Movie: (1956) When the chickeney Phantom of Krankor attacks Japan, a slim-hipped hero arrives to save the day.
First shown: 8/16/97
Opening: Crow and Tom’s “Dog and Bear” game gets out of hand
Intro: Bobo, then the Widowmaker, then the SOL are dragged into a wormhole
Host segment 1: M&tB are unstuck in time
Host segment 2: Mike is transformed into a small robot
Host segment 3: The wormhole deposits M&tB in a rather lovely sylvan glen
End: All seems normal again on the SOL (except for the presense of Krankor), but Pearl and Observer have arrived on Earth in Roman times!
Stinger: The Phantom says: “Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!”
(334 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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• Bridget’s take on this episode is here.
• Of course, with this episode, into the wormhole we go. And while the “Roman times” story arc is, in my view, a mixed bag at best (more on that in the next installment), this episode, which takes place in the wormhole itself, is one of the best of season 8. The movie is profoundly stupid and feels very season-three-ish, the riffing is excellent and the host segments are clever and fun.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 7.
• References.
• Is that “dog and bear” dialog from something? (A commenter suggested it was inspired by Jack London’s “Call of the Wild.”)
• “I like it very much!” became an immediate catchphrase and soon appeared on an MST3k bumper sticker.
• Some fans got a bit fed up with all the Japan bashing in this episode, and while I don’t agree that it was as bad as they made out, I WILL acknowledge that this show has FOUR “cram school” jokes.
• Did you enjoy the “Hardrock and Coco and Joe,” reference. Watch the whole thing here.
• Also: When there is a high-pitched, evil laugh, Crow intones “Rrrrraceway Park!” that’s a reference to radio commercials for this drag racing venue, (which is still in operation at this writing). I assume that riff came from Bill, who at this point replaced Frank as the source of East Coast references.
• Kudos to the Brains on getting the complicated time lag sketch right! That must have been tough to write! After the sketch, Mike and Tom are already in the theater and Crow, still lagging, joins them.
• Robot Mike does a theater segment. I like a nice detail on the Mike puppet in theater — he has a headset!
• Very typical of this show, when Mike returns as himself, he simply announces that he “got better.” Nuff said!
• Callback from the old days: a Gamera reference!
• Note that the door sequence leading to the “sylvan glen” segment ends with a real bone slamming over a wooden door. The segment is a little startling: It reminds you how studio-bound the show was. I don’t remember where I saw this, it may have been one of the Scifi.com IRC chats, but at some point one of the Brains said that the sylvan glen was only a short walk from the studio. I believe that. The area around the studio was definitely a mix of office park and what I presume was as-yet-undeveloped former farm land.
• That’s Bill as Krankor, or course.
• Cast and crew roundup: The producer of the American version, Walter H. Manley, did likewise for “The Green Slime.” Screen writer Shin Morita also wrote — dull surprise — “Invasion of the Neptune Men.”
• Creditwatch. That’s Kevin, of course, as Callipygeas (which roughly means “fat ass”) and Bridget as Favia. Kevin produced and directed. Andrea Ducane did hair and makeup for every season 8 episode except this one, when one Sharon Davis filled in. Mike Parker is back as grip (after two episodes off) and will be for the rest of the season. John Simms, who had an “SFX/foley” credit for six episodes earlier in the season, reappears as “boom operator,” which will continue for the rest of the season.
• Fave riff: “Oh, fer cryin’ out loud … EACH OF YOU…” Honorable mention: “Oh the inanity! Oh the Japanity!” “o/` Isn’t she lovely… o/`”
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Bolem, I think the line is “Well Nagmo got a shelled again.”
Although I have to admit “They shelled an ohmu again last night” would be great on a pin or shirt.
In case anyone is wondering what an ohmu looks like.
http://www.onlineghibli.com/nausicaa/newimages/Ohm.jpg
@93
That’s definitely a reference to Hideo Nomo, a Japanese pitcher who made a big splash in the early 90s with the Dodgers. As #98 said, he had about 2, 2 1/2 good years and nothing else besides his wonky throwing motion. He pretty much paved the way for guys like Ichiro and World Series MVP Hideki Matsui to come to MLB. Also notable for being one of only five players to throw no-hitters in both leagues.
Thanks for clearing that up #s 98, 101, and 102.
Ever have a song that you liked until you almost ruined it for yourself by actually paying attention to the lyrics and grasping the actual meaning, so from then on you just keep trying your hardest to hear what you originally heard, but it usually doesn’t work? I figured that’d be the case for me here.
Well, I don’t care what they thought they were singing, Big ol’ Jed had a Lighter! He did!
That reminds me: they actually make grill lighters that extend like Prince of Space’s now, right? If I could find one, I might seriously attempt a PoS costume someday.
For that matter, did such grill lighters exist back when this was made? If so, were they still such a novelty that one could be passed off as a laser pistol, sort of like how the old Mothra movies passed off silly string as a special effect? Actually, that’d be more like those Buck Rogers brand disintegrator guns issued to the Teenagers From Outer Space.
“Ohhh, Speed, oh!”
Prince of Space!?
It’s Santa Claus, and Cheap Trick! OOOOOHHHH!
Hopefully I won’t keep coming up with oddities tangentially connected to this episode, but one final thing:
The part where Krankor deploys his Mousetrap device and Prince tricks him by hanging on as it’s raised up: Was he supposed to be fried, but staying in the top part somehow prevented that? This scene is the only one where their weapons actually can’t seem to harm him, as after roasting him fails, the crossfire from all those tri-barreled guns just passes over him as he stands there unflinching. Any idea what was lost in translation?
But the Mousetrap part, as far as I can tell, must be a standard gag in Japanese boy’s action shows. In the first episode of the 1999 Japan-only Transformers cartoon “Beast Wars Neo”, a mischievous squad of Cybertoron/Maximal/Autobot-ish screw-ups play a prank on their newly assigned commander, an Optimus Prime-ish fellow who turns into a wooly mammoth and is therefore named “Big Convoy”, which honestly does make perfect sense for reasons too complicated to explain here. Not only is the prank the same basket deal (without the frying), but BC counters with the exact same hanging-on-spreadeagle-so-he-can-get-the-drop-on-them move. As far as I know, no chickenmen ever show up, but BWN does feature the only Transformer who becomes a penguin.
A little late to this party…
Great episode, five stars out of five. “I LIKE IT VERY MUCH!” Love the “Dog and Bear” sketch as well as the sylvan glen. I also thought the “Welcome to Roman Times” was very Original Star Trek, down to the little musical flourish.
Hey Bolem, I heard Ohmu too the first couple times I saw this one, but my wife is a Dodger’s fan so she set me straight.
As others have mentioned the Japan bashing is a little much, but not nearly as nasty as the “Invasion of the Neptune Men”. That movie just hurts and I think it made the the Brains get a little too nasty.
But “Prince of Space” is certainly one of my favorite Sci-fi channel episodes.
I’m also late. . .But It’s never too Late for some Trivia!
It didn’t register until Boot-Black got chased through the cemetery, but this was a TV series on UHF in the 60’s along side “Astroboy” and “Prince Planet”. (If you’re over Forty-eight and saw them let me know?) Then on Invasion of the Neptune Men, Space-Chief chases the soldiers with too much make-up into the lab and…BOOM!
This was in the same series!!
The TV show was called “STAR MAN”
It was the habit of American distributors to group several short run Japanese shows together to make a complete series of 80 episodes or more.
“The again on the other hand…”
The Bolem #93-> My take on the whole “Violent Porn Comics” thing: I had an AKIRA T-shirt and every other time I wore it some guy would come up to me and say:”You like Japanese Cartoons. I saw this movie called “The Overfiend!”
One saturday a month I would go to the local Anime club and we would watch Fan-Subbed tapes of “Cowboy Bebop” and “Outlaw Star” years before The Cartoon Network aired them. Most of the people in my group had a similar story concerning movies like “Overfiend”. And we would cringe at the thought that Anime was represented in the States by this Low-cell count Atrocity.
(for those who never saw Overfiend…take about 5 or 6 movies like “Hostel” or “Devil’s Rejects” put them into a blender and toss in some wacked sex scenes and hit mix for a minute.)
I seem to have strayed…stop me before I digress again!
and in cinclusion…
Censors…what censors? Speed Racer rang up quite a Death-toll every episode.
*and in conclusion.
I’m getting better at this typing thing.
I really like this episode but the whole “That’s two separate ideas” riff thing was ridiculous.
“I’m not scared. If you are, go on home.”
That’s what the kid said. What about that doesn’t make sense? I mean, I saw that the first time and they are supposed to be watching these films OVER AND OVER.
Anyway, this one ranks up there with the Season 3 Sandy Frank episodes, something I wouldn’t say applies to the next Japanese film they do.
Let me start by saying: Worm hole, back off.
There has been much lamenting over the years about the 702 to 906 gap between episodes with shorts. Well that is nothing. We haven’t seen a Japanese movie since 318. That blows away that short-less gap. It has been way to long because these movies beg for the MiSTie treatment. And this one really does pick up where Starforce II leaves off. Sit back and enjoy.
I just plain don’t get dog and bear. What is that host segment a riff on or is it truly random?
So Pearl follows Bobo into the wormhole just to preserve casinos. I guess one has to have their priorities.
This episode features a Gallagher riff. You sure don’t hear those too often since Joel left.
Add my voice to those who really think the time shift host segment was very clever and well done if not laugh out loud funny.
Robot Mike seems a lot smarter than regular human Mike. In fact he could give Gypsy a run for her money. Do we know who did the puppetry of the Mike puppet?
While it was odd to see Mike and the Bots in a sylvan glen, the Brains really didn’t do much with the segment. It’s just kind of there.
Favorite Riffs:
The Krankor ship just circles overhead a few times. Crow “Well consider yourself conquered. I gotta go.”
Crow “Your guns are useless but scare the crap out of me anyway.”
Krankor “It’s him alright.” Mike as Prince “Saying it is me will have no effect on me.”
Krankor “Ah good morning gentlemen. You slept well I hope.” Tom “Yes in my double breasted sleeping suit and tie.”
A car lazily drives down the road. Tom “Is this just a really slow chase scene?…with one car?”
Crow “Time for our daily empty threats session.”
yet another in a long line of movies where the hero is victorious not due to their own exceptional nature or abilities but due more to the total incompetence of the villain.
Prince of Space passes the Bechdel Test, but it was a squeaker. Near the beginning, Kimmy asks Susie if she’d be afraid to go into space and she replies.
Is it just me, or does the movie not bother to dub the rhubarbing?
Unlike in Gamera vs. Guiron, Servo doesn’t lose it over the translator failing to correctly translate hoshi. Then again, the context isn’t quite as obvious.
Bill does a really good job portraying Phantom. Though I’m sure we’re all thankful that we couldn’t tell if his costume was fully authentic.
Speaking of the Japanese and underwear, apparently it’s a fairly recent clothing development for them. Back when the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado debuted, a genuine effort was made to make the costuming, props, etc. as authentic as possible. But to the consternation of the wardrobe department, it was learned that Japanese women and their kimonos were much like Scotsmen and their kilts. Another fun fact is that apparently, immediately after WWII ended, the only Japanese women who regularly wore underwear were hookers (which makes the panty flashing in certain anime even more distasteful).
Here’s an interesting point regarding the brouhaha over the name changing in the dub. Over the past couple of decades, there are some Japanese parents who have given their kids Western names. While not exactly an overwhelming phenomenon, it’s something that is occurring.
@ #26: In case you still don’t know what cram school is, Wikipedia is your friend.
Selecting a stinger for this episode must have been tough. While Phantom laughing was a good choice, they could have also gone with one of the variations of Prince of Space exclaiming, “Your weapons are useless!”
Which brings up the main problem with Prince of Space. A regular complaint about Superman made by people who don’t like him is that, since he’s effectively unstoppable, the stories never have any real tension. Prince of Space is even worse, because at least Superman had Kryptonite.
Favorite riffs:
A rare Godzilla-free day.
An alien race too proud to ask for directions.
I am the Lemon Zester of Destruction.
I have no powers, but I can skip reasonably well.
Mom says I have to wear this in space because it’s cold.
You kids wanna swab out the particle accelerator?
They never even had time to tell Houston they had a problem.
“I can’t move!”
Oh wait. Sorry, I can move. I just forgot how to for a second.
It’s kind of hard to go into warp drive when you’re burning so much oil.
He’s defeated us numerous times. What makes him think he can do it again?
And a proud, noble civilization dies out. Sometimes. This loser civilization, however, will not be missed.
HA HA HA HA!
I like it very much. 5 stars. I love the time lag sketch, it always tickles my brain in a weird way. Then there is the robot Mike sketch which is also quite good.
Favorite lines:
Crow: Your guns are useless but scare the crap out of me anyway.
Kid: What’s that? A man?
Crow: Yeah, believe it or not…
Mike: (as Phantom of Krankor, who spins in his chair like a Bond villain) Ah, Mr. Bond. Bawk.
Servo(as Prince): I have no powers, but I can skip reasonably well!
CO: Ah, Captain Manikata. Come in, please.
Mike [as CO]: I understand you’re stuffed with cheese.
Phantom: What a fool!
Servo (as Phantom): He has defeated us numerous times, what makes him think he can do it again?
Fugitive Alien reference:
Mike, Crow and Servo: We are Ken.
Mike (as Japanese man): Okay, two Italian guys dodge mushrooms thrown by a monkey.
Servo (as Japanese children): I dunno…
Crow: Oh, for crying out — EACH! OF! YOU! WILL! ENTER! A! SPACE! CAPSULE!!!
WE HAD A RACEWAY PARK ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO FOR DECADES! I USE TO GO A LOT! FUN TIMES! KNEW A LOT OF THE RACERS ! IT DISSAPPEARED IN THE LATE 80’S OR 90’S IF I REMEMBER RIGHT. ANY CHICAGO MISTIES REMEMBER IT?
Favorite Lines:
“Good morning gentlemen.” Welcome to my grandma’s living room.
A rare, Godzilla-free day.
He’s got some stones to mess with me.
The SONY blimp…Surrender Dorothy.
It’s a giant watermelon, Gallagher is taking over.
[Wally/PoS] “What’s that a man?” Yeah, believe it or not.
[Kimmy/Little Girl] Wood Allen asked me out.
“Leave the children alone.” You hear that Jerry Seinfeld?
You know, this is where you’re cram school experience really comes in handy.
It was so chilly, I brought my shawl.
[Rocket explodes] Oh, the inanity. Oh, the Japanity.
“Ah, Capt. Manakata.” I understand you’re stuffed with cheese.
[PoS spacecraft] It’s a flying rotary nose hair clipper.
Great Hall designed by the Lego Corporation.
So, they’re alien, except for their Chippendale furniture.
[Guardian] Ross Perot. Oh, he’s a yam with features.
This movie can’t end enough for me.
Final Thought: And I though American kid space serials were bad. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
classic episode.
I wonder if anyone has ever tried to locate the spot they filmed the “sylvan glen” host segment. I hope it’s still there, and hasn’t been torn out in the years since.
I was thinking this weeks guide would be about Fritz Mondale, but no! It’s Prince of Space!
One of my all-time favorites (I’m a big fan of Japanese movies/anime/games, so I’m already biased)! I had wondered if PoS was actually an alien who’s world had been ravaged/destroyed by the Krankor, and ended up on Earth (as an inspiration for UFO Robo Grendizer?).
I’ll also add my vote that the time lag sketch was one of their most brilliantly written scenes.
In closing: Ha ha ha! Your lack of Likes is useless against me!
I noticed this editing choice in this episode just earlier this year. In the scene where Prince of Space first appears to combat Krankor out in the field. When Prince informs Krankor that by shooting at him…because as he KEEPS telling him through out the film ” Your weapons are useless against me”…he is only depleting his power supply. When he’s told by his henchman that it’s true and they wont be able to make it back to their planet…and should they leave…Krankor, who’s back is facing the camera turns dramatically to the face the camera…you can clearly hear that Mike makes the riff, “Make it Peecock!”…but if you watch Crow…you can clearly see him “mouth” the exact riff. It’s clear during filming of the episode…it was Crow who made that riff but it was later edited, for whatever reason to drop Mike in saying the riff.
I agree that this ep is one of the best of Season 8.
Of more immediate concern to me is a great injustice that’s stood for almost 4 years now. In your summary, Sampo, you say that “Callipygeas” means “fat ass.” Not true! It mean “beautiful buttocks” or “shapely buttocks.” Let’s not malign Kevin’s backside unfairly.
It’s often a toss-up between this and Horror Of Party Beach as my all-time favorite, so needless to say, I love this episode, a lot. Everything about it just clicks. The riffing is terrific throughout, the host segments are great, and the movie is just the right sort of bad: the plot is nonsensical (and I doubt that’s the result of any editing BBI had to do), the dubbing is ridiculous, and the whole thing right down to the costumes just feeds right into the show.
Even the ‘little’ riffs in this one have me laughing like an idiot (“The World Championship is on TV tonight.” “Of what?”, “What a powerful beam he must have!” “Thank you.”, “A national emergency?” “Does it affect my bow tie?!”, “Ah, Captain Manicotti.” “I understand you’re filled with cheese.”)
Yeah, I love this one very much!
Did anyone count how many times Prince of Space says “Your weapons are useless against me!” ?
(My guess is a billion, though I’m probably off there. All I know is it got tired REAL quick!)
Nice hat I like your shoes look at this tree.
Such a fun episode, filled with great lines. One of my favorites is Mike as Krankor starting to do the laugh and then deciding not to. Also, “I’m ashamed of my talk show” always gets me.
Also, this one has a favorite riff, “swing me this way, trusty string!”
This is a pretty good episode, I think “I like it very much.”
This is another Sci-fi era episode that has excellent Host Segments (a rarity, but maybe not as rare as I previously thought..), with the opening Dog-and-Bear skit, the very confusing time lag skit in HS#1, puppet Mike in HS#2, and the bizarro visit to the sylvan glen in HS#3. They all work! HS#3 maybe isn’t “funny” but it is just so weird to see Mike and the bots in a forested “real world” setting (we wouldn’t see Mike and the bots in such a setting again until the final moment of the series in the finale, Diabolik).
Roman Times starts next week… Guess the Host Segment good times are over… (Never was a fan of Roman Times, but I’ll be re-watching over the next few weeks and I’m going to reevaluate them and try to have an open mind. . . we will see).
The movie itself, PRINCE OF SPACE, is really really crummy, in my opinion. It’s more stupid than silly and its kid-friendly leanings don’t really work for me. Luckily there is some weirdness going on to keep things interesting (the costumes of Krankor, the giant monster thing) and the riffing is pretty good, not one of my all-time faves, but still really good.
–
RIFFS:
Mike: “I’m in space already, DAMN!”
Crow: “Crank whore?”
newspapers fly by on the press,
Crow: “Krankor Nothing to Worry About.”
Mike: “Truman Capote Sent to Fight Krankor.”
Crow: “Allow me to reference my earlier policy about your weapons not hurting me.”
Servo: “Their invasion is like a poorly planned bank heist.”
ambulance whine,
Servo: “Oooooo, that’s a shame.”
giant monster first appears,
Crow: “WHOA! Look at that! Look at that!”
Servo: “It’s a trip into Mike’s subconscious.”
Mike: “It’s pretty accurate, I gotta admit.”
Crow: “It’s a DQ planet.”
movie: “You!”
Servo: “Bite me.”
movie: “Each and every one of you..”
Servo: “Bite Me!”
shot of giant’s legs,
Servo: “Cecil Fielder!”
Crow: “He’s gonna UltraBright him to death!.”
–
Prince of Space is maybe a PoS,
but it’s funny.
I like it very much (although, honestly, not as much as some other S8 episodes..)
–
Strong Host Segments drive this one up to a solid 4/5
that would be 4 out of 5 weapons that are useless against PoS
:chicken2: :chicken2: :chicken2: :chicken2:
On looking back at the series I’m kind of amazed they had the Phantom Prince of Krankor as a guest character so rarely; it was just this and Invasion of the Neptune Men, wasn’t it? He seemed to have the right stuff for a recurring character: great costume, persona that can be played with bluster, obvious dialogue hooks about weapons being useless and conquering us all, and a deep-seeded ineptitude. What more could the Brains want?
@Skiptastic / #111:
They were interpreting the line as “I’m not scared if you are” followed quickly by “Go on home”, as opposed to “I’m not scared; if you are, go on home.”
I’d be upset with the Brains but all of the run-on sentence riffs that were born of their misinterpretation (e.g. “I’m not afraid I’m wearing a tie you go home”) crack me up, so I really can’t hold it against them.
Oh man, I love this one. The movie is so weird, but I think what makes it perfect is the way the characters are portrayed. Their lives seemed weird even before the aliens showed up, what with the kids’ enjoyable boot-blacking lives that they like very much, and the dog hair-coated car. Everyone’s so earnest and soft-spoken. Including our hero, so patiently rescuing the scientists who do such a bad job of following his mild-mannered orders.
The host segments really click, too. The whole episode’s a delight, really. What a fine, fine season this was.
The Prince is adamant that Phantom’s weapons are useless against him. If this contention were true, then I would expect to see the Prince heroically shrugging off the Phantom’s attacks, much like Superman deflects bullets. Yet we always see the Prince rolling around and dodging and generally acting like someone who really doesn’t want to get hit.
SO, I conclude that the Phantom’s weapons WOULD be effective against the Prince. He’s just got poor aim (as do all his flunkies).
I guess if I want to be charitable, I’d concede that the Prince is most likely commenting on Phantom’s lack of acumen in the bad guy business. Shoot, even his huge, ugly giant is put paid by Prince right quick.
um i am still kind of confused as to WHY a race of tiny batched aliens WOULD come to Earth to steal some rocket fuel when they already have enough to make several round trips from Earth to Krankor? and more to the point, wouldn’t you pack appropriate undergarments on one of those trips?
#132 schippers
say what you will about the Krankorian’s aim that doll that Phantom threw came pretty close.
These are some of my favorite host segments. “Entrails…entrails…”always cracks me up . . . and, of course, Chicken Puppet. The preschool where my youngest sister went had what might have been the same generic chicken puppet they used, and my sister Hilary and I would get her to bring it home so we could amuse ourselves with it. Hilary’s daughter, Lucy, now has her very own homemade chicken puppet, because I am a cool aunt.
>>>um i am still kind of confused as to WHY a race of tiny batched aliens WOULD come to Earth to steal some rocket fuel when they already have enough to make several round trips from Earth to Krankor?
They have enough fuel for ONE ship. And, really, for all we know, that’s a prototype ship, the only one of its kind that can operate using whatever interstellar fuel Krankor already has. Or maybe they have to re-fuel each and every time and Earth’s rocket fuel is much more efficient and can last for several trips. There are any number of potential explanations. Sometimes you have to meet movies halfway.
Plus, for all we know, the original Japanese language script actually explained the situation much better.
Also, there’s always the easy out in films like this: They’re ALIENS. They don’t THINK like we do, they don’t ACT like we do, they don’t REACT like we do. That’s one of the reasons we call them ALIENS. ;-)
Many, many, many Sci-Fi channel airings, got tired of it. Watched it again recently, and it’s a nice breath of fresh air in Season 8. Among the more enjoyable Sci-Fi era episodes.
“We are dead.”
Great episode. Someone here described Gamera vs. Guiron as having the feel of a movie made not just for children but by children as well. How was this pitched?
“So Earth get’s invaded by chicken men and our only hope is an androgynous acrobat in tights that spends most of his time taking elaborate athletic evasive maneuvers against weapons that have no effect on him. Plus there’s a giant, and the most brilliant minds on earth seem unable to comprehend the simplest statements, and they run around a lot, and the Prince of Space apparently spent years cultivating a position of deep cover as a bootblack with 2 kids who like it very much in order to prepare for threats from space, and, and, and…”
“Sounds great. Here’s some money. Go film it.”
It baffles the mind that the culture that brought us Zen Buddhism is responsible for tentacle porn and stuff like this and Invasion of the Neptune Men. What is up with those people?
Well, let’s shine our shoe’s, sit back with some sushi and enjoy this movie very much.
at the end of the movie, Krankor sends his minions across the Prince’s line of fire to take the scientists hostages. For the umpteenth time, the Prince slays them easily. Crow says “So no accumulated memory whatsoever!” I fell out of my chair laughing at that one. One of my personal favorite episodes – well above average jokes, delivered brilliantly.
As I watched Prince of Space I actually began to root for the Prince because unlike everyone else in the film he is borderline effective. Watching the scientists mill around like constipated ducks, blundering chicken-men, ludicrous Krankor… it feels like the Prince, dopey as he is, has kind of had it with the rest of these knuckleheads by the end of the film.
This is the episode I show to newbies to win them over. Works every time!
When I requested some glossy duplicates of images taken by the Hubble Telescope, the clerk declared, “Prints of space!?”
The way the baby scientists kept saying, “What??” reminds me of the beginning of Pulp Fiction where Samuel L. Jackson’s character gets tired of one of the college kids asking, “What?” and shot the guy in the shoulder, sticks the gun in his face and says something like, “Say “what” one more time I DARE YOU!” About the time that one of the riffers says, “Oh for crying out loud, EACH. OF. YOU. WILL. BE. PUT. IN. A. SPACE. CAPSULE.” I think Krankor was ready to do the same. Of course he was already going to kill them.
#139
Is that a The 9th Configuration reference as your handle?
I’m saddened by the lack of even one Underdog riff with several “shoeshine boy” mentions in the movie.
Other than that, I LIKE IT VERY MUCH.
I’ve always been baffled as to why everyone likes this one so much.
To me, it’s the least funny riffing of any episode in the scifi years.
2 basic riffs are repeated literally dozens of times:
One: Pointing out that the bad guys never pick up on the fact that their weapons don’t work.
Two: Pointing out that the characters look like chickens. There’s a point at which the riffing pretty much stops, and they just keep saying Cluck Cluck! over and over.
What is it I’m not getting? Do I need help?
#146 – You don’t like it very much?
Cornjob: why yes it is a Ninth Configuration reference. It’s one of my favorite movies. I too liked the “each of you” joke. I think Tom put so much anger into that line that he almost exploded in frustration.
In the original Japanese version, Prince of Space actually wasn’t immune to their ray guns, he was just very good at dodging, the Krankorians(Krankorites?)all graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper School of Marksmanship, and could also reflect the ray guns. That explains why he always dodges or simply reflects the guns back at them, rather than standing and taking it like Superman would.
This was my first MST3k episode! Back when they were still showing episodes Sat at 6am on Sci Fi channel.
I have this episode practically memorized; this is one of my favorites to have on in the background and I chuckle while I do housework.