Movie: (1968) Super-thief Diabolik performs several daring heists, then sets his sights on a shipment of gold.
First shown: August 8, 1999
Opening: M&tB discover the SOL employee handbook
Intro: Pearl has a new joystick, which leads to re-entry protocol
Host segment 1: Crow and Mike are packed; while Servo disposes of the many extra hims
Host segment 2: In Castle Forrester, everybody is lining up new gigs
Host segment 3: Crow is worried, so Mike sings a reassuring song
End: After the crash, M&tB settle in to their new home with a familiar pastime
Stinger: “Is that stud coming?”
(279 votes, average: 4.47 out of 5)
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• And so we come to the final Sci-Fi Channel episode, and, of course, this is one where the host segments outweigh the movie. Like all the big premise-changing episodes, the host segments are, once again, a marvel of tight, efficient (and funny!) story telling. As for the movie, it’s sort of “Danger Death Ray”/”Double 007” meets “Batman” and, well, yes, it certainly is pretty to look at.
• Last time I called the riffing “steady and workmanlike,” adding that “there’s little that’s memorable.” I’m going to disagree with myself after this viewing. Maybe it was the mood I was in, but I laughed a LOT this time.
• Mary Jo (with an assist from Bill, Patrick and Paul) offers her thoughts.
• References. I noticed a couple they missed: “Okay, I’ll go hang with Nova for a while” is a reference to the fact that the woman looks a bit like the female lead of “Planet of the Apes.” Also “Flaming truck at Brixton, 20 minutes late” is a “Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin” reference.
• While this episode was being made, Jim Mallon stalked the halls with a video camera, documenting the event. The footage was later released on video as “The Last Dance: Raw.” The last time through, I watched it before actually watching this episode, and it is interesting in a couple of respects. First, if it does nothing else, it captures the tedium of TV production. There is a lot of standing around waiting, and this gives us a real sense of that. Second, it gives a brief shot of where I scrawled on the back of the SOL set. Since that object no longer exists, to my knowledge, it’s nice that there’s a record of it. Finally, yes, the MST3K process has been described many times, but there’s nothing like actually seeing people doing it. So, if you haven’t given it a look, it’s worth one. But I doubt you’ll want to watch it again.
• I think a lot of MSTies agree that this was a strange choice for a final movie. We discussed it here.
• But I do have one question for the movie: What is the point of covering your face with a form-fitting mask that doesn’t disguise you at all? As proof of this, I simply have to note that, despite the face coverings, every cop who encounters Diabolik immediately knows who he is.
• There are many, many naughty riffs during the “rolling around in the bed full of money” scene.
• In one scene, the lovely Eva climbs into Diabolik’s car and as she does so we get a very brief glimpse of VERY high (stocking covered) inner thigh. Crow is the only one who reacts, and he does so only very quietly. I wonder if they just couldn’t decide whether to make a big deal out of it or not.
• I assume Esso (now ExxonMobil) paid for the blatant product placement: It feels very phony. Having the service station attendant ask Eva if she wants a tail (Esso stations sold little plush tiger tails that one was supposed to attach to one’s gas intake pipe so that, when the gas cap was in place, it looked as if there was a “tiger in the tank”), and actually say “Tiger’s in the tank, ma’am,” is a little over the top.
• I really like the little explosion sound effect they use in segment 1 as Tom disposes of the extra Toms. It’s a very satisfying little “boom.”
• Callbacks: “Welcome, Dr, Meecham!” (MST3K: The movie) “Ha-ha! I’m useless against your weapons!” (Prince of Space).
• Mike references the “giant fiberglass muskie in Hayward Wisconsin,” a landmark that is also depicted in the movie “Blood Hook,” directed by Jim Mallon.
• Crow’s concern about “traffic accidents” echoes a similar concern by little Akio in the movie in episode 312- GAMERA VS. GUIRON. I wonder who on the staff made that connection.
• During the song, Mike produces Crow’s “mother” from episode 602- INVASION USA. Wonder how much they had to dig in the prop room for that!
• I just want to note that the song in segment 3 is the second time in the series that a song rhymes “Earth” with “Colin Firth.”
• The final bit in Castle Forrester makes a reference to the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” finale, where the cast similarly huddled together and sang “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.” Or maybe there’s a law that any TV show connected to the Twin Cities has to end that way.
• That’s the voice of Peter Rudrud as the TV announcer.
• The final bit, in which Mike and Bots settle in and start riffing on “The Crawling Eye,” the movie Joel and the bots riffed in the first national episode, is cute and kind of satisfying. But a lot of fans noticed a little goof: We can’t see the screen, of course, but based on their riffing, it seems that the first thing they see is opening credits. The problem is that “The Crawling Eye” doesn’t start that way. It starts with a cold opening, showing some characters mountain climbing (and then one of the characters is killed). The credits don’t begin until several minutes into the movie. Kind of ruined it for some people. But the bit is such a lovely bit of closure I can’t fault them.
• Cast and crew roundup: Director-scriptwriter Mario Bava was cinematographer for “Hercules” and “Hercules Unchained.” Assistant director Lamberto Bava directed “Devil Fish.” Makeup guy Otello Fava also worked on “Warrior of the Lost World.” Score composer Ennio Morricone also worked on “Operation Double 007.” In front of the camera, Marisa Mell was also in “Secret Agent Super Dragon.” Adolfo Celi was also in “Operation Double 007.” John Phillip Law was also in “Space Mutiny.”
• CreditsWatch: Directed by Kevin. “To Earth” — music by Mike; lyrics by Kevin (so you can blame him for the Colin Firth rhyme).
• Fave riff: “Member FDIC…” Honorable mention: “I’m driving with my whipper.”
Next week we will move on to season 11.
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On the first viewing, during “To Earth,” I couldn’t help but think, “Hey — they jettisoned Crow’s mother into space back in season six! How’d they get her back?” I see that I should probably be ashamed to admit this.
I thought that this was a fine way to end the series. The riffing was solid and the host segments, naturally, were great. It was sad to see the show go, but this episode made it less painful.
:cry: Fade to Black
H (#96) & MSTieScott (#101):
Maybe he built himself a new one at some point. As we know from the fertility idol, it was a long, lonely 520-odd years…
Again four stars beacause it was closer to that than three. Fave riffs:
Mike, when Eva is hitchhiking in a skimpy outfit: ‘I wore that hitchhiking once.’ It was made great by Crow’s reaction: ‘Yeesh!’
Tom, when people are hit with laughing gas: ‘Dan Quayle announces his candidacy!’ (I can laugh at someone I agree with politically if they deserve it.)
Crow’ singing along with the guitar riffs, especially the second one: ‘Gotta practice my lick…only one hour more…’
Also loved the waa-waas by Chachi and Fonzie joining in with the woa-woas, all the riffs over the title sequence(‘Gentlemen, let’s open our movie with a ten minute shot of a spinning radish!’) and the second host segment where Crow says that there is too many of Tom: ‘You should be limited to one or less.’
Also, even though there weren’t that many callback riffs, I would say that there were a lot of call backs to other episodes:
Crow’s wire mom first appeared in #602, Invasion USA, in Dr. Forrester’s experiment. It also appeared in #608, Code Name: Diamond Head, apparently thrown out the hatch when the crew tried to clean up the bridge.
Mike’s rice is from #821, Agent for H.A.R.M., when he tried to be an extreme rice eater.
The whole clone Servo thing began in #420, The Human Duplicators, when Tom first made them.
And, finally, when Pearl unplugs from the SOL, it was follwed by the ‘TV turning off’ that ended the show in the Comedy Central era.
One bit of trivia: Tom has the last theater riff: When ‘Fine’ appears at the end of the movie, Tom says, ‘This is the official biopic of Larry Fine.’
I love this episode. Its a bittersweet send off but it’s a good one. About the movie, I love that its watchable and not really horrible or harmful. Its a silly euro hero movie with a jerk hero. Kinda like Mitchell, but the women make the movie easier to deal with then Joe Don. And I love the laugh on Diabolik, the same as Kalgon cause its the same guy, but it fits better here. More dastardly.
For those who don’t have the KTMA episodes & want to get a head start on next week:
Here’s good copy of the complete KTMA-04 “Gamera Vs Barugon’ on YouTube
Catch it while you can, these things come & go!
(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ1RqiLkF1Q
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZhqcLSgKDI
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POpiilvt-6w
(4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMe-ekgIXOg
(5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNccgU9lGlo
(6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nTAvbTFS2w
(7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaGYnCz_QDg
(8) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9jzL-3Xx3o
(9) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYRXKPi8EA
(10) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvbC48Zsv2w
(11) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOKEf72144
One of the movies I likely would never have discovered had MST not riffed on it. I liked Diabolik so much, I bought the Laserdisc several years before the DVD was available. (The LD has the “Is that Stud coming?” dub.)
It’s interesting that even after getting down to Earth in one piece, Mike and the Bots still feel compelled to watch cheesy movies. Did the experiment really end? ;-)
Another nice last-episode thing that I forgot until now: using the “push the button” video effect, unseen since Comedy Central, when Pearl unplugs the connection with the SOL.
I thought Squirm was better…
I still have to put Sci-Fi Channel (which I still call it) in the overall positive column, despite the cancellation of MST3K, the stupid name change, and the terrible original movies they air for two reasons: one, they actually supported BSG and promoted it during its run, and two, they’ve done something shocking for any network and voiced a commitment to Caprica despite its low ratings because (they say, at least) they know that the fans want to keep watching it. That alone ranks them ahead of, say, Fox by a fair margin.
Has anyone here ever read the comic book series the movie was adapted from? If so, how much of the film’s badness can be attributed to Adaptation Decay?
Kevin WAS Servo, having been the longest serving member of the cast, and his character of Professor Bobo grew on me. Mary Jo evolution of Pearl Forrester from Dr. F’s annoying mom into her own wicked funny evil gal who pursued and tortured Mike and the ‘Bots made Pearl one of my favorite characters. And I loved the evolution of Gypsy from a seemingly brain dead ‘bot into a sophisticated character with her own spirited personality, becoming almost a mother figure to the ‘Bots, played well by Jim Mallon and later Patrick Brantseg.
They were the best family ever on television.
Well said, Spector, well said.
Mary Jo’s Mrs. Forrester gets a lot of grief from fans, but I thought she really came into her own as a character in the last 3 seasons. And the trio of Mrs. F., Brain Guy & Bobo were a great comedy team, MST’s own 3 Stooges, representing Moe, Larry & Curly, respectively.
And yes, that thrill of a new MST episode is gone forever. New CTs and Rifftrax are great, sure, but it’s not the same….
On TV Tropes’ Wild Mass Guessing page for MST3K, someone wrote that for Riff Trax, Kevin and Bill are really Servo and Crow disguised as humans, and that after MST3K ended Mike and the bots (now in human suits) got jobs riffing better movies. I love that thought.
I still remember after all these years how disturbing Pearl’s breakdown was. And when I first saw this episode I did not yet realize the series had ended and I was watching the last one. Maybe I expected them to continue riffing in that little apartment?
I was pretty late on noticing Diabolik was the inspiration for the Beastie Boys video “Body Movin’.” When i finally saw it i really missed Mike and the Bots!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTQ3MNPxyfA
111
I have a Diabolik “comic-strip book” Terror Aboard the Karima a friend sent me years ago for whatever reason. I’ve never bothered to read it but it’s an American/Canadian adaptation, anyway, and printed in 1999.
there’s several videos on YouTube that celebrate the magic that is MST3K. It proves how much this has touched us one way or another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK4nPc1h1NQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOoxI33rvtM
there was some even better ones but it seems the jerks on YouTube decided to take the vids in question away…
Outstanding finale.
The movie riffs are great (I loved just about anything that took aim at Ennio Morricone’s groovy score and the lame technical effects). As was said earlier, “Diabolik” gave them a lot of material to work with, and they succeeded admirably. It helped that the movie itself was more enjoyable than most of the MSTed selections.
I have to admit, though, it would have been interesting to see the series end with a gag movie choice, like “Plan 9 From Outer Space” or “Killdozer.” Even so, no complaints about “Diabolik” or the treatment they gave it).
And like Sampo said, this is an episode where the host segments overshadowed the theater segments, and with good reason – they HAD to. We needed a great sendoff for Mike, the ‘Bots, and the Mads, and we got just that.
Having been an overzealous fan for about five years at the time of the finale’s broadcast (and seeing the show as something that more or less changed my life and the way I saw comedy), I wanted the host segments to deliver something of an emotional punch. In the end, they accomplished that very task. Mike’s opening of the “To Earth” song is wonderful and a poignant reminder that the end is nigh.
As earlier mentioned, the “push the button” graphic was something of a surprise and an interesting capper to the “Tipperary” scene with the Mads (and it was cool to see them still continuing on with their individual plans and designs).
What REALLY got to me on the initial viewing, though, was the opening piano instrumental to “Who Will I Kill?” after the SOL crashed and the screen faded to white. At that moment, I thought they were going to go with a tragic and downbeat ending, considering the song’s ties to the passing of TV’s Frank in #624, “Samson Vs. the Vampire Women.”
Needless to say, I’m glad that they DIDN’T go with a tragic ending.
In fact, the full circle coda with the gang watching “The Crawling Eye” was an inspired and fitting choice, especially with the three sitting on the couch in the exact same formation that they sat in the theater.
That, and the writers stuck to the continuity of the show by reminding us of Gypsy’s role as the overseer of the ship’s higher functions. Is it any surprise at the end that she had the brains to start something like ConGypsCo (or that Crow would respond to her offer to join by making bodily function sounds)?
I must admit, though, it would’ve been nice to see nods to Cambot, Magic Voice, and the Nanites in the new apartment.
All in all, it was an outstanding series finale to an outstanding series. It gave me everything that I could have wanted from the concluding episode of my favorite television show. Although the show was canceled too soon by the Sci-Fi Channel, MST3K could have run for another 20 years and I would STILL feel as if the show were canceled too soon.
Keep circulating the laughs, people.
Sampo: “The final bit, in which Mike and Bots settle in and start riffing on “The Crawling Eye,” the movie Joel and the bots riffed in the first national episode, is cute and kind of satisfying. But a lot of fans noticed a little goof: We can’t see the screen, of course, but based on their riffing, it seems that the first thing they see is opening credits. The problem is that “The Crawling Eye” doesn’t start that way. It starts with a cold opening, showing some characters mountain climbing (and then one of the characters is killed). The credits don’t begin until several minutes into the movie. Kind of ruined it for some people. But the bit is such a lovely bit of closure I can’t fault them.”
I don’t know why anyone would think that was a mistake. Maybe they came in late to the movie? After all, Mike did have to wait for his rice to cook. Plus, the TV station they watched might have a bad copy of the movie with the opening cut off? Then there is what the episode provides, a TV announcer that announces the movie, “The Crawling Eye.” So Mike could very well be riffing on that rather than the actual title of the movie on the screen.
Does anyone why the line “Is that Stud coming” is in the movie? Was it bad translation from Italian?
JJK says:
July 16, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Does anyone why the line “Is that Stud coming” is in the movie? Was it bad translation from Italian?
It’s the name of a character in the movie. I think there’s a shot cut out of the MST3K version of the movie, where the boat drops off Stud. What we see in the episode is Stud, a man who does not look like his namesake at all, on the boat, telling Valmont about something.
mikek (#118): “I don’t know why anyone would think that was a mistake. Maybe they came in late to the movie?”
As you mention yourself, it’s preceded by a station announcement, which makes it unlikely it’s anything but the beginning of the movie.
“So Mike could very well be riffing on that rather than the actual title of the movie on the screen.”
Except that his riff, “Oh, Forest Tucker…” strongly suggests he’s reacting to the appearance of the name in the opening credits.
“Plus, the TV station they watched might have a bad copy of the movie with the opening cut off?”
Now, that makes sense. My rationalization was that the station (or the seller) cut it for time. I was thinking of something I once read about the movie “The Killers,” based on the Hemingway story. Or rather, the pre-credit sequence is based on the story, and the rest of the movie follows on from it. So what part of the movie most often gets cut on TV for time? Yes, the only part actually based on Hemingway.
JJK (#119) & mikek (#120):
I think “stud” is just what Valmont ironically calls the pudgy little guy, not his actual name, or even a nickname, per se. (Hence, “Is that stud coming?” rather than “Is Stud coming?”) As mikek points out, Valmont is reacting to the unexpected development that the pudgy guy is coming out to the boat to talk to him. So the line itself isn’t so strange. The way the voice actor delivers it, however…!
TRUE DAT on “The Last Dance: Raw”, I watched once and haven’t seen it in ten years. You get the gist from the thirty minute behind the scenes specials.
Incidentally, the “Is that stud coming” stinger is actually in close captioning by Sci Fi Channel!
Broken record time. I really dislike this one, with the exception of the host segments, which are funny and bittersweet. Seriously, though. They couldn’t have picked a film better suited to their talents?
“Diabolik” as the last episode . . . it is what it is. Yes, it would have been great to have gotten a better movie for their last hurrah, but perhaps the Brains just couldn’t afford anything better, or Sci-Fi didn’t have anything left in it’s stables for them to use on the show. It seems like, by this time in their run, usable movies were getting harder and harder to come by, with A LOT of hits and misses. But, they soldiered on, they did what they could with that they had, and I give them credit for that.
I’ll throw my hat in the ring on what this show meant to me as well. It was one of my first exposures to puppetry, and now I work as a puppeteer for a living. Shows like this, they just aren’t around anymore. That may sound cliche, but it’s the gods’ honest truth. Where, in the horrid wasteland that TV is now, can you find a show that comes close to the originality that MST3K did? It was a two hour long show that was locally produced in St. Paul, MN for TEN YEARS and broadcast nationally on TWO major networks. There are hardly, if any, shows that have that level of notoriety.
The work that group did is akin to the locally produced shows I remember seeing and reading about in Chicago. Shows like The Bozo Show, Garfield Goose, and Ray Raynard, programs produced by talented, hard working people. However that stuff was only shown locally; MST reached national distribution and was able to show folks that a cow town puppet show could keep audiences coming back a whole ten years after things got started. It just boggles my mind that they lasted as long as they did.
I miss this show very much, but I wouldn’t want it back. There’s no way to catch lighting in a bottle twice, and what we have now with Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic are probably the best we’ll ever get to seeing a continuation of MST3K.
Whether they knew it or not, this show was inspirational to so many people. And I’m one of them :)
It would kind of make sense that a random film like Diabolik would be their last experiment, as Pearl certainly didn’t intend on that being their last movie.
And every TV show gets … canceled!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybv2_5jIn_0
And what has happened to SciFi, excuse me, SyFy? “Frankly, we have no idea.” to quote the narrator in Jack Frost.
I understand Canada has or had The Space Channel, which is supposed to be better.
Diabolik! Farewell, MST. You are missed.
Diabolik strikes me as essentially an evil James Bond. His only redeeming quality is his devotion to his girlfriend. Maybe they’re like Micky and Mallorie from Natural Born Killers. This is probably the best MST spy movie. Diabolik would certainly kick agent for H.A.R.M.’s butt, except harmboy would probably stay at home and send a mortally wounded old man in his place.
The actor who played Diabolik often affected a pretty creepy cold demeanor which reminded me of Terrance Stamp’s performance in The Collector.
Over all I Diabolik wasn’t that bad a film, especially for MST fare. The big exception is the soundtrack. The Monkees crapped better music than that. Did anyone else find themselves singing “Yes the Devil made this movie for you” along to the incessant guiter noodling? The penguin band in Double 007 was better.
The other thing that seemed a bit off in the film was of course the ending, which implied that Diabolik had outsmarted the police again by getting buried alive in molten gold. His girlfriend better get back with a pickaxe and a blowtorch before he suffocates.
I’m not one to get too emotionally involved with a TV show, but I did watch this episode with a rather heavy heart. One of the funnest things in my life was coming to a close. The host segments were perfect, especially the closing when they sit down to watch a film together. The advent of Rifftrax and CT made me a happy man again. Sure I miss the bots, but the riffing was always the heart of the show, and the riff goes on.
Kali says:
July 16, 2010 at 9:51 pm
And every TV show gets … canceled!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybv2_5jIn_0
And what has happened to SciFi, excuse me, SyFy? “Frankly, we have no idea.” to quote the narrator in Jack Frost.
I understand Canada has or had The Space Channel, which is supposed to be better.
Diabolik! Farewell, MST. You are missed.
You know, seeing that promo again after all these makes me realize crude and vulgar it is.
(#130) Cornjob, you are aware that Ennio Morricone did the score for both Diabolik and Operation Double 007? Perhaps you’ve enjoyed some of his other film scores and didn’t realize it. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” ring any bells? ;-)
And since when did the Monkees write their own music?
Kali (#129):
Thanks for the link. Love how Sci-Fi misspelled the name of the series. Kind of emblematic, there, about how much they knew or cared about it at this point.
Reflecting on the final host segment. It seemed so touching that Mike and the Bots had become such good friends. That even though they were being held hostage and forced to watch aweful movies, the three of them enjoyed each others’ company so much that they ended up spending time together watching bad movies even after they had escaped. That the movie was The Crawling Eye was the perfect cherry on top. Aside from a possible epilogue where Larry finally get’s the bathroom stall he’s been stuck in, they couldn’t have done it better.
BTW, I didn’t say anything about The Monkees writing music.
That’s supposed to be: Larry getting out of the bathroom stall he’s been stuck in.
Dated riff (paraphrasing here): Well I guess I’ll go write an article about the Internet.
I seem to recall someone (possibly here) describing Diabolik as a unlikeable version of Lupin III (though Diabolik was created five years earlier).
Yes, The Monkees did have many top song writers in their camp. Each Monkee did write songs for both the show and the records. The most prolific was Mike Nesmith. Papa Genes Blues, The Girl I knew Somewhere, Mary, Mary, You Just May Be The One, too name a few. Peter Tork wrote For Pete’s Sake, the song that became the second season closing theme song among others. Micky Dolenz wrote Randy Scouse Git that hit #1 in England during the summer of 1967. It was not released as a single here in the states. Now we come to Davy Jones. He wrote a bunch of middle of the road ballads that showed up on the fifth, seventh, and eighth LPs. Nothing really to write home about.
So in conclusion, The Monkees did write some of their songs, not all, but many.
I hope Sampo was joking that some folks complained about which point of Crawling Eye was featured. That’s the kind of behavior that leads to Comic Book Guy stereotypes.
Anyway….brilliant end to the best show in TV history. Much more about the host segments than the film. And I can’t think of a better ending than Mike and the bots returning to Earth to share an apartment and willingly mock bad movies.
Perfect.
Watched “Diabolik” last night (had to dug out the VHS from the depths of a box with other boxes piled on top of more boxes), first time in at least five years I’ve watched the finale. It was much better than I remembered and laughed out loud often. Yes, it’s not your typical “MST3K” experiment (the budget for each of the extravagant sets in “Diabolik” could have paid for half-a-dozen of the poverty row movies the show riffed) but that’s maybe what made it appealing as a finale: proof that even with lots of money backing up the production a bad movie is always riff-worthy regardless of genre or size. The host segments seemed heartfelt and watching the closing credits after seeing what became of M&TB’s brought me to tears. Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic are appropriate substitutes, but when both camps combined their talents back in they day the whole was complete and inimitable. R.I.P. MST3K. :cry:
#17 (Two Bricks): “On the theater rough cut of Diabolik someone but a “Best of” style clip collection on screen. Mike, Kevin and Bill are obviously caught off guard by it but are delighted by among other clips:
Blood Waters of Dr Z: “Sargacious.”
Gumby in Robot Rumpus: “Sure Mother.”
Sorry, Can’t place this one: “Smokey’s going to put you in the pokey” <——- Irrepressible Jim Stafford (Bill) in "Riding With Death"
Never saw this one on tv, and so only later when the show was no longer even in syndication, and has no overt emotionality involved for me with it, but I think it’s a great movie to have been riffed, and the episode holds up as a very good one. Sure, the plot of the movie stinks and you can see many ‘twists’ from forty miles down the road, but that of course isn’t what it’s really about.. *** of **** for myself.
The one thing people should consider is that there must only be a handful of people that can actually remember the content of the first 3 KTMA eps that the hope remains that some fan copy will surface, or something in Jim Mallon’s mind will change, and we will be graced with one, two, or perhaps three more romps on the SoL.
Have Faith, my brothers and sisters, for He That Bringeth Forth Mysterious Miracles shall shew forth pity, and with his terrible countenance being transformed, provide all that ye need upon this Earth or any other. Forgo blasphemous commiseration with all abominations dwelling within ye olde moving picture box or face a woeful future void of all love, for it is written: “Know ye the consecrated content of Star Force: Fugitive Alien 2, but further truth have I for ye, and with travail upon the fields and humility in the heart, one day forth is promised. The ultimate of my love reserved only for the stout of faith and pure of conscience shall then be revealed – yet, until that day, study long the Word as spoken, so as to prepare thy mind and body for the day when my love shall encompass thee, and all sadness shall end.” [The Book of Mystie, Recently Unearthed Gnostic Gospel] Amen my brothers and sisters, Amen.
Solid ep with a film that is indeed an odd choice for last ep. Did it have something to do with Austin Power’s popularity at the time?
The riffing is solid if routine, and I love the film. Well, the uncut version anyway. Get the good print DVD version and be amazed at how much fun Bava’s film actually is…anti-heroes who bucked the establishment were very popular at the time, not just in Europe. Bonnie and Clyde came out the same year…uh, but yeah that was a good movie with nuanced storytelling. Oops. But still, many of the complaints made by posters here about Diabolik’s character can be applied to B and C. It’s just one is a comic book and the other has more subtle characterization.
Maris Mell is hot!
The host segs don’t overshadow the film for me at all. Nothing too memorable except for the closing shot in front of TV. But then I’m a fan of host segs that play with the movie being riffed.
The ending (host seg) with Mike and bots in basement watching Crawling Eye has some interesting meta-fictional implications, and not just because, like Planet of the Apes (so much a part of the show’s riff-repertoire), it points to an eternal return. Really, what else are the Forresters but infantile TV programmers who subject us all to to trash week after week…. After all there is really little difference between being imprisoned in a Satellite and living in Oshgosh, Minnesota (“I’m a Rocket Man, burning up my fuse here alone”). Humor as a means of survival. Enacted with friends. The ending hinting at our imprisonment as self-imposed and voluntary. Love it or hate it, American pop culture is what we have to deal with. Cheetos line the walls of our stomach like melted 70’s black light posters. That lovely blanket on the back of the couch looks like a fishing net. Caught. From the Brothers Marx to the Stooges Three–sticking it to the man, man. The Crawling Eye starts during the credits because the all-seeing eye, besides referring to the now iconic opening credit image of Season One, now points to Mike still being watched, as we all are…but by whom? Is Cambot big brother? Have we learned to love him? And, oh, Crow and Servo would know the Crawling Eye because they did watch it with Joel–only their voices were changed, not their memories.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go relax.
B+
I’m actually kind of fond of DANGER: DIABOLIK, though I’m not one of the “How DARE they riff on it!” crowd. It’s style over substance in the manner of the 60’s ‘Camp’ craze. At least they didn’t try to be funny, as so many other intentionally campy movies did. It’s definitely dumb and goofy enough to merit the MST3K treatment.
I actually rather like the soundtrack, though someone possibly should have gone to jail for Criminal Misuse Of A Sitar. Sadly, it’s one of the few Morricone scores that was never released on album or CD.
The end is, of course, a bit bittersweet, as most endings are. It was a good ride and a very funny show.
Re: ” it points to an eternal return”
There’s also a bit of Nietzschen eternal recurrance that Joel alluded to once.
(#140) If you listen to the commentary track on the Diabolik DVD, it’s revealed many of those “extragavant sets” are a clever use of foreground miniatures, and even photographs.
Mario Bava was an economical filmmaker, and only a used a tiny amount of the three million budgeted by Dino Delaurentiis. The final cost was around $400,000. A bargain compared to Barbarella, which was being made around the same time. If only MST had been able to do that one!
Thigh, nothing…I can swear we get a brief glimpse of Marissa’s bare breast in that tunnel scene.
Alas, all good things must end. Don’t dwell on the fact it ended. Let us continue to celebrate what I consider “the” best TV program ever. Let us give a collective job well done to everyone involved. Let us watch the tapes and simply enjoy some of the finest humor ever filmed along with some truly bad movies.
I too am a little perplexed over this choice of movie, because, like Jack Frost, it’s goofy more than it’s terrible. Still, good fare all around, one of my favorite episodes. In their tradition of nicking sound effects from the movies, note the sour organ chord Pearl lets out with her forehead is Diabolik’s intruder alarm.
RPG (#148): “I too am a little perplexed over this choice of movie, because, like Jack Frost, it’s goofy more than it’s terrible. Still, good fare all around, one of my favorite episodes.”
I think, as a general rule, a “goofy but not terrible” movie makes better MST fodder than a “terrible but not goofy” movie. Some of my least favorite episodes are ones where the movie was sub-competent, but in a dull and common way. “Goofy AND terrible,” of course, is solid gold. To paraphrase Mel Brooks, it rises below badness.
This reminds me of the genre movie review site “1000 Misspent Hours,” where the ratings go from a high of five stars, through zero, to a low of negative five. Negative-rated movies on the site’s scale are the ones which are more entertaining for their liabilities than for their assets as conventional entertainment, until you reach transcendent anti-masterpieces like “Robot Monster” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” The movies to avoid are the ones at zero and clustered nearby on either side– the ones which are terrible without being endearingly goofy.
I don’t know if anyone posted this already, so, in case you haven’t seen this, here’s a little tribute montage the Brains slipped into the rough cut of Diabolik. Call it a little “best”-of – a little laugh for Mike and the Bots. It’s about a minute and a half into the clip. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsy62rUB0lQ&NR=1
Aram Fingal: Mum – ‘my nuts?