309 - The Amazing Colossal Man

Chris: "Boy, for my first episode, I sure picked a good one. Upon Mike's insistence, I started with an episode that was released on video, and I knew this one rather well (I used to own a bootleg copy taped off syndication), so it seemed like the logical choice. Little did I know what it would take to get the tape... Matt had it, 10 miles away, and he wouldn't let it leave his house! Seems that this episode is rather rare, as it is out of print, and he had to pay 40 dollars for it. Ah, the price of anal retentiveness. Anyway, On with the references!

HOST SEGMENTS:

"Is Bea ARTHUR funny?" Bea Arthur is a comedienne who was the star of Maude and one of the four Golden Girls in the Emmy award winning sitcoms. Her stinging style of humor grates some and makes most laugh, though we can't know for sure which side the MST writers fall. Yes, she is still alive. Despite this woman's talent, the last time her name was mentioned in the media was in the movie Airheads, when the hair-band terroists request naked pictures of her from the police to convince them that they're insane. Believe it or not, it almost works.

"Chocolate-Fudgy Cardboard BATCAVE..." The cleverly hidden lair of Batman and his sidekick, Robin. Batman's hideout, directly under his "stately Wayne Manor", is where he gets his "wonderful toys" and keeps the company car. Despite Joel's comparison, the Batcave is not chocolately. That attribute is saved for another "bat-man", Count Chocula.

BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE - See TRAVOLTA.

"The only film about a giant mutated guy that doesn't star Ted CASSIDY or Richard Kiel." - A sly joke at two of Hollywood's more amassed gentlemen. Ted Cassidy is best remembered for his part as Lurch in the original Addams Family TV series. He also narrated the Incredible Hulk, the Godzilla Power Hour, and played the Giant in a TV Movie version of Jack in the Beanstalk. Ted died in 1979 during heart surgery. Richard Kiel, the 7'2" tower, played Jaws, the metal-toothed skyscraper who battled with James Bond in the Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. MST fans will know his face from the episodes "Eegah!" (506) and The Magic Sword (411). He recently played a small part in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore. He currently tours the nation speaking at churches about his love for God.

DECAYING ORBIT - Probably  reference to the 2nd most popular manned sattelite ever, known as Skylab. Skylab crashed into the Indian Ocan (without people in it) on July 11, 1979, showing a precursor of what horrors awaited Joel and Mike if they didn't behave. Skylab suffered many mishaps throughout its life cycle, including faulty electricity, a bad orbit, and a bad case of overheating. To find out the details on Mir's counterpart, go to http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/skylab/skylab.html

"Who's your favorite MONKEE?" The Monkees, a pre-fabricated foursome from the 60's that had their own TV show and music, without picking up an instrument until several years later to defend their talents. Davy, Mike, Mickey, and Peter still travel periodically with the "Teen Idols Tour" with such greats as Peter Noone and Bobby Sherman. The Monkees, like MST3k, sell old episodes of their TV show through Rhino Entertainment.

TIME BANDITS - A strange cinematic work by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam (co-written with co-Python Michael Palin). The plot involves six dwarves who steal a map to the universe from their employer, the Supreme Being. Along their journey they encounter the personification of Evil, Robin Hood, King Agememmnon (played by Sean Connery), and are chased down by a giant (the part The Amazing Colossal man claims to have played).

"Like John TRAVOLTA in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble..." John Travolta, the star of such greats as Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever, and Get Shorty, played an early role in the 1976 TV Movie "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble". Based on a true story, the movie is about Tod Lubitch (played by Travolta), a boy born with a deficient immune system, and therefore must live his life sealed off from the rest of the world, inside a completely sterile and lonely plastic capsule. The story was brought back into public light when Seinfeld and friends started making fun of him. (The boy, not Travolta.) And in case you're wondering, Movie guru Leonard Maltin gave the movie an "Above Average" rating. (Not that his word his God or anything, Chris usually prefers Ebert's word over Maltin's. Eric and Mike have no comment.)
 

MOVIE SEGMENTS:

"ASSUME THE POSITION." -- A line from Animal House, which Leonard Maltin gave only 2 stars!!! (Chris: "THAT NAZI!!!!") Animal House is the classic college comedy starring John Belushi, and featuring a young Tom Hulce (who later played Amedeus and was the voice of Quasimodo in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame). Animal House is still regarded by college kids as a bible of sorts, and continues to haunt Deans and RA's everywhere.

"The time is 2:45 AM..... Do you know where your CHILDREN are?" -- This old saying comes from a radio personality, but we're not sure who. Click here if you know.

"And don't forget this year's FORENSIC LEAGUE...." -- Forensics League is a fancy name high schools use for Debate Team.

"Joel Sinclaire, we've enjoyed his fine GAS products....." - Sinclaire is the name of a franchise of gas stations, its logo is a green dinosaur.

"GOBSTOPPER?" -- Joel is referring to the the Amazing Everlasting Gobstopper, a kind of candy from the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (which Leonard Maltin gave 2 1/2 stars.... only as good as Laserblast). In 1971, a candy company opened it's doors in Itasca, Illinois, named itself after the movie, and started making candy based off the edibles in the film, one of which is the Gobstopper.

"American INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES!" - In their own words, the I.H.O.P. is one of America's best-known, family restaurant chains. IHOP restaurants feature moderately priced, high-quality food and beverage items, and table service in an attractive and comfortable atmosphere. Although IHOP restaurants are best known for their award-winning pancakes, omelettes and other breakfast specialties, IHOP restaurants are open throughout the day and evening hours and offer a broad array of lunch, dinner and snack items as well.

"The Amazing...... KRESKIN?" -- a famous scholocky "mentalist" and psychic dude who has appeared numerous times on David Letterman and Johnny Carson's shows (over 80 times with Carson). In fact, it is said that when Carson did his Carnac the Magnificent bit and stumbled each time he came onstage, it was because Kreskin had tripped like that (accidentally) when he made his first appearance on the "Steve Allen Show." Anyway, Kreskin uses his little tricks to know what audience members are thinking, and to do lots of other creepy stuff. We admit, it's pretty impressive, but we don't buy that he actually has any powers. Either it's all tricks, or he's in league with the devil; those are the only choices, because we're pretty sure God didn't give a guy powers like that just so he could tell David Letterman what card he's thinking of. Another little side-note: One of Eric's favorite things to say, when asked a question he couldn't possibly know the answer to, is, "What, am I Kreskin?" which he heard Letterman say once. "What, am I Yoda?" also works but is not relevant to the discussion at hand. You can read some interesting stuff about Kreskin here. The website mentions that he has spent a lot of time in courts, testifying against the validity of testimony gotten through hypnosis, and against hypnosis in general. It seems funny to us that a man who has based his career on magic tricks and parlor games is questioning the validity of hypnosis.

"Pay no attention to the MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!" -- The PA announcer's voice kinda sounds like The Wizard of Oz, which Joel mimics with this line. Oz was, of course, the man behind the curtain.

"SCARECROOOOW..........SCARECROOOW..........." -- We don't know! If you do, click here.

"And BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN driving through Nebraska!" -- Wow..... our viewers to the rescue! Mark Rook stopped by and explained this one to us..... when Bruce Springsteen was with The Boss, they made an album in the early 80's called Nebraska. The cover looked like the current shot in the movie...... a car driving along a lonely highway. Kudos to Mr. Rook for taking time to send us a note!

"Hey, look, neck braces by Josef VON STROHEIM...... Eric, actually......." -- putting two and two together, you realize Servo is talking about Erich Von Stroheim, famous silent film director known for his monkier as "The Man you Love to Hate". He always played the villain in any film he was in, and his own films were always overextravagent and overlong, his longest film running 9 hours. A very good bio is located here. The neck braces reference is to a film Von Stroheim was in called La Grande Illusion, in which his character wears one. Thanks to Ace Hamilton on the heads up on that piece of info.

"So WAKE THE KIDS." - A favorite saying of one of America's best known talk show hosts, David Letterman. A longer version you can usually hear is "Oh me, Oh my, Wake the kids, hide granmda, turn on the TV, this is one extravaganza you don't wanna miss."