YMMV / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S09 E07: Hobgoblins

• Crosses the Line Twice: When Nick is burning to death, Mike comments "My fajita plate was really hot and I touched it!!" It helps that the effect looks terrible, even if it was a full body burn (considered one of the most dangerous stunts you can do) *inside* a building.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In one scene, when a character remarks that "[Being a security guard] is not that difficult," Mike riffs: "JFK Jr. could do it." This was intended to poke fun at the George magazine he founded, which was losing money and not taken very seriously as a publication. A little more than a year later, John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a private plane crash he himself was piloting (the crash was attributed to pilot error caused by his inexperience). Suddenly, this riff sounds a lot more mean-spirited than it was meant to be.
  • A character picks up a gun, and Tom Servo riffs: "If found: please return to Hunter Thompson," a reference to Thompson's vast collection of firearms. About six and a half years later, Hunter Thompson committed suicide with a handgun.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Servo's riff on Daran Norris' emcee, "Proof that there's no life after drama club!" is ironic when you consider that Norris was one of two guys to have a career after acting in this stinkbomb. (The other was the guy who played Toe Cheese Back Sweat Sweat Gland Butt Crack Road Rash, who you may remember as Zed's pal Maynard in Pulp Fiction.)
  • Speaking of Daran Norris, this episode came out the same year he would appear in Star Games as Happy the A.I. Clown. That movie would end up being riffed on Rifftrax, with Mike, Kevin and Bill seemingly unaware of their previous encounter with him.
• Ho Yay: The cold opening involves Mike and the Bots accidentally turning each other on at the slightest provocation.
  Crow: (angry stammering; turns to Tom) Now, there! There, you did so mean to turn me on that time!
  Tom Servo: Okay, I admit it, I turned you on on purpose, okay?!
• Memetic Mutation: The "Hobgoblins" song sung by the cardboard duplicates is one, while Mike's "It's the 80s" song riff is used both straight and as a snowclone.
• Squick:
  • The Ship Tease moment for Bobo and Pearl. Even in-universe the Bots are rightfully horrified.
  • The creepy David Lee Roth-esque woman that appears in Kyle's fantasy got this reaction.

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