I got my list down to seven, so that’s the guideline:
• 902- THE PHANTOM PLANET–Crow and Tom challenge Mike to an Andy Rooney-off: One of those “little” sketches that comes out of nowhere and cracks you up. You can see they must have been doing this around the office for days.
• 904- WEREWOLF–Mike thinks he’s James Lipton: Mike deconstructs the fawning celebrity acolyte wonderfully. Amusing side note: At a Sci-Fi Channel event in New York to promote the premiere of Season 9, somebody decided to invite Lipton, but I don’t think they told the Brains about it ahead of time. During the press conference Lipton attempted to ask Mike one of his famous questions he asks every guest on his show: “What is your favorite curse word?” Mike (and I suspect he may have been having one of his killer headaches that night) replied, in a somewhat pained voice, “That would be: ‘Go to hell, Mr. Lipton.’ ” Some people gasped. Erhardt and I (and a few others) laughed.
• 904- WEREWOLF–M&TB sing “Where, o, werewolf”: Can’t leave out this great song.
• 905- THE DEADLY BEES–Previously on the Satellite of Love…: The Brains wrap up the sorry state of network TV in about 45 seconds.
• 907- HOBGOBLINS–Unintentional on-turning: Another observant, funny little throw-away sketch.
• 908- THE TOUCH OF SATAN–Crow sells his soul to Stan; storytime with Steffi: The marvelous (and deadly) Beez shows us how it’s done.
• 910- THE FINAL SACRIFICE–Servo’s song–a tribute to Canada–goes horribly wrong: One of the all-time funniest songs of the series.
• 912- THE SCREAMING SKULL–Crow, disguised as a screaming skull, freaks Mike out: Classic Looney Toons-style MST3K mayhem. Hilarious.
Worst: from 906- The Space Children: Mike’s the kid from the short! Bonk!–Just kinda lays there.
Let’s hear yours!
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Ah, pretty, pretty Season 9. Lots of good stuff here.
1. Mike and Co jump on Grandma Pearl’s couch in 907 Hobgoblins, the fools. This is quite possibly the perfect set-up to such a nauseating train-wreck of a film. Mike’s facial expression when Pearl threatens him with “THE MOVIE” is both endearing and hysterical. And Crow follows it up brilliantly in the theater with the line, “Ah, a badly-lit warehouse! I feel better already.”
2. Same episode, Crow presents his video-report on the ever-elusive “woman.” 1. Mike is reading Bleak House, one of my all-time favorite novels. 2. Crow’s intonation on the phrase “an elaborate fraud!” makes me laugh every time. 3. “And then, uh, this woman – well, I think it was a woman – she uh, married me. “Did you have any children, sir?” “I don’t remember!” This is utterly delightful. :smile:
3. Again, same episode (what can I say: despite the fact that the film makes my skin crawl, I love Hobgoblins!)”Boy, that sure is a bad movie, won’t you?” The cardboard cutouts confuse Pearl, though Bobo thinks “they’re rocking today!” One of the funnest escape attempts on the show.
4. Moving on from the Hobgoblins Express (finally), a babysitter keeps Bobo and Brain Guy in line in 908, The Touch of Satan. The Brains clearly had a store of fantastic talent always waiting the wings, and Beez was no exception. Though her chemistry with “Brian” was perhaps the best part of these skits, I always get a kick out of this diminutive little lady beating the crap out of Bobo with a rolled-up newspaper. Poor Bobo!
5. Crow and Tom are waiting for Gorgo in the eponymous episode. A skit that is intelligent and totally goofy at the same time, a combination that MST3K does better than anyone else, I believe.
6. Servo’s almighty Canada Song from 910: The Final Sacrifice. If you can’t laugh at Tom’s demand to know how “Canada gets off sharing a border with countries far superior to it,” etc., etc. (or worse, if you’re offended by this charming, offbeat tribute), then you, sir, have no funny bone. Be gone with you!
7. Crow freaks out Mike by pretending to be a skull in 912: The Screaming Skull. I love this skit for two reasons: 1. Mike’s careful selection of golf clubs while screaming uncontrollably and 2. comparing this sketch with the somewhat similar one in 414: Tormented. When Crow and Tom go headless for their creator, Joel barely blinks and enacts revenge on his silly, wayward children. A few years later, Crow goes headless, bleaches himself a bit and adds some teeth, and Mike goes completely batsh*t with fear. A lovely example of how Mike and Joel could both be so ridiculously funny in their own special ways.
Hmmm…..
-Mike & Servo discuss the Good & the Beautiful (“Phantom Planet”): So, what would you choose?
-Water glass music (“Phantom Planet”): Features that nice theme from “Star Hustler”.
-Previously on Satellite of Love (“Deadly Bees”): Don’t make me shoot you!!! CROOOOOOW!
-Mike as the Century 21 kid (“Space Children”): Love his expression before he’s bonked.
-Crow’s talk on women (“Hobgoblins”): An elaborate fraud?
-The cut-outs (“Hobgoblins”): Odd thing is, it almost worked.
-Canada song (“Final Sacrifice”): One of the best songs.
-Mike loses his identity (“Devil Fish”): Mike’s version is better than the original movie.
-Mike freaks out (“Screaming Skull”): Yes, Mike, choose the golf club carefully.
-Sir Thomas Neville Servo & singers (“Quest of the Delta Knights”): Another great song from Servo.
Happy Birthday! Sounds like you got it off to a good start.
Let’s see…season nine…
1. 902 The Phantom Planet – The water rim music. Mike didn’t get to one-up the Bots very often, so it was pretty funny when he did manage it.
2. 903 The Puma Man – Coatamundi Man. I love the fact the Bots’ costumes are almost perfect replicas while Mike’s is just whatever stuff they could find around the ship.
3. 904 Werewolf – “Where O Werewolf” is another of those songs that is just disturbingly well done. The Bots’ little asides throughout the song were nice, too.
4. 905 The Deadly Bees – Previously…on the Satellite of Love. I’m a sucker for sketches like this, no matter the show. It makes me wonder what they really do when they’re not watching movies.
5. 907 Hobgoblins – This was a hard one…I’m split between Crow’s “Let’s Talk Women” and the cardboard cutouts. Well, the numbering makes it look like I’ve just picked seven…heh heh heh.
6. 910 The Final Sacrifice – Servo’s Canada Song is classic. “Lousy stinkin’ Francophonic bacon-lovin’ bastards” is one of the best phrases the show ever came up with. Also, as a bonus, it helps me remember the Canadian provinces. Educational!
7. 912 The Screaming Skull – Another split decision here. The Bots working through the pain of the Gumby short is a perfect followup. Also, Crow as the skull; Mike looking through his clubs for the perfect one while screaming cracks me up every time.
Um…7. 913 Quest of the Delta Knight – “Air on a Delta Knight”. Yeah, it’s a reworking of the United Servo Academy sketch from season six, but the bawdy song they start at the end is perfect.
Worst: None specifically, but there are for some reason a bunch I just don’t remember when I look at the Episode Guide. Weird.
Okay, seven faves:
903 – Pumaman – the bots insisting Mike be Coatimundi Man, a super (goofy) hero to be sure.
904 – Werewolf – “Where, O Werewolf”; M&TBs in drag are always a treat, & it’s a great song.
905 -The Deadly Bees – the final sketch, when the Bowler-Hatted Guy just strolls through, tipping his hat as he goes.
907 – Hobgoblins – M&TBs jumping on Pearl’s RAC couch: “I’ll give you SUCH a movie!”
910 – Final Sacrifice – the Canadian song & Tom’s “Pardonnez Moi!” as he collapses at the end.
912 – The Screaming Skull – Crow as the skull, scaring Mike into fits. Like many others here, I too love the cartoonish absurdity as he carefully selects which club to use.
913 – Quest of the Delta Knights – Sir Thomas “Neville” Servo Consort of the Middle Ages Just After the Plague Singers. Another great song, but the name of the group alone is enough to make me laugh.
Two honorable mentions, too – Leonardo da Vinci’s mafioso persona visiting & getting angry w/Tom (Delta Knights) and the pancake breakfast with the Delta Knights themselves, who’ve raised enough money for next year’s breakfast…yay!
In no order:
Devil Fish: Italian Camera Filter, from vague stereotype, broad stereotype, to ethnic slur, it’s all funny.
Quest of the Delta Knights: Aire on a Delta Knight. One of Servo’s great songs.
The Screaming Skull: Re-enactment of the Gumby short.
The Touch of Satan: Pecan Farming, a quite sketch but funny.
Puma Man: Coatamundi Man!
Devil Fish: Dinner at the captain’s table. An effective use of Malt-o-Meal brand cereal. Bobo getting all territorial. Good stuff.
Projected Man: After “projecting” (destroying) several of Mike’s things, Mike turns the tables on Servo and “projects” something of his.
1. Hobgoblins – Jumping on the couch. They get SUCH a movie. Crow- “You can see my legs, you can see my legs.”
2. Touch of Satan- Wassail/Intro of Stephie. “I will (play with the blocks), but only because I want to.”
3. Touch of Satan- Crow sells soul to “Stan” not Satan.
4. The Final Sacrifice- The ode to Canada. “Mustn’t hate, mustn’t hate.” “At least not so overtly.” Yes, we must disguise our hate just a little.”
5. Werewolf- That song. You know the one.
You know, this was the season of the really awesome singing.
Worst- Hobgoblins- Crisis Hotline with Bobo professing his love. Doesn’t work for me.
I don’t remember as much from this season, but my favorites from what I do are:
1.) Andy Rooney-off from 902, “The Phantom Planet.”
2.) “Let’s Talk Women” from 907, “Hobgoblins.”
3.) “M&TB” sing a song about hobgoblins, also from 907. The flat reading always kills me. “Watch out, you little doodad.”
4.) Servo’s tribute to Canada from 910, “The Final Sacrifice.”
5.) All of the coffin segments from 912, “The Screaming Skull.”
6.) Crow as the screaming skull, also from 912.
My least favorite might be the “Good and Beautiful” discussion from 902, “The Phantom Planet.” It just doesn’t go anywhere for me.
To start, this doesn’t count as a sketch, but the mere notion that Lembach might be staying fills me with joy. That having been said, here we go.
1) 902 – Phantom Planet – Prologue: Andy Rooney-Off. As someone who’s been perfecting a Rooney impression myself, this was great. And it shows you how unfunny that man truly is. Soup? Come on.
2) 903 – Puma Man – Segment 3: Coatimundi Man! Mike is the mighty Coatimundi Man! Listen, his heroic theme music is playing! I wish I had a huge cowboy hat.
3) 904 – Werewolf – Segment 3: Where, Oh Werewolf? What an odd choice: a girl group song about the strange death of the security guard werewolf? Funny stuff. It just beats out Mike as a WereCrow.
4) 905 – The Deadly Bees – TIE: Prologue: Previously On. DONT MAKE ME SHOOT YOU! CROOOW! But can it compete with Segment 2: Crow’s Sonnet. Such a well-written piece for the cigarette hag. But it’s got some heavy competition in the form of Segment 4: Bee Talk. Mike’s bee dance is pure genius. And then to have it compete with Segment 5: Bowler Guy? A guy in a bowler visits. Fantastic.
5) 907 – Hobgoblins – Segment 4: All good sketches, but nothing’s better than the wooden cutouts singing the now classic Hobgoblins song. Look out, here comes one now.
6) 912 – The Screaming Skull – Segment 4: Screaming Crow. Crow’s trick on Mike goes horribly wrong. Mike screams the entire time, which is hilarious, but Tom’s repetitive insistence that “This is Crow!” is what sells it. Raarh!
7) 913 – Quest of the Delta Knights – Segment 3: Air on a Delta Knight. The Sir Thomas “Neville” Servo Consort of the Middle Ages Just After the Plague Singers is brilliant, a great callback to Starfighters. I’ve got these!
Honorable Mentions: 907 – Hobgoblins – Segment 2: Women? Crow’s investigative journalism is at its peak. AN ELABORATE FRAUD!
909 – Gorgo – Segment 2: Waiting for Gorgot. The title makes me laugh! Plus, it seems like Crow and Servo would make a really good Vladimir and Estragon.
912 – The Screaming Skull – Segment 2: Therapy. Crow and Servo need to heal after the torment of the Gumby short.
Least favorite sketch? 902 – Phantom Planet – Segment 3: Pearl and Brain Guy are scared. And it’s Bobo. We get it. We knew it was Bobo a long time ago. The end.
1. Crow as the Screaming Skull from #912 (possibly my favourite host segment ever)
2. The Hobgoblins Song from #907
3. “Where Oh Werewolf” from #904
4. Mike is Coatimundi Man – From #903
5. Servo and Crow Control the mind of Roger Whitaker Also from #903
6. Servo’s tribute to Canada in #910
Not thread-crapping, but didn’t know where else to post this– what happened to RiffTrax’s Friday shorts?
Oh and Happy Birthday Sampo!
I originally made a mistake and listed this sketch as a fave of mine from season 8. It’s from The Touch of Satan where Crow gets all morose and laments his dorm girlfriend Debbie.
Happy Birthday SAMPO! Here’s some
-Limbeck is staying (901-the Projected Man)! No one mentioned this, but I find it highly amusing since, in the movie, we’re never quite clear on who the sam hill Limbeck is.
-The bot’s take on Gumby (912-Screaming; Skull) and, as many have already said, Mike vs. Crow’s “Screaming Skull”. Classic.
-The bot’s are in danger with the mob after agreeing to make a sexy calendar using the women from Gorgo (90?). It barely nudges out the other sketches from this ep (William Sylvester Trivial Pursuit and Waiting for Gorgo).
-Pearl and Mike switch places for the beginning of Quest of the Delta Knights. I love how Bobo and Brain Guy start out like they’re going to be rough on him, yet the next time we see them, they’re getting along famously. I also love how Servo and Crow’s obsession with Pearl.
-The insults (and punishment) M&TB receive for insulting dolphins and electricians, respectively, in Devil Fish.
-Da Vinci visits in “Delta Knights”
-Finally, Mike is Coatimundi Man! From ThePumaMan.
Least Favorite-A Tie-Mike communicates via dance in a bee costume from Deadly Bees. Just left me kinda flat. Mike is the annoying brat from the short in “Space Children”. It’s essentialy reworking an earlier skit in which Mike was the Fonz. ‘Eeeeeey.
About Season 9: The last broadcasted episodes on Comcast cable was a whole slew of Season 9 & 10 episodes at 5:30 a.m. on the Sci-Fi channel, and the last episode to be reran was The Screaming Skull, so I woke up for it like I did for nearly every other. It wasn’t on, and I was really looking forward to it. The last televised erpisode programmed wasn’t on. What happened?!?
As for the host segments … do you still regret arching plots and cliffhangers, 9 years later? Or is that all water under the bridges of some lost civilization remembered no longer in oral history of some forgotten culture of a dead tongue?
Can someone tell me what those observer guys with the brains in a bowls come from? are they based characters from a movie? I have asked around and no one seems to know I was hoping that one of you well-informed and knowledgeable people.
905 – “It’s not broccoli I love. It’s…you!”
906 – “Fashion means Coogan!” I know its not exactly highbrow to laugh at a fat guy in women’s clothing, but Crow sells this so well.
907 – The cardboard cutouts. “LOOK OUT YOU LITTLE DOODAD”
910 – The Canada song, natch.
911 – The captain’s dinner. “As captain of this castle, and by castle I mean ship.” Bonus points for Observer’s Isaac impression.
912 – “Please, Mike…just WORK THE LUMPS!”
913 – The Sir Thomas Neville Servo singers.
Least favorite: Lembach is staying. Sorry, but it just doesn’t do anything for me.
Man, there are so many other good ones that I forgot about.
Another thing I forgot was to list my least favorite host segment. The would be:
Werewolf: The “Who Would You Want in Your Werewolf Movie” is just dull. It’s really the kind of sketch that must have been a result of writer’s block.
Here’s my seven — well, actually eight, and I had an extremely hard time cutting it to that.
PHANTOM PLANET: 902
The SOL Andy Rooney-off — an easy target, but the gang are good at that — witness the attack on Orville Redenbacher from Season 2.
PUMAMAN: 903
Servo’s “Short-man’s disease” — more typical Servo.
THE DEADLY BEES: 905
Bee communication — brilliant!
HOBGOBLINS: 907
Crow’s instructional film on women — Reminds me of the shorts.
THE TOUCH OF SATAN: 908
Crow sells his soul — Crow’s nonchalance, contrasted with Mike’s appalled reaction, makes me laugh.
GORGO: 909
“Waiting for Gorgot” — take that, existentialist playwrights!
FINAL SACRIFICE: 910
“Ode to Canada” — another easy target, which they effectively hammer — but, it’s all in fun, right?
QUEST OF THE DELTA KNIGHTS: 913
Servo chorus — I love the Servo with “these.”
1. Where O Werewolf. Werewolf Everytime I hear it, it’s stuck in my head all day.
2. Let’s talk Women. Hobgoblins. And then this woman, she..uh…married me. Did you have any children? I don’t remember!
3. Mike takes up Walnut Ranching. The Touch of Satan. So true. I get dirty and sweaty reading my dad’s farm magazines.
4. The Bots try to get a free coffin. The Screaming Skull. I loved the theme party idea, filling up a coffin with ice and putting beer in it. We’ll have a wake for the beer…which we’d drink.
5. Mike hangs out with Brain Guy and Bobo. Quest of the Delta Knights. I just loved the interaction between Mike, Brain Guy and Bobo. It just looked like Mike was having so much fun.
6. Working through the pain of the Gumby Short. The Screaming Skull. Yeah, that short was worse than Se7en.
7. Crow’s Solarite Costume. I just loved how he admits he has no memory of making the costume. I wonder if that’s true the rest of the time the characters did this sort of thing.
Least Favorite:
Everyone gets Hockey Hair, except Mike. The Final Sacrifice. Just an episode where the movie and riffing are the episode. The host segments, except he Canadian song are really forgettable.
Wow, Mike seriously told James Lipton in public to go to hell? That’s pretty harsh. Funny, but harsh.
My faves from season 9:
#901 The Projected Man: The “Lembach is staying” routine. (BTW my taped copy is the version with the wonky sound)
#903 The Puma Man: Mike is “Coatimundi Man”
#905 The Deadly Bees: All the skits (where the other two Observers try to take the Brain Guy back)
#907 Hobgoblins: Mike and the Bots jump on the couch against Pearl’s orders, so she punishes them with the movie; Servo “takes care of” Rick Sloane
#908 The Touch of Satan: Steffi the baby sitter is treating Bobo like a dog (literally: “Bad dog! No bite!”); Canned Wassail
#911 Devil Fish: the one about Blowie the dolphin
#912 The Screaming Skull: Crow orders a free coffin
That’s seven already, but I have an honorable mention: #913 Quest of the Delta Knights: Mike bonds with Bobo and the Brain Guy; the Castle Forrester pancake breakfast (with 23 extras)
The extras in Quest of the Delta Knights were family and friends of the cast. I remember watching the pancake breakfast ending and realizing; ‘That’s Mary Jo’s dad!’
Trying to keep to the letter of the law this time, my seven favorites, in chronological order:
Mike as James Lipton/Escape Attempt (904): Another great impersonation from Mike (“Are you really a ‘good fella,’ uh-huh?”) Love the clown hammer. (I enjoyed the callback later on, when Servo reminds Crow that Ray Liotta smells like apples.) And Mike’s climbing down a ladder from geosynchronous orbit is an inspired bit, with the reactions from Pearl et al, not even turning away from their breakfasts as they send Mike climbing back up, adding to the loopy fun of it.
Where, Oh Werewolf (904): A fun song, and Mike’s performance as a girl-group singer is so spot-on, it’s almost disturbing.
Previously on “Satellite of Love” (905): All of the bits are great. I like the inclusion of a completely bizarre one (“too rich… too thick”). I only wish they’d made it a pre-credit sequence, as recaps usually are. Mike’s “Croooooooow!” going into the opening credits would have been funny.
Wassail/Steffi (908): I enjoy the Bots’ new lyrics (“and severe financial penalties shall cu-huh-hum to you…”), and how it goes into the theater with the joke about the “best by” date being in the 16th century. And Beez is great as Steffi, with wonderful timing when she hits Bobo with the shoe.
The Canada Song (910): Maybe their funniest song. I love the Gilbert and Sullivan-esque “by far my fa-vor-ITE scenario.”
Post-Gumby Therapy (912): I always laugh when Servo starts the scenario, and he’s so worked up, he can only voice the figures in an emotion-choked, incoherent whine.
Aire on a Delta Knight (913): Maybe their best production of a song. And Mike’s line “we are livid with proudness” always gets me, as does his continuing to be laid back and NPR-ish even as he’s ejecting Sir Thomas Neville Servo from the studio.
Least favorite: William Sylvester Edition of Trivial Pursuit (909): Makes its point quickly, keeps on making it, and making it.
I was particularly fond of the “Coatimundi man” segment since I like coatis as novel and interesting animals (they’re like raccoons, but they’re day-active, and move in tribes, and they squeak, what’s not to like?) and ones that have the pop-cultural presence of Garret A Hobart, the man whom Theodore Roosevelt replaced as vice-president in 1900 when party officials discovered Hobart had died the year before. So that one always makes me feel like the Brains are in on something neat with me.
“Previously on the Satellite of Love” really spooked me out the first time I saw it, since it brought to mind some of the silly narrative tricks that we would do in MiSTings where we could play with edits and quick cuts that were just impossible to do on the real show. Or Were They?
(903) Puma Man: Servo’s short man syndrome is funny, leading into Pearl’s Ball being disrupted by Observer’s “Sliders”-viewing party.
(904) Werewolf: Mike as James Lipton. An easy target but still the funniest Lipton-based comedy.
(905) The Deadly Bees: The “previously on” thing is the best. However, I like all the Castle-based “plotline” host segments too.
(907) Hobgoblins: “Let’s Talk Women!” I like that Corbett’s Crow has abandoned screenwriting for documentary filmmaking. I wish they had made more Crow movies.
(908) The Touch of Satan: All the parts with Steffi, of course. Grrrrrrr-rrr-rrrrrrrr!
(911) Devil Fish: A great episode, my favorite part is probably Pearl’s Italian Lens Filter
(913) Quest of the Delta Knights: It’s a tad brief but I like the “men’s night” with Mike, Bobo, and Observer. Ask your girlfriend, she’ll tell you I am!
Honorable mention: Pearl ruling the world one person at a time is a funny concept.
Least Favorite: tie between Crow’s sonnet to the cigarette hag and Mike communicating as a Bee, both from “The Deadly Bees”. These are lame and also suffer in comparison to the fun “Return of the Observers” plot sketches.
“Previously on the SOL” is probably my favorite host segment of all time.
My choices from this season:
The ‘bots “project” Mike’s treasured items.
The Andy Rooney-off.
Coatimundi Man! – my favorite segment of this season.
Previously on “Satellite of Love” – I agree that this would have been even better as a pre-credits sequence. It’s extremely good as it stands.
Unintentional on-turning.
Every time Steffi hits Bobo with the newspaper, it’s gold. “No! No bark!”
I don’t really have a worst sketch – there were some that were kinda “meh”, but nothing that stands out to me.
Season Nine favorite host segments:
Phantom Planet: Wisest, good and beautiful discussion.
Werewolf: Where O Werewolf teen tragedy pop song. Hilarious lyrics and performance.
1. Hobgoblins means a lot to all MSTies, being IMO the only true Maw-of-Hell-caliber ep of the SciFi era, but it’s especially painful and meaningful to children of the ’80s like myself, as it digs up your every positive memory of ’80s pop culture, defocates on them, then reburies them in humorous positions, warping your conception of them for weeks afterward. It seemed like half the sketches were made intentionally disgusting in an attempt to soften the blow of the indescribable horror to come. Segment One did this best with its uncomfortable conclusion of the accidental-on-turning shtick, segueing into Mike and the bots drinking juice boxes in their feety PJs just like me when I was 4, and delivering the darkest foreshadowing ever of the experiment. This might be my favorite segment of all time, because no other truly complemented its movie so well.
2. The Deadly Bees, Segment 5: A loose end from last season is wrapped up with a climactic battle for the fate of Earth!…then upstaged by the inexplicable bowler-hatted man, one of the only non-recurring visitors to show up on the SOL and their tormentors’ turf in the same sketch. Whenever I look at my Ministry of Silly Walks poster, that music still plays in my head…
3. Deadly Beez: Previously on the SOL. Animaniacs did a sketch like this upon returning from hiatus that was almost as funny, but this one takes the cake for employing camera angles, cuts, and lighting effects that were never used before or since on the show. Was the end shot of Mike holding the gun specifically an homage to the X-Files? He just seems so Duchovney-esque.
4. Crow as The Screaming; Skull. ‘Nuff said.
5. Mike’s water-glass Star Hustler theme. Right around the time Phantom Planet debuted, I was down in my dorm lobby when someone started playing this on our piano. Does anyone know the name of that song, and if it was well-known before Star Hustler?
6. Waiting for GorGo. Short, sweet, and right on the mark.
7. Gorgo: The Nanite circus. The nanites were largely forgotten after being massacred in Mike’s eyelashes just before Neptune Men, so it was nice to glimpse their society again. Alas, Mike proves that we cannot observe without affecting, laying his money down to once again crush them wholesale. This was almost a good enough running gag to replace his destruction of entire planets.
Bolem-
The song Mike plays on the “Phantom Planet” wine glasses is Debussy’s “Arabesque No. 1”.
Who says there’s no culture on TV?
I love most of the sketches you guys have already mentioned. The Hobgoblins opening with Mike and the Bots jumping with their juice boxes-funnier than hell. “We have ways of dealing with ne’erdowells who jump on our rent-to-own couches!” Also, of course, the cardboard cutouts are awesome.
One of my favorites from season 9 that wasn’t mentioned is the power outage/looting bit from Final Sacrifice. If only for Crow’s line: “Well, I broke into my own room and managed to get away with my T.V. (heh, heh) I’ll never miss it.”
Season 9 had some good stuff, much of which was like new to me because I’d only seen many of these just once. Here are my choices:
-Projected Man: Lembach is staying! An example of how they take a strange little part of a movie and gad about with it!
-Phantom Planet: The Andy Rooney-off is brilliant, with all three nailing the voice of Rooney while making hilarious comments about soup and Gypsy.
-Werewolf: Mike as James Lipton and the “where o’werewolf” song is killer stuff.
-Killer Bees: Crow’s poem to the cigarette hag is among my fav segments of this era.
-Hobgoblins: ALL segments were sharp, the best being M&TB dressed in pajamas and pouring grape juice on Pearl’s couch…which they soon regret.
-The Touch of Satan: Crow selling his soul to “Stan” instead of “Satan” is funny; Beth McKeever’s role of babysitter Steffi made me wish I was young enough to have one of those again! :lol:
Lots of love for the Space Children sketch where Crow does his Jackie Coogan inspired fashion designs. The Coogan jokes are terrific in any case, and Crow’s “Coogan gets coquettish in this gauzy baby-doll” is fantastic. Especially nice is the facial expressions of Mike as he looks at each of the increasingly disturbing drawings.
Though “The Final Sacrifice” (#910) will forever be my all-time favorite episode (followed closely by “Space Mutiny” (#820)); my favorite host segment, hands-down, comes from “Touch of Satan” (#908).
Yes, you guessed it, “Steffi”, the babysitter from “hell” (Then again, if I had been lucky enough as a kid to have had a babysitter as cute as Beth ‘Beez’ McKeever (KILLER cheekbones!), “babysitter from HEAVEN” would be more like it!)!!
But where everyone else seems to recall her humorous treatment of Bobo, for me it was all about her interaction with, as she called him, “Brian” (Bill Corbett’s “Brain Guy”). As far as I’m concerned, the writers mined comic gold with this one! (And I’m not sure, but I think it was this point that cemented “Observer” as my personal favorite, of all the show’s cast members.)
Anyway, the whole idea of the babysitter threatening omnipotent “Observer” with a time-out (which he deeply feared) if he didn’t play “nice” with his wooden blocks, was absolutely hilarious!
Oh, and the fact that we learned 4:00 was “fruit snack time” for Brain Guy, was also priceless!
But the best part of all was the closing segment where we find “Steffi” and “Brian” discussing the ‘finer points’ of Dr. Seuss’s immortal classic, “Green Eggs and Ham”, during Brain Guy’s story time:
BRAIN GUY: And that “Sam I Am” is so bloody repetitive, I could scream!
STEFFI: Are we a little cranky, Brian?
BRAIN GUY: No madam, I am over-tired, so I shall turn in now. So if you wouldn’t mind please; my blankie…….my nookie…….and, my “friend” (a cookie monster doll).
Thank you kindly, good morrow to you!
STEFFI: Nighty-Night!
As far as I’m concerned, it just didn’t get any better than this!
Peace.