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Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S08 E09: I Was a Teenage Werewolf

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...of London!

Film watched: I Was a Teenage Werewolf

The Segments:

Prologue
  • As Mike gives Gypsy a cleaning, Servo declares Mike of being unfit to command the Satellite of Love. Unfortunately, the 'Bots (including Servo himself) have their own excuses as to why they can't replace him, so Mike keeps his position by default.

Segment 1

  • Pearl and Brain Guy have landed on the mysterious planet alongside Bobo, which they find out has a breathable atmosphere, edible vegetation, and fresh water. Pearl takes the opportunity to set up camp on this planet, and tasks Bobo with carrying all the heavy gear (and herself) while Brain Guy is assigned to carry her makeup pack. On her orders, the SOL's systems are restricted to the Satellite's batteries while she's gone, leaving Mike and the 'Bots with only auxilary power and no shields in an unknown quadrant of space filled with potentially hostile creatures. Within seconds, a hull breach occurs, and when Servo returns from checking it out, a Facehugger has latched onto his dome, revealing that a monstrous Alien has indeed attacked the ship.

Segment 2

  • As Mike and Servo play Mouse Trap, Crow orders a proximity detector to track the invading Alien, as well as potentially others of its kind. Everybody panics when the detector reports that alien lifeforms are surrounding them on all sides, but then Crow finds out that it was just detecting the humidity.

Segment 3

  • Servo gets rid of the Facehugger on his head and arms himself with a massive collection of guns and ammo he's built up over the past 500 years, deciding to crawl through the vents to take on the Alien. Mike and Crow take bets on how long it takes before Servo breaks down crying. Sure enough, Servo gets stuck, and his attempt to keep his spirits up leads to him bawling, letting Crow win the bet.

Segment 4

  • The SOL crew find that the Alien laid a huge collection of gestating eggs on the bridge. The only way Mike can think to get rid of them is to cook them into giant omelets, and while he and Servo get cooking, Crow picks a really inopportune time to become a restaurant critic.

Segment 5

  • The Alien has made its way to the SOL's hull and is siphoning its energy, draining what little power it has left. Deciding to repulse the Alien into leaving the ship alone, Mike resorts to the ultimate way to repulse anything... his impression of Adam Duritz. It works like a charm as the Alien flees, at which point he and the 'Bots complain to Pearl about their horrible experience. Their complaints are met with Pearl's usual inability to care as she treats them, Bobo, and Brain Guy to a ghost story. It's lackluster, but it scares the latter two almost too easily.

The MST3K presentation of I Was a Teenage Werewolf provides examples of:

  • Actor Allusion: Mike and the 'Bots sing a number of riffs to the tune of the Bonanza theme song.
    Tom Servo: This is for your bed-wetting movie!
  • Aesop Amnesia: Joked about by Mike — during the party scene, the kids blunder into three separate and consecutive pranks (all with exactly the same obvious kind of set-up), even right after laughing at the previous one.
    Mike: ...So no one has any accumulated memory or experience?
  • Air-Vent Passageway: Tom attempts to go up one of these to fight an alien. He gets stuck in there and his enthusiastic bravado fades out in an instant.
    • Mind you, Crow saw this coming and made a bet with Mike on how long before Tom cries. (It takes at least 30 seconds for poor Servo to break.)
  • Big "WHY?!": Mike can't help but give one when Arlene declares her love for Tony, her violent and emotionally abusive dick of a boyfriend:
    Arlene: "The truth is, I like Tony. *sighs fondly* ...I like him a lot."
    Mike: "WHY?!"
  • Brick Joke: Early in the film the detective tells Tony that Dr. Brandon has been treating workers at the local aircraft factory. Very late in the film Servo declares "Well thank goodness all the aircraft employees were sane this month!"
  • Call-Back: When Tony comes home and sees his rather familiar-looking father:
    Crow: Hey, it's depressing dad!
    Servo: I haven't killed myself yet, son!
  • Continuity Nod: More references to Servo's adventures at the edge of the universe. He claims to be a seasoned soldier now, although he doesn't get Mike's reference to grenades as pineapples and still comes back crying after less than a minute off hunting aliens in the dark. Same old Tom.
    Tom: How many people have YOU killed?
    • Bonus nod: this being the episode right after Mike blew up the Observer planet, when Mike shrugs and sheepishly answers "Well, I don't know...", it's because it's an astronomically high number.
  • Cool Car: Crow responds to Tony's '50s convertible with an adoring, "If I were a bug, I'd be proud to smash into that sweet, sweet grill."
  • Curse of The Ancients: While the search party/posse traipses through the woods: "Consarnit!" "Dadgummit!" "Son of a biscuit!" "Dagnabbit!" "H-E-double toothpicks!" "Great Caesar's ghost!"
  • Dawson Casting: Mentioned in universe, one of the "teenagers" looks like he's well into his 30s.
    Servo: This is a job for Old Teen!
  • Designated Victim: The S.O.L. crew lampshade this constantly, especially with a male teen who takes the... ahem "scenic" way home.
    Boy: I'll take that shortcut through the woods.
    Servo: DINGDINGDINGDINGDING! VICTIM!
    [shortly later]
    Crow: So this guy's shortcut home is through the Carpathian Mountains.
    Crow: [as Frank the Victim] I'm probably pretty tasty and well-marbled. Not something I've often thought of.
    [then]
    Servo: I Was a Teenage Werewolf Snack.
    Mike: A textbook example of "the weak one of the herd."... Bet you anything when he gets chased, his heel breaks and his skirt is too short to run in...
  • Ghost Story: Pearl tells a particularly lame one about a little ape who never did what he was told to Bobo and Observer in the final segment. Bobo is predictably terrified, but Observer isn't particularly impressed... until Pearl tells the one about the little boy who carried his brain around in a bowl, leaving them both cowering under a blanket.
    Pearl: One time they mashed up his brain into hummus and the little gorilla ate it and it was poison and he DIED!! [Evil Laugh]
  • Godzilla Threshold: This is how Mike and the Bots view Mike's transformation into Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, when all other attempts at repelling the alien queen have failed.
  • I Call It "Vera": Tom has a neutron machine pistol called "Lucille". He also has a tiny problem with trigger discipline.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Parodied.
    Servo: Ladies and gentlemen... And Gypsy. And Crow. And Mike... And Servo.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Observer seems to be playing a very slow rendition of Amazing Freaking Grace on his harmonica in the background of the first camping scene.
  • Running Gag:
    • Tony's dairy-throwing antics.
      Crow: (as Tony) I gotta throw ricotta at a stockboy.
    • Various riffs about Tony being a werewolf/dog, before the transformation.
    • Not a running gag in the episode itself, but Servo makes the quip: 'You get a lot of dirt with werewolf, you get a lot of clean with Tide.' It would later be used in Season 9 in the next werewolf movie... namely, uh, Werewolf.
    • Constant references to Landon's later roles on Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven.
      Crow: (singing) It's all right if I kill a couple kids, Bonanza!
    • Incorporating lines from the song "Werewolves of London."
      Servo: You are not drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s, young man, you’re just not old enough!
    • Malcolm Atterbury's similar role as a despairing father in High School Big Shot is not overlooked.
  • Shout-Out: "Sock hop of the damned." ...over the line of teens just staring blankly as the camera pans over them.
  • Speech-Impaired Animal: "Rello? Reenage Rererolf."
  • Take That!: In order to get rid of the Alien Queen, Mike becomes the most repulsive person he can think of: Adam Duritz.
  • Take That, Scrappy!: Invoked. When the ever-annoying Vic surprises Tony by blowing a loud toy trumpet into his ear, Tony immediately begins waling on him, to the delight of Tom.
    Servo: Ah-ha, the exact moment Michael Landon became beloved by America!
  • Waxing Lyrical: "That was the needle. The damage is done."
  • What's a Henway?: During the autopsy of one of Werewolf Tony's first victims:
    Police Coroner: ...Fangs.
    Police Detective: Fangs?!?
    Servo: You're welcome! (Laughs hysterically)
    (later in the same scene:)
    Coroner: [...]But I still say, fangs!
    Mike: And I still say, "you're welcome!" (chuckles sensibly)
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The host segments all parody the movie Alien.
  • X Days Since: During an Establishing Shot of the high school, Crow quips "Ten days since last teen pregnancy."



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