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Context Recap / MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E19TheRebelSet

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1[[quoteright:323:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/419s.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:323:"I know. It's a new band from Seattle, right?]]
3
4[[quoteright:323:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mst3k_rebel_set.jpg]]
5[[caption-width-right:323:You know, I got the nicest rebel set for my wedding...]]
6
7Films watched: ''Johnny at the Fair'' (short) and ''Film/TheRebelSet''
8
9In ''Johnny at the Fair'', little Johnny is separated from his parents as they tour the 1947 Canadian National Exhibition. He proceeds to have all sorts of adventures as he wanders from one exhibit to the next, meeting all sorts of famous faces in the process.
10
11The episode is available in the Gizmoplex [[https://www.gizmoplex.com/mst3k/season:4/videos/mst3k-090-therebelset here]].
12!!The Segments:
13
14[[AC:Prologue]]
15* Tom and Crow are tucked into bed. Joel tries to read them scary stories, but they’re far too jaded to even whimper. That all changes when Joel whips out ''Literature/LifesLittleInstructionBook''.
16
17[[AC:Segment 1/Invention Exchange]]
18* The Mads’ invention this week is a portable styling station called the Quick Primp Kit. Frank demonstrates how it's both time-saving and pretty cumbersome. Joel goes in the opposite direction with the Mark Rothko Paint-by-Number Kit, taking all the hassle out of modern art.
19
20[[AC:Segment 2]]
21* Replicating the aspiring actor from the film, Crow receives his special “Co-starring with Creator/ScottBaio – You!” acting lessons in the mail. He has some trouble finding the right way to recite his lines, however.
22
23[[AC:Segment 3]]
24* Inspired by the film's four-hour layover in Chicago, Joel asks the Bots what they’d do if they had four hours to kill in the Windy City. Gypsy says she would go shopping, Tom claims he would rob a bank, and Crow has planned out a very long, very elaborate, and very boring schedule for himself.
25
26[[AC:Segment 4]]
27* Joel runs a writing workshop with the 'Bots. In particular, he focuses on the “Merritt Stone Method”, where stories are only good if they involve trains.
28
29[[AC:Segment 5]]
30* Impersonating Literature/HerculePoirot, Tom devises a lengthy deduction process to decipher the true identity of Merritt Stone. Joel and the others end up bringing up conflicting factoids in his deduction process, confusing Tom until his head explodes. In Deep 13, Frank has also become obsessed with finding out just who Merritt Stone is.
31
32!!The [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] treatment of ''Johnny at the Fair'' brings us:
33* BeardOfEvil: When Johnny enters the Chemical Wonderland...
34--> '''Crow:''' A whiskery man hands him a small package. "The first one's free," he says...
35* BlackComedy: Oh yes! A little boy exploring the National Exhibition becomes a full-fledged descent into madness.
36* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: "Oh look, it's the Arc de Full Retreat!"
37* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Johnny comes across people bicycling on tightropes, Joel and the bots suggest that this is how they punish speeders in Canada.
38* EldritchAbomination: Tom [[MoodWhiplash cheerfully]] narrates, "Then Johnny transmogrifies! He's a shapeshifter! ''[Laughs]'' [[SignsOfTheEndTimes And he breaks the fourth seal...]]"
39* FlatWhat: The crew's reaction to the narrator pronouncing "helicopter" as "heel-oh-copter".
40* ForWantOfANail: PlayedForLaughs: It is eventually determined that Johnny getting lost at the fair is what caused the plot of ''The Rebel Set'' to occur.
41* HypocriticalHumor: Joel admonishes the bots for their tendency toward dark humor at the beginning of the short, but doesn't criticize any of the jokes they make... and there are a LOT of them. Nor are any of his own wisecracks any less dark.
42-->'''Joel:''' [''watching Johnny riding in a speedboat''] Johnny's hydroplane disintegrates on impact...
43* IronicEcho: "'Jiminy,' thinks Johnny, 'if only I could get a ride in one of those!'" First said by the narrator when Johnny spots "a heel-o-copter airplane"; later repeated by Crow as Johnny is being snuggled in Barbara Ann Scott's bosom.
44* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: Mocked:
45-->'''Narrator:''' (Johnny's parents) have looked everywhere... everywhere except one place.\
46'''Crow:''' Their own hearts.
47* ParentalNeglect: Ruthlessly and hilariously implied in the riffing. "Mommy had a little vacation while you were gone!"
48* SanitySlippage: Part of their interpretation of Johnny's adventure:
49-->'''Servo:''' Johnny feels dark hands pushing him onward. The voices in his head get meaner.
50
51!!The [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] presentation of ''Film/TheRebelSet'' provides examples of:
52* AbsurdPhobia: The bots are utterly terrified by the harmless and uplifting ''Literature/LifesLittleInstructionBook''.
53* BerserkButton: For Servo, it's Joel and Crow identifying the actor who plays the conductor as Merritt Stone ([[RunningGag he's not]], by the way).
54* BoringYetPractical: During the "layover in Chicago" skit Joel and Servo come up with the expected bizarre and criminal ideas, while Crow draws up a workable itinerary for a walking tour of the city's main attractions.
55** IncrediblyLameFun: Crow goes on for so long, not only does Tom [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere out and out leave]], but Gypsy outright ''falls asleep''.
56* BrickJoke: "I spent that dollar an hour ago!"
57** Also: "So, all this happened because Johnny got lost at the fair?" referring to the episode's short film.
58* ContinuityNod: "[[Film/CatalinaCaper Tommy Kirk]] -- assassin!"
59** Also when Tom points out that Leland is played by the star of ''Film/TheGiantGilaMonster'':
60--->'''Tom Servo''': Hey, you know who that is? I'll give you a clue: Sing whenever I sing whenever I sing—
61--->'''Crow and Joel''': [[BigNo Noooooo!]]
62* CounterfeitCash: When George (the actress' estranged son) is looking at the money in his train cabin.
63-->'''Joel:''' Art Linkletter, they all have ''Art Linkletter'' on them!
64* FauxHorrific: After being unfazed by the likes of ''Literature/InColdBlood'' and ''Helter Skelter'', Servo and Crow are frightened out of their wits by ''Literature/LifesLittleInstructionBook'' (a then-bestseller; incidentally, all of the entries Joel reads out loud are real, but he numbers them ''far'' out of order).
65* {{Foreshadowing}}: At first, it seemed like Dr. Forrester threatening to get back at Joel and the bots for indirectly driving TV's Frank to madness over the Merritt Stone debate was a hollow threat. But then you realize [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E21MonsterAGoGo two]] [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E24ManosTheHandsOfFate of]] the worst movies the show ever did happened shortly ''after'' this one...
66* LogicBomb: Servo suffers one of these when the others counteract his attempts to prove the identity of the conductor in the film (for the record, it's Gene Roth); it leads to [[YourHeadASplode Servo's head exploding]] -- again.
67** It's actually a reference to how the crew noticed Merritt Stone's name in several of their films (all of which get referenced in the sketch in question) but none of them could actually spot the recurring face in all of them.
68** It eventually got to the point where, in the ending bit with the Mads, TV's Frank has been driven to ''madness'' trying to figure out who Merritt Stone is.
69** Finally, at long last, let us set the record straight: Merritt Stone appeared in ''Film/EarthVsTheSpider'' (as the unfortunate dad killed in the opening scene), ''Film/Tormented1960'' (as the priest during the ill-fated wedding), and ''Film/TheMagicSword'' (as "King"). He also appeared uncredited as a cop in ''Film/WarOfTheColossalBeast''. While Gene Roth was also in ''Earth vs. The Spider'' (as the sheriff) and ''Tormented'' (running a lunch stand), as well as ''Film/AttackOfTheGiantLeeches'' (as another sheriff) and this film.
70* NapInducingSpeak: Crow goes on for so long over his itinerary, that it led to Gypsy ''falling asleep'' for a couple of seconds before Joel nudges her awake.
71* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Parodied: By the end of the movie, it's determined the plot was caused by [[BrickJoke Johnny getting lost at the fair]].
72* NotBad: During the scene with the slumming couple in the coffee house.
73-->'''Heckling Husband:''' Let's us go on a fool's errand before they throw a butterfly net over us!\
74'''Crow:''' (as beat poet) Hey, man, ''that's beautiful!''
75* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "He's NOT! MERRITT! STONE!"
76* ShoutOut: When the struggling writer is at his typewriter, Servo says, "Let's see here ... 'A screaming comes across the sky' ." This is the opening line of ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' by Creator/ThomasPynchon.
77** Several ''Series/GetSmart'' riffs are made in reference to Ed Platt.
78* TakeThat:
79** Joel attempts to scare Crow and Servo with "the 17 novels that Creator/StephenKing published this year".[[note]]If you were curious, there were two novels that King published that year (1992): ''Literature/GeraldsGame'' and ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne''.[[/note]]
80** Dr. F and Frank use the hypothetical situation of going to the movies as an example of the Quick Primp Kit, followed by this exchange.
81--->'''Dr. F:''' Now, say for demonstration purposes, Frank and I are in line to see, oh, ''Film/{{Out on a Limb|1992}}''...\
82'''Frank:''' Well, in [[BoxOfficeBomb that case]], we'd be seated already.
83* TrainProblem: In the sketch where Joel tries to have the 'Bots write literature that would meet Merritt Stone's approval, Gypsy succeeds by reciting one of these.[[note]]However, she doesn't establish a distance.[[/note]]
84-->'''Gypsy''': (slowly) "A train leaves a station at 2PM, going 90 miles an hour. Another train leaves another station going the opposite direction at 5PM going 60 miles an hour. How long before they meet?"
85-->'''Joel''': Oh, Gypsy, that is ''everything'' great literature ''should'' be. According to Merritt Stone.
86-->'''Tom''': (offscreen; [[BerserkButton furious)]] '''''[[RunningGag HE'S NOT MERRITT STONE!]]'''''
87** They also call Tucker's plan "the SAT caper" after hearing the quote on the main film page.
88* WriteWhatYouKnow: [[invoked]] Late into the episode, Joel has the bots do a creative writing exercise by writing short stories that Merritt Stone, who played the conductor [[RunningGag (he's not Merritt Stone)]], would approve of. Crow and Tom's stories are deemed failures mainly because they aren't written with a train conductor in mind; Crow's story doesn't have tickets being punched, bags being taken, or any trains at all, and Tom's doesn't have any sense of place (via a conductor rattling off train station locations). Gypsy is the only one to pass the assignment, and that's only because she did the TrainProblem instead.
89* YouNoTakeCandle: Accidental, courtesy of the film reel glitching.
90-->'''John:''' And I[[note]]'ve[[/note]] got [[note]][George's][[/note]] gun!\
91'''Servo:''' [[SimpletonVoice I got gun. A-huh-huh.]]
92
93----
94->[[TheStinger "I am BUGGED!"]]

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