alt title(s): ptitlehdpd4ggl; Parts The Clonus Horror
Today!
The futuristic story begins in the land of Clonus, a society that seems endlessly happy. That is, until you see the armed guards that surround them. They strive to be happy, so they can reach a certain status that grants them access to America, where the promise of an even happier, more fulfilling life awaits. These citizens are designated by tags on their ears, and when Richard (Tim Donnelly) and Lena (Paulette Breen) meet, they realize that their tags match. Despite the menacing looks they get from the guards, Richard and Lena become close, are soon in love.
Richard, meanwhile, is starting to have doubts about his seemingly utopian world. In a nearby river, Richard finds an Old Milwaukee beer can, and when he asks about the strange object at "confessional" and an unseen voice dismisses the discovery, Richard begins openly questioning whether that the leaders of Clonus are telling them the truth about the outside world, eventually uncovering Clonus' dark secret and his own sinister destiny. Peter Graves and Dick Sargent round out the cast and take up most of the budget.
Director Robert S. Fiveson brought a copyright infringement suit against the makers of
The Island (2005). The lawsuit cited 89 points of similarity between
"Clonus" and
"The Island", and the court ruled that Fiveson made a prima facie case for infringement. Before the case could go to trial, Dreamworks settled with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount. It's been rumored that's a seven figure sum.
Years before
Michael Bay directed a film that ripped this off, it was featured on
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (with the title
Parts: The Clonus Horror—see
Executive Meddling, below). The SOL crew had a field day with it.
Clonus has examples of:
- B Movie: The budget for this film was $270,000. Most of that went to pay Dick Sargent and Peter Graves.
- Big Brother Is Watching
- The Cameo: Inadvertant. The guard Richard punches out when he escapes Clonus is the director Robert S. Fiveson himself. This wasn't planned, but they didn't have any other extras at the time.
- City In A Bottle: The Clonus facility, which looks more like a junior college (and indeed, the scenes set there were filmed in one).
- Cloning Blues
- Cool Old Guy: Jake Noble
- Cult Classic
- Downer Ending: And how.
- Executive Meddling: The title was originally to be "Clonus". The distributor wanted to change the title to "Parts" and then decided to combine the titles. The DVD of this movie calls this "Clonus" now.
- Eyepatch Of Power: George Walker.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Dick Sargent, Peter Graves, and Keenan Wynn.
- Fridge Logic: As MST's Paul Chaplin notes, "Since the older clones (in the world of the film) are really getting on in years, some of them nearing forty and even fifty, evidently this top-secret project has been around since at least the 1930s. Unless I'm mistaken, science in the 1930s consisted almost entirely of spindly rockets rising twelve feet and crashing back to the ground. So the movie's implausible, I guess is my point."
- "Another thing: the great majority of these clones would never get used! Most of us go through life and never need a transplant of any sort, so what you'd have is a bunch of really old clones, hanging around, expecting to be entertained and fed. Which would be okay; they seem fairly easy to keep happy, but what would be the point? I ask you."
- Also, who told Senator Knight that Richard had the tape? And how did they make the leap?
- Hollywood Darkness
- Ho Yay: "Can you get off me? I'm feeling a tingling in my little Clonus."
- Intrepid Reporter: Jake Noble, retired, still acts like one.
- Lottery Of Doom: Just an excuse for the clones' sake, the real determining factor is which Clonus client needs a new eye this month.
- Narm: Near the end of the movie, when the old couple who rescued Richard chat for about a minute before abruptly exploding as their house is sabotaged. It's so unexpected your first response is to laugh.
- No Sex Allowed
- One Woman Wail: Plays over a scene depicting exactly what happens when the clones "go to America".
Servo: Thank you, nurse, that was a lovely aria.
- People Farms: With an actual farm for the clones to work on.
- People Jars: Clones are bagged for freshness.
- Product Placement: Huffy Bikes, Adidas clothing, Dr. Pepper, and Old Milwaukee Beer
- Pyrrhic Victory: Although Clonus is exposed, most people that helped Richard are dead and Lena had a lobotomy. Richard, well he's on ice.
- Recycled Premise: See The Island
- Released To Elsewhere: To America!
- Today!
- One interviewer asked why Robert S. Fiveson chose to have America be the "Elsewhere". The answer, exact words: "Typical seventies anti-government bullshit."
- The Scrappy: Original-Richard's whiny (adult) son. Fortunately, he gets his ass kicked and then drowned.
- Shirtless Scene
- Smoking Hot Sex: Richard and Lena's post-coital cuddle takes place in front of a campfire, the smoke of which seems to be emanating from Richard's nether regions.
Mike: Wow, I guess she really was on top of Ole Smokey.
- Too Dumb To Live: Most of the clones, but this is by design. Some clones are just unaltered, like Richard.
- Twenty Minutes Into The Future: The movie was filmed in 1979 and takes place in 1980.
- Vindicated By Cable: This had the effect of bringing the movie more into the mainstream and viewers of this particular episode wrote to Fiveson for support and encouragement in his lawsuit against the producers of The Island.
- Creator Backlash: Averted: Robert S. Fiveson was leery of the MST 3 K treatment of his movie until it reached smoking crotch gag. Then he was won over.
- Creepy Child: The Evil Space Children who cause trouble for Pearl and the gang.
- Dawson Casting: The Evil Space Children, which is played for laughs.
- Excited Kids Show Host: Mike Nelson, in one of the skits, wraps himself in silver foil, dances around, and babbles in Spanish. This is in the running for MST 3 K's non-riffing Crowning Moment Of Funny.
- Groin Attack: Bobo is on the receiving of this (repeatedly). "Tante Bobo needs to go see Uncle Reconstructive Urologist."
- Heroic BSOD: Mike's reaction to Crow's nosejob at the end of the movie.
- Hilarious In Hindsight: Over the credits, Mike and the 'bots do a faux-Biography of Peter Graves. Not even a week after taping the episode, Graves was the subject of an episode of Biography.
- Psychic Powers: The Evil Space Children
- Running Gag: Lots:
- Every time characters in the film mention "America", Mike and the bots sing "Today!" à la the Neil Diamond song.
- The Groin Attack in the skits.
- Gags about Lena's nose.
- Bang "Ow." Bang "Ow!" Bang "Ow." Bang, ricocheting noises "Ow."
- References to Peter Graves' role as the host of Biography.
- References to Dick Sargent's role as the Other Darrin
Crow: Dick Sargent... Didn't he play Dick York on
Bewitched?
- Two scientists' resemblance to the Super Mario Bros.
- Shout Out: The Space Children use the same hand gestures to work their powers as the possessed children in the Star Trek Original Series episode "And the Children Shall Lead".
- Soundtrack Dissonance: To try to put the Space Children down for a bit, Servo composes a beautiful lullaby...set to a bombastic march.
- The Talk: The Evil Space Children ask The Question, treating us to a montage of the villains' attempts to explain it. Brain Guy's response is a surprisingly poetic exploration of love, before he dismisses the emotion as unnecessary, Pearl begins a rambling, bitter story about her own failed relationships, and Bobo's advice is...questionable, given it deals with apeman mating rituals. "You're gonna get kicked in the face, that's always part of it... grab one leg and hold on tight!"
