Films watched: Undersea Kingdom and Attack of the Giant Leeches.
The episode is available on Shout! Factory TV here
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The Segments:
Prologue
- Joel turns out to have left the Holo-Clowns from the last episode on for a few weeks, and they’ve become more than a little unhinged.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- Tom recites a haiku inspired by his experience with the clowns. Dr. Forrester uses Frank as a test subject for Patches, a leech that sucks all the desire to smoke out of a person’s bloodstream. Joel presents the Insty-Adolescence Kit, and demonstrates its uses on Tom, turning him into a pimply, emotional teenager.
Segment 2
- Joel and the Bots ponder how they’d each take over the world. Specifically, what they’d wear when they do it, what complex plot they’d come up with to do it, and how they’d make the world pay. Dr. Forrester provides visual aid.
Segment 3
- Over coffee, Joel and the Bots ponder how the movie reminds them of various unusual dreams they’ve had.
Segment 4
- Impersonating the backwoods yokels from the film, the guys sing “A Danger to Myself and Others”.
Segment 5
- Joel tries to understand the motives of the giant leeches, then reads a letter. In Deep 13, Patches has been sucking Frank’s blood for a little too long. Dr. F discusses various employment opportunities with the now-speaking Patches.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Intentionally invoked or not, when Ray "Crash" Corrigan starts swinging on ropes the guys accompany it with ape noises. Corrigan was most famous as an Ape-suit performer.
- Acceptable Targets: Invoked with the lots of hick jokes, and in Dave's case, fat jokes.
- And I Must Scream: The Holo-Clowns are painfully aware of their circumstances.Clown: (to the other clown) SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU THINK I LIKE IT, BEING STUCK HERE IN LIMBO WITH YOU?! NO!!! GET DOWN ON YOUR ORANGE-AND-YELLOW KNEES AND KISS MY CLOWN FEET THAT I HAVEN'T KILLED YOU!!
- Companion Cube: After the Undersea Kingdom short, Crow claims not to have been affected by being blindsided by a short, only to call attention to his Billy action figure. He has the doll in the rest of the host segments.
- Continuity Nod: In an unusual bit of direct episode-to-episode continuity, Joel accidentally left the Holo-Clowns (played by Mike and Paul) from last episode on for three weeks, which made the clowns go crazy.Joel: Hi everybody, welcome to the Satellite of Love, my name's Joel Robinson, about three weeks ago I came up with this Holo-Clown Sequencer to cheer up the 'Bots but now I can't get it to turn off and it's getting hard to sleep at night and I'm tasting metal!
- Fashion-Victim Villain: Invoked by Joel and the bots when they discuss this trope during one of the sketches.
- Holodeck Malfunction: Joel's Holo-Clown simulator from the previous episode got stuck on the hexfield for the past three weeks, with the previously Non-Ironic Clowns becoming aware they're trapped in a tiny simulated room and don't even really exist, slowly driving them insane, which in turn is keeping Joel and the 'Bots up all night and making them crazy.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Joel's invention, the Insty-Adolescent Kit, turns Servo into a pimply adolescent with a persecution complex.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Joel has to shut off the Holo-Clowns the hard way, even as they beg him not to. Played for Laughs.
- The Insomniac: The Holo-Clowns being on nonstop for three weeks is keeping everyone else up.
- Mythology Gag: As part of the demonstration of the Insty-Adolescent Kit, Joel makes Tom go through puberty.note
- Monster Clown: The friendly Holo-Clowns from the last episode have gone completely insane as a result of Joel being unable to turn them off for the past three weeks.
- Must Have Caffeine: Tom Servo even has coffee inside his gumball-head.
- They Killed Kenny Again: TV's Frank gets all of his blood sucked out of his body by Patches the Leech.
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Throw It In!: Servo's head falls off as they exit the theater at the end of the movie. - You Won't Feel a Thing:Dr. Forrester: Now this leech [snip] when applied to the neck or head area, will suck any desire to smoke out of Frank.
Frank: [loudly protests]
Dr. Forrester: But this won't hurt a bit.- The leech, of course, turns into a Brick Joke at the end. Frank didn't do so well.
