Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S01 E13: The Black Scorpion

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mst3k_black_scorpion.jpg
"The Wavy Title!"

Dr. Forrester: Well, your film today, Joel, is called Black Scorpion. It's a Mexican film with effects by Ray Harryhausen, the man who brought you the "Seven Voyages of Sinbad".
Dr. Erhardt: It's filled with bluescreen action and jerky monster movement, but at least there's no recognizable talent in it. Enjoy!

Film watched: The Black Scorpion

The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here, and on Shout! Factory here.

The Segments:

Prologue

  • Joel and the Bots are holding a party on the bridge.

Segment 1

  • For their party, Joel invents a jumbo-sized party favor powered by a leaf blower. Larry and Dr. Forrester have mutated into an alien and a skeleton, respectively, after an accident involving a “cold fusion Walkman”.

Segment 2

  • Inspired by the Mexican setting in the film, Joel and the Bots wear sombreros, share some Mexican cuisine, and try their hand at speaking Spanish, with dubious translation for the audience.

Segment 3

  • Crow and Tom discuss Joel’s human nature as Gypsy pretends to be a giant scorpion, and they don't really pay any attention to her even when she eats Tom.

Segment 4

  • The Bots try their hand at stop motion animation with a little figurine of Joel. Joel finds out about it, leading to a discussion about Willis O’Brien, the animator behind the creatures in the film.

Segment 5

  • The guys read letters, one of them delivering an analysis of Crow’s behavior.

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of The Black Scorpion contains examples of:

  • Actually Pretty Funny: Crow and Servo make a Joel puppet with the apparent intent of feeding it to a puppet scorpion. When Joel sees it, he's impressed by the obvious effort that went into it.
  • Body Horror: The Mads after trying to make a cold fusion Walkman. Erhardt's head is swollen and deformed, and Forrester is reduced to a skeleton. (Also since they don't get better by the end, the only time Trace Beaulieu appears on screen is in the title sequence!)
  • Call-Back: Multiple.
  • Gag Dub: Joel and the Bots educate the viewers in the Spanish language in homage to the Mexican setting. However, most of what they say is Gratuitous Spanish (mostly the names of Tex-Mex food items or place names), and the length of the translations given don't even come close to matching the words they're uttering.
  • Precision F-Strike: At one point, Tom drops an F-bomb.
  • Running Gag:
    • Joel and the Bots clap whenever Dr. Hank Scott's name is spoken. Or is it for Dr. Arturo Ramos and the sudden fancy Spanish accent accompanying it?
    • Joel exclaiming in disgust ("Yuugh!" or "Hey, you got a little—") every time a close-up of the drooling scorpion appears.
    • Comments on the scorpions as something to eat crop up frequently.
    • Crow's impression of Bing Crosby, usually involving him abusing his son Gary.
  • Spit Take: Joel does one when Crow tells him what's in the punch during their party: 10W-30 and Tang.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Or rather, "Thou shalt not ki-", as Joel ad-libs Dr. Ramos reading off an obsidian slab that he finds.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Gypsy turns into a scorpion monster, the bots are more interested in discussing the oddities of human biology. Even when she attacks Servo, Crow just keeps going like nothing happened.
  • Visual Gag:
    • Joel and the 'Bots hold up giant hot dogs over the footage of erupting volcanos during the film's opening sequence.
    Crow: Let's make smores later.
    Servo: Hey, did you bring the 'kraut?
    Crow: No, I left 'em in the Volvo.
    • They also wear sombreros left over from a host sequence for a while.
    • At one point, Joel joins in throwing a rock down the hole to gauge the depth of the cave.

Top