"Titles by Fredrick's of Hollywood."
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"Light the shoe box and throw it in the toilet!"
— Joel
Films watched: The Home Economics Story (short) and The Saga of the Viking Women and their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent
The Home Economics Story is a 1951 educational short in which four college-bound girls learn about the career possibilities a home economics degree would lead to.
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments
Prologue- Joel is making waffles... a lot of waffles. Crow and Tom think that Joel might be getting a little obsessed.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- As Joel bores the 'Bots by naming all the great ways to prepare and enjoy waffles, Dr. Forrester and Frank use their new Meat Re-Animator to bring a storebought chicken back to life, only for it to threaten them at knifepoint. Joel's invention, the Waffle Iron, is literally a steam iron that flattens waffles into pancakes.
Segment 2
- Joel has made even more waffles, and he's reprogrammed the 'Bots to love waffles as much as he does. The crew name all sorts of new and strange uses for them.
Segment 3
- Joel delivers an important message: "Waffles."
Segment 4
- Servo is so stuffed with waffles that he wonders whether the world would be better off without waffles. Introducing Willy the Waffle (as played by Crow), who shows Servo just how important waffles are to everything.
Segment 5
- The crew celebrates waffles and everything they stand for with a glorious song proclaiming their favorite food in all the world. A thoroughly annoyed Dr. Forrester threatens shock therapy on anybody who mentions waffles again, starting with Frank.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of The Home Economics Story has examples of:
- College Is "High School, Part 2": Joel calls Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), which produced the short, "the high school after high school."
- Distaff Counterpart: The Home Economics Story is essentially one to Why Study Industrial Arts, which would be riffed three seasons later.
- Shout-Out: The films The Group and Three Coins in the Fountain are name-dropped to describe the group of students.
- Toilet Humor: Joel's response to a line that sounds like "Five pound potty" is to note one of the ladies in the short had a big breakfast.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of The Saga of the Viking Women and their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent has examples of:
- Berserk Button:
- Forrester enrages the SOL crew by dismissing waffles as "nothing more than a vehicle for butter and syrup."
- Stark sacrificing the female slave on his son's funeral pyre doesn't earn a riff. Instead Joel and the Bots respond with a chorus of angry "boos."
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Joel reprograms the Bots to be just as crazy for waffles as he is. They end up sounding like desperate junkies jonesing for a fix.
- Brick Joke: The short is an outdated piece of drivel that Joel and Bots riff mercilessly over its take on college for women. The film itself is a Roger Corman piece of drivel that Joel and the Bots riff mercilessly over its take on Vikings and women. An hour and half later, after the short has been forgotten in the flood of Roger Corman weirdness, and the victorious Vikings are looking towards the shores of their homeland and all the women have their men, the music swells, and the film focuses on the heroes, Tom Servo can't resist:Tom Servo: Man, that Home Ec short really took a weird turn.
- Call-Back:
- A lot of references to Teenage Caveman and how it and Viking Women have similar-looking sets.
- At one point, Servo starts referring to the dark-haired woman, Enger, as "Creepy Girl", the woman he developed a crush on in Catalina Caper. Judging by his reaction, it seems he still has feelings for her.
- Gamera is mentioned when the sea serpent roars.
- Call-Forward: Many fans had no idea where the heck the concept of Willy the Waffle came from 'til the next-to-last episode of the show's cable run.
- Fashion-Victim Villain: In-universe: Lots of jokes at the expense of Stark's furry outfit.Servo (as Stark): Corman's poodle died, and he doesn't like to waste anything.
- Homage: Willy the Waffle is based on Coily from the short A Case of Spring Fever, which would finally appear in a season 10 episode.
- Memetic Mutation: Recurring riff "I'm a Grimald warrior!" originates with this film. Oddly enough, later episodes most often used it when a character was hopping around like Ottar, while in this film it's part of a very unwarrior-like bit of Wangst by Senya.
- My God, What Have I Done?: This is TV Frank's exact reaction when the use of the Meat Re-Animator to bring his pre-cooked chicken back to life results in it pulling a knife on him.TV Frank: (fighting it with a poker) Dear God, what have I done?!
- Non-Indicative Title: Downplayed: Even though the Meat Re-Animator is shown to bring meat back to life, for some reason it is also shown working with waffles.
- Obligatory Joke:Enger: But I've grown in many ways.Crow: Insert comment here.
- Padding: Those great Corman walking scenes.
- Running Gag: Waffles dominate every host segment, along with a few mentions in the theater.
- Sitch Sexuality: When Desir is talking to the other women about how long it's been since the Viking men left:Tom (as Desir): Let's put it this way: you're starting to look pretty good to me.
- Shout-Out:
- "Here's a waffle for you, Scarecrow!"
- Multiple to The Lord of the Rings at the beginning of the film.
- As noted above, many to Teenage Caveman, a previous Corman film.
- As Stark laments Senya's death...Stark: My son! My son!
Servo: I love my dead gay son! - To Son of Ali Baba (via an (in)famous
Beam Me Up, Scotty!):Servo: Yonder lies the castle of my fodda ... okay: yonder lies the matte painting of the castle of my fodda...
- Take That!: The requisite potshots at Corman's low-budget filmmaking methods.Servo, on the wild boar killing scene: Oh, look at this — Corman got his shot, catered the crew and got a costume for Teenage Caveman, all in one go.
- They Killed Kenny Again: TV's Frank gets electrocuted to death by defibrillator paddles.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Joel can’t stop thinking of waffles in this episode.Forrester: Well Aunt Jemima, this time you’ve really stepped off the deep end!
