"Hey, is that his high school yearbook picture?"
Oh, my hip still hurts from that one. Cyborg blindsided me.
Dr. Forrester: Now, the movie is a greasy little sci-fi number called Robot Holocaust. And, it's in color.
Joel, Crow, Servo: Yaaay!
Dr. Erhardt: But it's edited for television!
Joel, Crow, Servo: Boooo!
Dr. Forrester: Fruits you must never enjoy, Jolene.
Dr. Erhardt: But there's more!
Joel: I know. Commando Cody, right?
Dr. Forrester: Exactly! Deal with it, smart boy!
Joel, Crow, Servo: Yaaay!
Dr. Erhardt: But it's edited for television!
Joel, Crow, Servo: Boooo!
Dr. Forrester: Fruits you must never enjoy, Jolene.
Dr. Erhardt: But there's more!
Joel: I know. Commando Cody, right?
Dr. Forrester: Exactly! Deal with it, smart boy!
Films watched: Radar Men from the Moon Chapter 9 (partially) and Robot Holocaust
It was the first MST3K episode (excluding the KTMA era) to feature a color film.note It was also the last to feature a Commando Cody serial installment (which "breaks" midway through).
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
, and on the MST3k YouTube channel here.
The Segments:
Prologue
- Joel attempts to make light of his situation by singing a blues ballad, with help from the Bots.
Segment 1
- Joel invents the Nitro Burning Funny Pipe, which has a toy monster truck for a base. The Mads invent ski masks with movable eyebrows for bank robbers who wish to emote more.
Segment 2
- Crow and Tom create an area they call the “We Zone”. When Joel steps inside the “We Zone”, the Bots order him to perform tricks for them.
Segment 3
- When the guys film a sitcom parody, Cambot’s laugh track begins malfunctioning, resulting in a lot of uncalled for laughter.
Segment 4
- Joel and the Bots pretend to be warriors in a post-apocalyptic future like in the movie. While Tom is pretty into it, Joel and Crow aren’t, especially when Tom rationalizes that the furs they’re wearing are essentially roadkill.
Segment 5
- A letter is read, and Joel and the Bots hold a contest for names for the avocado-scientist guy from the film, encouraging viewers to send in their ideas.
The (partial) presentation of Radar Men from the Moon (Chapter 9: Battle in the Stratosphere) has examples of:
- Cut Short: The serial literally breaks four and a half minutes in, much to the annoyance of Joel and the 'Bots. This was because the crew had become severely burned out on trying to create new riffs on the serial, especially the never-changed opening credits, which were mercifully skipped in this episode (you can clearly tell they were running on fumes there after just a couple episodes). Although they would tackle a few more serial installments in later seasons with The Phantom Creeps in Season 2 and Undersea Kingdom in Season 4, they never tried tackling an entire serial again.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: An image of the Mads with thought bubbles saying "Film broke!" appears right after the Radar Men serial breaks. A keyboard demo of the Japanese nursery rhyme "Picnic" plays over the image.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of Robot Holocaust has examples of:
- Celebrity Resemblance: Joel constantly compares the mute character to Ted Nugent.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Joel's Nitro Burning Funny Pipe. Or, as anyone else would call it, a bong.
- Hope Spot: The Mads finally provide a movie in color, and Joel and the Bots cheer... until they learn it's edited for television.Dr. Forrester: Fruits you must never enjoy, Jolene.
- Mondegreen Gag: Joel and the 'bots continually guess what the Dark One's name is supposed to be and get it wrong until the ending narration.
- The Gladiator Games fight ends in a draw, the Air Slaves chant "No Winner!", Joel and the 'bots join in with a confused "No Dinner?"
- Shout-Out: Crow wonders where Bobby Heenan is.
- The Unintelligible: Joel and the 'bots find it very difficult to understand Valeria with her thick accent.Valaria: Do you understand what you're saying?
Servo: Look, sister, I don't understand anything you've said for the last half-hour.
