Can't stress that enough, folks!
Film watched: Last of the Wild Horses
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
.
The Segments:
Prologue- Mike has programmed Crow and Tom with different regional speech patterns, making for a very frustrating conversation between the 'Bots.
Segment 1
- Despite the fact that there's a dangerous ion storm outside the Satellite of Love, Dr. Forrester insists on Mike and the 'Bots testing out his new matter transference device. The combination of both the device and the ion storm sends Tom and Gypsy into a parallel universe where Mike and the 'Bots are the evil Mads, and Dr. Forrester and Frank are the good-hearted, jumpsuited subjects trapped on the SOL, watching bad movies and generally being very annoying.
Segment 2
- Tom and Gypsy recoil in horror at the Good Mads' rendition of the "Joey the Lemur" the song. Back in the normal universe, Mike and Crow are restraining the evil Tom, who (along with the evil Gypsy) has been warped onto their SOL during the ion storm. His bravado is large, but he's still as prone to casually riffing at movies as the original Tom is.
Segment 3
- While Mike and Crow discuss the universal swap, Evil Tom is confronted by Evil Gypsy, who tries to convince him to conquer the galaxy and rule it with her at his side. He runs off when Movie Sign blares, much to her annoyance.
Segment 4
- Mike fights off Evil Tom's attempt to take over the SOL (very easily). In the evil universe, Evil Mike is distracted by Evil Crow's own attempt at a mutiny, allowing Good Tom and Gypsy to access their computer. On the computer's suggestion, they dupe the Good Mads into sending the matter transference device back to Deep 13, which returns everybody to their proper universes.
Segment 5
- As Mike prepares to read a letter, the Good Mads make a suprise visit, saying hello via the Hexfield. They quickly prove to be just as annoying in any dimension. In Deep 13, the evil Dr. Forrester and Frank discover that they got Evil Mike and Crow's agony booth in the universal transference, and they just can't get enough of it.
The flip-flopped Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of Last of the Wild Horses has examples of:
- Agony Beam: It's subverted numerous times. First, Evil Crow forgets to put new batteries in his agonizer. Then it turns out the agony booth is out of order. At the end, Normal Frank and Forrester cry out in ecstasy while using their new agony booth.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: As Evil Servo is being carried into the theater:Evil Servo: Let me go! You shall die! I'll have you killed! And then tortured! Let me go! Let... Oh, hey, a cowboy movie!
- Beard of Evil: Evil Mike has a mirror Spock goatee.
- Contagious Laughter: Lampooned.Servo: Y'know, gang, I think about one trip a year into an alternate universe is enough for me! HA HA HA! [the others join him in laughter, which very quickly peters out] Wasn't that funny, was it?
- Continuity Nod:
- When the Mads are the one being experimented on they sing their take on the "Joey the Lemur" song. Apparently in this universe, without the equivalent moment of Servo blowing up at Joel about it, they never stopped. Servo is, again, perturbed.Servo: THERE ARE NO LEMURS IN THIS MOVIE!note
- "And this one here is the Eight of Chris Lemmon!"
- Servo, riffing the film: "Old-Timer Billy Slater, no!"
- The mirror Deep 13's computer has the same voice as Torgo.
- When the Mads are the one being experimented on they sing their take on the "Joey the Lemur" song. Apparently in this universe, without the equivalent moment of Servo blowing up at Joel about it, they never stopped. Servo is, again, perturbed.
- Distracted by the Sexy: While Remedy is struggling to extract Curly's tooth, the tomboyish Terry appears in something more feminine. Curly notices, and then his tooth gets yanked out.Servo: Wow! Frontier dental hygienist!
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Dr. F and Frank discover they got the mirror universe's Agonizer booth, they get really into it.
- Evil Is Hammy: As his evil doppelganger, Mike gets to pour on the cheese in a way normally reserved for Dr. Forrester. And Evil Servo, to an absurd degree.Evil Servo: IIIIIII! orderYOUUUUUU! LET ME GOOOOOOO! [starts chuckling] What do you want, Mike? Credits? Power? NAME IT! NAAAAAAME IIIIIIT!
- Evil Laugh: Evil Mike and Evil Crow indulge in this when they first appear in Mirror Deep 13.
- Facepalm of Doom: How Mike deals with Evil Servo. A few times.
- Famous, Famous, Fictional: The Good Mads indulge in this when they contact the SOL.
- Femme Fatale: Evil Gypsy.Evil Gypsy: Are you man enough to be captain? Are you man enough to take the responsibility? Come here and let me make a man out of you!
- Gilligan Cut: Not directly, but referenced.Duke: I'm gonna stay here. This is the last place in the world they'd think of lookin' for me.
Crow: Doodily, doodily, doodily... [distant] "He's in here!" - Harmless Villain: Evil Servo keeps attacking Mike, who just offhandedly pushes him away each time.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": Mirror Servo giggles a few times when characters in the movie say "Double C men".
- Hint Dropping: Alternate universe Forrester and Frank interrupt the letters segment at the end and don't take the hint that they're not welcome, particularly annoying Servo and, of all characters, Gypsy.Forrester: Frank and I figured out a way we can communicate from OUR Satellite of Love to YOUR Satellite of Love! So we thought we'd stop by and say hi!
[Mike and the bots greet them]
Frank: As a matter of fact, we've prepared a little song for you. We hope you like it; it goes a little something like this: [along with Forrester] "JOEY THE LEMUR"-
Mike: Hate to stop you, hate to stop you, hate like the world to do it. We have to read a letter... or we get punished, or something. So anyway, here it is, it's from Joseph A. Holtzman, put it up on still store there, Cambot. Joseph's from, uh, Kailua, Hawaii.
Forrester: Ah yes, in OUR world, we also have a Hawaii, and many similar places: Your Massachusetts, your Illinois, your Zeelac la Ouis...
Gypsy: Yeah, that's great. Uh, the letter BEGINS, "Dear Mike and the bots, we really enjoy your show on Oceanic cable 30,
Frank: Ah yes, in OUR world we too have cable television, where we enjoy many 'simular' programs to yours: Your I Love Lucy, your Home Improvement, your My Mother the Calasta Caloosta Caleeky-
Servo: Yeah, I'll bet you do. THE LETTER CONCLUDES by saying, "Keep up the riffs."
Forrester: Ah yes, in our world, we too have "riffs". We listen to many forms of popular music, such as your Louis Armstrong, your Beatles, your Zylock Blues Band from Omicron Ceti 3—
Mike: Yeah, we're sorry you have to go. I know you gotta run, bye. [shuts the viewscreen as both parties say bye] In a way, really, it's kinda comforting to know that, uh, no matter what universe you're from, you can still be really annoying. - Hurricane of Toilet Humor:
- After the guys mishear "Charlie Cooper" as "Johnny Pooper", the jokes pretty much write themselves:Crow (imitating newspaper headline): "Pooper Held as Probe Widens!"
- At one point there's a confrontation with a large group of cowboys; as the camera pans across the stationary horses, Mike and the bots supply a series of "plop! plopplop!" sounds.
- After the guys mishear "Charlie Cooper" as "Johnny Pooper", the jokes pretty much write themselves:
- In Spite of a Nail: Last of the Wild Horses is the day's experiment in both universes!
- Jump Scare: Towards the end of the film, there's a moment when Duke and Riley, who are fighting, fall off the hay loft together. It's shot and edited in a very strange way, by showing the duo heading for the edge and then abruptly jump cutting to Riley moving towards the camera, followed by another jump cut of Duke doing the same thing. Both instances cause a startled "Aaah!" from Mike and the bots.
- Klingon Promotion: A given in the mirror universe.Gypsy: I will be a Captain's Woman!
- Large Ham: Everyone in the Mirror Universe.
- Mirror Universe: As a Whole-Plot Reference to Star Trek: The Original Series' "Mirror, Mirror."note Mike and the 'Bots run Deep 13, wearing costumes and carrying agonizers that directly parody the TOS episode; Forrester and Frank are their prisoners, with slime-green and all-black jumpsuits respectively.
- Mondegreen Gag: The gang mishears "Charlie Cooper" as "Johnny Pooper," leading to one of the episode's
Funny Moments:Crow: [singing] Johnny Pooper! Number 2 bad man in the west! - Mr. Fanservice: Evil Mike in a goatee and sleeveless gold lamé.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Trace uses his Crow voice while he and Frank are riffing the beginning of the film, so it still doesn't quite feel like Dr. F in the theater.
- Paper Tiger: Evil Tom keeps trying to take control of the ship from Mike... who keeps shoving him away while he and Crow consult an "Alternate Universe Manual."
- Role Swap Plot: The host segments are themed around the premise that there's a Mirror Universe out there where Forrester and Frank are the hapless nice guys being forced to watch bad movies by evil versions of Mike and the 'bots.
- Recycled Premise: This isn't the first time the show has considered a Mirror Universe where the Mads are the ones forced to watch bad movies (and vice versa). Way back in the KTMA season, episode 8 had one host segment where Crow dreams about being in charge of the "Satellite of Loathe" and forcing Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt to watch A Planet of the Apes Christmas multiple times.
- Right to Bare Arms: In addition to having mirror Spock's goatee, evil Mike wears mirror Kirk's gold vest with no shirt.
- Rugged Scar: Evil Crow has a visible scar on his beak.
- Running Gag:
- "______ of the Ooooooold West!"
- The Good Mads doing the "Joey the Lemur" song.
- Running Gagged: When Tom realizes that Evil Mike's computer sounds like Torgo, he tries to get it to keep saying "The Master", but Gypsy shuts it down after awhile.
- Self-Deprecation: In the Mirror Universe, the "Joey the Lemur" song and the Eight of Chris Lemmon are considered hilarious. The horrified reactions of our universe's Tom and Gypsy say it all.
- Separated by a Common Language: Servo and Crow both speak English, but are programmed with different regional slang terms. So the two are confused when they use different words for bubblers/drinking fountains, shows/movies, dinner/lunch, "come with"/"come with me," Coke/root beer, and "borrow me some money." They really missed a bet by not having one of them say "same difference".
- Shout-Out:
- Evil Crow's scream of "Die Die Die Die Die Die Die DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" during his attempted murder of Evil Mike is done To the Tune of... the Star Trek "Fight music."
- As Cooper's about to be killed:Cooper: Jane!
Crow: Stop this crazy thing! - To A Christmas Carol: After Tom and Gypsy have returned from the mirror Universe, Crow expresses doubt that anything really happened. Tom quotes Scrooge's suggestion that it was the result of "Perhaps an underdone potato, or a bit of undigested beef."
- During yet another horse chase scene: "If this horse drops below fifty, it'll explode"
- Smart Ball:
- In the intro sequence Mike programs the Bots to have different regional speech patterns. He's not the tech guy like Joel and admits it's the only thing he knows.
- In another example of the Mirror Universe at work, the usually-dim Gypsy is actually the first to realize what's gone wrong when she and Servo find themselves in Deep 13 with Evil Mike and Evil Crow. (Of course, she's not running the Satellite of Love at the moment, so...)
- The Starscream: Evil Crow and Evil Tom are both this, with Evil Tom being much less successful.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Good Frank and Crow read "Double C Ranch" as "Double Cranch."
- Take That!:
- The regional dialect thing was clearly directed at somebody.Mike: You know, there's a difference between regionalism and just plain stupidity.
Crow: But, Mike, irregardless of that fact... [cue commercial break] - The joke of Evil Crow forgetting to put new batteries in his agonizer could be a bit of a knockback to "Mirror Mirror", seeing as how use of the device clearly requires the full cooperation of the victim.
- As always, composer Albert Glasser's relentlessly-grating background music is savaged by the crew.
- The regional dialect thing was clearly directed at somebody.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Borderline literally; after everything is fixed, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank are practically giddy upon realizing they now have an Agony Booth. At the end of the episode, they get a little too into using it.
- Two of Your Earth Minutes: The Good Mads insist on talking like this while conversing with Mike and the Bots over the Hexfield Viewscreen.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Forrester's verbatim response when Crow questions the wisdom of using the matter transference device during an ion storm.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The host segments are a straight Shout-Out to the "Mirror, Mirror" episode of Star Trek, right down to the Agonizers and evil goatees.
