And stock up on socks! You know, you’re never gonna have this chance again!”
Film watched: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Among other things, the MST3K crew lampshade the fact that the allegedly Middle-Eastern (in the English dub) characters all look suspiciously European:
- Servo: You know, guys, this doesn't seem like Persia, and that's probably not even Sinbad!
Joel: Does anyone see anything even remotely Arabian?... I never knew Arabia was so Russian!
Crow: Well, maybe this was a Finnish movie called The Magic Voyage of Torval!
(In the host segments, everyone takes a turn pointing out "He's not Sinbad!", only to be completely ignored.)
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments:
Prologue- The crew is hosting the third annual SOLtie Awards, and are preparing to present the Golden Bone for "Best Performance By a Red Gumball Machine-Looking Robot in a Funny Situation". Inexplicably enough, Crow wins, prompting a furious Servo to demand a recount.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- The Mads present Chinderwear, for men who have a chin buttnote . Joel, meanwhile, demonstrates the Rat Pack Chess Set. If you thought regular chess was complicated, just wait until this version's rules are discussed. Frank Sinatra, as the King, actually intimidates the crew into not starting the experiment until he tells them so.
Segment 2
- Joel and the 'Bots pretend to be jesters, galavanting about the bridge as footage from the film plays behind them. They soon find out that jestering is a very demanding task.
Segment 3
- Now the crew have dressed as bearded Finns, holding a city council meeting to determine if the hero in their town is actually Sinbad. Joel would also like some more water, please.
Segment 4
- Crow sneaks out of the theater early and swipes some personal thrusters to go on a lifelong quest. The thrusters promptly malfunction and send him zooming every which way, forcing Joel to leave the airlock open so he can eventually get back inside.
Segment 5
- Joel introduces Tom and Crow to the Channel Cat from the movie, much to their discomfort. In Deep 13, Dr. Forrester introduces Frank to Fisty, who promptly knocks him out.
The MST3K version of The Magic Voyage of Sinbad provides examples of:
- Award Snub: Invoked: "Best performance by a red, gumball-machine-looking robot in a funny situation". And the award goes to... Crow.Servo: (outraged) I'm telling you what this is! This is fear of a short, red planet!
- Bad "Bad Acting": Trace does an awesome impression of an award presenter awkwardly reading jokes from a teleprompter in the opening sketch. If you look carefully, you can even see Crow's lips slightly moving while Gypsy is talking, like he doesn't want either of them to to miss their cues. He also moves his eyes from side to side, as if reading from a teleprompter.
- Bare-Handed Puppetry: Dr. Forrester puts a pair of googly eyes on his hand to make Fisty the Fist.
- Blunt "No": Invoked twice when different characters ask to join Sinbad's voyage:Wise Old Man: Won't you take me with you?Crow: (as Sinbad) Uh, let me explain it again: No.
- But Now I Must Go: At one point during the movie, Crow abruptly leaves the theater before exiting the SOL with some thrusters, intending to go on a quest a la Sinbad (he's not Sinbad). He winds up needing help from Joel to make it back to the Satellite.Crow: Tom? Joel? I want you guys to know that I love you. And I always will.Tom: (not paying attention) That's nice, honey.Crow: Hey, look up there!Tom: (looks to the left with Joel) What, where? (Crow slinks out)
- Character Check: When Joel shows his Channel Cat puppet to the Bots, Gypsy loves it so much that she tries to eat it.
- Call-Back: Mr. B Natural practice. You probably don't want to know.
- Catchphrase Interruptus: Frank Sinatra is intimidating enough to bring movie sign to a screeching halt.
- Complexity Addiction: Crow thinks the Channel Cat is a Jim Henson-esque complex animatronic at first, instead of just... a Hand Puppet. Meanwhile, Servo thinks it's a digital projection.
- Deconstructed Trope: Joel and the bots try imitating the jesters like in the movie, but exhaust themselves after only thirty seconds.Tom: Boy, cavorting really takes it out of ya!
Crow: Oh, jestering is grueling! The movie made it look so easy! - The Dreaded: In a twist, Frank Sinatra (that is to say, the chess piece representing Frank Sinatra) scares Joel and the bots into not going to the theater when the Movie Sign siren sounds, saying they can only go when he says so, capisce? After a couple seconds, he allows them to leave.
- Dynamic Entry: When Joel and Tom are forced back into the theater while Crow is still out in space, as they take their seats, Joel wonder if Crow is going to be able to get back inside. Less than a minute later, Crow crashes into the theater from the top right.
- Epic Fail: Crow had intended to go off on his own quest by tossing himself out of the airlock, and using some pilfered thrusters to leave the Satellite of Love. However, because he doesn't know how to use them, all he accomplishes is repeatedly bouncing off the hull of the ship like a fly against a lightbulb. He even becomes convinced he's going to die out in space.
- Evil Laugh: Parodied when the Mads introduce the movie:Dr. Forrester: We whipped it together specifically to cause pain... and we did it our way!
(Forrester and Frank spend several seconds laughing maniacally before Frank finally gasps for air)
Frank: I don't get it.
Dr. Forrester: (starts to explain, but the scene cuts away) - Failed a Spot Check:
- It takes Joel and Tom a couple minutes to realize Crow slipped out of the theater after he announces his departure.Joel: (looks to the right by chance) ...hey... hey, wait, where's Crow?
- Similarly, it takes the pair a minute to notice the note Crow left behind on the table. In fact, Tom is the one who has to point it out.
- It takes Joel and Tom a couple minutes to realize Crow slipped out of the theater after he announces his departure.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Joel and Crow are also affected by the sleep spell, though not Tom, who desperately tries to wake them up.
- If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: "If you're gonna die out there in the cold void of space, can I have that Toblerone you've been hiding under your bed?"
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: It doesn't take much for Joel and the bots to twist the narrative so that Sinbad becomes barely tolerated.Joel: (as Sinbad's ship gets knocked over by a wave) D'oh, hey, that sacrifice is really working out, Sinbad!
- Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe, the Channel Cat to Tom and Crow. Witness the nightmare.Tom: WHOOOOOO AAAAAAAARRRRREEEE YOOOOUUUUUUU?!?!?!?!?!
- The laughing horse is this for everybody.
- Noodle Incident: All of the nominations for the Golden Bone are this, since they're not elaborated on, but Joel's is especially cryptic. He's being nominated for "that day at lunch".
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: Parodied in Segment 3 when the crew imitates the Copasand city council. They're supposed to be talking about Sinbad, but it keeps getting derailed as Crow wants to be "Labor MP from Brixton" and Joel "Rosnibon" mostly just wants more water.Tom: Sometimes lost causes are the only causes worth fighting for.
- Only One Finds It Fun: While Crow and Tom flip out over the channel cat puppet, Gypsy's the only bot who really enjoys it, Enough so that she plays with it, gets tempted to eat it a couple of times, and when Joel puts the Channel Cat puppet down, Gypsy nudges it to bring it back to life, thinking that it's dead.
- Please Wake Up:
- While Joel and Crow are falling under the Bluebird's Brown Note spell, Tom (who is completely unaffected) continues merrily riffing whilst interjecting prompts of "Wake up!" to his companions.
- When Joel puts the Channel Cat puppet down, the bots think it's dead — Gypsy sadly tries to nudge it back to life.
- Purposefully Overpowered: The Rat Pack Chess Set contains a few examples:
- Frank Sinatra can move to any space on the chessboard. And just to rub salt in, his piece is the only one that talks.
- Joey Bishop might count as well, since "he moves however Frank says, baby!" but that could just be an extension of Sinatra's own overpoweredness.
- Sammy Davis Jr. as well; his piece can move in "a variety of different ways" which are not elaborated.
- The Quest: Crow, inspired by the film, goes off on one of these. He doesn't get very far.
- Running Gag:
- Every time Neptune slams his trident into the ground, Joel and the bots act as if he stabbed himself in the foot.
- "That's not Sinbad!"
- Sanity Ball: In every host segment, one of the characters points out "That's not Sinbad!" only for the rest to react with confusion. It's a different character pointing it out each time.
- Shout-Out: "What is this? Birth of a Rhythm Nation?"
- Snap Back: Delayed: After Crow crashes back into the theater via one of the airlocks, he pops back up sans his head net. He remains that way until there's a commercial break; when the episode comes back, it's back on his head without acknowledgement.
- Staging an Intervention: The Big Guy proves his strength by wrestling a bear. The SOL crew's dialogue turns it into the bear staging an intervention for Dan Haggerty.
- Themed Stock Board Game: Joel's invention this time is the "Rat Pack Chess Set", with a talking Frank Sinatra figurine and Mitch Miller as the opposing kings, and several house rules...Crow: Well, Dean Martin can only stagger sideways across the board. Sammy Davis Jr. can move in a variety of different ways, because he's so versatile; hey, let's face it, the man was the consummate entertainer.
Joel: What about, uh, Joey Bishop?
Servo: (Bronx accent) He moves however Frank says, baby! - Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?: Invoked. When it's decided the only way to appease Neptune is if one of the crew sacrifices himself:Servo: (as Sinbad) Why's everyone looking at me?
