Movie: (1948) A cowboy finds himself in the middle of a range war between a powerful rancher and his neighbors.
First shown: 10/15/94
Opening: Mike programs Crow and Tom with regional speech patterns
Intro: Dr. F.. sends a matter transference device to the SOL during an ion storm. It’s “Mirror, Mirror” time!
Host segment 1: The Mirror-Mads sing “Joey the Lemur.” In our universe, Crow and Mike struggle with Mirror-Servo
Host segment 2: Mike and Crow plot strategy, while Mirror-Gypsy and Mirror-Servo do likewise
Host segment 3: Mike and Crow consult The Alternate Universe Manual. In the mirror universe, Mirror-Crow attacks Mirror-Mike while Tom and Gypsy plot strategy
End: M&tB figure out what happened, the Mirror-Mads stop by while a letter is read, the Mads are enjoying their new agony booth
Stinger: Wheelchair Dad laughs
(197 votes, average: 4.32 out of 5)
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• Of course, this is one of those episodes where the host segments WAY overpower the movie segments. Internet MSTies went completely insane for about three days after this episode, which parodies the well-remembered “Mirror, Mirror” episode of the original “Star Trek.” It always amazes me when the host segments completely take over (the “Dark Timmy” segments and the “Joel escapes” segments are other good examples). The segments amount to, maybe, 15 minutes of a two-hour time slot. The Brains have to write lean and tight. It’s a tough assignment, but when they pull it off, as I think they did here, it’s an amazing thing to watch. For what it’s worth, the riffing is actually pretty good, but nobody really noticed.
• This episode is included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXIII.”
• The whole “Mirror, Mirror” thing overwhelmed the opening segment, which coincidentally dovetailed with a whole conversation we’d coincidentally been having about “coke/pop/soda” and other regional speech patterns on the RATM newsgroup. But some people did notice and were amused.
• The mirror Mads’ delight in “the eight of Chris Lemmon,” a reference to an invention exchange in episode 517- THE BEGINNING OF THE END. I may have asked this before, but I’ve always wondered happened to cause Chris Lemmon’s career to tank. He just fell off the radar.
• The mirror Mads enter the theater from the left and sit in seats on the left (or sinister) side of the theater.
• The riffing by Dr. F. and Frank was a marvelous change of pace, and I guess you could think of it as a bit of a preview of Cinematic Titanic and, now, The Mads.
• As I have noted more than once, Mary Beth Hughes was hot-hot-HOT!
• And while we’re on the subject, both the female leads in this movie kept reminding me of Jessie the cowgirl from the “Toy Story” movies.
• Of course, the mirror Mads’ fun friend Joey the lemur harkens back to a wacky segment in episode 210- KING DINOSAUR. It’s clearly a good-natured dig at Joel.
• Mirror Tom is in full Shatner mode as he enters the theater, until he looks up and says, “Oh, hey a cowboy movie!” Then he’s back to normal.
• Non-spaghetti ball bumpers: beaker, date book, bulletin board.
• Crow’s line, “He’s Black Crowes lead singer thin,” surprised me. Maybe they didn’t think people would know who Chris Robinson is?
• Nice to see Gypsy all dolled up as mirror Gypsy.
• Callbacks: Old Timer Billy Slater (Junior Rodeo Daredevils); “Shut up, Iris.” (The Beatniks), “the Milling About Festival” (Black Scorpion), “Again?” (Fugitive Alien).
• We get an early “I thought you were Dale,” which would be a running gag in season eight.
• Cast and crew roundup: I won’t do the Lippert litany again. Special effects guy Ray Mercer also worked on “Lost Continent,” “Radar Secret Service,” “I Accuse My Parents,” “The Sinister Urge” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats.” Costume designer Alfred Berke also worked on “Lost Continent.” I’m not going to do the whole Albert Glasser litany again, either. In front of the camera, Mary Beth Hughes was also the star of “I Accuse My Parents.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Andrea DuCane is back for a three-episode stint doing hair and makeup.
• Fave riff: “I’m so sick of gingham I could scream!” Honorable mention: “It’s a plot device. It’s very flimsy, so be careful.”
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Fun fact: my college campus (in Muncie) receives a channel called Comet TV. On Sunday nights at 8, they rerun episodes of MST3K; they only seem to have a handful of episodes that they rotate out, however, and this episode is one of them, so I’ve gotten a bit acquainted with it as of late.
The riffing in this episode is excellent, though of course the “plot” of the host segments is the most fascinating thing. I loved switching out the riff teams and I’m disappointed it was only for one segment of the film. Evil!Mike in a shimmering gold vest was a consolation, though.
As someone who lives in the Ooooooollld West, I wish MST3K had done more Westerns. There’s gold in them thar bad movies! I agree that the host segments tended to outshine the movie overall but I still love all the cowboy and horse jokes. Favorite riff: “Life is so hard when you’re stupid,” which is right up there with Animal House‘s “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
I can explain, it was a loaner roan!
Couldn’t have told you a thing about the movie except that Douglas Dumbrille was in it, having seen him in several Warner’s crime films from the 1930s with the likes of Cagney or Robinson. But the host segments, as everyone seems to agree, are priceless.
Fave riffs (during the fistfight)
Servo: Can you keep it down? We’re filmin’ a ‘Rifleman’ up here!
(After the fight)
Crow: Yep, my spine healed right up! Doc said it was amazing!
I love this episode. Both the movie part and the host segments. The movie itself though has a lot of stuff that just doesn’t make sense (of course). Like, even in the “Old West” no one would have been getting jailed just because “we saw this guy way up on a hill, who looked like he was thinking about robbing the stage but he didn’t”.
And why does Remedy suddenly go to bat for this total stranger who’s being hauled off to the pokey??
And why are all the ranchers so dependent on wild horses? Didn’t anyone ever tell them about breeding?
Fooey!
Anyway… one of my favorite riffs is, “Pooper Held As Probe Widens!”
Biggest laughs for me:
-(riding a horse through the water) “I’m on gool!”
-Calling attention to the random cowboy on his own during an outdoor assembly
-The odd directorial choice of the protagonist and antagonist falling towards the camera one after the other, prompting a quick double dose of “AAH!” “AAAAAAH!” from Mike and the bots.
It stinks that the audio for the movie is so bad, because if you can here it well enough the story and writing is pretty good, but as it stands it is unbearable. That’s another reason the segments far outweigh the film. It’s a shame the copy they have is probably the only good one.
Foot fetishists of the O-O-O-O-O-OLD WEST!
Re Joey the Lemur, I vaguely remember hearing a verse to the Joey the Lemur song that’s not actually IN the song:
“Joey the Lemur, he’s fun to have around
Joey the Lemur, he’s nature’s little clown”
It’s weird.
“He’s Black Crowes …”
Timmy?
Just saw this one a few weeks ago for the first time, thank you Comet TV! Leaves only the Pumaman for me to see to complete the series.