the first “Go.” There is no hyphen between the first “Go” and the second “Go.”
• How could such a horrible movie have happened? “You know, four movies went into the making of this film,” Joel says at one point. He’s not far off. Bill Rebane made some of the movie, but ran out of money before it was completed. Meanwhile Herschell Gordon Lewis was looking for a co-feature with his recently completed movie “Moonshine Mountain,” and he needed it quickly. So he bought Rebane’s unfinished film, added some new scenes, and presto … a movie with no continuity and no sense.
• They mention the wonderful movie “Local Hero.” How come you never see that playing on any of the movie channels? It IS streaming, though. If you haven’t seen it, do.
• A hook falls off the peg board with a loud clang during the Mads’ invention exchange. They keep going. And there’s also a lovely crunch as Dr. F. steps toward the camera, right onto the blister packs on the floor.
• You can see Frank ALMOST crack up while singing the Johnny Longtorso theme song, as he actually does on the poopie reel.
• Frank does a nice little bit with the pitchpipe: he blows into several random pipes, making the whole thing pointless.
• Trace is hilarious as he introduces the movie, giving us Dr. F at perhaps his most maniacal. It’s an all-time favorite Trace moment for me.
• Terrific riffing in the short, and Joel doesn’t even try to keep them from getting too dark. The highlight is the great “pink girls” song.
• What does “with a filbert nut” mean? Joel sounds a little like Red Skelton when he says it. Is it a reference to him?
• Segment 1 is rightly famous. If you wanted to introduce the personalities of all three robots to newbie, this would do it very well in just a few minutes.
• Does ANYbody know what that song Crow is singing (“hum-did-a-hee-hee…”) is from? It’s one of the unsolved mysteries of this show. (Several different commenters are certain they know, but each thinks it comes from a different place.)
• Joel opens a can of “pop” (or as normal people call it, soda) in the theater! What a rebel!
• The workings of Tom’s hoverskirt are never explained in detail, but in segment two we see a new use demonstrated: sports!
• Is that a velcro ball Joel throws to Tom when they return to the theater? Still, it’s a pretty good toss.
• Then-topical riff: The now-forgotten Matthias Rust.
• J&tB do a little of the Richard Kiel voice they did a LOT in the last episode.
• When the movie ends up in what looks very much like Chicago’s Lower Wacker Drive, they begin to rattle off some great Chicago references, including McCormick Place and the Arie Crown Theater.
• Both a callback and a call-forward in closing segment: Joel crowns Tom a “happy king,” recalling the “Mr. B. Natural” short and Crow is holding the stick with the tiny Crow on it, which we will see again in jestering segment next season.
• Cast and crew roundup: Tom is right, nobody involved with this movie went on to do anything else. The exception is Bill Rebane who later gave us “Giant Spider Invasion.” But I have to assume the writers were just guessing.
• Creditswatch: Host segments directed by Joel Hodgson.
• Fave riff from the short: “Vomit sprays out in a beautiful Technicolor dream.” Honorable mention: “Now a clown will deliver her eulogy.”
• Fave riff from the movie: Narrator: “There is one terrifying word in the world of nuclear physics.” Tom: “Oops.” Honorable mention: “He made her bark!”
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Obscure riff: When the characters are examining the log books in the lab, one of the bots says: “Rumple Tweezer the good fairy lived under the dum-dum tree and got what!?” This is a reference to a Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch where Eric Idle is trying to read a children’s story but the stories quickly turn adult. “Rumple Tweezer ran the Dinky Tinky shop in the foot of the magic oak tree, by the wobbly dum-dum bush, in the shade of the magic glade, down in Dingly Dell. There he sold contraceptives-”
Favorite Riff: “Shut up and watch the deer get slaughtered. It’s fun!”
Surprisingly, especially since I was looking for them, no Wizard of Oz references appear in this episode.
Love the short, can’t stay awake through the movie, even with the riffing. I do remember the John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt riffs, but not much else in the movie. However, the short is one of the best ever.
Being a long time King Crimson fan, of course my favorite riff is “Wow, he’s sneaking past Robert Fripp’s room”.
My favorite riff from Monster A Go-Go:
Guy in movie: “Have you ever overdosed an animal?”
Servo: “Well, I smoked too much rabbit once”.
Fav riff from this one:
Scientist: “I don’t have a precision mind like you Doctor Brent”
Crow: I’m only a scientist”
I love this episode. This should be a show like Fu Manchu where the characters misery causes you to despair about the movie as well, but the writing here is so superb that I could watch this ep over and over again. Rebane reused the “Lucky Man”-esque music for Giant Spider Invasion, as did the MST crew reuse the joke about the similarity.
He later went on to a very successful career in advertising (go figure), where he literally wrote the book on the subject, which I believe is still being used today.
Direct marketing, technically, where H.G. Lewis is a highly regarded and very well-paid copywriter. I heard him speak at a conference a few years ago.
This episode is one of a whole string in season 4 when The Brains were at the top of their game. The short is brilliant, and what they were able to do with a film this bad speaks really highly for their skill. As others have said, the “short, pear-shaped…” riff is one of my all-time favorites.
I liked this episode. It was fun. I laughed a lot. Silly movie.
I’ll be honest, when this ep first came out, I wasn’t crazy about it, not so much for the ‘Brains efforts but because the movie was soooo unwatchable! Over the years, however, this has become one of my favs. Being older now, I appreciate more of the jokes’ significances. I’m in agreement with everyone who has said that this is when these guys were at their very best; the riffing, segments (except segment 3 with J&TB playing keepaway – just a filler in my opinion), and invention exchanges were clever. “Johnny Longtorso” is not only funny, but in some ways ahead of its time.
The moment when a guy offscreen makes the phone noise: perhaps the funniest ever in any movie we’ve seen on this show!
Favorite riff: with the annoying, Oriental-like music playing during the scene where they find the woman, Tom says: “In the southern provinces, the rice patties have been grown they have been for thousands of years”. Something about his delivery, sounding like one of those soft, snobby PBS announcers, makes the joke work for me.
And the short, “Circus on Ice”….how did I forget this as being one of their darkest? How ANYONE actually enjoyed these shows way back when is beyond me. (I think Tom says something to that effect.) I love the part where the woman playing a fawn getting killed is hysterical. Crow (as kid): “But mom, I don’t to watch the Circus on Ice anymore!” Tom (as Mom): “Shut up and watch the deer getting slaughtered, it’s fun!”
What a great episode, and just the first in a series of exceptional shows to come!
Yum-d-dit dee-dee….hua-hua is something i heard on a Frank Zappa album some years after i first heard Crow sing it. Zappa’s performance must have been first, ’cause i think he was gone by the time I heard it. Very sorry I have no idea which album… you’ll just have to listen to them all.
I don’t remember this too much because I haven’t seen it too many times, but it is a memorable episode, seeing that it already has three times more comments than Human Duplicators. I can’t wait to see how many Manos gets.
When I first saw the ‘Gypsy doesn’t get Crow’ sketch, I loved it. I’m not sure that she really ever knew just how to explain what she was thinking, and the whole thing is topped off with one of the best lines in the show’s history; perfect for Tom to say.
Fave riff: Same as Sampo’s.
Joel certainly expressed my sentiments at the end: “The joke’s on us!” It’s the most confusing ending of any of the movies that I can think of.
The short is also a classic; I wonder what they are thinking up in Canada, this and Johnny At the Fair from The Rebel Set make for two of the darker riffed shorts in the show’s history.
For the record, in Minnesota, it *IS* “pop” not “soda”. “Soda” is when you add ice cream to it.
One of my fave dark riffs ever is from the movie itself, it’s been a while, so I’m paraphrasing, but it’s when the son of the murdered guy is rushed out of the room, so I think Servo had him say: “Hey, Jimmy, my dad just got murdered! Can I come over and eat supper at your house?”
Had never even heard of “The Pina Colada Song” before this ep, and it’s since become one of my guilty pleasures song-wise. (Yeah, I *KNOW* I have terrible taste in music!)
In my mind there are three “ultimate bad” MST3K episodes: Manos, Red Zone Cuba, and this. Manos got the popular perception of worst because of the charismatic riffing and Torgo, but really, all three of these are equally bad. Once you start naming the worst MSTed films it’s easy to leak out into things like TSCWSLABMUZ and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but at least those are slightly competent technically.
Sean74: That rice paddy bit sounds like it might be a style parody of Orson Welles’ frozen food commercials. I don’t remember what the delivery was like though.
I first watched this episode a few months or so after I went to the first Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago. I had to read through all the comments to see if anybody else go the most obscure riff in the whole episode, since the only reason I got it was because of going to Pitchfork. I seem to be the only one, hooray!
At one point Joel says something to the effect of “They could stop at the Billy Goat and have a chee-burger” (not a typo). There’s a crappy restaurant not far from Union Park in Chicago called the Billy Goat saloon or pub, or more properly, “The World Famous Billy Goat”. We ate there before heading to the park, and all of the workers there have thick Spanish or Middle Eastern accents (I can’t recall which), which would account for the pronunciation of cheeseburger as “chee-burger”.
Not funny when you give an in depth explanation, but hilarious when you totally get such an obscure quote. I just thank God that I live in Wisconsin so I am privy to understanding all the local references and jokes they made. Obviously, Giant Spider Invasion was like a gift from heaven to us WI Misties.
Watch Frank try really hard not to start laughing at the end of the Johnny Longtorso song. The man can barely get out the “He’s long” tagline through his gritted teeth.
Richard: I didn’t know if Frank would ever get that line out; they put a goof of him laughing after the song on the Poopie blooper reel.
One scene in particular from this awful movie still has me replaying it.
The scene where a man answers the phone after he makes a “Phone Noise!” “Brrrrrppp…”
In the following sequence; Joel and the bots do three things that anyone watching this scene would have done.
– Joel slaps his forehead and says “Unbelievable….”
– Tom Servo busts out laughing.
– Crow just shakes his head at the pure shock of ineptitude here.
If you really think about it this is not really a movie because we waste our time chasing after this thing called Douglas only to find out that Douglas is safe 1000s of miles away and the thing has vanished, so really what is the point of this movie ?!?!?
BTW this movie contains one of my all time favorite riffs:
Crow: “I always keep an open can of gas behind the seat”
Given the Torontonian origin of the short I thought it worth mentioning for the record that it’s “pop” pretty much everywhere in Canada. Ordering a “soda” up here is basically equivelant to singing “the star spangled banner” out loud whilst frantically waving ol’ glory.
This movie’s rough but nowhere near as rough as say Racket Girls.
At one point Joel says something to the effect of “They could stop at the Billy Goat and have a chee-burger” (not a typo). There’s a crappy restaurant not far from Union Park in Chicago called the Billy Goat saloon or pub, or more properly, “The World Famous Billy Goat”. We ate there before heading to the park, and all of the workers there have thick Spanish or Middle Eastern accents (I can’t recall which), which would account for the pronunciation of cheeseburger as “chee-burger”.
Okay, being raised in Chicago, I have to say one of the reasons I enjoy MST3K is because there’s a lot of midwestern slang and jokes that work their way in. We typically see references in media to more vague things people are familiar with – Hollywood, New York, etc. For some reason, Chicago and the midwest in general tends to be a more rare sight (how many big-name movies do you know were shot in the city? I can only think of a handful, versus hundreds set on the East Coast).
The story with Billygoat’s Tavern is two-fold. For starters, the Billygoat is the origin of the ‘Curse of the Goat’, or rather, the reason the Cubs haven’t won a World Series game in over a century. The owner of the tavern was ejected from a game for bringing his pet goat and swore that the Cubs would never win a World Series.
The story behind the “Cheezborger cheezborger cheezborger” goes back to a Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi where he played a Greek restaurant owner. The “No Pepsi, Coke” I think was what he yelled at patrons whenever they asked for a Pepsi.
That said, how dare you call the Billygoat a ‘crappy restaurant’.
Since we’re on the topic, you missed an EVEN MORE obscure Chicago riff – at some point, Joel says something about going to grab a pizza at ‘Ginos’. “Ginos East” is one of the most famous names in Chicago when it comes to true Chicago deep dish pizzas, somewhat along the lines of a ‘Portillos’ when talking about Chicago hot dogs.
Favorite riff: “This was only a test. Had this been an actual movie, you’d have been entertained.”
One of their all-time greats! Another example that the Brains did their best work when the movies were gawd-awful. Just a rich treasure trove of material here, and the Circus on Ice short is wickedly funny. So many wonderful lines from Joel and the ‘Bots here which everyone who commented early already noted. This one ranks among my top ten of MST3K episodes. Never get tired of watching this one.
short’s great, movie riffing’s great, but at the end of the movie, I just screamed to mum, who was upstairs, “mum, where’s my shoes? I need to throw them at the TV!” As a big movie fan, I must say, Lewis, you have hurt me deeply. If you’re still alive, may you regret purchasing the unfinished “Terror at Halfday” for the rest of your life!
In the last host segment, when Joel is trying to cheer up Tom and Crow, is it a blooper that Joel called Crow “Sir Mix A Lot” instead of “Sir Giggles Von Laffsalot”? You can kind of hear Trace chuckling when he corrects him, and Joel seems a little taken aback by his error, but maybe that’s how well-oiled they were by this point, where it just seemed natural.
Also, Crow shouting “Stop it!” at the odd guitar music cracked me up. And Joel saying, “Boy, this is the whitest drive ever.” in the very next scene.
Oh, by the way, out of all the MST skits or riffs that I have acted out, the pink ladies song has always gotten the biggest laughs.
I just watched this episode for the first time today. Classic! All the riffs mentioned were of course hilarious. I think my favorite bit that hasn’t been brought up is the scene in the lab where the dark-haired female scientist is getting miffed because the two male scientists are ganging up on her (I have no idea what they were talking about, since I couldn’t hear the dialogue). The references to that were funny, but what I found even more amusing was the blonde female scientist in the background, looking through the microscope for a good five minutes, adjusting things, looking again, trying desperately to appear as though she’s working even though she has absolutely nothing to do. Maybe the most pointless extra in the history of cinema?
One thing I like in the Joel episodes is the way J&tB jump out of their seats and yelp in unison whenever something startling happens. E.g. in this movie, after a long stretch of absolutely nothing happening that has Servo falling asleep on Joel’s shoulder, the narrator suddenly explodes onto the scene at full volume with a random voice over.
As a Chicago native (currently attending college in the heart of the city) I got a kick out of the Windy City references. I have been to the Billy Goat Tavern, and for the record the food was delicious, although we didn’t actually get to order for ourselves–the cooks did that for us (“Dub-lay chizz? You want the dub-lay chizz? Dub-lay chizz!”).
The song Crow’s humming is from the 1970 TV special version of “Horton Hears a Who.”
Now, how ’bout “Do you want to go faster? Raise your hand if you want to go…fffaster!”
More nitpicking (it’s my lot in life … sorry): The screengrab has the feature title as “Monster A-Go Go”, not “Monster A-Go-Go”.
But then again, there was no monster.
When this episode first aired it replaced Human Duplicators as my then all time favorite episode. (It wouldn’t hold that distinction for long.) This another example were even truly horrible stink burger movies (which the Brains will shy away from more often than they tackle them) can become brilliant experiments so long as the Brains bring their A game. And for the second straight week the host segments are almost entirely A material as well.
It’s a shame we were never able buy the Bots’ cheese at our local supermarkets. I’ll take that over a Killer Shrew.
Johnny Longtorso is the second straight home run invention by the Mads. $300 just to assemble what appears to be an eight inch action figure. My favorite accessory: the realistic action batch.
Unfortunately with a minor nod to Crow, this week the Bots really don’t answer the Mads the way they did last week. But the tapeworm is a bit of a cute idea. But in the end it doesn’t take an impartial judge like TV’s Frank to name a winner. It is the Mads and thus we get Monster A-Go-Go.
But in the then topical reference category how about the audiotape that makes up Crow’s tapeworm. It was already on the way out at the time of this exchange.
I have to agree. The talk above about how Joel and the Bots discuss the prospects for this movie is classic.
Joel “You know what guys, I have a feeling this is going to be a tough one.”
Crow “No it might not be too bad.”
Tom “I think Joel’s right. This one has stinkburger written all over it.”
Crow exhales big “Come on you can’t tell just from the credits.”
Joel “No, no it’s a feeling I have. My gut instincts tell me this is going to hurt real bad.”
Crow “Joel it’s not healthy to have such a negative attitude right out of the gate.”
Tom “It’s just common sense Crow. There’s already a feeling of incompetence in the air.”
Joel “Yeah we might as well face up to it.”
Crow “Well I refuse to give in so soon. I’m going to riff away like it’s nobody’s business. I can’t think of anything now but … this is going to suck”
This bit shows that something can be made of nothing. It really had nothing to do with the credits. It was just a bit that filled the space. So whenever someone says that you can’t riff low action (like just standing around) I give you this bit.
I’m really not sure what I can say to add to the “I Don’t Get You” host segment. It is a top five host segment for me. Trace really shines in it. But it’s all been said before. Favorite line “Is it the way I panic when making sandwiches?”
As the military brass types were getting into that car after walking off the airplane Joel and the Bots start making a rap style beat as if coming from the stereo in the car. Did anybody else wish it had turned into a Master Ninja Theme Song callback?
When I was in the drama club in high school, even we had an actual ringer for our prop telephone.
This episode actually contains a second top five host segment and that is the Pina Colada host segment. Again the delivery on this one just sells it. The facts the Bots use as they get more and more frantic with great vocal emphasis sells this segment. I keep a copy of the transcript at my desk and read it when I need a laugh. Favorite line “they are not only cheating on each other, they are cheating on each other with each other.”
Favorite Riffs:
Crow “Vomit sprays out in a beautiful Technicolor dream.”
Tom “Can you imagine if you were the kind of person who enjoyed this?”
Crow “Take the kazoo out of your mouth”
Tom “They’re talking to Charlie Brown’s mom.”
Singing the melody from M*A*S*H
Riffs about Frank’s death:
Crow “This coffee is warmer than Frank is”
Joel “Make other plans Jimmy”
Character: “Suppose you go upstairs and when we’re all through we’ll have a nice big ice cream soda.” Tom “Yeah that solves everything.” Crow “Hey Timmy, my dad’s dead again. Can I come over for dinner?”
Joel “two words. Closed casket”
Girl dancing and Crow says “Oh they decided to go to Shakey’s”
Guy dining with girlfriend “Oh waiter?” Crow “My date is ice cold.”
Shortly after: Joel “Ah barkeep, could you freshen my date.”
Tom “It’s funny you see because women don’t know anything about cars.”
A soldier extra speaks to another who runs off screen. Joel “Ah bad news you’re not in this scene.”
This truly is one of the rare episodes where a god-awful movie doesn’t drag down the riffing at all. The brains are really at the top of their game here. They’ve come a long way since Fu Manchu!
The host segments are inspired as well. I wish I had remembered Crow’s jester costume for the Best Bot Costume Weekend Discussion. I love how Trace even seems to be operating “Tiny Crow”. That’s talent!
Favorite riff:
Offscreen: BRRRRING!!
Joel: Unbelievable!
5 Stars
That even the recap doesn’t talk more than a few sentences about the flick shows just how bad this thing is. It was a Riff from a few years later, but I guess it was just assumed that the kids going to these things were focusing on … other things instead of the movie by this point.
The short is a classic, in part of because that so much of the fake circus seems to revolve around death and killing. Top riff “Bravely? The thing was grazing!” It’s quite the kitchy concept.
The movie is such a bomb, and it is a little hard to slog through. Too many good lines in here, but that ending. Oh, that ending. Catchy little low-fi intro rock song, though.
Top line from the movie “Man, if you can’t out-act a post…”
@#17: I would think that those Transformers gestalts might count as such. Though I believe only the Constructicons had an action batch.
Regarding the Pina Colada Song, does anyone recall if this episode coincided with when Dave Barry was doing his Bad Song Poll? IIRC Escape was one of the more frequently mentioned songs and was often referred to by respondents as the Pina Colada Song (in Barry’s book on the poll, it was prominently featured in the chapter entitled Songs People Get Wrong).
The “monster” was an alien IMPERSONATING Douglas, and the alien subsequently “devolved” into monstrous form, led the authorities on a chase, then teleported away, all while Douglas was safe and sound.
Seriously, that seemed so OBVIOUS to me…
“Meanwhile Herschell Gordon Lewis was looking for a co-feature with his recently completed movie “Moonshine Mountain,” and he needed it quickly.”
Which begs the question, is “Moonshine Mountain” a better or worse film than “Monster A-Go-Go”? Frankly, I suspect that it’s worse.
Fortunately for, well, the entire human race, I suppose, in 1993 “Hunting for Bambi” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_For_Bambi ; do not click there unless you REALLY SINCERELY want to know what I’m talking about) did not yet exist, or the deer riffs could have gotten way, WAY darker. “This way to the kill floor,” indeed…
Should anyone be sufficiently morbidly curious, I just did a Yahoo search and huntingforbambi . com evidently still exists (apparently Wikipedia simply had too much class to post the link with the relevant article), although I didn’t click on it. For all I know, the videotapes are still for sale. Appall your friends! Receive restraining orders from your entire family! :-/
This episode has a 4.41 rating out of 5? Wow, I must have watched a different movie. The one I saw was horrible.
Even though the riffs are A+ and the host segments all great, this is still a tough watch for me. The bleak black and white, bad print, bad audio, no continuity or logic, all drag this in the mud. That said, the cruelty of the riffs saves it. From the short, “She skates over her own entrails” to the awful ‘like old times’ dinner date (who are those people, anyway? NASA staff? Friends of the astronaut? the press? how do they know each other? are they romantic? are they married? I don’t know!). The movie is just dead enough to allow time for great riffs in between the bad delivery and pointless padding. Waiter, could you freshen my date?
#5
Well, on the East Coast “soda” is normal and “pop” is
Hollywood movie western talk. And so in the South if
you want a Pepsi you as k for a Coke Pepsi
and if you want a Coke you ask for a Coke Coke?
Btw, say what you will of the director it was BRILLIANT to
put the script on the floor of the lab (obviously the scientist
had trouble remembering his lines). :)
The film had a troubled production. Director Bill Rebane began shooting the film in 1961, but the production ran out of funding before it could be completed. Years later director Herschell Gordon Lewis was looking for a movie to play double feature with his film Moonshine Mountain when he bought the shot footage for Monster A Go-Go from Rebane. Lewis filmed some additional footage for the movie and added a voice-over narration (Lewis himself was the narrator) and released the film in 1965. The reason that most of the characters simply disappear from the film without explanation was the original cast from the 1961 shoots couldn’t be re-gathered for the completion of the film which occurred four years later.
The lead actress, June Travis, had a bit of a career before this train wreck came along. Born Dorothea Grabiner in Chicago in 1914, was signed by Warner Bros. in 1934 and made her film debut the following year, but would last only three years before leaving Hollywood forever and focusing on marriage. Gridlocked in the “B” category for the duration of her career, some of her modest highlights would include the Perry Mason whodunnit The Case of the Black Cat (1936) in which she essayed the role of secretary Della Street alongside Ricardo Cortez’s noted crimesolver; Ceiling Zero (1936), a lesser Howard Hawks film about war pilots starring Pat O’Brien and James Cagney; two slapstick movies as the love interest to comedian Joe E. Brown — Earthworm Tractors (1936) and The Gladiator (1938); the mystery Love Is on the Air (1937) opposite Ronald Reagan, who was making his feature film bow here; two comic features capitalizing on radio personality Joe Penner — Go Chase Yourself (1938) and Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938); and a comic strip film version of Little Orphan Annie (1938) Although June was top-billed in Circus Girl (1937) and Over the Goal (1937), the films came and went with little impression made. All in all, she was usually called upon to divert the proceedings and blandly back up the rugged “B” tough guys at Warners — a roster which then included Paul Kelly, Dick Purcell, Dick Foran and Wayne Morris. After co-starring in Federal Man-Hunt (1938), she handed Hollywood her walking papers at age 24. For her last film, and for reasons completely unknown, she agreed to play a role in the bogus horror opus Monster a-Go Go (1965).
Favorite lines (Circus on Ice):
These two girls they make quite a pair.
They both come from your worst nightmare.
They will haunt your soul forever.
And now when you see pink
You’re gonna think were doomed.
They are agents of Satan…
This way to the kill floor.
You know you guys, there’s nothing sadder than a gut shot fawn…on ice.
Please, she’s an artist. Do not throw pennies at her.
“At last the hunters close in, there is no escape.” Unshaven, stinky and boozed up on Rumplemintz, the hunters spray bullets into the woods. [Rumplemintz is a very potent peppermint schnapps from Germany.]
The girls with the bruised legs have to wear the long dresses.
…And as dull as a beige room, this is like watching paint dry.
Favorite lines (Monster a–Go-Go):
Elvis has staggered out of the building
I have a feeling that this one is going to be a tough one. Now it might not be too bad. No, I think Joel’s right, this one has stinkburger written all over it.
It’s nice they shot this film at such a pretty time of the year.
“Without question this was the capsule that had put Douglas into orbit.” Douglas was pear shaped, very short and stood the whole way.
“It’s about Frank isn’t it?” “Ruth the capsule came back.” This coffee is warmer than Frank is.
“What do you make of this Carl?” It looks like a meadow muffin.
[Dr. Logan with Geiger Counter] Now with a Wagner Power Painter, you can paint the whole forest in a day.
Meanwhile at Lens Crafters. Yeah, bad movies in about an hour.
Hey, they’re going to frag the director. Good!
Man, if you can’t out act a post.
There was no dignity for anyone who worked on this film.
This is a test. Had this been an actual movie you would have been entertained.
Phil Silvers tries to flee the set.
Final Thought: This one is a tough slog everytime. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
Everyone mentions the “no monster” but there was also no “a-go go”
LOVE this episode! My all time favorite for sure (with Gamera vs. Guiron a close second). Like this comment if this is your favorite episode too. short is one of the best ever. It’s my favorite invention exchange. The movie is in the running for worst ever. The host segments are memorable and funny(except 2&3). Also, the movie can act as a sleeping pill if I watch it before bed. To me, this is the perfect storm. My favorite part is when J&TB fall asleep in the theater and then the narrator jars them awake suddenly.
I definitely don’t blame them for ignoring those little mistakes during the Johnny Longtorso presentation since it looks like the whole thing was done on a single take.
This is an episode I go to whenever I need a cure for insomnia so I often fall asleep before reaching the “Oops” riff, which is also my favorite.
Hamdinger #87> The a-go go was the music during the opening credits.
#87, #90: Also, the teen dancing at “Shakey’s”.
Can I make a small suggestion for these episode guides? Could you make a mention if the episode was ever released on (official) DVD? I came into the show very late (Sci-Fi Mike era), and even then could only catch the show sporadically. But I have managed to collect every officially released title on DVD, so I’ve caught up with more of the show that way and I think it would be nice if there was a quick mention of any DVD release for the episode being discussed for anyone like myself who came to the show via DVD.
thanks
Besides the telephone ring and the astonishingly small space capsule, I get a real kick out of the Mrs Lady Scientist when she emoted “Yes but THEN what?” Poor thing.
The Coke as any kind of soda issue is revisited in the introductary host segment from Last of the Wild Horses. Speaking of which, it must be a Deep South thing, because I’ve lived in Virginia all my life (actual Virginia, not the DeeCee suburb known as Northern Virginia), and have never heard soda get called Coke unless it actually was a Coke.
This was one of my very first exposures to MST, courtesy of a friend who moved to my non-Comedy Central-having city from out of town. Thanks to this, Giant Gila Monster and Jungle Goddess, I became hooked. Proof that circulating the tapes worked!
Music by The Other Th?
“I just am. I hang out.” To me Segment 1 always stands as a strange counterpoint to the Mike-as-wereCrow/Crow conversation at the end of Werewolf, as the personality traits Crow uses to describe himself seem so different at that point. Just the drift over the years but it does demonstrate why it took me a while to warm to Bill’s Crow.
I remembered this episode as being the worst of all episodes and never wanted to see it again. This was due in large part to being emotionally scarred by the terrible ending and still remembering it 20 years later, but I figured 20 years was long enough and watched it again when it came up on the schedule this week. I was pleasantly shocked as the riffing is top-notch and makes the episode quite watchable and the host segments are great.
I have used the line “Nobody gets me. I’m the wind baby” many times over the years and forgot it was from this episode. The Pina Colada segment (or should I call it the Escape segment) was especially hilarious for us old people who remember when you couldn’t escape that song being played on the radio. Everyone else has already listed the best lines but I think there was a missed riff opportunity.
Movie: “Did you tell Dr. Manning of this?”
I think this was begging for a Colossal Man Glen Manning callback, but then I loved that episode. I am giving this 4 stars when I was sure last week I was going to give it one. I still think this is the worst movie they ever did on the show.
Jay #92> While the specific episode guide entries don’t mention if there is an official release or not, there is always the DVD List page of this website.
This is one of my “go-to” episodes when I’m jogging om the treadmill. Very nice episode to kill an hour on. The narrator talking about the space capsule cracks me up every time. Even with headphones on I still can’t hear what the so-called scientist and the Army General are saying during their scene in the lab/office. Apparently no one had ever heard of the word “boom mic”. :-P
@94, same here with me in New Jersey. Heard it called soda all my life; I didn’t hear the word “pop” until I saw an episode of Mythbusters featuring it and was wondering what the heck they were talking about.
@Dan in WI#98
I can see the list there, and I should have mentioned I can also use my online DVD collection site (DVDAficionado), but in either case, I’m having to specifically look up which set it’s in, instead of the guide saying, “this episode is available vol# whatever, by Shout/Rhino”.
Something else that just occurred to me, if the episode being discussed were currently in print, it might be helpful for this website to put an Amazon link-through referral thing, so somebody reading the guide can buy the episode right then and there.